The Sun.
London, England, 1851-02-27 00:00:00

THE SUN,

organs, the chiefs of the Country Party have found 1 1
discretion to be, indesd, the better part of valour.
They have shrunk away reluctantly from the tempt- I
ing grapes of office, compelled to acknowledge their
incapacity to reach them, and assuming for the nonce
a distaste for their responsibilities. The truth is that
the faction is altogether impracticable. Its numbers
are insufficient. Its hold upon the opinion, even of
its enthusiasts, is precarious. Its powers of per-
suasion and of proselytism are restricted.
Its leader, though possessed of consummate abilities
has contrived to estrange from himself the devotion
of his quondam colleagues. Its principal orators are
unpractised in the labours of administration. Its
hopes are vague, its views scattered, its vitality
dwindled to the merest mockery of existence. Such
is the political party which Lord STANLEY dreamt of
conducting into the Ministerial Canaan, the land
flowing with the milk and honey of emoluments. A
brief but delicious interval has proved enough to
dissipate all the visions of authority indulged in by
the more sanguine believers in Protection. The
fairy gold of anticipation has melted away in their
grasp. They fancied themselves waking like CriaisTo-
FILER SLY, in the embroidered silks of office, and have
recovered their reason after their momentary intoxi-
cation in all the poverty of opposition. The truth is,
that Lord STANLEY appears to have counted without
his host in looking forward to the adhesion of Mr
GLADSTONE, that Right Hon. Gentleman refusing
almost peremptorily to join in the work of building
up a Government over which the former would exer-
cise the sway of supremacy. In this unexpected re-
jection of an alliance with him, on the part of the
most powerful among his supposed adherents, Lord
STANLEY may recognise the deserved retribution called
down upon his own head by his scarcely defensible
antecedents. Conceiving himself to be on the eve of
constructing a Cabinet, the Noble Lord may have
flattered himself with the vain idea that the recoliec-
tion of those antecedents had become obliterated.
If such were the notion cherished but for an instant by
Lord STANLEY, the recent refusal of Mr. GLADSTONE
to take part in his Ministerial enterprise must have
undeceived him very quickly. He must have per-
ceived in that rejection of a proffered union of their
forces the merited consequence of his career in state-
craft. Upon himself individually we do not antici-
pate even for an instant that the lesson thus energetically
forced upon his attention can exercise any beneficial
influence. With his contemporaries and compe-
titors, but more especially and above all with the
rising generation of politicians, the example may
turn out to be fraught with advantages insomuch as it
inculcates the truth that fickleness of opinion cannot
be tolerated either in the toils of administration or of
legislation, and that the entertainers of those errant
and vacillating sentiments cannot look forward to any
lengthened impunity.
Seeing that Lord JOHN RUSSELL has failed entirely
in his endeavour to patch up a Cabinet even of
Transition, and that Lord STANLEY, in like, manner,
has found his energies incapable of drawing together
a sufficient number of statesmen to undertake with
him the duties of the Government—the question to be
considered just now is that referring to thelprobable
substitute. Elsewhere than with the Protectionists,
or than with the followers of the old Whig faction, we
must look for the means of bringing existing difficul-
ties to a settlement. The faithful few atten-
dant upon the representative of the house of Bedford,
and the still fewer and less faithful partizans
of the heir to the earldom of Derby, must abandon,
at least yet awhile, the anticipation so earnestly
cherished among them of sharing the spoils of power
and the prerogatives of patronage. Other hands
than theirs must grasp the baubles of Ministerial
authority. For other intellects must be reserved the
task of extricating the nation from its present
dilemmas—its dilemmas in regard to the currency
in regard to the exchequer, in regard to taxation, in
regard to retrenchment, to social reform, to
ecclesiastical re-organization, to the hierarchi-
cal form of government established amongst
us by the Pontifical head of Roman C:itholi •
cism. Fortunately, there are many statesmen
still surviving of splendid abilities, of spotless reputa-
tion, of daring and experience, who might fill, with
honour to themselves and to the country, the rank of
First Lord of the Treasury. The interest just now
is to discover which of these will ultimately be se-
lected to occupy the post of the vacant Premiership.
Sir JAMES GRAHAM, with his many and gifted as-
sociates—Lord CLARENDON, invested with all the
prestige of his brilliant career as the Irish Lord-
Lieutenant—Lord PALMERSTON, and the principal
champions of liberty thrcughout the world, may
blend together those capacities, which taken singly
would be almost adequate for the labours of Admi-
nistration. Whether the one or other, or all of these
distinguished men, will respond to the call of their
SOVEREIGN and to the exigency of the occasion, by
collecting around them colleagues imbued with simi-
lar feelings of loyalty and patriotism, a very narrow
interval of time may decide. Upon the issue of the
negotiations now going forward the desti-
nies of England, and through those the des-
tines, more or less, of Europe, may be regarded
as dependent. Therefore it is that we await with
feelings of profound emotion the result capable at any
moment of being announced. Our aspirations on
the subject are altogether too high to admit, even for
a while, of our entertaining the hopes and fears of
adherents to any party, or clique, or faction whatso-
ever. We yearn for the close of the temporary
crisis now agitating the country to its farthest
extremities. We cherish a solicitude to wit-
ness the reconciliation of the most enlightened
and capable members of the several liberal
sections in the Parliament, hoping to see, before
long, the formation of a strong body of administra-
tors out of the weakness and confusion of their
present estrangement. Nor are we singular in these
sentiments—the mass of the community being ac-
tuated by similar feelings, and looking with the same
sanguine eagerness for the work of conciliation and
reconstruction. People begin at length to be aware
of the grievous consequences resulting from the
prolongation of the severed and antagonistic
state in which so many clusters of men
in both Houses stand in regard to each other. To
the reflective and observant, the necessity of this con-
viction has long been apparent. To the least scruti-
nizing, the truth of it has within the last few days
been rendered obvious and undeniable. It is beco-
ming, consequently, each hour more and more the
opinion of the multitude that almost any amalgama-
tion of parties would be preferable to tfie continuance
of existing uncertainty. Whatever Cabinet, there-
fore, be raised among the ruins of the RUSSELL Admi-
nistration will be welcomedwith a certain degree ofjoy-
ful enthusiasm. The larger its views in reference to the
currency, the exchequer, taxation, and retrenchment,
the more gladly will it be accepted ; and tempering
these liberal ideas with prudence and resolution, it
may very readily secure for itself a lengthened tenure
of the reins of Government.

