The Sun.
London, England, 1852-03-11 00:00:00

TO THE RIG

HT HON.' LOs
My Lord,—Not having a seat
moment, I have of course no call tt
your friends who are to aasembli
morrow. Perhaps even if I had,4
t
deemed An eligible member of '
advice is seldom much attended toi
sist the impulse to submit 4 few ref!
ship, which at the present crisis in
useless. e -
Your Lordship's aim is to re-cnist ruct your party in
leaderT heof 4
such a manner as may enable you.:`-td. resume the direo-
utipounuoyf
el widely d' d, secret efforts of
escaped my aim.
ing circulars to Liberal MMereqpposition, by issu-
se
nleliii4 fact of your taking
would warrant this
inference. But you have taken of ' r steps in the pro-
oupethhleie office effe
oirfs.
visiiirle. eEs.;
Eanddietehheaevaegero
There is nothing wrong in all thi4at is -natural and pro-
per that your Lordship should aim oe-eegaining a
position
which enabled you to carry, into slsw;
-"es the principles you
entertain. Your position as a .040 man entitles you,
perhaps, more than any living I. e
..• Istatesman, to take
the initiative. I have adveitedtiosstt. 'Proceedings public
and private, simply because it , ,Ittiti in the present
state of affairs all raft- to hadve 6
tli C thice-of being'
brought to act in concert ahem! understand clearly and
explicitly what each is driving atei ,
to
Your Lordship's object, then, s re-construct a
party of which you shall be leader._
it is desirable that you, should nlearl9 understand in
what relation you stand to that section of public opinion
from which alone you can hope to
tobtain recruits; and
that those who may be persuaded
eth"St in
their lot
with yours, should understand clearlywith ceuditions on
which they associate themselves oe.'
The party of the Russell administrationhis dissolved.
The accession of Lord Derby
to
office
to all the
done this;
it has merely made it apparent
has t h world. For
more than two years your partyyozenconsistedgreat
solely of
the political retainers of half-a-d
.g at families, in-
timately allied
with each other by intermarriage. It
House of
was a minority even in the Commons; it was
in the
country at
to a much greater extent a
minoritye tle weakn
large. You were kept in office
numbers.
Your majorities
of your
adversaries, not by your own
tp
sotnetimmeajorities
were fluctuating, uncertain; made a of men
of ther. They voted not for
of one party, sometimes another.
you but against others.
your own limited party there
Again, even within . _ .
enuring allies
were irreconcileable feuds and d Your-
self and Lord Palmerston felt and se towards 'each
other as Asmodeus and his brother devil did after their
fellow-fiends had compelled them to kiss and be friends.
The Grey section of the cabinet
IrisM_
int° alike
section.
ltlh
ee
Paimeratonian and the
itussof neutrality. Thee
Clarendon section preserved a kind
Foreign Secretar who replaced Lord Palmerston was
none of your
choosing. So much
for your union amen.
yourselves: anti as for the damaging character of some'
ar W
of your associates, it is Yee c ee
Chancellor s Y
of the to remind you
e-
of the snappish imbecility of the
chequer.
have imposed upon
The task, therefore, which you . .
organise in opposition
yourself in undertaking to aspiring to office is no less than this: In the first
place, to bring together a number of leaders competent
in with each
to act as ministers and disposed to co-operate
other in harmony and good faith; the second place,
1L• 1 party
to regain the lost confidence of the greatbera
in the country.
The first is in a great measure your own private con-
cern. Yea cannot but be aware that to
uensts ensure the
be able sup-
portto
of the great Liberal party, PT,
show them that you are in a condition to form a Mi-
nistry. But who the men are with whom your Lordship
can and will act, none but yourself canknow. Olt course
you will be prepared to-morrow to explain to the gen-
tlemen who assemble at your summons who your coed..
jutors are. It does not indeed appear
that this will be
an easy matter.
For example, there is Lord Palmerston: even if a re-
conciliation between you and him were probable or pos-
sible, he has so damsged himself with the country (I) that
his alliance might do you more harm than good. Again,
Lord Grey, rine of the ablest of yOur ex-colleagues, has
so conducted himself in the Colonial-office, that many
who admire his talents and have confidence in his prin-
ciples (!), would be most reluctant to see him there again.
Aso oven these who would hen no spi‘o ion. so Earl
Grey himself, demur to his gicreigliglosek Sir Charles
Wood in his train. It is rather an awksesrd look-for-
ward for your Lordship, that, in seeking to re-construct
a Government, you must begin by shaking off some of
your already too few allies.
Then with respect to the forming of nem connexions,
some unfortunate peculiarities of temper displayed by
your Lordship while in office, inspire fetes of your suc-
cess in any such attempt. The manner in which you
received the proposal of some of your loading consti-
tuents to associate Sir Robert Peel with you in the re-
presentation of the City has not been forgotten. The
extent to which you allowed personal piques to influ-
ence you even in appointments to the bench is also
awkwardly remembered. An irapresion has gone
abroad that you are deficient in that
magnanimity which
is indispensable in the man who aspires Is collect around
him a strong body of competent colleagues in office.
These, however, as I have already said, are matters in
which few, if any, can presume to advise your Lordship.
All that a disinterested third party eau do is to direct
your attention to the difficulties that beset you, owing
to the relations in which you actually stand to old
allies, and your constitutional aversion to form new con-
nexions.
With respect to the means by which the lost confidence
of the
ant liberal party is to be regained, I have a better
warr to .speak. Conversing, en sees end confidential
know termsing what'men
it ow all
s, parties, I have opportunities of
and k
.01.? it regards you. By
the liberal party, of course, I mean the liberal section of
public opinion. Under this designation I embrace the
whole party of progress' from the admirers of the late
Sir Robert Peel to the follovrers (if any survive) of
Bentham. With many diversities of opinion and temper,
this great body is unanimous on certain points. It is
friendly to the diffusion of sound secular education; it is
friendly to a liberal commercial policy; it is friendly to
a pacific note-intervention ~ I;
r°"o9; it is friendly to a revi-
sion of taxation, and to a revised appropriation of the
national revenue; it is eager for law reform; it is hostile
to undo centralisation of those functions of local govern-
ment which are best devolved
upon local elective bodies.
Some would goent uto work more sweepingly than others;
but bpon haring immediate tangible mea-
sures adopted to promote these oe•
sects.
Now, one great cause which deprived late Mi-
nistry of general confidence and y
supor t was the infir-
mity of purpose which characterisedp it whenever called
upon to act on its own Professed principles. Many
urgent reforms it declined to undertake—many it un-
dertook in such a
see as led men to suspect that it had
no sincere desire to ts own nieesures carried. Those
ample
• ions cannot be obliterated h fes-
m vaue
sions of liberal sentiment.
Thep b I licere can hagve nonfath
in you or your new or old colleagues until you commit
yourselves to definite measures tha will stand examina-
tion. A revised budget; a re-aptation of the an-
nual expenditure; a comprehensive and practical scheme
of general secular instruction; en innneroved system of
colonial administration; these arid P
other measures it is
in your power to propose its Parliament. Men will
gather to support them, and you their propounders. Thus
you may again rally a party round you; there is no
other way of doing it.

