The Sun.
London, England, 1851-02-28 00:00:00

MINISTERIAL CRISIS.

SPIRIT of the PUBLIC JOURNALS
"TIMES.—We are disposed to lsase to other pans the
more appropriate task of celebrating the daring enter-
prise and unrewarded toil which made yesterday event-
ful in the Protectionist annuls, and tees atened at one
moment to make it still more eventful in the annals of
the country. For we do not aspire to record the pro-
ceedings cf the conclave in St. Jamst,'a “itiere, and we
are satisfied without nearer evidence that Lord Stanley
did fur his party all that could be effected by the spirit
and vigour of a leader unsupported by a single man of
tried political character or recognized political ability.
From an early hour till sundown the struggle lasted
—not indeed with any visible adversaries, but with
the more incurable obstacles of a vacant and dis-
satisfied party, reduced to forsake its own principle
of action at the very moment it affected to assume
the direction of the State. At the Carlton the vain
efforts of a deluded enthusiasm were unsupported
by the evidence of a single positive accession to
the projecte I Administration. On the contrary, all that
could be learned in the outer world of the prospects of
the new Government were the names of the emihent
persons who had refused to join it; and the boldest
flights of conjecture never reached beyond Mr. Berries,
Mr. Disraeli, and Mr. Henley, as the chief organs of the
Administration in the House of Commons. Toe ards
evening, however, it was thought that enough had been
done to retreat with honour, and the intelligence circu-
lated that Lord Stanley had once more resolved to re-
sign his commission for the formation of a Government
into the bands of her Majesty. A Noble Earl, well
kcown in fashionable life, made the announcement at
White's, and Lord Stanley himself proceeded to the
Palace ton report the termination of his efforts.
Our anticipations of yesterday are thus verifisd,
and with the results we had already ascribed to
this transaction. The Protectionists, separated &Out
elmost all that is powerful or trustworthy in
the Conservative party, have been for forty-eight hours
masters of the Government cf Britain. The tailure of
their opponents and the voluntary abnegation of their
rivals left them a wide field for the display of all their
policy and all their resources. The urgent want of an
Administration to conduct the business of the country
was never more strongly felt. All the powers which
the Constitution places in the hands of a Minister cn his
accession to office• were in their possession. Even their
own followers bad begun liberally to discard the encum-
brances of their creed. All was in vain. The bigotted
adherents of the Protestionists to a lost cause has reduced
them to the fraction of a party, and Lord Stanley arrived
by the exhaustion process at the demonstration that no
Tory Government can now be formed out of the mate-
rials he possesses, or upon the principle of commercial pro-
tection. It now, therefore, becomes imperatively neces-
sary to terminate the present crisis by a return to the
most practicable of the combinations already attempted,
and to make whatever sacrifices or concessions are re-
quired to give the utmost possible strength and effect to
that combination. This is not a moment at which any
sort of personal recrimination would be in place. The
embarrassments of the past week have been too great,
the stoppage of the whole business of Parliament at the
outset of the session is too deplorable, the duties of the
immediate future, especially in the present year, are
too pressing, for us to stoop fur a moment to the grati-
fication of any personal predilections. The only ques-
tion worth asking, since we have now completed the
round of all the known combinations of party is, " How
is tie Queen's Government to be most efficiently carried
on?" This is not a time at which any accession of
strength can with impunity be thrown away. It is
understood that the members of the Whig Administra-
tion will meet this morning in their private capacity at
Lansdowne-house, to consider the course that it be-
comes them to pursue, since they are thus thrown back
to office by the failure of all competitors. But we
trust that it will be admitted by those who are most
anxious to promote the stability of the Government,
that a mere repetition of the performances which ter-
minated last weak will be hailed with no i:atisfaction by
the country. It will leave the abrupt resignation of the
Prime Minister wholly unaccounted for, it, within eight
days, he is to resume his place in the House of Com-
mons, as if his Government had suffered no defeat,
or had become insensible to what it suffered. Too
much sensitiveness then would only be followed by
too much indifference now; and the transaction
would pass with the world for little more than
a piece of legerdemain. To remove these impres-
sions another vigorous effort should be made to obtain
for the Administration that increase of strength which
it requires. In political life nothing is so hopeless as to
attempt a return to the past. That ever-shifting sphere
effaces in a few hours the traces of what has ceased to
be, and the seat which is once left vacant has already
crumbled away. Not an address, not a meeting, scarcely
a journal, has signified the faintest desire to revive the
identical Administration which expired last week; and
if this crisis has destroyed the last illusions of the Pro-
tectionists, it has more clearly demonstrated the neces-
sity of uniting the great divisions of their successful op-
ponents.
During the interregnum which must intervene
between the dissolution of one Government and the con-
struation of another, while both Houses of Parliament
are buried in compulsory silence and the constitutional
functions of the Executive Government are in
abeyance, a duty devolves on the Press per-
haps the most important which it can be called upon
to fulfil. It is only through the columns
of the newspapers that opinions as to the
qualifications of public men, the combinations of parties,
