The Sun.
London, England, 1858-02-25 00:00:00

MA MINISTERIAL CRISIS.

(From the Morning Herald.)

From the moment of Lord Palmerston's defeat
and subsequent retirement from office forebodings
the most gloomy have proceeded from those who
desired to persuade the public that nothing but a
purely Liberal Administration is just now possible.
The Conservative leader's case was declared to be
perfectly hopeless, and all his efforts were conse-
quently derided. At one moment the noble earl
was stated to have encountered obstruction in this
direction, and at another in that ; and his failure
was predicted with that ready assurance which
fortunately is not always borne out by the result.
Probably the ingenious concoctors of such fallacies
Imagined, that because they were incredulous and
discontented, the rest of the nation must be in the
same unhappy frame of mind. Their sagacity is for
once at fault, and the obstacles and repulses by
which Lord Derby was to have been so speedily
overwhelmed and annihilated resolve themselves
into the idle coinage of the heat-oppressed brain.
This statesman's opponents feared lest he should
succeed, and they accordingly determined to repre-
sent success as illusive if not impossible.
From various quarters the new Premier con-
tinues to receive cordial and even unsolicited as-
surances of support. Those above the paltry pre-
judices of the hoer are unanimous in their opinion
that Lord Derby's appointment affords a striking
illustration of the popular principle of the
right man in the right place. If a statesman
who commands a clear working majority in the
Howe of Lords, and who is, moreover, at the
head of by far the most numerous party
in the lower branch of the Legislature, is not
the proper person to undertake the formation of a
Cabinet at this juncture, we would, with due sub-
mission, inquire in what direction, or in what
company, are we to search for the fortunate candi-
date f The Peelite section, as we have already
shown, have no rank and tile to second the efforts
of those chiefs, the heroes of debate, and the
country is not prepared for the rule of the Man-
chester clique. Could Lord John Russell, with
his ninety-nine followers, be expected to form a
strong government ? The member for London has
on more occasions than one manifested an unfor-
tunate tendency to unsettle and embroil, but we
do not remember a single instance in which his
interference has conducted to the restoration of
tranquillity, or had the effect of quelling the rising
storm. His mission is certainly not to heal differ-
ences, or to temper animosities ; he does not bear
the olive branch in his hand when he launches
forth into the political tempest, Far other aims
impel him upon his adventurous flight. Lord John
Russell is much more likely to create confusion, or
to break up a cabinet, than to rescue the state
from imminent danger, and to evoke concord out
of the elements of rife and contention. The
Durham letter, the Sebastopol committee, and
the Vienna Conferences rise up in judgment against
this weak and vacillating politician ; and the public
are only too glad that such a mischief-loving free-
booter of the Senate is not quite so powerful as he
might wish.
In 1852 Lord Derby gave proof of rare administra-
tive ability, and, although some of his colleagues
were untried men, the short session of four months'
u rat ion was remarkable both for the number and the
utility of the measures which it produced. Ne less
than 88 public acts were carried, and in the same
session 198 private bills received the Royal assent.
Such were the results achieved by legislators whom
the nation was taught to ridicule and despise.
Under their able direction the militia was organised,
the defences of the country were strengthened, and
five acts passed dealing with religion and the
Church. The law reforms, affected under the able
guidance of Lord St. Leonards, gained theapplauso
of members of all sections of the community. The
Court of Chancery was reformed, the jurisdiction of
the county courts was extended, and no less than
14 measures securing wholesome changes in the
law and the administration of justice were adopted.
Public works and the public health were not ne-
glected, and amendments in the laws connected
with the franchise and the representation of the
people were made with the most beneficial results.
A variety of subjects that we cannot now reca-
pitulate occupied the attention of these earnest and
vigilant legislators, and we shall not exceed the
truth by asserting that in every department of the
state the invigorating influences of their enlightened
rule were felt. The people perceived that they at
length possessed a Government, composed of able
administrators, devoted to the public service, and
determined at all hazards to fulfil the duties of
their high yet onerous posts. Nor was it only
in matters relating to home legislation that the
Conservative Cabinet of 1852 proved so suc-
cessful. With foreign powers the most cordial
good fellowship was maintained, and an alli-
ance between the people as well as the Governments
of France and England founded and cemented.
Though ridiculed and sneered at for his prompt and
open recognition of the French empire, Lord Mal-
mesbury persevered in cultivating a good under-
standing with France, and on his retirement from
office had the satisfaction of seeing his policy
adopted by those opponents who at one time affected
to treat it with disdain.

