The Sun.
London, England, 1855-05-18 00:00:00

/2.4%,

g

haves° promptly declared in its favour. The great Nor-
folk meeting on Tuesday, and the coming meeting at.
Yarmouth, are cheering symptoms.
Attempts are made in some quarters to deter Liberals
front coming forward to promote administrative- reform,
by representing the movement as one which may be
turned to account by the Tory or Conservative lenders.
It is true that some of these gentlemen have been trying
to coquet with the administka- tive reformers, It is truly
laughable to mark the gingerly fashion in which they
-
are seeking to grapple with the question. They are read
enough to proclaim, in vague, general terms, the urgent
need of administrative reform ; nay, they even go the
lengthof talking about the necessity of "putting the
right men in the right places." But they are careful in
the extreme not to commit themselves to any definite or .
practical
accusations that are
profess to
desire. They
plan
.fo joinrattianinitnhge
rathieliergefoarer:
brought against the more prominent administrative re-
assocationsieuk"ereeeevoeluftitheonarariy:
afeerdmer re-
formers
levelledtheyntit rtesetcathe
legitimate
tocraoy. They profess to desire the end, and yet labour '
indefatigably to throw discredit on the means. Their
fear of substantial, effectual Administrative Reform is
too. tto admit of their-entering sufficiently into the •
movement to do it any harm, or to turn it into an in-
strument for promoting individual and sinister ambitions.
Let us examine a little more closely the value -of the
allegation that the Tories are taking up the question of
Administrative Reforin. The movement for the attain- .
ment of this reform—like the movement which had in
view the repeal of the Corn Laws—has been begun by
men who do not aim at a political career. The active
politicians in this and every country are a comparatively
small number. All men
ye more or less a leaning to
one or the other side ofpolitics— to the popular or the
Thordeiynaateretcoo
nthteentcaedreferoorat
absolutist. But with
most men these leanings are sub-
tier stpeectiiaelaeptu
with whose professed principles weight into the scale of that orsuthitsro
litiwincthialinefeuir..
of active .po
party
have most sym-
pathy. With the great bulk ociety,politics are more a motAr is sentiment than of definite
the facility with which we see men on opinion, and hence
pass-
ingeve
rf, from
aotnaeeside
pressingt o the
emergenciesot her.
Onornragsotectrsiognesnehraolwly-
emergencies
passive class to act for themselves, and
and
tthesuch n3o-
oAassert their
principles irrespective of party leaders.
Tents, the Shibboleths of party warfare,
The people
of party leaders,-become utterly valueless:
hold on their own resistless way regardless of ay o
f
People
those parties to which they in general leave the manage_n
'vent of public affairs. At such times the cause—the
principle which the public have at heart--is sur3 ulti-
mately to be victorious. All the arts and cajolery
of mere. party men cannot arrest its triumphant
*grew., or make it subservient to their own, ag-
crandisement. The Administrative Reform move- •
went is essentially a liberal one, and can only
tend to strengthen and diffuse more widely libe-
ral prM'ciples. Seitf-seekers may take part lin it, and for
a time remain undetected, but their influence- will en-
dure only so long as they really promise it ; when they
torn to promote their own miserable ends they will be
thrown aside and left behind. Let no true Liberal be
deterred from taking part in the movement by insinua-
tions that this or the other questionable character has
joined it from interested 'motives. The singleness of
purpose of the great masses who lend it strength is a '
guarantee that the puny dexterity of individuals can-
not convert it into an instrument of evil. Let us wel-
come every ally ; let us give him credit for sincerity and
honesty of purpose till he shows himself unworthy of it ;
and then let us leave him to his solitary shame, and the
rankling stings of detected and defeated hypocrisy.

