The Sun.
London, England, 1855-08-14 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, T UESDA ir__E_VEN.l NG, AUGUST 14. 1855

It is true that he induced his faithful and effi-
cient colleague, Mr. DISRAELI, to waive the posi-
tion to which he was pre-eminently entitled, and
to consent to act under Lord PALMERSTON, to
whom the envied post of Leader of the House of
Commons was tendered. But the coveted posi-
tion of Secretary for War was pre-occupied ; that
had been offered to, and accepted by, Lord ELLEN-
BOROUGH, before Lord PALMERSTON was consulted,
and the Presidentship of the Council was the place
actually intended for the most popular personage
of the day, who was regarded by high and low,
rich and poor, as " the Coming Man."
The refusal of Lord PALMERSTON, Mr. GLAD-
STONE, and Mr. SIDNEY HERBERT to the proposed
coalition was fatal to Lord DERBY'S prospects.
The Noble Lord intimated to her MAJESTY his
inability to render the required service, and Lord
JOHN RUSSELL was next sent for. But the de-
serter " who upset the coach" soon discovered
the impossibility of obtaining oa "RUSSELL" Cabi-
net. He also had to relinquish the too arduous
taSk, and the turn of Lord PALMERSTON arrived
—the object of his life-long ambition. was accom-
plished.

It is needless to say that Lord PALMERSTON
joyously undertook the duty imposed on him by
MS SOVEREIGN. He had the hearty good wishes
of the People, who believed that he would have
availed himself to the uttermost of his power to
invigorate and strengthen the effete Administration
by the infusion of new blood, and by, so far as
practicable, finding the-"right men for the right
places." Sanguine expectations were formed as
to his efficiency, and also as to his desire to sig-
nalise his admission to the office of Prime Minister
by some remarkable ameliorations. But the chance
was relinquished. The new Cabinet was com-
posed entirely of the old materials. In place of
the Duke of NEWCASTLE--by far the best of the
Aberdeenites—who was made the Scapegoat of his
more culpable colleagues—of Lord ABERDEEN him-
self, and of Lord JOHN RUSSELL—who had retired
before the vote of inquiry was carried—Lord PAN-

MUST alone was introduced as War Minister, the
offices of Secretary at War and for War being

amalgamated. In addition to Lord PANDIT/RE,
Lord CANNING, and Mr. CARDWELL were ad-

milted to' seats in the Cabinet. There were thus
two Aberdeenites in pla-ce of the two that had
retired—and one pure Whig, Lord PANMURE, 11u_
place of Lord JOHN RUSSELL, the acknowledged
Leader of that party. While Mr. SIDNEY HER-
BERT, through whose influence it was at least be-

lieved that Odessa had beep. spared, was made
Rome-Secretary !

This shuffling of the cards was by no means
satisfactory to the country. It was osten-
tatiously declared that there was no change
whatsoever in the Ministerial policy, that
the same
-principles would still regulate
the proceedings of the • Government. The
younger Dnottro exhibited no signs of improve-
ment, and it was already felt that all the vices
and objectionable qualities of the elder twin would
be displayed by the younger, a feeling which was
increased by the minor appointments which ap-
peared to be altogether reserved as prizes for
aristocratic claimants. No candidate succeeded who
bad not a title, or as our jolly tars are accustomed
to designate it, "a handle to his name !" The
discontent became general even before Parliament
resumed its meetings.

The first step taken was by no metros calculmted
to soothe the exasperation of the public mind. It

was an attempt to get rid of the investigation that

had been voted by so decisive a majority. It

eow.ardly arid selfish. One must -make. Con..
test sfiort and decisive, the other lingering and
resultless. In a word, according to the course the
people of this country NOW take, the contest will
be known hereafter as a war of diplomacy and
juggling, or be distinguished by a title which will
confer immortal honour on our name—the War
of Liberation Our Statesmen have lost their
wisdom—have our people lost their spirit ?

