The Sun.
London, England, 1855-02-10 00:00:00

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LONDON, SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 1855.

The Ministerial difficulty has been disposed of
for the time being, and both Houses of Parliament
have adjourned until Friday, the 16th inst., in
order to give time for the re-election of the two
Members of the Cabinet whose changes of position
render appeals to their respective constituencies
indispensable. The time thus practically lost, at
a period when every moment is of the greatest
consequence, may be taken from Tuesday last
until Friday next—or nearly a working fort-
night. Surely the ordinary business of the country
might have been transacted during this time, on
the understanding that there would be no serious
discussions until the return to the House of the
new Premier and Secretary of State. Mr. CARD •
WELL might have introduced his new measure on
the Law of Partnership. Some of the legal re-
forms postponed from last year, and which will,
doubtless, be proceeded with, might also have made
some progress, or even if there were no Ministerial
topic ripe for discussion, or even explanation, the
time thus wantonly sacrificed would have enabled
many independent members to have disposed of
questions of considerable interest and importance
to the community in general. But all these ad-
vantages have been relinquished without even a
remonstrance from any side of either House. Tn
truth, Noble Lords and Right Hon. and Hon.
Gentlemen as anxiously grasp at any plausible
excuse for a holiday, as if they were schoolboys,
striving to evade the performanCe of very irksome
tasks which they would gladly sconce whenever
practicable.
In the present instance there has merely been
a substitution of offices. The Cabinet is to all
intents and purposes the same, its policy unaltered,
save that we may probably look fora greater display
of vigour, decision, and energy. The explanation
has already been given in the House of Lords.
Ns vacancy is to be filled up in that branch of
the Legislature, which will confer a seat on an
influential and leading member of the Cabinet,
who, for the time being, is unable to explain his
views. There was, therefore, not the shadow of
an excuse for the protracted adjournment of their
Lordships' House.
In the House of Commons much could have
been effected during the absence of Lord PAL-
MERSTON and Mr. SIDNEY HERBERT. Surely their
colleagues, who still retain their seats—the new
Home Secretary, for it appears that Mr. HER-
BERT goes to the Colonies and Sir GEORGE GREY
resumes his old place at the Home-office, the
Chancellor of the Exchequer, the First Lord of
the Admiralty, the President of the India Board,
the Chief Commissioner of Woods, to say nothing
of all the Ministers holding offices but without
seats in the Cabinet—might be entrusted to con-
duct public business for a week or teu days
without the personal superintendence of their
chief, and his colleague, the Colonial Secretary.
And what in to be gone through for
this highly prejudicial delay must be endured ?
Appeals must be made to publio opinion at Tiver-
ton ! and South Wilts! It must be ascertained
whether the late members have forfeited the con-
fidence of their respective constituents by the
changes to which they have assented. This is
easily discovered. Indeed there is not the slightest
chance even of a contest in either place. At
Tiverton the committee unanimously agreed that
there is not the slightest necessity for the attend-
ance of the new Premier. They have, and very
properly, relieved his Lordship of every particle
of trouble, so that the election will be reduced to
a mere form. A similar course might be adopted
at South Wilts without the slightest risk to the
new Secretary of State. Thus we see that all
the delay might be avoided without the slightest
injury to any constitutional principle.

But whence the necessity for any new election,
or the seats being vacated ? Sir GEORGE GARY
does not vacate his, although moved from the
Colonial to the Home-office ! Why should Lord
PALMERSTON for going from the Home-office to
the Treasury, or Mr. SIDNEY HERBERT for
becoming Secretary for the Colonies in place of
Secretary at War ? They both previously held
seats in the Cabinet, and, although there is a for-
mal, there is no substantial, difference between
their cases and that of Sir GEORGE GREY. Either,
then, his seat should also have been vacated, or
the others should have remained without altera-
tion.

It is, no doubt, a salutary precaution that the
constituencies should have full opportunities of
pronouncing on the co7duct of any representative
who, for the first time, accepts office under the
Crown. But, in any subsequent alteration, the
ordeal is as unnecessary as it would be in the
case of a naval or military officer who obtained
legitimate promotion in his profession. If a per-
SOII be once a placeman he is subjected to the
influence of the Crown as much as if he held any
other office.

We have alluded to this matter, trusting that a
very serious annoyance and inconvenience may be
avoided for the future. In any case, the vacancy
should not occur for one or two months after the
appointment, to give ample time for any expla-
nations that might be required, and which it
would be only fair to the new official to give
him the opportunity of making.

The Press was never certainly conducted with
greater decorum, on the whole, than at the pre-
sent day, yet it is taken to task with a -virulence
in some quarters, worthy of the times of SID-
MOVTH and the Six Acts. A great statesman
could lower himself to bespatter it with opprobrious
but pointless epithets—that is simply to abuse, in
language indicating plenty of in the indi-
vidual using it—but striking no part of the mark
at which lie aimed. `Yo certainly were pained,
for his own sake, to hear a noble lord talk of the
"ribald Press ;" the truth being that Holywell-
velearQya,perhtiaornacotfert,hethpartososnwhihicaht
Street Was not the object of his wrath, but tkat
suchiszorfoun
d a
alone "firslite
has refused
hitherto to abolish the Newspaper
Stamp ! He was
afraid of injuring thereby the
object of his Present abase
l .ra so long The London Daily
Press was " first-class" with h
as that
pretext would servo for preventing
tbe creaftion of
cheap newspapers, and the free eireulatdo
politi-
cal knowledge among thc lower clarsses ; but noivtht
Mr. GLADSTONE and Lord STANLEY have doomeda
his much-loved penny stamp to annihilation, and
proved themselves heartier educationists than
Lord JOHN- RUSSELL, forthwith the very same
journals become the " ribald Press 1" The first-