The Sun.
London, England, 1852-02-25 00:00:00

considerable precipitation. It is easy enough, of
course, to nominate with perfect safety to England
the Duke of MONTROSE as Lord Steward ; yet a very
different matter, and one involving remarkable risk
in regard to a country so situated as Ireland, to ele-
vate the Earl of EGLINTON summarily and unex-
pectedly to the responsible post of Lord-Lieutenant.
The new Prime Minister may, without jeopardizing
the interests of the nation, appoint as Lords of the
Bedchamber three noblemen such as the Earl of
MORTON, as Viscount HAWARDEN, and as Baron
POLWARTH. But we cannot conceive that it is
otherwise than most hazardous to the wel-
fare of the community, to the stability of the
empire, and to the integrity of the Constitution to
proclaim such statesmen (?) as Mr. WALPOLE, as Sir
JOHN PAKINGTON, and the Earl of MALMESBURT,
the three Secretaries of State presiding respectively'
over the Home, Colonial, and Foreign Department.
Those three seats in the Cabinet are the most, or nearly
the most, important even under ordinary circum-
stances, and yet they are the identical ones which
the Earl of DERBY has yielded up to the three most
incompetent men in his Administration. Because
Earl GREY bad by his intemperate and intermeddling
policy rendered his name detestable to the vast proper-
tion of the population, that is surely not sufficient reason
why a person whose abilities have hitherto proved
only adequate for the duties of a county magis-
tracy should be thus rashly announced as his suc-
cessor. The blundering impetuosity of Earl GREY
may have been bad enough for the nation, but we
don't know that it will be much better off with the
incapacity and inexperience of Sir JOHN PAKINGTON.
Neither can we credit for an instant that the people
of England will be to any extraordinary extent
gratified by the filling up of the office
vacated by Sir GEORGE GREY with such
an one as Mr. WaLroLE—a very respectable lawyer,
no doubt, and one who has made a few tolerably
good speeches in the House of Commons, but by no
means qualified to assume at once, and without any
preliminary practice in administrative labours, the
high and difficult position of Home Secretary. Like
DOGBERRY, he may be " a good fellow enough, go to ;
and as pretty a piece of flesh as in all England,. and
one who bath had losses," and so forth, ad infinitum,
but all that is far from arguing that he has
the capacity, the aptitude, and the experience for
conducting the affairs of our Home Government.
Mr. WaLroLE may be" a very good man no doubt,"
but at the same time a very sorry administrator.
Then there is the Earl of MALMESBURY, as Foreign
Secretary ! As if Earl GaanviLLE was not suffi-
ciently unsatisfactory to the nation as a successor to
the most gifted statesman of our age, we must needs
be dismayed by observing the name of the Earl
GRANVILLE followed by that of the Earl of
MALMESBURY. It must nevertheless be borne in re-
collection (while we venture to express our profound
chagrin at the last-mentioned selection) that the Earl
of DERBY at the very outset of his efforts to con-
struct his present Cabinet made overtures to Lord
PALMERSTON, placing the seals of the Foreign-office
within reach of his re-acceptance. Naturally, we
might even add necessarily, the offer was at once re-
jected by the Noble Lord the Member for
Tiverton ; but the circumstance of its having
been actually made exonerates the Earl of
DERBY in some measure from the blame attaching
to him by reason of his choice of the Earl of
MALMESBURY, while it reveals a fact at the present
moment of very extraordinary importance, and one
which we would here earnestly commend to the
general consideration. Almost immediately after
the Earl of Daanir's interview with her MAJESTY, on
Sunday, the overtures already referred to were made,
thereby showing that, notwithstanding recent
events, there exists no insuperable obstacle
whatever to the reinstatement in office of
Viscount PALMERSTON. Consequently, although
the Noble Lord declined, as above-mentioned, re-
suming his conduct of our foreign policy, there ma-
nifestly remains no very formidable obstacle in the
way of his return to the Ministerial apartments in
Downing-street. Under any other statesman it is
not likely that Lord PALMERSTON will henceforth
consent to act. By consenting to take office other-
wise than as himself the leader of the Government
he would be abdicating the power at present
reposing in his hands—that of a political
chieftainship such as cannot long admit of
the existence of a successful competitor.
Biding his time, therefore, the late Foreign Secre-
tary has wisely refrained from yielding to the Minis-
terial blandishments of the head of the Provisional
Government.

