The Express.
London, England, 1868-02-27 00:00:00

HIGH WATYR AT LONDONBRINIII.

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Naricrs of Manly, MARRIAOIS, and DEATHS, are received
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LONDON, THURSDAY, FEB. 27.

LORD CAIRNS.

THE ingenious gentlemen who are assisting Mr.
Disarm.' is patching up his Administration, who
advise hint, morning and evening, either to keep
Lord STANLEY in the Commons or to send hint up
to the Lords, what to do with the Chancellorship
of the Exchequer, bow to dispose of Sir STAFFORD
NORTHCOTI, and to what account ho can best turn
Mr. WARD Horn, are engaged in a very harmless
amusement. There is a great deal of pleasure to
be derived from making imaginary fortunes with
other people's money ; and no less gratification
poems to be found by some persons in constructing
possible Cabinet& with another man's followers. In
the meantime, though on-lookers proverbially see
most deeply into the game, Mr. DISRAELI pro-
bably knows as well as any of his advisers how to
play his hand in the great political rubber in which
be has already made so many points. Without
speculating to-day on what will be known to-
morrow, we may take account hero of the one
fact which is already certain, and of the one con-
sequence from it which is inevitable. Lord
CHELMSFORD will quit the Woolsack ; and Lord
CAIKNI4 will take his seat upon it. The
career of the LORD CII•NCRLLOR elect is
a succession of parliamentary and forensic triumphs.
His twofold success at the bar and in the legis-
lature has been as complete as that of his
greatest predecessors, as rapid as Tuna-
Low's and &Dotes, more rapid than BROUGHAM'S
and LTNI/11131UST't. Among the great poli-
tical lawyers of the nineteenth century,
there is no name besides those which
we have mentioned which will bear comparison
with his. THURLUW touched the highest prize of
professional ambition at an earlier age by one year
than Lord Camas ; all the rest reached it later in
life. If we recollect the " many years of dreary
opposition," tq Vie Lori XamPYttTht'll touching
phrase, which delayed Lord CAIRNS'S advancement,
the swiftness of his triumph will appear the more
astonishing. THURLOW and Expos lived and won
their way during an almost uninterrupted nSginie
of that Toryism which they both professed. Lord
CAIRNS'S progress has been made during the
abort periods of Conservative power which have
broken the long rule of more or less Liberal
Governments. His success is a striking
proof not only of his own force of mind
and character, but of the intellectual poverty of the
Conservative party. It is as a politician, as a
debater, and as an adviser of the Crown, and not as a
lawyer, that his services are in something more
than request, in peremptory demand, on the part
of the Conservative chief. The Queves Govern-
ment cannot be carriodon in the Lords withouthint.
The acquiescence of a party, whose rank and tile are
persons of quality, in the leadership of a couple of
plebeian e with genius, show; the groat advance
Which has been made of late years even by the
upholders of exclusive privilege in the principles of
social equality. Brains are the great levellers in this
world. They abolish factitious distinctions
almost as completely as death does. Though
not nominally, Lord CAIRNS will be, in the ab-
sence of Lord &AWLS; really the Conservative
chief in the Peers ; and, with Lord &matey by
his side, would divide the honours of leadership
with the Foreign Secretary. The change is vast.
Three-quarters of a century ago, the Duke of
RICHMOND of that day wrote an angry letter to
Mr. Pin, protesting against the elevation of
WILLIAM Gamy/nut to the leadership of the
House of Lords, on the ground that it would
place the first place in both Houses in the
hands of two younger sons. This arrange-
ment, his G&W& went on to remark, would be a
slight on the peerage, which it could not be ex-
pected to brook, and which accordingly he took it
upon himself to resent on its behalf. Mr. Pirr,
however, held his way. Now the first place in both
Houses are oocupied by men who are not evenyounger
sons. Mr. Dissent and Lord CAIRN. are the
children of their own works. Taking into ac-
count the differences of society and manners, Mr.
DISRARLI'S Premiership and Lord CAIRNS'S posi-
tion in the House of Peers are as striking
vindication. of equality as ABRAHAM LINCOLN'S
Presidency of the United States.

Lord CAIRNS has shown the ablest qualities of a
politician, and consummate skill as a debater, but
he has yet to prove his possession of the greatest
gifts of a statesman or the earnestness of a
patriot. He has honourably won his way
to personal distinction. Politics and the bar
have been the two side-pieces of the ladder up
which he has climbed. If we were to judge of his
future by his past career, to conjecture his counsel'
as an adviser of tie Crown from his speeches in Par-
liament, we should augur ill from his entrance into
the Cabinet at a time when the Government of
Ireland is the critical (lunation of the hour. During
the whole of his Parliamentary life Lord
CAIKN has held a brisk for the aacendency
faction in that country. He has been the repro-
aentative of the Orangemen and ultra-Tories of
Belfast. Even now, as Chancellor of the Univer-
sity of Dublin, he is the natural champion and
patron of the educational monopolists of that
learned corporation. But many examples
have shown that great lawyers, when they have

gained all that their profession has to offer, are
sometimes willing to devote to patriotism
their maturer years and their freer actions.
We trust th►t Lord Ciners will emu-
late the growing liberality and wisdom
of Lord Lumaniurr's later_course, rather than the
ever-narrowing bigotry and deepening intolerance
which have made the name of Lord ELoos a by-
word. He has now to choose his path anew.