The Express.
London, England, 1859-07-02 00:00:00

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LONDON. ItATUJIDAY JULY 2.

Wen the reseals are tally known and fairly
weighed which have led Mr. COPOZN to decline the
°Mir of a m4t in the present Cabinet, every ma•
who values personal independence and gingkoes' of
purpose in our public men will feel that the gifted
and upright Member for Rochdale has acted is •
manner every way worthy of him. Buse woe invi-
tation more appropriately conceived or MOM greaa•
fully conveyed. The office kept open for his so.
ceptaace until he should have returned from
abroad was the one which of all others he bad
proved his paramount Wafts to fill. Why it was not
placed at his option twelve years ago, when the
emancipation of trade was still new, we need not
now inquire. As a fitting recognition of the great
services he had rendered to the industry of his
country that would have been peculiarly acceptable
in the eyes of the nation at large. Though late, it
was right and wise to repair that omission ; and we
must do Lord PALMLI:STON the juiticei of saying
that we believe nothing could be better done than the
proffer made by him to Mr. CoulieN by letter of the
Presidency of the Board of Trade. Nor was this all.
From all sides upon his landing in England
he wu beset with public recommendations as well

as private counsels to join the Administration. The
men of his own class, with whom he had so long
toiled and striven for the advancement of high and
noble aims, pressed round him to say how gratified
they would be to see him, as the representative man
of their clam, assuming his legitimate place in the
councils of the Executive. Family and personal
friends added the expression of their hopes. What
in the nature of inducement could man have more?
Far from giving way to hasty impulse, Mr. COBDEN
desired time for reflection and opportunity to consult
his own thoughts as to what course he melt, in
the interests of the people, whose I►ft►fal sortant
he so !mg Ma bee's, under all the cfreamsts.nees to ,
take. We do not believe that in his own mind there I
was any real indecision. His first impression was
probably the last one, and, we have no doubt, the
right one ; but, in deference to the many and
urgent instances of those he loves and trusts, a man'
of erase will never refuse to re-consider calmly and
deliberately the reasons they would have him weigh.
Herein, and herein only, we believe the delay
which was permitted to take place in the hon. Mem-
ber's receipt of the l'anstaa's letter, and the visit
to Cambridge-house yesterday, in the course of
which be excused himself from joining the Admi-
nistration.

Here, however, we must pause for a moment to I
express the surprise and regret with which, in com-
mon with every friend of Mr. COUDEN, we read the
extraordinary language reported to hare fallen from
• leading member of the Cabinet in the Upper
Hones on Thereday evening. While the Presidency
of the Board of Trade was still waiting the hon. gen-
tleman. acceptance, the Duke of Newt %WILE did not
hesitate to use expreseions which, if we understand
them correctty, amounted to little short of • warn-
ing to Mr. COktDEN to enter the Cabinet at the peril
of his consistency se • public man. In reply to a
silly taunt from so inexpert a critic as his
Grace of RCTLAND, the SICRITART for the COLONILI
opeured the Hum of Lords that if Mr. COBDIX
joined the Government it would be with the Mod
understanding not only that existing armaments
should be maintained without any diminution, bat
that they should be largely increased as mania'
might reignite; in other wards, that he was to he
regarded as taking office, not es an equal among
equals in • newly constructed Cabinet, when ►is
advice, like that of others, should be fairly considered
relent quantum, bet as on. who, Wag haunt to
entertain strong opinions u to economy sod re-
treinclimeet, would only be suffered to edge
his way in on condition that he left those
opinions at the door' A more ill-timed es
ungracious intimation to a proposed colleague we
certainly never remember to have heard of. We
cannot venture to 'ermine that it made any practical
difference in the determination eventually come to
by the Member for Rochdale; but had he been
wavering, we can conceive few things more calcu-
lated to do so. The PM* cheered, of course, the
Duke of Nr. set %ma's words. Why Not that
they derived from them any greater confidences that
the defences of the country would be efficiently kept
for upon that subject the current of pnbille
opinion runs so strong just now that the mat
bellicose of their lordships may be at saes esosera.
iag Nests and armaments adequate to meet all emer-
gent:dew. It wee the application of the principle to
Mr. Costixte as an intruder within the privileged
circle of official power that they thoughtlessly and
recklessly cheered, and it is therefore we feel called
on to mark it in the strongest terms.

Could any feeling have overcome Mr, COBDEN./
Obp'ettolli to taking office at the present time, it
would have been, we are convinced, his earnest wish
to see clan seclusion and monopoly broken down.
Sir HOLIEST l'lst. made it his highest boast that be,
the son of • cattoci-eptnner, bad been sent for from
Rome Its be made Prime Minister of England.
With squall pnde might the Manchester Maas-
fosterer may that, while yet on the other side of
the Atlantic, be had been designated not only by the
highest confidential counsellors of the Crown, but by
the public voice of his country as the fittest man to
whom could be confided the Imperial portfolio of
commerce. Hit it is one thing to feel proud of a
nation's efictidruce, and it is another to he intoxi-
cated therewith. Every man worthy of natural
respect most be left the unshackled liberty of
judging how he can honestly and consisteally
serve the State. The faithful servant of
the people is not the slave of their
flattering and it may be undeserving caprice. Mr.
Coi,PEN was very unpopular not long ego; but be
was not swayed thereby into compromising his lode-
pendent hearing: he is just se popular now, and be
has proved that he cannot be land by honours and
emoluments into a position of which he would other-
wise be proud, when he does not clearly see

his way to the retention of his ows scrupulous
seMrespect. Far from being disposed to exaggerate
points of con►cientious divergency between himself
end Minister', he has volunteered the expression of
his good wishes for their success, and his desire to
support them. But he his, after due deliberation,
made up his mind that upon the whole it is better
for them, for him, and for the interests of the public,
that he should not form part of Lord PALMERSTON'S
Administration; and that being his self-denying
twelve, we hare nothing to do but respectfully to
acquiesce in it.