and the probable good or ill success which awaits them,
can meet the eyes of the immediate advisers of that
august personage who presides over the exciting struggle
for place and power. Then, if ever, is the time for the
press to deal candidly and straightforwardly with the
characters and conduct of public men, and to discharge
without fear or favour the trust which has devolved upon
it of representing the public. This duty we have endea-
voured, to the utmost of our ability, to perform during
the present crisis, and in the course of it we have been
obliged to point out the obvious difficulty which was
thrown in the way of a successful coalition by placing
the power of negotiating it in the hands of
Lord John Russell, who is most undoubtedly
more nearly connected with and more responsible for
the sect nt abandonment of the Ministry by the ma-
jority of the House of Commons than any other mem-
ber of the Cabinet. It has been our misfortune,
by making these observations, to incur the censure
—and that expressed in no mitigated terms—of a por-
tion of the press, which appears disposed to fill up the
present blank in political affairs by fixing upon us a per-
sonal and d. grading quarrel. We are told that Lord
John Russell was our patron; that we followed his for-
tune steadily when prosperous; and we are now charged
with turning upon him when in adversity. It is really
time for those who aspire to direct and enlighten public
opinion to lay aside a slang so childish and so meaning-
less. We, of course, can only answer for ourselves.
Whether our indignant coternporaries may have chosen
for themselves some patron whose steps they steadily
follow and whose principles they eternally repeat, we do
not presume to conjecture; but, for ourselves, we can say
with the most perfect confidence, that the only patron
whom we acknowledge is the great and liberal British
people, and the only steps which we steadily follow are
those of enlightened and progressive opinion. The paltry
motives which may occasion the rise and fall of rival
factions, the adherence to men in office, or the abandon-
ment of them when out, the breaking up of a family
clique or the fall of a Minister—all these are matters
of perfect indifference to us, except so far as they re-
late to that which is the one and sole object of our
political laboursw—etheka.dt.voaanFacienlgiortahtee, pthroegirneastsituatniodnsdeof-
Respownse.ibiallistyo ihsavneotoulirmirteesdpotnosibMiliintyis.ttehrse
otf de-
fending,
dt
oni nageti
weight of which is. in exact proportion to the favour
with which the public have been pleased. to honour us.
Cabinet!.
It is indeed a mean and inadequate notion of the mis-
sion which we are endeavouring to fulfil to suppose ad-
herence to the fortunes of a Ministerial patron, through
good and it report, through success and failure, to be its
appropriate object. What are Ministers and Cabinets to
us? A few months, or at most a few years, and they
pass awaanyi,
Cabinetsto be rememberedt
hsthat
gave forgottenogrone bf re
them.with the
This M-
inisters
journal has survived innumerable political men and po-
litical reputations, and we see no reason to suppose that
it is approaching the end of its career. We gave our sup-
port to the Whig Government because we believed
its existence to be conducive to the welfare of the coun-
try. awl we are ready to support any Government of
which we may entertain a similar opinion... To
.have
been invested with the titles of " the Ministerial Jour-
nal," or " the organ of Government," is a misfortune
for which we are indebted to those who are unable to
view the press in any other light than as the organ of
parties or Cabinets; nor do we care to vindicate our-
selves from a charge of inconsistency which rests upon
no better foundation than that chimerical position which
has been so gratuitously assigned to us. As for the
charge of having done injustice to Lord John Russell
in our recent remarks, we may dismiss it very summa-
rily, since our censors themselves seem to have arrived
at a conclusion not very widely differing from our own,
except in greater circuity and indirectness of expression;
nor shall we be very careful to guard ourselves against
the accusation
Sir Charlesti,onofent ering into a political intrigue to
Wood, or to hand over the Go•
vernment of the country to a clique of Greys, Russells,
and Elliots. The charge of having condescended to
make these columns the medium of personal invective
against a fallen Minister tve must refer to the memory
of our readers, not doubting but they will do us that
justice which our indignant contemporaries are of course
bound to deny us. We are also accused of inconsistency
in stating that Lord John Russell's letter to the Bishop
of Durham "gave intensity and political importance to
the anti-Papal agitation " and bred
i dissension between
the Ministry and its Roman Catholic supporters. Be-
fore we answer the charge of inconsistency, let us ask
if this statement is not literally and exactly true, and
whether. in the opinion of the stern moralists who cen-
sure us, it was our duty to put forward a falsehood or
to suppress the truth, in order to conceal a past error in
judgment, if any such had been committed ? But where
is the inconsistency? Did weelvveeri.i.lsitteynsthitaytaotnrhde
political
ttricaoifi
Lord John Russell would not g
importance to the auti-Papal agitation,
would not breed dissension between the Ministry
and their Roman Catholic supporters ? We com-
mended the letter of Lord John Russell then as we
commend it now, for containing a pledge. on behalf of
her Majesty's Government that the gross insult offered
to this nation by the Pope should nut go unredressed;
and we awarded this praise under the conviction, which
we shared in common with every reasonable person
in
this country, that it would " add intensity to the . anti-
Papal agitation. There is, then, no inconsistency as.
serting that which we had all along foreseen, and never
in any way denied or deprecated. Still lose have we
fallen into any inconsistency in asserting that the letter
had alienated from the Government its Roman Catholic

