The Express.
London, England, 1851-12-26 00:00:00

DIOR WATER t T LONDON BRIDGE.
44. um.
Sk. 16e.

Tess DAB—Manila & Y. WEL.
To- reasov—lhraias. 4.5.

LO.VDOS, FRIDAY, DECEMBER 26.

WE have always expressed a high opinion of Lord
P.0.5tER:41.0:4 as foreion minister of England. No man
holding that position has ever striven more earnestly
for the cause of constitutional liberty. Ilia active
interference mainly secured that blessing to the
Peninsula. Ilis negotiations chiefly contnbuted to
endow Belgium with independence and with a mo-
narchic constitution that has hitherto defied revolu-
tion and anarchy intro so urns et extra, as well as any
form of government in Europe. Lord -PALMERSTON.I
more recent efforts in Italy were stimulated by
nerous and noble policy,—going the length of en-
dowing
that country with constitutional govern-
ment, and not going beyond that aim. If these
efforts failed,—and if the failure and the misrepresen-
tation of these efforts have had the effect of making
England, and its foreign minister, disliked by the
abolutists courts, that may bo an inconvenience
under certain circumstances—but, it is no crime._

nonce 13.,%1111U.1 wuviaso•••••••••••••
And yet with this tribute of admiration to Lord
Parsisiewroir, we know that he had faults, and,
amongst others, a great and irremediable one. Ile had
been for far too many years in possession of his late
office. It is the misfortune of England that her
statesmen and placemen stick far too long by their
benches. What the country wants is not an admir-
able CRICIIION of a secretary, but a relay of politi-
cians in all walks and classes. We want statesmen,
nut merely in the cabinet, but in parliament. It is
not for the interest of the country that it
shieild be told suth a minister must con-
tinue to hold office because there is really
no one efficiently capable or instructed to be able to
replace him. This it is that peoples our cabinets
with lords,—an eternal succession of lords,—as if tho
sphere of common( rs in this life was to play second
fiddle to lords, tied up and adorned with red tape.
What we should like to IRV would be a new foreign
minister every three years, as they have in America,
where they are never at a loss for one.
For all these reasons, and retaining our admiration
of Lord IbtosEasisix, we are quite reconciled to his
resignation, provided it has been brought about by
circumstances—not dictated by the alarm or fasti-
tidiou.suess of the court, nor brought about by the
cunning intrigues of Russia mid Austria, and inglo-
Austrian diplomacy, which is so fussy in the society,
and so intluential mith ono por.ion of the press, of
the metropolis.
We shall all probably learn the reasons fur
his retirement from the speeches of Lord
stuistees himself, who, if lost to the cabinet,
will doubtless be found in the House of Corn-
loons, and be looked up to there. Flagrant and
immediate opposition is not to be looked for from
that veteran official. But that he will be found in
his plate, and that any act of foreign policy, subser-
vient to the despots of the cast of Europe, ur inipli-
eating England in the dynastic struggles or interests
of the Continent, will And in Lund PALMERSTON a
ready, an able, and an inevitutle denouncer. That at
lest we both look and hope fur.
Meantime we are glad to be told that the seces-
sion of Lord Psomesros may lead to the
re-constructieen of a cabinet upon a broader basis.
To be sure, the lint step,—the appointment of Earl
Gil N VlLLE,—fur from widening that basis, may be
said to narrow it. But if the change leads to the
acquisition of rtiformern, and to opening the doors of
the culeinet at length to men of the people, it will be
a good sign and a good deed And we may place
some credit un these assurance's; for without some-
thing of the kind, the Whig cabinet can-
not and ought nut to stand. We are entering evi-
dently upon a very difficult and knotty peri al, both
of domestic and foreign policy. Our financial &Te-
te in and commercial prosperity are bound up with
both. Too many councillors cannot be consulted on
such a crisis; too ninny interests cannot be milled to
take an active and confidential 'wart in the guidance
of the nation. 'lime may possibly bring the ne-
cessity of great resolves, entailing great sacrifices,
and rhos'eunnot 1w decided by a clique, either of
courtiers or politicians. Let not, therefore, the Times
prattle to us of the gnat strength that is to accrue
to the Cabinet from increased union. No doubt, a
Cahoot ing of one Prime Minister and half-a-
dozen striplings us clerks, would be a very united
Cabinet. lint such union can scarcely be called
strength. The people of England are not so
ye ry anxious for unanimity in Cabinet Councils
by obedience of the many to the one. They arc more
interested in having a Cabinet, the members of which
May not so very perfectly agree, but who, viewing
affairs from different points, and in the light of diffe-
rent interests. may carry in their final decision a
larger mymputhy from the country, and especially
from its untitled amid industrious causes.

