Northern Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1857-12-17 00:00:00

THE PRINCIPLE OF GOVERNMENT.

That great Executive Department of the Circumlocution
Office, known by the name of the Imperial Parliament,
had no sooner met, than it commenced the chief labour of
its existence—How Nov TO D) IT! Pursaaat of this
admirable design, it proceeded to consider the subject _of
the Indian Mutinies, as a theme best calculated to " make a
mess of" by a little judieous maladministration. For this
purpose, when some of the impertinent and low-bred
Snobs dared to question the policy of the Nobs, in mis-
managing Oriental affairs, those gems of political sagacity,
those bright incarnations of the wisdom of a great country,
contrived to extricate themselves from the meshes of public
inquiry in a masterly and statesman-like manner. They
knew all the ups and downs, all the tricks and feints, all
the vulpine strategems and roundabout periphrases of
diplomacy; they knew—none better—that the great
secret of English government, both in a popular and patri-
cian sense, was, How NOT TO D) IT; that this was the
policy of every Cabinet and ever constituent of the govern-
ment, from the Premier down to the meanest messenger in
the Commissariat Department; and that the public itself,
although sometimes held up as an awful bugbear before
the minds of erring miniver?, in reality admitted no other
doctrine, or at any rate was too apathetic to dispute the
accepted doctrine, which was now acted upon. Armed
with all sash desiraYe knowledge, the Circumlocution
Office has begun its commendable work of " settling Egg_
land's hash" by the best means is its power.
Now the Circumlocution Office was aware—as indeed,
any one possessed of mortal eyesight would be aware—of
all the indications and presages of the Indian disasters,
long before the revolt itself broke out; and the Circumlo-
cution Office, by keeping ifs sapient eyes unclosed for a
'ittle longer period than usual, could have seen to what
result these omens must lead, and could have avoided
many, if not all, of the fearfal consequences. This,' how-
ever, would have betrayed humanity and intelligence ; this
would have been an instance of prevision ; this would
have prevented loss of wealth, loss of paid(); lose of
honour, loss of life, on the part of some thousands of
humal beings; this, in short, wooled have evinced a cepa
biliey of Government to ela it, and to d it effectually ; and
the Circumlocutory principle is—Flow NOP TO DO Ir.
And so Parliament assembles to consider, to debate
upon, and to carry out this idea. Hee Majesty
had informed her coancillers in her speech, that
.measures would be brought for wed, which they were
requested to mull; that papers would be laid before them,
whch they would please ceafase ; and that reform in an
infinite amount of matters would be submitted to them,
which they would do wall to postpone, perplex, and
otherwise vitiate. So they dismiss the Indian affair for
the present, and come to the exciting domeetic subject of
our monetary relations—the Crisis.
The Chancellor of the Exchequer rose, and laid the
matter before the house ; he showed (for he coal.' not
but show) that the Circumlocu:ion o.fice had uo,'. dono it
in 1813, and—with Heaven's assistance—WOUld not do i t
new. He besought the earnest consideration of the house
how not to do it. Ile thought the best way not to do it,
and the least way of doing it at all, was to institute a
committee to inquire into things nobody ever
cared about, and to search for precedents
no one wanted in the least. Thi', too, with the
idea, that, when the labours of the committee were fiaished,
when the things had been inquired into, and the precedents
found, the emergency would be over, and all cause and
necessity for doing it would have passed away.

But the honourable member forßuck3 was of a contrary
opinion. Ile conceived it to be better to make a mull of
it by med lling with it, than to spoil it by leaving it alone.
There was necessity for " legislating ;" and legislate they
ought to. Wrongly, perhaps, and reverse to what was pro_
per, it may be ; but still legislate. The duty of the Circum.
locution Office was to perplex everything it could—
that was its put and its destiny. The affairs of the
couti'Lry now wanted consideration—that is to say,
they needed perplexing. The house might perplex them to
the required extent, by pcntponemant, hesitancy, and delay,
or it might perplex them by straightforwaidly ruining
them in its accustomed felicitous limner. The lion
member thought it best to follow the latter course, since
the former plan was the Government's usual method, How
NOT TO DO IT.

Other honourable members inclined to tho respective
sides, and severally discussed, whether it were better to
make a mull of the matter by meddling with it, or to spoil
it by leaving it alone. There is a greater difference between
tweedledum and tweedledee, than most people imagine.
As length it was resolved to spoil it by leaving it alone,
so the House will appoint a committee to make inquiries,
and minutes, and reports, and protests, and memoranda,
and Heaven knows what, into the nature, and effects, and
consequences, and results, of a measure, iniquitous in itself,
and which must stand in the glory of its iniquity, while
the Circumlocution Office goes to sleep, and dreams of the
easiest plan How NOT TO DO IT.
For 3 ou, and we, and the populace of Liverpool, and the
British publie itself, knew very well that that is the
Ministerial game. We all of us are assured than, whether
it be Palmerston's Ministry; or Derby's Ministry, or any
Ministry, or any opposition, the whole principle of Govern.
meat is involved in this—that a nation's rulers are almost
invariably despotic or imbecile, and that the councillors of
our own bright isle, spared the former evil must be
sadiled with the latter, and, not possessing the arrogant
nature of lions, are content with the ill-seed but inoffensive
bearing of asses.

THE MiCNAUGHT CONTROVERSY.