) JOHN RUSSELL.
is Parliament at this
present rayself among
in:Chesham-place to-
might not have been
conclave. Unasked
id yet I cannot re-
Lions to your lord-
not be altogether

explanations
on
Nepotism anciirlp
your dis-
Again:--there is no
eguxes,eteinwnthmuflteitneicraiiysntgdi
desire it I can
Lordship to-
n itt ri
oii bnn uga tlhei
ioden
in
nno
the
hi
tep
extreme.at
ot r oanna
i is r
corruption
uc ot
a, bwl
eas o
Ibj
werecdco-
h o
sincere are t
ino
tmheeefrt
dyeosuf
rre
not wish at this juncture to irritate old
rating specific instances; but should you
me aolsriflryo;
hwdeoagsreoen.
vtt,liesme,eanawd
not, anations and
sores by enumo-
gpouienrtesnlaensdfoirntshiset
future.upon ir satisfactoryhfe mnythose
the Liberal party, they will speak plainlyto re_organise
but it is the only way to get at the rest be agreeable,
efficient Liberal ministry. You and Your feworation of an
colleagues have isolated yourself from the quarrelling
party; you must win it back if you would return
Liberal
office with credit to yourself. To unseat Lo return to
comparatively an easy matter; t° repla rci Derby is
strong and lastieg administration is a izuelcae him by a
cult task. more diffi-
I know that there are good-natured Boni
fancy that in publicly reminding your Lordshst. who will
matters I run a risk of perpetuating division 1P of such
mosities in the Liberal ranks. But the sootrd "i-
-tem which they recommend and act upon ea_ 'Jag sys •
to a hollow superficial semblance of union. "iotrily lead
manrut nuion can only be brought about b 'al per:
confidence, and that can only be restored aftcy mutual
r
a frank
expression of old grievances, and the obtaining
of gua-
rantees for the future.
The good sense and intelligence of the country will
prove sufficient to prevent any body of mull who Y
may be in
power from doing much harm.would Rs It be
_easy to re-
store the heptarchy as permanently to brin b
f Parlilm • g ack the
corn-laws, prevent the proness o . , en,:.tr reform
induce the country to meddle in the internal affairs
of foreign states, or entrust the education of the people
to a domineering high church faction. But this istlot
enough. The honour, the interests of the country, re-
quire a government abreast or ahead of the general pub-
lic intelligence. Such is not the Govern/3,10m
oord
candidate
Derby; and such, begging your Lordship's pardonf ,L w
as
not Your own Government. There is no rival cand'
in the field whose claims to the Premiership
are
su-
perior to those of your Lordship. It is not rivalry weakensyour own past conduct, ,t that
you, but uct.
-1. is true
friendship to remind you of this, for it is only b
"Ping from the Das m
o
tily of your own Political c s •37 es" ie, and