The Sun.
London, England, 1852-12-18 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, SATURDAY EVENING, DECEMBER 18, 1852.

[ADVERTISEMENT.]
THE NETY CRYSTAL PALACE-DESECRATION

OF THE SAIMATIL

and the alterations required for stowing stores aLd pro-
visions for Sir Edward Belcher's expedition. She will
be thoroughly doubled from the wales down, and blocked
on both bows and quarters, to prevent any possibility
of receiving damage in the ice. Shipwrights are placed
on her, and she is to be completed with all possible
dispatch.

WOOLWICH, DEC. 17

Commander Kerr, Commander Stewart, and Lieute-
nant Wodehouse, having completed a course of study of
steam at the factory at Woolwich dockyard, were ex-
amined by Mr. Charles Atherton, chief engineer, on
Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday last, as to their
knowledge of the principles and working of marine
steam-engines, and, having all passed satisfactorily, they
received their certificates accordingly, and there are now
three vacancies in the study of steam department at this
dockyard.
The Imperieuse, 50, screw steam:ship, commisioned
at this port to-day by Captain Rundle Burges Watson,
C. 8., has had John Penn and Sons' workmen at work
upon her up to the late hour of 8 o'clock p.m., daily,
during the week, permission having been granted for
that purpose, in order to expedite the fitting of the en-
gines of 350-horse power, constructed by that firm.
The Megnra steam-frigate, Commander J. 0. Johnson,
expects to leave Woolwich for Portsmouth in a few days,
to embark troops at the latter port.
Colonel Whinyates, C. 8., K.C.H., Commandant of
the Garrison, and the principal officers of the Royal
Artillery, dined, yesterday evening, with the officers of
the Royal Marines in their splendid mess-room for the
first time since Col. Samuel B. Ellis, C. 8., has joined
and taken command of the Woolwich division, on his
being promoted to the rank of colonel-commandant.
First Lieut. E. B. Snow, of the Woolwich division,
has obtained one month's leave of absence from Dec. 16.

THE MINISTRY. - SPIRIT OF THE
PUBLIC JOURNALS.

(FROM THE MORNING PAPERS OF THIS DAY.)
TIMES.—The announcement made by Lord Malmes-
bury to the House of Lords last evening, that the First
Minister of the Crown had left London to wait upon her

Majesty, in consequence of what had occurred in the other
House of Parliament, removes all doubt (if any could have

existed) as to the important and immediate effect of the
late division of the House of Commons on Lord Derby's
Administration. At the sitting of the Cabinet which
was held yesterday morning the collective resignation of
Ministers was doubtless resolved upon, and before night
it was probably in her Majesty's hands. We must,
therefore, consider the Government which has held office
for the last ten months to be virtually at an end. In
truth, few Governments had ever held office in this

country for so long a time upon so slender a foundation.
The Ministers were suddenly summoned to the councils
of the Sovereign without any direct aggressive effort on
their part, in consequence of a casual vote, designed, as

it seemed, to gratify the vengeance of a rival, rather than
to crown the ambition of an adversary. In a Parliament
notoriously opposed to their party opinions, they were
allowed to survive the remainder of that session, and
even to pass measures of legal reform and public defence,
which deserve to be remembered as their best claim to

the gratitude of the country. But the principles which
they had professed in opposition were in abeyance, and
even when they appealed to the country their attitude
was equivocal and their language ambiguous. The new
Parliament met, and they were not slow to admit that
office could only be retained by the abandonment of
former pledges ; and to cast the slough of protection was
the first effort of the session. Still, however, they had
not encountered the formidable array of hostile Parlia-
mentary warfare. Not even on the address was a party
vote taken, and the resolution framed for the purpose of
obtaining one resolved itself into a loose affirmation
which the Government itself was content to adopt.

On neither of those occasions did the Opposition seek to
hurry on a decisive conflict, or to cut short the promised
policy which " loomed in the future." But the produc-
tion of the budget rendered such a struggle inevitable ;

for although there were several parts of that measure
which deserved a favourable reception from the country,
yet the main proposition of an extension of direct taxa-
tion to compensate the removal of half the malt tax
was one to which it was impossible for the House of
Commons to assent without a dangerous modification of
the financial policy of the country. Upon the first real
trial of strength in the new House of Commons the Go-

vernuent is in a minority of 19, and the division ceases,

theretore, to be one of mere financial interest ; it

establishes the fact that Lord Derby is not supported
by that majority in the house which can alone enable
the Government to be carried on. Nevertheless many
of the strongest opponents of this Administration will

concur with Is in the opinion that it was not *desirable
that its fall should be accelerated ; and we have uni-

formly discussed its measures with the utmost forbear-

ante,-because we thought it essential to the cause of
good government, and to the ultimate formation of a
more stable Ministry, that Lord Derby and his colleagues
should be judged of by the country on their own merits.
The further they went the more irretrievable became
their position. Had it been practicable to bear with
such a Government a few weeks longer, it is possible that
the task of forming an Administration to succeed it would
have become less arduous than it is at the present moment.
Without reference to persons and to parties, we are con-
fident that it is the earnest wish of the country to see
the Government placed in the hands of men at once
conservative in their principles and progressive in their
policy—resolved to advance with energy in the career of
improvement, and to include, as far as possible, all
shades of the Liberal party in the conduct of affairs.
Never was there a moment since the termination of the

