The Sun.
London, England, 1852-04-27 00:00:00

THE SUN,

ecbemn of re-organizing our system -got'
national defences, Lord JAIN RUSSELL has been dia•
gracefully defeated in his attempt to bring discom-
fiture upon the project of the succeeding Ministry.
His laboured orations and deliberate attacks have
ended by 165 voting on his side and 315 voting on
the side of Mr. Secretary WALPOLE—yielding the
Government a clear and triumphant majority of 150
in a House of 4801 The moral is surely apparent.
The prestige of the ex-Premier has passed away. The
glory of his influence has faded. His Political power has
become paralysed. His reputation has been degraded
into a byeword. And all this--directly and imme-
diately, through the form of an irresistible retalia-
tion. Lord PALMERSTON, by the decision of the
House of Commons yesterday, has wreaked a two-
fold vengeance. We make the assertion advisedly,
because, to the late Foreign Secretary, was no less
attributable the result of the recent discussion,
than was indisputably attributable the result
of the memorable debate closed by the re-
signation of the Whig Government. But
for the course pursued by Lord PALMERSTON in
regard to the projected enactment introduced to
the Legislature by her MAJESTY'S Home Secretary,
the Bill before Parliament could scarcely by any
chance have been saved from following in the wake
of its short-lived predecessor. Lord PALMERSTON
spoke, however, strongly in favour of the mea-
sure, and a majority of 150 was at once accorded to
the new Government. With perfect truth has it
been remarked of the Noble Viscount, the late
Foreign Secretary, that at the present junc-
ture he is the recognised arbiter of the desti-
nies of the nation. The most popular statesman in
the United Kingdom —he has only to pronounce
and his word becomes the guiding voice of the Le-
gislature. He speaks against one Militia Bill, and
the Whig Cabinet is drummed out of office in
double quick time, with a painful sense of their utter
incapacity to withstand the authority of his condem-
nation. He speaks in favour of another Militia
Bill and the Conservative Government—the Go-
vernment acknowledged by the new Prime Minister
even in his inaugural address to be in a minority in
the House of Commons—obtains not merely what is
technically called a working majority, but a majority of
very nearly two to one, from the popular branch of
the Imperial Parliament. Lord JOHN RUSSELL little
imagined what would so very speedily be the conse-

quence of his insolent and ungrateful proceeding to-
wards the only really great and influential statesman

in his Administration. That consequence has already
been rendered twice manifest—first by his total defeat
when the leader of the Government ; and, secondly,
by his still more disgraceful and ignominious discom-
fiture when the leader of the Opposition. Viscount
PALMERSTON has proved the ex Premier to be alike
powerless in either of those capacities, as the head of
a Cabinet or as the head of a faction. The division of
yesterday is the crowning te3timony of this the last
proof of the insignificance to which the political
influence of Lord JOHN RUSSELL has been reduced.
For we regard the m:jority of last night as
another tribute of the House of Commons
to the prestige of Viscount PALMERSTON—A tribute
based, it is true, upon the unanimous conviction that
something must be done in the way of increasing and
re-organizing• the national defences—rather than as a
declaration that 315 out of the 480 assembled repre-

sentatives are in favour of the Militia Bill, the whole
Militia Bill, and nothing but the Militia Bill intro-
duced to the consideration of the Legislature by one

of the members of the Protectionist Government.

As we have all along maintained, some energetic
measures are requisite in order to shelter the coasts
of the United Kingdom against the peril of invasion.
The Duke of WELLINGTON declared the inadequacy
of the national defences according to the existing
scheme of arrangements. Sir Fasscxs HEAD re-
iterated at greater length the warning first uttered
through the medium of the well-known letter to Sir
JOHN BURGOYNE. The danger of our situation, in
fact, was recognised by all parties alike, with
the exception of the few eccentric gentlemen who
are bitten by the phobia of arbitration. The late
Government, through the measure vainly in..
troduced by them, intimated as much, no less
distinctly than the present Government has
done in its turn, through the medium of
the Militia Bill laid upon the table of the House of
Commons by the Home Secretary. Insomuch was
this the conviction of Lord Joss RUSSELL and his
Ministerial colleagues, that they advised an al-

