The Sun.
London, England, 1855-05-15 00:00:00

Ellenborough could confound the hereditary titles and station
of the House of Peers with the achievements in which they
tsok their origin ? Does it not savour of irony to remind th
members of that House that genius and valour confer these
distinctions, though they do not accompany them by heredi-
tary descent f The very charge brought against aristocratic
institutions is, that they perpetuate this share of power,
rank, and influ nce hi the State by the accident of birth
and by the c' nof kinstnanship. The House of NUS
consists, not the greatest men whom England pos-
sesses, but of descendants of the greatest men whom she
has at any ' possessed. There, at least, the claims of
family are, • e and indisputable, for they are the essence
of an her .aristocracy. In their proper place, we do
not di- services they may render to the State;
but ' ich predominates in the House of Lords is rills.
chi" .i .isurd when it overrules the whole public ad-
mi...bixation of tile country. Men who are to serve the State
well must be chosen for something besides the abilities of their
moreto
earrta dt oh ria
grandfathers or the influence of their living relations; and
couldpropo notsiti
proposition
essespelreocftedadi
House of Peers with which he concluded
thatcLislr
edepxaeapempc Ellenboroughhe ap.lle to° hee

h whether doing the work of the
atrouide of this day.)
errors which he alleges
• The Earl
Into his elaborate
criticisms on the
military management of the
to have been committed in the
because, however able
EthaeeuMboorraouigng,
Nation, or only of the Tories, at least did that work well.
war it is not necessary now to enter,
them to " let of this country teaches
in themselves, they were only indirectlymcoindn.necTtehde
practical
htitchale
real question which agitates the public
sense of the people
by-
gones be bygones," and rather to seek guarantees for the
the c.numencement of such a war as that future than-toinflict-punishment for the pastt.
along
are now engaged, were almost inevitable, after .
period of peace. The public, recovered from a
ment that the national arms should not have proved
first astonish-
inlnwsbaitehs'waet
so triumphantly successful as the national flatterers pro-
mised, have arrived at a conviction that there were radical
defects in the system, which ought to be remedied by resolute
men, relying
on a generous support from Parliament and the
people. The disposition of the public mind is rather to look
forward than to return on the past—to seek a remedy rather
than a revenge. That our affairs have been mismanaged is
beyond a doubt--how are we to profit by experience, and
preclude such mismanagement in future ?
Lord Ellunborough was scarcely too severe on Lord Pal-
merston. " Public instructors" were not alone in their ex-
pectation that the noble viscount would have comprehended
the grandeur of the opportunity offered him by an almost
unanimous people, and that he would have wielded with a
firm and vigorous hand the Dictatorship forced upon his ac-
ceptance. Yes, what every man in the nation saw to be the
c nlv true solution of the great difficulty of the time, was pre-
cisely that which Lord Palmerston either could not, or would
not, understand. He thought that he had done enough, when
he offered offices to certain gentlemen whose position as pri-
vate individuals rendered acceptance impossible ; and, hav-
ing done this, he considered himself justified in falling back
on his old Whig friends, and in forming an Administration
upon scarcely any other principle than that of family n.
teCt co 101 l

Whether it was that the Peers regarded Lord Palmerston
as the temporary champion of their order, or that the Tories
did not seriously desire to put out their full strength, a di.4_
sion showed_a_majority against Lord Ellenberough's motion.
(From the Daily News of this clay.)
The Peers have negatived Lord Elleuborongh's motion.
Seventy-one votes were recorded for, and one hundred and
eighty-one against it. We should be shy of affirming that all
the " Contents" are in their hearts friendly to Administrative
Reform; but we are thoroughly convinced that allthe " Non.
contents" are sincerely opposed to it.

Greatthings were expected of the noble earl. As he was
pointedly reminded by his antagonists who followed him in
debate, he seemed, after challenging the whole Ministerial
array, cautiously to avoid engaging in any conflict of a personal
nature. His inculpations of the Government were general,
and he carefully abstained from specifically censuring any
particular appointment, civil or military. This method was
undoubtedly consonant with good tactics as regarded votes in
a division, and we are not sure that upon the whole it was an
error in judgment as regards the verdict of the country.
We do not blame Lord Ellenborbugh, therefore, for not
affording his opponents an opportunity, such as no doubt they
counted on, of breaking up the discussion of the great con-
troversy into a number of personal altercations about the de-
gree of demerit of each of their'proteges, and the comparative
ill-odour of their numerous jobs. The country has long ago
made up its mind on the matter; and Lord Ellenborough did,
in our opinion, much more wisely by keeping clear of all the
dust and filth of individualreciimination, andboldly appealing
for popular support by the manly and straightforward avowal
of the great principle of Administrative Reform. "I am not
a convert," exclaimed the noble Earl, " to that principle, be-
cause I have always maintained it ; and because I have
always, when I had the power, applied it in practice." The
fault of the speech, as a speech, manifestly arose from its
having been too hastily fore-shortened in accordance with some
suggestion or after-thought. Artistically judged, it may be
said to have consisted of little more than an opening and a
peroration, both excellent in their way, but each more suit-
able to an invective of two hours' duration than a menace of
attack prolonged for five-and-forty minutes. In a word,
people expected a tempest, and were consequently not very
much moved by the picturesque, but harmless, threatening of
a thunder-storm that passed off without bursting.
It is perfectly clear that in the Upper House there is an
instinctive unanimity in favour of maintaining things as they
are. The contest there is solely one of party ; different shib-
boleths are used. by rival factions ; but to cheat the middle
classes out of their rights is the ultimate, though unuttered,
aim of both.

(From the Morning Post of this day.)
Lord Ellenborough might as well have moved a simple vot•
of censure as the high-sounding res-dutions which drag their
slow length along over half a column of paper. He might
have done that, and he might have urged with fairness and
candour his desire for another Change of Ministry, which
should have given him an opportunity of indulging his gor-
geous dreams of conquered Asia—of changing the scene, with
the rapidity of a pantomime, from the beleaguered walls of
iebastopol to the plains of Georgia, and the splendour of an
Asiatic campaign with -Russia. But candour and fairness do
not seem to be favourite weapons with the War Minister who
-ecommends himself with such earnestness and such persever-
Irf his whole attack on the conduct of the war he
slurs over the fact, that the Palmerston is not the Aber-
deen Ministry—that the spirit of Lord Aberdeen is not
the spirit of Lord Palmerston—that Lord Panmure is
not the Duke of Newcastle—that we have a new MiGiS-
try' not only distinct in many points from the old, but
in the vigour and qualifications of. its. Head—in its, will and
capacity to reform, absolutely cliff:trent. Lord Ellonborough
inveighed against the doings of the Government, as if Govern-
ment existed on a principle of perpetuity, and were responsi-
ble alike for the economics of the --Earl of-Derby and for the
weakness of Lord Aberdeen, in not counteracting their mis-
chief. The plain truth is, that no Minister is individually re-
sponsible for the effects of a forty years peace on the army of
a constitutional and representative country.

ance.