The Sun.
London, England, 1851-02-24 00:00:00

MINISTERIAL CRISIS.

SPIRIT of the PUBLIC JOURNALS.
TIMES.—When Lcrd John Russell anneanced to
the House of Commons on Friday evening the postpone-
ment of the financial measures which stood for discus-
sion at that moment, few of those who beard him corn.
prehended at once the full purport of this intimation,
and fewer still, even of his own adherents, knew that
already, before the accustomed hour at which the pro-
ceedings of Parliament commenced, the Administration
was dissolved. Doubt, indeed, hung over the result of
the impending debate. The strength manifested by the
Opposition on a recent occasion, the vindictive desertion
of a small band of Irish Romanists, the separation of
the Liberal party itself from the Ministry on the
preceding evening, were signs of an embarrassing
pr• sent and a menacing future. But the House
of Commons have since learnt with a degree of astonish-
ment which still pervades the country, and wlsich has
yet to be removed by Ministerial explanations, that in
this important political conjuncture, and on the eve cf
instant batt:e, the Commander-in-Chief had flung down
his truncheon, and was apparently walking out of the
lists. We shall not presume to anticipate the state-
ment, promised by Lord John Russell himself for this
evening, of the causes which irresistibly led him to this
conclusion. But without attempting to judge a great
political act still so imperfectly understood, we shall en-
deavour to place before the public the facts which bear
most directly on this novel aud perplexing state of
affairs. Various causes affecting the general policy
of the Administration bad no doubt their due weight
on the mind of Lord John Russell ; but it may be
inferred, from the answers given by h's Lordship
to several questions on Thursday evening, when he
pledged himself to bring forward different measures as
head of the Government, that, at the commencement of
the debate on Mr. Locke King's motion for the extension
of the franchise, Lord John did not contemplate a spon-
taneous and immediate renunciation of power. It was
evident, in the course of that debate, that the cold re-
ception given to the tardy pledge of a revised Reform
Bill, to be introduced in the session of 1852—the with-
drawal of the Conservative phalanx from the side of
Government—and the hostile votes of 100 habitual ad-
herents of the Whig Ministry, told with surprising
effect on Lord John Russell, and that he felt the deser-
tion of so large a portion of his friends more keenly
than the attacks of a host of adversaries. Under the in-
fluence of those feeling he appears to have acted on the
following morning. The Cabinet was suddenly con-
vened; but au little was the momentous character
of the situation of affairs known to the other mem-
, bees of the Government, that three leading peers
in the Administration—the Marquis of Lansdowne,
Lord Minto, and Lord Carlisle, were not present
on the occasion; and the course actually adopted
by the Prime Minister was less the result of a full and
deliberate resolution by his colleagues than of the per-
sonal determination which he is understood to have ex-
pressed. That determination was necessarily unknown
to some of his Cabinet—sad those not the least consider-
able—for they were not even present; and if in such
matters rumour can collect ought of truth from external
indications of opinion, that determination was no less
warmly combated by some others who discerned the
effect, rather than the cause, of so rapid a movement.
The whole meeting of the Cabinet Ministers lasted little
more than half an hour, and at the conclusion of it Lord
John Russell proceeded to place his resignation in the
hands of her Majesty—an act tantamount to the resigna-
tion of the whole Government in the person of its
chief. It will be for Lord John Russell to inform Par-
liament and the country this evening of the powerful
motives for his conduct which he has doubtless already
submitted to his colleagues and to his Sovereign.
But it may here be remarked that what-
ever those motives were they did not mainly
consist in apprehnsions of the effect of the Pro-
tectionist opposition to the financial scheme of the Go-
vernment. If the First Lord of the Treasury thought
that scheme worth any thing, sad if he hoped to stand fairly
with the country on those important questions of taxa-
tion which come home to the universal interests of the
community, the Budget was at least worth a night's
debate and the chances of an adverse vote, which he
realized by anticipation. But, in point of fact, at the
moment when this sacrifice was consummated, no such
apprehension forced itself -upon his convictions. The
tone of the Protectionist meeting held on Friday at Lord
Stanley's house had been extremely moderate. The
tactics, if not the forbearance, of the Tory leaders taught
them that a successful attack on the chief financial re-
sources of the Exchequer would prove a most dangerous
approach to office; and it was known by the Government
itself, before the House of Commons met that
day, that Mr. Herries'- amendmsnt on the in-
come-tax would not assume a very formidable
shape. That specific motion, therefore, can have
had no more than an indirect effect on Lord John
Russell's resolution, though it may not unreasonably be
concluded that a Budget which every one condemned, and
an anti-Papal measure which nobody approved, were
matters to give additional impetus to the slight shock on
Mr. Locke King's motion, and that but for the general
embarrassments of Ministers that untoward iucidust
would not have proved fatal to their stability. Perhaps
the country may have reason to rejoice that a crowning
struggle between Lord John Russell's Administration
and its combined opponents was thus avoided, since a
Protectionist victory might have brought into power
such a Government as would convulse the nation.