supporters. This sod all the other embarrassments which
have ensued from the extension of the Ministerial
measure to Ireland we cleerly predicted, and over and
over again urrd the Miniqry to abandon so suicidal
a course. Unhappily, our wernirgs were not attended
to; and now, became the evil which y e predicted
has come to pass, we are t-)Id that we are inconsistent
for simply chronicling the result. The truth is that we
were neither speaking in praise or blame of the Durham
letter or the conduct of the 'Ministry. We were merely
pointing out why Lord John Russell, who more than any
one was responsible for that letter, was an unfit nego-
tiator with Sir James Graham, who was known to object
to any measure restraining Papal aggression. It may-
very well be that the letter of Lord John Russell,
written as it is said to have been, without consulting his
colleagues, and without the intention, as it appears, of
following it up by an efficient measure, was a political
error, and tended to the dissolution of the Whig Go-
vernment. We praised that letter, not as a clever party
move, bu: as a manly and vigoroui expression of opinion
worthy of the First Minister of a nation which had not
lost, amid the cant of toleration or the supineness of
freedom, a just susceptibility to its honour. It is not
our fault if the Ministerial measure, the errors

of which we have frequently pointed out,
has provoked cnemies while it ha,* failed to
conciliate friends; nor if Lord John Rustiell, in

th:tpite of our warnings of last year, has chosen to ship,
wreck his Government by resisting Parliamentary Ito

form; nor if Sir CharlOs Wood 'has chosen to fling
away his financial reputation by a support of the most
iniquitous provisions of the income-tax. We certzinly
had no wish fi r the fall of the Whig Ministry, because
we saw that upon that fall would ensue a crisis of no or-
dinary difficulty and danger, which might, if Lord
Stanley had been strong enough to carry out his Pro-
tectionist policy, have produced the most serious results.
Even while the negotiation between Lord John Russell
and Sir James Graham was proceeding we abstained
from saying anything which might throw difficulties
in the way of a coalition, but after that conference was
at an and it became our duty to show the hopelessness of
such a negotiation in order that no more valuable time
might be wasted, even at the risk of pointing out that the
Prime Minister was, above all his colleagues, committed
to the admitted blunders and failures of his Cabinet, and
was, therefore, of all men, the least able to consent to a
new line of policy.
CHRONICLE.—Lord Stanley has a second time
abandoned the task which Lord John Russell's weakness
twice committed to him. Lord Stanley had no further
reason fur delay, after the failure of his late negotia-
tions for an alliance with Mr. Gladstone and Lord Can-
ning. His resources, such as they were, lay visibly be-
fore him, and he could judge at once of the probability
a success as fully as if he had employed a month in
consideration. It is a severe criticism on the composi-
tion of the still-born Ministry that no one at any time
seriously believed in the' possibility of its existence.
The late Government fell almost without a blow; but
the attempted Administration has dispersed into air be-
fore it was possible to attack it. The consummation
proves that the Protectionist phantom, after condensing
itself into all the solidity which it is capable of
assuming, is still impalpable and imaginary.
Lord John Russell found a difficulty on Mon-
day in indicating the supposed external causes
of his defeat. Lord Stanley, with a united party
ready for office, and with full discretion as to his political
course, may be excused from the task of elucidating his
failure. It is said that he has never been sanguine of
success, nor has the deportment either of friends or op-
ponents, during the crisis, had any tendency to re-assure
him. It is a remarkable circumstance that, in addition
to the inherent difficulty of forming a Protectionist Ca-
binet, Lord Stanley early discovered the impediment
which his encouragement of the late " No Popery" cry
had placed in the way of his success. It cannot be for-
gotten that in the debate on the Address Lord Stanley
denounced as insufficient the frivolous precautions by
which Lord John Russell attempted to evade the per-
formance of the threats contained in his Durham Letter.

