The Sun.
London, England, 1858-03-01 00:00:00

SAVE ME FROM MY FRIENDS !

(From the Times.)
A change of Administration in the present day is looked
upon with a strange mixture of vexation and not unpins-
ing curiosity. Political feeling is not so strong but that a
man may consider the mat* philosophically, and inquire
• into the good the cordmunWis like ky to receive eves. from
, the accession to power of an antispaOular party. Just at'
' the beginning of a promising .:session itis, indeed, rather
provoking to have the order of things disturbed, and to
know that the measures on which the country bad set its
heart—to say nothing of the necessary annual business—
will be neglected, delayed, or miserably huddled through.
On the other hand, there is the excitement of seeing new
men in responsible places, and forming conjectures as to
how far they will adopt their opponents' measures and
frame plausible excuses for doing so. In the present case
those who look on the whole affair as an amusing spec-
tacle will find more than the usual interest in watchieg
the change, for it is about as complete as any in our poli-
tical history. A Cabinet of old official stagers is succeeded
by a Cabinet of semi-novices. The names which we have
been accustomed to for so many years will be replaced by
others which we have associated only with fine
Opposition speeches, or popular novels, or the broad
acres of conservative magnates. The colleagues of
Lord Palmerston were veterans and something more ; most
of Lord Derby's friends have yet their spurs to win.' Had
it not been for their very poor performance in 1852, and
their singular obstinacy in adhering to their perishing
creed for the last six long years, learning nothing and for-
getting nothing, there would doubtless be a better feeling
for the new men at the present time, and theory for giving
them a fair trial would have been raised not unsuccess-
fully. As it is, they come iato power with no help but
from their own narrow party, and amid the expressive
silence of the political world.
Yet the Government of Lord Derby has certainly the
advantage of fresh blood. It contains many new men,
some of them of decided promise. The Lord Chancellor is
not, indeed, a great equity lawyer, but he is active and
able, with a fondness for legislation,
which, if diverted
from the task of tormenting Papists and Jews into a more
worthy channel, may be of excellent service to the State.'
Popular President of the House of
Lords and a dignified chief of the legal profession. Lord
Stanley is a man of ability and application; his opinions on
He is also likely to be a
colonial matters are those of the new school which Sir W.
Molesworth may be said to have founded, and he has taken
the trouble to subject them to the test of travel. General
reel is the new Minister of whom we can say least, because
we know least about him, but he is at any rate a new man,
and in a new position way throw offthe prejudices of his
class and profession, by which alone we have hitherto
known him. Out of the Cabinet there are several ap-
pointments from which the public may
hope something.
Lord Carnarvon is Under-Secretary for the Colonies, and,
though the school of "earnest" youpg noblemen has not
given us anything very extraordinary as
yet, still Lord
c-
, Carnarvon may be considered as a neophyte of very fair
promise. Mr. 11ardY, Lord Hardinge, and Mr. Sotheron
Estcourt may also be expected to learn their business, and
to add to the number of
politicians endowed with, that
much valued attribute—offiial
the Treasury and of the Admiralty are mostly new men of
character and ability. Mr. Cairns, the Solicitor-General,
is a Chancery barrister, who has won his way at an early
experience. The Lords of
ago to the first rank in his profession, and may look for-
ward to the highest legal destinies. On the whole, it must
be allowed that Lord Derby has agood selection from
the mass of his followers.- ma
e a g
What would not the Liberal cause have gained had any
Premier had the courage or the will thus to go forth into
the political highway and bring in th ,se whom his own
batter judgment indicated as the fittest men ! Even though
official experience might have bO, offended at the slight,
yet the choice of an occasional new man would have been
gratifying to the country, which would expect that some
originality and breadth of view would be the consequence
of the bold deviation from routine. But we are sorry to
say that the Liberal party has had no such good fortune.
1 Its constitution does not admit of it It is organised like
some Eastern race. The Whigi are its Levites, its B h-
iven to mankind to penes
ra.
mins, the hereditary possessors of all knowledge and the
3' have their traditions
guardians
cuhos fal
ages, ant owmihynistcteher :leer es
.8
V i 11
?T1
tthhge. It is only by long- c o n -
tin u e d iuvestigation that we are able to discover the prin-
, ciples on which they distribute aeace
and administer
affairs, and a discovery of this kind ought to rank among
the revelations of science. If we rnaY Venture to guess at
' one or two political laws which a series of observa-
tions seems to verify, we would
say that it is a
principle of Whig
he lives long enough, be put into every Cabinet office, and
that when a place
unexpected person from among those who are eligible by
having been something else before.
~_ Lord Palmerston is
i s vacant rule
it t h a i
t s
wisee v
every
to appoint the most
e man should, if
himself a man of energy, and
has ammn himself to be the
cause of energy in others, yet from want of will or power
he failed to deviate from the hereditary traditions. Three
years ago he took office, supported by the
Whigs, and by
Sir James Graham, Mr. Gladstone, and
Mr. S. Herbert.
The Radical Party held aloof, and soon the Palmer trio
broke from their allegiance. Since then Lord Palmerston
has been content to preside over the old Whig priesthood.
He has been something more himself than a traditional
politician, but he has been waling thathis followers should
be of the oil stock and the old type. Perhaps it is natu-
ral in a statesman of the late Premier's age to select men
to whom he has been accustomed during many years,
and
whose qualities he knows, not the least important of those
qualities being ' that they are not likely to thwart his cause it •
po-
licy ; but, from whateverarose, it is certain that
t
the late Administration counted more han the average num-
ber of men below the level of decent official ability. The
Chancellor, Lord Cranworth, has held his post for the term,
long in these days, of five years ; but the learned lord will
hardly be ranked high among
the woolsack.
With judicialhis decisions we have nothing
to do; but, since he has been benefited beyond any who
establishment the -
went before by the of
Court, the public had a sight to look for greater vigour in
which his illus.
those legal reforms of
the prosecution of
rs had settheexample.The first four yeas
predecesso
but little
progress I Progress made, and it was
A' his office passed with
sew loud in and
remonstrance,
of until the public voice g . .
took the matter in hand himself, that the two
the Premier
measures which superseded the Ecclesiastical Courts were
introduced and carried through in earnest. Lord Pan
mure is a Scotchman and a Whig; and ill both oapadtloll