The Sun.
London, England, 1855-02-26 00:00:00

c§3431

LONDON, MONDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 1855.

If the new Administration be not exclusively
Whig, it is at least so nearly so that the other
elements may be said to be entirely absorbed, or
neutrised. It is true that two Peelit's, the
Duke of ARGYLL and Lord CANNING, retain their
seats in the.cabinet. If their own feelings did
not lead to a reshmation, it would have been diffi-

tilt for the Premier, more especially under exist-
ing circumstances, to order their dismissal.
Although the circumstances which led to their
appointment have totally changed they could not
be summarily " discharged" from the situations
which they had within a few a short weeks been
not merely invited, but entreated, to fill. They
were then essential to the balance of party
power. They made up the stipulated number of
the " legislative engineers," who wished to be all
°Moors, without any subordinates—leaders, albeit
without followers. Now, however, their services
could readily be dispensed with—their "room would
be far better than their company ;" but still they
hold on witk unflinching tenacity ! We can
scarcely conceive that such a course can be very
congenial to their feelings. That it is one which
they could be induced to take from a desire to re-
tain the emoluments of office we cannot suppose.
We shall not, without ample confirmation, expose
either of these noblemen to an imputation so damag-
ing. It appears far more probable that they have
been persuaded to act in opposition to their better
judgment for the purpose of preserving the
nucleus of Peelism in the Cabinet, around which
the dispersed members may once more congre-
gate, when the failure of the intrigue for supre-
macy being clearly manifested jthey will rejoice
to be allowel to regain their former position.
This view is materially strengthened by the fact
that Mr. FREDERICK PEEL continues in office
as an Under-Secretary, happily not in the War
Department, but in the Colonies, where, in conse-
quence of the indefinite absence of the Secretary,
otherwise engaged at Vienna, he will have ad-
ditional power and control placed in his hands.
It is also said that his brother has been persuaded
to accept the situation of Clerk of the Ordnance,
so that, after all, it can only be asserted that
Peelism for the time being "is scotched," not
that it has been " killed."

The other element remains unchanged. Sir
WILLIAM MOLESWORTH still retains the Woods
and Forests, but he still stands alone. Notwith-
standing the numerous offices literally going
begging—notwithstanding the difficulty of finding
persons competent to discharge the duties thereof
efficiently, and the necessity of strengthening the
Government by the adhesion of some of the
tiberalparty, all the prizes have been distributed
amo
big the Whigs--aye, more, the aristocratic
The old Ministerial traditions have
been strictly followed. The Tadpoles and
Tapers may ye • is the unequivocal ad-
herence to red-tap6t prieeiples, and the de-
cided manner in which piebeict' n talent was repu-
diated, no man without " a handle
to his name,"
Of at least a considerable infusion of the aristo-
cratic ichor in his veins, had the slightest chance
of a place in the "Lordly Cabinet."
The first appointment is that of Lord JouN
RUSSELL to the Colonial Secretaryship. The
name of the Noble Lord as a member of the Ca-
binent will, of course, be valuable. But that is
all he can give. It is "vox et preterea iiihil."
Ile can render no assistance either in the Council
or in Parliament. He is, and will be, engaged
in what ought to be an important mission, until
long after the fate of the PA LMERSTON Govern-
ment has been decided for good or evil. We fear,
however, from what fell from the Premier on
Friday evening, when eager to secure the condi-
tional assistance of Mr. JOHN BRIGHT, he indi-
cated the nature of the Noble Lord's instructions,
for his guidance as British Plenipotentiary at the
approaching Congress, that he mightj ust &swell have
complied with the first request by at once return-
ing home, Nst ore he might be of some use, rather

than protocolling at Vienna, whire, under the
circumstances, he cannot possibly be of any. If
the stolen territories of Russia are not to be re-
claimed—if she be not compelled to relinqu'sh her
menacing aspect in the Euxine, our soldiers have
bled, our tax-payers have groaned under their l
accumulated burdens, in vain.
Lord JOIIN has now changed places with his
former subordinate. It was owing to the pre-
dominance of " Germanism" that he se sum-
marily and contumaciously dismissed the Foreign
Secretary in December, 1851. A similar in-
fluence may now be in operation to dilute our
demands to the utmost possible degree. We cer-
tainly cannot rely greatly on the " COBURG" as-
sistance, when we see the " Ulysses" of the House
avoiding committing himself in any shape, and
conniving at Austrian and Prussian " thimble-
rigging." The manly example of Sardinia might
bring a blush into the cheek of LEOPOLD had he
retained the power of so doing.
The great feature of the new, or rather the
modified, Administration, is the nomination of
Sir GEORGE CORNEWALL LEWIS to the head of the
Financial Department I We cannot speak in very
hopeful terms of the appointment. The ante-
cedents of the Right Hou. Baronet do not war-
rant any undue exultation at the additional
strength conferred on the Government. But he
himself is a Baronet, and, what is still better, the
husband of an Earl's sister, and having from
the very commencement of his e,areeer been
shoved into office whenever or wherever