We yesterday indicated the general results of
the now moribund session, with a more particular
notice of the events previous to the Christmas
recess. We now resume the consideration of the
occurrences from the re-assembling of Parliament
on the 23d of January until its separation on
the 14th of August. Occurrences which, if they
have not led to any very remarkable alterations
in the national statute book, hive yet produced
striking changes in the positions of parties and
of their leaders.
Scarcely had the representatives of the people
met in the Imperial Palace of Westminster before
the fire was opened against the ABERDEEN Cabinet.
' , Mr. ROEBUCK aimed the first broadside, which
produced a very extraordinary effect—creating a
regular panic in the Ministerial Camp. The notice
given, on what was virtually the first night of the
Session, led to the resignation of the then Presi-
dent of the Council, who declared that he could not
resist an inquiry demanded by the gross and palpable.
inefficiency displayed by the parties who previously
had monopolised the departments connected with
the mis-management of the War. The secession
of the Ministerial Leader in the Lower House
—the man who had uttered such " prave ords "
on every possible occasion—sealed the fate of the
"Joint Stock Administration." The public en-
thusiasm was excited to the highest pitch, and
woe to the Member who opposed a stringent and
searching investigation,- he might look forward to
some troublesome interrogatories at his next ap-
,
pearance on the hustings;
The matter came on' without delay—the lists
were cleared—the trumpets sounded, and the
signal for combat was given. The popular cham-
pion was worn out with sickness and debility ; but
like IVANHOE when braving the wrath of BRIAN
DE BOIS GILBERT, he shrunk not from the en-
counter, but strong in the justice of his cause,
dared that which required more physical strength
and power. The result was equally decisive. The
very weakness of Mr. ROEBUCK was more effectual
than the most vigorous strength and energy might
have been. The energy and enthusiasm that in-
duced him to grapple with such a topic when he
ought to have avoided every species of exertion,
communicated itself to the house, and his motion
was carried by a decided and overwhelming ma-
jority of 157--there being 305 for, and but 148
against inquiry. .
The Ministerial Crisis followed. Lord ABER-
DEEN of course resigned, and Lord DERBY was en-
trusted by his SOVEREIGN with the important task
of forming a strong and vigorous Administration.
The noble Earl had a golden opportunity of
rendering valuable services to his QUEEN
and country, but -he sacrificed all in trying
to obtain recruits from the ranks of the
defunct Cabinet. He felt that Lord PAL-
MERSTON possessed the confidence of the people,
and he was naturally anxious to obtain
his co-operation. But the Noble Viscount was
well aware of his own value. Like a brilliant
star in the theatrical hemisphere, he refused any
terms, unless his friends Mr. GLADSTONE and
Mr. SIDNEY HERBERT should be included in the
,arrangement. Lord DERBY weakly consented.
He would at the time have done anything to gain
the prize ; but he created a fatal obstacle to his
success at the very outset of the negotiations,

