The Sun.
London, England, 1852-12-24 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, FRIDAY EVENING, DECEMBER 24, 1852

allow any doubt to exist. as to the propriety, the op-
portuneness, and even the necessity of revising and re-
forming in some points the political laws of the State.
The striking testimony which has been given by the dif-
ferent Ministries who have governed the country during
the- last seven years, ministries composed of persons of
different political opinions, though all animated with the
most lively desire to serve with loyalty their Queen and
their country, and for the most part endowed with the
most eminent qualitieA ; the repeated occasions on
which these different ministries, in spite of their sincere
desire to preserve intact the laws confided to their
guardianship, have been obliged to depart from the
literal text of them, having been compelled to do so
by the imperative law of public safety—all these cir-
cumstances are at once proofs and causes of the im-
perious necessity for modifying, and putting in harmony
with the circumstances under which the country is
placed, some points of the fundamental law. The pre-
ceding Cabinet presented to her Majesty and to the
country various projects of reform of the constitution
and the organic laws, and the Government of her Ma-
jesty thinks that the proper moment is arrived to en-
lighten the public on the propositions, by means of a
moderate but free discussion of them. This ground re-
mains open from this moment to all legitimate parties
and to all sincere opinions, and when the day shall have
arrived, the advisers of We Crown, after having
duly weighed the opinions of all, and with the au-
thorisation of her Majesty, will present their plans
of reform to the impartial and enlightened examina-
tion of the Cortes. To exalt, if it is possible, the
splendour and influence of the Throne, the symbol
of all the traditions, and of all the glories of the na-
tion, without weakening in any way the representative
regime, and without removing the right of publicly ex-
amining and discussing the acts of the Ministers ; to add
to existing institutions new elements of stability and
conservatism—such is the great problem which we shall
endeavour to solve, and on which, when the moment ar-
rives, the legislative bodies will pronounce their solemn
judgment. Such are the ideas and views of the Govern-
ment relative to the electoral struggle which is being
prepared. The will of her Majesty is that you should
seek to inculcate them into public opinion, in order that
the electors may deposit their votes in the balloting urns
with conviction, and with sentiments in conformity with
proverbial Spanish loyalty, and I make this communica-
tion to you for your guidance and Government."

A letter of the 18th states that the Minister of
Finances had that day received several of the prin-
cipal capitalists of Madrid, and consulted them as
to the financial measures necessary. for the interests
of the country. M. Bravo Murillo was to leave
Madrid for Bordeaux on the evening of the 18th.
The Three per Cents. were done at 44g ; the New
Three per Cents., at 24i ; the Debt of the Frst
Class, at 11 ; and that of the Second, at sg.

THE COALITION MINISTRY.

(From the Times.)

We may now safely announce the 'complete suc-
cess of the project of a united Administration.
From the following arrangements it will be seen at
once that all the supposed difficulties of the design
have been met in such a way that the country does
not lose the services of any considerable statesman,
and that no sacrifice of dignity has been imposed
on any statesman or any party. Lord John Russell
takes the Foreign-office, with the leadership of the
House of Commons. The great and growing im-
portance of this department in the present state of
continental affairs, and the fact that in every other
European Government the Foreign Secretary is the
chief of the Administration, will entirely satisfy the
scruples of Lord J. Russell's most jealous admirers
and most sensitive friends. The department, it is
well known, had at one time been marked out
for Lord Clarendon, undoubtedly as qualified for it
as any other man in this kingdom. He has, however,
we believe, been among the foremost to persuade
Lord J. Russell to undertake it. Should it prove too
laborious for the Whig chief, he may, without any
compromise of dignity, ask to be relieved by re-
moval to an office of less arduous character, and in
that case no doubt his opinions will be considered
in the choice of his successor. Lord Palmerston
takes the Home-office. It is impossible to overstate
the value of his lordship's adhesion, and his implied
testimony to the prospects of the new Administra-
tion ; still less is it possible to deny the universality
of his genius, and that tact which is the first requi-
site for the successful discharge of any public office.
As Home Secretary, too, it must not be forgotten,
his lordship will have the management of that
militia in the constitution of which he has performed
so prominent a part. These two names arc in
themselves a sufficient guarantee for the support of
the whole Whig party. The Duke of Newcastle will
take the Colonies. As some other probable ar-
rangements, including the distribution of the Chan-
cellorship of the Exchequer, the First Lordship of
the Admiralty, and the Presidency of the Board of
Control between Sir J. Graham, Sir C. Wood, and
Mr. Gladstone, are not yet definitively settled, we
forbear to say more, but the decision will not be
postponed beyond L-day.
That such a Cabinet will require for its harmo-
nious operation a degree of mutual forbearance on
the part of some of its members is not to be denied.
But, notwithstanding the public questions that
have divided for a time some of the Whig statesmen,
there has never been the least interruption of per-
sonal friendship. If any real differences remain
between the Whigs and the Liberal Conservatives
of Sir R. Peel's school, they are amply counter-
balanced by the friendly regard and mutual respect
that have long subsisted between them. Among
men of this temper and this calibre common sense
and experience have much greater weight than with
the lighter class of minds. These statesmen have
doubtless pondered much over the very unsatisfac-
tory history of the last seven years, over the long
and undeserved exclusion of some, and the final,
but equally undeserved, downfall of others ; on the
great scandal hence arising to the cause of public
justice and truth, and on the utter impossibility of
rectifying the errors of this very long period, except
by some such union as that now accomplished. The
necessity of a comprehensive Government is evident
to everybody who is not perfectly blinded by party,
or by some less defensible species of egotism. It
is plain as facts can make it that one clique,
or one class, cannot govern the country, that all
men cannot be Premiers, or even Foreign Secre-
taries, or even Chancellors of the Exchequer.
What might have been the effect of such a combi-
nation as the present several years back, it is use-
less to inquire ; just now there is an opening for it,
and not to profit by that opening would argue a
gross indifference to the real interests of the coun-
try. If any great question remained which could
only be solved by the dishonest connivance of a
section in the Cabinet, that would render the union
as short-lived as it would certainly be unjustifiable,
but such a question must have to be invented before
it can be alleged. There is none so much as alleged
at present.
So well defined is the policy on which the coun-
try will alone submit to be governed, and so tho-
roughly understood are the qualities required in a
Minister, that we must look out of policies, and out
of Administrations, for the causes of political weak-
ness in these days. The greatest infirmity that can
now happen to a Government is a state of bondage,
or, at least, a too intimate and peculiar relation to
some particular classes or interests of the realm. If a
statesman chooses to tie himself with obligations to the
agricultural or any other interest, of course he must
reap the fruits of his divided allegiance, and be de-
serted by either his country or his friends. Happily,
there is not a shadow of any such disabling and dis-
honouring engagement in this instance. There are
no splendid promises to be redeemed, or neglected,
or explained. The Premier does not enter Parlia-
ment in the condition of the captive described by
the Roman poet
" Qui lora restrictis lacertis
Sensit iners timuitque raortem."

