The Sun.
London, England, 1858-03-03 00:00:00

LONDON, WEDNESDAY EVENING, MARCH 3,-iB5B.

To the ELECTORS of the COUNTY of BUCKINGHAM.
Gentlemen,
THE Queen having confided to the Earl of
D Tby the duty of forming an.administration, her Maksty
has been graciously pleased to confer upon me the office of Chancel-
lor of the Exchequer.
I resign, therefore, into your hands the trust, which for 10 year
you have extended to me, as your member in the Hog.° of Com-
mons; but as you have thought fit on several occasions to renew
that mark of approbation, I beg leave to announ e that on the day
of election I shall solicit the honour of being, for the fifth time, your
representative in Parliament. _

. - -
The circumstances of the country are, in many respects, critical ;
and in none more so than in its external relations. Painful miscon-
ceptions have arisen with the Government of that faithful and
powerful ally, who, in so many instances, has proved Ills good feel-
ing and fidelity to this country. Believing that a cordial alliance
between England ai.ci France is equally conducive to the interests of
both countries, I shall express Illy hope and conviction that by mea-
sures, at once firm and conciliatory, these causes of misunderstand-
ing may be speedily and entirely r m ved.
II the country will heartily sup,ii,rt the Queen's Government at
this conjuncture, a result s desireable for the peace and progress of
Europe will be greatly facilita:ed. Believe me, yours sin xrely,
Grosvenor gate, Feb. 26, ImsB. B DIARAELI.

LICKS COUNTY ELECTION.—The
tulluw-
iJ lug gentlemen have signified their determination to promote
by all constitutional means the RE-ELECTION of the Right Hon.
BENJAMIN DISRAELI as member for the county of Buckingham,
and trust the electors generally will give him their hearty and
earnest support :
Barrington, the Hon. Percy, Westbury Manor
Bent, John, Esq., Woxham Lodge
Bernard, Thomas T}riugham, Esq., M.P., Winchedon Priory
Broadhead, Rev. George, West Wycome
Box, Philip, Esq., ;'adelive
Chandos, Marquis of, Wotton
Cooper, Sir A.stley Poston, Bart., Gadebridge
Clayton, Rice Richard, Esq„ Hedgerley-park
Cameron, Donald, Esq., Hampden House
Chetwode, Rev. Geo., Chilton ilons
Cartwright, Colonel Henry, M.P., Ov;ng House
Chester, Rev. Anthony, Chicheley Hall
Du Pre. C G., Escr., M.P , Wilton-park
Drake, Thomas Tyrwhitt, Esq., 'hardeloes
Duncombe, P. D. Pruncefort, Esq., arickhill Manor
Dauncey Philip, Esq., Little Horwood
Evett, Rev. Thomas, Prestwood • '
Fuller, Benjamin, r.sq., Chesham
Franckiin, John Esq., 'Anton
Greares, Edmun , Esq., Haversham
Higginson, Lieutenant-Gtneral G. P., Great Marlon'
Haunter, Colonel, Stockgrove
Harvey, Robert, Esq., Langley-park
Harvey, Robert Batesou, Esq., : .angley-park
Hall, General, M.P., Weston Colville.
Hamilton, Captain, Thame-park
hale, John, Esq., Cliesham
ilibbert, John Nembhard, Esq., Chalfont-park
- Mare; Joseph, Esq., Wendover
Knox, Colonel Brownlow, M.P., London
Lowndes, William, E,q, the Bury, Chesham
Lowndes, W. Selby, Esq, Whaddon Hall
Lowndes. E. Selby. Esq, Winslow
Lovett, Philips Cosby, ti:sq., Liscombe
Lowndes, William, Esq, jun , The Bury, Chesham
Lowndes. R. W. Selby, Esq, Bletchley
Lucas, Major, Newport Pagnel
Lovett, Moses, Esq, Aylesbury
Mansell, John Christopher, Esq, Cosgrove Hall
Morgan, George, Esq, Biddlesden
Newman, John, 4 sq., Brands House
Nugent, Sir George. Bart, Bill-street
Freed, W. Backwell, Esq, Tyringham
Pennington, William, Fern Acres, Fulmer
Ctrl tton, J. Locke, Esq, Turweston
Stone, W. F Lowndes, Esq, Brightwell
Stone, John, Esq, Westu. urne-terrace
Stone, Edward, Esq. Wotton, Underwood
Turner, Samuel, Esq, , ;ray's-inn, Loudon
Vyse, Colonel Howard, Stoke•place
keham, Herbert, Esq, Tyt• srhg
Williams, Rev James, Tring-park.
Committee-room, leorge hotel, Aylesbury, March 2, 1853.

THE LATE MINISTERIAL DEFEAT.

