The Sun.
London, England, 1855-02-23 00:00:00

THE MINISTERIAL CRISIS.

(Ppoin the Times of this day.)
The arrangements occasioned by the recent vacancies
in the Cabinet have net yet transpired, if, indeed, they
are completed ; but we have reason to believe that some
of the attempts made to replace the late Ministers have
not been successful. Mr. Cardwell not only does not
accept the Chancellorship of the Exchequer, but he pre-
fers to share the fate of that small political section to
which lie belongs, and lie vacates the Board of Trade,
following the example of his c )11eaL;uee with more
fidelity to their decline than they had shown to his at-I-
I vanceinent. Among the ninv appointments the names
of Lord Elgin, Mr. Baines, Mr. Lowe, and Sir Corne-
wall Lewis have been inehtioned, but we have no positive
information as to the offices which these getitletnen are
intended to fill. We presume, however, that when
Lord Palmerston meets the House of Commons this
evening lie will feel the necessity of announcing t,) Par-
liameilt and the country that his Administration is once
more complete.
Althougk Lord Palmerston's Government has existed
for barely a fortnight, it has already undergone an essen-
tial transformation. Lord Palmerston accepted a
reversionary interest in the late Coalition,, and the
Ministry lie presented to the acceptance of the Crown
and the approval of the nation differed in only two
material points from that which had just been over-
thrown by the will of the Legislature. That combina-
tion was, as the result has shown, already effete, and
the very first trial to which the Cabinet was exposed
dissolved its union, and deprived it of the services of
several of its members. But, though this circumstance
completed the destruction of the Government which had
already lost its hold on the House of Commons and the
country, it placed Lord Palmerston in a far more ad-
vantageous and commanding position. Instead of ga-
thering up the shatter ed fragments of the late Govern-
ment he has now to construct a new one, and it rests
entirely with himself and his colleagues to determine the
strength and novelty he will impart to such a combina-
tion. The use he may make of this opportunity will be
the decisive criterion in the eyes of the country of his
ability as a First Minister, for, if he confines himself to
an attempt to fill the highest posts in the State by men
taken frem a narrow coterie, whose names are already
familiarised to the public by their previous failures, it is
evident that such a Ministry cannot last many weeks,
and that it will be succeeded by the accession of Lord
Derby and his friends to power.
We have been accused of late of a blind and indis-
criminating hostility to the aristocracy of this country,
yet nothing can be further from the truth.
We do not for a moment dispute the well-earned
influence and fame of men born in the highest ranks of
society, and trained to the service of their country, to
which class many of the first of English statesmen and
warriors undoubtedly belong. But we complain with
justice that a title or family influence should become an
apology for mediocrity, and that the highest posts in the
State, which demand the highest talent in the nation,
should be occupied by men who seem to be even uncon-
scious of the duties they undertake to perform. At the
same time,.the popular constituencies of this country
have much to answer for in the men whom they have
selected for their representatives. Want of time, want
of ability, want of courage, are continually alleged even
in that class of politicians from whom the Ctueen has a
right to select the executive Ministers of the country ;
and it is a deep reflection on the House of Commons, as
at present constituted, that it contains so few men on
either side able to surmount and willing to confront the
real difficulties of public affairs. The disappearance
from the Treasury bench of three or four of the best
Parliamentary debaters renders it absolutely indispen-
sable to the Government to supply their places with effi-
cient men. Upon the success of that attempt the exist-
ence of Lord Palmerston's Cabinet depends, and the
experiment can only be made to succeed by a bold de-
termination to seek for talent beyond the beaten tracks
of official life, among the industry and intelligence of the
country.