Northern Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1859-07-02 00:00:00

THE NORTHERN TIMES, SATURDAY, JULY 2, 1859

the issue of such a document, or the promotion of
the consequences that impend, can evade the respon-
sibility or shield himself from it by casting the
blame upon others, or upon circumstances, or

I necessity, or systems, or principles, .or laws." No-
-1 there centres the responsibility ; and a most fearful

one it in

There was nothing very decisive, -either, it would
now seem, in the battle of Solferino. The Austrians
had the worst of it, and retreated ; but the Allies
were so completely cut up4hat they were unable to

advance upon them. The Austrians have, it is true,
since kept retiring, and the Allies, then, occupy the
positions they have abandoned. Lombardy is thus
being evacuated by its late Possessors, though only,
in all probability, to meet their foes with recruited
forces, and upon a battle-ground where they will
have advantages which have not yet been secured to
them. How much more blood, therefore, has yet to
be shed " for the glory of France," it were as impos-
sible as ever to tell ; and as to " the happiness of
peoples," we very much fear that it is further off
than ever.

that, in spite of such, the Ministry has the confidence
of th 6 country ! . r

The reply which our holiest and able contemporary
the Star has given to Lord JOHN RUSSELL'S superci-
lious sneer at Mr, BRIGHT is so forcible and just, while
it is so apposite to ou. present purpose, that we can-
not do better than transcribe it here, as the conclusion
to these cursory remarks on the present relative
position of the Whigs and the Liberals —"lord JOHN
RUSSELL'S reference at the Guildhall to the omissions

Ifrom the Cabinet was in the execrably bad taste so
often exhibited by his lordship as to make men sus-
pect he has at bottom but a mean and little soul.
His lordship thinks, forsooth, that though there may
be 'individual disappointment,' the selectiOn on the
whole is perfectly satisfactory. That is preciseli the
old. aristocratic Whig estimate alike of capacities and
services. Lord JOHN RUSSELL had himself, eleven
years ago, the opportunity of selecting an Adminis-
tration, and the selection Was such as to disgust the
'country and almost to break up the Liberal party.
When the time for reconstruction came round again,
his lordship found himself no more at the top. Ses-

sion after session
.he sank lower and still lower in

Parliamentary position and public influence, by the
coldness of his sympathy •withipopular sentiments
and the obstinate vigour of his attachment to party
traditions. The election of 1857 was a turning point
in his career. His opposition to the Conspiracy Bill
made hini once more a power in the House and a
favourite with the nation. His aaVooacy of Reform,
though marred by resistanc3 to the Ballot, was
appreciated and rewarded. He found no difficulty
in- obtaining the support of independent Liberals to
the movement he had concerted with Lord PALMER-

Mr. BRIGHT and Mr. GIBSON generously
abstained from embarrassing him by stipulations or
engagements. They spoke and voted in the division
which enabled the, old Whig leader' to cho6se his own
place in the new Government. He repays them by
passing a self-cOmplacent eulogy 'on the composition
of a Cabinet in Which Mr. GIBSON has a place far
below his merits, and by sneering' at*Mr4RIGHT as
disappointed;'• because his friends have insisted on
asking why he. of all men was not invitethinto a
Reform and Peace Administration: This, we say, is'
the old high-bred Whig notion of, gratitude and, good
fellowship. Perhaps -we ought to describe it as
something worse. Lord JOHN RUSSELL must know
perfectly well that no man is less desirous than-Mr.
BRIGHT. of being, the Government—and if the-
intensity of his class egotism
,Would allow him tt,
observe public opinion, he.would know, too, that no
man's exclusion has caused so much disappointment
to the country. It was not to be expected of Lord
Miiiv that he would-make himself an open exception
to the prejudices of his, order. Nothing less than a
political new birth can convert a RUSSELL into the
cordial, colleague of men of the people. But he might
at least have abstained from sneering at those by
whose help he' has risen, and whose great object he
professes anxiety to promote."

