The Sun.
London, England, 1858-03-22 00:00:00

TBE NEW MINISTRY.

(Pram the Times.)
The country has certainly not got at this mo-
ment what is commonly called a strong Govern-
ment. Lord Derby could be put in a minority at
any time, or rather he is constantly in a minority,
and goes on from night to night by the forbearance
or support of his political adversaries. The mate-
rials for a strong Government, however, in the old

sense of that phrase, do not exist in the present
Rouse of Commons, and would probably, indeed,
not be found in any Parliament of the present
day. A strong Government meant a Government

which could reckon with positive certainty upon
carrying its measures in spite of any ordinary
opposition or unpopularity. The measures them-
selves were conceived in the Cabinet, produced
authoritatively to the house, supported possi-
bly by able speakers, but ultimately passed be-
cause they came from the Ministry rather than
because they approved themselves to opinion.
When the Government went a little too far, or
committed any serious blunder, or bad lasted long
enough to endow its opponents with the charms of
promise and novelty, it was put in a minority by
some critical vote, went out, and resigned offiee
to successors qualified for precisely the same
career. This is the theory, the idea, the picture
of Parliamentary Government according to the
views of our ancestors. There ought to be two
parties, and two only. Mr. Disraeli himself
has somehow demonstrated the impossibility of
forming a third. When one of these patties
sinks in the scale from error, imbecility, or super-
annuation, the other, by the necessary conditions
of tha political balance, should be found ipso
facto in the ascendant. The weakn ss of the
Whigs constitutes the strength of the Tories,
and conversely. Any Government " coming in"
ought to be strong, for the strength of a party is
relative, and it is because of its comparative weak-
ness that the other party has " gone out."
But all this is now changed. The theory, which,
like other theories, never exactly corresponded with
practice, has at length been upset altogether. There
are more than two parties in Parliament—more
than three. No Minister, either on one side of the
house or the other, can command so compact or obe-
dient a majority as to be exempt from risk of defeat.
If ever there could be a strong Government it might
have been looked for a year ago, when a Parliament
was returned giving a large majority to a particular
Minister on what might be termed a specially per-
sonal policy. Not only, however, was this Minister
defeated within a few months of his apparent triumph,
but it has been commonly remarked that the house
returned under these circumstances comprised an
unusual number of members claiming more or
less independence of all Ministers whatever. A
strong Government, therefore, seems impossible,
and, as things seldom become obsolete without first
becoming unnece-nary, we may presume tbat the
old attributes of Ministerial strength can now be
dispensed with. In point of fact, the result has
arisen not from one cause, bat from a combination
of many. It is not merely that the Reform Bill
—itself now likely to be repeated—transfigured the
House of Commons, and substituted independent
representatives for servile nominees ; Ala not that
statesmen have degenerated in that intellectual
power which gives personal ascendancy, for
we do not believe one bit in the legend...ry supe-
iority of the 18th century ; but society itself,
in its constitution and its functions, has alto-
gether changed. There is no longer that broad
distinction between professed politicans and ordi-
nary people which would qusltfy the former for
the absolute guidance of the latter. Great sub-
jects are discussed everywhere, and not first of ail
in a Cabinet. A Minister, instead of being ahead
of public opinion, is more likely to be in arrear of
it, nor does the fact imply any political deficiency.
It is natural that when a nation is well-informed,
wide awake, and active it should seize upon public
questions sooner, discuss them more freely, and re-
solve them mora summarily than can be done by
those who are charged with the responsibility of re-
due'ng ideas to practice. No Minister now-a-days
could take the country by surprise with a batch if
unexpected and magnificent measures. These lofty
functions of statesmanship are gone. All that
Lord Derby or any other Premier could possibly
do this session is well known, and, indeed, it is
impossible that be should do all that would he
desired. The " capital" of all political parties has
been discounted for the next three years at the
least. An enumeration of the Bills already be-
spoken would show good work for e Government
up to the end of 1860, and its duty, indeed, would
more probably consist in weighing, estimating, and
scrutinizing measures than in projecting them, and
in promoting true reforms, whencesoever originat-
ing, rather than is seeking for au uriginality no
longer to be found.
These remarks, if they do not help us to the
discovery of a strong Government, may show vs
the opportunities of a weak one. Such weakness
as Lord Derby's is not a desirable feature in Par-
liamentary administration, but the public can
afford to be less critical than statesmen in such a
matter. It is all very well for politicians of the
old school to require " men, not measures," and it
is better no doubt to receive reforms at the
hands of sincere Reformers than from men whose
natural or hereditary tendencies might lead them
in an opposite direction as soon as the pressure or
wig lance under which ihey were acting was with-
drawn. Excepting, however, for this suspicion the
views of the public must necessarily be directed to
measures rather than men. It cannot be a matter
of national concern that the sweets of office should
be the privilege of this political party rather than
that ; in fact, if Parliament government me ans party
government there must needs be more than one
party, and each party must have its turn. If the in-
terest s of the publicwere invariably made paramount
under the Whigs, and invariably neglected under
the Tories, we might repine at the interregnum
under which we languished, but no antagonism of
this sort is necessary or probable. There may now
be more than two sets of men, hot there is hardly
more than one set of measures. Lord Derby has
already. promised an India Bill, and one of the
greatest and grandest corporations in the word
will be extinguished by a party whose theoreeical
mission is the protection of all vested and corporate
interests against the expsn-ion of population and
ieteligence. He has not even repudiate.' a Reform
Bill, and after two such examp'es the public may
be at ease about Tory inflexibility.
We are not sure, indee I, that the public may
not in some respects gain by circumstances which
throw a Ministry upon popular approval, in de-
fault of Parliamentary support. A Premier who
cannot count upon a majority must count upon
something else, and the euhstieute can hardly be
found elsewhere than in the recognition of the
nation at large. Why shouldn't Lord Derby make
a bid for this kind of following ? A House of Com-
mons' so independent as the present would be
likely enough to go a good deal with the public ;
indeed, in proportion as it is less sworn to
this or that leader it must bympathize mere
immediately with the views entertained out of
doors. There is room for considerable improve-
ment in the way of patronage, and patron.
age is a point at which people look very
attentively. There is a subject of great urgency
in the sanitary condition of the army, and bar-
racks, we imagine, can be drained and ventilated
as well under one Administration as another. When
Lord Derby reviews, as he occasionally does, the
performance of his brief rule in 1852, we do
not observe that he claims credit for having ex-
emplified the traditional tenets of his party, or
that lie points to the inquiries he extinguished, the
" institutions" he saved, or the " vested interests"
be Protected from scrutiny. If we remember
l e a
rightly,llaes rather with complacency to the
reforms
heand d
his
the further s colleagues accomrlished, and to
progress they had designed. Nor does
this tell muchhagair
theca
their conSstency, for, in
reality, they had,
have now, no choice.
Under existing circumstancesey
reactionary, whatever
might
or pedigree. • If, e their political title
bno Ministry could be
however, Lord Derby and his
colleagues intend to take the linewehaveindicated,
and to prove themselves more "liberal" than the
" Liberals," they must recollect that there are
many natural suspicions to be overcome, and that
they must earn a title to Parliamentary forbear-
ance and popular favour by the promptitude and
is,
completeness of their work. As it they are in
a confessed minority both in Parliament and in the
cereetry.

