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

(From the Morning Herald of this day.)

Lord Derby has declined the task which had been delegated
to him by his Sovereign. The duty of forming a Government
at this moment, when the late Cabinet, as much by their Ad-
ministration as by their retirement, have thrown all thing:,
into confusion, is far from an agreeable task. It is not ono
which any nobleman would readily undertake, except from
the most urgent considerations of duty. The late debates on
the war, consequent upon Mr. Roebuck's motion, have dis-
closed the terrible disorganisation and mismanagement which
still prevail at Scutari and at the Crimea; in the army, in
the hospital, in the commissariat--in short, in all quarters
and provinces of the war. Au apprehension pretty generally
exists that worse disclosures have yet to come; and now that
they are removed from office who were most interested ins putting a fair face upon matters, and the whole truth must
COMO out undisguised, the heart of this nation is doomed to,
quail, and its ears to tingle, with dark and ominous announce-
ments—yet to come.

It cannot, then, appear surprising that Lord Derby proton
remaining in his present exemption from the frightful reapers+
sibilities of office unless he has a power coequal with hie re-
sponsibilities. It is not cur part to attribute motives or
point out the obstacles which short-sighted and selfish Arabi.
tion may have had in defeating designs entertained by the
Sovereign, and entrusted for their execution to this able and
energetic nobleman. It is enough that Lord Derby himself
does not see clearly how he can execute the commission
thus entrusted to him, with credit to himself, with honour
to the Queen, and with safety to all; and, therefore, he re-
turns into the hands of the Sovereign the Authority with
which he had been invested.

We cannot blame him, much as we, in conjunction with a.
large portion
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Derby, we repeat, fully as we are convinced that, had he
been placed at the head of the Administration of the country,
there would have been no repetitions of the blunders, short-
sightedness, and incredible neglect, such as characterised the
proceedings of the Coalition. His genius would soon have
extricated us from the horrors into which the war has sunk
us ; from that degradation which, as a nation, we cannot but
feel, when comparing the boast and bravadoes with which
the Cabinet and their adherents began the siege of Sebastopol,
and the humiliations, the childish cries for help to others,
which their conduct has reduced as. But a stronger
reason than any of these would have induced us to
welcome Lord Derby's accession to power; and it is this--
that sooner or later the reins of Government must fall into his
hands. Until that period comes the nation. can expect no
permanent and no vigorous Administration.
For what are the alternatives before it ? A Whig Govern-
ment or a Coalition Government. Or, to speak more cor-
rectly, a Coalition Government, in which Whiggery forms the
more predominant and more active element. A pure Whig
Administration is out of the question ; it has been tried and
failed signally. A re-construction of tins old Whig, party,
with fresh and youthful blood, is an impossibility, even were
it contemplated. For whatever strength or hopes the Whigs
may have, are they placed in the rising generation I Is'there
any succession to supply the vacancies in their ranks which
time is daily making 4 There aro none ; no recruits to step
into the gaps of Whig oligarchy. Lord John his effectually
knocked his own party on the head ; he has mint the placebo
over Whig monopoly as effectually as, ever did Sir Robert
Peel in a kindred instance.

Then as for a Coalition. What, we ask, are the hopeful
elements out of which such a piece of joinery can be con,.
strutted ? Then Mr. Gladstone, like Garrick between tragedy
and comedy in the celebrated picture, will be subjected to the
solemn warnings and the monitorial acerbities of Lind Grey
on one side, to the jaunty, noisy Palmerstonianisms of youthful
seventy-three on the other. Can he reconcile the two with
each other ? Can he reconcile either with himself I Lord
Grey's colonial administration, or rather nal-administration,
defeated Lord John's Cabinet, and raised Mr. Gladstone
and his party to eminence. Mr. Lowe, lately the under ifecre.
tary of Mr. Gladstone's own creation, ivas= the gadfly, ex-
pressly deputed from Australia to visit:4ls country to hum
and sting, to denounce by public speeches, . and through
the columns of the press, Lord Grey's ministerial Inca-
pacity and his impraaticable temper. It is no Secret
that the Timm, now unaccountably anxious to foist
Lord Grey into power, opened its files for so clever an advo-
, cats of colonial independence, and so bitter an adversary of
the unpopular Lord Grey. It is no secret that the most acrid
reviews of Lord Grey's colonial policy are to be found in the
same columns. If, after all, Lord Grey can unite with the
Poelites, then, as the Reman poet declares, there is no rea-
son why doves should not take to the water, and •fish graze
in the trees ; political honesty and political consistency have
become a farce and a bye-word.
But has not this country had sufficient experience of a
Coalition that it must needlessly " repeat the dose ?" Has
it not seen already Mr. Disraeli's dictum verified, that the
people of England do not like Coalitions ; whilst the history
of this country bears testimony, clear, frequent, and forcible
enough, that no Coalition can be of lasting duration I Not
even Lord Palmerston's popularity or Lord Palmereton'a abili-
ties will succd in rendering such combinaons palatable or
even practicable.
And though we do not fish to prejudge
him, yet we cannot shut our eyes to the fact that Lord Pal-
merston's abilities are more fitted for brilliant coups de mak
more
than patient statesmanship. However conspicuous his genius
far
may have appeared hitherto in averting war and adopting a
vigorous and energetic course when war seemed inevitable, far
more caution, fa
thesnol skein,e judgment,
business and all its details than Lord Palmerston possesses
will be required to extricate us from our present I)erilous po-
sition, to unravel
embroilment and confusion into which a Coalition has
thrust us.
It is for those reasons, then, that we should gladly have
.to land in application, to
safety from the
seen Lord Derby at that post to which his rank, abilities, and
character fit him more than any other man, and to which dr-.
cumstances must drift him eventually, even without any oxen.
Lion, on his part, lie has done wisely, and he has certainly
consulted his own dignity and ease when he refused to 1474
up with the party squabbles, the Downing-street intrigues,
and the party plots out of which Lord. John has just eraWled
with wiled hautiA and a divilaged PPi%Ati9n°
_ _