late war when it was more essential to our welfare that
the state should be ruled by men commanding the confi-
dence of our allies and the respect of our opponents,
able to defend our interests with the whole strength of
the nation, and to uphold our institutions by the legiti-
mate power of constitutional government. The time is
happily past when it was possible to govern this empire

in the name of a coterie, or to convert a reputation
earned within those narrow limits into a sufficient claim

to the Premiership of England. The material of which
a nobler and more energetic Government can be formed
are abundant and various, and we repudiate the notion
that it is possible either to revert to the decrepid combi-
nation which preceded Lord Derby's accession to power,
or to strengthen that combination( by a mere infusion of
extreme Liberal opinions. The course of events, the
state of parties, and the predominant convictions and
desires of the country, point to the colleagues of the
late Sir Robert Peel as the men from whom the Liberal
party must now look for the most effectual assistance,
in conjunction with whatever remains available of
the last Whig Administration. We may add that we
have reason to believe that private communica-
tions have already taken place, by which the prin-
cipal obstacles to this union are removed ; and we
believe that it is upon the Earl of Aberdeen that
the formation of the new Cabinet will 'devolve, with the
active co-operation, not only of his former colleagues,
but of Lord John Russell and the chiefs of the Whig
party. The same delicate task of bringing together for
the first time men not before associated by party ties
might equally be entrusted to the Marquis of Lansdowne
whoso experience, authority, and tact perfectly qualify
him for such a duty. But that veteran statesman has
already taken a formal leave of official life, and although
his counsels must ever have the greatest weight with
the Liberal party, we do not anticipate that he will ac-
cept the most onerous position in the service of the
Crown. Lord Aberdeen has, moreover, the advantage
of being less shackled than any man of equal eminence
by personal and party ties. If it should be his duty to
distribute the chief offices of State, we have no doubt
that he will do it with singleness of purpose and with an
undivided regard for the public service. One of the in-
conveniences of such an Administration is no doubt the
number of aspirants for office, some of whom must be
content to see their opinions represented by more fortu-
nate or more able competitors. But the essential point
is that the respective elements of such a Ministry should
be fairly represented and evenly combined, since the
places are not for the men, but the men for the places.
The result, if it can be obtained, must be a wider range
of opinion and observation, a more candid and correct
estimate of the real opinions of the country, a more reso-
lute superiority to the abuses and impediments of mere
routine ; and although a Government so constituted
will find itself watched in the present Parliament
by a strong Opposition, it will array on its
side not only a very large proportion of the statesman-
ship and the eloquence of the House of Commons, but
also the most temperate convictions and important
interests of the whole community. The question at this
moment pending is, how the balance of the constitutional
system in our frame of Government can be restored, and
whether the perturbations and weakness by which we
have suffered more or less since the dissolution of Sir
Robert Peel's Administration can be corrected. For
the honour of the country, and for the credit of those
institutions which it is our pride to combine with an
efficient authority in the State, it is of the highest im-
portance that we should have done with Ministers by
sufferance, which drag on a feeble existence for want of
any one to supersede them, or collapse after a few
months spent in the attempt to prolong their official
power by the sacrifice of their former principles. The
country is prosperous and contented. It takes, perhaps,
less interest than. gentlemen of the House of Commons
suppose in the contests which kindle all their passions.
But it requires a Government sufficiently permanent to
adhere to a consistent course of policy, and sufficiently
progressive to advance with the march of an active
and intelligent age. To form such an Administration
will be the task of those whom the Queen may this day
select for that important duty. We trust that it will
be performed in a patriotic and unselfish spirit by all
who may be concerned in these negotiations, for the
principle of such combinations is the sacrifice of per-
sonal pretensions to the common interest • and if the
example be given in this respect by those of whom most
is required, it deserves to be imitated by all who may
be affected by this change in the Government of
England.

