The Sun.
London, England, 1846-07-14 00:00:00

ettL' )) X 314 uatint 6

LONDON, TUESDAY, JULY 14, 1846.

Already has the new Administration commenced
its Parliamentary labours ; the first chapter of the
Ministerial catechism in the Commons was perused
overnight, and the answers of the Prime Minister
and his associates was (considering the uproar of
curiosity which prevailed among their inquirers), to
all intents and purposes, satisfactory. It would be
the very acme of absurdity to anticipate any decisive
movements on the mere inauguration of a new Cabinet,
and hence no rational observer will have experienced
anything like disappointment at the proceedings of
yesterday evening. An immediate introduction of
reformatory measures, before the excitement conse-
quent upon their nomination to office, or an explicit
revelation of their intentions, would augur but little for
the wisdom or the precision of the Ministry, when it is
remembered that their Parliamentary numbers are,
up to the present moment, incomplete. The public
is, therefore, abandoned to the same uncertainty with
reference to the course which Lord J. RUSSELL and
his'adherents will determine, or have determined, upon
following about the various important questions to be
submitted to the decision of Parliament. Nesarthe-
less, for the reasons which we have already intimated,
we consider this apparent hesitation of the Ministry
to be a conspicuous evidence of their sagacity and
forethought. Although their cmcial entrance into
the Lower House was almost entirely remark-
able for the torrent of inquiries with which
they were instantly greeted, and for the adroit
evasion of those inquiries by themselves, that even-
ing's performance of our legislators was not wholly
destitute of interest. Although the lips of the
Cabinet Councillors are virtually sealed for the nonce,
and the nature of their forthcoming announcements
as dubious as heretofore, we can, notwithstan ling,
obtain a glimpse of the futurity which awaits the
present Government from the circumstances atten-
dant upon their first occupation of the Ministerial
benches. Those circumstances are significant enough
of the popularity of Lord Joie` RUSSELL'S Adminis-
tration and of the activity which has characterised the
preliminary movements of its members—no less than
eleven of the newly-elected Ministers simultaneously
returned to Parliament as the representatives of their
several constituencies. And this fact necessarily in-
spires us with sentiments of gratification and hopeful-
ness, since, from the recent issuing of the writs for
those different elections, from the scattered position
of the boroughs and counties, and their distance from
the seat of government, eleven new Members, all
without exception of the most liberal principles, are in-
finitely mere than could have been anticipated eight
months ago. Nor is the mere coincidence of their
unanimous return by their electors the only propi-
tious fact among those circumstances; on the con-
trary, there is one of a still more encouraging cha-
racter, namely, the enthusiasm which has been testi-
fied in those different borough and county elections in
favour, not so much of the candidates, as of the noble
and enlarging principles of which they were the ex-
ponents and the advocates. The Premier, Lord JOHN
RUSSELL, was proclaimed the representative of the
citizens of London by acclamation. Sir GEORGE GREY,
the Home Secretary, was returned by the enfran-
chised people of Devonport with similar unanimity and
similar expressions of satisfaction. Colonel Fox, the
Surveyor of the Ordnance,was declared by the returning
officer to be duly elected as the representative of the
Tower Hamlets, notwithstanding a feeble and blunder-
ing effort to advance an opposing candidate. Sir
JOHN CAM HormousE, President of the Board of
Control, was acknowledged to be the recipient of the
suffrages of Nottingham, in the teeth of an earnest
and pertinacious opposition. Lord PALMERSTON, the
Foreign Secretary, was returned for Tiverton with-
out a dissentient voice. Mr. JERVIS, the Attorney.
General, in like manner, has, so to speak,
received his credentials from the electors of
Chester. Mr. LABOUCHERE, Secretary for
Ireland, with the universal applause of his constitu-
ency, was pronounced to be the representative of
Taunton. Admiral DUNDAS, one of the Lords of the
Admiralty, was speedily reinstated in his dignity as
Member for Greenwich, without even a hint at oppo-
sition. Mr. C. WOOD, Chancellor of the Exchequer,
after the mere phantom of an antagonist had been
put in nomination at Halifax was declared to be the
successful candidate for that borough. Lord MARCUS
HILL, Comptroller of the Household, obtained, if
possible, a more undoubted welcome at Evesham, and
the Hon. Captain BERKELEY, another of the Lords of
the Admiralty, as the phrase goes, " walked over
the course" for the representation of Gloucester.
Other instances of this enthusiastic welcome of the
Ministerial candidates might be adduced and particu-
larised in the person of the Hon. Mr. COWPER, Sir
DENIS Ls IlLtactiaer, and others; but we shall
conclude the catalogue of electioneering memora-
bilia by a reference to the jubilant return
of the Right Honourable RICHARD LALOR
SUEIL for the borough of Dungarvan. We have cast
this retrospective glance at the transactions which
have recently transpired in the provinces, because in
them we recognise the satisfaction of the British
people with the character and principles of the RUS-
SELL Administration. From these electioneering remi-
niscenses we may deduce the prevailing sentiments of
the nation, awl in their unanimity behold an emphatic
tribute to those who have realised the brightest hopes
of free trade, and an emphatic sanction of the new
Cabinet and its leader. After such fortunate pre-
liminaries we may anticipate largely.

The principal members of the new Administration
last night took their places in the House for the first
time after their re-election. It would, of course,
have been impossible for them to have maturely con-
sidered the course to be adopted by them on the various
questions of consequence which were alluded to in the
course of the evening, or to be enabled to state the line
of conduct to be pursued with respect to each. All
that could be hoped for was that an early day would
be appointed that the Ministerial intentions might be
fully set forth as to the various measures of the late
Government which would be proceeded with, dropped
or altered in some particulars during the present
session. The Premier has fixed Thursday next for
this important explanation, and it must be
admitted that no unreasonable delay has been
demanded for that purpose. The public attention in
Ireland has been particularly directed to the three
Bills brought forward by Lord LINCOLN immediately
before his retiring from office, for the improvement
of the relationship betvseen landlord and tenant, by
granting compensation to the tenants for permanent
and valuable improvements effected by them
on their holdings during their occupation, if
subsequently deprived of the enjoyment thereof,
and also for the improvement of the law relating to
ejectment, and the diminution of stamp duties on
leases—foe, although these Bills by no means go far
enough, or effect all that is required on the subject,
yet they were received by all classes and parties as
valuable improvements and moves in the right direc-
tion, the principle of which would, without
doubt, be much extended in the next ses-
sion. We were, therefore, much gratified by the
statement made with respect thereto by the Right
Hon. the Secretary for Ireland, who said that he had,
with others, been engaged in a careful examination of
those measures, with a view of seeing whether any
benefit in them to Ireland could not be se-
cured notwithstanding the change of Government,
and promised that the Premier or himself would,
on Thursday, state the course the Government would
take with respect to them. We have already pointed
out the vast importance of the first of. these measures :
improvements of the greatest consequence both to
landlord and tenant, calculated permanently to in-
creme the value of the farms, haps not been effected,