secned to _he usumesi_.that the
Llrd PALMERSTON for Lord ABERDEEN would be

sufficient to satisfy the community—a suggestion
which found no echo beyond the Ministerial ranks.
The new Premier had the good sense to recognise
and bow to the popular will. His tenure of office
would otherwise have been of a very brief .dha-
racter ! But not so the Rump of Aberdeenism.
GLADSTONE, GR.AIIA3I, and HERBERT heard with
astonishment that the inquiry was to proceed.
Believing that they were indispensables, without
which no Government could stand, they at once
tendered their resignations, which, after some
attempt to induce them to change their determi-
nations, were accepted. Mr. CARDWELL, although
not personally implicated, through a feeling of
honour shared the fate of his colleagues, and
Lord ST. GERMAINS—the best of the entire party
—also relinquished the Viceroyalty of Ireland.
Here, then, was another opportunity for the
new Premier. The Cabinet being purged of the
leaven of Aberdeenism, he might have obtained
men in whom the people would have confided,
and who would really have conferred stability
on his Government. Unfortunately, he again
" missed his tip." All that he obtained was the
very mediocre addition of-Sir GEaRGE CORNEWALL
LEWIS, who became Chancellor of the Exchequer
in lieu of Mr. GLADSTONE, and Mr. VERNON
SMITH, who became President of the Board of
Control, vice Sir CHARLES WOOD, pitchforked into
the Board of Admiralty. His chief,. if not his
only, qualification for the office being that he
had married the niece of a veteran Marquis of
great influence, and that his son had married the
daughter of a Whig Earl—that of the new finan-
cial Minister was that he was the brother•in-law
of the Foreign Secretary. The appointment of
Sir CHARLES WOOD—the announcement whereof
was received with derisive cheers in the
House, sealed the unpopularity of the
Ministers, which was enhanced by the
unfair treatment -'of Mr. LAYARD, who, after
being offered the Under-Secretaryship at War
—for which he 'was eminently qualified—was
attempted to be fobbed off with that of the Colo-
nies, with the duties whereof he was wholly un-
acquainted.

The only other accession to the Cabinet was
Lord JOHN RUSSELL, who, after he had left Eng-
land en route for Vienna, accepted the office
of Secretary for the Colonies, in the place
of Sir GEORGE GREY, transferred to the
Home Department. These changes were
considered as anything but improvements
by the community, and the palpable "red-tapism"
displayed in the selection of new candidates for
office occasioned the demand for Administrative
Reform, and the formation of an Association that
at first promised to achieve remarkable results, and
to exceed the doings even of the Anti-Corn-Law
League itself.
We shall, on a future opportunity, trace out
the further events of the session subsequent to the
inauguration of the PAtmEasToN-Ministry in office,
when nearly half the session being wasted its real
business commenced, and the measures so anxiously
looked for were at length brought forward.

An over-nice conscience in this work-day world
is undoubtedly an injurious possession, and this
is no less certainly true of over-refined percep-
tions. In the one-case the possessor, unless born
to affluence, would stand now-a-days a fair chance
of starvation, or of being driven into the opposite
extreme of dispensing with any conscience at all,
and in the other of dying of inanition, or of be-
coming as reckless. of what he eats and drinks
as if, like MTTHRIDATES, he was armed with a
sovereign antidote to all poisons whatever.
The revelations made before the Committee on
Adulterations will already have suggested such
thoughts as the preceding to many of our readers,
who, doubtless, have come to the conclusion on
the first head, that if tradesmen in general, and,
still more, the manufacturers and wholesale mer-
chants who supply them, ever had any conscience
at all, they must have deemed it necessary to lose
it long ago, for turn almost in any direction they
will, they find they are met with fraudulent and
more or less dangerous adulterations.
Imagine a respectable pater-familial seated at
the breakfast table with his charming spouse and
promising olive branches around him, and think
of what may await them in their matutinal meal.
Our friend is a model father, and is, naturally
anxious for the health of his children, and having
rickets in terrorem before him, he takes care
that their diet drink in the morning shall be milk.
Poor victim of deception ! to dream of that vile
compound of an anomalous fluid from ulcerated
udders, diluted with water and thickened with
diseased brains, being milk, and least of
all wholesome nutriment. The very bread it
moistens, which it delights his paternal heart to
see them masticate heartily, and which he regards
as the staff of life, is drugged with alum, so as to
yield but treacherous support ; and well for them
if it contain no metallic salt of more pernicious
properties.