HERALD.—It would be useless and worse than
useless, to disguise from ourselves the reality or the
magnitude of that disaster which has for a moment
struckb down the hopes of the Conservative cause. The
Ministry has fallen- that is admitted on all hands.
That it has fallen honourably even its enemies will not
deny ; and we greatly doubt whether the most sanguine
among them ventures to speculate on its long exclusion
from power. For though the Government will within
a few days have ceased to exist as such, the party which
constituted its strength and support remains as before—
united, compact, full of confidence in its leaders, and
numbering nearly 300 votes in the Commons, while in
the Lords it commands a clear majority of the whole.
Such a phalanx, so conducted, is, for purposes of oppo-
sition, irresistible. There is no body of men equally
powerful in Parliament ; and whatever incongruous al-
liance may be patched up among hostile and discordant
sections, such a coalition cannot by any human poSsibi-
lity retain the reins long enough to do any practical mis-
chief. " England," said Mr. Disraeli, "does not love
coalitions." History attests the fact ; the experience of
our own time has proved its truth ; and we are mis-
taken if, within a few months, the prophecy of the
Chancellor of the Exchequer be not again made good,
at the expense of some of those who heard it uttered.
It is as yet too early to speculate on the immediate fu-
ture—the real state of affairs being, in all probability,
known only to a few individuals, and those few pledged to
official secresy. Whether Lord John Russell will be called
on to resume the functions which in February last he aban-
doned, as a burden too heavy to be any longer borne ;
whether Lord Aberdeen, Mr. Gladstone, or the Duke
of Newcastle, as the heads of that party whose opposi-
tion mainly contributed to the subversion of the Govern-
ment ; or whether, as seems to us not improbable, some
statesman withdrawn from active political warfare, of
high character, long experience, and opinions professedly
moderate, will be summoned from retirement to give
counsel to the Sovereign, is a problem of which we state
the conditions, but do not presume to offer a solution.
One counsel, however, we will venture to give to those
members of the Conservative party who may be at a loss
as to the course which they should pursue in this unfore-
seen emergency. Mr. Gladstone, in his speech of Friday
night, which, with great prudence, he reserved until
after the Chancellor of the Exchequer's reply, made ap-
peals, which met with no very warm response, to the
memory of the past, and to the sympathies of the agri-
cultural party. His eloquence, we are bound to say,
ran to waste. While he talked of 1842 his hearers were
thinking of 1846. When he alluded to a separation,
which he seemed to represent as involuntary on his
part, it was impossible that they whom he addressed
should not remember the bitter and vindictive rancour
with which—all cause of difference being now finally
removed—he had pursued a Government with whose

opinions he confessedly sympathised, and from whose
members he had personally received nothing but
courtesy. That Government has indeed long la-
boured, by all honourable means of conciliation,
to reunite the scattered sections of the party which
followed Sir R. Peel from 1842 to 1846. We, in our
vocation, have exerted ourselves to the same end. If
reunion has now become impossible, Mr. Gladstone will
be at no loss to say at whose door lies the fault. We do
not hesitate to express our belief that it is impossible ;
and that the name of "Conservative" will soon cease to
be abused by those who retain nothing of Conservatism
but the name. Such being the case, we would earnestly
entreat of all true friends of the late Ministry to trust
no " Peelite" promises, however specious—to listen to
no language proposing compromise or alliance—but,
bearing in mind the events of the last few months, to
hold themselves in readiness to begin anew, and with re-
doubled energy, the work of opposition, whether the
Administration which succeeds to power be presided over
by Lord John Russell or Lord Aberdeen. Lord Derby,
we doubt not, will take an early opportunity of explain-
ing his views to those who support him ; and as little do
we doubt that the present year is destined to witness his
own and his colleagues triumphant reinstatement in
office.

TIMES.—Like a well-written tragedy, the interest of
the debate on the budget went on gradually culminating
till it reached the highest point of interest in the single
combat between Mr. Disraeli and Mr. Gladstone, in
which it terminated. Like two of Walter Scott's
champions, these redoubtable antagonists gathered up all
their force for the final struggle, and encountered each
other in mid career. More equal than like, each side
viewed the struggle of their chosen athelites, as if to
prognosticate from the result of the war of words, the
fortunes of two parties so nicely balanced, and mar-
shalled in apparently equal array. Mr. Disraeli's
speech was, in every respect, worthy of his oratorical
reputation. The retorts were pointed and bitter, the
hits telling, the sarcasm keen, the argument in many
places cogent, in all ingenious, and in some convincing.
The style was in marked contrast to his opening address.
Instead of the long-drawn imperfectly-constructed sen-
tences, the hesitating utterance, and the slovenly manner
which distinguished the opening speech, the style was
clear and nervous, brilliant and epigrammatic, and, if
sometimes dealing in rhetorical puerilities which a chas-
tised taste must disapprove, often extorting involuntary
admiration from those whose convictions the orator com-
bated, or whose most cherished feelings he outraged.
The attack upon the Exchequer Loan Commission,
though wrought out at far too great length, for it occu-
pied at least an hour in the delivery, and thus wasted
valuable time and attention on a mere accessary to the
subject, was in itself a masterly exposition of what cer-
tainly appears to be a great misappropriation, and seems
to show pretty conclusively that the sooner a fund liable
to so much abuse is destroyed the better. Unfortu-
nately, this, Mr. Disraeli's greatest victory, was one on
a collateral issue. It matters little for the purposes of
the budget whether the Exchequer Loan Commission
ought to be closed or not. This point had derived an
exaggerated importance from the able advocacy of Sir
James Graham, but was, in fact, of small account. The
real question on which the argument, independent of
the ,merits of the taxes imposed and taken off, turned,
was whether the Minister was justified in appro-
priating the repayments of this loan to the current
expenses of the year, instead of applying them to the
reduction of the debt. This question Mr. Disraeli
failed to meet, and it was probably from a consciousness
of this infirmity in his case that he so much overlaid the
former part of it. His argument was based on the most
servile adherence to forms and precedents. Because an
Act of Parliament requires that a quarter of the surplus
of the balance in the Treasury, taken four times a-year,
shall be applied to the payment of the debt, Mr. Disraeli
assumes that the debt can be repaid in no other possible
manner, and that, unless we have favourable balances
in the Exchequer at the time when the accounts are
taken, we must not appropriate any sum whatever to the
reduction of the debt. Now, this is mere official pedan-
try. We are no more bound to apply a sum primarily
destined for one purpose to another in public than in
private transactions. The same argument would prove
that a trustee could not keep a separate account for
rust funds at a bankers's, but must mix them up with

