The Sun.
London, England, 1863-04-27 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, MONDAY EVENING, APRIL 27, 1863.

the cost of laying out the ground (in this case an indispen •
sable addition), nor for that of straightening the public road.
" Under these circumstances we still think we are bound
to submit our opinion, in the first place as to the relative
merit of the designs. That opinion, after a careful and re-
peated comparison of those designs, considered irrespectively
of cost, is in favour of that by Mr. Scott. The difficulties
which present themselves in regard to the estimate can
only be met, first, by abandoning for the present the project
of a hall ; and, secondly, by such an addition to the present
available amount as would secure the completion of Mr.
Scott's monument wi thoutsacrificing its chief characteristics.

" It is not without extreme regret that we regard, even
as a possibility, the indefinite postponement of a project
which H.R.H. the Prince Consort appeared so earnestly to
contemplate. In relinquishing the objects of utility to science
and art which the hall and its accompaniments woulu have
unquestionably promoted, and in recommending the adop-
tion of Mr. Scott's design, we have the consolation of re-
flecting that we in some measure revert to your Majesty's
original intention in propo ing the erection of a monument
in the usual accepta'ion of the word, with groups of sta•,
tuary round its base

"But, wo repeat, even for the execution of such a monu-
ment alone the sum contributed will be insufficient. It
would be unbecomieg on our part to offer any suggestion as
to the means by which that sum might be augmented ; but
we venture to think that the liberality of Parliament would
not be appealed to in vain, and that by the aid of the
House of Commons the monument would assume a elm-
rector in all respects national, and thus be worthy of the
Prince to whose memory it will be dedicated.
"We beg leave to recommend that all the designs
should be submitted to the inspection of members of the
Legislature, and ultimately to that of the public.
"We humbly subjoin, as an appendix, various papers re-
ferred to in this report.

" DERBY, " C. L. EASTLAKE,
" CLA.RENDON, " WILLIAM CUBITT.
" Westminster, 25th March, 1863,"

MINISTERIAL CHANGES.

