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

the administration of the country. He would, however,
consult his freuds. 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 James
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 EO, is said to have waived
every ids a of the Foreign-effiee for himself, and, indeed,
was averse to taking any cffice. The terms, upon which
an eeeord and a coalition were proposed, were said to be
the introduction of a new Budget by Sir James Graham
as Chancellor of the Exchequer, wed some modification
of the anti-Papal Bill as regards Ireland. Sir John
Hobltouse, under a nese 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 aed agreed to in the gross than accomplished sa-
tisfactorily in detail. There still remain, however, many
great and serious difficulties, more than possibly may
be overcome before the Speaker takes the choir to-
morrow. The greatest of these, no doubt, are the reluct-
ance of La.d John Russell to sacrifice auy 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 presente he 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, it 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 the Family
Compact being broken up, and at the number of
Whig names in the list of plecemen 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 and 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 peihaps 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 eon:
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 seduluuely thrust and spurned
from the threshold of power, which the possession of an
aristocratic name daily enables even the political ;yro 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 fen-
dameatelly wrong in the working of a political system
that re-petrates such ingratitude, and that in the
middle of the ninteenth century persists in confiscating
popular eminence and talent, for tic exclusive illustra-
tion and enrichment of lordliees.