If Lord Ashley and Mr. Plumptre were to give Lord
Stanley their support,it was incumbent upon him at least
not to fill short of the demonstration which ruined his
undecided and yet intemperate predecessor. The forces of
free-trade could be counted and faced, however desperate
the attempt might prove; but the ashes of the extinct anti-
Papal agitation are yet too hot to walk over with security.
While the question of a Protectionist Ministry was still
open, we were unwilling to encourage an alarm in which
we did not share; but it is necessary to remind all those
who have been opposed to Lord Stanley's policy, that
the ill consequences of his possible success in forming
an Administration could only have been averted by its
failure or its early overthrow. The determination of
the House of Commons to maintain a liberal policy
could alone have anticipated an agitation which would
otherwise have gone further than the occasion which
called for it. With Protectionists in office, it would
have been no time to wait for their aggression on the
principles of commercial freedom. If such a contingency
recurs, the more timid and cautious of the Liberal sec-
tion of the House must be active if they would defend
themselves, not only against the reaction in front,
but against the formidable movement in the rear. The
practical sense of the country is tolerant of many
anomalies in customs and constitutional forms ;
but one condition is necessary for its endurance—
that the will of the intelligent majority shall, on the
whole, by some contrivance or machinery, be the rule of
the Government. Six montha of a Government con-
ducted on the strength of mere county votes would go
far to convince the more active classes of the community
that the balance of the Constitution required redressing.
The future effect on the Protectionist party of Lord
Stanley's refusal to form a Government may hereafter
form a not uninteresting nor unimportant subject of
speculation. At present the conclusion of the Minis-
terial crisis requires more immediate attention. Lord
John Russell has tried in vain to rally the party which
he had ruined; and Lord Stanley, after putting forth his
utmost strength, has been compelled to confess its insuf-
ficiency. Two courses, at least, still remain—the re-con-
struction of the late Administration, under an abler, and
still more unscrupulous leader, or the union of all the li-
beral statesmen in the House, without the encumbrance of
those pledges and prejudices which attach only to a portion
of the late Administration. The only politician whose
ability and daring might seem capable of restoring to
supremacy the old exclusive alliance would, we believe,
find insuperable difficulties in a task which we have no
reason to suppose he is inclined to undertake. Some se
the more advanced Lib, rals have, it is understood, been
captivated by his display of activity, while they found
hopes for the success of their own projects on his well-
known political pliability. But his supposed colleagues
are by no means equally unanimous in their willingoe-e
to submit to the guidance of their able and dangerous
associate. It must be remembered, moreover, that the
most serious and ifluentiul section of the advanced
Liberals has never given its confidence to the versatile and
plausible statesman who has contrived to secure the confi-
dence of less cautious politicians. The Manchester party
is well aware that the supposed leader of the supposed
Ministry has often endangered the peace of the country,
while he has never given pledges to the cause of free
trade on which sufficient reliance can be placed. One
other combination remains; and it is that which all
impartial observers indicated from the first as the only
safe termination of the crisis. The country must be
satisfied by this time that the statesmen to whose pa
triotism appeals may probably be made are unduly
eager for office. It remains for all who may be invited
to unite for the public good, to show by their conduct
that party considerations and personal feelings weigh
less in their estimation than the opportunity and the
duty of performing an important service to the country.
It is not our province to suggest the claims of indivi
duals. There is ample room for selection among candi-
dates qualified for every department of administration.
It is to be hoped that no unavoidable delay will be in-
curred in satisfying the public anxiety.
HERALD.—The Times having distinguished itself
on Wednesday by venting, in its leading article of that
morning, its bitterest invective upon the outgoing Minis-
ter, whose career, whether statesmanlike and wise or
the contrary, it had previously encouraged, and for a
long period studiously promoted, has in its pages of
yesterday fallen foul of the incoming Minister by as un-
fair an attack and in as deliberate a manner. This
journal distinctly asserts, not as a matter of gossip, not
even under the suspicious title of "Ministerial Crisis,"
or even of the scarcely more correct authority of the
Court Circular—but on deliberation, and with all the
forethought of a premeditated composition, that the first
person who was applied to by Lord Stanley to assist in
the formation of a Cabinet was Viscount Canning. It
then proceeds to insinuate that his Lordship, in the
promotion of that object, before he consulted with
any of his own " obscure followers," virtually threw
over the cause of Protection, and sought a recoil-
ciliati,at with two of Sir R. Peel's lieutenants at
the expense of his own principles and of his own par-
ty. We do not expect political consistency at the
hands of the Times, but we cannot cones al our astonish
ment that an organ with all the pretension which it as-
sumes to dir at the course of public opinion—a journal
which arrogates a correct knowledge of facts beyond its
contemporaries—and prides itself upon the authenticity
of its intelligence, should not at least endeavour to pre-
serve even the mere semblance of truth. If it does not
avoid from principle and conviction the error of giving
publicity to what it knows to be unfounded, it does sur-
prise us that it should so utterly have disregarded the
old adage—that a good memory is a necessary qualifica-
tion on such occasions and in such emergencies, which has
been especially recommended as a useful safeguard to
those who propagate statements opposed to facts. In the
chranological account which the Times itself has furnished
of the movements of the most eminent actors in the pre-
sent Ministerial crisis, we find that on Tuesday morning
Lord Stanley had an audience of her Majesty at 11 o'clock,
and that after the audience his Lordship proceeded to
the residence of Mr. Disraeli, where he remained with
that Honour,. ble Gentleman an hour; after which he
returned home—and that late in the afternoon he called
upon Lord Canning. Can the Times reconcile this.
their own account, with the statement of yesterday, to
which we now direct the attention of our readers? In
the second place, the Times informs the public that Mr.
Gladstone arrived in town on Wednesday morning at
past eleven o'clock, and that soon afterwards the Right
Hon. Gentleman waited upon Lord Stanley at St.
James's-square. Now, if Viscount Canning was the
first personage whose assistance was invoked in the for-
mation of an administration, and Mr. Gladstone the
second, does the Times deliberately mean to affirm that
Lord Stanley, having received his Sovereign's gracious
commands to construct a Cabinet for the purpose of
carrying on the Government of this great empire, in
a time of unexampled difficulty, end at a crisis of no
common danger, remained perfectly inactive from
eleven o'clock on Tuesday morning until past twelve
on Wednesday, with the sole exception of calling on
Viscount Canning ? The known activity and business-
like habits of Lord Stanley at once give the contradic-
tion to such an assumption. Slothful neglect of any
duty has never till this moment been laid to his charge.
We cannot say that we have been favoured with a pe-