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

SPECTATOR.—The vacancy created by the death
of Sir C. Lewis has been filled up by the selection
of Earl de Grey ; his appointment has been given to
the Marquis of Hartington ; and his again has been
accepted by Mr. Stansfeld, an independent Liberal.
The arrangement, though accepted as inevitable,
has not given uniform satisfaction. Earl de Grey
has earned his promotion, but it is not usual or plea-
sant to see the heads of three great departments in
the peers ; while the rapid promotion of the Afar
quis,:of Hartington is an affront to all whom he
supersedes—that is, to one third of the Liberal
side of the house. Mr. Stansfeld's adhesion is a
gain to the Government, and will be a great one,
if his chiefs will only allow him a place in debate,
often refused to subordinates. To himself his accept-
ance is most creditable, for he has, in fact, risked
his career by accepting a post which silences him,
but which will train him for others in which his
ability may be of more direct service to the country.
The Secretary for War, the Secretary for Foreign
Affairs, and First Lord of the Admiralty, are now all
peers. The three most important departments of
the State, possessing the largest patronage,exereising
the widest influence, and expending one-half the
revenue of the country, or three-fourths of all taxes
not impropriated for the maintenance of national
credit, :are now represented in the Commons by
under-secretaries, men who can only utter what
their absent chiefs may dictate. At a time when
politics and foreign affairs are synonymous, when
a European war seems imminent, when a maritime
war may break out at any hour, and when the en-
tire fleet is under reconstruction, the representa-
tives of the people have not among them a Cabinet
Minister who can sign a despatch, or 'raise a regi-
ment, or authorise the smallest change in dockyard
administration. That is the only objection to the
selection of Lord De Grey, but it is one of which
were the house in a less quiescent humour, the Go-
vernment would yet hear enough. It is something to
see a 'min under 36 appointed Secretary of State,
to feel that England is not to be governed like
Rome, by an endless succession of half-worn
out capabilities. The men of 1815 have ruled them
till Englishmen half forget that the greatest rulers
of earth have been young, half fancy a man of 40
must be deficient in ripe experience, are half in-
clined to believe that the faculty of keeping alive
is itself a proof of brain. If we were to have a
peer, best of all Lord De Grey ; but the condition of
ajairs which made him inevitable is by no means
satisfactory. The House of Commons is sadly re-
duced when it is necessary to leave it without direct
control over the three great departments, when it
is actually wise to treat it as a body entitled to an
initiative only in matters of trade and taxes. It is
vain to say that the under-secretaries are as respell.
Bible to the house as their chiefs. They cannot, to
begin with, make promises, or even affect to " bow
to the evident sense of the house." The will of
Earl Russell individually affects the affairs of the
continent, but who cares about the will of Mr.
Layard, or what is the use of scolding Lord Har-
tington because a regiment has been destroyed by
favouritism or the Cape flooded with needless
troops ? It is not the fault of the Premier par-
ticularly. It is the fault of the party he leads,
which, by persistent and dangerous negligence, is
throwing executive power once again into the hands
of the peers. The evil is not unavoidable, for the
Tories do avoid it. They have men enough in the
Commons, young men "coming on," posts for all
who show the capacity which will help them up to
power. If it were not that able men can seldom
continue Tories—the only reason for the permanent
failure of the Tory press—they,
the party who do
not need wisdom or eloquence, would sweep the
house of its keenest brains and cleverest tongues,
and leave their antagonists only the conviction of
right they have not the power to explain. For the
past twenty years whom have the great Whigs
brought
,forward, except Mr. Lowe, and he
cispiorn. Butactically Asir.
shelved by the present super-
essStansfeld ? Lord Palmer-
ston desired, very wisely, to conciliate the inde-
pendent Liberals, who were getting
visibly tired
in of the cavalier style
however,su greatly too much
for pNvp ohrite againsthisso friends.etimes
Aanpseeaatlsintothhies ecnaebminieest
for people who " are to stick to the last," so, in
defiance of the precedents which leave one of the
three great department in the Commons, the only
peer of the party is selected to fill the vacancy.
That left the War-office still to be represented in the
Commons, and as that office is important not in
itself, bat in the position it accidentally confers, it
is filled by a future duke only just received in the
Government. And then the office he leaves, which
represents nothing, and whose occupant ought to
be overridden by the Parliamentary secretary, who
himself is only a subordinate, is offered to Mr.
Stansfeld, a man of twice Lord Hartington's Parlia-
mentary standing. There ought to be fair play on
all sides, unity between the great sections of Libe-
rale, not a condescending patronage of one by the
other. The Whigs must offer alliance, not simply
chuck us a bone. Mr. Stansfeld is an acquisition,
but he might have been a greater one, had Lord
Palmerston been more careful to avoid the appear-
ance of slighting the very men whose alliance he
asked, or throwing the balance of power so com-
pletely into the hands of the Peers.
SATURDAY REVIEW.—For the efficient adminis-
tration of the War-office, the appointment of Lord
de Grey is perhaps the best selection which could
have been made, The new Minister enjoys the
unusual advantage of understanding the business of
his department from the first, instead of learning it
by experience, or, in other words, by failure. His
energy and practical capacity have been displayed
in his management of the volunteer force, which has
been from the first entrusted to his superintendence.
His ability must have made an extraordinary im-
pression on the Prime Minister and on any of the
colleagues whom ha may have consulted, when it
was determined to entrust one of the highest offices
of the State to a functionary still under 40. It
had been supposed that Sir Charles Wood would
be transplanted from the India-office to learn one
of the few branches of public business which he has
not yet enjoyed an official opportunity of mastering.
Lord de Grey is one of the few who have asset ted
the capacity of the generation below middle age to
take a prominent part in public affairs. None of
his contemporaries has thus far made a better use
of great opportunities. At an early age, his vigour
and sincerty in the advocacy
of a slightly paradoxi-
cal Liberalism made him, with the assistance of a
powerful family connection, member for the West
Riding. If he had remained in the House of Com-
mons, ho would have become a political leader, and
when he was excluded from the more active sense
of contest by his removal to the House of Lords, he
wisely took the first opportunity of acluiring ad-
ministrative experience. Neverthless, it is conveni-
ent that the House of Commons should exercise a
certain censorship over the professional eccentricities
of military
management ; and if the Minister
knows his business, he will carefully keep his hold
on Parliament for the purpose of counterbalancing,
in case of need, the power of his less responsible
colleague. The dignified supervision of the House
of Lords produces a less wholesome impression than
the irritable watchfulness of the Commons. Lord
de Grey would probably have united all suffrages if
he had still been member for the West Riding;
but it is certainly inconvenient that the Govern-
ment should be weakened in the Lower House at a
Harlington has scanty
time when it has little strength to spare. Lord
experience either in office or
oi debate ; and although he has given some promise
of ability, he must for the present rely on the indul-
gence of the house and on the aid of more experienced
colleagues. It is, perhaps, not unnatural that the
dispensers of preferment should welcome the faintest

