The Sun.
London, England, 1852-12-25 00:00:00

have never been' disputed by his most inveterate
opponents. The Duke- of Newcastle, Mr. Sidney
Herbert, and Lord Granville have proved them-
selves possessed of administrative talents, equal to the
high positions which they have long occupied in Parlia-
ment. When, to the statesmen whom we have named,
we add the list of their present colleagues, it is certain
that, with two or three exceptions, every political leader
of the present day is included in the catalogue. Can it
be supposed that the chiefs and spokesmen of the Legis-
lature stand alone in their opinions or in their policy ?
The same reasons which have caused the heads of vari-
ous sections to unite will tend to obliterate the remain-
ing distinctions which may still divide enlightened men
either in Parliament or in the country. For several
years past, the very combination now effected has been
the object to which the wishes of all reasonable poli-
ticians have pointed. Nor did those who desired to
witness the union which is now happily accomplished
fail to foresee that superficial objections would be sug-
gested by its completion, and that the fact of the forma-
tion of a strong Ministry would furnish the best answer
to arguments intended to prove that it was inexpedient
or impossible. • . .

(From the Times.)

Within a week of the day and hour when the late
Cabinet came to the determination to resign, every place
in the new Administration has been filled up. Whether
this will be thought too prompt or too dilatory—whether
it will be construed to argue too much preparation or
too little opportunity—matters very little, seeing that,
with a certain class of politicians, and, we presume, with
a, corresponding creation of readers, the most contrary
suppositions can be constructed out of the same material
with equal facility. The names which appear elsewhere,
and which need not be repeated here, prove, on their
very face, an amount of concurrence and co-operation
such as no Government has received in this country for

