The Press.
London, England, 1857-03-28 00:00:00

298

honour, or be capable of satisfactorily conduct-
ing
the public business. Flaying no merits of
his own to plead, he alleges the demerits of
his opponents. For electioneering purposes
they are to be represented by JAMES II ,
Will) he personates the Merry Monarch. No
one will dethrone him that they may succeed.
We have not the slightest wish to shirk this
question of " Which shall be the men ?" We
think it has been too long overlooked. If no
other Ministry be possible than the present, it
must, of course, be retained in power, however
gross its abuses and mischievous its course.
We hope the public will look into this matter
for themselves ; and that when they hear Lord
DERBY and the Opposition decried by Minis-
terial hacks, they will consider whether Lord
DERBY might not be much preferable to Lord
PALMERSTON as Premier, and whether a more
efficient Ministry may not be formed from the
Opposition than the servile " appendages " at
present surrounding Lord PALMERSTON.
Lord DERBY held the high office of Premier
fit the short space of ten months in 1852. He
then took office un ler every disadvantage. The
Conservative party was broken up. The agi-
tation connected with free trade had not sub-
sided ; a majority of the House of Commons
was arrayed against him ; and he was never
permitted a fair trial. Yet by the confession
of his opponents many most useful public
measures were passed during his tenure of
office, and England in her foreign relations
never occupied a more honourable position.
The Government of the Noble Earl has
never received justice. When he was sent for
by the Queen, Lord PALMERSTON, as the Times
remarked, " had not left her Majesty one ally
"in Europe." When the Cabinet of Lord
DERBY resigned office there was not a single
State on either continent, from Russia to the
smallest republic in America, with which we
were not on the most cordial footing and in
complete alliance.
The honour of England would not be safe
in Lori DERBY'S hands ! This assertion is
amazing for its hardihood when we turn to the
facts of the Noble Earl's Administration. He
found the national defences in the most dila.
pidated state. The Ministry of Lord JOHN
RUSSELL feared to propose that increase in the
estimates which the public service impera-
tively demanded. The remonstrances of the
Duke of WELLINGTON were unheeded, and at
last he ceased to make them. When Lord
DERBY took office there were only, as subse-
quently stated by Lord HARDINGE in the
House of Lords, fifty field-pieces equipped for
service, while the gun-carriages bad been
suffered to fall into such a state of decay that
on occasion of the funeral of the Duke of

WELLINGTON, when it was necessary to his
rank of Field Marshal that seventeen guns
should accompany him to the grave, seventeen
carriages could not be found sufficiently
strong to safely traverse the streets of
London !
In the WAR DEPARTMENT one of the first.
cares of Lord DERBY'S A'lmnistration was to
provide 200 new field-pieces, with 600 artillery
waggons; and to increase the artillery force
by 2,000 horses and 1,000 men.
In the ADMIRALTY, under the energetic
direction of the Duke of NosTuumBERLAND, the

defects of former Administrations were vigo-
rously repaired. The marine force was in-
creased by 2,000 men ; many large screw line-
of-battle ships were laid down, and nearly the
whole of that magnificent fleet was created
which the public throngel to see in August,
1853, and which proved of such incalculable
service in the Russian war
LA V REFORM, and particularly a reform of the
Courts of Equity, had long been demanded by
the public. It had been promised by the pre-
vious Administration ; but we have the ex-
press statement of Lord ST. LEOPARDS that
when he took office as Lord Chancellor not a
trace of any bill for the reform of Chancery
procedure could be found. Lord DERBY'S law
officers lost no time in preparing and maturing
measures to carry out the recommendations of
the Chancery Commissioners.
Two bills were introduced to abolish those
juity," the Masters' offices, and to
new course of practice. These
' all refereaves to Masters, all ro-

" sinks of iniqi
regulate the r
bills abolished
•
Loh.