There may not be a very wide scope for the exer-
cise of political ingenuity. Legislation is not so
much an inventive as a remedial, a corrective, or
accumulative work. It developes, it adapts, it im-
proves, it adds, it reforms, but all the time it is
dealing with a substantial body of legislation, and
an existing policy, which no prudent statesman
will venture to disturb without reason. There is,
indeed, a great deal to be done, but it will only
be hindered by attempts to legislate for a party
instead of the State. The very name, the barest
suspicion of class legislation, will be fatal in
these days to the efficiency of the best-in-
tentioned Government. In hailing, however, the
experiment of a broad and comprehensive Adminis-
tration, we must beg to suggest that what it loses
in symmetry of appearance and harmony of mate-
rials it must make IR in efficiency. If such a Go-
vernment is not a working one, it must soon be-
come ridiculous, for all men will insist on a reason
for union between those who have not hitherto
acted together. " England does not love coali-
tions." Certainly not. It is easier to love one
person, by no means worthy of our affection, than
a dozen persons together, each of them quite as
good as we deserve, but with the usual variety of
person and character. It is easier to love a Sove-
reign than any Government whatever, though the
Sovereign may to us be little more than a poetical
idea, and the Government may be a very service-
able and good one. No. We respect utilities, we
bow to necessities ; we do not even neglect what is
convenient ; but we do not love any of them.
Why, then, should we be expected to love the pre-
sent " coalition ? " We have no fear but that the
new Government will receive just as much respect
and affection as the British people are accustomed
to bestow on their Governments. All depends on
its working ; and it is its own fault if it does not
work well.

(From the Morning Post.)
The cards are still, it seems, undergoing the pro-
cess of shuffling, and the curious, be they never so
impatient, must perforce wait, at the least, till
Monday, when, as we are informed in the very
curt announcements which were made respectively
by Lord Derby and Mr. Disraeli in the two
Houses, Lord Aberdeen hopes to have completed
his arrangements. We have refrained from join-
ing in the speculations indulged in by our contem-
poraries who are supposed to be the organs of va-
rious political sections, as to what parties would
form the basis of the new Cabinet, or in what pro-
portions they would be blended in its structure ;
it is an employment not more profitable than blow-
ing bubbles, and scarcely so amusing. Apart, how-
ever, from those inferences which gossips love to
draw from the chronicle of the visits of public men
to Lord A. or to Lord 8., it was evident to all
who watched the Parliamentary strategy of the
many leaders who, for the last two or three years,
have been seeking for troops or aiming at command
by recruiting from discordant parties that the ad-
vances
which, from time to time, had been made
by Sir James Graham and Lord John Russell to-
wards Radical alliance, and the countenance which
had been held out by them to Democratic move-
ment, must render it extremely difficult to incor-
porate them in a Conservative Cabinet in such a
manner as not to interfere with the uniformity of
its action, or the true development of its legitimate
principles.
It was perfectly natural, after the community of
action to which they had been repeatedly invited,
and after the shadowy tableaux with which they
had been indulged of future structures on the
broadest basis, the Radical party should expect
that, whenever Lord John Russell or Sir James
Graham might be again called to the councils of the
Sovereign,. they would urge the claims of Mr. Cob-
den and Mr. Bright to seats in any Cabinet of
which they might be principal members. Reason-
able, however, as the hope might be, we have
never, as we have repeatedly said, believed in the
possibility of such a combination, notwithstanding
the prophecies of a contemporary, who, among the
many strange things which he has supported in
turn, has not forgotten the ambition of the Man-
chester leaders, or the foreign policy of Lord
Aberdeen. _ _