FRIDAY,

_ •
miller or privileged k.novilcdge of the circumstances at-
t,ndant upon the efforts which that. able; ehiv6irous
stat.,srann has made to oixy the commlud3'ot Ler :.la-
jesty, whsn the secret Las neon so complete'y kept from
all. But t;,.is we !mow, and this we
that Lord Stanley has a, t hen rclui=,s in his exer:i-ns;
arPd that, if he deem form a Government, as we trust he
will this day, it will be one based upon the prii&inles
which he Las ever maintained—a Government which
will act up to them. If Le should fdl in constructing
a Cabinet, which we should regard as a national cala-
mity in the present crisis, we have not the slightest
doubt that the coast's which May have contributed to so
unfortunate a result will to attributable to kis-fixed and

unalterable adherence to a constitutional policy, to his
unflinchituz determination to uphold the prerogatives of
the Monarchy. and the Protestant and Reformed cha-
racter of our Establisl:ed Church.

DAILY NEWS.—It is to-day our duty to announce
the melancholy fact that Protection is nu more ! Al-
though it was generally understood to have Len for
some time in a very precarious state, the fatal event CALI
hardly be said to have been expected to occur so soon.
To those indeed who lied opportunities of observing
closely the symptoms of its moribund condition, the
danger of excitement or exerinta such as it has lately
undergone seemed to be imminent and obvious. But by
the unfeeling crowd who suddenly beheld it try to take
up its bed aid walk, the fevered' frerze that lent mo-
mentary strength to the effort was unheeded, as the
rspidity c f the inevitable collapse was unforeseen. None
but those who for the last three days and eights have sat
by the be d of death can appreciate the suffer ings or pour-
tray the grief amid which an old and respectable party
expires. We forbear is dwell upon the chronic nature of
tee disease against which a natur ally strong constitution
has for 3 ears bravely contended. Such a diagnosis be-
longs rather to history than the fugitive columns of obi-
tuary. But whether congenital or acquired, all conside-
rate persons felt that nothing could be snore perilous than
exposure; and that the utmost care ought to have been
taken to preserve a uniform state cf tracquillity, and
total abstinence from thoughts connected with busi-
ness or action. Advice to this effect was indeed often
and earnestly tendered; but strange to say, the unhappy
invalid was always eager to embark in arduous specula-
tions, and anxious to undertake duties and responsibili-
ties that would task the ability of the strongest. For a
length of time these fascinating pursuits were relit)•
quished, save only in dreams and in discourse; and so
long the body seemed rather to increase in size than
otherwise; and though not of the healthiest sort per-
haps, it was at least ca'culated to dispel anticipations of
proximate decay. But all the while a mournful suspi-
cion haunted the minds of many that there was a lurk-
ing tendency developing itself of the most dangerous
kind. We allude to the affection popularly termed "a
softening of the brain." Be this,
however, a. it may, it
is now no longer doubtful that, from the ill-fated mo-
ment when Protection began to move actively and bustle
about, the change became fearfully perceptible. Over
its wine or at White's, or even in a sham battle in Par-
liament, nothing could be more. brilliant or amusing.
If not always conclusive, its talk was at least conse-
cutive; if nut persuasive, it was frequently pleasant;
and though sometimes a little impertinent, it was never
incoherent or imbecile. From the luckless hour that it
essayed to play a real part, and meddle with tough work,
its untrained faculties palpably gave way. On Saturday
last it mistook the condescension of the Queen for confi-
dence in its wisdom, and forthwith assumed the air and
attitude of power. Recalled to unite by a gentle inti-
mation that all this was very foolish, it was a little later
kindled into such a paroxysm of anger as utterly to
forget itself, its place, and all that it should have remem-
bered. On Monday night it was very low, and seemed
to suffer more than it chose to utter. Nevertheless it is
possible that, had no further incident occurred soon
after, the shock its nerves had certainly sustained might
have been got over, and Protection, in its former in-
active and motionless state, might " still he 'mongst
the things that are." But the fates had otherwise
ordained.
unfitness Early
on
for nTuesdadischargey
mor
of
morning her
rnMapjuebstlyie,
who was of course wholly unaware' of its true weak-
ness and
duty, and wishing probably to show how far above all
personal partialities royalty in a constitutional govern-
ment ought to prove itself to be—her Majesty was
graciously pleased to say that if Protection thought it
could do anything useful to the State, full permission
was given it to try. With delicate consideration the
Queen is said to have added, that as perhaps no serious