MR. COBDEN IN OFFICE,

The return home of Mr. COBDEN created quite a
sensation, it appears, in what is eommonly.;called
't the ministerial circles.'!- In the Cabinet itself, of
course, the 'excitement was the, most intense ; for it
is there that his influence will be most acutely felt—
perhaps =there that 'it is already :most strongly
dreaded. But his appointment was a political
• necessity, which Lord PALMERSTON found he could
not get over. He could. not have Mr. MILNER
, •
GIBSON, it is understood,•,without him. One's great
wonder is, that Mr. BRIGHT was not stipulated for,
also. Probably at first he was ; only, finding that
there were insurmountable personal objections to the
• hon. member for Birmingham, if - was thought
expedient, not to insist upon his admission into the
Cabinet, or even into office at all. No. satisfactory
,
reason has been given for his exclusion—none, we
dare say, can :be givp ; for personal prejudices, in.
such a case, are no sufficient excuse. Yet the matter
is mysterious on other ground:, than that.-which; is
really no ground at all. For, according to a state-
ment which has emanated, we believe, from Mr.
Bitiomr's friends, " some days before any list of the
new Government appeared, Mr. BRIGHT, for the
first time in his life, received a letter froin to.rd
PALMERSTON, expressing his regret ~that he
could not make. him. an offer . of a seat in the
Cabinet, and concluding by begging that Mr..
BRIGHT would call on him at an.hour named in' the
note. From ac-,idental circumstances, Mr. BRIGHT
did not get LorePALMERSTON's letter till after the,
hour. named, when he immediately 'wrote him ex-
plaining the circumstance, and saying that, as he had
arranged to leave -town for Lancashire, on
.the
following day, he would not have an opportunity of
calling on his 'lordship. • Mr. BRIGHT did accor-- -
dinglY--leave, town,' and .he never, in any way
whatever, directly or indirectly, indicated to Lord
PALMERSTON, or any one else, a desire to enter the
Government, and that no explanation has ever b een
received by him from Lord PALMERSTON of his
reason for writing the letter, or the object for which.
he was desirous of meeting Mr. BRIGHT." Such, we
say, is the account that has been given, apparently
by someone who knows all about it. Of Course, as
Lord PALMERSTON " could not make him an offer of
'a seat in the Cabinet "—where, if anywhere, he
deserved to be, —it was not of very much consequence
that he should seethe Premier : more especially as
it would be out of the question his lordship offering
him a Peerage, as he did others to whom, though
from'different reasons, he could not offer seats in the
Cabinet. But to Mr. COBDEN, it would seem, there
was .:46t the same 'antipathy; while there was an.
Urgency in the requisition for his presence which
could not safely be dispensed with at such a
.moment.

Mr. COBDEN'S remark to the deputation which
waited upon him, immediately after his arrival here
on Wednesday, that, having received a letter from
Lord PALMERSTON, who, in the most frank and
courteous spirit, offered him the appointment, his
own answer to that letter was due in the first place
to his lordship ; and that such answer would depend
upon what he should consider as the interests of the
people, after he had made himself acquainted with
the actual state of the case ; was in all respects most
judicious and becoming, and his friends here could
not fail, upon reflection, to be satisfied with it as a
reply to their anxious addresses to him, in the
peculiar circumstances in which he was placed.
Certainly to Lord PALMERSTON,
first of all, was it
due that he should communicate his mind upon the
important offer that was, as lie acknowledged, so
frankly and courteously made to him by his lord-
ship ; and Mr. Cobden lost no time in doing so.
There is P 41160 for apprehension, that the

presence of one so decidedly at issue with the head
of the Administration, and with probably a majority
of its other members, upon several very vital questions,
will not conduce to its stability or its permanency.
A Ministry to be stable, and therefore settled, must
be a united one. Now, upon the two more- imme;
diate subjects of our foreign policy,—including, as it
must now, our defensive attitude,—and of Parlia-
mentary Reform, there really cannot be expected
to be much community of feeling between Mr.

COBDEN and the majority of the Cabinet. So long
as the Government remained neutral, and also
refrained from providing such increased armaments
as the threatening aspect of Europe may still
require, there might be a chance, perhaps, of a
constrained concurrence in some general policy with
regard to foreign affairs; and so long as a subject
like that of Parliarnantary Reform' could be staved
off, on which, one would think,. there must be most
irreconcilable diffn.ences of opinion, both as to
principles and details, between Mr. COBDEN and
the same majority,—there might be hope of their
avoiding divisions and dissensions in our home
politics. But as both those comprehensive subjects
must force themselves upon their immediate atten-
tion, escape from a fatal rupture would seem to be
impossible.

We quite agree with the remark of an indepen-
dent amiable contemporary, that "if `Zr. Con EN
would really consent to . ad.minist

an important

department we are far from saying that the country
would not derive advantaga from his SdiviOes
we are quite sure that he himself would derive
a good deal more,"—for "both he and Mr,
BRIGHT retrrlin second-class politicians in spite
of their Parliamentary eminence, from the
want , of the- capacities which are conferred
by the practical conduct of
"the limitations of political theory

affairs

which are

imposed by the necessity of carrying one's view,
into practice would' suggest themselves to Mr

OOBDEN after a single year of office, and we. should
have the able member of Parliameat and dexterous

hustings-orator converted by degrees into a valuablc

statesman ; While there is nothing in his antecedent
which disqualifies Mr. COB'D EN for great

career

administrative sae

But then there is the

consideration of questions of policy, general and
particular, in the Cabinet ; and these would be the
rocks on which they would split. Were Mr.

COBDEN to confine his attention to the Board of
Trade, it would be 0113 thing. To act as a politician,
in the Cabinet and in the House, is another and a
very different thing. And it is in these two

latter positions that the mischief may arise

" GAZETTE" NEWS,

—Lord Foley to be Captain of the
Corps of Gentlemen at Arms. Earl of Dude to be Captain
of the Yeomen of the Guard. Sir W. Dunbar to be Keeper
of the Privy Seal of- the Prince of Wales. Lord A. Paget
to be Chief Equerry to Her. Majesty. Earl Apencer to be
Groom of the Stole to the Prince Consort. 46 Quarter-
Masters who entered half-pay previous' to the Crimean
war, and had completed a service of thirty years, have been
appointed to the honorary rank of Captain. To be Consuls
to the King of Sardinia : Mr De La Rue at Liverpool, and
Mr. Bilton at Newcastle.