The Sun.
London, England, 1866-07-02 00:00:00

Rumoured Ministerial Arrangements.

The Conservative organ announces this morn-
ing, on the whole still vaguely, but here and
there a little more definitely than hitherto, that the
Earl of Derby is making rapid progress in the for-
mation of the new Ministry, and there is no doubt
that the Government will be completed and the
writs issued on Thursday. With possibly one or
two exceptions the Administration will be composed
of members of the Opposition, and amongst them
will necessarily be found many of Lord Derby's for-
mer colleagues. The Premier of the two last Con-
servative Administrations will of course be First Lord
of the Treasury, and Mr. Disraeli will retain the posi-
tion of Chancellor of the Exchequer and leader of the
House of Commons. Lord Stanley will webelieve go
to the Foreign-office. It is not going too far to say
this is an appointment which men of all parties and
opinions have anticipated with satisfaction, and which
once for all disposes of that absurd panic of some
of our contemporaries as to the terrible effects
of a "Tory foreign policy." The heads of the
Military, and Naval, and Home Departments will
probably be as before General Peel, Sir John
Pakington, and Mr. Walpole. But new Cabinet
appointments will, we understand, be made, which
will undoubtedly give
.great strength to the Admi-
nistration, those of Lord Cranborne to the Presi-
dency of the Poor-law Board, and of Sir Stafford
Northcote to the Board of Trade. Mr. Adderley is
likely to resume his old position at the Educational
Board, and Mr. Ward Hunt will take office as
Financial Secretary. In all of these departments
Lord Derby has at least made choice of the right
men for the right place. There remain two very
important posts to fill up in the Cabinet, the Secre-
taryships of Ireland and the Colonies. But for
them as well as for the other vacant positions in the
Cabinet, and the subordinate offices, the difficulty
is not so much the lack of fitting persons, as
the difficulty of selection.
The Army and Navy Gazette says :—ln a strictly
non-political journal a Ministerial crisis can only be
commented on because of its effect upon the admi-
nistration of the two services. At the present mo-
ment it would appear that if Lord Derby forms a
Government it will be composed exclusively of men
of his own party, and in that event Sir John Paking-
ton as First Lord, and Sir John Hay as Secretary,
are mentioned as likely to go to the Admiralty, and
General Peel and Lord Longford to the War-office,
as successors to Lord Hartington and Lord Dufferin
respectively. But it is also rumoured that Lord
Longford is not likely to accept office, and in that
case Colonel Percy Herbert would become Under-
Secretary, it being considered rather an advantage
than otherwise that both the Parliamentary officials
of the department should be in the House of Com-
mons. We are bound to add that in the present
condition of the new Ministerial arrangements all
such rumours are little better than ingenioul guess-
work.

The Athenmuni, as the first paragraph of its
" Weekly Gossip" remarks—A change of Gov ern-
ment, though it has many inconveniences, brings
with it some advantages. Questions which have
been immovable, either from personal pride or from
official forms, are again opened. New men take
new measures ; and the answer once given is not
binding on the successor of the man who gave it.
Some of our readers will remember the long and
obstinate refusal of the old Whig Government to
abate any one of the hard restrictions placed on the
access of our historical students to the State Paper
Office ; also the ready grace with which Lord Stan-
ley and Sir E. Bulwer Lytton entered into the wishes
of the intellectual classes, and, after a little fight
with their subordinates, threw open the treasures in
their keeping. This great reform, which alone made
historical study in this country a reality, will be
always gratefully remembered to the credit of these
statesmen. We refer to this subject now, because
they have another golden chance of doing service
and winning distinction in the same literary field.
They may—if they please—put the great question
of copyright with the United States on a new and
sound footing. A movement has arisen in America
itself ; and this movement probably requires no
more than a friendly recognition on our side to in-
sure its success. The Whigs, it is thought, were un-
willing to meet and encourage this American effort,
on the ground of our pride not allowing us to take
any further steps. Surely, in a case where the in-
terests of all our thinkers and writers are con-
cerned, a Government office may accept justice
when it is offered, and put in a corner its own
offended majesty.

The London Review shrinks not from referring
thus sharply to the vexatious delay caused not only
by the Queen's premature absence in Scotland, but
by her Majesty's tardy return from Scotland : —ln
consequence of the unfortunate and ill-timed absence
of the Queen at Balmoral the Ministerial crisis has
been protracted to a very unusual, and for the public
service most inconvenient, extent. Had her Majesty
been resident at Buckingham Palace, Earl Russell•
might have made on Tuesday week the statement
which he actually made in the House of Lords on
Tuesday last. Had her Majesty been willing to
curtail by two or three days her sojourn in the
Highlands, the late Government might have
announced their resignation on Monday, instead
of being compelled to ask for a further adjourn-
ment, in order that they might have a personal con-
ference with their Royal Mistress. It is all very
well for the ex-Premier to declare, in courtly
phrases, that her Majesty is most sedulous in the
performance of the high duties of her station ; but
those are not the true friends of the Throne who
conceal from her that the events of the last few
days have left a very painful impression on the
minds of her most faithful subjects. After a seclu-
sion of four years, the country has certainly some
right to complain that the Sovereign should have
withdrawn herself from the metropolis at a moment
when her Government was known to be in difficul-

ties, and when the state of affairs on the Conti-
nent absolutely required that her constitutional
advisers should have the means of immediate access
to her presence. We do not, however, care to
dilate upon an eminently disagreeable subject fur-
ther than to express a hope that nothing of the kind
may occur again.

It is said Mr. Gathorne Hardy will be the new
Secretary for Ireland.

TIIE RIGHT HON. W. E. AND MRS. GLADSTONI4
left town on Saturday afternoon for Clieveden, on a visit
to the Dowager Duchess of Sutherland.
DEATH OF SIR ANTIWNY BuLLER.---The death,
was announced on Saturday of Sir Anthony Buller, who
many years ago obtained a high reputation as au Indian
lawyer and judge.
THE Duc DE CHARTRES.—On the authority of
the Patric and other French newspapers, the Paris corre-
spondent of a contemporary denies the "rumour" that the
French Government had induced King Victor Emmanuel
to refuse the services of the Duo di Chartres in the Italian
campaign. It is within our own knowledge that the
rumour is founded upon fact; the Duo do Chartres was on
the point of starting when he was stopped through French.
intervention.--Examiner.