prospect of an heir to the Whig succession. If
Lord Hartington makes himself useful as Under-
Secretary of the War office, he will find the doors of
the Cabinet open, and perhaps he may hereafter be.
come a political leader. The Reformers of 1832
scarcely foresaw the aristocratic results of a system
which practically excludes from Parliament all but
the sons of powerful families at the time of life
when the trade of statesmanship is most easily
learned. The younger nobility might almost rule
the country if they were not early absorbed in the
House of Lords. Lord Palmerston would have done
well to make the vacancy in his Cabinet an occasion
for more extensive changes. In the House of Com-
mons he now relies almost exclusively on himself
and on the brilliant and dangerous support of Mr.
Gladstone. Sir Charles Wood and Sir George Grey
possess vast official experience, but, from various
reasons, they have ceased to exercise any consider-
able influence in Parliament, and Government is
injuriously affected by the weariness of the house,
which has scarcely seen a new face on the Treasury
Bench for half a generation. It may possibly be the
fault of circumstances, and not of Lord Palmerston,
that he has been singularly unfortunate in the se-
lection of younger colleagues. Lord Derby has
trained a certain number of competent successors,
but in the House of Commons there is no prominent
supporter of the Government under the age of fifty.
Sir Robert Peel has, after seversl years, only suc-
ceeded in establishing a reputation for a certain
rhetorical skill, and Mr. F. Peel, who is useful in
managing the details of office, has not secured the
ear of the house. The appointment of Mr. Stansfeld
to the vacant Lordship of the Admiralty is, ha wever,
a creditable innovation on recent practice. Few of
the younger members of the house have displayed
equal rhetorical ability, and extreme opinions are
advantageously tested or corrected by official expe-
rience. If Mr. Stansfeld succeeds in his new career,
he may perhaps hereafter find his way within the
mystic precincts which have seldom been violated by
any alien intruder unconnected with the ruling caste.
In the meantime, he is well employed in learning
the details of business, and in accustoming himself
to the indirect responsibility of enforced silence.
OBSERvER.—The official arrangements rendered
necessary through the lamented death of Sir G.
Cornewall Lewis have been made in such a manner
as to give general satisfaction to the country.
Earl de Grey. who succeeds to the Secretary-
ship of State for War, has made himself master
of the details of the department over which he will
now preside as chief during his somewhat protracted,
incumbency of the subordinate post of Under Secre-
tary. He is undoubtedly the first and foremost for
special aptitude for the office he is called to fill
whose name would rise to the lips; and he is, more-
over, by his possession of all requisite qualifications,
fully entitled to become a Cabinet Minister. Earl
de Grey brings with him to the higher position he
now assumes an element of popularity deservedly
gained by his conduct both as a politician and an
administrator; in the latter capacity especially by
the hearty support he has given to the development
and organisation of the volunteer movement. The
necessary representation of the War Office in the
House of Commons is secured. by conferring the
Under Secretaryship upon the Marquis of Harting-
ton ; and in filling up the junior lordship of the
Admiralty thus vacated, there was an opportunity
that it would have been unwise to pass by, of
strengthening the popular element in the Govern-
ment. That opportunity could not have been better
used than it has been, by offering the office to Mr.
Stansfeld, an eloquent and able member of the
advanced section of the Liberal party; and the
honourable gentleman's acceptance of the offer is
creditable to himself, and will give gratification to
the public. Mr. Stansfeld last session made an
attempt to check the undue increase of naval and
military expenditure. In the office he has accepted
the details of dockyard expenditure particularly
will fall under his notice, and in all probability he
will be able to show that in this direction large
savings may be effected, without imparing in any
way the efficiency or strength of the navy, which
cannot in these times be trifled with. There have
been tee many examples of professed, and doubt-
less sincere, economists, who have confined their
efforts to limit the public expenditure to an occa-
sional participation in a debate, and have shrunk
from the labour and responsibility of office,
where they might have had the means of giving
some practical effect to their views. As an inde-
pendent member of Parliament, Mr. Stansfeld has
fully earned official position, and he deserves the
public thanks for not having hesitated to take it.
For the Government, the rearrangements strengthen
its power in debate, and draw closer its relations
with the broad Liberal party outside of the old
family and exclusive influences.

