The Sun.
London, England, 1855-01-03 00:00:00

CONDUCT OF THE WAR.

That which we have long anticipated is likely soon
to take place. In well-informed circles the impression
is general that a ministerial crisis is at hand, if
it has not actually arrived. Lord John Russell,
it appears, and the party who act with him in the
Cabinet, are determined not to incur the responsi-
bility of acting further with the men to whom the
management of the War Department has been con-
fided. The vague rumour of Cabinet dissension has
at length assumed a definite shape. The Lord President
of the Council has demanded, it is said, the removal of
the Duke of Newcastle and Mr. Sidney Herbert from
the posts for which they have proved themselves so mise-
rably disqualified, and the dismissal of those poor inca-
pables involves the retirement of the m remader of the
" gang," including, of course, the First Lord of the
Treasury and the Chancellor of the Exchequer.
We do not pretend to be in the confidence of Minis-
ters, but it requires no peculiar penetration to see that the
Coalition was any moment liable to dislocation, and that
latterly such an event had become inevitable. Lord John
Russell can neither have forgotten nor forgiven the slight
to himself and the great party he represents, of placing
every office connected with the War Department in the
hands of a Peelite clique, while the Whigs have been
carefully excluded. The few men of ability and experience
in the Cabinet have been compelled to look on, while
their incompetent colleagues were blundering along
their ruinous course ; and they had the satisfaction
of reflecting, that although they were powerless
to control the mischief daily accumulating through
the ignorance and presumption of the War-office they
were held accountable for it by the country at large. It
is not surprising, therefore, that Lord John Russell
should have resolved no longer to peril the remnant of
the expedition in the Crimea, and his own reputation as
a statesman, by an association with the most incom-
petent and perverse Ministers who ever scrambled to
office.

There is another indication of an imminent crisis.
Cabinet Councils have been held almost daily since the
commencement of the recess. These constant delibera-
tions are not the evidence of stability in an Administration.
They are the result of constant dissensions, and as con-
stant, but futile, efforts to repair them. A contemporary
of yesterday confirms the statement we have so frequently
and so emphatically made respecting the divisions
of the Cabinet on our foreign policy, and fully confirms
our expressed belief that the foreign policy of Lord
Aberdeen is, and ever has been, radically opposed to
that of his ablest colleagues. We refer to the article
in question, because it manifestly proceeds from an
official source ; it possesses at this critical Juncturo
peculiar significance, and is an unerring index of
the state of affairs in the Coalition. We say, thereft.re,
let the Opposition be prepared. The Coalition has been
long enough in office to test its utter unfitness for the ad-
ministration of the affairs of this great country in the 'tour
of trial and of danger. Let the Conservative party up.ite
as one man, and support an Administration capable, pa-
triotic, and determined, jealous for the honour of Englvind,
and resolved to uphold it ; and whose administrative
abilities may restore order, and impart vigour to those
departments where it is most needed. The materials: for
such an Administration are at hand. One month's intelli-
gent and vigorous management of the War Departn lent
will go far to repair the conceited blundering of the
Duke of Newcastle, and the incapacity of the feeble Secre-
tary at War. Upon a change of Ministry, and such a
one as we have indicated, depends the safety and sue-
cess of the army before Sebastopol, and possibly the
security of the French alliance—whether, in short, we
shall be able to dictate terms to the Czar, or sacrifice
all for which we have taken up our arms, and with it
our power, our prestige, and our unsullied national
honour.—Morning Herald.