The Sun.
London, England, 1859-04-11 00:00:00

that something should be done to allay the irrita-
tion of the Lombardo-Venetians, and to render the
Government more consonant to the views and
wishes of the people—so as to remove the chronic
irritation under which they have so long and so
naturally been labouring. Having decided
against making these much-required conces-
sions, it was just as well to avoid the Con-
gress, at which they would unquestionably
have been earnestly recommended, and under
the worst possible circumstances she would not
have to give more for the restoration of peace than
she would to avert war, and that a settlement after
a war would be final and conclusive, while one
before it would only lead to new and more
stringent demands.
The success of Lord JOHN RUSSELL'S resolution
and the danger of Lord PALMERSTON'S again
coming into power might also have materially in-
fluenced Austria in the unfortunate decision at which
she has arrived. The Cabinet of Vienna cannot
possibly repose the same confidence in the mode-
ration and pacific tendencies of the Noble Viscount
as they do in that of Lord MALMESBURY. They
fancy that he would be more strongly opposed to
them, and they are, therefore, disposed to precipi-
tate the crisis before the dreaded event should
occur, and Lord PALMERSTON again hold the seals
of office for the Foreign Department. The factious
Opposition were fully warned of the danger to the
tranquillity of Europe which they were incurring
by weakening Lord DERBY'S Government. They
were, however, reckless. They would not suffer
the bill to go into committee, where every requi-
site change could have been carried. They little
anticipated a dissolution ; scarcely thought that
the result of the division would be that they would
have to render within a brief period the ac-
counts of their respective stewardships, and perhaps
to forfeit the magic initials appended to their
names. The condition of Europe, the chance of
war, was as nothing in comparison to replacing
Lord JOHN RUSSELL in Downing-street, and ob-
taining a share in the " loaves and fishes," dis-
pensed with careful hand for their political suste-
nance. We trust that the electors in every
district will thoroughly appreciate the selfishness
and total absence of fair play which they have
displayed, and which will cause many of them to
bid " a long farewell to all their greatness."
Whatever may be the motives by which Austria
is actuated, she will be guilty of a very insane and
suicidal policy in forcing on the emergency and
flinging away the scabbard. It will deprive her
of the sympathy which she might otherwise have
obtained, notwithstanding her proceedings in Italy.
If she was willing that all points of dispute
should be submitted to a fairly constituted Con-
gress, with ample powers of arbitration, she would
have gained the goodwill of other nations, who
would scarcely have consented to witness any
wanton aggression on one of the Great
Powers of Europe. But she has thought
proper to assume the initiative, to become the
aggressor, to disturb the public peace, and all this
with a bankrupt exchequer which cannot defray
the national expenditure in time of profound
tranquillity. We shall speedily know on good
authority the real state of the case. But certainly
nothing can be more unfavourable than the present
state of the political atmosphere.

Eleven years have now now elapsed since that
memorable tenth of April, 1848, when all the male
adult population of London turned out into the
streets, baton in hand, to preserve Order in the
noblest spirit of Conservatism.
Within that interval of eleven years—in one
sense, how much—in another sense, how little has
been accomplished.
As to Parliamentary Reform, literally not one

inch has all this while been gained. And this
chiefly if not entirely owing to the apathy, or the
unfaithfulness, or the perverseness of the chiefs
of the . so-called Reform movement. During
nine of these eleven years last passed the leaders
of the Liberal party have been in power—during
those nine years they have had the Government of
the country entirely to themselves. For very
nearly four years after the 10th of April, 1848,
the Prime Minister was no other than the Whig
nobleman to whom the country has now become
indebted for the factious Resolutions, which, while
pledging himself and his party to nothing, have
plunged the nation into the turmoil of a general
election—it may be upon the very brink of
an European war! From the 10th of April,
1848—aspreviously up to that time from the 26th of
June, 1846—Lord JOHN RUSSELL remained in
power up to the 22d of February, 1852, as First
Lord of the Treasury, during (in all) five years and
eight months of a Whig, quasi Liberal, nominally
1 Reforming Government ! With the December of

1852 commenced the famous Coalition Administra-
tion, that renowned ABERDEEN Cabinet compris-
ing within it All the Talents, and ending before
it could be done with, in all the muddle and
confusion well imaginable. After the three years
of the ABERDEEN Cabinet, came the three
years of the PALMERSTON administration. Those
six years combined with the more than three
last years of Lord JOHN'S nearly six years Govern-
ment, make up the nine years rule of the so-called
Liberal and Reforming statesmen, to whom, since
the 10th of April, 1848, we are beholden for our
advance by not one single inch upon the path of ,
Parliamentary improvement.
It is surely an instructive consideration at this
moment, when upon the advent of the re-
nowned anniversary (the 10th of April, 1859), we
find the Parliament scattered back upon the country
upon the very question of its Reform, and this, too,
by the pseudo-Liberal Reformers themselves, led
on by their redoubtable Whig leader, upon the very
eve, apparently, of the outburst of a disastrous war
upon the European continent!
Lord JOHN RUSSELL is Premier for nearly six
years—for exactly five years and 239 days—be-
gining with the 26th of June, 1846, and ending
with the 22d of February, 1852 ! Lord JOHN is
nearly six years in all Prime Minister of England
—yet he quits office after that long tenure of power
without having effected anything at all in the
way of improving, or expanding, or reconstructing
the popular representation. Lord ABERDEEN, within
a month after the close of that Whig regime follows
suit with All the Talents—including among his col-
leagues Lord JOHN himself, the Duke of ARGYLL,
and the Duke of NEWCASTLE, Lord CLARENDON,
Lord GRANVILLE, Lord LANSDOWNE, and Lord
PALMERSTON, Sir JAMES GRAHAM, Sir GEORGE
GREY, Sir CHARLES WOOD, and Sir WILLIAM
MOLESIVORTH, the Right HOTI.:SYDNEY HERBERT,
and the Right Hon. W. E. GLADSTONE—Whigs,
Peelites, and Radicals ! They all come in together
—and after two or three years' jumbled adminis-
tration, during the lapse of which the country is
drifted (thanks to them) into a frightful war
—they go
out, leaving Parliament still en
tirely unreformed,-
the representative system still
unexpanded and unimproved. Lord PALMERSTON
follows for three years with the pick of the Liberals
and Reformers, and when that boasted Adminstra-
tion in its turn collapses—Parliamentary Reform
is still left untouched, unadvanced by one iota.
And now, in the very year (1859) during which
at last-thanks to any one but aWhig, or so-called