half a century or more. Excepting the one single cir-
cumstance which must impart to the Government an
experimental character, everything about it betokens
strength—the strength of vitality and the strength of
power. Aberdeen and Lansdowne contribute their long
official experience ; Russell, Palmerston, and Graham
the same quality, combined with unsurpassed powers of
debate ; Wood, Newcastle, Gladstone, and Cardwell
supply that mastery of details and that habit of exact
exposition which characterise the younger school
of statesmen, and are especially required by
the increased preponderance of mercantile topics ;
Argyll and Granville represent the rising talent of the
day, and Molesworth the more advanced section of
Liberals, its theories of colonial Government and practi-
cal reforms. As to the efficiency of the law officers, we
presume there will be no dispute. The fact stated in
our yesterday's columns, which we believe to be without
example, that the retiring Lord Chancellor has not left a
single case for judgment, certainly makes one regret the
the political necessity which prevents one Admistration
from adopting the successful choice of its predecessors.
We can only trust that Lord Cranworth will show as
much alacrity as Lord St. Leonard's in taking up the
great work of legal reform. In Ireland, we believe that
Government hopes to be saved the responsibility of
appointing a new Lord Chancellor.
Ott the comparative proportion between the two great
elements comprised in this Administration and the dis-
tribution of offices there will be some variety of opinions.
Over-zealous partizans already complain, it is said, that
that they do not find themselves so largely represented
as they could have wished,—a complaint which, proceed-
ing from both parties, seems itself to prove the real fair-
ness of the proportion. There are thirteen in the
Cabinet, Mr. Cardwell, President of the Board of Trade,
having no place in it, owing to his being out of Parliament.
To Sir R. Peel's friends are assigned the Premiership
and four laborious departments, which they will find
quite sufficient to satisfy their known love of arduous
and honourable employment. The Chancellorship, the
Foreign-office, and the India Board, with five other
places of less difficulty and labour, are given to the
Whigs. As usually happens, specialties are not much
regared. We were not aware that Sir C. Wood ever
manifested much desire to frame a new constitution for
India or that Sir William Molesworth had distinguished
himself as much in parks, gardens, and streets, as he has
in colonial reform. Lord John Russell has so little of
the accomplishments specially required for his new office.
that we can only suppose he is keeping it for a successor,
most probably Lord Clarendon, who otherwise will not
have a seat in the Cabinet. We should imagine that the
Ministry is not prepared to immolate itself before its
day on one of those crotchets which occasionally inter-
fere with the effect of Mr. Gladstone's acknowledged
high abilities ; and, therefore, we shall not be sur-
prised to hear that the new Chancellor of the Ex-
chequer will permit his views of the income tax to be
revised by the collective judgment of his colleagues.
On either side, several great names are omitted—an
unfortunate necessity of the case. On the whole, how-
ever, it must be acknowledged that a very good selection
has been made, and that, if experience, talent, industry,
and virtue are the attributes required for the govern-
ment of this empire, we are as likely to have a good
Government now as ever within the period of Parlia-
mentary history and responsible Governments.
Since the high qualities we have mentioned are unde-
niable, and the Cabinet is absolutely above all criticism
on these point*, there can be no doubt that its peculiar
character as a composite Administration will be largely
insisted on by those who wish it no good. We have
lately pointed out that all Governments have been to a
certain extent of this character, and that even a set of
country gentlemen, confining their attention to the sole
object of raising the market for cattle and corn, could
not get a Ministry so uniform and pure, but that its
two leaders in the Lords and the Commons were both
originally and fundamentally Whigs. Political change
and coalition are topics that admit of extensive and
varied illustration. It is the genius of this country to
improve and to combine. To learn by experience
and to associate with those who are not exactly the dou-
bles of one's self, are habits which distinguish man from
the brute, the great man from the little man, and
civilisation from semi-barbarism. However, be the thing
good or bad, there is no doubt that personal change and
freedom of political combination are not only honourable
in this country, but are its great preservatives against
that madness of theory which launches our neighbours
at least once in twenty years in a sea of revolution. By
the gentler process of many lesser changes we supply
the place of a periodical catastrophe. There may be a
certain romantic effect in the spectacle of patriots work-
ing out their theories to the scaffold, to exile, to anarchy,
or to empire. None are so perfectly consistent, un-
changeable, and, we may add, so unsociable, except to
their own order, as those who are actually mad. But
we, nevertheless, prefer the more domestic and useful
virtues of common sense, displayed in a sober review of
past opinions, and toleration of political differences. Any
man may sit in his study and work his opinions to their
most sublime and impossible results, but it is not every
man—it is, in fact, none but the greatest class of men—
who can combine with others, and help to harmonise
the natural variations of human minds to one practical
whole.
After all, no one point can be named on which there
exists any real difference of opinion between the mem-
bers of the new Administration. Time has done a great
deal of late years ; it has so corrected errors and altered
circumstances, that no statesman in the list before us
need run into collision with his colleagues, unless he is
particularly minded to do so. Every man of this Cabinet
will desire to maintain the honour of this country every-
where on the face of the earth, to give such countenance
as may be fairly given to the great cause of free and
constitutional government, to secure these islands from
attack, to protect our commerce, to attach our colonies,
to check the waste of public money, to alleviate, and, if
necessary, adjust taxation ; to reform our establishments
and our law courts—in a word, to give, at the lowest
cost, the greatest possible efficiency to all the institutions
of the empire. On these points there is more to be ap-
prehended from an excessive rivalry than from any one
lagging behind. Sir Robert Peel's representatives know
too well the onward genius of that great statesman's
mind to assume the part of drag to their new Whig
allies. The whole Cabinet knows too well its vocation
to permit of any standing still. It will not so neglect
the example of the last Cabinet, or the warning of that
which preceded it. We shall have a good, working, im-
proving Government, and there is not a man in it who
is not anxious to give it that character, as well from sheer
self-interest, as on public grounds.

