The Sun.
London, England, 1852-01-20 00:00:00

TM E STATE of POUTies-el
PARTIE3.
from a morning contemporary
.4-31 Ace et•helt;f:(g'lls°nwesinag.l w 'eh is. expreesed to see the
Ministerial party placed en a broader basis. But in
order to know how this can be accomplished, or whether
it is possible, it will be necessary to form more accurate
ryx
conceptions of the nature are] relative strength of the
various parties 01 connexioter into which Parliament is
divided.
The Ministerial party pseper is called the Whig party;
but the word " Whig" has at different times bad many
different shades of meaning. The Whigs proper of the
present day are, perhaps, pretty fairly represented by
Lord John Russell, Lord Lansdowne, and Earl Grey.
There are, however, material points of difference be-
tween the lest named and the other two iords; and in the
ranks of their party ase to he found many whose con-
nexion with the Mies dates no further back than the
:Asruptioa of the Tory party at the time of Mr. Can-
. fling's accession to office.
The Reform Bill Ministry, is it is called, embraced
i these elements:-1. Earl Grey and his personal re-
-1 tamers who had stood aloof from the alliance with Mr.
Canning. This section represented the purely English
Whigs who remained true to their principles when Burke,
coalesced
nwei t hC Russellaniiing,
the Portland family, end ushers, went over to Pitt about
the beginning
of the first French' revolution. 2. Tho
Lansdowne
and Brougham
o
dfthe En
diWbuirYighs.R. Review
school of politicians; the Scotch education of tee leaders
here named bad imbued there ...kir political views and
sentiments somewhat different from those entertained by
the Greys; more systemaiic, less practical. 3. The
Canningites, who were again subdivided into two sec-
tions, the Whig familiee who had deserted to Pitt, but
had gradurlly been reverting to their old allies; and
Tories who, like Mr. Canning himself and Lord Palmer-
ston, had been led by the ccurse of events to adopt
views more consistent with the sorrel relations of so-
ciety. 4. A few new men, like Mr. Poulett Thomson
eed Sir J. C. Ilohhouse, who did not exactly belong to
any of the above categories.
At the outset the largest share of official experience
was possessed by Lord Palmerston and the other Can-
ningites. The Russell nod Lansdowne section had
picked up a little of this hind of knowledge, but the
rev section was very deficient in it. In general, how-
n- ,!' 1,-.,' -s were well versed in the tactics of Par-
tiamentary ueeate, for which some of them—Lord John
Russell, tor example, and Lard Stanley—possessed
great natural and acquired aptitude.
Tho first election under the Reform Act gave this
party an enormous majority in Parliament; but the com-
position of this majority was rather heterogeneous.
The skilful selection of boroughs to be retained under
the new system, and the equally staillul settlement of
the boundaries of these boroughs, enabled Ministers
to bring into Parliament a pretty numerous phalanx of
personal retainers. But along with these were the
O'Connellites from Ireland, and the independent Liberals
from England and Scotland. The Irish phalanx, ser-
vilely submissive to O'Connell, had views and aims en-
tirely their own. The independent Liberals were com-
posed in the main of a small connexion of highly
educated men, who had adopted more or less the prin-
ciples of the Westminster Review, and of a more nume-
rous body of representatives from the manufacturing
districts, sturdy and vigorous, but with infinitely more
zeal than knowledge.
Ministers and their personal retainers had little sym-
pathy with any of those now-comers. The Whigs had
always been aristocratic and exclusive; and the Can-
ningites retained many of their Tory predilections.
Irish politics were the first apple of dissension. Minis-
-1 ters and their personal retainers resolved to abide by the
old Tory mode of treating Ireland. Against this the
Irish party naturally revolted. Of the English Inde-
pendent Liberals, some threw themselves without re-
serve into the Irish scale; others attempted to mediate,
and bring back Ministers to more liberal views. The
result was the secession of Lord Stanley and Sir James
Graham, with a few followers, almost all Whigs. It was
some time before the residuaries coalesced; even when
they did renew their alliance, it was with distrust and
discord,
Lord Brougham had, by the vivacity of his nature,
been carried further than any of his colleagues into tho
advocacy of a semi-tort' policy. On the other hand,
Lord Durham, from his dissenting education, had more
sympathy than most Whigs with the English indepen-
dent Liberals. The dissensions which hence arose
were increased by personal incompatibilities between
Lord Brougham and the Greys, with whom Lold Dur-
ham was so intimately allied. The Russell and Lans-
downe section leaned to Lord Brougham, but his
imperious temper compelled them to abandon him, and
he was, like a Jonah, thrown overboard.
The Lichfield House compact was the result. Be-
tween Ministers and the O'Connellites it led to little
more than an armed neutrality, with occasional co-
operation. The alliance with the independent Liberals
was drawn more close. Some of them were admitted
into subordinate offices. These had no power, however,
of deciding the course which Ministers were to pursue;
their compliances soon made them lose caste with the
independent Liberals; and, like all men in such a posi-
tion, they became the most manageable of Ministerialists.
The discord between Lord Durham and the Premier
kept alive the ill-concealed hostility of the Grey section
towards the Russell and Lansdowne party and the Can-
ningites ; the tamed independent liberals associated
themselves with this latter—the more conservative por-
tion of the Ministerial party.
The internal dissensions of the Melbournites, the
Grey retainers, and the O'Connellites weakened and
paralysed the Ministerial majority. Meanwhile Sir
Robert Peel was indefatigably reconstructing a party
which he called conservative. The members of his
party were largely augmented by timid and vacillating
politicians, who had been carried away by the con-
tagious enthusiasm of the Reform Bill era, but now
relapsed into conservatism. This reduced the num-
bers of the majority, previously weakeaed by intestine
dissensions.