there was a vacancy—his appearance even
as Chancellor of the Exchequer will be
striettly selon les regles. The retention of that
important office by Sir CHARLES WOOD for several
years proves that it is not incompatible with the
most unequivocal mediocrity. A valuable man
might possibly have been obtained—one tho-
roughly acquainted with our national finances,
and the appointment might have conciliated many
staunch Liberals, who must be greatly dissa-
tisfied with present arrangements. But the
Honourable Gentleman the member for Glas-
gow boasts no personal title, no aristocratic
connexions, and the simple fact that he is better
qualified for the office than any other man in the
House is forgotten—the single disqualification
that he is a man of the People, is sufficient to
ignore all his other claims, however powerful.
The " Evergreen, " who will aceept any
post in any Administration, goes to the Ad•
miralty ! Is this a time to entrust a de-
partment on the' efficient management whereof
the honour and safety of the nation so
greatly depends to such hands ? We cannot
doubt as to the nature of the reply that will be
returned.

It is said that Mr. VERNON Sminr is to be the
new President of the India Board ! Others say
that Lord ELGIN is to fill the situation.
Whoever it may be, however, there must
be an improvement. It would be difficult
to find a Member of either House not competent
to fill a vacancy created by Sir CHARLES Woon.
Some of the inferior appointments to places

outside the Cabinet are better than those above
referred to. We shall, however, await more de-
cisive information before considering the minor

changes.

With the House of Commons we can do but
justice to impassioned genius, and, had we been
present, must have sympathised' with the cheers
that greeted the touching and beautiful appeal
which concluded the speech of the hon. member
for Manchester on Friday nigkt. His allusion to
the angel of death abroad in the land, the beating
of his wings almost heard, while no averting blood
could be sprinkled ou Zhu oldoexAs and linto)o or
our doors, his personal appeal also to the Prime
Minister, could not but touch every heart when lis-
tened to, for they cannot be read without emotion.
So much the more, however, aro we bound to
weigh in the scales of impartial justice the con-
clusion which his eloquence was intended to sup-
port. There is no need to think the speaker dis-
honest ; his foregone decision, and his warm ima-
gination are quite sufficient to account for all.
The real object of Mr. BRIGHT'S speech was to
gain the good will a Lord PALMERSTON, by ex-
cusing hint and Lord JOHN RUSSELL, while he
laid on them chiefly the responsibility of the War,
and all in order to nail them to the Four Points
as the basis of peace. To secure a Four-Point
peace—this was his grand object. His commen-
dations of Ministers, his pictures of distress at
home, and his appeals to our national honour, not
to recede from, or rather to ask more, than the
Four Points which our Ministers had agreed to,
had all this one end in view.

Mr. BRIGHT adroitly, but not quite correctly,
argued that but one of the points was now the
subject of controvesy. Carrying out the details
of the first two satisfactorily would be no easy
matter ; but the free navigation of the Danube
would never be worth seven years' purchase with-
out the enforced disarming of all Russian ports
near its mouth, and, indeed, the restoration of all
the territory adjacent to the estuary to its right-
ful owners. Joint protectorate of the river, like
joint protectorate of the Greek Church in Turkey,
is but a miserable farce when one of the protec-
tors is convicted of the most intolerable abuse of
such an office hitherto. In every direction Rus-
sian Cults have been barefaced plunderers of
their neighbours' territory, and to allow them the
smallest locus standi in the affairs of an adjacent
country is to insure its absorption in due course.
The grand difficulty to be adjusted is, however, as
Mr. BRIGHT observes, the fourth point—what
shall be included in requiring the " preponderat-
ing power" of Russia in the Black Sea to cease.
Now, we deliberately say that nothing less than
the destruction of every naval arsenal or dock-
yard, and of every puiely military fort, is the
sine qua non. The Allies' can do this now, and
they ought to do it. Sebastopol as a fortress
must be utterly destroyed, and its reconstruction
be prohibited, under penalty of a visit to the port
by an English or French fleet. Nicolaieff must
share its fate, or it will soon become almost as
dangerous. Odessa may be allowed as many guns
as London or Liverpool, for commerce more will
not be needed. All the Circassian forts must, of
course, be utterly destroyed. Not a vestige of
reasonable title has Russia to one inch of the sea
coast belonging to the brave mountaineers. Any-
thing short of what we mention would merely
entail on the Western Powers the charge of main-
taining
ing
a large fleet in the Euxine. Whatever
forts and ships are left there to Russia will become
the
miefa shesu is reofnofotrtcoe
preponderate.whichwemust equal or sur-
pass,We have discussed the question on the ground
of the Four Points ;
peace on such a basis would of course, cbouerascm, weost think
a
ruinous
one. Mr. BRIGHT put forth all his powers in de-
picting the horrible loss of life caused bytraheusWt.aart.„
and the great sacrifice especially which
tend the storming of Sebastopol, for he actually
contemplates a peace which should leave to the
assassins of Sinope that infernal stronghold. It
is just here, however, that the nervethe andpajsusdiogn-
ment of the far-seeing statesman, not
of the orator, and the sentiment of the poet, are
required ; and the former is certainly not Mr.