Nevertheless, the first effect of the dissolution of the
Cabinet was to induce her Majesty, by the advice of Lord
John Russell or of other counsellors, to send for Lord
Stanley with a view to the formation of a new Govern-
ment. That nobleman proceeded to obey the Queen's
commands in conjunction with Mr. Disraeli; but
before many hems had elapsed the Protectionist
leaders were understood to have renounced their
undertaking, either from the invincible difficulty
and peril of the task, or because the power of dissolving
Parliament was not unreservedly conceded to them by
the highest authority in the realm. It will probably be
found that the firmness and judgment of the Queen have
been exerted to save the country from the extreme in-
convenience and agitation of a general election at the
present time, and to avert a contest of parties which
might inflict lasting injury on the Constitution itself. At
a later hour on Saturday evening Sir James Graham
and Lord Aberdeen were summoned to attend her Ma-
jesty, and it was generally belieyed that those statesmen
would take a part in the formation of the new Adminis-
tration. It was, however, desired that the communica-
tions at this stage of the negotiations should be made in
the presence of Lord John Russell himself; and in the
course of yesterday a protracted, and we hope a satisfac-
tory, interview between these eminent persons took
place at the residence of the late Premier. Lord Aber-
deen was again summoned to the Palace last evening, but
has not, we believe, hitherto consented to accept office.
Wi'h personal or party interests we have
nothing to do, but we express no more than
the universal conviction of those who aro most
anxious for the peace, the welfare, and the security of
the nation, when we affirm that an arrangement which
should place in conjunction with a portion of the late
Government and with the Liberal party those eminent
men who most nearly represent the opinions and the
policy of the late Sir Robert Peel, affords the only rea-
sonable prospect of a strong, efficient, and progressive
Government. A mere attempt to bring back to office
the Cabinet which has just fallen to pieces under the
leadership of Lord John Russell would stamp the whole
of this singular transaction with the character of a des-
picable intrigue, and would only render the violent de-
struction of the whole fabric at no distant period more
certain. The country requires an improved Adminis-
tration. The country asks for men capable of giving
effect to the principles which Lord John Russell has
professed. The late Ministry had too much of the spirit
and narrowness of a coterie to conduct the people of
England in their progress, and the executive council of
the nation requires a wider range of character and
powers than are to be found in a domestic circle. We
believe that such a Ministry can be formed if personal
pretensions and party exclusiveness do not mar the
work; and we are confident that such a Ministry, pre-
pared to do its work with public spirit and genuine
ability, would command the support of Great Britain.
CHRONICLE.—The resignation of the Ministry, al-
though tendered on Friday, and known to the world for
the !lilt time on Saturday morning, has already faded
into the • remoteness of history. The public curiosity,
which, in default of more exciting occupation, might
have busied itself with the causes of so sudden an ac •
k crisis
prnDireos.ciLsu
accomplishedll
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eaikgnsel Mag in sßeoetnini tntnhgtgeho,
rrpofne
exclusively
result. The
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universal
smoeans
:mt.
drcsoioj analysingnßnotgderuer condemnation
tomye
theattraction
causesthe
Bill
i nevooml lived ait-
self scarcely admitted of any other solution. The sacri-
fice of Sir Charles Wood and the production of a more
popular Budget might have satisfied the House of Com-
mons for a time; but the rapid spread of the Irish re-
sistance to the Aggression Bill made the entire position
of the Cabinet untenable. The majority in favour of a
lot. suffrage in counties was an expression at the same
time of the discontent of the ordinary adherents of the
Government, and of the resolution of the Protectionists
to withdraw the support which they had so often af-
forded to the Ministry. We publish in another column
a collection of the rumours which have gained more or
less credence since the commencement of the crisis. Up
to the present time it is probable that nothing is settled,
and that the leaders of parties are little better able than
their followers to foretell the final result of the various
negotiations which may have been commenced. It is
known that her Majesty has successively required the
advice of Lord Stanley, Lord John Russell, Lord Aber-
deen, and Sir James Graham. Interviews have also
taken place between various leading politicians, includ-
ing the late Prime Minister. It is just possible that
Lord Stanley may attempt to form a Government with
the aid solely of the " Country Party." It is, however,
far more probable that some portion of the Whigs will
retain office in conjunction with the representatives of
the policy of Sir Robert Peel. Whether Lord John
Russell or Lord Clarendon will represent the Whig
party in the new distribution of offices is a question on
which, in the absence of trustworthy information, we
consider it unprofitable to speculate. In any cm, it
may be assumed that the supernumeraries of the Ca-
binet—the Mintos and (*yeses, the Ilobhouses and
Cloarithi--will make room for more efficient and influ-
ential incumbents of the offices which they have so long
enjoyed. The rumours of which we have spoken are
only important as indicating the balsnce of parties, sad
ffi-
the tendency of public opinion. The wishes of the
country have already been expressed in a manner su
oiently significant. There is no doubt that a Ministry
formed under the guidance of Lord Stanley, though re.