It seems that we were right ; and this much is
positive, and beyond the province of speculation,
that the door of the Cabinet as yet remains shut
in the face of that Manchester school towards
which Lord John Russell has (so often looked so
blandly. It may be that the question of those•
claims which Lord John could not but acknowledge,
or of those expectations which he could not but be
sensible of, has been the cause of that further ad,

t journment which sent away both houses complain-
ing of Christmas week spoilt, and curiosity unsatis-
fied. It boots not much, however, speculating
about the matter : it seems pretty clear that there
is no prospect of the construction of that broad-
bottomed Administration which Mr. Hume desires,
and the Times predicted. Lord John Russell and
Sir James Graham have withdrawn apparently
the hand which they once so frankly held out to
the Manchester party, and now as frankly offer it
to the friends of Sir Robert Peel. It is not so
difficult to guess " the reason why." The Radicals,
if we may judge from the tone of their organs, are
angry exceedingly, and doubtless will take the
first feasible opportunity of wreaking their anger
on the new Government.

We cannot shut our eyes, under these circum-
stances, to the possibility that we may see a repro-
duction of the difficulties which, since 1847, have
stood in the way of efficient legislation, and of a
strong or decided administration of public affairs :
.and that again the real progress of the country may
be impeded by a Government driven to occupy
itself with steering delicately among broken and
contending factions rather than with the real busi-
ness of the nation. We thought we saw, when the
great agitation of the question of Protection was
laid at rest for ever, and the gulf was closed that so
long had kept asunder the sections of the great
Conservative party who ruled the country from
1842 to 1846, an opportunity of binding again into
a uniform structure, by a new cohesion, the elements
which in that latter year suffered such violent disrup-
tion, and we had hoped that, by insensible degrees,
such an approachment of great public men might
naturally be induced as would result in such a
combination of all the great conservative elements
in Parliament and the country as would hedge
round our ancient institutions with a defence that
11 would set at defiance for ever the assaults of

Our hopes, it seems, are vain. Personal diffe-
rences now stand in the place from which political
ones had been removed, and the Peelite section of
the Conservative party are endeavouring to con-
struct a Cabinet by the aid of the statesman who,
throughout his long public life, has been the strong
and consistent opponent o f the leader whose me-
mory is their political faith. That there must be
much concession of principle on the part of some-
body, in order to give vitality to a Cabinet so con-
structed, is self-evident. When we see the modes
in which the friends of Lord John Russell and Sir
James Graham are conjoined with those of Mr.
Gladstone, we shall be better able to judge of the
direction which concession is likely to take, and
better able to advise our Conservative frier,ds as to
the course which it will be their duty to pursue.

(From the Morning Herald.)

Well, Lord Aberdeen has marshalled his powers
at last, but how they will march is another ques-
tion. Lord John Russell, so often denounced by
the Peelites and their organ, is, through their help,