lusion to the subject;_in the Speech from the
Throne delivered at the commencement of the pre-
sent session by the SOVEREIGN. Every one, indeed,
with the single exception referred to (that of the
Peace Congress gentlemen) agreed from the outset
that a movement in the proposed direction was abso-

lutely essential for the stability of the empire, or
at any rate for the welfare of the United Kingdom.
The only difficulty all along has been to decide
upon the precise measures advisable to be
adopted under existing circumstances—this diffi-
culty being, moreover, rather seriously en-
hanced by the division of parties and by the
struggles between those who were suddenly trans-
formed from a Government into an Opposition, and
from an Opposition into a Government. From the
protracted character of these struggles, we are induced
to regard the result of hat night's division not so much
as an approval of the Militia Bill of Mr. WALPOLF,
as an assertion that some energetic effort
must seriously be made at length for the exten-
sion and improvement of the national defences of
the United Kingdom. Therefore, while we coincide
to a considerable extent with Mr. ROEBUCK, in con-
sidering the proposed enactment as likely to prove,
if carried into operation, eminently mischievous in its
character, we cannot view yesterday's ma-
jority in the abstract otherwise than highly
satisfactory. Happily, it affords us at length every
reasonable expectation that the national defences may
before long be thoroughly and effectually re-organized
in spite of every imaginable obstruction, even of such
obstructions as the one facetiously called by the
Hon. Member for East Kent, the argumentum ad
pocket. Then, but not till then, could we bear
in remembrance without emotions of anxiety
as to the future, the projnt formed in

1804 by that most wonderful of heroes,
at once the conqueror and the lawgiver of
Europe, the Emperor NAPOLEON, that extra-
ordinary man alluded to last night in the
House of Commons by the Honourable Repre-
sentative of Sheffield, as one " whose mind
was gigantic almost beyond the reach
of conception, the first general the world had
ever known, and commanding an army whose
exploits had never been surpassed." Then, we
repeat, we might look onward without solici-
tude as to the almost unlimited powers conferred by
a free people 'on the Prince Louis NAPOLEON,
the elect first of 6,000,000 and afterwards of nearly
8,000,000 of adult citizens, speaking through the
ballot and universal suffrage—whose name was,
nevertheless, mentioned last night by the same Hon.
Gentleman
(Mr. ROEBUCK} in terms Of snob culpable
and shameless scurrility.

Every fresh:
ast
substantial
from Australis affords addi-
tional and most
the
Australian
evidence of the miracu-
lous produce of diggings. Accounts
are transmitted from persons of character and
station that would appear incredible, if not sup-
ported by unexceptionable proofs ; but they are sus-.
twined to the utmost. There can be no mistake
ebout gold, to the value
of
Hog, which has reached a,
duringearly one million ster-
is in the course
of . transmission, the past month, or
ana-,
daily ex-
cted About a fortn'2l
pe • 1- it since
out that DO less than 378,0007 we pointed
bullion hid came to hand within the r- worth of
Sirice tb4 drag we received to the vpaioeceeding week.
more
, pct the Hero ; and last week the f Brilliant,
000/.
wiiich sailed from Port Philip on the 91st of January,rilliant,
brought no leks than two tons and a half of the
pre-
cious meal, estimated at 217,000/, while we
are
told that the'Statesman and Aberfoyle were to start
by the lst of Feblitt bringing 80,000 ounces
more, worth nearly 000/. -It ii also stated that
new diggings- bad men. discovered at the Muddy
Creek and: th 4 Mane River, promising as brilliant
returns al the most productive spots that had previ-
ously been'discovered. It is almost u: :necessary to
say that every person of sufficient physical powers to
bear the fatigues Of the diggitygs was rushing to the
auriferous localities, totally disregarding his ordinary
pursuits. Many motley groups :tiii„,.4t have been seen,