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

LORD P A LMERSTON.

(From the Times of this clay.)
It became our duty, in consequence of intern- 1
gence which had reached us, to state on Friday,
the 16th of December, that Viscount Palmerston
had tendered his resignation of the office of Secre-
tary of State for the Home Department, and had,
therefore ceased to form a part of her Majesty's
Government, if his resignation was accepted by the
Crown. That announcement was strictly accurate,
and accordingly Viscount Palmerston has • not at-
tended' the meetings of the Cabinet which have
been held since he expressed his intentton to re-
sign. It is, however, well known that the import-
ant office of Home Secretary has not been filled up
or accepted by other member of the Government ;
and we have now the satisfaction to learn that the
resignation of Lord Palmerston has not been defi-
nitively accepted, but is withdrawn, and that the
Secretary of State for the Home Department will
retain—we can hardly say resume—his former posi-
tion in the present Administration. Explanations,
honourable alike to all parties. concerned in
,this
transaction, have been exchanged, and, as the diffi-
culties which had arisen between Lord Palmerston
and his colleagues were limited, as we have already
stated on a former occasion, to the question of
Parliamentary Reform as dealt with by Lord John
Russell, it has been found possible, without any
sacrifice of principle, to place the Government
again on a united, and we hope a permanent basis.
To be candid, there had been too much precipita-
tion on all sides in this matter. Lord Palmerston
expressed his intention to resign as if some vital
principle of the constitution were in dispute and
the provisions of the new Reform Bill were irrevo-
cally settled, neither of which suppositions are true.
This difference of opinion was thought to be more
serious and more fatal to the union of the Cabinet
than it has since proved to be by those members of
the Government who alone were in full possession
of the case.
But no Cabinet Councils were sitting at the time,
and the step appears to have been taken without a
distinct communication on a question of such ex-
treme importance to all the Ministers of the Crown,
several of whom were not in London. Upon a
fuller consideration of the whole subject, and an
explanation of the condition in which the projected
measure of Reform now stands, it was found that
no imperious dictates of conscience and of duty, by
which alone such a step could be justified, did, in
this instance, require so great a sacrifice. The
zealous mediation of the Duke of Newcastle, the
sagacious and patriotic advice of the Marquis of
Lansdowne, and, we must add, the excellent tem-
per and public spirit shown by the Ministers most
nearly engaged in this discussion, have led to this
satisfactory result ; and it would have been utterly
unworthy of the high position and,motives of these
statesmen if they had hesitated for a moment to
retrace a step taken under some misconception of
the cause to which it was alone attributable.

In proportion to the regret which we expressed
when the retirement of Lord Palmerston from the
Ministry seemed to be inevitable, we now rejoice to
find that he has risen above a step so injurious
his own reputation and the country. If any proof
were needed of its mischievous' consequences, it
might be found to satiety in the gross and absurd
misrepresentations on this subject, • which were
greedily adopted both at home and abroad in prt-
ference to the plain truth as we ourselves had
related it, and in the frantic exultation of the most
depraved organs of faction, who fancied they saw in
this change an event favourable to their passions
or to their interests. We hardly know which we
are to describe as most ridiculous and contemptible
—the Ultra-Liberal party, who affected to hail
with rapture Lord Palmerston's secession from the
Ministry, on the avowed ground that he is decidedly
oniosed.to their own extreme doctrines of Parlia-
mentary Reform, or the Rump of the Tory party,
who, in their utter destitution of men of character
and ability, were eager to declare their allegiance
to, a statesman who has figured for upwards of 20
years among their chief opponents. Applause from
such lips, support from such hands, tells its own
tale ; and it was alike degrading for Lord Palmer-
ston to descend from the position he deservedly
fills among Englishmen and in Europe, in order to
head the turbulence of one faction or to gratify the
rancour of another.

