The Sun.
London, England, 1851-02-26 00:00:00

AIINISTERIA L

THE MINISTERIAL CRISIS.
Yesterday morning, at half past ten o'clock, her Ma-
rtY.comreanded the attendance of Lord Stanley at
ueklughara Palace.
The Noble Lord arrived at the Palace at eleven o'clock,
pas immediately admitted to an au'ience by the
with whom his Lordship remained in confsr-
ea for more than an hour.
urosvoo leaving the Palace Lord Stanley proceeded to
L)
onor-gate, and had an interview with Mr. Disraeli.
at Stanley subsequently visited Viscount Canning,
Gt Is residence in Grosvenor-square.
8,76 Earl of Aberdeen bad en interview with Lord
"dlley esterday.
ou orY,iBgnt Canning visited Lord Stanley in the course
ship,
Pe afternoon, and had a long interview with his Lord-
tjer Majesty the Queen addressed a second co.mmuni-
x " to Lord Stanley last evening, to which the
orsble Lord immediately replied.
er James Graham had an interview with the Earl of
Aberdeen yesterday.

COURT CIRC ULAR.
ti The Earl of Aberdeen and Sir James Graham ar-
• 0,111 at Buckingham Palace at a quarter-past nine
t)ek °LI Monday evening, and bad audience of the
d •14°Td Stanley had an audience of her Majesty yester-
sY rs •
°ming.
• °en per Royal Highness the Duchess of Kent visited the
Cand Prince Albert, and partook of luncheon with
ThMaj'atY
aril his Royal Highness.
p Queen and Prince Albert, accompanied by the
;onels Royal and the Princess Alice, took a drive
:ru!ty afternoon in an open carriage-and-four. The
Colo cries in Waiting, Lord Charles Fitzroy and Lieut.-
~ onel the Hon. Alexander Gordon, attended on horse-
• ',Lek.
R
• hi
k° Royal Highness Prince Albert rode out on horse-
k ~, Yesterday, attended by Lieutenant-Colonel Hon.
krordon
The It • .
°Yal Family took their usual exercise yesterday.
. et er
a , Royal Highness the Duchess of Kent arrived at
froth -
41,8 Aenee, Clarence House, St. James's, yesterday,
besNnune. On her way to town, her Royal High-
los tisited her Royal Highness the Duchess of Glouces
of it. 111 the afternoon her Royal Highness the Duchess
ent returned to Frogmore, attended by Lady Fanny
1/0"'
rd and Sir George Grey.
'ties ,Ritht Hon. Tennyson D'Eyncourt had an inter-
, read with Lord John Russell yesterday, at his official
• gi e,r'ee in Downing-street.
tit
id h'sllses Rediugton and the Lord Mayor of Dub-
- a-
n interview with-Sir George Grey yesterday,
"
Rome-office.
V. American Minister bad an interview with Earl
at the Colonial-office yesterday.
yest°'°flel Anson had an interview ivith'Sir George Grey
tso
P 7 John Russell's party has been unavoidably
"
I,,`a"nted from Wednesday, the 261 of February, to
aY, the 3d of March.

T
PI A HE WEST INDIA MAIL.
3teaa RI3IPTON, FEB. 25.—The Royal Mail Company's
IfteritlhiP Aledway, Captain W. Symons, arrived this
tuitid °oo at five o'clock, from the West Indies, with the
Ado,-;,,,1ti1, in charge of Lieutenant John Brown, R.N.,
agent.
(total hey homeward voyage, the Medway experienced
N.H. winds from the 7th to the 20th instant,
/le 15th, 16th, and 17th a most severe gale from
Ply Which compelled her to run into Fayal for a sup-
' vrat% coals; subsequently S.W. winds. The Medway
fe tabled at St. 'Thomas's, until the 4th of Februaiy
lth %Windward Island mails.
Vapnillatmat dates brought by the Medway are—Ha-
-4.7, January 23; Chagres, 25th; Cartbageua, 27th;
he4Clca. 27th; Demerara, 30th; Triniead, 31at; Bar.
alst.% February 1; Grenada, January 31; Porto Ref',
J al. °t. Thomas's February 4, I hreti 1' DI ; Honduras,
4itirrY 18; Fayai, February 18; Nassau, January 15;
thi,_ al Febru,..ry 3; Jacmel, January 28; Santa Mar-
, ,i,:th; Grey Town, 17. h.
obi: Medway brings on freight 116,669 dolls. mer-
40841:account; 406,759 dolls. in silver bars; 356:158
`Alai • Lin gold dust, and in gold bars; 1,940 dolls. in pla-
,/26',162/. in British coin; 351 serous of cochineal;
sea to of Indigo; 1,6801 in pearls and emeralds; 162
stspi cigars; 53 bales of .ara,ipaiills; 82 packag.
