The Sun.
London, England, 1855-11-09 00:00:00

In the capital of France no pains will be spared to
show him honour, and to testify the sense felt of
his noble policy. We, at least, ought not to be
behind-hand in rendering his reception worthy of
the interests which ho represents ; and, certainly,
no Englishman could more opportunely occupy the
post of First Minister at such a moment than Lord
Palmerston, of whose policy, one of the most che-
rished objects, and one of the most perseveringly
pursued endeavours, has every beet to open up to
Sardinia that fair field and free course in which
she is making the swiftest strides towards pros-
perity and glory. But we need not insist ; there
is no danger of a lukewarm greeting here for the
Piedmontese monarch ; and we have no doubt
that the day when Victor and Victoria meet on
the territory of the latter will long be remembered
by the civilised world.

(From the Morning Chronicle of this day.)

All political events are tending towards a disso-
lution of Parliament. Lord Palmerston is evi-
dently struggling in the net spread for him by the
factions • and ho will sooner or later be compelled
to breakthrough it by an effort of vigorous deter-
mination. Another reading of his recent proceed-
ings would exhibit him in the position of a man,
desirous of providing himself with a sound and
valid excuse for a line of conduct on which he had
already resolved. He cannot proceed in the pre-
sent Parliament, if he does not procure assurances
of support from some influential section of the
House of Commons, or at least unless he renders a
certain threatened Coalition impossible. Hence
his efforts to strengthen himself, either through
the Tories or the gentlemen below the Ministerial
gangway. Hence the otherwise inexplicable pa-
tience with which he continues to hawk about t .vo
of the highest offices of State.
A dissolution of Parliament is opposed by some
very sincere and well-meaning persons, from a fear
that it would give scope for the machinations of
those political intriguers who aro endeavouring to
lash the public up to a war fever. This objection
is only partially well-founded. Violent articles in
newspapers do not constitute public opinion, which
acts upon principles wholly independent of such
incentives. So long as the present House of Com-
mons remains in the enjoyment of its functions,
so long will such violent appeals to popular pas-
sions furnish weapons to those desperate intriguers,
who are seeking a majority by profligate combina-
tions. They pass, in fact, for public opinion, only
until the reality is made known.
But an Appeal to the People would destroy that
temporary drawback to a sound judgment by the
whole Nation on the great -question which must
soon be discussed. One great evil of our present
system is, that enough confidence is not placed iu
the people at large, while too much attention is be-
stowed on those who profess to represent their
feelings. That foreign Statesmen should allow
these noisy intriguers to impose upon them is not
-,urprising, but it is scarcely credible that person-
ages in high places hero at home should share iu
that delusion. Those who mix much with different
classes of the people do not believe that they are
actuated by the savage thirst for war attributed
to them by a pnrtion of the Press. On the con-
trary, they are known to take a sober and steady
view of the question, and to desire a continuance
of the war, not for its own sake, but only that ita
legitima,te objects may be attained. Although
Lord Palmerston is no longer in the prou I posi-
tion lie held in the latter days of the Coalition,
ann the e trlier ones of the present Ministry, still
his mime and policy are to intimately associated
with the dignity of the nation, as involved in the
' struggle with Russia, that there can be but little
doubt as to the result of a general election.
What is now desired is, that the policy of the
Government and the tone of the House of Commons
shall be in accordance with the real sense of the

nation. As the present House is constituted, this
is impossible. Lord Derby boasted not long ago
of Lis compact phalanx of three hundred mem-
bora, whom the Tory Chiefs look upon as so many
troops ready to follow them through any political
manoeuvre they may contemplate. The gentlemen
who are avowedly of the Peace Party are equally
well organised ; and as they are all bent on light-
ing the mere battle of power, even at the expense
of the honour of the country, a result might be
produced wilich would be very prejudicial,
although arrived at in strict mcordance with con-
stitutional forms.

