The Sun.
London, England, 1848-11-25 00:00:00

Melbourne, and on the 14th of July, 1834, his Lordship
announced that he had been authorised to reconstruct
the Ministry. But in the month of November the King
rather unceremoniously called upon Lord Melbourne to
retire from office. Under the advice of the Duke of
Wellington, his Majesty summoned Sir Robert Peel from
Italy, and a very promising attempt was made to form a
Conservative Administration. But " the masses" de-
manded a movement still further in advance; a new
Parliament decided against the new Government, and
Lord Melbourne was restored. A Government was
thus formed which, in a certain sort of way, held its
ground from April. 1835, till September, 1841, and
during that period Viscount Melbourne was First Lord
of the Treasury.

Lord Melbourne possessed many requisites as a public
speaker. Ho was once a very handsome man, and
he enjoyed at all times the advantages of a most
prepossessing appearance, a mellow and flexible voice,
a cheerful temper, and a cordial frankness of
manner, whieb, notwithstanding that it some-
times degenerated into coarseness, acquired for
him, on the whole, much popularity. But he was
an immethodical speaker; the bubbling current of his rhe-
toric was at best but a turbid stream; his narratives
were unskilful, and his expositions obscure; yet for many
years he contrived with a certain degree of suceess to
flounder through the business of Ministerial leader in
the House of Lords. The admirers of Lord Grey might
well address Lord Melbourne, and exclaim—" Our
leader carried the Reform Act, abolished negro slavery,
and carried the new Poor-law." The followers of the
Duke of Wellington might show Lord _Melbourne's
friends the Catholic Relief Act, and reproach his me-
mory with having done nothing to rival it. Those who
admired the Duke's predecessors might point to the
commencement of an enlarged commercial policy, and a
new colonial system; going still further back, they might
boast of cash payments resumed, public credit sustained,
and tweaty years of warfare ending in triumph. Against
these the partisans of the easy-minded Viscount may (let
off the introduction of a penny postage, a pseudo re-
form in the Irish corporations, an Irish Poor-law, such
as it was, an Irish Tithe Composition Act, the union of
the Canadas, and an abortive attempt to repeal those
corn-laws which his immediate successor abolished in 1846.
On the 22d of June, 1836, an action for crim. con.
was tried in the Court of Common Pleas, the deceased
Peer having been the defendant. The verdict of the
jury was recorded in favour of Lord Melbourne, and
with this brief reference to the fact we resume the nar-
rative of his public life.
His Ministerial career naturally divides itself into two
parts—that which belongs to the reign of William IV.,
and that which was passed ander the dominion of Queen
Victoria. The commencement of the new reign, there-
fore, imposed upon Lord Melbourne a novel and rather
a difficutt series of duties. That he accomplished his
task with consummate address is attested by the evidence
of facts and the concurrent opinion of all observers. But
his Lordship is entitled to still higher praise, for he
spared no pains to imbue the mind of her Majesty with
a deep sense of the responsibilities attaching to the regal
office; he availed himself of all fitting opportunities to
instruct her in the various duties of her high station; and
as far as it was possible for a Whig of his school, he pre-
sented to her view the leading principles of the British
constitution.

But, though he stood high in the confidence of the
Queen, he was by this time rapidly losing ground in the
estimation of Parliament. The proceedings of that ses-
sion which began in the spring of 1841 decreed the
downfall of his Administration, and even brought the
public career of Lord Melbourne himself to an unex-
pected close. It was thought that many years of vigorous
existence still remained to him, and that when he re-
signed office he intended to place himself at the head of
a formidable Opposition. But, after a few slight efforts,
he ceased to be regular in his Parliamentary attendance;
his health declined, and when be re- appeared towards
the close of the session of 1845, he was only the shadow
of his former self, emaciated, feeble, listless, silent ; and
although in the summer of that year he attended a pub-
lic dinner, where he felicitated his friends on the fact
that Sir Robert Peel was obliged to govern the country
upon those principles which had wrecked the Melbourne
Ministry, he was evidently too indolent or too
cautious to create an opportunity for making
that assertion in the House of Lords. But
his character and his doctrines, his defeats and his
triumphs, have at length become matters of history.
His jests have grown stale, his principles of action are
exchanged for attractive novelties, his enemies have

learned to forgive—his friends to forget him. Every
one, however, will acknowledge, that with many faults
he combined many good qualities. Although there were
features in his character which the most indulgent of
mankind must condemn, yet his faults might easily have
been carried much further, and aggravated to a far
more vicious excess. It is true that he sometimes mis-
understood and mismanaged important affairs; but he
might have applied to them a perverted and dishonest
ingenuity. He was indolent—he might have been cor-
rupt. He was a man of easy virtue—he might have
been a reckless profligate. He was lavish of titles, but
he did not quite swamp the House of Lords. So, that
though a long list of public men might be produced of
far superior deserts, yet it must be acknowledged that
there have been many worse Ministers and many worse
men than the second Viscount Melbourne.—Times.