(Prom the Morning Chronicle of this day.) . .
Lord Palmerston's reply to the question put by Sir
H. Willoughby, last evening, indicates a fixed resolu-
tion on the part of the Government to. keep the country
in the dark on subjects which it esteems of the most
vital interest. There have been " informal" communi-
qtions from Austria, through France, of a date subse; '
quent to the last ptiblished protocol. But of what na-
ture they were—whetherindicatinzon part of the former
power a meditated treason to the engagements of Dec.
la,t, or only honest and justifiable efforts to reconnect
the broken threads of negot'ation—not the slightest in-
fOrmation is afforded. " Peace with honour, or war
With victory !" was the highsounding phrase with which
olord Palmerston tickled the ears of the citizens on
ednesday evening, but at present we seem as from the
e as from the other, although laborious efforts have
en made to arrive at both.
The reader's of this journal have long since been in-'.
firmed of the true position of LOrd John Russell, not
ly as regards. the question of peace or war, but also
t wards his colleagues in the Ministry. In the same
s nse that Lord Palmerston was placed at the head of ''
airs that he might proclaim our resolve to prosecute
e war with vigour, Lord John Russell was sent to
ienna to represent the ultimatum of the English ne-
t on, nearly in the shape formularised by Lord -Palliser-
on—" Peace with honour, or war witlevictory." The
lntents of the protocols recently published abundahtly
testi that we are not premature or prejudiced in at-
ibuting to ile noble lord a demeanour at Vienna cal-
' laatedtto
icLomparorihse t'l,te holnlosuircoefhhisis country. The
l
Io es far to confirm the view we then took, and to show -
at he is actuated by any motive rather than true pa-
triotism. ..
Is is possible that Lord Palmerston's silence
itattributable to fear of his colleague ?
Lord John Russell is not very fanions for discretion.
The Earl of Aberdeen bad to deplore certain spasmodic .
ts of independence on the part of the noble lord, ,
high, if they did not actually imperil the administra-
on, Certainly rendered it ridiculous. Such a coadjutor
i dangerous even to a strong administration —how much ;
tt
lie more so to ono not remarkable for symptoms of sta-
bility or longevity ? It is quite impossible to say 'what
lothe cause of the phenomenon, but Lord. John Res-_
ll is at the present moment in that state of mind which
is popularly known as " the sulks." Perhaps be did -
not figure with distinction enough at Vienna. Or, al-
though unable himself to sustain an administration, he
may at least be determined to show his power to destroy
the work of another Has he never yet forgiven the ill
turn Lord Palmerston did him in February, 1852 ? Is
Hdiscontented at_ net having the leadership of the
ouse of Commons ? - Does he want: to be War Minis- •
Or ? Or, does he see that . the political interests of the
Whig party are identified with those of the commercial
glasses, and does he therefore intrigue for peace 1 The
list of possible causes of the noble lord's ill•humour is
inexhaustible. Of the fact of his being in a more than
usually restive state, no one can doubt who has observed
Otis personal demeanour in the House of Commons, and
has connected it with his public conduct during his stay
A Vienna and since his return.
, Even at the Mansion-house dinner, Lord J. Russell
4dopted a line of conduct very extraordinary in a Mini-
titer who took so marked a course in favour of the war
during the Aberdeen Administration, and at the moment
when he resolved on its destruction. Lord Palmerston
at least so far met the public anxiety as to string toget-
her a few pompous phrases on one topic connected with
he war, and to conclude with the safe alternative maxim
Ls
o which we have already referred. But Lord John
.ussell, as if to draw a line of demarcation between him
isnd his chief, only entertained his audience with a tissue
tif most unnecessary praises of the House of Commons.
When a little temporary applause was to be obtained is
ihe House of Commons by a clap-trap about the taking ,
f Sebastopol, the noble lord was not so chary, even
!although his volunteered declaration might then be of a
nature seriously to embarrass the Administration, and',
lencourage the enemy by letting him know in advance
lour tactics.
The reluctance of Lord Palmerston to permit any dis-
cussion in Parliament upon the great question of peace
or war, appears inexplicable, except upon the hypothesis'
that he wished to , avoid giving his restive colleague an
opportunity of betraying their domestic differences., So
%good a tactician as Lord Palmerston has proved himself•
.
Ito be during the political vicissitudes of many vests, .
would scarcely have provoked public censures as he has
done, save 'for some -very overpowering 'reason. This,
1
we fear, must be sought in the -leaning of Lord
John Russell towards a peace not " with honour," as
the only means of escaping a war without vjctoryn.
The atmosphere of Vienna has produced its effectc.oa.
Chu noble lord. He has there seen the true . h
ranter of Russian diplomacy, and the degrcHe oefprroebhaabnic.;
that is to be placed on German promisesh.
is
dreads the effect upon the interests of
war which he thinks must become
the pressure of its cost shall be real! Ipry, of a
it by the Peele-
Y f ffecting a peace,
os o e
The party which shall be the nil i
mlar .one in the
~ how hot they were
he may think, will be the rea,ytPo
long, run, and the
upon war, visiting en those .
will their sovereign displeasure nn p‘oepuflar „its oon as
poodle
will
hfoorheave but executed their
at all the evils which war
1 y evin.beinestly believe
engenders. Lord J. Russel' TS„owers, -unsupported by
regarded by bayguleina.ast
that a war by the two
gr would be as ruinous to this
d that such a us
Europe, an
tllaewnacrtizi
carried
ofo An
,u,,,stj rl7:.otde"
iediat4 ally, so lately our rival. All
fitable to our h.
by our in' c."reßase
.:I.L?(litirdtsocinnbsge,ize.it would be pro-
on the great ques-
woiul ji.d"Russell at Vienna, or his '
not be inconsistent with the proceed-
tcho
eusnet rvyi
ea, as, by
singular
'rigs of Lord
or war since his return.
• of peace
tion
I, A state of things clearly cannot last: The Such silence, and that of his colleagues,
inte-
rests of this empire, nay, of civilised Europe, must not
be sacrificed to those of individuals or of parties. This
is no time for small-minded
esciatutaote
rtsuhtleae tneEas mnt
igoelni The man mot
aoe
nn
have
ace
vrffei nidwiisil he
Thatwho willswill
been pronounceda
for w. ar, not be-
cause the people of this country
bfiwetesattbeetmlhi bee
vopedrye st
desire war but because
their instincts teachthem. that th '
till the disturber of the world isere will be no peace
silenced. From the
present Administration it
may be too much to expect
large
and enlightened views of the national interests.
Hitherto the history of Lord Palmerston's Government
has been embodied in one word—disappointment. At
the same time, let us fix the blame on the real offender.
If Lord Palmerston's delays and hesitations have not
proceeded from a -want of respect for the public, bute
from a fear of the intrigues of some of his colleagtunensa,
tely
sooner that fact is made known the better.
tFioonrs of Earl.
the coming discussions on the promised itliao
opportunity
Grey and Mr. Milner Gibson will afford
mystery.
of clearing up this dark and discreditable

eFlOeelitioVnET vTelltsliNtry.;Ftilllatra
CLOSE OF THE POLL.a.
MARTLEBONE 1E: Fax
auditors for the purish of Marylebone, under Hothouse's
Act, terminated at four o'clock yesterday afternoon, and
the inspectors of votes immediately proceeded to their
scrutiny at the Court House. At ten o'clock last night.
the numbers at the Court House were declared to be as
follows :—For the List of the Ratepayers' Association,
proposed by General Bagnold, 1,774 ; for the List of
the Independent Associntion, proposed,by Mr. Clement
George, 1,684 ; majority tor General Bagnold's List, 90.
The announcement was received with loud applause by
the friends of the Ratepayers' Association.