pudiated by the country at large, would be welcomed by
a single class of the community in a vague expectation of
relief. The landlords and farmers in many districts ere

•
still unconvinsed of the impossibility of restoring Protec-
tion. Lord Stanley and Mr. Disraeli would, for the
moment, present to their minds the image of wheat at
563., and possibly of the reduction of the malt-tax. But
even in the counsels of the party at the Carlton Club
and in St. James's-square, we believe that the political
prospects of the proposed Ministry are already bet-
ter understood. The leaders, and those of their
followers who are eager for office, are thoroughly
aware of the necessity of abstaining from interfe-
rence with the tariff as it sands at present. By
reductions of expenditure, combined perhaps with some
minor financial changes, they would attempt to remove
a portion of the income-tax without subjecting the re-
venue to a deficit; and they might still form the
strongest numerical section of the House of Commons,
if their supporters would unanimously adopt their views.
But a portion of the county members, and a powerful
fraction of the majority in the House of Lords, are more
in earnest in their advocacy of protection. After the
debate of last week, Lord Hardvricke and Lord Malmes-
bury would be compelled to form a new Opposition
under the Duke of Richmond, in preference to following
Lord Stanley in a neutral and temporizing policy. If
the Cabinet is formed on principles which would give it
a chance of enduring for a month, the bulk of the Pro-
tectionist party must be alienated. It is, we believe, al-
ready certain that the dilemma between headlong rash-
Less and open desertion of the cause has already made
the task which Lord Stanley took into consideration
too hopeless to be carried any farther. Amongst other
considerations, it is impossible to forget that
although the recent crisis offers facilities to a
Liberal Administration for dropping the impolitic and
impracticable crusade against the Roman Catholic hier-
archy, Lord Stanley is personally pledged to advocate
a more vigorous measure of repression than the Bill in-
troduced by the feeble and divided Government which
has just fallen to pieces. The reports which have been
circulated illustrate, as we have said, the wishes and hopes
of that preponderating section of the community which
cares greatly more for the general policy of an Adminis-
tration than for the persons of those who compose it.
The union of the most vigorous and progressive section
of the Whigs with the Free-trade portion of the late
Opposition forms the obvious solution of the difficulty
into which the forced resignation of the Ministry has
plunged the business of the country. It is probable that
many difficulties may be found in arranging the terms of
a union which would be generally acceptable to all
really liberal politicians. If we judge rightly of the indi-
vidual interests of the statemen who are likely to form
any combination of the kind to which we refer,
their personal wishes would have been entirely op-
posed to the precipitate dissolution of the late Govern-
ment. The country perhaps is yet scarcely convinced
of the helplessness which characterized every act of
Lord John Russell's Administration from the time when
he unhappily lost his great rival andgenerous protector.
Every fresh oscillation between rashness and timidity
lost him the allegiance of some accustomed supporter,
and alienated even colleagues who had long adhered to
the reeognised representative of the hereditary league.
The position of those statesmen who may now or here-
after unite with the Liberal portion of the Whigs would
have been better defined, and more independent, if time
had been afforded for entirely loosening the old ties of
party attachment. It is doubtful whether Lord John
Russell has been influenced by the motives to which a
faithful adherent ascribes his resignation; but if, as the
only Whig journalist asserts, he has thrown the busi-
ness of the country into temporary confusion on
cecveessconsi-
derations exclusively factious and: personal, it can-
not be denied that a melancholy ingenuity may have
beenlt is forexhibited
his or,
s an in
saccessors, so
whoeverpetty at
hfeeya tmoafylegerdemain.
care not to imitate the cunning which party journalists
ascribe, perhaps unjustly, to incapable leaders. If a
Government can be formed which, with a prospect of
sufficient support in the House of Commons, will agree
on a large liberal policy, no party considerations ought
to stand in the way of a result almost unanimously de-
sired by the country. The policy •of the new or re-
modelled Cabinet can at present only be defined by nega-
tives. A new and entirely different Budget must be
produced; and it would be inexpedient to criticise by
anticipation a financial policy which can scarcely fail
to form an advantageous contrast with the project for
which it will be a substitute. Even 4 Lord John Russell
retains his seat, he will probably takeas little share as for-
merly in the fiscal arrangements of the Government.