the ways and means of his personal expenditure. Mr.
Disraeli says that, all things remaining the same, he will,
by carrying these repayments to the accounts of the
Ways and Means, pay off the debt in three years. We
say that these repayments ought to go to the extinction
of the debt, whether matters remain the same or no ;
that this is the character impressed upon them by their
origin ; and that it is a piece of unpardonable reckless-
ness to tamper with them. The repayments do not con-
stitute the surplus any more than any other part of the
revenue they go to make up, and it would be just as
reasonable to say that the Customs' duties were em-
ployed in paying off the debt as this particular sum.
The merits of Mr. Disraeli's speech were, how-
ever, counterbalanced by no less glaring defects in
tone, temper, and feeling. In some passages in-
vective was pushed to the limit of virulence, and in
others, meant, doubtless, to relieve them by contrast,
the coarser stimulants to laughter were very freely ap-
plied. Occasionally whole sentences were delivered with
an artificial voice and a tone of studied and sardonic
bitterness peculiarly painful to an audience, and tending
greatly to diminish the effect of this great intellectual
and physical effort. Nor, amid all the vehemence of
argument, the glitter of declamation, and the splendour
of point and antithesis, was there wanting a certain air
of insincerity which detracted very greatly from the
general effect. The House of Commons could not but
feel that it was witnessing an exhibition of talent and
versatility little calculated to elevate its own dignity or
the character of Ministers of State, and it probably was
not without a feeling of relief that it saw the Chancellor
of the Exchequer resume his seat. The speech of Mr.
Gladstone, which wound up the debate, was in marked
contrast to that of his antagonist. It was characterised
throughout by the most earnest sincerity. It was
pitched in a high tone of moral feeling—now rising to
indignation, now sinking to remonstrance—which was
sustained throughoutwithout flagging and without effort.
The language was less ambitious and less studied, but
more natural and flowing, than that of Mr. Disraeli ;
and, though commencing in a tone of stern rebuke, it
ended in words of almost pathetic expostulation. While
Mr. Disraeli put forth his whole strength in the endeavour
to annihilate his antagonists, and seemed to recognise no
limit to his invective except a call to order, Mr. Gladstone
evidently laboured to curb and repress the exuberance of
his emotion, and to bring everything within not merely
the linilts of Parliamentary usage, but of his own sense
of decorum and propriety. That power of persuasion,
which seems entirely denied to his antagonist, he pos-
sesses in great perfection, and, to judge by the counte-
nances of his hearers, those powers were very successfully
exerted. He had, beside, the immense advantage re-
sulting from the tone of moral superiority which he
assumed and successfully maintained, and which con-
ciliated to him the goodwill of his audience in a degree
never attained by the most brilliant sallies of his adver-
sary ; and, when he concluded, the house might well
feel proud of him and themselves. In the broad con-
trast which we have thus endeavoured to develope, we
trust we see a foreshadowing of our entrance upon a new
career of public life. Mr. Disraeli, with his telling
retorts, his bitter sarcasms, and his dexterous, but often
sophistical logic, may serve as a fair emblem of the
period of stormy political passion through which we have
passed, and which it has been the mission of the present
session to close. We trust that we have not only got
rid of Protection itself, but done something towards
getting rid of that personal and acrimonious style of dis-
cussing public questions which this miserable controversy
has introduced. In Mr. Gladstone we see a man trained

in the same school, but tempering its asperities with
more respect for himself and the feelings of others. We
hope that the latter cause' will triumph with the majority
of last night, and that increasing intelligence will compel
our statesmen to devote more and more of the public time
to reason and argument, and less to personal invective
and useless recrimination.

