The Sun.
London, England, 1852-12-20 00:00:00

(From the Times.)

The progress of the events upon which the attention
of the country is at this moment fixed with intense in-
terest is slow, but not insignificant. In conformity with
the intimation we gave on Saturday, a communication
was received at an early hour on that day by the Mar-
quis of Lansdowne and the Earl of Aberdeen, command-
ing their joint attendance upon her Majesty at Osborne-
house. Notwithstanding the great importance of such
a summons, Lord Lansdowne unfortunately found him-
self prevented by an attack of gout from waiting upon
the Queen, and Lord Aberdeen thought it more becom-
ing to represent this circumstance to her Majesty than
to proceed alone to the royal presence in the unavoidable
absence of the eminent statesman whose name had been
coupled with his own. An answer to this effect was
therefore transmitted to the Isle of Wight on Saturday
afternoon. Yesterday morning, however, a further tele-
graphic communication was received at Argyll-house,
commanding Lord Aberdeen's immediate attendance at
Court, and the noble lord started on his mission without
further delay, having been first put in full possession
of the Marquis of Lansdowne's opinion on the present
crisis. We understand this opinion to have been, that
Lord Aberdeen is himself the only man on whom the
arduous task of constructing a powerful and durable
Liberal Government can at this time be imposed with
adequate chances of success ; and even the indisposition
which deprived her Majesty of Lord Lansdowne's per-
sonal advice on this occasion is an additional proof that
his health is not equal to the unremitting and unrelenting
calls of the public service on a First Minister. Wishing
on all occasions to speak with the highest respect of the
Marquis of Lansdowne, who occupies the first rank in
the senatorial order of this realm, we should have deeply
regretted that his illustrious name were made the pre-
text of any short-lived combination entered into by other
parties with different views, or that he had been desig-
nated as the nominal head of a Cabinet of which he
would not have been the real chief. From any such
error his own dignity and sagacity have preserved him,
and we believe that no one will concur more zealously
than himself in supporting the Government which Lord
Aberdeen, at the command of the Sovereign, has under-
taken to form.

It has been our good fortune on some former occa-
sions to record the confidence we felt in the wisdom and
political integrity of Lord Aberdeen while he directed
the foreign affairs of the country under Sir Robert
Peel's Administration, for in that capacity he enjoyed
the unbounded confidence of his colleagues and the re-
spect of every foreign power with which he had to treat.
But what is less known to the country at large, from the
noiseless and unassuming tenor of his career, is the
breadth and impartiality of his character—his energy in
support of Sir Robert Peel's great measures of admini-
strative and commercial reform—his manly resolution in
sharing the sacrifice of office by which that illustrious
statesman paid the price of free trade for the nation—
and his enlightened readiness to advance with the
most truly liberal opinions of the present time. He
has the experience of age without its prejudices or its
infirmities, and the spirit of a constitutional minister
without a narrow or exclusive addition to the rules of
party. He is therefore peculiarly qualified, standing
upon a well-established reputation for prudence and
moderation, to extend his hand to every section of the
Liberal cause, and to include in one poweful Govern-
ment all that most deserves the confidence of the nation.
The concurrence of Lord John Russell and his friends is
of course an essential condition of such an Administra-
tion, and they are entitled, by their past services, their
opinions, and their following in the House of Commons,
to take a prominent part in its formation. But the ac-
tual number of Lord John Russell's late colleagues is
already much reduced, and the great interests of the
Liberal party do not rest solely with them. Although
we cannot regard Lord Palmerston's co-operation as in-
dispensable to any Cabinet, and least of all to a Cabinet
not wanting in Parliamentary ability, we regret the
isolated position in which he has placed himself : and
we should learn with pleasure that his great administra-
tive abilities were to be employed at the Admiralty
in the improvement of our naval defences, or
transferred to the Vice-Royalty of his native- coun-
try. Among the younger and more active libe-
rals, who have hitherto received no encourage-
ment from Whig Ministers, men like Sir William Moles-
worth, Lord Wodehouse, or Mr. Osborne, would find a
place ; and, with a Government like that we are con-
templating, office might be extended without danger
even to that class of politicians who have usually refused
it. To accomplish such a task at all, it must be under-
taken in a broad, bold, and liberal spirit ; it must be met
with fairness and confidence.

