The Express.
London, England, 1868-05-05 00:00:00

THE EXPRESS, TUESDAY £, KING, MAY &,

tation of his audience. To a pest:timed ear *ere
is something different in the very tone of the
applause which welcomes him from that
which salutes other eminent members of the
House. It is like the encouragement with
which patrons of sport er the drama hail a joelay
whom they relyupon to win for them, sprite fighter
whom they have heavily backed, an actor in
whom they take interest. Mr. DISRAELI for
once found himself unable to maintain
" that no-meaning nothing-intending oounte-
" narioe," to use Mr. BRIGHT'S phrase, behind
which he veils the impulses of quick thought, of
eager ambition, and sensitive feeling. Do what he
would the muscles would move ; the smile could not
be kept back ; the countenance was lighted up
with satisfaction. It was evident that, for the
moment at least, he had played a winning
game. Mr. GLADSTONE'S entrance from the
opposite side of the house was hailed with
louder, and as it seemed, sincerer cheers
I than those which greeted his rival. The
preliminary business of the sitting occupied
ut a few moments. Mr. DISRAELI rose amid
I acclamations less impressive than the strained
attention and almost audible silence which
followed. Tedious as the statement was
with which he introduced his protracted
explanation, it had its artistic effect. It
I roused expectation to the utmost point.
The great art of the narrator is the creation of sus-
' pense. In this the PRIME MINISTER succeeded.
I He dexterously eintrived in the first half hour of
his speech to foreshadow an immediate dissolu-
tion. As he spoke the minds of his hearers
must have foreboded the worst. When the
crisis cane, the relief from painful
anxiety accompanied the satisfaction of a
dexterously stimulated curiosity. if the object of
these artifices was to prevent a too close
attention to the substance of the orator's
statement, and to the doubtful constitutional
character of the advice which ho had offered
to the SOVEREIGN, the device was momentarily
successful. Eulogies more or less deserved upon
Lord Am:Rion:l, Mr. GATHORNE HARDY, Lord
STANLEY, and Sir STAFFORD NORTHCOTE ; fear-
, fill pictures of a state of religious anarchy to be
followed by absorption in the ecclesiastical
depothini of Rome, which would ensue as the
result of disestablishing the Irish church ; tributes
to the disinterestedness of Lord DEsiiv and him.
self, as shown in 1852 and 1859, and other
irrelevant matter, occupied by far tlw greater
part of Mr. DISRAELI'S statement. When he came
to the advice which he had offered to the QuieN,
subsequent to the vote of Friday morning, his
narrative was jejune and ambiguous. The idea
which it conveyed to the House did not correspond,
as it afterwards proved, with the facts of the case.
The impression made on Mr. Gtansros s.'s mind
evidently was that her MAJESTY had refused
her consent to a dissolution of Parliament until
the new constituencies could be called into
existence, but that she had expressed her desire
that the necessary business of the session should
be hastened, in order that an appeal to
these new constituencies might be made this
tear a course which, Mr. DISRAELI inti-
mated, was practicable. But for rinioers
of what had passed a little earlier in another
place exciting the suspicion of honourable
members, the real facts might not have been
known. Lord MstmEset-ia, who appears to have
learned his lesson more carefully than is usual
with him, declared that her MAJESTY had inti-
mated her unwillingness to accept the resignation
of Ministers, and her readiness to dissolve
Parliament as soon as the state of public
business should allow. Lord GREY attacked
as unconstitutional the doctrine that the
defeat of the Ministry justified appeal to the
country on the ground of its personal claims
to office. This position, which he broadly stated,
uas proved to demonstration in the Boise of
Commons by the precedents and the absence of pre-
cedents referred to by Mr. GtAnsroNE. But the
question has given place to one far graver. Minis-
ters have not dissolved, as they contend they
! might have done, on the vote of Friday morning.
They have not accepted the position of a Govern-
, ment ad interim, bowing to the will of the majo-
' rity, and existing by its sufferance until the
preliminaries of a general election, under
the Reform Bills of England, Ireland, and Scot-
: land, can be completed. They hold office with a
permanent permission from her MAJESTY to dis-
solve at any time that may seem good to them.
The Ministry does not exist, so long as it has
the confidence of Parliament. The Parliament
will exist so long as it has the confidence
of Ministers. " The result," said the Duke of
ItirumoNe, "is that we still occupy the same
" position we did before, and intend to conduct
" the affairs of the country so long as we are able
" to do so, and in the event of any difficulties
" arising, her MAJESTY was graciously pleased to
" state that she would make no objection to a dis-
" solution of Parliament. It, of course, will depend
" upon the state of affairs whether that dissolution
"shall be a dissolution under the existing consti-
" tuency, or whether it shall be a dissolution under
" the new constituency to be formed under the
" Reform Act ; but her MAJESTY was graciously
" pleased to state that she would make no objec-
" tion to either course being adopted. by
" her advisers whenever they should see fit to
" tender to her MAJESTY that recommendation."
This, then, is the posture of affairs. The prin-
ciples it involves are obvious. The at-
tempt is made to degrade the House of
ICommons into a court for registering the
edicts of a Minister in a minority, under penalty
of a dissolution and appeal t) constituencies
whose moral incompetence has been affirmed by
the very man who proposes now to recognise their
competence. The keen penetration of Mr. Lowe, Mr.
AYETON'S legal acuteness, Mr. BOUVERIE'S know-
ledge of Parliamentary forms, and the massive
moral force of Mr. BRIGHT'S eloquence were never
more happily displayed than in exposing the
real character of this manoeuvre. The House
of Commons will not tamely submit to coercion.
It will take its awn course. Mr. Chauwrows will
press on unwaveringly with the business he has in
hand. Mr. DISRAELI has won many victories,
but he was never more ill-advised than when he
entered into a conflict with the House of Commons,
and strove to wield against its undoubted rights
the induence of the Crown.