HERALD.—Not many of our readers, we suppose,
will feel much interest, now the struggle is over, in that
which was the immediate question at issue on Thursday
night. Whether the house tax should be raised to is. 6d.,
or remain at 9d., might be a most interesting topic to
the " inhabitants of St. Andrew's, Holborn, meeting at
the workhouse in Gray's-inn-lane ;" but it is not one on
which we shall waste a single word. The main question
which is now at stake is one of an infinitely higher
character—namely, whether England is to preserve her
Protestant institutions, or to sink by degrees into sub-
serviency to Rome. The division of Thursday night
showed the following 'combination of parties, leagued
together to destroy a Protestant Cabinet :
English and Scottish Whigs and Radicals 222
Irish Brigade (chiefly Papists) 52
Peelites (chiefly Puseyites) 3l

Now, after destroying one Government, the next busi-
ness of course is to construct another. And how is this
to be done ? If the new Cabinet makers had merely to
deal with the first section, the 222 Whigs and Radicals,
the difficulties would be great, but perhaps not insupera-
ble. Out of these 222, one-third, or about 70, are what
-used to be termed Destructives. That is, they would at
once demolish ,the Church of Ireland, and curtail as
much as possible the Church of England. They would
insist on the ballot, and press a Reform Bill which
should greatly augment their own power in the House
of Common. With all these demands the regular
Whigs—the Russells and Lansdownes, would have to
deal ; but they would probably quiet them, for the pre-
sent, by showing them the danger of precipitancy, and by
promising them some important concessions by-and-bye.
But what is to be done with the Popish and semi-Popish
allies ? Take the leading man on the Opposition benches
in Thursdays's debate—Mr. Gladstone. He and his
thirty friends decided the contest and overthrew the
Conservative Government. Is he not—are they not to
have a share of the spoil ? Doubtless they must, for
without their aid the new Whig Ministry would be in a
minority on the very first night of the February session.
Of course, Mr. Gladstone and his friends must occupy
prominent seats in the next Ministry. But what does
this imply'? It implies much that would be ruinous to
the character of Lord John Russell ; and, what is of
more consequence, ruinous in its tendency to the country
also. It implies the sitting of the English Convocation
for business, which most Churchmen feel is synonymous
with the destruction of the English Church. It implies,
also, a bishopric for Mr. Bennet, now of Frome, late of
St. Barnabas, Lord John Russell's polite correspondent.
It implies, in short, the Romanising of the English
Church, and, of course. the desertion of that Church by
the people. Such is the first aspect of the new Mi-
nistry. But there is another. The Whigs, Radicals,
and Peelites united could only bring forward 253
votes on Thursday night. This strength is insufficient.
The new Ministry cannot stir one step, unless they
get the support of the " Irish Brigade" also. And
this support they cannot get, except they are prepared

to pay the price. And what is that price ? About this
there can be no mistake. Before crossing the Channel
to attend the present session, the Irish members of the
Pope's band held a meeting, and then and there resolved
tl a; the one point to be insisted on was, " the abatement
of that great nuisance, the Established Church in Ire-
land." Only second to this, was " tenant-right," i. e.,
the confiscation of the estates of Ireland. To these two
objects the Brigade stands pledged, and except by trea-
son and perfidy they can support the Whig Government
on no lower terms. Such, then, is the prospect before
us, if the coalesced parties shall be able to form a Minis-
try. This, of course, is problematical ; but we have
heard that Lord Lansdowne, Lord Aberdeen, and Lord
John Russell, lately met at Woburn Abbey, and settled
the preliminaries of a coalition Ministry. Such a Minis-
try, as we have just seen, must adopt as its policy the
un-Protestanting of the hurch of England, and the
surrender of the Church of Ireland ! Can we write
these fearful words without remembering by whom
the nation hag been brought into this fearful peril ?
The principal assailant of Lord Derby's Government
on Thursday list was the junior member for the
University of Oxford. And he was supported in
the division by the senior representative of the Uni-
versity of Cambridge. If we could believe for one mo-
ment that Mr. Gladstone and Mr. Goulburn were
faithful representatives of these two universities, we
should begin to despair of England. By the votes of
our two great seats of learning the nation would appear
to be consigned to the tender mercies of the Cobdens,
Brights, Keoghs, and Gavan Duffys ! If such could
really be the vote of Oxford and Cambridge, what hope
would be left ? But we cannot believe it. Let the elec-
tors of those universities look to it. If the coalition
Ministry can be really formed, we may find Mr. Glad-
stone and Mr. Goulburn in the attitude of suppliants
for re-election before a fortnight has elapsed. Forth-
with let proper successors be sought for, and proposed
to the electors. Nor are these solitary cases. Mr. Sid-
ney Herbert gained his election in Wiltshire in July
last by the natural device of a wealthy man—the prompt
engagement of all the carriages. He has now deprived
the farmers of Wiltshire of the remission of half the
malt tax and of a considerable reduction in their income
tax. Let them prepare their gigs and their horses in
good time, and when he next shakes his purse in their
faces let them reply by a writ of ejectment from the
county. We might extend these remarks to several
other names, but we pause. The scheme to which we
have alluded may founder before it is offered to the pub-
lic. The embryo Cabinet may never see the light ; still
the electors of every seat occupied by a Peelite ought
now to be on the alert, for a few hours may develop
strange things.
POST.—The purpose with which Lord Derby yester-
day left town for Osborne is no secret, though its true
motive is difficult to understand, unless it be that the
Derby-Disraeli Administration are glad to seize the first
opportunity of resigning a position, to the exigencies of
which they felt themselvs totally inadequate. We have
always said that the Ministry could not, by any possi-
bility, maintain its position without vital modification.
It has not been modified, and it has fallen. It has fallen
from, apparently, the strangest of causes. The Minis-
ters who stifled their convictions at the voice of the
whipper-in, and who undertook to carry out a policy in
whose soundness they could not believe, now quit office
for no other reason than that Free-traders refuse to
allow them to put into effect the dogmas of extreme
free trade. The division which took place yesterday
morning on the first of Mr. Disraeli's motions amounted
to a distinct refusal to allow the Government to double
the house tax, in order that they might, perhaps, lower
the price of beer by a farthing per pot—a possibility
strongly disputed even by the brewers —and in order
that they might, also, perhaps, slightly benefit the pos-
sessors of light barley-growing lands—the least suffering
portion of the agricultural interest—the probability of
the latter benefit being equally apocryphal with that of
the former. But a wilful genius must have his way, and
his way is that of no common Chancellor. Such a man
would have taken his slate and his clerks, and having
carefully ascertained the accuracy of his balance,
would, had it been against him, cautiously have scraped
together the means of covering it. Had it been in his
favour, and to a large amount—havigg set aside some-
thing like half a million to provide for contingencies=
he would, using his best discrimination, have applied it
to the reduction of the taxes which were chiefly oppres-
sive ; and here we may remark, that it is a failing of
Chancellors of the Exchequer to estimate oppression by
the loudness of the howl of the oppressed, so that they
who roar loudest are frequently first let off. But this
by the way. If the Chancellor were a man really of
practical ability, the relief given would be judicious and
rational. But having obtained for Chancellor a genius
inclined to assert that Chancellors, like poets, are born,
not made, we must be contented with allowing him a
free scope for the range of his large intellect, which, not
satisfied with relieving here and there an article more or
less unjustly taxed, can be contented with nothing but
a grand revision of taxation—shifting burdens from the
shoulders of one class to that of another, without giving
any reason more satisfactory than Topsy's " 'Spects its
because I's so wicked"—and indeed it requires a grasp
of genius truly Topseian to devise the bold raising of a
huge war tax in order to give a problematical relief to
" small beer." What but genius of such an order could

