The Northern Daily Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1856-11-29 00:00:00

qt:4 It;11

A WEEK LATER FROM
AUSTRALIA.:,':

THE MINISTERIAL CRISIS IN NEW
SOUTH WALES.

ale Royal Mail packet ship, Cyclone, hasarrived
in the Channel, and landed her letters and papers
Off Deal. She sailed froth the city of -SYriney on'
the 3rd of Sept., to which date our files extend.
The intelligence by this arrival informs us that the minis-
teriarctisis in New South Wales had bloiViibier,'end-tbat.
Mr. Cowper had succeeded in forming a ministry, the mem-
bers of which had again addressed their respective constitu-
ents for re-election, having vacated their seats by the
acceptance of office under the crown. The address of the
new Prime Minister sets forth as his main reason for
accepting office; lest the fact of his declining the task of
forming a government should lead to the inference that
there was not in the colony the means of working a par-
liamentary gov.erument. He promised to introduce those
useful and salutary reforms so long needed, and which the
form of government the colonists now possessed, if honestly
worked out, would enable them to + ffect. The follewing
are the-names of the new ministry :
Mr. Chas. Cowper, Colonial. Secretary.
Mr. James Martin, Attorney General.
Mr, T. A. Murray, Laud and Public.Worka: •
Mr. R. Campbell, Treasurer.
The latest dates do not furnish the name of .the, new
solicitor general, and various rumours were afloat as to
Who that gentleman would be. The-Legislative Assembly
had adjourned till Wednesday, September 24, in order to
give full time for the re-election of the new' Cabinet.
A meeting of the friends
.and supporters of the new
premier, and Mr. Campbell, the treasurer, had been held
in Sydney to secure their -re-election. The chief speaker,
Mr. Parks, justified the course pursued in orinciailien to the
Donaldson ministry. The resignation of that cabinet he
regarded as nothing but a plot intended to carry cut, other
schemes of that faction. -•
The fah-wing is the summary of the week's news, in the
Sydney Morning Herald, of September 1 :—Tuesday
witnessed the resignation Of the Dsnahlson ministry, and
the formal installation of the Cowper-Martin administra-
tion. The members of the new ministry were not in their
places, and etiquette,, no doubt, kept their supporters off
the ministerial benches with one exception—'dr. Pid-
dington—who,.' without the' least hesitancy, possessed
himself of the exact spot hitherto occupied by the member
for Parramatta, Mr. H. W. Parker. There was something
characteristic about it, and something indecent, too; but
Mr. Piddington will be excused, for he has dubbed himself
a true patriot, and, no doubt, sitting! aline as he did, he felt
all the weight of ministerial responsibility and ministerial
greatness. Above that spot ought -tit be inscribed—t. Here
sat Atlas !" The opposite benches were closely packed
with the supporters of the late ministry, it might have
been, as a demonstration, if so, a most effective one ;
but the most noticeable feature was, that Mr. Parkes—
with that modesty for which he at all times gives
himself credit—took his seat as usual on the Op-
position side of the House, as if by his presence
there to nullify the effect of a demonstration. The two
galleries were crowded with spectators, as-well as that part
of the floor of the house devoted to strangers. Mr. D maid-
son briefly stated what had been done since the last meeting
of the assembly. Mr. Jones moved that the seats of
Messrs. Cowper, Martin, Campbell, and Murray become
vacant; afterwards, the adjournment of the house until the
16'h of September. The adjournment was nut and carried
in dead silence—the whole scene wore a funeral aspect,
and many of the members (the uncertain supporters) still
lingered about the benches, as if anxious to converse, but
not knowing how to begin: No sooner was it announced
that Mr. Cowper bad succeeded in forming a ministry, and
the names submi,ted to the public—and received by that
public with almost universal cansternation—than steps were
taken to place Mr. Deas Thomson and Mr. Mort in opposi-
tion to Messrs. Cowper and Campbell in the forthcoming
election. Mr. Cowper seized on office with avidity; the
attorney-generalship was hawked about and rejected,
and, as a last resort, was offered to Mr. James Martin, and
accepted by that gentleman ; the office of solicitor general
is ptit up to auction ;—it has, it' report be true, been offered
to some of the juniors of the bar, and thus that positi n
which is England or America can only .113 reached after
years of toil and trial, is going a begging for an incumbent.
Mr. Cowper is anxious to serve the, country ; if his services
were valuable at any time, it was when reseonsible.governs
meat first came into oPeration. He was offered an honour-
able place in the cabiret on honoureble terms, and at nq
sacrifice of his political opinions; but lie was act patriot
enough to sink his ambition in the e onmon welfare of
his country. He discarded all overtures made to him with
jesuitical cunning, and lent himself to a faction as a means
of securing the position for which his heart yearned
thus, the cessation of public business, and the probable
protraction of the session for months beyond the proper
time, may result from the conduct of the.late
first led by Mr. Cowper, and then by Mr. James Martin.
It is rumoured that the present ministry have been prepay