Whoever may be Chancellor of the .Exchequer, ho will
at least not propose the imposition, of Sir Charles
Wood's commuted window-tax. Tne anti-Papal agita-
tion must also bey abandoned by any Ministry which
hopes for permanence. The present Bill, with its
virulent frivolity, has incurred both the contempt
of the zealots whom it was metnt to satisfy, and
the indignation of the outraged Roman Catholics
whom its authors hoped to cajo4. The new Go-
vernment will, we doubt not, commence its career
with a determination to direct its legislative influence as
well as its administrative energies into the channel into
which they naturally flow. The financial interests of
the country, though not the object. of their exclusive
care, will occupy their earnest and constant attention.
The rivalries and reciprocal encroachments of religious
bodies will, we hope, be watched with a wise impartia-
lity, in the certainty that the State can never interfere
in matters of faith without a violation of religious liberty
and a compromise in turn of political independence.
HERALD.—We were right in our conjecture on
Saturday that Lord John Russell and his Cabinet had
resigned. They have resigned; and her Majesty, on
Saturday, sent for Lord Stanley. His Lordship waited
on the Queen at three o'clock, and had a long interview
with her Majesty, who asked his Lordship if he was
ready to undertake the formation of a new Administra-
tion. Lord Stanley undertook the duty, and although
very many rumours were yesterday Mat as to rival
coalitions, &c., the fact is, that ata,he hour at which we,
write the commission to form a Ministry remains in
Lord Stanley's hands. Lord Stanley, returning from the
Palace, did not reach his house until six o'clock on
Saturday evening, and was occupied by necessary cor-
respondence until a late hour of the night. There is,
therefore, no truth whatever in the rumour that a meet-
ing of the adherents of Lord Stanley took place on Sa-
turday at his house, and that a difference of opinion there
occurred which induced bis Lordship to decline the duty
which he had previously undertaken.: No such meeting
took place. These are the simple facts in connexion
with this important crisis, so far as the leader of the
country and Protestant party is concerned. We hope
we shall be enabled to publish the result of the nego-
tiation between the Sovereign and Lord Stanley in a
late edition.

___
ADVERTISER. The intelligence of Saturday
morning verified the report of the, resignation of Minis-
ters, to which we alluded in our impression of that day,
as being in circulation on the previous evening. So the
Whig Cabinet has at last fairly stranded. It was visible
to all that it was among the breakers ever since the in-
troduction of the Premier's unfortunate Bill for repel-
ling Popish aggression and punishing Popish audacity.
Eventually, and that at no distant day, it must have
perished amidst the storm of public indignation which
the temporising measures of Lard John Russell had
evoked in tho country; but the moment Sir Chatles
Wood's Budget was ushered into existence we foresaw,
and the very next morning, as our readers will remember,
we foretold, the immediate dissolution of the Whig Go-
vernment. Our prediction now stands fulfilled. The
Russell Administration has ceased to live. It heaved its
expiring groan on Friday afternooa. Never did Ministry
more richly deserve the fate which has befallen it. It
was a Ministry of false pretences. It professed to be a Re-
form Ministry—an Administration which identified its ex-
istence with popular progress. Itsevery act belied its pro-
fessions. Its deeds were at irreconcileable variance with
its words. From the first hour 9f its existence till the
last, it was engaged in warring with those very prin-
ciples, to the promotion of which every one of its mem-
bers had previously pledged himself, and on the faith of
which they severally, for a season, enjoyed the confi-
dence of the public. It is a remarkable circumstance
that the very last act of Lord John Russell's Ministerial
life was that of strenuously oppiesing the extension of
the elective franchise, though *Omitting that the mea-
sure of electoral enlargement proposed was, abstractedly,
just and reasonable. It was " the ruling passion strong
in death." Such a Ministry, with such a head, could not
fail to lose all character. Its continued existence was a
perpetual outrage on all our notions of moral rectitude,
or even of conventional propriety. In such a Govern-
menthmaavteiohn o
haconfidence.dlat t e
rIl
yt s
comedissolu-
tion
todevoutly to be wished.
occurred, no ene is
Andre ga I. regard
nh
found to shed a tear over the demise of the Whig
pNeorsoennael interestregrets iintsits continued existence.
was a thing which the country
oeswsn a thattaion consummation
thelud I 2 event
departure, except such
ptearsens will,doubtless, lament its decease, but they
81.70nrrd-Stanley is
flowers over its grave.