wretched lives were they ever conscious of their
follies. As aMe they mesa well, and we&
meaning men are systematic self-deeming,.
Their vanity is usually in excises of their
ambition. If they were more astute they
would be bolder and less scrupulous. But
fate seems to have decreed that in every con-
juncture of moment they shall lay themselves open
to the reproach of always saying foolish things and
never doing wise ones. Thus it has fared with the
Earl of MALIUNINIAY. He repeatedly misuses
opportunities by which a stronger man would have
profited. Nor dues he ever venture upon a bold
course of action, which, if it might expose him to
censure, would at lest testify that he was
a man of courage and originality. His worst
mistakes are but trivial ; it is their number
which renders them intolerable. Although
his shortcomings are accepted as matters at
which it were absurd to cavil, yet they provoke
the smile which is more contemptuous than a re-
buke. DANTE would have classed him among the
unfortunates who had done neither good nor evil,
whom it would be criminal to punish and impos-
sible to reward.

When the secret history of this age shall be
disclosed, an answer will be discovered to the per-
plexing question—Why was Lord MALMESBURY
appointed Secretary for Foreign Affairs ? He
had displayed no special capacity fur the office.
His reputation for general ability stood
at zero. It is true that his grandfather had
been a distinguished diplomatist, having fairly
earned a peerage by his long and valuable services
to the state. He had edited his grandfather's
papers ; but, although it was once thought seemly
to make a clergyman a bishop on account of his
acknowledged skill in editing Greek plays, yet the
mere fact of editing the correspondence of a de-
ceased ambassador has not hitherto been accounted
la conclusive test of fitness for such a post as that
Ito which the Earl of MALMESBURY was appointed
by Lord DERBY. Possibly, the circumstance that
the untried FOREIGN SECRETARY was intimately
• acquainted with the present Emperor of
the FRENCH may have turned the scale in
ihis favour. But neither the fame of his grand-
father nor the friendship of Louis NAPOLEON
proved serviceable to tho Earl of MALMESBURY in
the hour of trial. Uncomplimentary comparisons
were provoked between himself and his illustrious
ancestor. Damaging suspicions were aroused with
regard to his truckling to France. When the
Empire was proclaimed he precipitate'y recog-
• nised the new Emperor. Not satisfied with send-
ing an official despatch, he pronounced in the
House of Lords what seemed to be a eulogy on
the successful, because unscrupulous, adventurer,
and he congratulated the French people on
having chosen so capable a man to rule over then,.
No language could be more emphatic or more un-
becoming than hie studied and elaborate phrases.
What pleased him the most was the apparent unani-
mity of the French people, that "three times, in the
" most solemn possible manner, three times have
" they expressed a wish for the same person in
1" the most public manner of a hich perhaps history
" can furnish an example . . . . first
" as simple President of the French Republic,
" with a Chamber ; secondly, as absolute
" President of the French Republic, without any
" constitutional system of government ; and
" thirdly, as Emperor of the same people
" —first elected by 6,000,000, next elected
"by 7,000,000, and lastly, elected by nearly
" 8,000,000—a number that would form almost
" tho entire adult male population of France.
1" The present is not the time to speculate
" upon the reasons for this extraordinary
" expression of sentiment and conviction on the
" part of the French people." Lord MALMESUCRY,
in his anxiety " cordiflly and with pleasure to
" acknowledge the decided will of the French
" nation," omitted to take into account the trickery
of which it was the dupe and the physical force
by which it had been coerced.
After making these partisan and unstatesman-
like remarks he characteristically disclaimed any
intention of producing the impression which was