An honest and independent press has been justly
regarded as one of the most efficient guardians of
British freedom. Its " liberty" is a certain guarantee
for the liberty of the subject. It may, in fact, be
looked on as the sentinel whose business it is to keep
" watch and ward," while others, relying on its vigi•
lance, slumber in perfect security, confident that its
warning voice will be uplifted on every fitting
occasion, so as to give timely notice of
approaching danger. But that it may be
enabled to discharge that important duty,
faithfully and efficiently, it must be clothed with
certain privileges to protect it from undue annoyance
or injury while acting fairly and boia fide in the per-
formance of its arduous f unctions. It must be autho-
rized to expose boldly any invasion of public or
private rights, and for that purpose to comment upon
the public acts of public men or of private individuals,
it these acts should be prejudicial or hazardous to the
welfare of the community. if deprived of thesi:
powers it would be worse than useless,
it could not hold the mirror up to startle
vice by its own hideous reflection, or to pre-
vent corruption from stalking barefaced through the
land, without shame or fear.

One of its not least important functions is to give
publicity to the proceedings in courts of justice. The
various tribunals, are, according to the constitutional
theory, supposed to be thrown open, that all her
iNfAJESTY'S liege subjects may have free admission
to know what is going forward, and receive
salutary cautions from the difficulties in which