The Sun.
London, England, 1853-12-26 00:00:00

LORD PALMERSTON.

(From the Times of December 16.)
eeenibe_r
There is something in the month of D
whickseams uniformly to make Lord Palraersto_
• te his
unmanageable. The constellation which presides
over the winter solstice must predomina in
ton
horosclppe. December, 1851, saw Lord Palm
he
separate • from the Whig Ministry, with which
acted for five years ; December, 1852) witri7tb
his coalition with the heads of the same Party a
which he had quarrelled only a year bebfcrier:ct
en
now, December, 1853, beholds a new ,e
•'
tween Lord Palmerston and his allies. The de
pag
Of breaking up Cabinets seems with him t 0 „
ree
assumed a chronic form. There is an
old Gfete
proverb which warns us to love as it
to the
about to hate, and no man has acted up to
precept better than the nobleman whose lossuce,
the Coalition Ministry we this morning anti
In 1:351, Lord Palmerston was separated „sty
his friends because he was indiscreetly
in his zeal to approve the absolutist reuses
the
of the 2d of December. In 1853 he niur,do
service of the public because he cannot. 11!..e
himself to support even a moderate acile,u`been
constitutional reform. ` In both cases he 113' le
actuated by anti-Liberal principles, and Y.!.
shall not be surprised to hear and read that in
the Cabinet has lost one of the most ell4usioa
and Liberal statesmen it possessed. This a,eieieling:s
as to Lord Palnaerstou's real principles and r,ebat of
is not altogether his own fault, but rather .1'
S tg °-
the ultra party in this country, which ins 1 far a 5
foisting upon him qualifications to which, 38_0.
we are ;aware, .he never made the slightest pl,icp
sion. It has been the fashion among
the
to repreaent Lord Palmerston, in home a' ono;
in foreign affairs, as an ultra-Liberal states_ii)iog
and many have been the speculations fer,F7oo.
under him the more advanced sections of Reloolls
To' do Lord Palmerston justice, these ce nee,
have never been of his raising. Affable inano.to
a frank and pleasing address, and a 8111,rp0, :
dexterity in seizing and turning to hisaril
the topics of the day, have invested it
even
much personal popularity ; but no 00.0eajoev
superficially acquainted with Lord -1,, lei!
ston's history could draw from -it
el
augury favourable to these versions 01'000
Liberal tendencies. Lord Palmerston Coln
pnblic life under the Ministries of Mr. peg
and Lord Liverpool, and in this high Toll 4,.1011i
he imbibed principles which he has never, their
abandoned, and which seem to have regain heap'
original force over his mind in proportion as The
proaches the goal of his political eareer'e 110
' -Liberalism of Lord Palmerston, such asi kept
been, has never- outrun—nay, has hareigsl...'
pace—with the demands of the age. In i•
f al"
quarrelled with his colleagues in the eat''''',6llo
solutism against constitutional government'
has naw resigned, not from any difference of °Pt be
on momentous questions of foreign policy, gburre
ifl
cause he cannot make up his mind to re..,l4)ebise'
any shape—to enfranchisement or disirSTtr
merit,. to ;any extension of the suffrage, or,_7/liiet,
moval of those small and corrupt boroughs ▪ ,i;e
still disgrace our constitution. Like the •veist9
Wellington in 1830, Lord Palmerston is agni pot
..reforni, - and resigns his place because be svi
form part .of a peforming Ministry. with'
.- We do not feel disposed to comment on t 1-
pip
drawal in any spirit of bitterness or of rerto
We have never believed Lord Palmerston oft
that which Finsbury and Marylebone havesle*
insisted on making him. By his secession
nistry have lost a most accomplished gem ter of
an able debater, a skilful and practised 1117ste
official_ business ; but the Liberal cause has I°oll
thing. We believe that among all living sta'leit
Lord PalmerstOn is the only representative 0,0
those Tory principles which once formed the
„alit.
riant creed of politicians in and out of ParliTgell
The very zeal which Lord Palmerston has 0-151100'
for a liberal- olicy abroad,-and-for-socialini?romc4
ment at home, has often seemed to vs the lird
of a mind anxious to divert attention fr0:12;44r
changes by concentrating it on topics less
ous and less exciting. The habit of mind of a
.11011
ster for Foreign Affairs regarding all changeni,nilir
Government rather as they would affect our !eret
once abroad than promote harmony and Pr°:tice
at home, and the dread of weakening the Exec.,
by rendering our external relations suborch fp'
like our domestic affairs, to the direction of fA„itr
ment; and • have tended to- increase these rota!
Liberal predilections. No one weighs hisl4llo
more warily than Lord Palmerston ; and Wueoge
told us in the autumn that the present was s'o
not of reform but of improvement, We
.he gave utterance to his own--sincere conf',%'idl
and at the same time showed the direction in ;pie
he was anxious to turn the minds of his colit'tioli
and the public. Sanitary reform, corrP:orl
reform, the purificatiOn of our air and our 11 of
were regarded by him,. we imagine, as so,y:
bs
diversions by which the public mind
drawn off from the perilous contemplation of c'''T,e
changes. We believe Lord Palmerston to ip
Tory of the old school, such as Canning ,Wasi,:eool
earlier and middle life. Instructed by exPell'ardfi°
willing" to concede much to popular will, re",,t,l
deal with minor abuses, but reaante. to w,itr,
any attempt to extend the changes to which 45 tile
an unwilling party in 1831, he sincerely 110 j pre'
j
doctrine- of finality which Lord John Ittinsfte
fessed. We may regret the loss- to the-00:14
so brilliant a cm lleague, 'but we c-annot for `47,.50.,'
ment wish that in the Coalition Governraele
principles should have• been in the ascencinni;iit'
feel otherwise than rejoiced that in his hontetits
all. reform Lord 'Palmerston was left v7l"`".
seconder.
V
However willing we may be to do justice coo;
Palmerston's motives, there are circurestanc,e'.pi`
nected with his resignation which seem to isrgeea's,,
some degree with wantonness and caprice. .I`',.;,(it"
inexplicable that, having worked step by sterrei,
. the committee of the Cabinet appointed to Pilooll
the bill, it should only have been at the oelic4;00;
of their labours that he made known his •`-itl",
mental oljection to any scheme of reforni•4o/11
`also at least •'unfortunate that this secession 't lea;
have the appearance of being levelled againis;i4:
John 'Russell, the author and originator of 040'
sure,. but, also the cause of Lord Palmerston,%o
drawal froth the late Ministry. The proper bee'
intimate , his aversion toireform would hav"ipel'",
when Lord John Russell, in answer to grel'aferll;
King's motion, solemnly pledged the "n-tilityj
ment to the introduction of a measure, and n;•Jere,,,,
the heads of that measure had been c°l2.-,111
and
have
by himself. But most of
have a right to complain 'that Lord Pain::ens4
should have chosen the present mornentotioigf
of our foreign affairs to take a step which of lc'
have the effect, of exhibiting before the eye of
reign nations even the faintest semblanNateci
union in our councils. If war can be avi 11311 t
can only be by throwing into the scale the po
undivided weight of our public men, and 1t e
il
the part of a patriotic Minister to vver„-1
influence at such a moment. Although i-raeole6;
merston has resigned on grounds of purellroli'4;
tic policy, there will not be wanting iloo
and diplomatists to represent his resignaleieev
triumph of the pacific over the warlike e' opt.'"
in our councils. There was no necessity fer,o
cipitate a step. We regret to lose our l'lreep
bid
retary„but we should regret still more to'
on his own terms.

