The Sun.
London, England, 1863-09-04 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, FRIDAY EVENING, SEPFEIVIBER 4, 1863.

LORD CLARENDON.

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Sovereigns goes on, to gather all the information
he can, and to keep himself up with the current of
affairs; and he is now, we are told, engaged in
writing a memorial on the German question. This
reminds us that he may probably return some day
to the Foreign-office, and makes us think what we
shall gain or lose by having him there. Lord
Clarendon happens to be an excellent representa-
tive of a particular class of politicians. He is a
processional statesman, and about up to a fair ave-
rage. Happening to have an hereditary access to
political life, he went through all the preparation
for it which is most approved; he gave himself up
to the work of his department with a regulation
measure of official zeal ; and when he is out of office
he takes an interest in public business, and, by mak-
ing himself master of what is going on, holds him-
self in readiness to take office again. Such a career
is commonplace, but it is creditable and useful. It
may seem as if it were a very simple thing to get
such a man as Lord Clarendon, and to give him
such a prospect of office es will encourage him to
keep himself from stagnation, And, iu one sense,
it is easy to get such a man. The educated classes
of England can always furnish statesmen of this
calibre in abundance. If we take Lord Clarendon
in the Upper House, or a man like Mr. Cardwell
in the Lower, we see at once that they are on a
level with men who succeed in intellectual pro-
fessions. They might have made good working
Judges, or Colonial Governors, or Indian offi-
cials. Possibly, if they had been Bishops, they
would have been a little above the average. They
do not rise above the standard of educated gentle-
men of good ability, but then they do not fall below
it. There are very few men who come up to Lon-
don with a high University reputation of whom
there is the slightest reason to suppose that they
would do better if the chance were given them.
There are astonishingly few men in England, sup-
posed to have an aptitude for public life, as to whom
even their warmest admirers can seriously believe
that it makes any difference to the country whether
they are in Parliament or not. If. Lord Clarendon
or Mr. Cardwell had never been in Parliament,
there is every reason to hope that some other men
of their mark and standard would have been. But
then it is a very great gain to the country that
this should be the type of our professional statesmen,
and that, haying a class of persons like Lord Claren-
don and Mr. Cardwell in society, we should get
them to devote their lives to public affairs. It can
scarcely be said there is any other country but En-
gland in which it can be confidently expected that
the bulk of the Cabinet will be on a par, in intellect,
honesty, manners, and character, with an English
judge. Such a man as Lord Clarendon is an im-
possibility in America. There he would have to
write a history if he were industrious, or to import
marbles and correspond with European noblemen
if he were idle ; but there would be no more
opening
' for him in public life than there
is for a Sunday opera in Edinburgh. It may
be said that it is one great aim and result of the
British constitution to produce, rear, and reward
men like Lord Clarendon. And if sneerers remark
that this is rather a little fruit for such a big tree,
they may be reminded that even much more romantic
things than the English Constitution have a pro-
saic as well as a poetical side.

Lord Clarendon is not a great statesman, nor even
a party leader. He has none of the qualities that
lead to eminence of any sort. But it ought to be
observed that he is much above the usual feeble
Whig who is put in at the end of Cabinets to please
the great families, Sir G. Grey is the price we pay
for having Lord Palmerston. The Premier will not
allow us to love him without also loving his dog;
and both Lord Palmerston and Lord Russell have a
persuasion, from which they will never get free,
that any Whig is fit for any place he can get, except
for the very big places that ought to be reserved for
the very big Whigs. Lord Palmerston never found
any incident of his varied career more incompre-
hensible than that the public should have been dis-
pleased at his appointment of Lord Clanricarde.
But humbler people think it an object of no small
importance to keep clear of the very objectionable
type of official. It was a great thing that India
should pass from the hands ot Lord Lyveden to those
of Lord Stanley, and it would be an excellent thing
if Sir G. Grey were replaced by Mr. Cardwell.
The Houses of Parliament and the country at large
take the measure of public men with tolerable ex-
actness, and perhaps statesmen are more often
underrated than overrated. Only a very small
portion of the British public understood the
merits of Lord Melbourne. Anyone would much
rather have to go on a matter of public business to
Lord Palmerston or Mr. Gladstone than to Sir
Charles Wood. Even whe❑ Sir Charles Wood is
right, and takes a sensible independent course, he
is one of the least accommodating, sociable, and
courteous of men. He makes things as unpleasant
where a superior man would make them as pleasant
as possible. Lord Clarendon may again, in the
natural course of things, return to the Foreign
Office, and if we cannot get any better man there,
we may be content he should have his turn. We
are not sure that it would be any loss if Le suc-
ceeded Lord Russell. It is undoubtedly desirable
that, at a time when foreign affairs occupy exclu-
sively the attention of England, and when every
month brings with it the danger of a new war
somewhere or other, there should be some one at the
Foreign Office whose name itself carries weight, and
whose character and position ensure that his opinion
will generally be the opinion of the Cabinet. But
then Lord Clarendon would be much more easily
kept right than Lord Russell. Ho would not be
nearly so offensive. He would not have the auda-
city to job in a first-class way, and would never
venture to torment a diplomatist of the highest
ability and reputation into resigning, in order to
make room for a Villiers.—Saturday Review,