Among the subordinate, but still important ap-
pointments recently filled up by the Earl of DERBY,
there are three that must be allowed to be especially
noticeable—that of Mr. BERESFORD as Secretary at
War, a post just now of peculiar responsibility; that
of Lord NAAS as Secretary for Ireland, as
a reward, we presume, for his unsuccessful onslaught
on the Earl of CLARENDON'S Administration; and that
of Mr. AUGUSTUS STAFFORD as Secretary to the Ad-
miralty, this being not the only boon in the way of
place and power apportioned among the interesting
" stars" of YOUNG ENGLAND. In reference to the
last mentioned Party—once so united, now so scat-
tered and almost indistinguishable—it may be ob-
served that the Honourable GEORGE SYDNEY SMYTHE
is awaiting with serenity and confidence the
hour which must inevitably bring him into
office with the Peelites—the Coming Men as asso-
ciated with Lord PALMERSTON—whiIe his quondam
associates, Lord JOHN MANNERS, Mr. AUGUSTUS
STAFFORD, and Mr. BENJAMIN DISRAELI are re-
spectively rejoicing in official honours as Commis-
sioner of Woods and Forests, as Secretary to the
Admiralty, and as Chancellor of the Exchequer. A
t.-3mporary cloud eclipses the genius of Coningsby,
while that of its gifted and versatile author is
luxuriating in the compilation of a Budget, in the
ringing changes of E. s. d , and in the other delightful
day-dreams indulged in by the financier. It is thus
with the leaven of Young England that the Earl of
DERBY is sagaciously endeavouring to ferment at least
a semblance of vitality among the effete and obsolete
upholders of Toryism and Protection, out of whose
ranks he is compelled by a dire necessity to select
the principal members of his Government. The vivi-
fying influences of Young England, however,
and the genius even of its leader Mr. DISRAELI,
must fail in regard to any Cabinet in
which such a man as the Earl of MALMESBURY
is Foreign Secretary, such a man as Mr. WALPOLE
is Home Secretary, and such a man as Sir JOHN
PAKINGTON is Colonial Secretary. In those three
appointments alone, if nowhere else, we recognise the
germs of the dissolution which, in the interval of a
very few months, must necessarily and unavoidably
descend upon the heads of the Protectionist Go-
vernment.

Whatever may be said of the other Ministerial ar-
rangements, we are happy to say that the legal ap-
pointments both for England and for Ireland, are
perfectly unexceptionable. It was, of course, to be
expected that the members of the new Government
would
up the important legal offices rendered
vacant by the recent resignations with gentlemen
whose political opinions coincided with their own ;
all that could fairly be required on the part of the
community was that the parties selected should be
fully qualified for the efficient discharge of
the duties confided to their hands—that
the public service should not suffer through
the incapacity of the
appointees. So long
as the political and judicial functions of the Lord
Chancellorship are united, so long as the occupant
must necessarily Assume an influential position in the
Cabinet, so long must his feelings and wishes be in
accordance with those of the Premier. The same
may
be said of the law officers c:f the Crown—the Attorney
and Solicitor •Generals. They have to advocate, and
in many cases, to originate the Government measures
—to report on matters under consideration, and in
every respect identify themselves with the party
in power. The simple fact that such offices
are always changed with the in-coming Ministry
sufficiently establishts the accuracy of our assertion,
and, as we have already stated, provided political
nepotism be not exercised in favour of incompetent
persons, no just complaint can be preferred on the
part of "
the many."
It is, however, unnecessary to seek a favourable
point of view from which to regard the legal appoint-
ments. We need not urge that the new Lord Chan-
cellor, AttornerGellerai) 411c1 Solicitor•Cieneral,