That the friends of the late Government should en-
deavour, by anticipation, to discredit their successors,
is neither unprecedented nor surprising. Lord Derby's
conduct may, perhaps, be neither dignified nor gene-
rous ; but it were idle to protest against the ordinary
operations of party warfare. That disinterested patriot-
ism which can rejoice to see the country benefited, even
by a successful rival, has hitherto been recognised only
as a duty of imperfect obligation. Those who wish well
to Lord. Aberdeen's Cabinet must console themselves for
the hostility to which the new Government is exposed,
by observing the vague and indefinite character which
the attacks upon it have hitherto assumed. If any
tenable ground of opposition had been available, the
contest would not have commenced with futile charges
of conspiracy, or with loose denunciations of the
supposed danger of Protestantism which may be ap-
prehended from Ministers who are pledged to the
cause of religious liberty. It will be seen hereafter
whether the measures of the Government are such
as to deserve resistance on the part of inde-
pendent members. In the meantime, it is at least
certain that Lord Derby and Mr. Disraeli are pro-
vided with no rival system of policy. So far as the late
budget involved any financial principle, it must have
been opposed to the favourite doctrines of its official
promoters ; and, in default of an opportunity for making
a similarly crude proposition, the ex-Ministers have no
theory to maintain against the possible assaults of their
successors.

For the attacks of the defeated party the Government
will be prepared ; and notwithstanding some premature
intimations of mistrust, we anticipate no serious opposi-
tion on the part of any section of Liberal politicians.
One journal asserts that Lord Aberdeen's Government
is hostile to religious liberty, and especially, by way of
example, to the claims of the Jews. Yet it will
be found that every member of the Administra-
tion has uniformly voted for the admission of Jews,
as well as of all other loyal subjects, to the enjoy-
ment of every civil right. Elsewhere we find an
Irish denunciation of the Ministerial hostility to
Roman Catholic pretensions, side by side with a warning
voice from the organs of ultra-Protestantism against the
approaching betrayal of the constitution for the aggran-
disement of the Roman Catholic priesthood. Sir William
Molesworth's supposed refusal to join the Administration,
as well as the similar decision imputed to Lord Palmer-
ston, is urged as a proof that Lord Aberdeen will adopt
a reactionary policy. But, fortunately, Lord Palmerston
and Sir William Molesworth are in office, and it may be
hoped that they will receive the support of their ardent
admirers. When the Roman mob found that Cinna was
not the conspirator, but the poet of that name, they pro-
ceeded to tear him in pieces for his bad verses. Some
individual Liberals, of a vehement disposition, may still
be willing to attack the Government, but they must find
some better reasons than those which have already been
falsified by facts.
No answer has yet been offered to the inquiry, what
other course could have been adopted than that which
has been actually taken ? There would have been no
want of loud and well-founded remonstrances against
faction, if Lord John Russell had excluded Sir James
Graham, or if Mr. Gladstone had refused to co-operate
with the late Whig Ministers. Neither Lord Aberdeen
and his friends, nor Lord John Russell and his friends,
could have formed a stable Government without allies.
There were absolutely no practical questions in dispute
between those statesmen ; and all leading politicians,
with a wise contempt for clamour, resolved to lay aside
the personal susceptibilities which had hitherto kept them
apart. The only alternative was to give Lord Derby a
perpetuity of power. The extreme Liberal party are
well aware that they could not for a moment attempt to
occupy office ; and if moderate men were for ever to re-
fuse to combine, the other extreme would have enjoyed
undisputed supremacy.
As the union was inevitable, it was in the highest de-
gree expedient that the terms of agreement should be fair
and equal. The petty diplomacy which consists in
snapping up advantages in the progress of a bargain, is
altogether out of place in the formation of a loyal and
permanent alliance. We are not solicitous to inquire
whether this or that office might more justly have been
assigned to a Whig or to a Peelite. It is enough that
each section has been treated with confidence and libe-
rality, and that no rankling sense of injustice will dis-
turb the harmony which prevails between statesmen who
are to act in concert. If, according to all probability,
the Administration finds itself permanently established,
the old associations of political feeling will merge in the
result of newer relations. The ablest administrators and
the most skilful leaders will win the confidence of the
party who follow the guidance of the Ministry ; and
when it may become necessary to re-adjust the arrange-
ments of office, no difficulty will be found in profiting by
the experience which will have been acquired. At pre-
sent, it is satisfactory to know that a general spirit of
good faith and cordiality will supersede the necessity of
discussing the reilative claims of colleagues who have no
desire to be rivals. The special departments assigned to the
different Ministers will offer more worthy incentives to
exertion. The finances, the colonies, the encouragement
of trade, the promotion of economy, and the maintenance
of the national defences, will furnish more than sufficient
occupation even to the able administrators to whom those
duties have been committed. Whenever it may be.ne-
cessary to defend the measures of the Government in
either House of Parliament, all the experience and abi-
lity of which the Legislature can boast will be available
on behalf of the principles which every member of the
Cabinet is prepared to adopt and to avow.

