The Sun.
London, England, 1854-06-13 00:00:00

THE MINISTERIAL CHANGES AND THE CITY

OF LONDON ELECTION.

The Sheriff has fixed to-morrow (Wednesday) for the Elec-
tion in the City of London, when the Guildhall will doubtless
be well filled by those anxious to hear the harangues of Lord
John Russell and Mr. Urquhart. A meeting of Liberals has
taken place at which it was resolved to give the fullest sup-
port to the new President of the Council, who will, of course,
be elected. The Tory papers have been making the best they
can of Mr. Urquhart's eccentric opposition, but the journalists
who are left with no better Tory candidate than the gentle-
man who talks about Turkey, Sodom and Gomorrah, will
surely not find themselves supported by the Barings and the
Mastermaus of London.
All doubts about who shall play the chief parts in the re-
arranged Ministry are at au end by the authorised announce-
ment of the Court newsman, who tells us that yesterday, at
the Council,
" The Duke of Newcastle bad an audience of the Queen,
and resigned the seals as Secretary of State.
"At the Council her Majesty was pleased to declare the
Right Hon. Lord John Russell Lord President of her Most
Honourable Privy Council, and his Lordship took his place
at the Board accordingly.
" The Right Hon. Sir George Grey, Bart., Knight Grand
Cross of the Bath, having accepted the seals as one of her
Majesty's Principal Secretaries of State, was sworn in.
" The Most Noble Henry Duke of Newcastle having ac-
cepted the seals as Fourth Secretary of State, was also sworn
in."

It will be noticed that the words " War Minister" arc
not used.

Before parting with this subject we must say a word or two
about the gyrations of a contemporary and Sir George Grey.
It took the Times six mouths to perform the difficult feat
of turning its back upon itself in the case of the war between
Russia and Turkey. During the same time it gave plenty of
employment to its organs of political digestion by swallowing its
own words to the very letter. What was difficult, however, in
the matter of the war, is comparatively easy in such a matter
as a change of Ministerial arrangements. Instead of six months
the Times only asks for three days to enable it to contradict
itself iu the most satisfactory manner. On Friday last the
readers of that paper were told that—" Amongst those mem-
bers of the Whig party who were unavoidably left out when
the present Administration was formed, Sir George Grey is
perhaps the most eminent, and although he has no peculiar
acquaintance with its duties, we entertain little doubt that
the seals of the Colonial-office will be offered to him. With-
out adding materially to the strength of the Government Sir
George Grey is deservedly regarded by men of all parties
with respect and esteem, and the House of Commons will
view with satisfaction his return to the front row of the Minis-
terial benches." Tho addle-headed old gentlemen who fur-
nish themselves with opinions for the day from the Times
committed themselves doubtless on Friday to the assertion
that the Colonial-office would be in good hands. " Perhaps
the most eminent of all the neglected Whigs"— -" a man who
was deservedly regarded by men of all parties with respect
and esteem"—" ono whom the House of Commons would
view with satisfaction returning to the front row of the
Ministerial benches"—was to be entrusted with the seals of
the Colonial. office, and we might thank our stars that so
good an appointment was to be expected. While they were
thus trumpeting the praises of the supposed Colonial Minis-
ter they little thought that some changes were mysteri-
ously taking place in the currents which act upon the
Times' weather-cock, which would tend very materially
to necessitate a great qualification in their previous as-
sertions. Poor old gentlemen, they must have rubbed
their oyes on Saturday, when, with the recollection of
the laudation of the expected Ministerial changes ...the
day before full in their minds, they read a captious
criticism of all the appointments—in which Lord John Russell
was sneered at, and in which the " perhaps most eminent of
the neglected Whigs" was spoken of as follows :
" With more than one member of the Government well
qualified to assume the direction of the Colonial Department,
that important office has been thrust upon a minister who is
understood to have had other objects of ambition, and who
has always been less remarkable for his administrative abili-
ties than for the purity of his private character."
This a tolerable " let down" for the person whom the
House of Commons would view with satisfaction returning to
the front row of the Ministerial benches." What were the
bewildered old gentlemen to do on Saturday to retrieve their
character for political wisdom. The Times, however, had
not done with them yet. On Monday morning the divinity
of Friday was smashed at a blow, and Sir George Grey was
left with not a leg to stand on. " His whole experience of
gainedof under the disastrous Administration
the Colonies was
Lord Glenelg, and he is likely to be worked upon by influ-
ences and directed by counsels which the remote portions of
the British empire deem most fatal to their interests and
most hostile to their prosperity. Hero is a firebrand Colo-
nial Secretary for you. This is the respected and esteemed
of all parties—the man whom the House of Commons would
be charmed to see sitting on the front row of the Ministerial
benches. A pretty House of Commons we must have not to
know better how to distinguish chaff from wheat. But not
only is the choice intrinsically a bad one ; it is unpleasant in
its consequences. " His appointment must be regarded as a
slight to all members of the Government holding offices infe-
rior to that of Secretary of State." The great majority
members of the Government will be in a state
of in.cipient
insurrection.

Leaving the old gentlemen to digest their grievance in the
best manner they can, what is the public to think of a paper
which takes only three days to enunciate two utterly con-
tradictory assertions on the same subject—nay, deliberately
changes on Saturday the opinion which it held on Friday ?
Is it possible to avoid the conclusion that on Friday the
general changes, and the appointment of Sir G. Grey in parti-
cular, were made the subject of moderate praise because there
was really nothing objectionable in them, and because no
competing interest had expressed its dissatisfaction, while in
the interval between Friday and Saturday it was discovered
that the claims of certain parties had been neglected
whom it was desirable to conciliate ? As the public could
not be intrusted with this secret, the only plan left was to
throw dirty water at Si George Grey. Nobody can for

instant suppose that direct contradictions of this nature weniii
be allowed in a journal which ought to have a Character to
lose, without there were some cogent reason lying behind—
some party to serve some intrigue to carry on—some con-
tributor who wanted to work out a private grudge. It is
quite clear that the intention of the article on Monday was to
excite, if possible, disunion and discontent amongst the Minis-
ters. A general scuffle is desired, in order that some party,
who is kept out of the way at present, may sneak in duritlg
the confusion. What are we to think of the character of a Iran
or a party of men, who adopt such measures 1.. What are we
to think of a public journal which lends its aid to such miser-
able intrigues, and does not hesitate to cali•that black to•day
which it named white the day before, and, notwithstanding,
finds its malice useless by the establishment of order aznoisgiat
men between whom it sought to sow heart-burnings and dia.
trust I—Daily News.