The Sun.
London, England, 1855-01-27 00:00:00

LONDON, SATURDAY, JANUARY 27, 1855.

The promised explanation has been given. Lord
Joint Russina. last night stated the reasons which
induced him to withdraw from the Ministry at so
critical a period—the very commencement of the
Parliamentary campaign —at a time when his
services would be peculiarly valuable, and when,
moreo►er, a serious attack was threatened on one
important branch of the Executive. We do not
say that he gave all the reasons. On the contrary,
WA believe that much greater light might have
been cast on this very important event—that, in
fact, as we had anticipated, the statement was made
with all reser►e, and a forbearance exhibited which
will, we trust, be duly appreciated in the proper
quarter.

What renders this view of the case more pro-
bable is, that it would appear—as well from
what fell from Lord PALMERSTON as from the
Noble Lord himself that the vegrAta queestio
has been disposed of—the difficult problem solved I
The Noble Viscomit, whose acknowledged expe-
rience, energy, and thorough efficiency in every
respect induced the people, with scarcely a dissen-
tient voice, to demand his appointment as War
Minister, is to be transferred to the office for which
he is so pre-eminently qualified ! The nominal
cause of difference has been removed at the very
time when the difference has produced a result so
very serious to the Government itself and to the
nation—a result which should not proceed from
any mere matter of form ! The days of "special
demurrers" have gone by, and it would be strange
indeed if Lord ABERDEEN, or the party behind the
scenes who pull the strings of the puppet, should
have yielded to the withdrawal of Lord JOHN RIM..
BELL at the very time when they were assenting to all
that was demanded by the Noble Lord ! This is
not probable Nay, more, it is not credible. As
we have already stated, we fully appreciate the
motives that sealed his lips—that induced him as
a man of honour and a gentleman—and we firmly
believe him to be both one and the other—to sub-
mit td any temporary obloquy rather than excite a
commotion of which it would be impossible to pre-
dict the termination.

The matter may be easily understood. Lord
JoinN RUSSELL required the appointment of Lord
PALMERSTON to the War-office. In consequence
of Lord ABERDEEN'S refusal to comply with the re-
quisition he tendered his resignation.
That resig-
nation was accepted without a single word to show
that the causeof complaint wasactually removed, or
is course of removal ; and yet, at the very time
whend the statement is delivered, the Noble Lord
es that "the arrangement which he proposed
in his first letter of the 17th November—or rather
in his subsequent letter—that of placing the seals
of. the War Department in the
handof the
Home Secretary, has been made I" Ile dd e d
" I shall be glad to think that my retirementa
from
office has in any way contributed to that.cliange
and I believe it must in some way have
contributed'
to it—for otherwise I have no doubt that my noble
friend, Lord ABERDEEN, with the fairness and can-
dour which belong to him, and which I always
found in him, would have answered the letter I
have just read, by saying that circumstances had
in some respect changed, and that which he could
not honestly recommend to the QUEEN in Novem-
ber he had thought necessary at the present time;
and that, therefore, any difficulty in opposing the
motion of inquiry might be is some degree les-
sened, if not entirely removed. That cannot have
been the case. This must have been the subsequent
arrangement, and I shall be very glad if my re-
tirement from the less important office, in the pre-
sent conjuncture, of President of the Council,
could have led to the appointment to the War De-
partment of my noble friend the Home Secretary,
of whom I cannot speak in higher terms than I
have already used in one ef my letters."
This country will go something further than he
permitted himself to do, and will clearly under-
stand that all the ramifications of the subject have
not been clearly or distinctly developed
that
either something has been done, or is contemplated,
at which the straightforward integrity and sturdy
independence of th© Noble ex-President of
the Council would revolt. There is, therefore,
in it something more than has yet met the eye,
and which requires the utmost caution and vigi-
lance on the part of the chosen representatives of
the PsoPle—uay more, of the independent electors