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London, England, 1855-01-26 00:00:00

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LONDON, FRIDAY EVENING, JANUARY 26, 1855.

RESIGNATION OF LORD
JOHN RUSSELL.

the crazy vehicle can, continue to trundle on. Lord
John Russell having tendered his resignation, on
the express ground that he thought the national
demand for inquiry into the conduct of the war
ought to be complied with, Lord Aberdeen, by ad-
vising his Sovereign to accept his resignation, has
declared his resolution to resist all inquiry. It is
impossible, with so many gross instances of mis-
management staring the public in the face, and
with such manifest impatience oe the part of the
nation to know the whole truth, as a preliminary
to improved management, that any Ministry can
mako a stand on such untenable oTound.
The truth is, that secresy and concealment can
only tend to a perpetuation of imbecile formalism
in the conduct of the war. They can only screen
that cowardice which has occasioned all the delay
and confusion under which the army in the Crimea
is suffering ; cowardice, not of our armaments in
the field, but of people at home, who have nevor
dared to make one appointment for merit alone, nor
to recall one individual for incapacity or neglect.
Under a system of seeresy no encouragement is
held out to an English Ministry to make good
appointments ; on the contrary, it ensures immu-
nityfrom punishment for making bad appointments,
and is nothing short of -a national misfortune. It
encourages a Minister to make bad appointments,
inasmuch as it enables him to make a shove of vin-
dicating himself byat any time throwing the blame
upon some subordinate, and sacrificing the unfor-
tunate to appease public indignation. This
wretched system, wo have good reason to believe,
has boon systematically acted upon by some of the
Ministers, e-nikker''n countenance to the
at-
tacksnwhopAL Lord Raglan,
Raglan, from the ignoble motive
of averting, such attacks from themselves.
Against this- dastardly policy—against the
system of mystification and concealment which has
possible—Lord John Russell
by withdrawing from the
n and his more immediate
Cabinet.h renderedaa solemnly
its
oL practicerdprotested
A e
Aberdeen
r de e
retainers in the Ministry, by their earnest prepa-
tions to resist Mr. Roebuck's motion, have de-
clared their fixed determination to shroud their
conduct in mystery, in order to enable them to
persist in trifling with the war, and braving the
national indignation. Between two parties thus
arrayed against each other, the country cannot
hesitate for a moment. -

fore, and leave its real efficiency unimpaired. We
earnestly hope that the remaining members will
exhibit a little more self-negation than the distin-
guished colleague who has abandoned them, and
will, one and alt, bear constantly in mind that ex-
treme sensitiveness to personal importance or per-
sonal claims is an unpardonable error— indeed
almost a public crime—when the dearest interests
of their country are at stake.

(From. the Times.)

The announcement made last night by the Se-
cretary of the Treasury to the House of Commons,
that Lord John Russell had tendered his resignation
of the office be filled in the Government, and that
this resignation had been accepted by her Majesty,
confirms the rumours which had been in circulation
since yesterday morning, and explains the circum-
stance that Lord John ussell had not attended
the Cabinet Council since Tuesday last. Both
Houses of Parliament, upon receiving this intima-
tion, adjourned to this day, when it is expected
that au explanation of this important occurrence
will be given by the Ministers of the Crown. Under
these circumstances, we shall not attempt to pene-
trate all the motives which have led to this deci-
sion, but we believe that the ostensible reason
which Lord John Russell assigned for addressing
his resignation to the head of the Government was
his reluctance or inability to face the motion of
which Mr. Roebuck had given notice. This motion
for a Select Committee to inquire into the state of
the army before Sebastopol and into the conduct
of the War Departments of the Government was
announced to the House of Commons on the re-
assembling of Parliament, on Tuesday afternoon.
The next morning, and without further delibira-
tion with any of his colleagues, Lord John Russell
proceeded te address his resignation to Lord
Aberdeen, thus virtually declining to appear in
the house of Commons as the representative of
a Government in which he had borne a con-
spicuous part, and apparently attempting to
decline that responsibility which attaches it-
self to every member of the Administration.
In this respect the conduct of Lord John
Russell, so far as it is at present known, pre-
sents a wide and painful deviation from the
rules of political conduct which have usually been
observed with fidelity in this country. We are
perfectly aware that Lord John Russell has through-
out shown great impatience of the position in which
the failure of the previous Cabinet, of which he
was the head, had placed him iu the present Ad-
ministration, and that his immediate adherents
have not desisted from their efforts to recover for
him the post he had ceased to hold. The public
has observed that, by his protracted absence from
London during the whole of the autumn, when
military events of the greatest importance were in
progress, and by his frequent appearances as a pro-
vincial lecturer, he endeavoured to raise a distinc-
tion between himself and the more assiduous mem-
bers of the Government ; but, as he continued to
hold office in Lord Aberdeen's Ministry, and had
given no recent signs of withdrawing from it, he
continued to be responsible for its policy, and its
acts ; and we can remember no example of a Mi-
nister retiring from a Cabinet on-the day before a
Parliamentary discussion on its past conduct. That
such a discussion must take place on the meeting
of Parliament was certain. The motion of which
Mr. Roebuck has given notice is consistent with
usage and precedent, for a similar inquiry was
made into the conduct of the Walcheren Expedi-
tion not by a select committee, but by a coin-
miaee of the whole house. Lord John Russell
must have anticipated such a discussion, and if he
was not prepared to meet it he might have re-
signed at a moment less inco—venient to his col-
leagues, and less injurious to the country ; it would
surely have been more honourable to fall with the
other members of the Cabinet than to consult his
own pleasure or interest by leaving them in the
lurch.