have proposed to a house in hundreds of members
represent boroughs whose rulers are " ten pound house-

holders" to extend the house tax to that .Very patriotic
and omnipotent class ? Why, Mr. Disraeli would label
the borough members who voted for such a tax with
phylacteries fatal to their success in future elections.
Such, however, as the budget was, it contained
nothing that was contrary to the principles of free trade,
and little that was per se objectionable ; but of what was
needless it contained an overwhelming amount. The
duty of its authors was to take it back and amend it, as
best they might, and bring it forward again in a more
sober form next session. Consistent in inconsistency
alone, they have preferred to resign, leaving the country,
as they imagine, at the mercy of the Radicals. At the
mercy of any such party it will not be, however, for
Conservative principles are unquestionably in the as-
cendant, and men will be found without difficulty ready
to carry them into effect. The ultimate result of the
suicide of Lord Derby's Cabinet will be—after the usual
series of small attempts and petty failures on the part of
individuals representing sections of parties—the forma-
tion of a strong Conservative and Liberal Ministry,
ready to bear out the dominant principle of free trade
with heartiness and singleness of purpose, able to make
the English name, and English policy, respected abroad,
and preserve the strictest constitutional purpose and
practice at home. Any modification of Lord Derby's
Cabinet, such as we recommended some time ago,
would now be impossible—for who would, or could, join
him with his mill-stone budget hanging round his
neck ? The Peelites were the party who could best have
given him a clear majority in the Commons, but all
hope of a junction with them vanished for ever with the
brilliant sarcasms, but not altogether dignified vitupera-
tion of Mr. Disraeli's speech of Friday morning. No.
The fate of the present Government is determined—we
have always pleaded a fair trial for them—they have
had it, and have convicted themselves of unfitness for
their position. Neither a " deluge," nor " chaos," nor
a "Cobden-Bright Administration," nor even " con-
sternation " ensue on their quitting office. As far as
the monetary world is concerned, the feeling of the
City is manifested by a slight rise in the public funds—
not an unusualusual occurrence on the occasion of a Minis-
terial crisis. Suffering agriculturists will, after the ex-
perience they have had, be hard to persuade that they
lose even any prospect of benefit in consequence of the
dissolution of the Cabinet. Free-traders will rejoice to
see men out of office who, when in, threatened to overdo
their new principles with the excess of zeal proverbial
in new converts. And the country at large, if it regrets
that the ostensible chiefs of so great a party have proved
but the force of inconsistency and effected but their
own defeat, cannot feel otherwise than that, though the
Cabinet has been overthrown, the Conservative cause
has in no way been weakened, and that its principles
will still continue in the ascendant, with no lack of tried
and able statesmen to enforce them.