To reduce the fluctuating elements of the political
world to two constant divisions of party, and to main;
tain those broad distinctions with as much consistency
and uniforinity as the habits of a free people will permit,
are the primary and most obvious conditions of the form
of Government under which we live. It may happen—
it has recently happened in this country—that one or
both of these parties have undergone transformations by
which their identity is affecte and their cohesion
shaken ; but the efficient working of the constitution
requires that the balance should as soon as possible be
restored, and that the discordant fractions into which
a party may be subdivided should once more be di-
rected by common principles to a common object.
In the time we live in the names and badges of
public men have lost much of their influence ; for their
followers have lost the blind deference to party authority
which once constituted the strength of a Minister. But
by so much the more important is it that common prin-
ciples should be the effective bond of political combina-
tion, and that statesmen, divided by no essential
differences, should unite to discharge the duties which
all profess alike to owe to their country. It is false to
designate such a union as a coalition, if that term be
intended to convey an undue sacrifice of independent
convictions ; but if the Queen's Government is to be
carried on at all, it is impossible that any Ministry should
exist, not reckoning a considerable diversity among its
members and supporters. The chief fault of Lord John
Russell's last Cabinet was that, instead of this diversity,
it had all the tameness of a family dinner party ; and if
the chief interests of the State are to be discussed with
effect by the confidential advisers of the Crown, it is de-
sirable that they should include as much variety of
opinion as is compatible with a general conformity of
views and intentions.

Far, therefore, from considering it a reproach to the
Ministry which may be formed at the present crisis that
it is not likely to be cast in one mould, or composed of
materials identically similar, that quality is, in truth, a
cause of strength. Harmony is preferable to unison.
Nothing great or powerful exists in the world which is
not the result of conflicting forces skilfully balanced and
combined. But it is essential to the working of the
Constitution that such minor differences as are here ad-
verted to should be absorbed in two broader lines of
division. Opposed by a compact and numerous party,
if not by an able one, the existence of any Liberal Go-
vernment depends on the maintenance of corresponding
discipline among its own supporters. But if every frac-
tion is incapable of anything more rational and useful
than the assertion of its own wilful pretensions, the
principles by which men ought to be united are sacri-
ficed to the names that divide them. We rest our hopes
of the success of this experiment—which we admit to be
one of difficulty—upon the high character of its authors,
upon the administrative ability of the future Ministers,
and upon the earnest and rational desire of the country
to see these mere gladiatorial exhibitions terminated by
a more dignified, stable, and wholesome course of Go-
vernment. If Lord Aberdeen is enabled to form a Cabi-
net at all, it will be the ablest and the strongest that the
country can produce. If he fail in that, he fails altoge-
ther; but if he succeed, he may look to the good sense
and patriotism of the people of England to support and
to reward him.

THE CHAPLAIN OF PITCAIRN'S ISLAND.—The Rev.
G. H. Nobbs, lately ordained chaplain of Pitcairn's Island,
sailed from Southampton by La Plata on Friday last for
Navy Bay, whence he will proceed to Valparaiso, where
he expects to meet Rear-Admiral Moresby, of the Portland,
who has promised to convey him to Pitcairn. It is thought
that he will have to travel 10,000 miles before he rejoins
his flock. Previously to quitting Southampton Mr. Nobbs
was honoured with an interview with Prince Albert at
Osborne-house. His Royal Highness afterwards presented
him to the Queen, who showed himmuch kindness and
condescension. The gracious reception Alf the representa-
tive of the loyal community of Pitcairn delighted him
much, and, added to the sympathy and regard manifested
towards him by all during his two months' stay in Eng-
land, enabled him to quit our shores with feelings of hap-
pinese.