Dilnning ."---.
Taos p lit 84:1't ---Inc.—An old man named
- nt0,,,,,,,d . saairram
at Blideilagoy i', 1° ills 71at
his wife, iiiealr Vietagomil::::;:::::kmeern,
traela'adb'
ery •
ration. The deem:Xi:it'd t:plai:oiret be' murderediabg
W. ife had borne had
b--11
a daughter, resided with tah7reorat ebilu,,,,,,manY years, and
inst , the dauhter, left bee fa:_, el:
and used taco sticks as crot2hes ' was v„,.lleth
corner. Se.sequerAly Mrs. Priteht:rild in.:ell°lll4'nel
times to the house of a neighbour named Attw:livttal
:Ttell;l::::97;vili)rd'
d
on the last °erasion she requested a woman who
and
present te go with her to her own dweLing. She lonkel
wild, and her hands were covered with blof
J.
The
woman being a;armed reit]; ed to go, but one o Atwell
daughters, accompanied by ber brother, went to the
house, and on crossing the threshold the o!d man was
found lying on hls back inFensible, end dreadfay
beatn about the face. He lingered till Saturday right,
and,reonvered sufficiently to state that bis %if, had Aud-
i. derAy attacked burn with the crutch-sticks, knockrd bin.' I
down, and afterwards poured bo I,ng wafer over him.
The woman has been since confi,led to her bed by N-
UM'S. I