(From the Times.)
The debate of Mon ?ay evening forms a new and
important scene in what we must pronounce a
strange pelitical drama. Here are a dozen Eugs
ltsh gentlemen of extraordinary powers. and addresi
who have passed their lives, some rather long ones,
in the face of eosiety, at the head of affairs, on he
graudest arena iu the world. Such men are com-
monly supposed to be able to take care of them-
selves, and to require little sympathy of the
milder sort, and scarcely even candour. In this
instance they have been laid under serious imputa-
tions, affecting even their courage and patriotism,
and have be: n visited with the heaviest penalty
their country could inflict on the worst or weakest
Minister. Now, suppose such men to be really
innocent of the charge, it might be expected that
the truth would flash out at once,. that the vi' tims
of calumny 'could speak trumpet-tongued; that
they would immediately, with one consent, stamp
every act and circuinsiance of the affair on the
minds of all within hearing, even while the false
charge was hovering over their heads, and before
it could descend. If such men can justify them-
selves, who, indeed, can ? Are men who for many
years have proved themselves capat'de of governing
this empire, and controlling far and wide the des-
tinies of mankind, to descend to posterity or the
tomb like the feebler victims of private aspersion ?
Is Lord Palmerston, is Lord Clarendon no better
than the poor creatute whose character for honesty
has been slandered away at a tee-table SerionelYs
to judge from the last month, one might almost
suppose so.- Or, if this solution be impossible, one
might suppose these pillars of the State suddenly
seized with that monomania not uncommon in the
weaker sex at a certain age, when they purposely
incur suspicion in order to render themselves
objects of in-es-est, and refuse to be exculpated,
that some day they may be heroines of a grand
justification. Never did innocence come out so
surely and so slowly. Substantially, in the eyes of
angels, if they take interest in such matters, these
men are more than guiltless of the charges brought
against them. They have acquit ed themselves
nobly. May we always have rulers as alive to the
character and honour of their country ! They have
thrown back every base insinuation, every ill
constrectien, in the face of their accusers. But
why did all this remain to be done ? Why need
such men be driven to the shif%s of the virago who
stuns a lane with the proofs of her integrity ? Why
was the suspicion ever incurred ? Why not re-
moved at once ? It is true, all candid men must
confess--we give in our unresolved adhesion,
our late Ministers did take instant and effectual
steps to represent to Napoleon 111. and his Minis-
ters the nature of our "right of aeylum," the
Weßi Bill waslso see no re
suggested by
jealousy with which we guard it, the danger and
folly of any attempt to restrict it, the impossibility
of so alter ng our laws as to proceed on suspicion
taonddorUbciitgttset
enoo ptooruisetyii.a'c' y
the actual attempt at assassination, eoy the
French Government, and that therefore it ought to
be taken, as it has been taken, on its own merits.
Have we not now subscribed all that im required of
us ? But where he need of so much pother ? There
ought to have been none.
It has taken a whole month to eliminate the
truth ; but a truth there now is, as sub,tantial, as
di'tinct, as undeniable, confessed, as the pre-
cious result of the chemist's long toil, after earth,
air, fire, and water have cent: ibuted their several
ordeals. Tie) truth is, Waleweki's despatch ought
to have been answered without a day's delay more
than was unavoidable, and with another despatch
precisely the same in form and kind. The reasons
assigned by Lord Clarendon and others for
not answering it may serve to show the diffi-
culty and delicacy of the task, but they prove no
more, and what are Foreign Minis.ers and diple-
niatisits made for but to surmount, not to avoid,
difficuries of this sort It is too evident that one
fatal idea ran through all that was done on our
side. That was to manage the difficulty without
meeting it face to face ; to do it quietly, privately,
irregularly, and itresponsibly, as between one man
or one household and another, not as between
nation and nation. It was not so done on the aim.
side. The French G,)verement made a public,
direct, and very bluff appeal to our country to do
something, the immense difficulty .of which none
knew better—none had Letter reasons for knowing
—than the very persons who made it, who com-
manded it to be made, who wrote- if, who laid it
before the British Minister. Merely to enlighten
the authors of the appeal on the difficulty of
modifying our law of a=sylum, anticipating con-
spiracy, tracking suspicion, nipping enterprises in
the bud, and banishing marked characters from our
shores, would be a waste of instruction verging on
the burlesque. Yet this was all that was done—
well done, done with spirit and ability, no doubt ;
but it was al. The French despatch was utilized,
promulgated to all the werd, made national capital,
accompsnied and intersreted by manifestoes, to
sober English judgment very similar in tone, from
Ministers of State, high functionaries about the
person of the Emperor, public holies, and military
officers speaking in behalf of their regiments. We
quite concede to Lord Claret:don, strati, we must add,
to Lord Derby, th in order to make allowance for
the language of these manifestoes we ought, if
we can, to put ourstives in the position of the
French. But that does not alter, or hide, or
diminish the fact that this prodigious national
demoustratton was made, and that it was sanc-
tioned, pointed, and thrust home to England by a
despatch read to our Foreign Minister, and pub-
lished in the Moniteur. Hardly could we imagine
an appeal from one nation to another which more
required to be met wi h at least the same
gravity and solemnity as those with which it was
made. In private life it is net permitted to a man
to meet an open appeal otherwise than by an open
response; and all attempts to whisper it off would
place e man in an uncomfortable position. So it
must be in the dealings of one State with another.
But this idea of Privacy, of management, Sas
dtrectness, personal interpretation, and hiding the
difficulty frern one's own eyes, pervades the whole
affair. Lei d Clarendon takes the French despatch
sentence by sentence, and elideaeoers to prove that
it really presented ne point for denial or objection,
and that it was not meant offence. As a
to • ive
fact, it did eive offence, we may g
say ih round terms,
to the whole British nation. It did this, too, in
spite of that truthfulness and cat eful weighing of
statements ascribed to it by Lord Clarendon, and
in spite of that pscur iar exactness and clearness of
phraseology claimed by the French press for all
their public documents. But who ever said that it
was meant to give offence ? Is it likely that, when
the Emperor and his Ministers were requiring us
to make or administer our laws with a view to his
personal safety and secure dominion, they would
go out of their way to give us unnecessary offence ?
Very few offences are meant to give offence. They
are generally for purposes which
would be imperilled
by offence, and which are best attained without
rousing suspicion or resentment Most of the
crimes that come before our courts would be done
not only under chloroform, but even with the con-
sent of the victims, if that were possible. Orsini,
did net mean to offend. He meant to kill. Who
wants to offend those whom he robs or defrauds,
those whom he slights, those whom be
puts wholly
out of the question, and wishes never to think of ?
Here was a series of manifestoes, confessedly y at the
expense of the British people, injurious to the
character of their institutions, and even touching
their security. Is it necessary to inquire whether
offence was intended I Yet Lord Claresson makes
it all turn on that question ; and, to settle it, has
recourse to the private, ex parte interpretation, of
the man he had to deal with—the French Ambessa-
dor.• Persigny was quite sure Wale
veski meant
no offence ! Why, then, not_ reply at once in a
despatch not meant to offend ? But the French
Minister earnestly deprecated a des
Patch that
might possibly give offence. Of Course, they de-
precated
a public reply of any sort, unless it came
in the form of acquiescence. It Was
a great coup
fer such men to deliver such a despatch at the
Court of St James and meet with no reply. They
had good reasons to avoid a controversy. But here
was the fatal error into which thine clever novices
in diplomacy drew our long-tried veterans. They
acted publicly themselves, and made us act pri-
vai ely. Unfortunately, they found in Lords Pal-
meiston and Clarendon two men who,
though de-
voted servants of their country, forgot on this
oci2asion that they were the Ministers of
a great
and constitutional Government ; that they had to
deal not merely with a Minister or an Emperor,
but with nations ; that it was an affair of public
_
act, not personal intentions, aad that when a mes-
sage of the gravest interest was once despatched to
of history, the
page
England, and written cn the
nation that received it was
as
who ood a judge of its
actual force as the Ministerhad sent it.
British people, and of
ha'f of this
Writing on be
principles which have been
those • eonst itutineal
impressed upon us by a thousand warnings, we can
on the admission of the late
only regard this affair,
Government, as a fresh proof of the necessity of
prompt, direct, open, and constitutional action'