to return to power ; Mr. Gladstone an-cl. Mr. Sidney
Herbert, who felt it inconsistent to act will: him or
accept his offers on a former occasion, have digested
their scruples ; they have consented to rut in the
same harness with him, and submit to the cha-
rioteerina of Lord Aberdeen. The humilityof Lord
John is edifying, the conciliatory tone of these he-
roes of the Peelites not less so ; there is t meek-
ness in the one, and a disinterestedness about the
others, quite refreshing, when compared with the
scenes of turbulence so lately witnessed, tnd the
jibes and sarcasms displayed by both in the last de-
bate. Mr. Gladstone is the very Mawwormof poli-
tical charity and purity; Lord John Russell t blush-
ing virgin, unhackneyed in the ways of the world,
covered with a profusion of smiles and curtseys for
the ,civilities of his new friends and his dowager
patron, Lord Aberdeen. " Oh ! world, thy slippery
turns !" The ambitious author of Don Carlos md the
Reform Bill turned serving man to the P:elites !
The indignant champions of conservatism and
free-trade banding with the most liberal of Whigs
and the leader of the Radicals against the Conser-
vatives ! High-Church, Low-Church, Poseyite,
Presbyterian, Whig, Peelite, Radical—all brayed
together in the same mortar ; the oily partsbf Mr.
Gladstone with the acidities of Lord Join, the
creamy morbidezza of Mr. Sidney Herbert wth the
virgin honey of Sir A. Cockburn—these ire to
form the ingredients of this new Aberdeen sauce,
to be commended henceforth to the palate of the
nation. Here, by the boast of its new advocates,
every interest and every party in the natior is to
find what it most needs or most desires, however
inconsistent and contradictory those warns and
those desires may be. All are represented there
except two, which we are accustomed to eotsider
indispensable—Protestantism and Conservatism.
The Pope and his brass-band need not turn away
disconsolate—Mr. Fox and his scheme of secular
education will find sympathy—universal outrage,
the ballot, and all the other tit-bits of the Ilan-
chester men will be found at the bottom of the
bowl, if they will but have patience to drain it to
the dregs. It is a regular conjuror's horn—a cornu-
copia of schemes, parties, and devices, quite worthy
of the Great Northern Wizard who has produced it
on the stage, and unquestionably quite as substan-
tial. If any gentleman will accommodate it with
a shilling, or concede it the loan of his silk hand-
kerchief, he shall see—what he shall see. Does
any member of the Opposition desire universal
suffrage ? Let him trust his measure to the new
conjuror's hat, and "Heigh, presto !" the thing is
done ; another rap and the same measure is a
graduated franchise. Does a member of the Irish
Brigade modestly request the confiscation of the
Church property, in Ireland, or the transfer of the
rights of the landlord to the tenant ? Anything you
please, gentlemen, nothing is too large ; it is but to
ask. What is there that our political =jurors are
not ready to perform and to promise to the satis-
faction of all parties, but especially of themselves ?
Eat fire or their own words, swallow Swords or the
ballot, string needles with their lips or thread para-
doxes—all are comparatively easy. Lerd Aberdeen
and his troupe are prepared for more astonishing
feats than these, if we may believe the/. new-found
trumpeter, whose music will not cease so long as
his company can pay and keep together.
Such are the prospects held out, though perhaps
in more serious language, by the new )offers of a
new Administration. If we are to be guided by
their encomiums and their promises, we tre scarcely
yet capable of estimating the store 01 happiness
they have discovered for us. Hencefortime are to
have a stable Administration. There it to be no
contending for a defunct and worn-out principle ;
the rage of party is to cease, and under tle guiding
hand of Lord Aberdeen, and the submissive ten-
derness of Lord John Russell, we are to enjoy those
halcyon days, so long desired and so oft deferred,
but now brought near by the eloquence fad fidelity
of the Peelites, especially of Mr. Gladstone, who,
when Lord Derby was in power, accordng to the
estimate of the Times, was a bad reasoner and a
pompous debater, but now, with the odour of
office upon him, is metamorphosed into a grace-
ful and convincing orator, and a tnatchless
senator : No abuse, Ned, in the World ;
honest Ned, none. I dispraised him before the
wicked that the wicked might not fall in love
with him—in which doing, I have done the
part of a careful friend and a true subect. No
abuse, Hal ; none, Ned, none ; no, boys, none."
So said honest Jack ; and with the same excuse
will we accept the dispraise of our contemporary
passed so lately on Mr. Gladstone and Lord
John Russell—on our own Party and our own
principles. With about the same consistency does
he now praise the new Administration, and with a
similar end—that the wicked may fall in love with
it. A praiseworthy task, undoubtedly, and worthy
of him who undertakes it, to whom nothing comes
amiss. Looking at the origin and formation of
the present Government, there is no reason why
they should not. Hereafter, if it be asked boy
they came into power—the answer will be easy,
If it be asked, how the minister who for many
years considered only the advancement of his own
connections, who sought and relied only on their
help, was reinstated in his high functions, and
those connections dropped when they were no
longer convenient—the answer will be easy. If
it be asked again, how a party professing entire
concurrence with Conservatism in all points but
one, when that point was conceded jilted the men
whom they professed to follow, and jockeyed the
rider out of his saddle that they might ascend his
seat—the answer will be easy. There is no reason
henceforth why inconsistency should despond, or
political perfidy be sheepish or discomfited. Both
may look up ; they may see their examples and
their rewards enshrined in high places. If encour-
agement be wanted, they need only to look at the
Treasury Bench • if praise, at the Times.
But though Ministers have fallen by
a trick; we
can hardly believe that their supporters will in-
crease the disastrous consequence of that fall by
disunion. The motley band which now faces them
cannot long hold together. The more they please
the more will they displease ; and as their Iffy
harmony and combination depend upon mutual
concession, and a proportionate and regular, de-
velopment of every part, or the neutrality of all,
their progress must of itself bring dissolutior, or
decay. Like the Macedonian yhalanx, which Was
impregnable if stationary, or on even ground, so
the present Administration, by observing a just
neutrality on easy and acknowledged topics, Amy
perhaps hold together. But this cannot last long.
There are questions, foreign, fiscal, and political, on
which they are not agreed among themselves, and
for which they cannot reckon on support. Theme is
.the income tax .to be decided or readjusted—to re-
main as Mr. Gladstone would have it, in all its pre-
sent unfairness, with all its unjust exemptions, or as
Mr. lume contends (and truly), proportionised and

modified. There is the question of Convocation
becoming daily more prominent ; the ballot, to
which several of the Peel party have pledged them-
selves, Mr. F. Peel among the number ; the ex-
tension of education, of university reform, and not
least, of the suffrage. There is, moreover, a
Conservative side in all these questions, popular
with a great party in the house and out of it ; the
Radical tendencies of Lord John will draw one
way, the Conservative tendencies of Mr. Goulbourn
and Mr. Gladstone the opposite. One or other
must eventually prevail ; and which shall prevail,
no man can doubt. The Liberal tendencies of
Lord John will be backed up by his own supporters,
and by the Radical members of the house. The
Peel party will have only their small selves to fall
back upon, for never again will the cause of Con-
servatism be trusted to their hands ; they must be
merged into Liberals, or become nonentities;
" For though the treacherous tapster Thomas
Hangs a new Angel two doors from us,
As fine as dauber's hands can make it
In hopes that strangers will mistake it,
We think it both a shame and sin
To quit the true old Angel Inn."