LONDON REVIEW.—It is certainly not to the
credit of the party which acknowledges Lord Pal-
merston as its chief, that no one could be found in
the House of Commons fit to assume the place of
the late Sir Cornewall Lewis. The Prime Minister
is notorious for his aristocratic predilections; but
seeing that the Foreign Secretary, the First Lord
of the Admiralty, and the President of the Council,
are all members of the House of Lords, it is difficult
to believe that Lord Palmerston can have had any
other reason for placing Lord de Grey at the head
of the War Department, except that in his opinion
no man could be found in the House of Commons
capable of filling that office. Even in despotic
countries, where it is thought expedient to establish
the forms of constitutional government, it seems to
be considered essential that the responsible Minister
should have the opportunity of explaining his views
to the assembly which is called upon to sanction
his measures. It must be remembered that the army
and navy absorb some three millions of the annual
revenue. The House of Commons is alone respon-
sible for this enormous estimate. It is therefore
not unreasonable to insist that the Ministers upon
whose responsibility they are voted should be in a
position to explain the grounds upon which the
public are called upon to contribute so largely. It
is no doubt true that during the reign of the late
lamented Minister, Lord de Grey did all the work.
It is notorious that Sir C. Lewis took little inte-
rest in the department over which he presided ; its
duties were not congenial to him, and he was, there-
fore, content to leave them to be discharged by his
subordinates: Notwithstanding this, however, it
seems to be admitted that the late War Minister
efficiently performed the functions attached to his
office; and therefore the conclusion would appear
to follow inevitably that a single Minister is quite
competent to discharge the duties of the War-office
without the aid of an Under-Secretary. If Lord de
Grey as Under-Secretary, could conduct the affairs
of the War Department without the active co-ope-
ration of so able a man as Sir Cornewall Lewis, it is
difficult to understand the public advantage of en-
cumbering the department with an Under-Secre-
tary. If, on the other hand, Lord De Grey has of
late been overworked, and some of the duties of the
War-office have been neglected, it is equally diffi-
cult to understand how the Minister's hands will be
strenthened by those of the Marquis of Hartington.
The rapid promotion of this young and ardent noble-
man is one of the mysteries of the day. The world
acknowledges the justice of putting the young en-
gineer officer who saves a fortress, or an orator who
defends a Minister with brilliant effect in Parlia-
ment, over the heads of others. But what has Lcrd
Hartington done to justify his advancement ? He
cannot be said to be unknown in Parliament, for
he brought forward the motion which was the occa-
sion of bringing in the present Ministry; but since
that period he has taken little part in public busi-
ness. However, wealth, rank, and leisure are dan-
gerous ; and possibly the most useful purpose to
which such offices as Junior Lordships of the Admi-
ralty and Under-Secretaryships can be applied, is
to furnish some employment for gay young noble-
men of tolerable ability.
EXAMINER.—The Ministry has this sign of a
good constitution, that its wounds heal kindly,
In some respects a successor of the lamented Sir G

