Northern Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1860-01-26 00:00:00

should have succeeded in getting up anything of
a Reform agitation, and have made an almost
undebateable ground the battle-field of a
principle, which, yet, all Ware agreed upon,
is too anomalous and accidental a feature, in pre'
sent circumstances, to warrant his falling IT°'
such a chance, after the present fictitious neces-
sity has been satisfied. Can this anticipation of
the violent end about to be put to his occupation
be the motive that induced Lord JOHN to put his
hand to foreign affairs, and that at a very diffi-
cult and delicate crisis ? Yet here we have'
already had a taste of his quality, which at the'
time England by no means relished, and which
promised to disgust her-with the farrago of Itrs'
SELL diplomacy for all time to come. The great
"Heaven-born" reform minister.will be most of an
scrutinised jealously and suspiciously in this his
new avocation; and runs in it a special risk of mak.'
ing shipwreck of the fortunes of himself and party.
It is rather old to begin his apprenticeship to a
new service ; and he has chosen a subject where
it is generally more difficult to find or distort
topics which can be used for party purposes. It
is not impossible indeed to see a parallel betWeea
Whig treatment of the question of our foreign-
policy out of office and in, and their treat'
ment of questions of domestic policy, in the'
same circumstances. Preparatory to Whig-
Ministers taking in charge the subject of
' Reform, we know the uniformity with which.
Conservative Ministers have been carefully
branded with an obstructive arid anti-popular
reputation. Yet when, to a considerable extent
on the faith of a contrast between the cha-
racter of their opponents and their own, they
stept into office, we know just as well, and.
just as bitterly, the quiet oblivion to which
the " Great question" was eventually con-
signed, and Whigs went on doing merely what
Conservatives had not been charged with being-
unable to do as well. Such was the unworthy
artifice to. which Lord JOHN RUSSELL condeV
cended,—or rather adopted as a consistent part
of his tactics—when in opposition he assisted te'
build up a false theory, about Lord DERBY'S con-
duct of the foreign relations of the country.
With some weak-minded members, and with
some factious-minded members, and with some'
place-hunting members, and by the whole ser-
vile herd of imitators and men of second-rate
opinions, this was accepted or pretended as a pleat'
sufficient to turn the scale against the Derby'
Government, in the contest of feelings and doubts'
and scruples which the Conservative Reform Bill
occasioned. But what reverse of policy has die'
tinguished Lord JOHN RUSSELL'S conduct of our
Foreign relations ? Nay, he has been Wise'
enough to curry favour with the public, by ostent
tatiously professing adherence to the precedents
which his predecessor left him, and working out
the inheritance to which he succeeded. There
may be questions yet to suggest apprehension tc?"
the country on this grave subject,—a doubt to
which Mr. DISRAELI very properly gave expres-
sion on Tuesday night. But the only qu'eStion
that can arise is, whether the present Government
is strictly following out the 'course previous'f
laid down, and acting upon the policy, which, in-
Lord MALMESBURY'S hands, laid the fonndaticn
of our present proud and secure position among
the nations of Europe.

I Well ; the vague and cunning imputation upon`
Lord DERBY'S foreign policy turns out to ha's'o.
been a not over honest or over creditable pretend'
But, though the present Ministry's party sucee°
turned a good deal on this question at the tine'
the great turning point which has, as it Were'
extended its party aspect to the present session
of Parliament, is admittedly the qUestion of
Reform. Lord DERBY undertook the settlement
of this question with the best intentions; and not
only so, but devised a method for achieving 01'4
desirable result on solid and irrefragable princi-
ples. He addressed himself to the subject"
not indeed to one as involving some
disputed principle. This he left for the demo'
crats, and the preachers of " natural rights."
He treated it, as a wise and constitutional poli-
tician can alone treat it, as a question of details,
of removal of defects, and adaptation to altered
circumstances. It suited Lord JOHN RusgELl"
however, to bid for Radical support, by assuming'
for the nonce, the ( xtreme principle of refortnr
which is inconsistent with our institutions. And'
therefore, although the COnservative Bill took in s'
wide range of the incidental defects of our system,.
and of the growing capabilites of the country
and though it added to the constituency ns
large a number as the great bill of 1832 ;"
the uncandid and unconscientious tactician found
his only account in declaring: With preposterous
and affected earnestness that' the bill did nothing
—that the " great principle" was disregarded'
and by being disregarded, violated. The ft/0c
succeeded, and the question became important--
what means were contemplated for embracing
and carrying out the " great principle ?"
the Constitution to be revolutionised or not ?
What is this mighty difference between a re-
former of the Conservative and a reformer of the
Whig stamp ? Let England mark the answer. The
bill which, when Lord JOHN RUSSELL'S motive WO
to get into office on its ruins, was too bad to be'
amended, too bad for consideration in committee,'
for adaptation or alteration such as were invited''_
is spoken of by Mr. HENLEY, the seconder of
the A de.ress, on Tuesday, as forming the basis for
its competing and substituted measure ! Ancl
the great advantage of now compared with then
is, that "changes of this kind should be proposed
rather by their hereditary advocates than their
hereditary opponents." Therefore we find, after.
all, with fatal consistency, that the great ques-
- at the bottom of our political history, ns
still this ; not shall the country be governed
well ; but—shall certain great Whig-houses, Will"
Lord JOHN RUSSELL as their representative'
govern it ?