But we readily believe—and for the honour of
this country and of its statesmen we dare assert—
that throughout this transaction both Lord Pal-
merston and the colleagues with whom he is again
united have been actuated by higher motives of
public duty. So far is it from the truth that Lord
Palmerston resigned on the foreign policy of the
Cabinet, that we cannot doubt the position of our
foreign relations at this moment is the cause of all
others which chains him to the helm. He is a
great master of diplomatic subjects ; he brings to
them an extraordinary amount of political expe-
rience, combined with great fertility of resources
and natural energy. He contributes to the service
of the Crown not only the advice lie may tender in
the Cabinet, but his eloquence and popularity in
Parliament, and the confidence he has obtained
from the nation. We may say of him, as
Sir Robert Peel observed in a memorable
debate, with the courtesy due to a great an-
tagonist, that we are proud of him even
while we oppose his policy. But are these forces,
are these powers, are these energies to be turned
against the service of her Majesty's Goverment
when they are most needed and most useful'? Is
this empire, at the moment when it is about to
stake its honour and its power on the hazards of
war, and reluctantly to take up arms for the first
time these forty years against one of the greatest
States in Europe, to exhibit to mankind the weak
and pitiable spectacle of a commonwealth divided
and weakened at its very heart ? We hope not, for
unquestionably those who are so eager, to paralyse
and overthrow the Administration are virtually the
allies of that foreign enemy against whom they
launch their invective, and in order to conduct the
affairs of the country abroad with firmness and pru-
dence the first condition of success is strength and
union at home. 'ln comparison with such considera-
tions as these, which must be obvious to every per-
son of common reflection and ordinary patriotism,
the undefined provisions of this or that measure of
legislative reform for the next session of Parliament
assume a secondary importance, and the .path of
duty lies for the present along a higher and, more
rugged track. If we are about to enter on the
state of war, of which this generation has never
known the pressure, we must prepare for the sacri-
fices it imposes alike on high and low. It requires
of some their lives, of many their strength, of all.
larger contributions to the exigencies of the State ;
but,-above all, it requires the sacrifice of petty dif-
ferences, of personal motives, and of private in-
terests, to the paramount rights and necessities of
the country. A year will have elapsed this day
since Lord Aberdeen and his colleagues received
the seals of office from the Queen. The nation
applauded the spirit which had brought together
men so much opposed to one another in their for-1
-Hager political lives, and united them at last for the
welfare of the country. But, if that, union was
desirablp:then, it is necessary now. It is cemented
by. past. success and by the immediate prospect of
far more;arduous duties ; and the anniversary of
the foundatidn of the Government could not be
celebrated in a more fitting manner than by this
fresh proof that party intrigues and even temporary
differences have not dissolved it ; that the spirit in
which it was founded is unbroken ; and that with
undiminished strength it is resolved and enabled
to persevere. Lord Palmerston's return to office
is not the triumph of one section' of the Cabinet
over another, nor has it been purchased by conces-
sions or arrangements which can produce any al-
teration in the course of public policy ; but it is
the triumph of union and public spirit over a par-
tial dissension, and it gives a fresh security for the
duration of a Government which is identified with
the best interests of the country.

PERILOUS STATE OF RUSSIA.—From the Baltic to the
Black Sea—from the shores of the Danube to the banks
of the Phasis—extends an indissoluble bond of common
sympathy—a deep-rooted hatred of Russia, which no-
thing less than the dread of incurring the vengeance of
a despotism almost omnipotent could have restrained so
long ; and when at last the auspicious time arrives for-
giving vent to this feeling, the flame will kindle wildly
in the recently acquired kingdom of Poland, for there
the revolutionary spark has never been extinguished.
It is true that in the southern provinces of the empire
all hope of freedom has long disappeared, and terror and
oppression have reigned so long, that the inhabitants of
"the thinly-populated steppe have lost much of the
energy of their Mongolian ancestors ; but while they
may hesitate to start at once iato open rebellion, they
will not fail to use measures of passive resistance as a
means of opposing the designs of Russia. Opportuni-
ties will not be wanting to insure some degree of such
cess. When the presence of the allied fleets in the Black
Sea denies to the Czar transport for his troops from the
ports upon its margin in any one direotion, divisions of
the Russian army will often be compelled to march
across the inhospitable steppes of the south ; and here,
dependent for food and transport upon whatever a bar-
ren and thinly-populated country can supply, it is pro-
bable that they will find their wants altogether disre-
garded. The Tartars have only to remove their fami-
lies and their cattle out of the line of march, to render
the onward progress of the army a matter of the utmost
difficulty, if not altogether impossible ; and thus they
will be able to gratify at the same time their natural
hatred to the Russians, and their no less natural desire
of retaining possession of their own flocks and herds.
Even this dejected race might be stimulated to more
active measures, by the presence upon their coasts of
an overwhelming fleet hostile to Russia. It is impos-
sible to foretell what the result may be of so novel a
contingency.-----Additiona/ Chapter to the Second Edition
of " The Runitot Shorg of the Black Sea," by Laurence k
Oliphant.