under all circumstances. It is England's only chance 4
She has not that suppleness, that versatility, that
power of varying her tone to the convenience of the
hour, that are necessary in any other course. Eng.
land cannot send a public despatch and entreat. a
private answer. It is as much as her life is worth.
She is not Imperial. She has always managed ill in
the pleasant intercourse of Royal families. When
it comes to a persona 1 question she is grounded,
sure as fate. She has not that species of tact
which consists in getting on very cleverly in. a
wrong course. Tbis is no', mere flattery, for Eng-
land goes wrong sometimes, and when she does it
is with a vengeitice. But it makes one almost
doubt of personal identity to think of Lord Palmer-
ston and Lord Clarendon takiu g intentions on
trust as if intentions were the matter in hlud. Did

they accept the very innocent intentions of the
Emperor Nicholas! Have they not b,nli told us,
and told the French Government also, that t: e law
of our country cannot deal with intentions, I ut only
with overt acts ? We nyty consider intentions in
the case of an apparent inadvertence ; that is, we
may ask whether the act wiis intended or not ; but
when a man with time and apparent deliberation
does that which injures us we treat him much the
same, whether he be sane or insane. We put him
in prison—the longer if he be supposed incapable
of intention. This is not to punish him, but to
avert from ourselves a repetition of the injury. So
must State deal with State. It cannot scrutinise
what may be a matter of chance, a momentary
impulse, a panic, the fault of an inexpert writer,
any trifle. It can only de•tl with the act, and can
only do so before the eyes of the whole world, and
with its own character and destinies at stake.