The Press.
London, England, 1856-04-12 00:00:00

LONDON, SATURDAY, APRIL 12,1856.

r€former, he did not fall shorter of expectation I
than the present keeper of the Great Seal. In
the secretarial departments of administration
the Russell Cabinet, weak as it was, again had
the advantage. As to the Foreign-office, we
shall allow the friends of the Earl of CLAREN-
DON and of Viscount PALMERSTON to decide
which was best suited for the post. In both
Cabinets Sir GEORGE GREY filled the office of
Home Secretary, and of late there have been
some manifestations that the lively but not
powerful Baronet has not so ready an access
to the ear of the House as in former times,
but his efficiency has been impaired by his
want of stamina. In the Colonial-office it
would he absurd to dwell on the degree of
intellectual difference between Earl GREY and
Mr. LABOUCHERE. The first had a philoso-
phical intellect, though spoiled by its propen-
sity to crotchets ; but originality was never
imputed to the present Secretary for the
Colonies.
Take, again, the financial department, and
we are certain that the colleagues of Sir
CORNEWALL LEWIS will admit that Sir CHARLES
WOOD had more aptitude for the post. In
saying that we do not at all compliment Sir
CHARLES WOOD; his training was more official
than that of his successor, and his early ex-
perience as private secretary to Earl GREY
gave him familiarity with " the City." Rut it
is in " the eternal city," and in philoso-
phical dissertations on its archeology, that
Sir CORNEWALL Lcwis finds his chief spe-
ciality. Ha is, without question, an eminent
scholar; but his greatest friends, like his
literary critics, will admit that he has not
as much weight in politics as in letters
Colleges may applaud his learning, but capi-
talists will dispute his budgets.
Lord NIINTO, as a Lord Privy Seal, was not
so reticent in speech as Lord HARROWBY; yet
we cannot forget that in the Maynooth Com-
mission, over which Lord HARROWBY presided,
portions of the evidence were prematurely
disclosed to the Court of Rome, and, though
Lord HARROWBY is an incarnate cyclopedia in
variety of knowledge, in a long Parliamentary
career his Lordship has never shown eminent
talent for affairs. Like his accomplished
father, Lord HARROWBY belongs to " the
waverers, " the political interest in our do-
mestic politics which the Premier most cul-
tivates. LORD NIINTO, at least, was head of the
Elliotts, and kept all the Scotch cousins
quiet, besides possessing what Sir JAMES
GRAHAM would call "a short cut" to Woburn
Abbey. We incline, also, to think that Sir
FRANCIS BARING, as First Lord of the Admi-
ralty, was more popular with the Navy than
Sir CHARLES WOOD. Lord Baouoterox, (Sir J.
C. Hobliouse) was a weak Minister for India ;
his successor, Mr. VERNON SMITH, is a highly
respectable gentleman, with many good per-
sonal qualities, but we do not perceive his dis-
tinctive faculties for dealing with that mighty
Oriental problem, which requires more atten-
tion than is given to it by the dilettanti Whigs
of our time.
The same relative inferiority is manifest in
the subordinate parts of the two Cabinets.
Mr. BAINES left his place at the Poor Law
Board from failing health, and he is one of the
Ministerial supernumeraries ; but we cannot
forget that his otfiice of Chancalloe of the
Duchy of Lancaster was held under the Russell
Ministry) by Lord CAMPBELL, with abilities
great as his energy and experience. The
President of the Board of Trade was Mr.

STAMPED ....SIXPENCE.
UNSTkMPED..FIVEPENCI

LABOUCHERE, who had important commercial
connections ; and the office is now occupied by
Lord STANLEY of ALDERLEY, more qualified as
an electioneering ally than an economical
administrator. The Postmaster-General of

the Russell Cabinet was the Marquis of CLAN-
RICARDE ; his successor is the Duke of ARGYLL,
to whose merits as a statesman justice alone
could be rendered in one of his Grace's long
lectures.
In the materials of such a Cabinet we do
not see "the men" fit for giving to the country
" the measures" upon which it has set its
heart. A Whig Cabinet, with two statesmen
like Lord JOHN RUSSELL and Earl GREY ex-
cluded from it, is a political anomaly.
The Ministry, therefore, is neither a party
Cabinet, nor is it (what was called in the last
century) a" broad-bottomed Administration."
It has no hold upon large and powerful classes
of the community. The Peelites on one flank,
and the politicians of Manchester on the
other, keep aloof from it, and it has only lived
for the last few months upon " the chapter of
accidents " Without a policy, distrusted by
its nominal followers, such an Administration

cannot stand. The lathand-plaster edifice,
with its varnished stucco, must crumble
before the first sho ck.'

The Earl of CLARENDON will not retain to
England before Saturday, the 19th instant.

CIVIL SERVICE REORGANISATION.
Ir ever the will of a nation declared itself
both in act and in action, in speech and silence,
the English people has so spoken now. There
can be no mistake either as to what they want
or what they do not want. Peace abroad—
present freedom, at least, from organic
change at home. Amidst the wildest excite-
ment of the Russian quarrel, they kept the
end steadily in view, and scouted all talk of
nationalities " as irrelevant to the actual
subject of hostilities ; and now that war is
ended, the same clearness of view, the same
concentration of energy upon a single point,
which in private life is the secret of success,
characterises their present attitude. Adminis-
trative reform in every branch, amendment of
the law, reorganisation of the army, improve-
ment of the Civil Service, finance simplified
and its burdens equalised—such is the sum of
their demand. The last topic perhaps presses
least at the moment, for our war-bills remain
in great part unpaid, and a year must elapse
before large ieductions become possible.
Lord Jon,: Russztes two favorite questions.
reform and education by rate supported
schools, are both a little in the background.
Many people, no doubt, wish to see the fran-
chise extended, but
not be done withouk
popular feeling than
forth at present, and
must waste an entire
more profitably ocom
a general school-rate
doubt the possibility .
with alarm the prospect
gious quarrels. They
from speculating on
more and more con•

of limiting their exertions

they know that this call-
a a stronger di•
is likely 60 2
nd that the. •
e session who*"
(pied. Many.; • _
:e over the *al• 1i.1.t.1" alb ow,: 0.
ty of enforcii • •
•.47
spect of wid •
ey come ba.' '
n the futuritof 4""ii
winced of the es.. •eino.
ertions to some one of the

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