thoughts of the matter had ever ehtered Protection's
head before, three days would be allowed for duo deli-
beration on the subject. Unfortunate Protection ! Its
foolish vanity was inflamed by the distinction thus
fatally conferred upon it. Forgetting its helplessness
and weakness, its utter want of practice and training,
and, above all, the resistance of three formidable rivals,
whose open hostility it must from the outset prepare to
encounter—off it went to Court capering and jesting, and
bid all the world look and see what a crack Minister it
would make. A few hours sufficed to cast deep gloom
over the scene of precipitate exaltation. A sharp and
trying struggle to keep its wits together—first in reality,
and then in appearance—was foll Owed by spasmodic)
symptoms of the most painful description. Mortifi-
cation supervened. Then reason became obscured.
With a certain instinct of courage a wonderful effort was
made "to keep up," as it is called, to the last. But
during the greater part of yesterday it was manifest to
all who had means of observation, that the end was nigh
at hand. Whatever skill could do to save, or art to
mitigate, was done. Protection had the best advice,
able, prompt, anti skillful men. The reflection cannot
heal the grief of a numerous circle of friends deeply in-
terested in the deceased, but it may serve to satisfy all
men that the event came in the natural way. We
believe we may add that in the unanimous opinion
of the gifted and distinguished, person; to whom
we allude, it was clear a more litotractel existence
would have only been a‘; prolongation of
misery; and that, under the, circumstances, it
is rather a relief that the object of their care and solici-
tude has been removed. Of the afflicting incidents con-
nected with such catastrophes, not the least pitiful are
those illustrative of the loyal love and faith that obsti-
nately refuses to admit the possibility of the feet to which
it cannot be reconciled. We doubt not thct many an
honest and devoted friend of Protettion wile for a time,
not only seem to be incredulous, but will actually be so
as to the truth we have been compelled to ctronicle this
day. Fond illusion! It may by Buffered to fade away
imperceptibly; it were mere unfeeling rudeness to speak
upon the matter any further. Peace to its ashes. Mr.
Disraeli will, no doubt speak its ,funeral oration, and
the Court newsman will, of course. duly announce that
by the recent and somewhat unexpected death of Pro-
tection, many of the first families'of the kingdom have
been plunged into the deepest affliction.
POST.—The Ministerial casts- seems at last to ap-
proach its termination. Lord' Stanley has abandoned
his second attempt to construct a Cabinet; aad, although
speculation is us busy and as wild as ever, there seems
but one possible conclusion to the unexpected and per-
plexing state of affairs. The !negotiations of the last
few days have clearly demosistrattd to the country that
neither a coalition between Lord J. Russell and one
-ection of the Peelites on one hand, nor between Lord
Stanley and another division of:the same party on the
other, can produce a working Administration. But if
the Peelites could not, either in &snjunctioa with Lord
John Russell or with Lord --Stanley, aid efficiently
in forming a Cabinet, it is manifest that by them-
selves they could not but be atilt lees successful.
Some of our contemporaries.::indeed, have hinted
at an Administration of which Lord Clarendon should
stand at the head; but, besides sehat such a Ministry
must, in consistency, fail toseneet the vrishes of the
country on the subject of the ,Papal aggression, the
Noble Earl whom we have juat perned, notwithstanding
his high talents, and no less' liigh personal character,
is altogether deficient in that Parliamentary and popular
support,
without which no sane lien would ever attempt
the formation of a Cabinet. The same remarks would
apply with equal force to Sirlaiies Graham; and, be-
yond these two statesmen, reeeloeie has been named as
likely to be entrusted with the etask of forming a new
Administration. The meeting of learliament,this evening,
may probably throw some light upon this important sub-
ject, and we are unwilling, for the few hours that shall pre-
cede it, to hazard conjectures which the future may de-
feat. What seems, however, to be the natural, the just,
and the most desirable result is, that to Lord John Rus-
sell should be recommitted the trust of providing from
his own Parliamentary resources the means of carrying
on the Queen's Government. Every loyal subject will
readily lend his aid to relieve the Crown from embar-
rassment and the country from suspense. And, under
all the circumstances, should Lord John Russell address
himself, by her Majesty's command, to this arduous un-
dertaking, we cannot doubt that the great party, whose
leader has himself just failed in forming a Government,
will lend the Noble Lord every support which consists
with the maintenance of its public principles.

