The Sun.
London, England, 1849-01-31 00:00:00

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LONDON, WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 31, 1849,

During the recent Parliamentary vacation an
opportunity has been afforded our legislators of
recruiting not only their physical, but their intellec-
tual
.and political strength, and of preparing them-
selves for the labours and difficulties of a session
which promises to be one of extraordinary importance.
Both the Ministerial party and the Opposition have
found leisure to accumulate their resources, and to
contrive schemes for the advancement of their more
cherished principles. The different members of the
Government, relieved for an interval from their
diurnal cross-examination in the Lords and Commons,
have been enabled to scan the situation of affairs in
their several departments without a possibility of
interruption. Sir GEORGE GREY has thus directed
his attention to his numerous responsibilities as Home
Secretary ; Viscount PALMERSTON to his as Foreign
Secretary; and Earl GREY to his as Secretary to
the Colonies. Lord CLARENDON has continued
to preside with increasing vigour and ma-
tured capacity over the destinies of Ire-
land; and Sir WILLIAM SOMERVILLE, in forwarding
the views of the Lord Lieutenant, has found but little
relaxation in the quietude of the recess. One of our
most honourably distinguished Administrators has,
during that interval, been suddenly summoned from
the turmoils of Statesmanship to the solemn tran-
quillity of Death; and Parliament, which was pro-
rogued with Lord AUCLLAND at the head of the
Board of Admiralty, is not re-opened until that im-
portant office has been entrusted to Sir FRANCIS
BASING. CSARLES BULLER, again, the graceful,
the gay, the gallant—one of the brightest ornaments
of the popular Senate
of England—has beentaberuTptwlyo
snatched from life since the closing of
h
Houses in Westminster : and a catastrophe of a more
appalling character has almost simultaneously de-
prived the Protectionists of Lord GEORGE BENTINCH.
There will be many vac ant places in the Commons
even after this brief lapse of time, many voices, many
features familiarized to us during long years (whe-
ther by wit, eloquence or eccentricity, matters not),
will be missed to-morrow on the re-assembling of the
representatives. Meanwhile the Prime Minister,
after in vain attempting to strengthen his Adminis•
tration by the proffered acceptance of the services of
Sir JAMES GRAHAM, will have to struggle against a
double Opposition, against an Opposition from the
front and from the rear, against the Conservative
Opposition of the Protectionists and against the
Radical Opposition of the Financial Reformers. The
position of the Cabinet is altogether, we must ac-
knowledge, one of sufficient difficulty. The Country
Party is goaded to fresh exertions by the
poignant feelings inspired by the consciousness
of losing just at this period the last ves-
tiges of their adored monopoly. The
party
who are proceeding to the goal of retrench-
ment, under the direction of Mr. COBDEN, are in like
manner stimulated to additional enterprise by the
reluctant concessions already made by the Ministry
in regard to the annual expenditure. Neither will
consent to abate their efforts—the one impelled by
feelings of despair, and the other by the most san-
guine expectation!.
Events of a remarkable kind have likewise tended
to complicate the foreign policy of the Government
during a vacation more than usually fruitful of occur-
rences. Lord PALMERSTON will have to prime him-
self with arguments on the nature of those negotia-
tions with the Court of Naples, in reference to the
treatment of the Sicilians, which has recently been so