The Sun.
London, England, 1852-05-24 00:00:00

N°.18,618.]

[PRICE SD.

whorum,o u
usurpingrs
will be as cordiallfreceived;--'that-the connexion of ten
eventful years will be prolonged;—that the City will set
dm and
the nd at
maen oft fb
esroaml s
to all shades of thergieat party of progreas, the impor-
tant example of rallying round one of the most prominent
lted able champions -of its principles. We hear indeed.
up an opposition to Lord John among the free trade and
not been implicit
reforming electors. We have admirers
or servile eulogists of Lord John when in office. We
bare, therefore, a-righ
t to expect that some weight will
be attributed to 0 support oabr
es csuereek
on
gt r itgou es
t7r4
or of his claims now that he is
not a Minister. We should
regard any opposition to his
re-election, by any person affecting to call themselves re-
formers, rank treason against the cause
pro-
gress at a periloni crisis—anexample
of liberty and
and disunion at a time when concordt' of
combinationand
drverse mutiny
'among reformers is• more than ever needed.
It is not
that we apprehend from the present, •shabby occu-
pants of office any serious damage
~to 9
the Liberal
cause. Their reserve indicating either. antutter wan f
any predetermined policy, kir fear to let the ptibliCkow
d
their unpvieciPled schemes—and their
.incessaut eating
of their words indicating an utter disregard of the frak
truthfulness and consistency that becombs -English'gen-
temen—are rapidly losing for them the- confidence_ of
their own party, and justifying and confirming the hos-
tility of their opp Orients. It cannot be that England Mk
lOipg tolerate'the retention of the reins of government by,
subh a crew of dealers false pretences. But when they
Forted by their own incompetence and bad reputation
tn„,retire disgraced to their original obscurity, then will
come the Limo whetette-pileiteme of Prudent anitetp&-
rienced statesmen in Parliament will be found necessary.
The Whig Ministry was not so much turned out as that
it dissolved by a natural process of decay. It is admitted
on all hands that a reconstruction of the Liberal party
bii a breeder basis—upon more explicittermsOf alliance
indtspentiaDlO. Bat nothing has-been aayet done .to-
yards the accomplishment of this object. It is possible, nay
it is probable,
,that the dismissal of the-Derby-Disraeli
Ministry might find the new alliance yet only in stein-
cboate state. Now such a period of party anarchy is
precisely the one when trimmers and jobbers, and all
that unclean tribe of fishers in troubled waters, are
prone to swarm forth from their lurking places. The
present disorganized state of the Liberal party is en-
couraging multitudes of this class to offer their services
to constituencies et the coming election. The number
of " loose fish," as they are called, in the next Perlis-
Ment will in all probability be much more considerable.
than is-expedient, or even safe. In such circumstances
it is especially incumbent upon constituencies which
have the good fortune to be represented by any man of
high principle, of influence in the councils of the Liberal
leaders, and long experience in business, to rally enthu-
siastically round them. Such men are needed in the
House that the Parliamentary Reformers may rally
round them is the arduous struggles of the new Par-
riament;—ae Henri IV. exhorted his chivalry to
rally round his snow.white plume. Without a con-
siderable number of these to form , the nucleus of a
working liberal party in Parliament the cause may
be in imminent danger. Now, without pretending :to
maintain that the sayings and doings of Lord John
-Russell have on all occasions been exactly what earnest
and uncompromising reformers could have wished, thus
much may be said of him without exaggeration. For
the better part of half a century he has faithfully and
ably fought the battle of reform in Parliament. He ha
been in the main consistent; any changes his political
creed has experienced have been ever in the direction
of increased liberality. He has much experience and
much ability in the conduct of Parliamentary business.
Always clear and impressive in his oratory, he rises on
emergencies to a commanding moral dignity. His con-
nexions enable him to lead many of our noble and wealthy
politicians who might prove unmanageable under any
other leader. It would be a severe blow to the Liberal
cause if a man possessed of such power, and endowed
with,such qualities, were not returned to Parliament at
the coining eleetiOn: It Would be a severe blow if he were
even obliged to- enter it as. the Member of a new and
less ituportant constituency than the one he now repre-
sents. The united Liberals of England are therefore
entitled to call upon the electors of the city of London
—as they value their character as staunch and intelli-
gent Reformers—to accept Lord John Russell's tendered
services, and send him back to Parliament by as marked
a majority as at any previous election. To do lees
would be to warrant a suspicion that the seal of many
Reformers is waxing cold—that there is disunion in the
ranks of the friends of progress. These considerations
would have been irresistible, had Lord John, in request-
ing the votes of the London electorS, done no more than
allude in general terms to his' past services, and de-
manded their confidence, without any detailed exposition
of his intentions for the future. But in his address—the
weighty words of which we will not weaken by para-
phrase or partial quotation, but to which we refer our
readers—he has chalked out a plan for the next and fu-
ture campaigns of Parliamentary Liberals that would of
itself warrant any c mstituency to -eboxe its author for
their representative—even without such .a long experi-
ence as Reformers have.had of Lord John's wilt and
ability to eerve them.