The Sun.
London, England, 1855-11-06 00:00:00

Spirit of the Public Journals.

•
(From. the Times of this day.)
• The vacancy created in: the Qabinet by the' dpath
of Sir William Molesworth remains still unsnii.,,-
plied. There are circumstances which render the
selection of a Minister for this important office pe-
culiarly difficult. Sir William Molesworth was
not only thoroughly versed in colonial affairs, and
better qualified than any other statesman of the
day_to inaugurate the new imperial policy with re-
gard to the foreign dependencies of the Crown, but
he was also what we fear at this moment is regarded
as even of more consequence—au honest and con-
sistent supporter of the war, firmly determined to
listen to no terms of peace whiclishould not securo

to this Government the most emphatic aclmissiou
that every object fur which we took up arms had
been fully and completely obtained. The reputation
of his Government, and the credit which he has
justly earned by strengthening his Administration
with all the available talent that could be found,
forbade Lord Palmerston to neglect either of

these considerations. He must also have been, we
imagine, anxious, if possible, to find the new
Secretary of State in the House of Commons,
where his Ministry certainly requires strength,
in order to meet the very powerful opposition
that is sure, whatever disclaimers we may now
hear, to b© ranged against it. If the faculty
of speaking well were coincident with that of
sound judment, we should certainly have
reason to be intimidated at the large amount of
Parliamentary talent which is arrayed in favour of
a dishonourable peace, and this faet, though it does
not shake our conviction, certainly imposes great
difficulty in filling up the ranks of an Administra-
tion. In this position of affairs Lord Palmerston
offered the seals of the Colonies to Lord Stanley.
The ordinary view of such an advance would be to
consider it as a means of breaking up and disunit-
ing the Opposition, as a Machiavellian policy the
aim of which was to draw from the side of Mr.
Disraeli and Lord Derby a young nobleman who,
independently of his rank and prospects, is cer-
tainly by far the most promising member of the
House of Commons of his age. It has been thought
that such a step would break up the Opposition
and very materially strengthen the Government.
If these were the grounds on which the Colonies
were offered to Lord Stanley, we confess we should
think the appointment hardly defensible. Public
office is not merely the reward. for party manoeuvre,
and ought not to be put up for sale either for
money, for Parliamentary influence, or for any
other consideration than that of fitness. To appoint
an administrator for fifty dependencies and a coun-
sellor in a crisis of so much difficulty and danger-
is too serious a duty to be mixed up with consi-
derations of so low and grovelling a character.
Wo doubt very much whether it be the interest
of the present Government to seek at this time ma-
terially to weaken an Opposition the greatest part
of which is prepared to give them a fair and honest
support on the one question of the day—the vigor-
ous prosecution of the war with Russia ; and
whether such a course would not be calculated to
create new combinations by which Mr. Gladstone
and his friends might turn out to be the only
gainers. It may also be a question whether the
separation of Lord Stanley from the Tory party—
an event sooner or later absolutely certain, from
the entire discrepancy of sentiment and opinion
which exists between them—would have the effect
imputed to it ; or whether any considerable portion
of the Conservatives would follow a man whose
sympathies carry him far nearer to Mr. Bright than
to Lord Derby or to Mr. Disreali. Still there are
reasons which make the offer of the Colonies to
Lord Stanley both a wise and a creditable pro-
ceeding to Lord Palmerston. Lord Stanley is
not yet 30 years of age, but nobody doubts his
talents or his liberality. With a physical defect
which places mere oratorical display out of his
reach, he has nevertheless contrived to win

the attention and command the respect (.)f the
House of Commons. Nobody doubts his ability,
his industry, or his honesty. Nobody doubts that
in him we have a man destined to play a very
remarkable part in the history of the coming time.
To have selected such a man for high office, instead
of going back be that ever ready depot of recruits,
the fourth row behind the Treasury bench, was
both bold and wise. It was a gallant attempt to
emancipate the Government from mere family con-
nexion, and give it a basis worthy of the thoroughly
popular and liberal principle on which it is founded.
The worst that can be said of the attempt to
obtain the assistance of Lord Stanley at the present
juncture is that it has failed, and there are some
things in which a want of success is a strong argu-
ment against the wisdom of the attempt. Lord
Stanley was at first, we understand, undecided.
but ultimately he took Lord Derby's advice, and,
that advice being adverse to acceptance, he de-
clined. We are not apprised of the grounds of
difference ; but certainly, when we remember the
speech made by Lord Stanley on Mr. Disraeli's
motion with regard to the Vienna Conferences, we
should not be surprised to learn that the refusal
arose from the inability of Lord Stanley to
acquiesce in the warlike policy of the present
Government. If that were so, we can only regret
that the prospect of obtaining Lord Stanley's ser-
vices for the country at the present moment
should be lost to us, but we must render justice
to the honourable consistency which induced so
young a man to refuse so high a position—a posi-
tion which many holding similar sentiments would
not hesitate to fill. It is the practice of most of
our contemporaries to produce candidates of their
own for every vacant office, and on the present oc-
casion Government has been favoured with some
very singular suggestions on the subject. Such
wo do not conceive to be the duty of a journalist.
It is the business of Government to choose ;titthi iss
ours to offer an opinion on the choice.
we have certainly a right to expect—that, to
the seals of the. Colonies shall be delivered,
ihe shall be a man in whom the country may
thoroughly confide as to the questions
Lord s of war and
peace. If by offering the Colonies
Stan-
ley Lord Palmerston, as we are rather inclined to
Cabinet at thedisposianl
believe, placed a seat in his
of ono who does not go heartily with the people
1 their anxiety for the prosecution of the war and
their aversion from
a re-opening of the
a second time.
Confer-
ences of Vienna, lot not the error be
committed
iVe are most anxious the Colonies
should be properly administered, but at this mo-
ment we are still more anxious that the honour of
the country should be sacredly and inviolably
maintained. A man who aids us pn this subject
is our friend, be his antecedents what they may ;
the man who thwarts us on this subject is our
enemy, bo his professions and principles never so
specious on all other points. We have had enough
of divided counsels, and cannot afford to risk the
manifest danger to our safety abroad and the
stability of our Government at home which will
bo sure to arise if the people should once
more begin to doubt the firmness and unanimity of
the Government. We are preparing ourselves for
battle, and may reasonably ask that the trumpet
we are to follow shall give no uncertain sound. The
appointment of the new Minister will be regarded
throughout Europe as an index of the present state
of opinion in the British Government. No mani-
festo in favour of war could be so powerful as the
appointment of a Minister thoroughly committed
to its prosecution. Nothing could be done which
would so effectually encourage the schemes of all
those who hate and fear us as to raise to high office