01
which 23 contain specimens from Barbadoes,
lidueld4d, and Havunnah, for the Ezhibiti,n. Total
223 a.)28 i-4.4:mei° l'B, •1481; ditto of cargo, 45,1801. Total
,/.

JAMAICA.
ttioZe dispatch of our correspondent is dated up to the
sc:l3t of the departure of the Conway from Kirgston.
Aitridid not leave that place from Havantoth until the
neg of the 27th January, and left for St. Thomas's
noen.tue prevent mails at three o'clock the same after•
tiott-tha when the Conway left Jamaica, the mails from
were olpeon of the 2d January had not arrived. They
ibeguti°Teutarily expected in the Great Western. The
iseetee-ell'enee felt at their non-arrival was great, and
/fh-1 generally complained of in the colony.
Tes„.? Legislature met pursuant to adjournment on
levribuel' the 14th January, and adjourned on the fto.le-
choleg-hfor another month in consequence of h.
-"" Prevailing in bOO3O districts, and the conse
Itieut
ion or inability of members to leave.
441;t„hl°tigh thli4enenidemic had subsided in most parts of
,„auds still it had not entirely disappeared. In
tettile-er. one of the north side parishes, it raged. fear.-
ke,..e. and had tu1..0 off fully one-fourth of the inhabi-
t' ,/,`Tof Lim) the principal town of that district.
"e t't f'R b John Mac for the forery
ria o
..ritild notes, which we n?ticed..inpherson our last summary of
183atck news, took place in Kingston on the 17th and
tchnanuary, occupying two full days. The jury were
g unable to agree to their verdict, but
of a'irged' beim- rds made public stated that ten
liment afterwards
I:the
Other two maintained a profound silence, refusing to
40tress an opinien—at least one unfavourable to the pri-
aie7--and would not assign a reason for their extraor-
-44%7 conduct. The prisoner is remanded in custody
sizes": to take his trial for the offence at the next as-
?ere., when it is positively stated. the Crown will be pre-
the em With much additional evidence against him, al-
islet a' portion Of the press, and the public of the
nee s . generally, declare there is no doubt of the priso-
the ; guilt. Very considerable interest. was, excited by
vet aet of Mr.Macpherson having previou
inly occupied a
1/07,,Preminent and respectable position public life.
of fil,Olds a, seat in the House of Assembly for the parish
pr„e Andrew; but the constituency were taking steps
%tie, Tinary to calling upon him to resign, and Mr. Jack-
tion tgorotse.mber of the House, has given notice of his in-
. le e"rlog the subject before the House.
took untested election for a member for St. David's
ton, Place in that parish the day the packet left Kings-
,i‘AT.rhe result. we not known, Kingston.
41111) Wl°Na or HER MAJESTY 's SHIPS. -Her Majesty 'e:
14-Chi ;4641. Vice-Admiral Dundonald.Commander..
; uta,xlett-nttas at Trinidad with her Majesty's brig Sappho._.
Proceed Cochrane, on the 31st January, and would
a Court - a few days for Port Royal, J.amaice, to hold
ste.me..,sinooartiv on Commander D' Ve: of her Majesty's
shin „,P xible; at Port Royal, her Majesty's
Lieute-
b beet Captain Ramsay—Albeit
IlernaudetiTrd; at Grey Town, her steamer,Maesty's. schooner
Qoree, '-fieutenant Colly; her I.lliijesty s brig Helena,
oe tA7latider Li& ecurc
y, left St. Thomas for Port Royal
3d rebruar , her Majesty's schooner Scorpion,
LaurercY;, surveying off Tortola.
Zti‘°2l3
e5tt;1,,,,,0f the Company's steam ships—The Great
"letiee") uantain-Wolff, left, St. Thomas for the Gultf
out into nn the 25th January; the Avon, Captain Hat,.
a the .‘ee'el, for coals on the 27th January, and h- ft
seellt n-,.`B:th for St. Thomas; the Severn, Captain Yin-
fits Isft et.'ved at Sr. Thomas on the 24th January, and
as Ettt": Spanish Main; the Conway, Captain Woolley,
reenter. ''t• Tomas, awaiting the arrival of thed out
Itwei ;; the Eagle, Captain Wilson, was at Barba does,
apzt.,-;-g the arrival of the out-steamer; the Derwent,
()aglow, was at St. Thomas, awaiting the ar-
lih:',„„the out steamer.
os ,-,,utdreay reports that the Elizabeth Frith, of
Into F: Tv- Bradford, master, bound to California, put
derinfr—Yal leaky on the 12th instant; and on the
elh6th,
sad severe gale from N.W., parted from fouran anchors
elteknhllt, on the rocks, and has become a total wreck,
being 'ended in a damaged state.