Over that Administration, the members of which
in so short a time accomplished great things, doing
the work in a quiet and an unobtrusive manner,
the present Premier presided. On this occasion
Lord Derby accepts office under much more favour-
able circumstances. The Conservative ranks have
mince 1852 received considerable accessions of
strength ; differences between them and the fol-
lowers of the late Sir Robert Peel have been re-
moved ; the Opposition is utterly disorganised,
being divided into various warring bands ; and the
fatal consequences of the forcible ejection of the
Conservative Cabinet in the winter of 1852 have
taught the nation a wholesome lesson. In politics,
as well as in everything else, honesty is the best
policy, and each party can justly claim fair play.
Had this principle been kept properly in view on
that occasion, the nation might have escaped many
perils, and grievous sacrifices would have been
avoided. The error committed in 1852 will not be
repeated. The Senate as well as the country are
resolved that upon its merits shall the new Ad-
ministration stand or fall. All irritating causes have
been removed, and everything seems to augur
a long and prosperous career. No one understands
better than Lord Derby the nature of the task
which he has accepted ; few could bring higher
abilities or purer intentions to the discharge of its
important and manifold duties. The words used
by the noble earl upon a former occasion are equally
applicable at the present time. In his place in the
House of Lords, on Friday, the 27th of February,
1852, Lord Derby concluded his explanation of the
reasons that induced him to accept office in thaw
memorable words :—" In the course of the dis-
charge of its duties no consideration shall sway me
except that which led me to accept it—the para-
mount consideration of public duty. With that
feeling on my mind, with the deep conviction of the
sincerity of my own motives, and trusting to the
guidance and the blessing of a higher power than
my own, I venture to undertake a task from which
I might well have shrunk appalled by its magni-
tude ; and, be the period of my Administration*
longer or shorter, not only shall I have attained the
highest object of personal ambition, but I shall have
fulfilled one of the highest ends of human being, if
in the course of it I can have in the slightest degree
advanced the great objects of peace on earth, good
will among men'—the social, the moral, the reli-
gious improvement of my country—and if I can
contribute to the safety, the 'honour, and the wel-
fare of our Sovereign and her dominions.'" These
are noble sentiments, in all respects worthy of the
brat Minister of England.

(Birmingham Daily Pre.m.)
Lord John Russell is pre-eminently the man fo
the situation.

to (Ediniurgh. Exp ress.)
If Lord Derby should fail form a ministry with
which he can face parliament, we are sanguine that
the task will be committed to
the hands of Lord J.
Russell, who, with Sir James Graham and the
leading Peelites and independent Liberals, occupies
a position that would enable him to deal with
the French Government in that firm and dignified
the manner
which alone will satisfy the opinion of
man
country.

(iYoraern Daily Exp ~us.
A few of Lord Palmerst on, )
s friends in the
einpirseters
hold by the opinion that the defeated
will
noon
speedily be recalled to
office.
Thy
~i,,11,.t
it _
or(The Northern, Whifj.)
throve quietly
1 j should h
connived atL own stn?def
wTe he thing is not at
an improvable.Palmeraton back I:l3llx,*,,iiatei must have Lord
(The Bri. k Y., d ; \
Were Lord Palmerstonj tchn
(1%41 i..,,. "all. 7
the es:mutt ;11ba
he began this time las -47, 'Pursue t policy
lion, he would again appeal °l.l
the Chineseh ciethat would only be to receive
mation of the decision of the House of a e°l„nc,fl,'
against him. The noble lord certainlyer '
like a rocket last year amidst splendid mounted
and sparks and loud huzzas, to come down this
year in darkness and solitude, very little noticed
and very like a stick. In whatever manner the
present crisis in ministerial affairs may turn out,
Lord Palmerston's career seems at an end. Be
may be pitied ; but he never will be, and pro-
bably never has been, respected. The defeat of
the ministers opens an entirely new prospect to
the liberal party, and will demand from them a
vigorous, wise, and comprehensive olicy, 1