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

SUN,

of Lord JOHN RUSSELL, has been throughout the
" Popish question," both Mr. GLADSTONE and Sir
JAMES GEABAM dissenting from any interference
with the ecclesiastical government of any religious
sect.

A meeting of the members of the Whig Adminis-
tration was held this mcrning, at eleven o'clock, at
the residence of Lord LANSDOWNE, in Berkeley-
square. Lord JOHN RUSSELL, Lord PALMERSTON,
Earl GREY, the CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER, Sir
GEORGE GREY, and all the other members of the late
Government, arrived punctually to the hour. The
meeting lasted one hour, but, of course, what trans-
pired it was impossible to learn. AU we can say
is, that as soon as it broke up Lord LANS..
DOWER drove off in his carriage to Buck-
ingham Palace, to have an audience of
her MAJESTY. Lord JOHN RUSSELL remained
at Lansdowne House with one or two of his
colleagues, while the others speedily departed.
Sir G. GREY and the CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER
were observed leaving Lansdowne House arm-in-arm.

There can be no doubt that whatever arrangements
may ultimately be arrived at, they will not be sutfin
ciently matured by this evening to enable Lord JouN
RUSSELL to make any definite statement to the House
of Commons concerning the new Administration ;
we think we may therefore be justified in saying
that his Lordship, on the House resuming to-night,
will request a further adjournment of a few days.

Lord LArispowNE's interview with her MAJESTY
was only of short duration. No definite intelligence
respecting it had reached the clubs at the hour of
going to press.

Perhaps equal difficulty has never before been ex-
perienced among English statesmen iu the way of
forming an Administration. Usually, on the retire-
ment of a Prime Minister from office, his successor
has at once been detected in the acknowledged
leader of H. M. Opposition. Very different is
the result of the recent resignation. Three Mien-
MONDS in the field were nothing in comparison with
the aspirants for Ministerial authority starting for-
ward immediately on the fall of the Whig Plan-
tagenet. As the most decidedly antagonistic to the
policy of the late Cabinet, the policy of the Protec-
tionists was not unnaturally looked to in the first
instance as the probable sequel to the downfall
of the RUSSELL Government. People turned, as it
were, spontaneously, to observe the conduct of the
brilliant and daring chief of the Country Party, in an
emergency offering such unexpected opportunities to
the furtherance of his ambition. They were curious
to see whether the Rupert of Debate might not
prove himself equally the Roland of Administration.
Had he but discovered among his political associates
mei; qualified in audacity to participate in his
chivalric enterprises, we might have found he
country by_ this time committed to the hazard
of a Government actuated by the prin-
ciples of agricultural monopoly. Unfortunately
for. Lord STANLEY, but fortunately for the empire,
his overtures to his quondam colleagues and his
hitherto supposed associates viere promptly and em-
' phatically rejected—Mr. GLADSTONE evincing as
decided en objection to share in the mingled dangers
and gloriei`.of .the undertnking 'as Viscount CANNING
did at thi instant bf its suggestion. After cherishing
'his 'hopes to the list monied of uncertainty, the
leader of the Protectionists found himself de-
serted 'by his principal, followers, and driven
reluetantly to < the Uecessity of announcing
his incapacity to form an Administration.
The obstinate and even stolid incredulity betrayed by
the underlings of the faction at the first intimation of
this failure was an amusing corollary to their vain-
glorious boastings and their ultra-braggadocio predic-
tions. Never were men more miserably chapfallen.
TAPER looked bewildered, and TADPOLE the very in-
carnation of disappointment. All the clubs of the
party were panicstricken by the news of a result so
opposed to the prophecies indulged in by their
self-confident journals of the same morning. White's
got a fit of the blues, and the Conservative
found a difficulty in conserving its equanimity. By
this time they are managing to put a little better face
upon the matter, assuming an air of indifference in
regard to a misfortune shared in by Lord STANLEY
with the Premier of the ex-Government. Enjoying,
as we may be permitted to do, the heartburning
provoked by the contention for power, and with power
the enjoyment of so many inestimable perquisites—
we must still view with profound solicitude the diffi-
culties more than ever in the way of drawing a Cabi-
net out of the abyss of the crisis, or, at any rate, the
difficulty of constructing one at this moment of a
naqtre calculated to resist the assaults of opposition.
Embarrassing as the situation indisputably is, we
are yet very far indeed from looking upon it as alto-
gether removed beyond the grasp of statesmanship.
True it is that the future First Lord of the Treasury
will have to satisfy the raging appetite of an almost
countless number of applications for legislative and
administrative measures—some of them of the most
contradictory kind imaginable. He will find himself
dragged in one direction by the anti-Papal
feeling of England, and in another by the
pro- Papal enthusiasm of Ireland. The necessity for
retrenchment will be forced upon him to the defiance
of all rational contradiction, while urgent demands
for the maintenance of our forces, and generally
speaking of our establishments also, will be entirely
removed out of the pale of denial. He will be re-
quired to sustain the revenues of the country, and
will be compelled to remit a large proportion of the
existing taxes. If he gratifies the Protestant ardour
of one portion of the United Kingdom, he will
inflame the Roman Catholic zeal of another. If
he diminishes the amount of imposts levied upon
the industry of the land, and thereby imparts satis.•
faction to the labouring classes, he will be compelled
to increase the imposts levied upon property, and
thereby estrange the feelings of its possessors. The
question, therefore, remaining to be decided by the
future successor of Lord Joux RUSSELL is this—
Whether he will be prepared to sacrifice his love of
ease to the ardour of his patriotism, or whether he
will show himself so fully impressed with the im

portance of establishing a liberal form of Gover❑

ment, that to the end that he may fulfil
this intention be will fling himself boldly into
all the perils reserved for the magnanimous statesman•
Administrators capable in every respect of occupying
this eminent positioa of responsibility England hap-

pily possesses at this moment—men distinguished by
their genius, their experience, their courage, their
probity, and their great 2+linisterial achievements.
To them the people are looking confidently as to their
ulterior rulers. From them the nation is patiently
awaiting the announcement of a policy capable of re-
ducing the present confusion to s,,mething like calm
and regularity—satisfied that with this object before
them they will dedicate their noblest energies to the
service of the multitude. Among the statesmen here
alluded to, we may enumerate the illustrious Secre •
tary of the Foreign Department, whose name has
become in a manner identified with the dignity, the
vigour, and the splendour of Great Britain—the dis-
tinguished Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland, whose ge-
nius as an administrator rescued that island from
the horrors of famine and insurrection and,
together with these, one of the most gifted Mi-
nisters of our generation, the statesman who
presided over the affairs of the Home Depart-
ment during the continuance of the PEEL Government.
From the union of men like these we might fuel
confident of obtaining a Cabinet worthy of maintain-
ing the power and the prosperity of England. From
Sir James GRAHAM we should receive the long-3e-
sired reforms relating to the currency, from Lord
CLARENDON the evidences at once of that energy and
judgment which are among the first requisites of ad-
ministration, from Lord PALMERSTON the sureties of
a perpetuation of British influence among the prin-
cipal races throughout Christendom. From all we

that abilities
might rest secure of one thing, namely,

of the very highest order would be devoted, with the

utmost energy, to the furtherance of the interests of

_ ....
the empire, and to the cultivation of. its political, so-
cial, and commercial deveopment.

A second report of the Committee on Legislative
Recognition of the Rights of Inventors, tends very
perceptibly to forward the principles ofjurisprwlence