In vain, would we look for the man who regards with
reverential feelings the memory of the Ministry which
closed its career on Friday last. The public mind, as
"aTCrhaebehnisaneodet the class of men to strew
of the Noble Lord.
might be expected, is now fillede with profound anxiety,
wasishtois
Opinions vary on the
apoint.
I
James Graham by
many instances the
in most quarters to be the embryo Premier. Lord
thought
whofath
others. Just now the thing is all speculation. Nothing
certain is known as to
eristotothbee
tthhoeugsut.
who will be the future Premier.
The revelations in Parliament this evening, will probably
Clarendon is named by some.. Sir
throw some light on the subject. In the meantime,
were we to follow the example almost universally set us,
and to indulge in conjectures, we should hazard the pre-
diction that Lord John Russell will be his own successor.
The expression may sound very much like an Irishism,
but that matters little. We are strongly impressed with
the belief, that the Noble Lord sustains just now the
somewhat contradictory character of being at one and the
same moment the past and proximate Premier. A very
little time will suffice to show whether we are right.
Let us not be misunderstood. We are not ignorant of
the fact, that Lord Stanley was sent for by her Majesty
on Saturday. Nor do we deem it impossible that the
Noble Lord will be rash enough to undertake the con-
struction of a new Cabinet. But we have no idea that
a Stanley Administration could last. A month or two
probably less, would be the limits of its existence. We
canhardly think that Lord Stanley himself could be weak
or vain enough to suppose that a Government formed by
him could exist for any length of time- If formed, it can
only live to die. It can only come into the world to go
out of it again. It can but breathe tc expire. In such
circumstances, we should expect to see Lord John
Russell re-called to the councils of his Sovereign. If we
are correct in the assumption, that Lord John Russell is
destined to return to office, the nation have a right to
demand that he shall give them some guarantee that he
will pursue a. very different conrse from that which he
has hitherto done. Sir Charles Wood will not return to
power. That, doubtless, will be one happy riddance; for,
in addition to his having betrayed all those Liberal poli-
tical pi inciples which he previously professed to enter-
, tale, he has proved himself to be the mast incom-
petent financier that ever made any pretensionp
t? a knowledge of Alum Ira own COA01)02$11 wOtdd

have framed a better Budget than that which
has made his name ridiculous, ever since its
development on Friday week. It is, therefore, no small
mercy to get for ever rid of one so utterly unfit for the
management of the financial affairs of the country. But
it is right Lord John Russell should be reminded that
the Chancellor of the Exchequer was not the only defec-
tive stone i❑ the Ministerial structure. The whole build-
ing was crazy; and no member of his Ministry was more
so than the Noble Lord himself. Even had Sir Charles
Wood not made so bungling an affair of his Budget, Lord
Joh❑ Russell's own conduct would, ere the lapse of a
fortnight, have brought down the edifice about the ears
of himself and colleagues. The country has, therefore,
a right to insist, before he is re called to the councils of
his Sovereign, that some security shall be given it that he
will not persist in treading in the same steps as before.
It' he is allowed to come back into power without eorne
such guarantee, the nation may be doomed to witness a
repetition before the Easter recess, of the same state of
things as now exists—a state of things most disastrous,
socially and commercially, to the country. Let the
Noble Lord only return to office without any pledge be-
ing erected from him, of his readiness to pursue a dif-
ferent course, and we shall see bim before many weeks
resisting, as he did last year, those motions for further
retrenchment in the public expenditure, for triennial
Parliaments, and for amendments in the representation
of the country, of which notice has already been given.
We shall, in a word, see him, -as much as ever, the
st,reuu,,us opponent of popular progress. This must not
be. The nation have the game in their own hands.
Now is the time for them to speak out. Let popular
constituencies bring the 'Pressure from without
to bear on their representatives. Lot the elec-
toral body insist, that those whom they sent into
Perliaineet to promote popular principles, shall exact
from Lord John Russell, before giving him the slightest
countenance, much less their votes, a distinct positive
pledge, that he will introduce, without delay, and stake
his Ministerial existence en them, such measures of re-
presentative reform as are confessedly desired by the
country.