(Prom the Mo,ning Post.)
Lord John Russell has chosen suddenly to resign
office, leaving his* colleagues to contest on their
own account the vote of censure which is to be
moved tonight by Mr. Roebuck.
. .

We think—the -Iclinistry have many short-comings
to answer for, many errors to explain. We are
therefore glad that, at any rate, the mass of the
Cabinet have the manhood not to shrink from meet-
ing the severe and searching accusations levelled at
them. We have never joined in unreasoning and
rabid abuse of the Ministry. We have imagined,
it is true, that certain effects wore distinctly trace-
able to certain causes, but we have always stood
out for play, and shall be happy to hear what the
Cabinet have to allege that may yet justify them in
an honest appeal to the conEdence of their country-
men.

Oa the face of matters it is plain that we have
gone to war on a peace establishment, and that
with new and suddenly-organised staffs we have
undertaken a struggle of immense material diffi-
culty, involving at the very outset a double sea
passage, and the commencement of a campaign and
siege of unprecedented extent. To direct all this
it is, we fear, not less plain that we have had a
Cabinet composed of men of great talent indeed,
but not governed by one dominating head ; and,
therefore, not sufficiently certain or forcible in its
policy.
Beyond this, what blame the Cabinet may have
incurred, what faults committed, remains to be
decided by the tribunal before which they are now
to make their defence. _ _

We have long thought the days of the Aberdeen
Administration, as such, were numbered, and so
seems to think Lord John Russell, who has left the
sinking ship before she can be wrecked by the im-
pending storm. His reasons we shall hear to-night;
but certainly the more chivalrous part—a part
worthy of an English Minister—would have been,
after so long sharing the responsibility of the acts
of the Cabinet, to have at least faced with it their
consequences.
The Ministry feels it can afford to meet, without
the aid of the President of the Council—the Leader
of the House of Commons—the vote of censure
which is to be moved to-night, for in that light Mr.
Roebuck's motion is now regarded. If Mr. Roe-
buck carry his motion, the Cabinet of course falls ;
if, however, he withdraw it, or if he be defeated,
the Cabinet will still have to consider its position.
We must have a strong Ministry.

We have little fear that the Peelites will be
enabled to maintain themselves in office by in-
voking the protection of the Court against the
people ; though they have shrunk from no mean-
ness of compliance or adulation that might prevail
upon it to take part with them against their more
liberal and energetic colleagues. This charge applies
more or less to the whole of the Peelite section, but
who has far out-
sness and vulgar
person against whom this
obsequiousness has been so
smtioirpepeesdplcsiaclloylletaogLooosrdinnobasrecidinugioeu,
flattery. But we trust to the good sense and high
indefatigably played, for resisting and defeating it,
Pbaritntecri
It would be madness in the Court to interfere
pyleooff
pthaeraislliutisetarlious
when the people are certain, at no distant day, to
become arbiters as to where the blame lies. And
the invoking of such aid, against the people, would
betray, on the part of those who had recourse to
such a step—a selfishness pushed to the verge of
treason.

(From the Morning Herald.)