NAVAL INTELLIGEN CE.

EVENINpr, FEBRUAAY 28, .1851.

[ younger members of the Royal Family took their ac-
et: steeled pony and walking exercise y,teste.eny.
At her Mejesty's levee on 'Wednesday, Melie:nzl, Bey,
captain of a frigate, was presented to the Q'iten nn.
Prince Aloert by Cabouly Effkhdi, CUarLe ti'iifLires of
the Ottoman Embassy.
M. de Saux was presented by M. de Matescalchi, as
Second Secretary of the French Embassy.
Sir Godfrey Webster, Bart., Commander R.N., was
presented to her Mnjesiy, fin his return from tereigu
service and premotion, by Sir Francis Barirg, Bart.
Her Majesty's private bead was in ettetelance in
Buckingham Palace on Wednesday evening, and played
the following pieces:—
Overture, " Oberon,"
Entre Acte, Chceur et St a ae, "Le Pro-
pbete"
Terzatto, "Vampyr"
The Oxford University Commission met on Tuesday.
Present, the Bishop of Norwich, the Ds.ten ef
the Master of Perubrclie, the Rev. 11. C. Liddell, the
Rev. C. 11. S. Johnson, and the Rev. A. P. Stanley
(Secretary).
The Duchess Dowager of Cleveland Lad a dinner
party on Wednesday, at her ri-siclenee in S” moor place.
The company included the Duelless of luverf.ess, the
Marquis and Matchione,s of Nermenby, Lei d and Lady
ronsonby, Lady Elizabeth anal Miss Stilted. Colonel
and Mrs. Phipp., Colonel and Mrs. Grey, Lad Harry.
Vane, Lord Mulgrave, Mr. Ellice, and Mr. Elenr.
Milbank.

The Earl and Cr,untass of Lichfield ariivcd at their
retidence in Great Stanhope-streer,.3.tsterday.

PLYMC UTH, THIIRSDAY.—The Apollo troop-ship,
Commander James Rawstorne, mled yesterday fur
Queenstown.

- The Avon steam•vessel sailed on Tuesday for Por;s-
mouth, with supernutnert.ries for the Cumberland, 70,
Captain George F. Seymour.
Her Majesty's brig Kingfisher, 12, Commander Henry
Harvey, came in last evening with her foremast head
badly sprung between the true pendent and the neck-
lace, which was discovered on the 13th of February, in
lat. 31 33 north, 27 30 west.

The Kingfisher left Ascension on the 15th of January,
arrived at Sierra Leone on the 24th, and left on the 26th.
At Ascension the store-ship Tortoise. The island healthy.
At Sierra Leone the Centaur steam-frigate, 6, Com-
modore A. Fanshawe; Cygnet, 8, Commander Richard
D. White; and the Harlequin, 12, Commander Arthur
P. E. Wilmot. The last two sailed on the evening of the
24th—the Harlequin for the Bights of Benin; Cygnet
to the north coast. Captain Patten, of the Hound, is
promoted to the Centaur as flag captain, vice Captain
Buckle, invalided; and Lieutenant Hall, first of the Cen-
taur, to the Hound, vice Patten. The coast is very
healthy. Not much slaving for the last four or five
months, bur the barracoons on shore are said to be full.
The Kingfisher was commission( d on the 12th of
October, 1848, and left Plymouth on the 3d of Novem-
ber, with the mails, and has brought home all her
officers, excepting Mr. Symons, assistant-surgeon, who
(lied; and a lieutenant, who exchanged. She has taken
three prizes, and was present at the capture of a fourth.
One of her prizes, the Tam O'rihanter, an American
schooner, was full, having 319 slaves on board. She had
been only twenty-four hours in the possession of her
then owners, showed no colours, and called herself the
California, but was well known to be the Tam O'Shan-
ter, having been previously cruising on the coast for
several weeks; and fourteen days prior to her capture
she had acquainted the Kingfisher that the brig's pin-
nace had taken the Varetta slave schooner.