the natural consequence of his language. On Lord
CANNING rcmonstratingwith him for the indecorous
comments he had made, he replied, " It may be
" that I have not been accustomed to address your
"lordships sufficiently often adequately to express
"my meaning." Since then ho has had greater
practice ; yet be still labours under the defect of
saying what he does not mean, or of meaning
what he forgets to say. If ambiguity of utterance
be the best qualification for acting as leader of the
House of Lords, then, as occupant of that digni-
fied position, Lord MALMESBURY is rightly placed.
Upon again receiving the seals as Foreign Secre-
tary he undertook a task, in 1858, under which a
really able Minister might have succumbed. Nolittle
tact was requisite in dealing with the problem
raised by Italy when she resolved upon conquering
her independence in order to achieve unity. Eng-
land did not desire to embark in the contest, yet
the majority of our countrymen heartily sympa-
thised with the Italians. It was thought, but, as
the event proved, without justice, that Lord
MALMERBURY was strenuously engaged in encourag-
ing and aiding Austria. Instead of this, he
really endeavoured to stave off war by bring-
ing about an amicable solution of the questions
at issue ; unfortunately, however, conciliation had
become an impossibility, and the arbitrament of the
sword was the sole resource of the disputants.
Although ho be not chargeable with actively running
counter to popular feeling, yet he is blameworthy
for refraining from lending the moral support of
the government to the side which the people openly
favoured. He did not inspire general confidence.
It was apprehended that some slip of his might at
any moment commit this country to an objection-
able course of policy. Even his own party did not
heartily approve of his conduct. Many Tories were
imbued with the traditional liking for Austria, and
regarded the Italian movement as one of those
revolutionary attempts which it behoved other
nations to discountenance, and, if necessary, to
repress by sheer force. It was tacitly understood,
after the resignation of Lord DERBY in 1859, that
should he ever again be Premier Lord MALMESBURY
would not resume his place at the Foreign-office.
Consequently, no one thought it strange when in
1866 another and subordinate place was found for
him in the Ministry. What has excited more
wonder is that, when Mr. DISRAELI suoceeded to
Lord DERBY'S office, he should have entrusted the
leadership of the Upper House to the Earl of
MALIIISBURY. Our children, when they read the
memoirs of our prominent contemporaries, will
understand why this occurred. All that we
can now do is to confess and lament our bewilder-
ment.

Those who employ a weak man to do what is
1 beyond his strength are more blameworthy than
lie who makes the attempt and fails. Besides,
it is the misfortune of Lord MALICE:MIRY to
have been raised to high office without the necessary
preliminary training. Hewes but a brief swain the
House of Commons, so that he had few opportu-
nities for gaining the practical knowledge of
politics which long experience in that House is
calculated to afford. Lies fortunate than his

flumes ebiosstsr, he was born in the pprple. The
Seat Hari was a man whose energy wab *molded
by the prospect of rising in the social scale. He
wrote in 17731-1' I am resolved to posh on in
my comer as long es I see a round at the ladder
" whisk is within my oompass to mount." As
heir to an earldom he would not have acted in this
spirit. With every path smoothed for him, he
might not have been tired with the ambition of
treading any of them. The Earl of MALMISSURY
as a commoner would never have been ap-
pointed Foreign Secretary. In his person is exem-
plified the appositeness of SYDNZY SMITH'S observa-
tion that " the most useless and offensive tumour
" in the body politic is the titled son of • great
" man whose merit has placed him in the peerage.
" The name, faoe, and perhaps the pension, re-
" main. The diemon is gone ; or there is a
" slight flavour from the cask, but it is empty."