The Sun.
London, England, 1859-06-18 00:00:00

combination of the same brilliant colours after a
vigorous shake of the political kaleidoscope.
The Coalition Cabinet constructed by Lord ABER-
DEEN in the winter of 1852 numbered exactly
fifteen. The Coalition Cabinet constructed by Lord
PALMERSTON in the summer of 1859 has one more,
namely, sixteen altogether as its full compliment.
Among the few administrators whose names do
not appear, however, anew in the latter combi-
nation there is, first of all, Lord ABERDEEN him-
self, who is thoroughly used up—nobody wants
him. Then there is the venerable Marquis of
LANSDOWNE, who latterly only had a sea t in the
Cabinet without office, but who now prefers to be
divested of even this partial responsibility. The
Earl of CLARENDON for somewhat different reasons
withdraws for a while at least from official life—
until the Conspiracy to Murder Bill, and one or two
other little trifles of the like kind, shall have lapsed
from the public recollection. Sir JAMES GRAHAM
again appears to have a'greater relish for the otium
cum dignitate of the back benches, than for that
toiling and moiling which would be inevitable
upon the assumption of a place in the front ranks
of the Treasury. Loid CRANWORTII, moreover, con-
tinues to enjoy his pension as ex-Chancellor un-
disturbed—while death has long since deprived
the public service of the many rare qualifications
for practical statesmanship combined in the philo-
sophic intellect of Sir WILLIAM MOLESWORTH.
Otherwise glance down theist of the present and
of the former Coalition Cabinet and the names in
each are positively identical. There, eonspicuous
even among his eminent associates, appears Vis-
count PALMERSTON—in 1852 Home Secretary, in
1859, in power as First Lord of the Treasury.
There, too, is Earl GRANVILLE—then Chancellor
of the Duchy of Lancaster, now Lord President of
the Council. There the Duke of NEWCASTLE, who
under the Premiership of Lord ABERDEEN
was successively Colonial Secretary, War
Minister, and Scapegoat—but destined now, we
will hope, under Lord PALMERSTON'S Premiership,
to be Colonial Secretary exclusively. There is Sir
GEORGE GREY—but yesterday, as it were, so high
in office, as one of the chief secretaries of State,
now honourably (?) shelved at the head of the
Duchy of Lancaster. There, Mr. SIDNEY HERBERT
in 1852, Secretary at War, now Secretary for War.
There, Lord JOHN RUSSELL—six years back Presi-
dent of the Council—now, Secretary of State for
the Foreign Department. Sir CHARLES WOOD, in
the Palmerstonian Coalition, as formerly in the
ABERDEEN Coalition, presides over the affairs of
Hindostan—in 1852, at the head of the Board of
Control—in 1859 as Her MAJESTY'S Secretary of
State for India. The Privy Seal, under both Ad-
ministration, is held in the grasp of his Grace the
Duke of ARGYLL. In both Coalitions Mr. GLAD-
STONE occupies the difficult and responsible office of
Chancellor of the Exchequer.