I

WHOLESALE ROBBERY BY A POLISH NOIOI- hotel
PARIS.— Last week a foreigner, who put up at!anj,iog"
pear the Tuileries, presented himself at the 1'8.4001'
house of Messrs. Rothschild, at the opening of bt.tsereoe3
a id gave notice that some person had entered 1:1, arseq
duri❑ the night and taken away his watch, rad!,
and pocket-book, this last containing a letter
tehisebilei
for 2,000 f., given by the house of MM. de 1:1°
at Vienna, on the house in Paris. This her (13Ler.,
have stopped, if presented. Half an hour re,
shionably-diessed young man made his appear, :bet the
presented the order for payment. He was tniurettirilo
money would he paid as soon as the order co' use,
from the office of one of the heads of the 10_, jot
the meantime a police officer was sent for, and
0!„
the young man had signed hia name to a reneiP4
arrested. Being taken before the commissarY us, prooa
he declared his name to be G--, and as as sap
of that being the fact, he showed several P,al)- %ghee
documents in which that name appearen-id %vat;
searched there were found on him a geartaio sub
and chain, a porte-monnaie, containing a caeket-b° Of
of gold, a blue silk purse, empty, and a P theatde.
containing visiting cards, with the name f,inie lro n.
Count de Rue de Ponthieu, which ari
eared he had found in the street the same:noels!:
Just as the search had concluder', the foreign_ e,a___,eare9,
from whom the letter of credit had been stolet , gO,P,
and at once recognised the blue silk purse ;Is :leebtree
watch as his property. In consequence 0.f./10 00.,
tion, the commissary of police ordered a visit t°
with the prisoner to the address in the 13,0 de and tbe_t
mentioned on the cards fonnd in his po,,stsbero,,,,ecr or
he
de was identified as always passing am" t
W--. A great quantity of valuable
...1:14 not less
various kinds was found in *the apartmen"inyestil;
than 17 paletots of various kinds. Further,3,•Couni t'.oo
tion proved that the prisoner hntrvoi
_es
W—, a Pole by, birth, and of a high rrs"?..,. the ro
in Paris principally by stealing. propertyst "
after, a P
of wealthy persons in hotels. TWO day riso t,
who had been on intimate terms with tr.en his nrr vii
out knowing his real character, on hheaadi 0,
hearing
left '° be
gave notice that two large trunks
also feued ja
charge by the prisoner. These were
oharactel?ielier
full of things of a most miscellanteeelee.. The prcioebie
which are suspected to have been;asl, ,
has been fully °Omni tted foi.• tri the
charge of forgery and theft.—alii on't