The Express.
London, England, 1868-05-19 00:00:00

IS PUBLIAHZT)

EVERY EVENING.

.UINDON, TUESDAY, MAY 19.

THE LATEST MINISTERIAL CRISIS.

T. IL time has been when a ministerial crisis was
regal tied as an exceptional event. If it could not
eAuck Us on interest wed novelty with an earth-
quake, 411 r even with a comet, or a thunder-
storm in January, or a snowstorm in June,
it was • a periodical visitation sufficiently
rare in aszurrence to be contemplated and
chrunicle. i with a certain solemnity. Future
annolista sill probably remark that the week befogs
the Derby was .often perilous, though not always
fat &I, to Ministries, even in comparatively
quiet times. In th:e respect the present year
see. es to be only maintaining a tradition.
But in truth a new order of things
has a risen in this country. Under the government
of the • " Constitutional Party" a ministerial crisis'
it; beet, using as common a complaint as a cold in
the hea d. Nay, it is scarcely a complaint all. It
is more like a pugilistic incident, when one of the
combatan ta after a heavy blow or two goes down'
to avoid further punishment, and after a suck at
the sponge comes up again smiling. How long
this state of Mingo may last without impairing the
dignity of theZtecntive, or the authority of the
Parliament, without—to borrow a medical illustra-
tion—changing a merely functional disturbance into
organicmiachief, is &question we would rather leave
to the meditations of the "Constitutional Party."
Indeed some independent members of that party
appear to have hat patience Already, and to be sick
of humiliations which have not for them the orre-

sponding advantages of place and aver. It 'sap
easy for Tory seritlsmen belowVaise -psigwli
to be acrupuloas, punctilious, ' suseeptible,
proud, especially when a vote -lie iimajacilf
neitaib
has just extinguished their co tomelet. Ike
Rasmus, we daresay, was Sot • 'e, bat
night, to the highmindedness of those supporters
who pressed him to put an end at on. e to a
' factious opposition, and to his administration,
"by a bare bodkin." Doubtless he appreciates
this very Japanese advice of his too-devoted fol-
lowers. But is it not a little unreasonable, under
lexisting circumstances? For what is the obvious,
the notorious position of the present Government
lin the present House of Commons I It has always
, been a Government in a minority. Mr. BAILLIE
COCHRANE forgets this little fact when he attributes
the factiousness of the Opposition, during the last
I few weeks, to the disappearance of Lord Darter
from the Cabinet. How was Lord DERRY'S great
measure of Reform carried last year, if not by
, accepting the terms of this " factious Opposition" ?
Strange language in the mouth of a " Consti-
" tutionaliat," to call a parliamentary majority a
i factious Opposition, because it presumes to have
convictions and a policy of its own, and declines
Ito execute the mandates of the minority ! Last
year, Mr. DISRAELI was all for co-operating
with the House of Commons, and for pats-
' ing measures with its assistance and assent.
llt was only when, being still in a minority, he
struck out a policy of his own in defiance of the
House of Commons that the majority be-
came " factious " in self-de!'ence, if it be factious
in a majority to vote according to its principles.
Such being the case, it seems clear
that neither the vote on Mr. Ilaxre it's
instruction to the committee on the Scotch Re-
form Bill, disfranchising English boroughs con-
taining less than 5,000 inhabitants, nor the vote
on Mr. BOU % RIUE'S amendment cancelling the
ratepaying clauses of the Bill, has essentiallyl
altered the relations between the Government
and the House. There is but one way by
which even Mr. DISRAELI can conduct public
business in Parliament. He must accept the will
of the actual majority, even of the adverse majo-
rity, until he can get a majority of his own. With
respect to the Irish Church, he has acquiesced,
provisionally at least, in the decision of the majo-
rity, and, according to his own statement, it
was only on the Irish Church question that the
Crown had given him the option of resignation or
dissolution. Thve was no more reason why he
should stake his ministerial existence upon such
amendments to the Scotch Reform Bill as
those of Mr. Bacree, and Sir R. KNIGHTLEY, last
year, than upon any one of the amendments which
as Lord DERBY'S lieutenant he swallowed with so
good a grace a year ago. No principle was involved
in Mr. BA XTE R'S instruction which he had bound
himself to oppose. Indeed he had sanctioned
it in the Irish Reform Bill. Mr. Bouveme's
amendment, it is true, cancels the ratepaying
clauses which were repeatedly declared by several
ministers of Lord DERRY'S Government to be the
"vital principle" of the English Reform Bill. But aro
the circumstances and the conditions of the two
kingdoms so identical that what was the vital prin-
ciple of a Reform Bill in the one must be the vital
principle of a Reform Bill in the other ? The simple
fact that the Reform Bill for Scotland is a dis-
tinct measure from the Reform Bill for England
shows that the mode of legislation cannot ho the
same for both countries. The Scotch members who
rejected the ratepaying clauses last night repu-
diated in advance any party motive, and
I declared that they were acting on local grounds,
according to their discretion as representatives of
Scotch constituencies. It would, therefore, we
are free to hold, be perfectly compatible with
' the duty and relations of the present Ministry
towards the House of Commons to accept
the vote in favour of Mr. Dor veitic's amend-
ment (assuming it to be a final vote),
in deference to the majority of the representatives
of Scotland, without incurring any further loam of
self-respect. Although the departure of the Court
fur Balmoral may seem to be the usual signal
fur the resignation of a ministry, we do
not believe that the majority of the House of Com-
mons desire to cause her MAJESTY or her
MAJESTY'S Ministers so much unnec:ssiry incon-
venience when they exercised their fair judgment
upon a eause of the Scotch Reform Bal. On the
contrary, we believe the sincere desire of the House
and of the country to be no other than this—to
facilitate the despatch of the remaining business of
the session, and to enable the Government to appeal
to the new constituencies at the earliest oppor-
tunity.