POST.—As we have uniformly predicted and demon-
strated, the expiry of the income-tax, conjoined with
the existence of a surplus, has brought to a crisis the
Government formed on the basis of free trade. Although
there was no vote of the House of Commons actually
passed in condemnation of the Budget produced by the
free-trade Chancellor of the Exchequer, still the feeling
shown by Members of the House on the subject of it,—
the opinions expressed by the public press of all parties,
and most of all the reception given to Sir C. Wood's pro-
positions, by the city Of London, the stronghold of free-
trade—were warnings sufficient for a high-minded Minis-
ter; and Lord J. Russell, in the conviction that his
Budget was a failure,aad probably for other reasons as
cogent, though less obvious, laid at her Majesty's feet
the resignations of himself and of his'Cabinet. He ad-
vised her Majesty to send for Lord Stanley; and, although
since the boy Jones was sent to sea, we have no means
of knowing what passed between her Majesty and this
nobleman, the result is nevertheless matter of notoriety.
Lord Stanley felt that with his own party unaided, he
was not yet in the condition to undertake the for-
mation cf a Government. Were he to do so, it would
be necessary for them to carry cut fully the principles
that he and his friends have been advocating; and with
a House of Commons pledged, as the present is, to the
principle of free trade, he could have little hope of com-
manding the requisite majority. On the other hand,
the boldest Minister might well hesitate to recommend
an immediate dissolution; nor would it be constitutional
to resort to such a step until the temper of the House
now sitting should first have been tried and found irre-
cencileable with the satisfactory conduct of public affairs.
We may well suppose that Lord Stanley's declining to
undertake the' formation of a Government at this junc-
ture was based upon considerations such as we have thus
briefly stated; and no one can refuse to him the praise
of following, in this instance, the dictates of a sound
discretion and a high-minded regard for the true inte-
rests of the Crown and of the nation. What, then, is to
follow? The facts, which will be found duly recorded
in another part of our paper, respecting the audiences
granted by the Queen to various statesmen, whose at-
tendance at the Palace her Majesty had been
pleased to command, do not enable us even
inferentially to afford a conclusive answer to
this question. Lord Aberdeen, it is said, has
acted only in his capacity of Privy Councillor, having
expressed a strong disinclination to take any office. On
Saturday evening, it would appear, that after Lord
Aberdeen and Sir James Graham had been in the royal
presence for a considerable time, Lord J. Russell was,
by her Majesty's command, added to the conference,
which lasted until a very late hour. If we were to draw
any conclusion from this circumstance, it would be that
some ground had been discovered on which the joint
Ministerial action of Lord J. Russell and Sir James
Graham might take place. But assuming this, it would
be unfair, and indeed impossible, to offer any opinion of
the merits of a Cabinet, the result of this combination,
until we should know something of the principles on which
it might be based. The voice, however, of Parliament, as
far as it has been heard through the medium of Mr. Dis-
raeli's recent motion, and that of the public, as expressed
by the press of all parties, would seem to forbid a
lengthened existence to any Cabinet which should re-
fuse to give fair consideration to the condition of the
owners or occupiers of land, or which should make
the continuance of the income-tax the basis of further
financial experiments in free-trade finance. Another
free-trade budget of this character would infallibly share
the fate of Sir Charles Wood's. It is impossible that a
statesman of Lerd John Russell's experience and saga-
city can fail to see this. A new Government, in which
Peelite Free-traders should replace the Free-traders of
Lord Grey's school, would have to work out of port
with an adverse wind rising and daily increasing, and to
steer the vessel of the State amid shoals and breakers sur-
rounding her on every side. He must be a bold and
skilful pilot who shall attempt a task so full of fearful
hazard. Will such an enterprise be undertaken by Lord
John Russell? No one doubts the courage or the ca-
pacity of that statesman, but there are difficulties which
amount to impossibility, and these, we think, are of
them. The country will refuse the income-tax as a
permanent substitute for import duties levied for the
purposes of revenue. For the purpose of class protection,
no doubt, the country would refuse import duties too.
But the struggle is not between free trade and ex-
cessive, or unfair, or partial protection, but between
taxation based on injustice, and levied by a process un-
equal, inquisitorial, and intolerable, and taxation which
is collected from imports, so as not to check the pro-
gress of international commerce, nor to cause the price
of commodities to press on the means of the consumer.
Who are they who are strongest in their opposition to
the income-tax of Sir Robert Peel?—the middle classes
of England—all those who depend on their own skill,
industry, and intelligence to furnish them maintenance,
and to better their condition. All these have declared
strongly against using the income-tax for any purpose
but to meet a state exigency; they will not allow free
trade to be further carried out under cover of what was
granted for a different purpose. They will never
approve a Budget which makes the cheapening of ar-
ticles the paramount consideration, and throws the
burthen of the public expenditure upon hard-won in-
come. A secono Budget on this basis must, we repeat,
share the fate of its predecessor; or, if carried by dint
of great exertion and influence in the present House
of Commons, it will be so by such narrow majorities as
must make the Government ashamed of the measure.
