The Sun.
London, England, 1858-03-08 00:00:00

unwarrantable pretension. " The sharp end of
the wedge " was thus permitted to be introduced,
and it has still continued to work its insidious
way. Again, Sardinia was approached, and
Switzerland was not spared. The former was
compelled to bring in a Conspiracy to Murder Bill,
such as that which was attempted to be foisted on
the British nation by the PALMERSTON Adminis-
tration, and even to propose to modify the
" trial by jury," to please the EMPEROR. While
Switzerland, to which he was particularly indebted
for former protection, when he himself was a
helpless refugee, has been required to place re-
strictions on political refugees, by insisting on
their residing in districts remote from the
, frontier!.

It is scarcely necessary to allude here to the
now celebrated WALrWSEI despatch, and the
unfortunate decision of Lord CLARENDON to per-
mit it to remain without an official anawer until
the British Parliament had affixed its seal on the
act of submission. A Minister determined
to maintain the national honour, would have
promptly replied, not an hour would have been
permitted to elapse until an answer had been pre
pared for the consideration of the irresponsible
Foreign Secretary. But the omission was capable
of misconstruction, and it was misconstrued, for
the people of France were induced to believe,
without any authorised contradiction, that
England was a den of assassins, where
the most atrocioua doctrines were publicly
preached and permitted to be " ventilated "
without the slightest difficulty. The passport
system for English subjects was likewise subjected
to very stringent regulations, the vexatious cha-
racter whereof is established by daily ap'plications
in the several police offices.
Austria, too, has been assailed, although it was
scarcely possible to accuse it of undue liberality.
It has been required that no adverse criti-
cisms oa the French Government should be tole-
rated, and that a journal which, although
generally favourable to " Buonapartism," had
admitted something displeasing to M. BOURQUENEY
should receive a solemn warning. The passport
regulations are also to be made more stringent, as
if they were not bad enough already. Austria may
obey, if it pleases, but surely it is time that
a determined resistance should be offered to these
petty innovations and usurpations, and that
France should be taught that, while other nations
abstain from any interference in her domestic
laws and regulations, they will not for a moment
tolerate anything of the kind on the part of a
foreign Power, which, if acquiesced in, must
eventually prove subversive to the national inde-
pendence.

We have au appeal to make to Lord DERBY,
quite as much we believe in his interest as in our
own. It may seem at first sight a preposterous
one, but we only ask of him and his colleagues in
the Lower House a few minutes' hearing. We
have always suspected some shuffle on the part of
Lord PALMERSTON in regard to Reform, and there-
fore are perhaps less disappointed than many of
our fellow-liberals at being put off till another
session. We do not think we ought to be put off
—but, when Lord PALMIRSTON promised us a
Reform Bill at nine months' sight, our reply was,
perhaps, if he be in office then—and soon after
we had to add—and if India and " the
state of public business" do not serve in place of
a Bill. It is pretty plain now how correct our
guesses were, and we have not a shadow of doubt
that had the late Premier not been turned out in '
re WALENTAKI, or in re CLA.NRICARDS, he would
have found some pretext for yet further shelving
the great national question. As we have said,
therefore, though all this procrastination from one
Icause or another is not the thing, yet we have
been less disappointed than others.
But now to our point. Lord DERBY is in
office. Lord DERBY wishes, we presume, to re-
main in office ; he does net wish his Government
to be, what Mr. BRIGET, in a quite friendly way
though, and with much more hostility to the PAL-
ILEIRSTON sham than to Lord DERBY, terms,
"an interim Government." He ought not to
wish it. We must think then that his only hope
can lie in making himself the " Minister of Eng-
land," not like Lord PALMERSTON and the "Happy
Family Ministry," the Ministry of the aristocracy.
There is, and it is useless for him to overlook the
fact, there is a majority of 100 who would not be
returned at another election but as Liberals.
They are bound over to stand by the liberal side,
by constituencies whom they cannot afford to
affront. Unless Lord DERBY conciliate them we
do not see how he can maintain his position. Mr.
GIBSON' is equally independent of him, of
Lord PAL:VERSION and of Lord JOIIN
RUSSELL ; and at some convenient oppor-
tunity he will not hesitate to move an
amendment on some Government proposal, or
some resolutions on Reform questions especially,
which will place the present Government in a
hopeless minority. Nothing can be easier. The
great Liberal party will think revenge sweet, and
will gladly unite on some well-drawn motion,
when defeat must follow.

We do not, then, see how Lord DERBY can re-
main in office, unless by accepting the necessities'
of his position. He told us in 1855 bow " in-
tolerable and galling would be the servitude" of
"being a Minister on sufferance," but he can only
reverse that position now by some frank and dig-
nified act, which shall give him a sure majority.
How can this be done—honourably done? We reply
that there are two great parties, not often openly
named, yet the only parties which the people care
about—the people-trusting and the people-dis-
trusting parties. A Minister who by his acts can
evince that he belongs to the former, may carry all
before him. For the moment, last year, in the
Canton affair, Lord PALMERSTON could trust the
people. He knew they would carry him through,
and his confidence in them won the day, though 1
he received a very general intimation that the
constituencies cared about Parliamentary Reform
as well as'about Canton. But to keep in power, a
Minister must show that he has permanent confi-
dence in the people. Lord PALMERSTON knew
that a dissolution, to justify not answering au
insolent despatch, and not requiring the " re-
grets" to be published where the Colonels' throats
had been published, would have left him, perhaps,
in a minority of the Members for Tiverton. He
could not now confide in the people—he fell.
Now, Lord. DRRBY may remain in power for a
time—how short or long no one can say—by
simply carrying out the work immediately before
him ; but if he means to keep in power, it can
only be done by some act of confidence in the
constituencies, which shall compel them to feel
that ho doe, trust thaetm as electors, and that he
After
of politi
has conferred a belle
never forget.
standard
the
deeply. political
people
„IQ
retain gratitude
Notwiths
misunderstand-
ings between Lord Jouri ica- 1
gratitude for past Reform
don at the last electionthem which they will
all, however low may be the
with placemen
their gratitude gratitude long and
the
ELL and the Libetais
Reforms returned him for
, and gives him still a
strong hold on the Country. He certainly does
not retain that hold, for any of his later deeds
and votes. Now, there is one great Act by which