Lewis cannot be found, but it is not as a War
Minister that this loss is irreparable, indeed that of
his predecessor was far greater, and the interests of
the service have been well consulted in the appoint-
ment of Lord de Grey, who has excellently proved
his efficiency in the department, and obtained the
confidence and liking of the army. The only ob-
jection to the arrangement is Parliamentary, that it
places another Secretary of State in the House of
Lords. It is understood, that to avoid so overload-
ing the Lords, and undermanning the official bench
of the Commons, and at the same time to give a
thoroughly efficient, hardworking Minister to the
War Office, the place was offered to Mr. Cardwell,
but declined for reasons sufficing to himself. We
believe that he is the only man who could have any
doubt of his own fitness for any important office re-
quiring industry, judgment, and firmness. It is
satisfactory, however, that the offer was made, as it
shows the appreciation of a statesman who has
risen high in the public confidence by sheer modest
merit. For the ke both of himself and the public
service, it is well that Lord Hartington's abilities
should have employment as Under Secretary of War.
Mr. Stansfeld will not have much range for his
talents in the Admiralty, but he will bring an ac-
cession of debating power to the Treasury bench
which is wanted, for too much of the stress falls on
Lord Palmerston. The choice of Mr. Stansfeld is
good in otherorespects more important than clever
speaking. He holds opinions liberal, we believe we
may say, to Radicalism, and is for the economy
which grudges the fair price for nothing really
wanted, and consents to nothing unnecessary, cheap
or dear. Al'ogether the arrangements have given
very general saAsfaction ! Even party opponents
have admitted there is nothing to object, and that
Lord Palmerston has done well in compounding for
some Parliamentary inconvenience in order to give',

the most experienced, efficient, and professionally
popular head to the War Department.
THE PRESS.—Perhaps the individual who feels
most aggrieved by the appointment of Earl de Grey
and Ripon to the seat in the Cabinet rendered vacant
by the lamented death of Sir G. C. Lewis is the un-
fortunate Mr. Lowe, who believes that his claim to
enter that charmed circle stood second to none. Our
principal objection to the appointment is that
another Secretaryship of State is thereby tempora-
rily lost to the House of Commons. In the present
state of affairs this cannot fail to create dissatis•
faction. The War Department is represented in the
Lower House by a Marquis whose chief merit con-
sists in political services render ed to a party the
influence of which is on the decline ; the Foreign
Department is represented by a time-serving poli-
tician who first obtained notoriety by repeated at-
tacks upon Lord Palmerston's foreign policy, which
it is now his mission to defend and eulogise ; and
the Colonies are represented by Mr. Chichester For-
tescue, whose connections, rather than commanding
abilities, secured his elevation to this post. To say
the least of it, this is not treating the faithful Com-
mons with due respect; and we are not surprised
that on Tuesday last this view of the question was
discussed. To the elevation of the Eari De Grey and
Ripon we have no particular objection. Though not
by any means a statesman, he has hitherto shown
himself diligent in the discharge of his duties, and
moreover enjoys the advantage which his fellow
Cabinet Ministers, if the Premier be excepted, cer-
tainly do not share with him, of being popular
with the service over which he is called upon
to preside. The appointment of the ultra-Radi-
cal Mr. Stansfeid to be a junior Lord of
the Admiralty, we commend to the attention of those
Conservatives who give a qualified support to the
Administration, because they consider its policy
Conservative. Lord Palmerston is skilful at uniting
extremes. He has induced Sir _Roundell Palmer
to act with such men as Messrs. Layard and Stans-
feid, and no one will deny that did politicians pay
the least regard to their professions or manifest the
slightest allegiance to their principles, this would
be no ordinary achievement. The appointment of
Mr. Stansfeld is perhaps not so difficult of explana-
tion. As the Government-have adopted all the finan-
cial reformsrecommended by the Conservative party,
the enforcement of which, when brought forward
by Mr. Walpole last session, the Premier declared
would be fatal to his Administration, they could
scarcely do less than reward the politician who
created the opportunity. Last session Mr. Stansfeld
advocated a reduction which no Government could
adopt, and since Ministers have followed the course
urged upon them by the Conservatives, who assisted
them in defeating Mr. Stansfeld's motion, they this
session reward the last-mentioned gentleman by
making him a Lord of the Admiralty. They hold
his principles in abhorrence, but, fearing the man,
they endeavour to load him with what Byron terms
" splendid chairs," and thus render him a political
nonentity.