And out of doors how will such a Budget be received?
Those who vote for it will be marked men, bearing the
'tamp of the odious tax against their names; their vote
in its favour will not be forgotten when they present
themselves again to their constituents to solicit a re-
placement is the positions they occupy by the favour
of this offended middle class. But if a reunion of all
who have taken the free-trade pledge be not a combina-
tion of parties that will meet the crisis and satisfy the
country, what have we to look forward to? Is Lord
John Russell to flounder on through the session with an
ad interim Government? God forbid that he should be
induced to the necessity of accepting such an undignified,
degrading miller. his the duty of Lord John Russell,
in the great position he occupies, to cast about and watch
the signs of the times, as well as the sentiments and
feelings of parties. The great interests of his country
should be his study, not the means of satisfying this
public man or that, and carrying votes in a House of
Commons by tact, and a skilful avoidance of treacherous
ground. And what is it that a broad view of the finan-
cial crisis we have just passed, and of its antecedents,
must suggest to a reflecting mind? Is it not a warning
to halt in the headlong course of free trade? Is it not
a proof that the country will not have the income-tax
substituted for more customs duties—that it is beginning
to recognize the wisdom of the American and of the
continental policy, which uphold customs duties on im-
ports for consumption of all kinds, as the first and least
objectionable of all taxes for a commercial nation?
Having this warning—and witnessing at the same time
the growing strength and increasing confidence of that
party in the House and in the country which seeks openly
to promote confusion and bring about revolution—
must not a statesman in Lord John Russell's position,
and of his known moderation and good sense, see strongly
marked before him the oatline of the time when the
friends of order must range on one side, to stem the tide
of atevolution, and maintain the happy constitution, in
Church and State, which has given to this United King-
dom such pre-eminence amongst the nations of the
world? Is this time only approaching, or has it come?
If only the former, is it not the part of wisdom to an-
ticipate, rather than to wait until the vessel is actually
among the breakers? And does not the present crisis
both make apparent the real sources of danger and give
the opportunity of making provision against these threat-
ened consequences? A Government of due strength to
meet the exigency can only be formed by an union of the
moderate Whigs with the whole Conservative body,
whose sentiments, habits, and associations bind them
indissolubly to the cause of order. The country wishes
for an association on this basis, and everybody sees and
hopes that sooner or later it must take place. What
now stands in the way of such a combination of the
friends of order? Nothing whatsoever but the single
disagreement upon the question, whether Customs
duties that bear on prices are or are not proper taxes
to levy on this commercial nation? This is purely a
question of political economy; yet it has divided states-
men, high-minded men, whose views upon all other ques-
tions very nearly coincide, with a bitterness equal to
that which set the red and blue factions of Constanti-
nople together by the ears in the days of Justinian.
Has the time not come when public men can view this
question rationally, so as to agree upon a middle course?
DAILY NE W S.—Within the last eight-and-forty
hours the needle has gone round to all points of the
political compass. Lord John Russell having declared
that his Cabinet could not go on, and that it was not
him to reconstruct another. her Majesty summoned
Lord Stanley, as the chief of the most numerouselpart y
f
in opposition. His Lordship, it is said, t himself
wore pier plexed than flattered by the offer, and de-
clared, that not havingplaced the Ministry in a minority,
he had not incurred the responsibility of ,providing for

the administration of the country. He would, however,
consult his frends. Rumour continues the story, by
alleging that the Marquis of Granby was the principal
friend to whom Lord Stanley had recourse. He repre-
sented to the Noble Marquis, that in the present.
failure
and impossibility of other parties to form a Ministry, it
was possible and open for the Protectionists to form one,
with the proviso, however, that they should, at least
for the present, waive protection. To this Lord
Granby and his friends very honestly, we think, de-
murred; and Lord Stanley forthwith returned to the
palace to resign into the Queen's hands the trust
with which he had been honoured. On the same even-
ing of Saturday Lord John Russell and Sir Jamea
Graham were together in the Queen's cabinet, for the
purpose of trying if a joint Administration could not be
formed. Yesterday (Sunday) they were again at the
Palace, and it was known that Lord Aberdeen
strenuously exerted himself to bring about a fusion.