(From the Morning Chronicle. )
From the day when the division on the Budget
rendered the resignation of the late Goverment
inevitable, we have felt satisfied that no difficulty
would impede the formation of a Cabinet which
should comprise the principal statesmen of the
time. During the past week, many of our contem-
poraries, in a natural spirit of impatience, have
raised against an imaginary Ministry various hypo-
thetical objections, which will probably not be
repeated when the arrangements now in process of
completion become known. It is one of the most
satisfactory duties which can fall to the lot of a
journalist to announce the formation of the
strongest and ablest Government which has held
office within living memory. With the exception
of the late Premier in the House of Lords, and of
Mr. Disraeli in the Commons, no Parliamentary
reputation of the highest class is to be found with-
out the limits of the new Cabinet.

It would be premature to publish in regular order
a list of appointments which we believe is still im-
perfect, and which may yet, perhaps, be subject to
internal modifications, although the general organ-
ization of the Government may be regarded as com-
plete. It will, however, be satisfactory to our
readers to know what is understood to be the pro-
bable distribution of some of the principal depart-
ments of Administration ; and it will be acknow-
ledged that so great an amount and variety of
ability has rarely been enlisted in the public service.
To the chief post in the Government the Earl of
Aberdeen brings his matured experience, his Euro-
pean reputation, and that resolute devotion to the
cause of liberal progress which marked his intimate
and confidential affiance with his friend and col-
league, Sir Robert Peel. Quiet, unostentatious,
and decided, the new Premier is well qualified to
preside over a council of statesmen, who combine a
thorough knowledge of the traditions of the past
with an enlightened appreciation of the wants and
feelings of the present.
Many shocks and confusions of old political asso-
ciations will be healed by the renewed union of
Lord John Russell and Lord Palmerston in the
common service of the Crown. It is unnecessary
to dwell on the reasons which have made it inex-
pedient that the late Foreign Secretary should re-
sume the office which he held during so long a pe-
riod. In the recent negotiations, every leading
statesman has shown an honourable willingness to
waive his personal pretensions for the sake of har-
mony and efficient co-operation. Lord Palmerston's
great ability and long familiarity with affairs will
add authority to his office as Secretary for the Home
Department, while his influence in the house will,
in case of need, be available for the assistance of a
body of colleagues who will only be embarrassed by
the absence of competent opponents.
Lord John Russell, as Secretary for Foreign
Affairs, and leader of the House of Commons, will
secure the confidence of a large and powerful section
of politicians to the Government in which he will
hold so prominent a situation. Having often criti-
cised his lordship's acts, though with little objec-
tion to his general political principles, we are espe-
cially bound to acknowledge the frank and generous
spirit in which he has acted during the progress
of the recent arrangements. Having in his hands
the power of rendering the formation of any govern-
ment but his own a matter of the most extreme
difficulty, the former Prime Minister has willingly
consented, in furtherance of the public interest, to
waive claims which it would have been inconvenient
to assert. The high position which he now occupies
is fairly due to his official and parliamentary rank.
We cannot doubt that, in the conduct of his de-
partment, he will be guided by a steady re-
gard to the honour of the country—first, on its
own account, and secondly, because its maintenance
is the best security for the peace of the world.
Foreign Powers will not regard England with less
respect because the Minister who treats with them
on behalf of the Crown bears a name which is
honourably known to all who have the most cur-
sory acquaintance with the history of the present
generation. Sir Charles Wood and Lord Granville
will share with their former leader the credit of
forming part of an Administration which is pro-
bably destined to a long career. The former Chan-
cellor of the Exchequer, as President of the Board
of Control, will apply his industry and aptitude for
business to the construction of the new Charter for
India. Lord Granville's office in the Cabinet is
we 'believe still uncertain ; but there is no doubt
that his talents! and activity will find due scope in
some important department of the State.
The names of Lord John Russell and Lord Pal-
merston sufficiently illustrate the willingness of the
Prime Minister to strengthen his Government by
the addition of all the recognised Whig leaders. His
arrangements, howeer, would have been incom-
plete and unsatisfactory if his own friends and
former colleagues had not joined the Ministry
with a rank proportioned to their reputation and
capacity. We have already spoken of the
self-denying spirit in which the statesmen who
have been consulted have come forward to
serve the Crown and the country. Perhaps
the most striking proof of the absence of personal
motives is to be found in Mr. Sidney Herbert's
consent to resume his former functions at the War-
office, while Sir James Graham, long a Minister
and Parliamentary leader of the highest rank,
accepts the department of the Admiralty. It is
true that both the army and the navy require, at
the present moment, the services of the ablest and
most vigorous administrators ; and every con-
fidence may be felt that, neither by land nor by sea,
will the defences of the country be neglected by the
able Ministers who have undertaken their organi-
zation and superintendence.
The Duke of Newcastle will command confi-
dence, both at home and in our distant dependen-
cies, as Secretary of State for the Colonies.
Scarcely any politician of the present day has
devoted so much study to their history and their
interests, nor has any statesman been more dis-
tinguished for a firm and enlightened devotion to
the cause of liberty and progress. With ripe offi-
cial experience to assist him, and sound political
and financial doctrines to guide him, the new Colo-
nial Secretary may fairly hope to discharge his
responsible duty to the benefit and honour of the
empire.
In. the person of Mr. Gladstone, the fittest man
in England has been selected for the office of Chan-
cellor of the Exchequer—T7hich is probably, at the
present moment, the most anxious and difficult
office in the Government. In large grasp of
theories, and in minute familiarity with details,
Mr. Gladstone excels, perhaps, all other living
statesmen. It is a secondary merit that he can
defend his measures in debate in such a manner
that only bold assailants will venture to attack him.
It is not by speech, but by action, that an able
Minister displays his powers ' • and we trust to the
future for an experimental justification of the con-
fidence which will readily be afforded to a financier
who has no superior in general reputation.
The remaining appointments are, perhaps, not
disposed of ; but it is supposed—and
yetwe finallyr
joiee that such should be the case—that
office has been offered to some of the ablest
of those liberal politicians who have hitherto
been unconnec:;ed with the Executive Govern-
ment, and whose junction with the Administra-
tion would at once add to its strength and tend
to secure the confieence of the country. Lord
Aberdeen has throughout displayed an honourable
desire to render the union of all friends of progress
complete and permanent ; and we may well hope
that all to whom proposals have been made will
concur in the great object of establishing an effi-
cient Administra Hon.
It is unnecessary to dwell on the contradiction
which our present statements offer to the rumours
which, during the last three or four days, have
been circulated for the purpose of discrediting the
new Government. Any one of the leading Min-
isters is himself sufficient to give lustre to a Cabi-
net. Lord John Russell, Sir James Graham,
Lord Palmerston, or Mr. Gladstone might worthily
lead the House of Commons, or head a Ministry
which would command the confidence of the
country. On the other side is Mr. Disraeli,
without a colleague, a cause, or even a cry.
The Government not only includes all existing
Parliamentary strength it represents at the
same time the predominant feeling and opinion of
the country. At once Liberal and moderate, the
more enlightened classes only wish to be governed
by the ablest men, unfettered by prejudices or by
party interests. , It is, indeed, never wise to boast,
and prudent persons shrink most sensitively from
ostentatious language when circumstances appear