CHRONICLE.—A day and night have elapsed since
the great dsvision, and the budget has lost its interest.
Every thoughtful mind is looking forward, rather than
back to the past, well knowing that a negative decision
only disposes of one form of error, and that the future
financial system of the country has yet to be devised
and established. Yet the debate, and especially Thurs-
day night's portion of it, was of more than ordinary in-
terest. Left alone by his colleagues, and unsupported
even by the general opinion of his party, the Chancellor
of the Exchequer called forth all his resources to avert
or to adorn the defeat which he had prepared for himself
by a reckless scheme, brought forward in a presump-
tuous spirit. Mr. Disraeli never displayed more plau-
sible ingenuity, or more rhetorical vigour ; and, but for
the bad taste and bad feeling which revolted the judg-
ment of the house, he might, when a victory in argu-
ment was impossible, have at least achieved an oratori-
cal success. But his cause was bad, and his skill was,
from the first, employed rather in concealing defects,
and in diverting attention from weak points,
than in re-
pelling the formidable attacks of his opponents. A few
words in Mr. Gladstone's reply overthrew the elaborate
sophistry with which the Minister had striven to cover
the misappropriation of the Exchequer Loan repay-
ments ; and before the member for the Universityof
Oxford had concluded his masterly address, nine-tenths
of the house were convinced of the soundness of the
criticisms which a decisive majority immediately
afterwards affirmed by their votes. On
previous the
tax, and on the malt tax, theatiriie merit of corn
ng discussionhad the credit
thrown much light ; but Sir Francis
ti -
. of suggesting, and Mr. Gladstone
pleting, a demonstration that the comparatively popular
proposal relating to the income tax was the most unjus-
tifiable and dangerous portion of the budget. If the
fate of the Government had not depended on the vote,
it is certain that at least half of the actual minority
would have adopted by acclamation Mr. Gladstone's
views, in condemnation of the course proposed by their
official leader. We repeat, however, that the country
looks to the future, and the gravest politicians contem-
plate it with the most serious anxiety. Not that the
hackneyed difficulty of forming a Government is likely
to be put forward on the present occasion. Every ex-
perienced statesman in the country is at this moment in
a condition to accept office, if the public good requires
his services. The majority of Thursday night is ready
to support a strong and enlightened Administration ;
and it is certain that many moderate and patriotic sup-
porters of Lord Derby will render their assistance to
preserve the country from the risk of too frequent official
changes. The term of service agreed upon with Mr.
Disraeli is at an end. No question of Protection any
divides those who may concur in a generally pro-
gressive policy ; and the new Cabinet—although nothing
can at present be known of its constitution will
undoubtedly include names in which both the country
and Parliament will gladly place confidence. In a day
or two, it may probably be our duty to communicate the
various negociations which must follow the selection of

the statesmen to whom her Majesty may think fit to
confide the formation of a Ministry. On the subject of
persons we have little anxiety—the formidable nature of
the present crisis consists in difficulties which will fall
with equal we:glit on-any Government. The gravest
charge which can ever be brought against a retiring Mi-
nister is the deliberate accumulation of obstructions for
his successors, calculated to prevent the efficient dis-
charge of their duties. Mr. Disraeli's friends may ap-
plaud the energy and ability of his closing speech, and
probably they will suggest pleas in extenuation of
his intemperate and ungraceful personalities ; but
no provocation, and no regard for the aggrandise-
ment of a party, can excuse those extemporaneous pro-
mises of financial concessions with which, at the
last moment, the Chancellor of the Eichequer at-
tempted to bid for Parliamentary support. It is
impossible to believe that the professed champion of the
landed interest had deliberately intended to re-adjust the
duties on successions ; and ten months of official expe-
rience must have abundantly shown the inexpediency of
holding out fiscal reductions as just, before the Exche-
quer is able to afferd them. In the eyes of statesmen,
the promise of future improvements, by way of excuse
for an untenable budget, is only a transparent party
stratagem ; hut the country at large has not equal means
of measuring the earnestness of a Minister's language in
Parliament. It is always easy to declaim against any
tax, nor is it possible to justify even the least onerous
impost, except on the ground of public necessity... But
a Minister of Finance may fairly be supposed to know
the wants and resources of the department which he
administers ; and when a Chancellor of the Exchequer
denounces a tax, he is understood to admit that it can be
spared without injury to the state. The case becomes
worse when, as we before observed, the bill drawn on
the future is but a renewal of previous obligatiOns,
which have themselVes been dishonoured when due.
The most serious question which will require the At-
tention of Lord Derby's successors is with reference to
the pro Vision to be made for the public service. Al-
though a considerable surplus appears as the balance of
the current year, the lapsing of the income tax would
leave a deficit in the revenue to the extent of more than
three millions sterling. The most mischievous portion
of Mr. Disraeli's conduct consists in the levity with
which he has thought fit, for party purposes, to treat
this momentous subject. In an early part of the recent
discussion, he declared that the details of the schedules
might safely be left for future consideration. There was
no doubt, he said, that, on one system or another, a re-
venue of five millions would be raised, as at present, on
the income or property of the country. Yet, as Mr.
Gladstone forcibly explained, the schedules assessed at
the lower rate of taxation would have been irre-
vocably reduced from the present standard, as soon
as the committee had affirmed the Ministerial resolu-
tion. Tens of millions in foreign funds, and hundreds
of millions employed in commercial enterprises, would
have been relieved from the present amount of duty,
before any security was afforded that Parliament would
assent to the intolerable inequalities imposed upon the
less favoured species of income. Mr. Hume is consistent
in an erroneous theory. Mr. Disraeli only knew that
he would find supporters for his project, but he had con-
fessedly never thought of reasons to justify it. Mr. Pitt
and Sir Robert Peel had declared the impossibility of an
enterprise which a falling Minister undertakes to per-
form before he has even ascertained the nature of the
difficulties with which he must grapple. It was not a
physical impossibility which checked the statesmen of,
former times, but a practical knowledge of the injustice
which would be perpetrated in any attempt to do arbi-
trary justice ; and the absurd fabric constructed by Mr.
Hume might have warned their rash successor of his
error in rushing in where the greatest financiers feared
to tread. The financial question, aggravated as it is by
this serious difficulty, is far more important than the
gratification or disappointment of any individual ambi-
tion. A large majority of the House of Commons are
certainly in earnest in the determination to maintain the
public credit as the first condition of national prosperity.
They cannot too early prepare to give an efficient sup-
port to any statesman who, having been entrusted with
the management of the finances, displays an honest pur-
pose to accomplish his duty to his country, offering at
the same time, in his past experience, reasonable security
for his ability to discharge the functions which he under-
takes.