The paragraph adds& to the usual announcement
of a meeting of the Cabinet Council, which appeared
in the official Court Circular yesterday morning,
stating that Lord Aberdeen had left immediately
after the meeting for Windsor, naturally created,
much food for speculation amongst the quidnuncs.
The rumours of possible results of divisions in the
Government were alleged to have been realised,
and it,was stated by many well-informed persons
that the Administration had fallen to pieces.
It was known that the Premier had gone to
Windsor and had an interview with the Queen ;
that he had returned, and that another Cabinet
Council having been held early in the afternoon,
Lord Aberdeen had again left for Windsor. It
was then openly stated by parties wko are generally
well informed that Lord John Russell had resigned
—that Lord Aberdeen had taken that resignation
to Windsor on Wednesday evening, and had re- i
turned with the acceptance of the resignation in
case the President of the Council retained the opi-
nions which led to his tender of his office to his
Sovereign.
The cause of dispute is asserted, by persons said
to be in the secret, to be the motion of Mr. Roe-
buck. It is said that Lord J. Russell urged that
the appointment of a committee to inquire into the
eons] nab et th. war 9khould be granted (this was a
very likely course to be adopted by a Whig ; in-
quiries by select committees cau always be con-
verted to inquisitions adjourned sine die). The
Peelites, full of ignorance, presumption, and friend-
ships of 40 years' standing, are said to have advo-
cated an opposition to the motion of the lion. and
learned member for Sheffield, and hence the division
in the Cabinet.

As to the possible arrangements in the event of
the construction of a liberal and energetic Cabinet,
it would be premature to discuss them. One or,
two general positions, however, cannot be too
early laid down. In the first place, the Premier
ought to be a man with a will of his own,
and deeply impresser with the responsibility
he incurs by assuming the reins of Govern-
ment at a moment like the present. In the
next place, the War Minister—second in import-
ance, at present, only to the Premier—.ought to be a
man of firm nerve, who will feel no compunction
in dismissing incompetent subordinates ;. and who
will be above the meanness of retaining inefficient
men in office, as so many tubs to throw out to the
whale when danger threatens. Lastly, an opportu-
nity is afforded, by the circumstances attendant on
the Ministerial disruption, to give a pledge to the
people that, in future, the principle of admitting to
high office men who owe their public position solely
to their talents, courage, and patriotism will be
acted upon- It has been customary, on similar
occasions, to regard the person by whose nititivs tbA
crisis has been brought on as entitled to a place in
the consequent arrangepiexkLs. On the present oc-
casion the blow has-been struck by Mr. _Roebuck.

This brings us to the next and the more im-
portant question arising out of this transaction
—the effect of Lord John Russell's resignation.
We do not hesitate for a moment to express our
conviction that the loss of so important a member,
at a time when a far stronger Government would
find it difficult to maintain its position, is a deci-
sive blow to the present Government ; and we
'nay add, that we do not suppose any member of
that Government is desirous of prolonging its
existence. It is obvious to all the world that the
interests of the country and the safety of the army
peremptorily require great and immediate changes
in the conduct of the war, anti in the choice of
man totarry- on they_ duties. first it is ett%'... to
effect those changes by a dissolution of the present
Cabinet than by any act of authority which Lord
Aberdeen and his colleagues could exercise. In-
deed, the very first condition of a, successful mili-
tary adininistration is the possession of a degree of
inherent strength and eiternal confidence which
they no longer enjoy. A Government engaged in
a contest of this magnitude requires the whole
force of the country at its back, and the power to
use that force with the utmost dexterity and
vigour. Better a thousand times that a feeble
Government should cease to exist than that it
should fail in undertakings which so nearly concern
the honour and safety of the country.
But, although we have no doubt that these are
the sentiments of the Ministers themselves, and
that they hold their offices ai this moment by a
very slender tenure—if, indeed, their resignations
have not already been tendered to the Queen—their
surrender of office in no degree releases them from
the responsibility which arises out of the present
state of the army, and the past conduct of the
campaign. They appear, therefore, to have thought
that it is more consistent with constitutional prin-
ciple and with their personal honour to meet Mr.
Roebuck's motion in debate as best they can, and
accordingly Lord Palmerston stated last night
in the House of Commons that the motion for in-
quiry would have precedence of all other business,
except, of course, Lord John Russell's personal
explanation. It is needless for us to enlarge in
this place on the causes which have rendered this
inquiry at once so necessary to the country and so
fatal to the Government. Every fresh account
from the Crimea augments the overwhelming evi•
deuce of neglect and mismangement in one part or
another of the public administration. It is the
duty of Parliament to sift the causes of these cala-
mities, and to take care that those who are the guilty
authors of them, whether as individuals or as mem-
bers of a vicious system, be brought to the bar of
public opinion.
But while we think that the events of the last six
months demand a searching investigation, and that
the li onour of the Government requires that such
an investigation should be promoted rather than
resisted, we are not the less sensible that the pre-
sent condition of the army, the future conduct of
the war, and the immediate reconstruction of the
Government are matters which press upon us with
even more urgent necessity. It would be a.'stigma
on England and on English institutions if, in this
emergency, with Parliament sitting, and at a mo-
ment of extraordinary difficulty in public affairs,
the Administration of this country should present
the same spectacle of hopeless anarchy at the camp
before Sebastopol or the hospitals of Scutari. The
resignation of an individual. Minister at such a
crisis is an act not easily to be justified on any
grounds short of absolute necessity. The effect
of that resignation will probably be the dissolu-
tion of the Cabinet. But, if her Majesty is thus
compelled to intrust the direction of affairs to
other hands, we trust that, in forming a new Ad-
ministration, the paramount interests of the coun-
try, the safety of the army, the honour of our alliances,
and the necessities of the time, will prevail over
all other considerations. He must be something
worse than a bad Minister who can choose such a
moment of national calamity for personal resent-
ment or party intrigue. The country looks to one
thing only—the formation of a Government which
shall recognise the military department of the pub-
lic service and restore the credit of our arms. Upon
that condition any Government may command the
support of Parliament and the nation ; but if these
impending changes disclose only some miserable
rivalry between jealous factions, or some artifice of
private ambition, they will call down the severest
animadversion on those who can risk the great in-
terests of the nation for motives of so paltry a cha-
racter.