ing their measures for some time past ; if this be true, it is
clear that nn sense of justice to their opponents, no regard
for public policy, or the advancement of public interests,
entered into the premeditated factious opposition which
they led against.the late administration. Apart from this,

the e:mstructi,,n of the present cabinet is ohketionable in
—the finance densrtment t 9 Mr. Campbell! trade
may ! It would be an i

llt to the common-

he country to note the diAqualification of. its
'or the offices which . they are to fill. A

ministry s- mongrel in its character—so humiliating
to its author—stands before the country for the con-
fidence of the people. Public meetings of the sunnorters

of Mr. Thomson, and also of M
Campbell, have been held during _ we, k.
Wednesday evening last, a meeting, numerously attention
was hell at the Exchange hotel—during the proceedings,
it was noticed that Mr. Parkes was in the room, and he was
loudly called for. It would seem as if the honourable mem-
ber for Sydney hid himself in some out4of-theTvvav corner,
until tbe proper time came for exhibiting himself to his
ardent. admirers—he` studies the personal characteristics
of Cromwell, as delineated by C trlyle, and, though cer-
tainly, without -any of Cromwell's talent, imitateiithe old
Puritan as welt as he can—is abrupt, and purposelyboorish
—professesses not to care a fig for that on which- his
very political existence is at stake; yet, beneath all,
this, he is fickle—if any member of the house, during
a debate, shall pass a slight enlogium on his con-
duct, the next minute will find him beside that
member, in close and pumping conversation. On
Wednesday evening, Mr. Parkes was the spokesman—he
eulogised r. Cowper's administrative ability— he spoke in
high terms of that which every one knows, Mr. Campbell's
integrity ; but be had not the effrontery to mention Mr.
Martin's name, although that gentleman occupies the second
place in the ministry, and the first at the bar. The reason
is obvious ; he dared not risk his - popularity on the
avowal of his concurrence in that appointment. Following
in the wake of Dr. Lang be attacked the tnnnied men ;
if they do not think with him, they are making fortunes
to spend elsewhere—to buy the estates of decayed
noblemen in England.' To this calumny 'Mr. Mort, on
the following day, gave. a manly and indignant refutation.
Mr. Parkes accuses the Donaldson ministry with resigning
without sufficient grounds, and in the 'same breath he
urges that they had not the confidence of the, country.
The ministry, it is admitted on all hands,..were compelled
to succomb to an opposition obnoxious to the country and
its best interests, and carried beyond the stretch of human
endurance. In the requisition presented to Mr. Thomson
the citizens have spoken out ; the number of signatures
attached to that requisition in so short a time is an un-
mistakable evidence of popular disgust at the late pro.
ceedines on the part of the members of the Cowper gartin
administration, Had Mr. Thomson consented to become-a
candidate for the repre4entation of the city, no one doubts
his return ; as it is, the existence of the ministry in its
present shape is only delayed a few weeks.

srs. COWDE
the

Mr. Martin's Privilege Bill has just been published.
Amongst other things it infringes on.tbe liberty of the press
and the freedom of the subject. The Habeas Corpus Act is
set aside. The bill provides that—" It shall not be 14wful
for the Supreme Court of New South Wales' or any judge
thereof, or for any other person to er quire byhabeas corpus,
or in any other manner, into the propriety of any warrant
of commitment issued by either of the said houses ; and it
shall in a'l cases be a good, valid, and conclusive return to
any writ of habeas carp's, to bring up the body of way per-
son that such person is detained by virtue of such warrant
ae aforesaid ; and in any action brought on account orany
arrest, trespass, or imprisonment as aforesaid, -it
shall be a good plea in bar to such action
that such arrest, trespass, or imprisonment took
place by virtue of a warrant issued by either
of- the said houses." In May's Practice of Par-
liament the following occurs :--'6 The , Habeas . Cor-
pus • Act is, binding upon all persons whatever
who have prisoners in their custody; and it is therefore
vuipetent for the judges to have before them persons com-
mitted by the Houses of Parliament for contempt. There
have been cases, indeed, in which writs of habeas corpus
have been resisted ; but this arose from the contests raging
between the two Houses * • It has since been the
invariable practice for the Sergeant-at-Arms, and others,
by order of the House, to make returns to writs of habeas
corpus." And again, Lord Ellenborough, in delivering
judgment:in the case of Burdett v. Abbott, says, "If a COM-
mitmetrt•appeared to be for contempt of the House, I would,
neither in the case of that Court, or any other
if the. Superior Courts enquire further ; but if it did
not profess to commit for contempt, but for some matter
appearing on the return, which could by no reasonable
intendment be considered as a contempt of the court com
miming, but a ground of commitment palpably
dently arbitrary, unjust, and contrary to every principl
of positive law, or natural justice;
I say, that in the Cas
pf such a commitment, (if it ever should occur ) we mil
look at it and act upon it as j istice may require, fr
whatever court it may profess to have proceeded "
clause extracted from Mr. Martin's Bill, would,
case were to occur, place it beyond the power of the judg:.
to " apt upon it as justice may require." Again,

end evt

f such a