IT is to be hoped that a sense of what is needed
fur their own self-preservation may promet the Whig
government to do what neither reason, ju4tice, nor
far-sighted prudence has hitherto led them to yield.
The Cabinet, after some few shiftings and inoailica-
Lions, remains as esgentially exclusive and oligarchi-
cal as it was whin first ushered into being in 1818.
Cireumstanetv have changed, and with them mea-
sures have varied in turn with every wind of
heaven. l'ilxt•tc, and SExvtocit, and OttxxvlLLE,
have been admitted to the Cabinet, and the
names of AtcaLvsn, and l'ALuEttsvoN, are no

longer found upon its list. But the jealous and
greedy character of aristocratic monopoly is
stumped on it as conspicuously as in the be-
ginning. The grasping and insolent spint of clique
has up to the present hour prevailed. There is not
a merchant nor a man of science, a manufacturer or
a man of letters, nut even a soldier or a sailor of
plebeian rank and fortune, who is permitted to share
in the administrative council of a realm which, hut
for the worth, and wisdom. and work of the classes
we have adverted to, would be but a third or fourth-
rate state ut Europe.
Hitherto it must be owned that the position of
parties in the legislature has seemed to favour
the fond dream of the whigs that this lucrative and
agreeable scheme of rule by family compact might be
indefinitely prolonged. They were fortunate in pos-
sessing three or four men of great ability and expe-
rience; and no disaffected section was strong enough
to take the reins out of their hands. . _

So. the hereditary bureaucracy said unto its soul:
"Take thine ease, job, blunder, and be merry; to-
morrow shall be even as yesterday, or yet more
abundant!" Recent events, however, may well
serve to awaken whiggcry from its selfish dream.
Its lamps are gone out, or beginning to burn dim. If
new light be not speedily borrowed from some
friendly quarter, all will soon be darkness.
Whatever may have been the proximate or remote
—the real or assigned—Cal/Ws of LordPALIIERATOWS
removal from the poet he so long occupied, nndwhat-
ever success may attend the experiment by which it
is proposed to supply his loss in the deportment over
which he so long presided—it is plain that his
retirement must materially weaken the prestige and
power of the administration generally both in par-
liament and in the country. The personal qualities
which contributed to rendCr the ex-minister popular
his bitterest adversaries never have denied, and the
energy, courage, and versatility which he brought to
the performance of arduous and varied duties admit
of as little question. In the House of Commons he was
eminently a favourite ; and it were difficult to imagine
any sufficient reason why his popularity in that
assembly should be less Mier he has thrown aside
the trammels of office than it has hitherto been. If
the drudgery of having to pull blundering colleagues
and subordinates out of the mire, was not able to
quench the spirit of Ilk humour, or to quell the
audacity of his bearing—what may we not expect
when lie enters the course unweighted, end when
the faltering* and shortcomings of those who have
repudiated his veteran aid, will have become fair
game for the damaging candour of his pity, if not
the polished irony of his scorn ?
that

tesics, hospitalities, and other circumstantial details of
the Foreign office, it is no doubt possible that in
debate the change may not at first be felt so strik-
ingly when foreign affairs are the theme. But, withr
the exception of the first minister, there is nobody
on the Treasury bench capable of encountering such
an assailant as the evicted Viscount. To there consi-
derations must be added the certain alienation of
serpert and renunciation of forbears/lee from pro-
lised opponents, which his withdrawal will inevi-
Iditsanee. There were many occasions during the
Lei en years on which Lord l'aiimasios'e influ-
ent), Wu found useful by a feeble government,
bib in securing lukewarm allies and neutralising
isabdri enemies. The whigs would probably
sire Lew for the loss of intellectual strength
If they were sure of not suffering a diminution of
votes on critical divisions. But when both arc in-
evitable and impending, it manifestly behoves them
to take active measures to recruit from other quar-
ters their impaired and shattered force.
Lord GRINVILLE may be acceptable at court, and
rather a favourite in the House of Lords. But as
regards the stability of a liberal administration,
pledged to reform, the extension of education and
the maintenance of free-trade, what does the
inoffensiveness of the new Secretary of State
signify ? It is in the House of Commons that
the straggle must be waged. It is there that
the issue must be determined during the residue of
the present parliament: and it will in no trifling
degree depend upon the impression made
upon the mind of the public by the incidents
of next session what the predominant party
colour of the new parliament will be. It; as
in 1811, ridicule and shame arc heaped by elated ad-
versaries of mingled hue upon the arrogant and ob-
stinate monopolists of power, the general election will
Inevitably prove, as in 1811, a knell of po-
litical doom. 'Yet, exclusive u they were then,
the spirit of administration is, if possible, still
more so now ; and disheartened and effete as the
expiring Cabinet of Lord .11ELBUCHNE was then
said to be, it contained beyond question a greater
number of men of real ability and deserved weight
in the country than the cabinet of Lord JOHN Itt;s-
3ELt. at present contains.
We point to no individual, or set of individuals,
I whose pretensions to office we would be supposed as
desiring to recommend. Such a task were invidious
and mischievous. We shall not incur the
reproach of seeming to undertake it. What
we contend for Is, a great popular right
—a great national principle that exalted
office should be open—not as of favour, but as of
right—to men of talents, virtues, and attainments,
no matter to what class in life they happen to be-
long. We want to see equality of conditions in this
respect established. We want to see the insufferable
usurpation of the landed oligarchy in this respect
broken down. Personal preference and selection from
among competitors equally fit must always be left,
in some measure, to the head of the administration.
What we contend for is, that his choice be not
limited to a narrow clique, or bounded by a rule of
wrongful and insulting I,opular exclu,ien.