Lord Aberdeen, in doing so, is said to have waived
every idea of the Foreign-office for himself, and, indeed,
was averse to taking any office. The terms, upon which
an accord and a coalition were proposed, were said to be
the introduction of a new Budget by Sir James Graham
as Chancellor of the Exchequer, and some modification
of the anti-Papal Bill es regards Ireland. Sir John
Hobhouse, under a new title, has been already pre-
cipitated up to the House of Lords. The Duke
of Newcastle, it is supposed, would take his place.
Mr. Sidney Herbert and Mr. Cardwell were
also to have seats in the Cabinet. To make room for
them and for their seconds requires, however, a very
considerable change of fittings, much more easily pro-
posed and agreed to in the gross than accomplished sa-
tisfactorily in detail. There still remain, however, many
great and serious difficulties, more then possibly may
be overcome before the speaker takes the chair to-
morrow. The greatest of these, no doubt, are the reluct-
ance of Lord John Russell to sacrifice any portion of a
Bill which he considered the minimum of dignified resist-
ance to Rome, and to retain office by the admission of
a new element and a new party into the Cabinet, which,
however liberal on questions of free trade and of public
economy, are still no friends of either electoral or eccle-
siastical reform. On a great many questions, indeed,
the Peelites have had the tact of not committing them-
selves; so that we know much more of the ability of these
men than of their principles or views. At presentehe public
and the Premier must, on a great many points, take them
on trust. Whilst had Whigs, Peelites, and Reformers
served a campaign on the Opposition benches, a much
fairer estimate, and a much stronger amalgamation of
men and things into a party might have been accom-
plished. There is, however, one idea dominant in the
Parliamentary, and even in the extra-Parliamentary
mind, and that is, the dread of a dissolution. So many
politicians are for the present without principles, and so
many more without money; so few parties have behaved
well, and so few men have entitled themselves to the
gratitude of the public, that no good, it is thought, could
come of facing it. A Parliament newly elected would cer-
tainly excel the existing one in religious zeal. Whigs
would be ousted by fanatics, landlords by tenant-farmers.
The Irish elections would prove a resuscitation of Donny-
brook Fair. A general election would dim the glassy sur-
face and disturb the tranquil atmosphere of the Crystal
Palace. To the dissolution, therefore, every one cries
avaunt. And yet, if Lord John will not lend his coun-
tenance to the coalition, Lord Stanley must again be
called, must dissolve, will be beaten, and a Liberal Mi-
nistry must re-dissolve, and England present throughout
1851 the aspect of a prolonged political tempest. Change,
however, there must be. If Lord John Russell could,
like the vizier in the "Arabian Nights," steal forth in
disguise, and perambulate the streets and clubs, and in-
dependent circles where men of business congregate, he
would, amidst a variety of impressions, discover a mani-
fest gladness and exultation at the idea of tho Family
Compact being broken up, and at the number of
Whig names in the list of placemen being thinned.
Whilst saying this, let us express surprise that at
a moment when it was found necessary to strengthen a
Ministry and give it a broader basis, the hereditary
statesmen of the empire should not recur to that party
which first upreared the banner and fought the battle of
free trade. At a crisis like the present, through which
free trade came triumphant, and to put an end to which
reduction of expenditure and electoral reform are pro-
mised and invoked, it does seem preposterously ungrate-
ful, that their most popular, most energetic, most ta-
lented, most true and sincere champions of this principle
should be overlooked. The Duke of Newcastle is a very
good man; and perhaps a dozen or a score of voters
might follow him to the field. But we do not see that
either his presence or his party are of that resplendency
or magnitude as to throw into the shade those who
muster one hundred upon all questions of progressive
reform. We are now speaking without book. We do
not pretend to be the organ of any party, being con-
tended with representing those broad principles which
bind Liberals together, setting aside the peculiar views
and predilections which separate them. We have had
too many causes of difference of late with eminent Re-
formers to pretend to be the depository or the organ
of their personal sentiments. They would be the first
to repudiate a wish for office, the foremost to deride the
possibility of their making part of an aristocratic Cabi-
net. But, in despite of what they may think or say, we
do maintain that it is a disgrace to England and a con-
tempt of its popular justice and discernment, to see that
men, who achieved the greatest of social and economical
ameliorations, should be sedulously thrust and spurned
from the threshold of power, which the possession of an
aristocratic name daily enables even the political tyro to
overlook. A philosophic statesman like Lord John
Russell, who can overlook the dull routine of official life
and public service, must see that there is something fun-
damentally wrong in the working of a political system
that perpetrates such ingratitude, and that in the
middle of the nintecnth c:ntury persist* in confiscating
popular eminence and talent, for the exclusive illustra-
tion and enrichment of lordliogs.