4* It is particularly noticeable that in the long
string of names given in the Times of to-day, no
less than in the Morning Post, under the heading
of "Lady Palmerston's Assembly," among the
names of the many distinguished guests received on
Saturday at the Prime Minister's residence, in Pic-
cadilly, appear those of the Right Hon. Robert
Lowe, M.P., and Mrs. Lowe.

THE QUEEN.—The Budget of the Chancellor of
the Exchequer is exciting some attention. The
diminution of the Income-tax upon all incomes up
to £l5O is perhaps the only real public boon that
results from the surplus. The removal of the five-
pence on tea has received a practical comment by
the immediate rise in the price of tea in Mincing-
lane, whilst the retail grocers are busily advertising
tea at two shlllings the pound. Save us from such
tea! Experience teaches that no fiscal reduc-
tion on articles of consumption is to the ad-
vantage of the consumer. Such reductions are purely
a bribe to the shopkeeper, who takes advantage
of the altered duty to adulterate a little more la-
vishly than before, and then pretends to give the
consumer the benefit cf the alteration. But what
shall we say of the tax upon clubs ? Taking the
country all over, it is estimated that the tax of I:17
upon a private club will not amount to more than
£3,000 a-year to the Exchequer. It cannot be the
' hope of profit, then, that has inspired Mr. Glad-
stone. What then ? There is no logical reason for
the tax; for clubs do not stand in the same category
as public-houses. Public-houses are shops for the
sale of liquor at a profit, such profit to bent-fir the
shopkeeper. Clubs are nothing of the kind. They
supply provisions and accommodation at a loss, and
the deficit has to be made up out of the subscrip-
tions of the members. We must coefess that it
passes us to conceive what Mr. Gladstone may mean
by this fantastical alteration. Some say that it is
a mere specimen of his favomite hair-splitting;
others, that it is a scheme to bring the clubs under
the supervision of ,he police ; but the latter sugges-
tion is met by Mr. Gladstone's very peculiar decla-
ration that the tax was not to be accompanied by
"any annoying consequences, such as the liability
to police visitation?' This, from a minister, is cer-
tainly
un peu fort. If the visitations of the police
are merely "annoying," we do not see why those
who use public-houses should be subjected to them
any more than the frequenters of the club smoking-
rooms.
COURT JOURNAL.—The policy of the English
Government at the present moment seems unac-
countable, for they have had more than ten times
the period sufficient for deliberation, or for ascer-
taining the opinions of the law officers. We are
glad that, in spite of the opposition offered by the
" peace at any price" party, and the obvious unwil-
lingness of the Premier to meet the direct question
which two days before he had promised to answer,
Mr. Roebuck persevered with his interrogation,
and though there is no doubt that he did not
measure his words in a diplomatic manner,
yet their severity was not altogether un-
called for, and certainly has a doubly
telling effect when coming from a man whom ex-
perience has taught a very different lesson to the
ideas of his former political life. There was at one
time no more ardent politician than Mr. Roebuck,
and his ent'nusiaam was, above all, great for the
illustrious modern Republican institutions, which
were apparently productive of anything but perfect
freedom. As in many other things, so in this, has
Mr. Roebuck lived to witness the destruction of those
notions and principles which in his younger days
he so eagerly espoused, We may well pardon the
bitterness of his words, for we thoroughly know
that they would never have been uttered had not
the fullest cause been given for them on the part of
the nation against whom they were directed. We
trust that Mr. Roebuck's spirited remonstrance,
together with the undoubtedly strong feeling on the
subject entertained not only by the Houses of Lords
and Commons, but by the entire country, will in-
duce the Government to vindicate the honour of
England, and to protect her interests as efficiently
and boldly in this case as they did in the parallel
eircumstances connected with the seizure of the
Trent.