(Pa
:143 E-; eoRDOVA'S MERCANTILE INTELLIGENCER.)
"ere, in ,4,7-• RE3IARKS.-13usineas generally has been
tleent;lich"ve since our last issue, and we have
regards.t,hte
. et ror fish, there does not exist any probabilityo
improvement, the market being glutted
ehas of
that
.has entirely prevented speculative. ptu.re-
feet No dealer could be induced to operate mh tve
at this a stock of such enormous magnitude as we a. 5
Dro 18 Moment on hand—a stock so excessively di -
hesPeortioned to the wants of the community, that we..
deetir,°o doubt the price of the article must eventually
din] .46
to a merely
cult! nominal figure. To increase t
it e, as under which the market at present labours,
,their g:llerally rumoured that further parcels are
theon
CturthaY hither, and that two cargos sent to
soon kelde having failed to find a market there, will
14; ue brought round to Kingston. In the,meantime,
quantities of the article are spoiling, and as they
dew naturally be sacrificed at auction, the regular
t %%bee" Will experience further difficulty in moving
the •-• Percels, even at
been in a more deplorable con-
hie ti• Dealers are even nowforcing sales in every possi-
ineotballoers fearing that a continuance of the reckless,
eel,toliderate shipments to this market will further in-
'net: theta in great and positive loss. All parties here
sigt„ltlffers whilst the miserably low prices which con-
eels 'fr are Compelled to accept to move even retail par-
the "a doing which they of course spoil the market for
-,„55nd hands) must occasion serious loss to shippers.
letio-'llnot too frequently repeat the fact, that our popu-
eXte,,tl), which was never at any period adequate to the
the of the colony, has been reduced by the effects of
ecd th eholera to the number of at least 25,000 individuals,
*hi consequently any shipments to this market
sateer,.3"all be in excess of the actual demand for con-
on
.ea, must, if they do not really entail seriousei,h logs
the
°t.eodn ",'PPers, be at all events unprofitable. sto;:,
tioilreoqtundsinntatatipsrese,ut in first and steeped hands, is 1,7 O.)
9,00 e 3, 700 boxes and 400 half-boxes, equal to about
'.xe 8 um are quiet, with large stocks.
centper rtNOltB ON LONDON.—COIOniaI Bank, 90 days, 1
Bo d Prete.; ditto 60 days, 14 per cent. prem.; ditto
per :Ye, 2 per cent. preen.; Jamaica Bank, 90 days,
sod ee". Prem.; ditto 60 days, 1 per cent. prem.; ditto
141184
Ysf r2ent. prem.—On New York: Merchants'
30 daya, per cent. prem.

'trang eff
at4:,..naidorts are rnaking in favour of a project
erable interest to shipping, especially colliers and
osnavigating the north -east coast of Yorkshire,
119
"4 C49124411Cti9A 9f 4 refuge hvilow 4t liedcar.

SPIRIT of the PUBLIC JOURNALS.