(From the Morning Chronicle. )

What we have long feared has at length come
to pass. Lord John Russell has resigned, and his
resignation has been accepted. His lordship has
abandoned a position in which he never felt per-
fectly at ease. Perhaps no member of the Coali-
tion Cabinet made a greater sacrifice of personal
fe in joining it than the late President of the
Coelliignncil. It is highly to his credit that on more
than one occasion (particularly when he withdrew
year) he steadily resisted
ambition, and the sug-
gestions eo
ofrwm h ip
Bs
ex-officialilel whisperings
r f last
osftf his
r i e
i il 8 ,
rather than expose
his Sovereign to a situation of extreme embarrass-
ment between divided councils, when the dignity
of the Crown and the well-understood interests of
the nation required that we should not only put
forth our whole energies AS a firmly united people,
buTt-i b
The e so
moment
tteidsthroughout the world.
not very happily chosen
for such a step, nor is its necessity as yet apparent.
m certainly
The ostensible ground is said to be the impossibility
in which he found himself of conscientiously justi-
fying the conduct of the war. But if this be so, it
may be thought that he should have insisted on a
wotehttiiems Adfiaellkelpinftuential
change of men or measures at an earlier stage, in-
and taking his chance of his turning
in-
stead waiting to see the result of the policy which
'is also rumoured that the Secretary-
ohoufe-tWsawanereltlo.i°ffiellerdetd to make room for any statesman
whom his colleagues might deem better qualified
for the post, although no candid inquirer can seri-
ously profess to believe that the state of our army
would have been materially different had Lord
Ellenborough, or Lord Grey, or Lord Palmerston,
or even Lord John Russell himself, been installed
during the last twelve months at the War-office.
We suspend our opinion, however, till the Par-
liamentary explanations are before us ; and, in the
meantime, we are willing to take for granted that
hislordship has been exclusively influenced by a
conviction that the course he has taken is best
fitted to accelerate the formation of a strong Go-
vernment, and thereby to promote the vigorous
prosecution of the war. how far his retirement
may be calculated to produce this effect, or what
ulterior results may follow from it, we cannot ven-
turewe know is that Lord
regret, lost a colleague
rank of contemporary
Liberal party have been wont to consider as their
section of the
chief. But this very circusAw thbtoeer
sduist Aberdeen nnnP,drhesaadns predicate.
,ic
nat
mstance might prove a
disadvantage to him, if, as many suppose, he
aspires to the immediate resumption of the Pre-
miership.
Public opinion would require what has emphati-
cally been called a broad-bottomed Administra-
tion—that is, one comprising all the best men that
could be induced to act together cordially—and
Lord John Russell's connections and predilec-
tions might lead him, in his own despite, to be too
exclusively Whig in his selection of colleagues. It
might also throw suspicion on his motives, if he
were to aspire to become Prime Minister at once.
The probabilities, therefore, are that--for some
time, at all events—he will give au independent
support to any government for the time being that
shall honestly pursue what he may deem a spirited
and enlightened policy at home and abroad. We
will not believe until we see it, that he will co-ope-
rate, directly or indirectly, with Mr. Disraeli and
Mr. Bright to overthrow his late colleagues for
proceedings in which he joined ; or that he will
play-into Lord Derby's lianda on the chance of be-
coming his successor ; and we shall watch with the
deepest interest the course which Lord John Russell
may pursue with reference to Mr. Roebuck's mo-
tion this evening.
What in one point of view has constituted the
strength of Lord Aberdeen's Government has been
its weakness in another. It contained administra-
tive talent and capacity enough to set up half-a-
dozen better Governments than Lord Derby's,' but
for this very reason there was a want of cohesion
amongst the parts. Statesmen of co-equal reputa-
tion and authority insisted on each being supreme
in his own department, which each regulated as if
it had little or no connection with the rest, and a
good deal of clashing and confusion occasionally
ensued. It was a favourite maxim of Napoleon's
that one bad general did bitter than two good
ones. A dinner of professed wits is commonly a
dull affair ; and recent experience proves that a
Cabinet may actually lose in influence and popular
esteem by containing too many leading statesmen.
It implies, therefore, no lack of admiration for
Lord John Russell's many valuable qualities,
moral and intellectual, to suggest that his re-
tirement, if he has retired alone, might enable the
Pabillet to proceed more PAC/Will' thaw hereto,