STATISTICS OF NEW SOUTH WALES.

The statistics of the colony annually laid before the
Legislative Council by the Colonial Secretary are now
printed, and, affording, as they do, a very valuable body
of information, an abstract of them may not be unnac-
ceptable. These statistics extend from the year 1837
to 1851, and for the first time they are confined to the
colony of New South Wales Proper. The population of
the colony, on the 21st of December, 1851, is stated at
197,168, comprising 113,032 males, and 34,136 females.
The increase since March, 1851, is 7,217 persons ; the
increase by immigration during that period was 7,891 ;
by births, 6,396. The decrease by departures was
4,902 ;by deaths, 2,167. The total immigration at
the public expense from the year 1832 is 64,807,
and the total number of immigrants in the same pe-
riod is 20,372, making a grand total of immigration
during the 20 years of 85,179. The total expense
of immigration to the public during this period
has been 1,134,511/. 15s. 6d. The total amount of
money borrowed on debentures for immigration pur-
poses has been 336,800/. The amount paid off, 149,700/.
The amount outstanding, 187,1001. The amount of in-
terest paid, 33,7861. 14s. id. The number of births
during the year 1851 was 7,675 ; of marriages, 1,915 ; of
deaths, 2,600. The total number of acres in crops in
1851 was 152,027, being an increase of 5,500 acres over
the year 1850. The produce consisted of 1.407,465
bushels of wheat, 717,053 bushels maize, 133,194 bushels
barley, 49,060 bushels oats, 4,891 bushels rye, 731 bushels
millet, 13,644 tons of potatoes, 12,530 cwt. tobacco,
36,605 tons of hay. The vessels entered inwards during
the year 1851 were 553 ; tonnage, 153,003. Of these
vessels 73 were from Great Britain, tonnage 40,867 ;
80 from New Zealand, tonnage 17,577 ; 191 from
other British colonies, tonnage 40,190 ; 40 from the
South Sea Islands, tonnage 5,643 ; 33 from the fisheries,
fisheries, tonnage 8,430 ; 72 from the United States of
America, tonnage 20,473 ; from foreign States, 64, ton-
nage 19,822. The vessels entered outwards were 503,
tonnage 39,020. Of these there were to Great Britain 54,
tonnage 26,694 ; to New Zealand 77, tonnage 13,920 ;
to other British colonies 201, tonnage 41,821 ; to the
South Sea Islands 32, tonnage 5,513 ; to the fisheries
33, tonnage 9,658 ; to the United States of America
26, tonnage 9,547 ; to foreign States 80, tonnage
31,957. The number of vessels built in the colony in
the year 1851 was 24, tonnage 939 ; the number of ves-
sels registered was 97, tonnage 9,181. On 31st Dec.,
1851, there was 540,766/. 9s. 9d. of coin in the banks
and military chest of the colony, being a decrease of
130,0861.95. 2d. on the amount of the previous year. The
total amount of the general revenue and receipts in 1851
was 277,7281. 18s. id. The total amount of territorial
revenue and receipts was 204,5081. 7s. 2d. The Church
and Schools Estate Fund was 4,460/. 18s. 9d., making
the total revenue and receipts 466,698/. 4s. The total ex-
penditurewas 444,108/. 9s. 10d. The number
to of pol
number
st-offices
in the colony in the year 1851 was 101; the ta
of letters sent through the post-offices was 975,318 ; and
of newspapers, 762,487. The amount of income was
18,2521. is. 11d.; the amount of expenditure 16,3241.
13s. 4d. Thg increase, both in number of letters and
income over the year 1850, the first year of the uniform
rate of postage, is about 123/4 per cent.---Australian and
•ong I New Zealand Gazette.