The very partner of his existence is, though
unwittingly, in the league against him. The

coffee her fairy fingers pour out for him is

drugged with a species of dandelion, and not un-
frequently this is adulterated in a revolting man-
ner. An adulterated adulterative ! The force
of rascality can hardly go further. Should he
prefer tea, those blue and yellow abominations,
prussiate of iron and chromate of lead, with a
train of unwholesome vegetable and earthy satel-
lites, lurk in the cup. The very sugar is adul-
terated with potato starch, and the butter with
lard. Should he be a votary of nicotiana, and
have recourse at so early an hour to the "fra-
grant weed," that last of the cardinal virtues on
which the preceding have been said to wait, the
demon of adulteration confronts him in his
meerschaum or humbler " cutty," and by the heat
or odour of the smoke reminds him that, being
mortal, he should not inhale even a miniature

_kiln, or familiarise his stomach and lungs too
much with chlorine and similar irritating gases
—in other words, that the mixture of ochre,
salt, saltpetre, red sandstone, &c., with his to-
bacco is not desirable. Or if he is not a smoker,
and indulges in what he conceive to be the fer-
mented and powdered weed, how mistaken a
wretch he is ! Titillating his nostrils with snuff !
Paralysing his nasal nerves, rather ; for over and
above the usual ammonia or lime, and any foreign
vegetable matter, the mixture contains a frightful
percentage of ochre, sand, glass, and even more
dangerous matters.

Follow him to the dinner table. The pepper
in his soup, the anchovy sauce on his fish, both
are adulterated. The cayenne is mixed with
salt and coloured with red lead, and the sauce
with other fish and Armenian bole.- His mus-
tard never grew from mustard seed, or possibly
contains 90 per cent. of turnip seed and flour,
doctored with turmeric and cayenne. His vine-
gar "bites" like diluted oil of vitriol, and no 'won-
der, since it contains it. His pickles are green with
copper, or yellow with chromate of lead. His
beer is rich in quassia, cocculus indicus, salt,
lime, Aze., over and above the little malt, and
to the entire exclusion of hops ; and his wine is I

an invitation tcr paralysis and-go-ut, 5r "-old
It may Le that he provides himself with a box of
dinner, at all events of stomachic and digestive
pills. He never can be sure of having them
twice alike, unless at the same shop. His very
drugs are drugged, and the gentle friend of one
day may be the restless tormentor of the next.
Everywhere the demon anticipates and confronts
him. He cannot confide in c0:,.0e. ; he cannot
rely on cod-liver oil ; the scammony he gets is
not one-seventeenth part scammony, and astri
gent beside ; his pepper is litttle better than
P.D. ; his mustard won't raise a blister or operate
as an emetic (which is a wonder) ; and whatever
looks best is most dangerously adulterated. He
cannot trust his children with pence near a oou-
fectioner's shop without risking their precious
lives, for if ever poisoning was carried on as a
trade it is in these shops, especially such as most
catch the eye with their many-coloured saccharine
temptations. It is positively frightful to consi-
der all this cursorily—it were enough to drive a
man mad to do so " curiously." Everything
necessary for his sustenance or health is
poisoned, or not what it seems. Unfortunate
pater-familias, what an unenviable fate is his !
The evil, in short, is really gigantic, and some-
thing must be done to put a stop to it. It un-
dermines at once health and morals, and costs
society too much to be overlooked or permitted
to continue. To talk of society helping itself is
vicious twaddle. Society cannot devote itself to
perpetual analysis, were its knowledge equal to
the task. It is the work of chemists, and chemists
must be instructed and paid to do it. The duty
of watching over this department might well—
would, indeed, most properly—be confided to the
Minister of Public Health ; and to him should be
entrusted the necessary authority to appoint scien-
tific men to analyse doubtful articles obtained by
appropriate agents—summary proceedings to be
taken against parties offending on the results of
the analysis being forthcoming. The pulpit, too,
should lend its aid to the press, and deal more
practically with questions of trade morals than
has been its wont hitherto ; and the public may
protect itself more than it does by purchasing of
tradesmen of approved integrity, and insisting
less on cheapness and more on quality. A good
deal of the origin of the evil may, we are con-
vinced, be traced to the latter cause. By these
agencies a marked effect may soon be produced,
and in the meantime we recommend nervous beads
of families not to get over-excited by these revela-
tions, remembering that it may be better to be
slowly poisoned with adulterations than inconti-
nently killed with fear.