The Sun.
London, England, 1854-01-05 00:00:00

Recent experience has taught them that this is a
mistake. They cannot make their voice heard, or
their power felt, in the Cabinet Councils of the
country. For six long months their unanimously
and stronglyexpressed wishes have been disregarded
with respect to the Eastern question. The Cabinet
has pursued its own course, just as if there were
no such thing as public opinion in the country.
The wishes of the English people could not have
been more coolly or systematically set at nought,
had we been living directly under the Government
of the Czar. So far as relates to the Eastern ques-
tion, the Coalition have acted in as comDiete de-
fiance of public feeling, during the last six months,
as if they had been in name, as thSy are in effect,
the Ministers of Russia.
And yet we still nominally live under a constitu-
tional Government. We, have a Constitution—a
glorious Constitutior.„ often and justly said to be
the envy of surp,:nding nations, and the admira-
tion of the wo,ad but, ever since June last, that
Constitution has existed only on the parchment on
which_ it is written. The Coalition, supposed, like
al' other Ministries, to be responsible to the people,
have, down till the present hour, shown that they
are not. They have resigned themselves to the in-
spirations derived from a single source. So far at
least as concerns the Turkish question, England
has, for six months, been living under a dictator-
ship. It is true, the dictator does not appear visi-
bly on the stage ; but that only makes matters all
the worse. Because he stations himself behind the
curtain, he insures his own irresponsibility in a
double sense. He is not only irresponsible in the
eyes of the Constitution, but he has hitherto been
irresponsible even to public opinion.
Of course, however, this was only so long as the
veil which enshrouded matters in exalted places
was permitted to remain undisturbed. Now that we
have thrown that veil aside, the power of public
opinion will be brought to bear on the agent who
was heretofore concealed from the public view.
Happily, we still enjoy a free press ; and so long
as that great palladium of the liberties of Eng-
land remains untouched, public opinion can be
pressed into the service of the people. And here
let us remark, by way of parenthesis, that never,
in the whole course of England's history, were the
unspeakahle benefits of a free press more strikingly
attested than they have been during the last few
weeks. We know our readers.will indorse the ac-
curacy of our statement, when we say that we have
ourselves done that within the last fortnight
which no member of the House of Commons would
have ventured to do, although members of Parlia-
ment enjoy privileges as regards freedom of speech
which the press does not possess as regards liberty
of writing.

Some persons will doubtless be surprised to learn
that a body of English noblemen and gentlemen
should remain in a Government in which they have
no real power, but are merely the executors of the
will of others. It is due to some of their number
to say that they are subserving the purposes of
parties out of the Cabinet, without having the
slightest consciousness of the fact. They have the
semblance of liberty of action, and with that they
are satisfied. They possess a nominal power in
their respective departments, and are therefore
content that matters should remain as they are.
Only one or two men in the Ministry come into
direct contact with the party not in the Cabinet,
who has, in reality, the destinies of the couxtry in
his hands. The other members are influenced,
sometimes directly, and sometimes indirectly, by
the Premier, who knows full well through whose
agency he received his appointment as the head
of the Government. He is no less sensible with re-
gard to the influence by which, in defiance of public
opinion, he is kept where he is. He therefore takes
special care that the views of his patron shall be
scrupulously and systematically carried out on the
part of each of his colleagues, without the latter
having any knowledge, perhaps not even a suspi-
cion, as to the quarter whence he receives his in-
structions.

The whole secret of that treachery to Turkey,
and that degrading policy as regards England, which
have filled the public mind with amazement, and
every British bosom with indignation, is to be found
in the fact, that there is a power outside the Cabi-
net greater than the Cabinet itself. Our policy is
of foreign origin. It begins in St. Petersburg, in
Vienna, in Brussels, and, after being adopted in
London, is ingeniously introduced into the British
Cabinet, and becomes the policy of our Government.
The Coalition, therefore, are only Ministers inname.
They retain their places simply for the purpose of
carrying out constitutionally, so far as mere forms
go, the policy of one who himself is not vested with
any Ministerial power. Such is the sort of Govern-
ment which England has to boast of at this mo-
ment. In appearance, matters are governed in con-
sonance with constitutional principles ; in effect
they are not. A power unknown to the Constitu-
tion forms and fashions the policy of England.
In this fact, we repeat, we have a key to the line
of foreign policy which has been pursued for the
last nine or ten months—a policy which has endan-
gered the existence of Turkey, perilled the peace of
Europe, and brought an amount of degradation on
the character of England which makes every right-
hearted Englishman blush for his country. It was
because the Czar knew the real state of matters
that he has had the hardihood to adopt the course
which he has done. Had he not known what could
be done by invisible unconstitutional agencies to
prevent this country from taking the bold and
manly stand against him which at once became its
reputation and interests, he would never have
dared to embark on that course of aggression on
the territories of the Sultan, and that haughty de-
fiance of the Western Powers, which have filled all
Europe with astonishment and alarm.
But an end must be put to the system which has
so long prevailed in the vicinity of the Cabinet, and
which has been productive of results so dishonour-
able to England, so disastrous to Turkey, and so
perilous to the peace of Europe. The evil is one
•of such fearful magnitude that we must go boldly
and directly to its root. It can no longer be tole-
rated that Ministerial responsibility should be a
pure fiction, and that all real Ministerial power
should be centred in one whom the Constitution
does not recognise in any other light than simply
as a subject of her Majesty. When this unconsti-
tutional power has been destroyed, as it must im-
mediately be, we shall enjoy the benefit of repre-
sentative institutions ; and a course of policy, at
home and abroad, will then be pursued by Great
Britain worthy of the high name she has, until
lately, enjoyed among the nations of the world.

THE GRAND NATIONAL CURLING MATCH.—The pre-
parations for this event are now, we hear, in a forward
and promising state ; and the middle of next week, wea-
ther permitting, will be the time. Those in authority,
putting trust in the present symptoms of " a good hard
winter," have been inclined to allow time for practice
and for the competitions for district medals, previous to
the grand match. The want of previous practice last
season was severely felt, especially by the players
from the south—a drawback, however, unavoidable
owing to the want of frost, which did not make its
appearance till February. But this season there has al-
ready been a full week's practice, and the match is likely
to be played six weeks earlier. The muster promises
to be, or rather must be—for the names are given
in, and the rinks have been already placed by ballot—
considerably more numerous than on anv former occa-
sion. The number of rinks in the grand match is 166,
and in the vice-president's match, 27—in all, 193 rinks,
or 1,544 players ! The North flushed by its last year's
victory, musters stronger than the South by 27 rinks,
and it is northern players entirely that compose the vice
president's match. We note a deficiency from the
counties of Ayr and Dumfries, which is to be regretted,
if not condemned. Among other improvements in the
arrangements, it is intended that the trains shall leave
the different points of departure an hour, and a half
earlier than on the last occasion—for instance, from
Edinburgh at 7.30, and from Glasgow at 7.45. All the
railways (except apparently the Glasgow and South-
Western and the North British) are to issue tickets at
one fare.—Scotsman of Saturday.