(From the Morning Chronicle. )
The comprehensive character of the new Governmen,
is strongly illustrated by the introduction into the
Cabinet of the Duke of Argyll and Sir William Moles-
worth. The former, by his liberal political views, varied
mental acquirements, and great talent as a debater, gives
promise of a distinguised career of public usefulness ;
and the latter is one of the most accomplished members
of a political section which has not hitherto been included
in official arrangements. The other appointments not
indicated yesterday among those understood to have
been decided on, still further enhance the claims of the
new Administration to the confidence of the country.
The public will learn with cordial satisfaction that the
Marquis of Lansdowne brings to the Ministry the weight
of his long experience, established reputation, extended
knowledge, high cultivation, and unimpeachable integ-
rity. In the Lord Chancellor the profession and the
country will see a not unworthy successor even to the
illustrious lawyer who has so honourably held the
Seal during the last ten months. The late Lord Mel-
bourne observed of Lord Cranworth that he was the
most " satisfactory" law officer with whom he had ever
occasion to communicate, and the learned lord has fully
justified on the bench the exalted commendation be-
stowed upon him by his sagacious and discriminating
friend. Mr. Cardwell's especial fitness for the Presi-
dency of the Board of Trade will be universally appre-
ciated by those who have watched the many proofs he
has given of a mastery of the facts and principles which
ought to regulate commercial legislation.
It Is from no desire to reflect on individuals that we
advert to the contrast, in point of ability, which will be
presented in almost every department of the State by
the new Ministers, as compared with their predecessors.
If the obscurity of Lord Derby's colleagues, and the
distinguished eminence of their successors, were acci-
dental, there would be neither advantage nor propriety
in paying gratuitous compliments at the risk of wounding
the personal feelings of men with whom we have only a
political quarrel. But the truth is, that the union now
happily prevailing among all the considerable statesmen of
the country is something more than a fortunate casualty.
In every political school and connection, the ablest men
have been led to adopt opinions favourable to that sys-
tem of rational progress which is best suited to the
wants and feelings of the community. Even if Lord
Derby had wished to infuse fresh blood into his Ministry,
it would have been out of his power to obtain allies of
the calibre of Sir William Molesworth or the Duke of
Argyll, for the simple reason that the policy which his
lordship had long represented was opposed by all men
of remarkable intellect and capacity. There is a strr
presumption that the opinions in which all Parliamentary
THE PRICE OF LAND IN DEVONSHIRE UNDER FREE
leaders concur are either just in themselves, or at least
0 Monday there was a public auction held at
coincident with the predominant wishes of the country.
TRADE.—On
Creditors, in the north of Devon, for the sale of an estate
Even the bitterest opponent of Sir James Graham, of which consisted of fiteen acres, the property of the execu-
Lord Palmerston, or of Lord John Russell, will not tors of the late Mr. William Burdge. The biddings were
deny that those veteran statesmen have always spirited, and the estate was Ultimately knocked down at
possessed the confidence, and influenced the judg- 2,200/., or about 1501. per acre. The value of land
ment, of large and important sections of the corn- generally in the county iS enhanced, by the operation of
munity, Mr. Gladstone's talents and lull:MI.04o: fee trade,