TlNlES.—Within a few hours ef the delivery of Lord
John Russell's statement to the House of Commons on
Monday afternoon another and a final interview took
place between his Lordship, Lord Aberdeen and Sir
James Graham. The result of this last deliberation was
the abandonment of the well meant attempt to recon-
struct an Administraion under Lord John Russell, with
the addition of some of the principal members of the
Peel Cabinet. Thus terminated the expectation faintly
expressed by the late Premier of recovering the political
position he bad just relinquished. Upon the announce-
ment to her Majesty of the failure of this combination
the Queen was pleased to desire Lord Aberdeen to
undertake the formation of a Cabinet; but this task was
respectfully declined by that statesman, on the ground
of the want of Parliamentary strength to carry on such
a Government. A second summons was then ad-
dressed, by her Majesty's command, to Lord Stanley,
who had the honour of an audience of the Queen
in the course of yesterday. It was generally
understood that the iailare of the previous com-
binations had removed some of the objections
that induced Lord Stanley to decline cffice on the first
occasion; and at the hour at which we write his Lord
ship is said to be engaged in the attempt to form an
Administration. As to the result of this attempt no-
thing definite will probably be known until after the ar-
rival of Mr. Gladstone, who is expected in torn from
the continent in the course of the morning. Such are
the events of the last twenty-four hours. It may cause
regret, though it can excite no surprise, that the plan
for the reconstruction of a Government, with Lord John
Russell at its head, should have fallen to the ground. In
the present embarrassing state of affairs, as long as there
was a possibility of carrying that or any other scheme
into effect, without passing through the trial and strife of
a Protectionist interregnum, we were prepared to give
such an Administration our sincere support, and we
therefore abstained from dwelling on the principal
vice of this combination. But we are now at
liberty to observe that the strangest of all quali-
fications for assuming the direction of a new Ca-
binet was that of having just wrecked its predecessor,
with no external cause of destruction. Lord John Rus-
sell was in a peculiar and personal manner responsible
for all that had occurred in the last few weeks. His
Durham letter gave intensity and political importance to
the anti-Papal agitation, and bred dissension be-
tween the Ministry and its Roman Catholic sup-
porters. He framed the Royal Speech in which the
phrase occurred that called forth Mr. Disraeli's all but
successful resolution on the state of the agricultural in-
terest. He was First Lord of the Treasury that pro-
duced Sir Charles Wood's Budget; and as the leader of
the House of Commons and of the Liberal party it was
his duty to ascertain whether an extension ot the suf-
frage was one of the measures required of his Govern-
ment. On all these questions the rest of the Cabinet
come in for a comparatively small share of the responsi-
bility; and had the Whig Government been conducted
by any other chief, it is extremely possible that none of
these embarrassments would have risen to importance,
or that they would have been more prudently dealt
with. Lord John Russell himself informed the House
on Monday evening that to him they were fatal.
This being the case, and his own position being
that of the deepest in the mire, it is strange that the ex-
Premier
should have been the sole representative of the
Whig party in the conferences that ensued. Those con-
ferences led to no result; but it does not seem to have
occurred to Lord Juhn Russell that they could lead to
none as long as he brought to them all the accumulated
hindrances and faults by which he has just forfeited his
late position in the House of Commons. They clung to
him like burrs, and it was too much to suppose that a
change of colleagues was to restore the exhausted capital
of the Prime Minister, or relieve him from the respon-
sibility of his own blunds re. Perhaps another
leader might have carried the Whig Cabinet success-
fully through the session ; perhaps another nego-
tiator might have entered into honourable alliance
with statesmen who bad laid aside all personal
considerations for the service of the ;country. Bin
Lord John Russell bore about with him the reproach of
wasted influence and diminished reputation. The task
he undertook was above his strength; for if it was diffi-
cult to maintain- himself in power, to reconstruct that
power, after it had slipped from his hands, was impos-
sible. We shall not on the present occasion pursue the
thread of the negotiation which Lord Stanley has now
consented to carry on, for we are not in possession of the
intentions or resources on which that Noble Lord's Ad-
ministration can be based Its existence is still a pro-
blem, not only to ourselves, but, we venture to add, to
those principally concerned in it. Whatever be the
result of this passage in the present crisis. Lord Stan
ley is, however, entitled to the full benefit of the fact
that the dissolution of the late Cabinet is not the result
of any act of himself or of his party, and that
he declined to attempt the formation of a new Mi-
nistry until almost every other combination had
been exhausted. Neither that nor any other con-
sideration can justify, in our eyes, the mad and mis-
chievous attempt to form a Government on Protectionist
principles for the subversion of the existing fiscal and
commercial legislation of the country. But if Lord
Stanley carries through this arduous task, and actually'
presents to the Queen a list of Ministers from the mi-
nority of the House of Commons, he must rise above the
faction which has clamoured with the Ilardwickes and
the Ca) legs, and ally himself once more with such a
statesman as Mr. Gladstone. lu,that case, what becomes
of the doctrine of Protection? Is a Government to be
formed under Protectionist colours only to give the last
mortal blow to a delusion from which that very party
consented to derive its supporters end its name? Or is
such a Government to appeal to the country without a
distinct recognition of its own reason of existence? It
is soon enough to believe such things when they have
already occurred, and we await the result which a few
days more must bring forth.