DAILY NEWS.—The Derby Cabinet have met and
separated for the last time. Who are to be their suc-
cessors is the question upon every political lip ; and as
various leanings and attachments sway the different
judgments of men, anticipations are formed, if not always
openly expressed, of partial or total change—of conser-
vative reconstruction or of liberal substitution. We
are not about to repeat here the reasons which lead ux
to the conviction that no administration can be formed
capable of durability which is not founded upon some
broad and positive basis. We shall have other opportu-
nities of illustrating our views in that particular. We
confine ourselves for the present to an enumeration of
the more prevalent rumours which have been, during
the last few hours, in circulation in various quarters.
Amid the despair of the discomfited Tories, there
still lingers a vague hope that the same merciful
interposition that saved them from drowning three
weeks ago, may now be found able and willing to
restore them to life. Lord Palmerston, it is said,
though disapproving of the bubble-budget, refused to
make any effort to record his vote against it. The
noble viscount is not the man who would spare himself
or anybody else a twinge, when he has made up his
mind to say anything that he thinks it very desirable to
say, or to do anything that he thinks it advisable to do.
From which the grateful Carlton sagaciously infers that
Lord Palmerston was not very sorry to be absent from
Thursday night's division. They dwell, moreover, with
curious earnestness on the fact, that his son-in-law,
Lord Jocelyn, voted for the house tax, while his
colleague in the representation of Tiverton, Sir Gilbert
Heatlicote, as well as his son, abstained from supporting
the Liberal Opposition. Finally, the unhappy victims of
Mr. Disraeli's incapacity for finance, repeat with mys-
terious emphasis the tree and easy expression with
which that great master of language, Lord Malmesbury,
thought proper to move the adjournment of the Upper
House last evening—viz., that " Lord Derby had gone
to see the Queen at Osborne "—a most unusual phrase,
it must be owned, for a Secretary of State to snake use of
on any public occasion, and, especially felicitous when
uttered with reference to a crisis like the present ; but
which we rather incline to treat as another proof how
lamentably the educaiton of the illiterate earl must hive
been neglected in his youth. But unless Lord Palmers-
ton were to emulate the fame of Quintus Curtius, and
offer to jump into the quagmire of Derbyism, it does not
appear very clear how it is possible for his lordship to
avert the fate that now impends over the defeated Minis-
ters and their adherents ; and how even such a feat of
self-devotion would help them seems equally unintelli-
gible. Meanwhile the Whig and Peelite coteries are
busy in building cabinets of cards, and filling up with
amusing particularity every post, however subordinate,
in the public offices or the Royal household. The re-
spective admirers of Lord Lansdowne and Lord Alar-
deen dwell with complacency on the certainty, as they
suppose, of their favourite statesman assuming his post
at the head of affairs. Many lists are handed about for
the appeasement of impatient curiosity, but one of the
most plausible and probable that we have yet seen dis-
poses of the principal offices of State as follows :
First Lord of the Treasury Marquis of Lansdowne
Foreign Affairs Earl of Aberdeen
House Office and Leader of the
Commons Lord J. Russell
Colonies Sir J. Graham
Chancellor of the Exchequer
Admiralty Mr. S. Herbert
Secretary-at-War Mr. Osborne
Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland
&c. &C. &c.

It seems to be generally understood that Lord Grey
and his immediate friends would not be included in this
combination ; neither would the leaders of the Man-
chester section of the Radical party. We must repeat
that these are mere rumours, to be taken only for what
they may be worth.