THE
REVOLUTION IN FRANCE.

TILE ELECTIONS.

rAitis, CIIRISTNIAS DAT.
The total number of votes known up to the present
moment is—
les
No
As y, t the definitive result of only 14 departments
is known. In tit. se the pull stands as follows:
Yes
"co
These are the latest official results.

The Bigllehn de Pura, which passes fur a semi-
official organ, says:
The President of the Republic is working at this moment
at the compwition of the Constitution. According to re-
ports in circulation the elections of the legislative body arc
likely to take place towards the end of January. It is said
there will be one representative fur every 100,000 inhabit-
ants. The suffrage is to he direct, and the representative
appointed fur live years. A modification of the cabinet is
also spoken of. M. de .lorny, according to this report,
would take the depai !mint of Foreign Affairs, and hl.
Bassxhe that of the Interior.

The most honourable tribute to Lord Palmerston
on his exit from office is the exultation of the meta-
Ides of despotism over hie fall. The AssembVe Na-
tionalr indulges in rut indecent pan over the ex-
Foreign Secretary, and congratulates Christendom
upon the disappenrance of a scourge—it might have
added—of despotism. Generally. the rumoured ap-
, pointtnent of Lord Granville is received well to
France, owing to the sensible speech made by that
nobleman at the banquet given at the Hotel de Ville
on the occasion of the l'aresian Ji•tes in honour of the
Exhibition.

The news of Lord Palmerston's resignation was
received in Paris yesterday morning, and sounded
like an echo from the shores of Brita►n of the thun-
dering coup Jttat of December 2. From the joy
testified by the enemies of all liberty, civil or reli-
gious, at this event it is evident that the fall of the
Foreign Secretary is regarded as the precursor of
concessions on the part of England to the military
despots of Europe, which will end in the constitu-
tional flag being hauled down in those countries
where it has been maintained hitherto in spite of
menaces from all quarters. The liberals however do
not cease to hope that the successor of Lord Palmer-
ston will not abandon the cause of freedom and
civilisation, and display as much firmness as the late
Foreign Secretary did energy and spirit.
The .Voniteur of to-day is as a table richly laid
out with Christmas presents to the generals and mi-
litary officers who helped to effect the romp trial.
Among the 15 generals of brigade raised to the rank
of general of division, are Rubel, who commanded
on the boulevards, when the indiscriminate slaughter
of unarmed citizens strewed the must frequented
pavement in Paris with the dead and wounded and
General Baguet, aide-de-camp of Louis Napoleon.
Among the colonels promoted to be generals of bri-
gades, are Scy, Duke of Elchingan, and other ardent
k.lyseans. Epaulettes and laced cocked hats arc
scattered with the profusion of bon-buns among the
crowd of armed suitors who besiege the Elysie.
You may remember that the Message, published
surreptitiously, some months back, a document con-
fided by M. earlier to M. Eugene Forrade, wherein
a certain M. Lemulier, representative of the Assem-
bly, was designated as having procured for a debtor
of his the office of director of the Gobelins, and of
going shares in the profits of the place. This M.
Lemulier, who is a elwf irsradron of artillery, is now
appointed to the command of the artillery of five
forts on the left bank of the Seine.

In consequence of the promotions just made among
the general officers, the following appointments tare
been made :—General Courant to the command of
the Ist subdivision of the lit military division of
Paris ; General &Alphonse to the command of the
Ist brigade of infantry of the 3rd division of the
army of Paris; General Repond to the command of •
the 3rd brigade of infantry of the 3rd division of the
army of Pans, and to the functions of inspector of the
school of exercise firing; General Partonneaux
to the command of the brigade of cavalry
of the lit division of the army of Pans;
General Duplaix to the command of the 3rd sub-
division of the Ist military division, at Orleans;
General Poilloue de St. Mars to the command of the
2nd subdivision of the 3rd military division, at Nancy ;
r General &Rogues to the command of the 2nd sub-
division of the Oth military division, at Grenoble;
General Muvran to the command of the 3rd sub-
division of the 7th military division, at Avignon ; 1
General Bourgourd de Lamarre to the command of
the 211 d subdivision of the 12th military division, at
, Rochelle ; and General I'cyssard to the command
of the 2nd subdivision of the 13th military division,
at Bourget.
I By decree of the President of the Republic tilt-en
generals of brigade arc raised to the rank of general
of division, and 20 colonels to the rank of general of
brigade. The following arc the names of the new
generals of division :
Corbin, Dulfoure, Serea•iw, Ro?uet, I.e Pal., de Deur-
jolly de Sermaiu, tirand, iterbiduu, t, M ciiv. Rd-
Dulae, Repot, Aulas de Cuurtigis, Thiry, and Fur.y.
The following are the names of the colonels pro-
: meted to the rink of general of brigade :

/autui;ithat the Premier is in future to shape
and guide the foreign policy of the eountrv, and that
Lard ORANULL . E fact, only to dO the cour-