The Kingfisher has brought from different ships on
the coast eight invalided seamen and marines, and
twelve seamen whose term of service had expired, and
has the chief engineer of the Wasp steamer, and her
cylinder, which was injured by the breaking of the
piston•rod.
After losing the trade winds, the Kingfisher has ex-
perienced nothing but severe gales from the N.N.W.
round to N.E., and from that to S.

The Kingfisher was bound to Portsmouth, but put in
here in consequence of her disabled state and the strong
wind blowing down channel.
PORTSMOUTH, THURSDAY.—Prince Regent, 90, will
be paid off to-morrow.

Avon steam-vessel, Second-Master Commander Veitch,
came into harbour from Devonport, with supernumeraries
for the Cumberland, 70, flag-ship of Vice-Admiral Sir
G. Seymour yesterday. The Cumberland is hourly ex-
pected to receive ker advance.
....

Toe American line of packet abip Prince Albert, Cap-
tain Meyer, arrived to-day from London, and sailed for
New York.

Shearwater steam surveying-vessel, Lieutenant Tur-
nour commanding, passed through Spithead to-day
from the westward, on her way to Woolwich, to be
paid oft

GREAT FIRE NEAR ST. PAUL'S

CATHEDRAL.

Last evening, at a few minuies past five o'clock, a fir.,
of e ver; extensive char:tete: br,-)ke out in the premise
belonging to Messrs. Treacher and Cuthhi re, wholesale
tqlsw-meiters and candle-manufsctureis, carrying en
buhiness at No. 43, Paternoster-row. The property
in question has long been the dread of the inhabitants
residing near St. Paul's.
The trt.mises, which have a considerable frontage in
the " ext-nded in depth acme 60 or 70 feet. where
Cu exceedingly narrow space separated them from a
range of lofty workshops and warehouses, which had a
frontage in London-house-yard. It was in the last-
named buildings that the conflagration commenced, and
which, for the space of an hour, continued to rage with
the greatest impetuosity. The structure was five floors
high, including the basement, and was adjoined on one
side by the Geose and Gridiron Tavern, the property of
Mr. W. Making; whilst Hewitt's ccffce and chop-house
flanked the other bide. The Rose and Crown Tavern,
belongtro to Mr. W. Davies, stood immediately opposite
the bottling pt*rnisea; the only separation be-twiee the
.two was a sort of cart-way. probably 8 or 9 feet wide.
The lefreshruelit•roonis of Mr. Inglis, the pastrycouk, of
Sr. Paul's Churchyard, also extended to within a few feet
of the flames.

A copper of fat, from some cause not; clearly ascer-
tained, but which is believed • to be a fracture in the
metal, took fire. All hands were immediately summoned
to the spot, and every endeavour made to smother the
flames, but without success; they six-Gaily rose terrifi-
cally, igniting the flooring over the copper, and men
rustling in one immense sheet t'nrotigk the warehouses
till they reached the roof.
The various engines of the London brigade, parish,
and Vies: of England Company were on the:el:W(lu the
course of a few minutes after the outbresk, and a most
copious supply of water was furnished by the New River
firecosins in the district. The fire, howeier, notwith-
standing the short time that had elapsed, assumed such
a threatening aspect that every building near seemed
doomed to destruction. Oat of every window in the
spacious premises the flames were rolling, and reached
within a foot of Mr. Inglis's refreshment-rooms, and the
Rose and Crown Tavern.

The engines, under the direction of Mr. Braidwood,
Mr. Coif, and Mr. Connorton, were placed in the most
commanding positions, some in Paternoster-row, and
others in the Churchyard, whilst a number were set to
work from Ave Maria-lane. The first thing sought to
be accomplished was to throw up a stream of water
between the building on fire and those immediately op-
posite, which were smoking and cracking with the in-
tense beat. The firemen, iu so doing, ran great risks,
but, fortunately, the expedient proved successful, and
the latter premises were saved from destruction entirely
through the exertions of the brigade.
It was past seven o'clock before it could be said that
the mastery over this fearful conflagration was obtained,
and not until the entire range of premises belonging to
the firm, in London•house-yard, were burnt completely
through, the front building severely damaged by re-
moval and breakage, and several others in immediate
proximity, materially injured by fire, water, &c.
Thu crowd, at one period, numbered same thousands,
and it required the services of a strong body of pollee to
keep the spectators out of danger.