THE LAW TIMES.—The decision of the Full Court
in the case of Campbell against the Saturday Re-
view is of very grave importance. There can be no
doubt that it has seriously curtailed the liberty of
the press. As defined by the Court of Queen's
Bench, the right of free commentary upon the pub-
lic conduct of public men is practically destroyed.
The ruie as now laid down may be thus briefly
stated : you may criticise the public acts of public
men, but you may not impute motives. This seems
as first sight a rule as reasonable as it is simple;
but all who have had any experience in writing
articles for newspapers on men and things,
which must be treated of with a rapid pen and
Ino time allowed for deliberation, will know the
almost impossibility of observing the distinction
between acts and motives, so that it shall not
be a question for the caprice or prejudices of
a jury. Extreme cases illustrate the insufficiency of
rules. Let us see how this alarming one would work
when stretched to its limits. According to the new
decision, you may say that Palmer killed Cooke, but
you must not say that he murdered him, unless you
are prepared to prove by positive evidence that it
was a murder. You may say that B. broke into a
house, but not that he did so with intent to steal.
You might say of Sir John Dean Paul that he sold
the debentures intrusted to him, but not that he did
so wrongfully, because that would be to impute a
motive, which is a libel. You may say that a mini-
ster gave a good place to an M.P., whoiimmediately
thereupon crossed the floor of the House, and from
being an opponent became a supporter of the Minis-
try ; but if you say that the place and the change of
party were cause and effect, you impute a corrupt
motive, and that would be a libel, unless you can
prove the existence of the motive, which is of course
impossible. If the law is to be as it is now inter-
preted, the words " job," " corruption," " bribery,"
and indeed the entire list of political offences, must
be banished from the political dictionary ; no news-
paper will dare to risk them, however gross the
offence, or great the public interest in the denuncia-
tion of it. Not the least of the unhappy conse-
quences of this decision is, that it will restore the
detestable practice of criticism by inuendo.

named picture, one of the very few wholly
satisfactory works:resulting:from the infinite labours
of the Royal Commission of Fine Arts. It will
scarcely be believed that this noble painting, upon
which the artist has expended several of the best
years of his life, has been actually covered up with
clothe, in order that its colouring may not mar the
effect of the architectural designs! Thus it has
been for some weeks, and thus it is proposed to be
for some weeks to come. On Saturdays the pubito
is admitted to see the paintings in the houses, while
now the most important of them is covered up.
Good taste and respect for the artist should have
prevented this thing. Independent of the slight
thus offered to him, a serious annoyance must be
inflicted upon Mr. Maclise, if the designs are ex-
hibited as arranged, by bringing crowds of persona
and their accompaniments of dust and noise, for
weeks together into an apartment which is actually
his studio, where he is working for the nation daily
and all day long. The authorities ought to remove
the designs into Westminster Hall or Burlington
House.