All the facts which can be conveniently disclosed
will, however, be stated by Lord John Russell this
evening in the House of Commons, and the
question then will remain—Who are to govern the
country ?
It is said that Peel's clerks will try to patch up
an Administration. This is impossible. The
country will not stand it.
It is on the other hand said that the Whig sec-
tion of the Ministry will try to obtain strength
from the Whigs and Radicals not now in the Go-
♦ernment ; but the motion of Lord Lyndhurst,
which will, doubtless, be carried in the House of
Lords on Friday next, must render it impossible
for any section of the Coalition, Government to
make itself the basis for an Administration. The
following are the terms of Lord Lyndhurst's
notice :

" That the expedition to the Crimea was under-
taken by her Majesty's Ministers with very inade-
quate means, and without due caution or sufficient
inquiry as to the nature and extent of the resistance
to be expected from the enemy; and that their
neglect and mismanagement in the conduct of the
enterprise have led to the most disastrous
results."

_
No batch of the now infameus Coalition can
attempt to rally beneath such a resolution as this.
Meanwhile, rumour is busy, and well-founded
report says a great deal. Lord Palmerston, Sir
Charles Wood, and Sir George Grey had a long
conference after the Cabinet Council yesterday. It
is not at all likely that all these members of the
Whig party will coalesce in attempting to form a
Whig-Radical Government.
Lord Clarendon, it is said, will follow the for-
tunes of the ex-President of the Council.

The public deplore the results of the credulity or
connivance, the ignorance and presumption of the
Peelites ; but there is only one opinion expressed
as to the conduct of the Whig-Radicals of the
Coalition, who, with open eyes, were aware of the
inevitable results of the conduct of their colleagues
as the executive of the war departments, and who
never protested against it in the councils of their
Sovereign until a further recognition of the treason
was likely to cost them place aid power.

( From ilia Daily Newe.)

We understand that, on the evening of the 23d
instant, Lord John Russell wrote to the Earl of
Aberdeen, intimating that Mr. Roebuck had given
notice of a motion for the appointment of a coin-
anittee to inquire into the conduct of the war.
Lord John stated that he did not see how the mo-
tion could be resisted. And he added, that as it
involved a censure upon the War Department,
with which his colleagues were connected, he
thought his only course was to tender his resigna-
tion. This resignation was carried to Windsor by
Lord Aberdeen on Wednesday, and has been ac-
cepted by her Majesty.
We were right, therefore, when we yesterday
predicted that Mr. Roebuck's motion would lead
to a ministerial crisis. But the progress of events
has been even more rapid than we expected. The
break-up of the Ministry has preceded, not followed
the debate on Mr. Roebuck's motion. We say the
break-up of the Ministry—for the resignation of
Lord John Russell is the drawing of the
out of the .Ceolition coach it is ixapeggible that

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I-PRICE SD.

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