Several admirable changes, however, impart
considerable additional strength to this new
Coalition, as compared with its predecessor
of six years since. It is but fitting, it is in
a manner but in obedience to the dictates of
practical justice, that the luminous historian of the
Lord High Chancellors of England should, in his
turn, also assume supreme judicial dignity, as the
last, and not by any means, the least of England's
Lord High Chancellors. His Grace the Duke of
SOMERSET has yet to prove himself as admirable
an administrator at the head of the Board of Ad-
miralty, as Sir SAISES GRAHAM has undoubtedly
shown himself to be, both in the conduct of our
maritime affairs, and as previously at the head of
the Home Department. While Sir ' GEORGE
LEWIS may enhance as chief of the latter depart-
ment, the reputation he has already acquired by
his management of the Exchequer under Lord
PALMERSTON'S previous Government. As Chief
Commissioner of—how is it called ?—Public Works,
Woods and Forests, Parks and Palaces—we are to
have one of the ablest of the Peelites, Mr. CARD-
WELL, who occupied, in the last Coalition Cabi-
net, from December, 1852, to February,
1855, the Presidency of the Board of Trade, but
without, as now a seat in the Cabinet ! The
latter office having been now set aside for the
reception or refusal of the emancipator of
Trade generally—in other words, the great apostle ,
of Free Trade Principles, RICHARD COBDEN, soon
now, we are glad to think, to be enrolled, as he
ought to have been long since, among the ranks of
her MAJESTY'S Privy Councillors as Right Honour-
able. At the head of the Poor-law Board will
appear the former Vice-President of the Board of
Trade, from July, 1846, till April, 1848—one of the
very few wranglers of Cambridge who have
achieved for themselves in later life any eminent
reputation—MlLNEß GIBSON, the right hon. mem-
ber for Ashton-under-Line. The supplementary or
sixteenth Cabinet Minister is the noble earl (very
soon now we sincerely hope to have him designated
the noble marquis), nominated to the office of Post-
master General—JAMES BRUCE, eighth Earl of
ELGIN (a little while longer surely and we shall
have to write it—and first Marquis of ELGIN), but
just now returned to England, after having opened
up, by two successive master-strokes of diplomacy,
the hitherto isolated and recluse empires of China
and Japan. While; however, the enrolment of Lord
ELGIN upon the list of Lore PALMERSTON'S
Coalition Government is recognised as an extra-
ordinary and notable accession of strength to the
new Administration—it is a very general matter
of surprise, at the same time, that an office so inade-
quate to his powers should have been awarded to a
statesman whose eminent reputation is recog-
nised as of an elevation and a magnitude, rendering
him eligible in the popular regard even to
the Premiership. It is a source of almost equal
surprise to us, indeed, that while Sir CHARLES
WOOD should have been deemed worthy of nomi-
nation as Indian Secretary, and Sir GEORGE LEWIS
as Home Secretary—Sir GEORGEaG GREY E should
of th
have
e
been contented to settle down t the head
Duchy of Lancaster, and Lord ELGIN in the posi-
tion merely of Postmaster-. General.
Altogether, howbeit, it were nothing lessthanan
egregious absurdity not to recognise upon the instant
the strength, the genius, and the capacity comprised
within the broad scope of this new and most re-
markable Administration. If but true to their
principles, if but true to one another, if but true to
themselves—a, Cabinet so formed, a Cabinet com-
bining together such large experience, a Cabinet
containing within itself such extraordinary ad-
ministrative capacity, might, even with the small
majority apparent upon the late division, defy for
almost an indefinite period all the arts of the most
skilled and united Opposition. The real weakness,
the only weakness of the Coalition PALMERSTON
Government is in truth its excess, its absolute super-
abundance of strength in administrative capacity
and elevated statesmanship.
It is like working the state-engine at a high
pressure ! The danger is, we fear, rather that of an
explosion—than of any ordinary breakdown from
a want of " go," of power, or of energy. We can
only wait,, and see how it really works. Hop-
ing, above all things, that my ;Lord PALMER-
STON, as the State engine-driver, will look
well to the safety valves of mutual concession and
conciliation. Then in that case, but hardly °the.-
wise, JOHN BULL may with perfect equanimity, and

" with a will," give Or e national starting signal,
" All right,"—adding, a ven it may be at a timely
hint from Mr. Buiciir r, the ',bolder incentive of
BROTHER JONATHAN, " Go-a-head!" Particularly
we would hope this wht In the time arrives for the
Parliamentary train beir ig shunted on to the new
' line upon the broad guage of Reform in the Popular
Representation, JOHN BULL, however, has yet to
give the signal "All rigl it !" JOHN BRIGHT has
yet (at least in the Houstt of Commons) to give the
other bolder signal, " Go- ahead !" They are only
now, as it 'were, getting up the steam, making
ready for the start. When the moment for the first
move comes, then shall we fi'v our part add with
all sincerity and independer Lee—En avant ! Bon
voyage! Then shall we trust hopefully to the last,
even should it be, as the saying is, " against hope,"—
that the dreaded explosion may be spared to us
even though we are working the State-engine thus
daringly at high pressure—with half a dozen sup-
plementary stokers upon it—the driver entrusted
with its guidance the while being remarkable above
all things for combining in his nature the dash of
a stripling and the unhesitating confidence of a
vigorous and vivacious septuagenarian.