The anti corn-law agitation brought a new element of
dissension into the ranks of the majority. The " edu-
cated Radicals" and most of the Members from the ma-
nufacturing districts favoured the anti corn-law move-
ment; Grey and Russell, Whigs and Canningites, for
the most part opposed it. The distrust entertained of
the party by the independent Liberals of Scotland and
England, their apathy towards it, was thus increased.
The Ministerial party became daily weaker, and at last
Sir Robert Peel was enabled to take office. The com-
mercial policy he adopted, though it broke up his own
party, increased and continued the dissensions in the
Liberal ranks. Many of the independent Liberals con-
tracted a habit of regarding the Whigs and Peelites as
differing in no essential points from each other. The
Ministerial party proper shrunk into :the combination of
Grey and Russell Whigs and Canningites, diminished in
number by the first secession under Lord Stanley and Sir
James Graham; the second of those vascillatiug politi-
cians who fell off and joined Sir Robert Peel when forming
the Conservative party; and the third under Lord George
the last • •
Bentinck.
At the close of last session, the Ministerial party,
that time its
though the most numerousl in the House of Commons,
ranks have been further reduced in consequence of the
was a minority of
surviving Can-
is its weakness in
elimination of Lnootred.
oPralemmeirnsetnoen;.
respect
with many estimable
of numbers the
and still retaining Ministerial party
has to contend. Its leader, '
gnrinexagotiertostodfiffiancyulty
qualities,
which once attached to his much
atgheainwshtolselhicohuset.he
since
of the prestige
name
one of those who " bear like
, the, is, unfortunately,
near the throne ;" he would l Turk, no brother
porters, but shrinks from fain engage new sup-
still more of a possible m the idea of equal allies,
names of this own superior. The most respected
yenned in life.section
of the Whigs are far ad-
Of the Grey section ono is weakened
in public estimation, notwithstanding his great natural
abilities and understood popular sympathies, by his
peevish self-will;
another by his infirm health and con-
servative learni
Again, men like M
ugs; a third by his financial incapacity.
r. Labouchere and Sir F. Baring,
though valuable colleagues, are deficient in energy; and
Lord
.Broughton is a positive incumbrance.
It is obvious, therefore that s well as new
followers a
and auxiliaries pare required to strengthen the
.
Ministerial party in Parliament. Whether mon who can
or will coalesce with Ministers are to be found among
the other parties into which Parliament is divided, can
only be made apparent from subjecting these parties to
the same analytical scrutiny which has here been devoted
to the Ministerialists. But the present letter bas run to
too great a length to admit of this being attempted
within its limits. AN Ex-M.P.
London, Jan. 17, 1852.

distinguished
Professor We are told, says the Atheneum, that it has
ue'erntsoor of Comparative
grantpermission to Mr. Owen, the
Anatomy at the
College of Surgeons, to reside in one of the houses on Kew-
green which belonged to the late King of Hanover. The
gift was accompanied by a very flattering letter from Prince
Albert to the professor. Another of the houses on the same
green has, we understand, in a like kindly spirit,
been
rented for a residence during life to Dr. Joseph So
re
ker.
We
that have also to record a mark of royal favour bestowed by
SovereignP-
on Professor Owen. Our readers know
Prussia institued some time since an Order
of Merit, for men distinguished in art and in science—and
which consists of sixty chevaliers, thirty Prussians and
aforeign
the K
ing o f
thirty foreigners. Amongst the latter was the late Pr ofessor
Oersted ; and Professor Owen has been selected by Frederick
William to supply the vacancy occasioned by his death. In
this order there are now five Englishmen —Mr. IL Brown,
Sir David Brewster, Sir J. Herschel, Mr. Faraday, and Pro-
fessor Owen.

EMILY HOWARD. A NOVEL. By MRS. DUNLOP.
3 vols.—lf elegance of style and grace of description tend
to make a work of this kind popular, "Emily Howard" pos-
sesses all the ingredients to charm the sense and satisfy the
most fastidious criticism. There is a naivete about Mats.
Dunlop's style which immediately attracts; and this, com-
bined with a plot of singular interest and a clear manner of
working it out, has contributed to the completion of a tale of
immense power and singular attraction. We hope soon to
meet with another specimen of Mrs. Dunlop's acquirements,
for, if we may Judge from "Emily Howard," the world has
become acquainted with talent of a very superior order.--
Messenger.
PRECAUTION AGAINST SACRIFICE OF LIFE BY
Fins AT SEA. How strange it is that the over-and-over
eorttsh,
oepneillyt
ships'
Stillbeams, nor a
recurrence of such dreadful calamities as the destruction of
the Amazon by fire, and the awful loss of life usually con-
Sequent on them, produce still no legislative interposition to
decks, doors, furniture, Wo
squabs stuffedtasand
df withmhua ltitsr,ceosbrsuke
but their
fibrestfe
everything be framed of iron?
have seen that the material is susceptible of the most tasteful
art-treatment in enamel, gilding, and inlaying. But, at
Icr eNuushbyeid°37snhso'orubl should abateB
nt
least, why should not every ship carry (and be bound to do
so) as many annular life-buoys—stowed on deck, say, after
the manner of ledgers in a counting-house—as there are
passengers and crew on board? It is high time the subject
were taken up in earnest.—Builder.