CIIRONICLE.—The information which yesterday
morning we exclusively published, that the task of form-
ing a Ministry was co.ce more confided to Lord Stanley
will have exicited an alarm by no means unreasonable
in every portion of the kingdom. A Government formed
by the acknowledged chief of the Protectionists will be
understood, both by friends and foes—whatever may be
the actual pr.;jects of the new Ministers—to indicate at
least a partial return to protection. The commercial
benefits of free trade consist not only in the absence of
burdens and restrictions, but in the confidence that the
present exemption will be perpetual. The vicissitudes
of trade proceed from causes sufficiently complicated,
and include a range abundantly wide, without further
embarrassing the calculations of the trader by ques-
tions as to the financial policy of a new and
suspected Government. The system which has
been introduced within the last ten years will
never be reverted; but it must not be tampered with,
nor brought into question. The name of Lord Stanley
is alone sufficient to entail the great evil of uncertainty
on the community; nor will his desertion of his party
and of their doctrines, as indicated by his desire to co-
operate with an able and it fluential advocate of free
trade, euffiee to re-assure the country. The alliance
which he courts is evidently unattainable. Mr. Glad-
stone was not one of the uewilling adherents who gal-
lantly followed Sir Robert Peel iu his difficuties without
heartily approving ot his policy. In 1845, he resigned
his oiliest !rom.a feeling of delicacy respecting the May-
nooth Bill, which, nevertheless, as a private Member. be
supported. When, in the foilewing winter, Sir B-hert
Peel formed his great resolution, only one member of his
Cabinet refused his adhesion. Lord Stanley resigned the
seals of the colonies. It became accessary to find a sub-
stitute who would not shrink from joining a snort-lived
Cabinet for the sake of accomplishing a great service to
the nation. As a cordial supporter of the new policy,
as a determined advocate of free trade, the new Colonial
Secretary fought at the right hand of his leader through
that long and arduous struggle. Until the Stanley
Ministry is formed and in office, we shall not believe in
its final construction. There are two difficulties which
ought to defeat the attempt at the outset—the one of
principles and the other of persons. He is either a
leader without a party, or the leader of a party which is
utterly impracticable. Even if he could secure Mr.
Gladstone's support, it is impossible that he can retain
the numerical strength which forms his only claim to the
rank of Prime Minister. In the far more probable event
of Mr. Gladstone's refusal to take office, it will be too
late for Lord Stanley to return to the phalanx in which
he has shown so marked a distrust. It we assume, how-
ever, that Lord Stanley will defy or overcome the innu-
merable difficulties of attempting to select his Ministry
from his own body, it is worth while to examine the
materials which he possesses for the construction
of a passable Cabinet. Mr. Herries, as the only
financier of the party, would, no doubt, become Chan-
cellor of the Exchequer, with the prospect of dis-
charging the routine of his duties decorously, according
to the traditions of a quarter of a century ago. Mr.
Henley, perhaps the most able of the Protectionists, is
entirely inexperienced in office ; and every
Cabinet
:Minister would have his business to learn, without
receiving assistance from a body occolleagues as igno-
rant of their duties as himself. Lad Hardwicke would
probably be placed at the head of the navy, as the
member of the party who is best acquainted with the
difference between the stem and stern of a
vessel; but
it may be doubted whether the service would find any
conspicuous advantage in the administration of naval
affairs by a rough and ready Post Captain of very
ordinary talents, who is made first Lord, because he has
broad lands to plough when he is tired of ploughing the
sea. There would be no small evil in the precedent of a
Cabinet so conspicuous for the personal mediocrity of
its members. Dull and common-place Ministers would
form no new phenomenon; but incapable individuals
are, for the most part, trained in subordinate
situations ; and their weakness is covered
and redeemed by the qualities of their abler colleagues.
The new Protectionist Ministers would be compelled to
rely on the permanent staff of their respective offices for
information as to the usual form of addressing a dis-
patch, or preparing a paper for the consideration of the
Cabinet. There is, indeed, one member of the party
.
who, whatever may be his faults, neither dull nor
common-place; but Mr. Disraeli will constitute one of
the principal difficulties which will encumber Lord Stan-
ley's arrangements. It is only by entire distrust of his
versatile colleague, that the expectant Premier's eager-
ness to secure the services of Mr. Gladstone can be ex-
plained. It is easy to understand the reasons which
might induce Lord Stanley to wish to dispense with Mr.
Disraeli's assist tines; but the hopeless mediocrity of the
rest of the parity makes it impossible to reject his preten-
sions, unless he is replaced by an abler substitute than
any member of the Protectionist body. It is well known
that Mr. Disraeli has never been liked or trusted by those
who have followed his _guidance. Many attempts have
been made to shake ofthis leadership; but the Spooners
and Newdegates were too hopelessly unavalable to
supplant the unpopular orator. It is principally, we
believe, for the purpose of checking his ambition, that
Lord Stanley would secure the alliance of Mr. Wad-