There is a precedent for this state of things which
is suitable to the present crisis. We all remem-
ber the circumstances under which Sir Robert
Peel took office towards the close of 1841. Al-
though it was not he who dissolved the Parliament
at that epoch the result was an almost unprece-
dented majority in his favour. Ho lad carefully
abstained from pledging himself to any particular
pplicy, but was generally supposed to favour the
prevailing dogmas of the Tories as Lord Palmer-
ston is now, by the greater portion of the public,
believed to be a war Minister, and a sincere hater
of Russia. In effect, the Parliament of 1841 was
favourable to a species of Dictatorship, us the only
mode of solving the difficulties of the time ; and Sir
R. Peel was the Dictator chosen, because he was
believed to be the most powerful, sound, and saga-
cious, as well as the best informedamong the states-
men of his age. Armed with this immense moral
power, Sir R. Peel was enabled to carry those silu-
tary improvements in our commercial system which
staved off menacing political and social dangers,
and ultimately to repeal the Corn Laws.
England requires at the present moment a Minis-
ter who shall be practically in the position held by
Sir Robert Peel at that epoch. Without for one
moment instituting a comparison between him and
Lord Palmerston, it may be said that they had
one advantage in common. Lord Palmerston is
the only statesman of the day who could even hope
to rally round himself the popular confidence, in
the sense in which it was accorded to Sir Robert
Peel. He might not command a majority so large
as that which placed that Statesman in the proud
position of Dictator of the affairs of his country,
but he would at least have a Parliament purged of
the factious elements which now impede the
wholesome action of legislation and government,
and which would discharge its functions under the
moral control of public opinion.
Lord Palmerston's personal ambition would of
course be advanced by such a triumph, but it would
not be for his sake that the people would rouse
themselves. Delusions, once very strong, on the
subject of his fitness to conduct the affairs of the
country, have now been to agreat extent destroyed,
and it is rather the name of the Premier abroad
than his real services at home, on account of which
he would be empowered. His appointment to form
a Government was a manifesto that the nation
had discarded the policy of Lord Aberdeen for
more vigorous courses of action. The same influ-
ences which then bore him into office still remain
in full force. As there is no other Statesman of
the day who could conduct the present war, and
the consequent policy of the country, with so much
prestige, so also there is not ono who could with
so much authority and fearlessness adopt a more
moderate course. The noble lord himself would
seem to be conscious of the responsibility imposed
upon him by his antecedents and his present posi-
tion. Nothing short of such a conviction could
induce a proud man—a 3 proud iu his personal cha-
racter as he is of the traditions of his order—to
bear the humiliation he suffers from the repug-
nance of the chiefs of other parties to coalesce with
him in the Government, and by the restive and
capricious conduct of the House of Commons. He
is not the first Prime Minister of this counrty
whose freedom of action has been impeded by an
anomalous veto, permitted, though scarcely recog-
nised, by the Constitution. If such an influence
were exercised, and he were to succumb to it, he
would set a dangerous example, which might be
used, at some more critical period, to disturb that
balance of the three estates of the realm, upon'
Which depends, theoretically at least, the whole-
some action of our political system.
Whether Lord Palmerston's rumoured applica-
tions to the Duke of Newcastle and Mr. Sidney
Herbert do or do not result in the same failure
that attended his offer to Lord Stanley, is a mat-
ter of very little consequence to the country. Lord
Palmerston may shrink from adopting the ex-
treme course of dissolving Parliament, until he
has tried every possible combination of parties in
the existing house. At a general election, some of
those
rni
either
oi
vigorously
will
wiedisappear, while others will be much
weakened. At all events, there will have been a
fair and. clear test of public opinion, and, if it
should result in a Ministerial majority, Lord
powersPal-
tfoullconc
ltrd e
e
to himselfpu s hat
ewith
war, or an hououra,ble peace.

reflection is
The
m(Pc:rvernrethefl Morning Ilerala of this day. )
-curse of a cow.waytgdi
posi-
tion of affairs, the
more
rea.lsvyoennatpoptehaersptroeasepnpirehen
still throws its
that the
.curse
is a blunt and sturdy
councils of England. and un-English diplo-
macyTqlering influence over the
b character
war
au l which
negotiation,
good sense about our
a'evetwaettendedeetlii nation. We
which prevents either from
not understand the mixtureoonf
hasel.n being 3 effective. This
to combine
that thl
the cause of
have made war in the spirit of negotiation, all attempttdisastershe
have negotiated in the temper of hostility, we
have dallied over our warlike operation' '-b.e We
cause
fools have been dreaming that the efforts of
secret diplomacy might bring about peace. We e
failed in our attempts at negotiations be
secret
have
entered upon them with views that are only to be
reconciled with war : hence it is that in diplomacy
we luoie only made Qurselveo absurd, and ii wax we