i most rosperous and easy. The Ministers have
not p t their harness off, but are even now putting
it on. Yet it may fairly be anticipated that, with
publi opinion favourable to their success, with
oppos. ion disarmed, with a perfect freedom from
the t ptations furnished by weakness for going
astray in pursuit of party advantage, and with the
well-f unded hope of public gratitude and approv-
ing co science as the reward of their labours, the
states en whom we have named are about to enter
with t eir colleagues on a long, a prosperous,. and
a frui ul career.

(From the Morning Advertiser.)
Eve succeeding hour convinces us more and
more t iat the Aberdeen Administration will be one
of the, most short-lived Governments on record.
Never was such a mongrel Ministry witnessed in
this, or in any other country. If it holds together
for three months, it can only be by a sacrifice of
principle and consistency far exceeding anything
of which we have had a previous example in the
Ministerial annals of England.
On the one hand, we have the new Premier, the
same Lord Aberdeen who, up till the present hour, r
has publicly and.Crepeatedly avowed his accordance
of conviction and judgment with the Government
of Lord Derby, except on the one question of Free-
trade. • Now, that Government, as we all know,
was a, thoroughly Tory Government. It was not
merely Conservative,—a word which simply signi-
fies the preservation of what we have, but it was
reactionary. It thought that we had already gone
too far in the pathway of political progress, and
sought to induce the country to adopt a course
of gradual retrogression. No one can have
forgotten the vehemence of manner with which
Lord . Derby, on more than one occasion,
declared, in the House of Lords, that he
considered his main mission, as the leading Mi-
nister of the Crown, to be to stem the current of
demociacy. Mr. Gladstone, to whom is now as-
signed the important position of Chancellor of the
Exchequer, has very recently expressed his horror
of democracy, and avowed himself the determined
opponent of everything which would be regarded as
synonymous with popular progress. So that we have
here the Prime Minister of the new Cabinet express-
ing, again and again, his concurrence in the ultra-
Tory principles and policy of the Derby Ministry,
on all points save free trade ; and, at the same time,
we have Lord Aberdeen's right-hand man and bo-
som friend in the House of Commons adopting not
only the sentiments, but almost the very words of
Lord Derby, when that nobleman denounced demo-
cracy, and said he regarded it as his main mission
to arrest the progretes of the democratic principle
in her Majesty's dominions.
Turn now for a few moments to another and
very different picture. Not more than three
i months, if so much, have elapsed since Lord John
Russell, he who was the Premier of the Whig
Ministry, and to whom is to be confided the.task of
leading the House of Commons, declared at the Perth
banquet, with a frequency and emphasis seldom
surpassed, that democratic principles were the right
principles,—right not only inherently, but right
because in accordance with the spirit and letter of
the British constitution. His lordship showed that
our institutions were essentially democratic—that
the word had unjustly been made a bugbear to
frighten ignorant or timid persons—and that the
Government of the country must hereafter be
carried on in accordance with the principles of de-
mocracy. In fact, a more thoroughly democratic
speech was never spoken than that which the ex-
Premier delivered three months ago at the dinner
at Perth. Did we not remember that the oratori-
cal exhibition made on that occasion by the noble

lord, took place while he was in Opposition, we
should ourselves have regarded it as one of the
most hopeful circumstances for the cause of popular
progress *filch had occurred for a long time. The
friends, however, of the noble lord insisted that
the Perth speech expressed his honest and deep
seated convictions, and that in the event of his re-
turn to office, he would be prepared to repeat the
sentiments he there expressed in his place in Par-
liament.

Well, the noble lord is in office now. Will he
give us a new edition in the House of Commons of
his Perth oration in favour of Democracy? Can he
or his friends give us the assurance that he stipu-
lated, before consenting to accept office under Lord
Aberdeen, that the Government of the noble lord
should honestly and in good faith carry out the
principles in favour of popular progress which he
laid down in his Perth address ? If he has made
any such stipulation, and is prepared to sever him-
self from the Peelite Premier, in the event of the
latter pursuing a policy at variance with the Perth
speech, then we say that Lord John Russell is not
to blame in accepting office under " the good Aber-
deen" of Louis Philippe.
But is it so ? We must confess our incredulity.
We cannot believe it—for this, were there no other
reason, that we cannot persuade ourselves that Lord
Aberveen would ever have consented to receive
Lord John Russell on such conditions. We fear
the event will show, that as there must of necessity
be what haberdashers, selling off their stocks, call
an "awful sacrifice" somewhere—an awful sacrifice
of character—that sacrifice will be found to have
r been made by the Whig ex-Premier. Happily
we shall not have to wait long in suspense on the
subject. We shall soon see on, which side the
" awful sacrifice " has been made—whether on the
side of Lord Aberdeen, or of Lord John Russell.
A few weeks at the farthest, possibly a few days,
will suffice to enlighten our darkness. The com-
pact which has been come to cannot long remain a
secret. The country has a right to know on what
principles the Coalition Cabinet is based, and the
country will take care to assert that right. One
of our great grounds of quarrel with the Derby
Ministry was, that it persisted as long as it could
in shrouding its principles, if it had any, in con-
cealment. And both the Whigs and Peelites were
equally vigorous and incessant in assailing the
Conservative Cabinet on that very ground. It is
impossible, therefore, that the mongrel Ministry
which has succeeded the Administration of Lord
Derby, can hesitate to make an explicit avowal of
its principles. The programme of its policy must
be laid before the country without delay. We
shall then, we repeat, be in a position to decide
who has made the sacrifice of character— Lord
Aberdeen or Lord John Russell—the Whigs or the
Peelites. .

But apart altogether from the incongruous ele-
ments of which the Aberdeen- Administration is
formed, its Premier does not possess, and never did
possess, any position as a public man ; nor has he
ever displayed any commanding talents in debate.
There is no prestige of any kind attaching to his
name. And because he never was, at best, any-
thing which could attract the eyes of the country
towards him, as one who was likely to bring it
through a crisis, people everywhere wonder by what
lucky combination of circumstances he should have
been called to preside over the councils of his Sove-
reign. We could throw some light on the matter; but
we abstain for the present, because nothing but an
imperious necessity could induce us to make revela-
tions which would compromise persons in high places.
But this much we may say, as a fact which admits
of conclusive proof—that it was clearly foreseen, as
far back as July last, in quarters which shall be
nameless, that the result of the appeal to the
country at that time must be the overthrow of the
Derby Government, and it was then finally arranged
that the Earl of Aberdeen should be the successor
of Lord Derby.
But let us, before concluding, do an act of justice
to the new Premier. If Lord Aberdeen has no
pretensions to popularity in his own country, he is
immensely popular in the Court of Vienna. Con-
tinental despotism everywhere doats upon him.
Metternich and he were bosom friends. And just
in proportion as Louis Philippe descended towards
that absolutism which characterised the latter period
of his reign, did " the travelled Thane" grow in his
affections, until at last he came to speak of him as
" the good Aberdeen."

( From the Daily News.)
The Coalition Cabinet is understood to be finally
constituted, and the writs for the places vacated by
the principal persons who have accepted office will,
it is supposed, be moved for to-clay. Some appoint-
ments of minor note have not yet been completed,
and several days may yet elapse before the entire
will be arranged ; but enough is knoWn to enable
the country to judge of the character and mission
of the new Administration. Nearly all the import-
ant offices in the Government are to be filled by
Tories. The patronage of the state will be in their
hands. The Whigs, having assented to sever them-
selves from the popular party, have been cajoled
into giving up point after point in the Administra-
tion, and although they claim a nominal majority
of seats in the Cabinet, it is plain that without
party or cordial support from without, or energy
or purpose amongst themselves, their position is
one of unenviable weakness, which is likely to be
rendered more embarrassing every day.
The avowed and authentic organ of the Peelite
half of the Cabinet does not hesitate to proclaim
openly that its policy is to be essentially and tho-
roughly Conservative, and the Premier has him-
self explained what " Conservative ' means—.
namely, agreement upon every subject, except free
trade, with the party headed by Lord Derby. The
ascendancy of the Church in matters of opinion,
and resistance to democratic progress in matters of
state, the exclusion of Jews from seats in Parlia-
ment, and resistance to the ballot in matters of
reform, aristocratic influence supreme at home,
and Austrianism as our policy abroad ; these Are
the elements of the faith as it is in Aberdeen ; and
for this the Liberal party has been made use of both

:43
in the country and in the Home of Commons.ll.
whole patronage of the army is to remain in-rbZ-V
hands of Lord Hardinge and Lord Ral
two of the most uncompromising partisa
Toryism in the realm. And if the distributay,Or
legal honours and emoluments, with the
mass of clerical patronage which appertains to
office of the Great Seal, be not ostensibly appro.
.-rx
printed in like manner, it is only because Lord St. -,\.11-
Leonards, with more spirit and consistency than
others have displayed, has refused to retain his
seat upon the woolsack. But the Cabinet, who
feel content to leave in his hands the department of
public justice, and the absolute control of the magis-
tracy, must of course have approved of the manner.
in which he exercised those functions heretofore :
and what the result of that exercise was in nicely
balanced communities throughout the country, it'
were superfluous in us to say. Will the power of
the Chancellor over the magistracy be used in the
same spirit for the repression of popular opinions
and the strengthening of Tory influence ? If so,
why was Lord St. Leonards turned out of office ?
If not, why was Lord St. Leonards asked to retain
the seals ?

Vague and evasive professions have indeed been
held out of comprehensive inclusion, both as re-
gards men and principles. Public distrust has
been lulled to sleep by the sonorous chants of un-
prejudiced views, and a noble disregard of all party
distinctions. The door of the Cabinet was said to
have been flung open to men of all opinions, bUt
we haye not heard that any were invited to enter,
with one noted exception, whose presence could
afford any guarantee of what might be done within.
Wanting that, the people will be driven to look
elsewhere. Upon whom are the new Ministers to
rely for Parliamentary support ? Is it upon the
forbearance of that discomfited party whose chiefs
they have hustled from power within the last few
days ?—although Lord Aberdeen says he concurred
with them on every point of their policy save one
which they had surrendered. Of Free Trade we
shall hear no more as a &eve de battaille.
It has served its turn, but can never again be
made to stir. Everybody admits that Free
Trade is irreversible, and that compensation is a
burst bubble. It will not do to rely, therefore,
upon empty, meaningless professions upon these
subjects. Some other Shibboleth must be found.
What is that to be ? A new Reform Bill ? But
who that really cares for or loves purity of election
independence of voting, or an equal distribution of
popular power, will believe in the sincerity of a
Cabinet whose existence depends upon the tolera-
tion of the Carlton Club ? Any ingenious
Tory might produce a dozen soi-disant reform
bills in as many days, each of which, with a nomi-
nal extension of the franchise and a shuffle of seats
and districts, would inevitably lessen rather than
augment the influence of popular opinion in the
Commons House of Parliament. It is vain to talk
of blind credulity and confidence in the face of a
Conservative Coalition. Were Lord John Russell
or some other man of tried service in the popular
cause ht the head of affairs, and had he beside him
in thetCabinet a preponderance of colleagues repre-
senting popular constituencies or committed by their
past vbtes to reform principles, such as the people
underhand them,—it would be a different matter ;
but unfortunately it is not so. Parliament is about
to be adjourned for six weeks, in order to give time
to the Coalition to mature their measures. Mean-
time many of them will be compelled to give an
account of themselves and their new colleagues on
the hustings. We shall await with some curiosity
to see; what that account will be. By whom will
these elections, we should like to know, be managed ?
Will the confidential committee of the Carltott be
consulted, or its counterpart at th.e* Reform In ana-
logy with constitutional practice, we would suggest
a conference in some Painted Chamber ; or possibly
a temporary bridge might be thrown. across the
passage between the two establishments that leads
most appropriately to the mansion of the noble
viscount who refuses to be identified with either.
Perhaps Lord Palmerston would lend them a policy.
He .would certainly be impartial if he undertook
the task ; and his superior ability has been suffi-
ciently attested, not only by his conduct when in
office,' but by the eagvness displayed both by the
late government and the new one to induce him to
resunie it. That one so habituated to official life,
and se clever in the discharge of its duties, should.
decline the offers of the Coalition as well as those
of their predecessors, is an omen not likely to escape
attention. The doubters of Lord Palmerston will
ascribe his refusal to more ambitious aims : his
friends will perhaps ascribe it to want of confidence

in the stability of new and strange combination
this day launched into existence. But in either
case the absence of Lord Palmerston, should the
reluctance of the noble loud prove eventually in-,
surmountable, will certainly be regarded as an evil
augury for the Cabinet of Christmas eve.