The Sun.
London, England, 1857-03-25 00:00:00

reme" of 263 Parliamentary " atoms" in the lobby
of the House of Commons. Why, the people knew
all this by heart, perfectly, thoroughly, wearily—
till they were nearly sick of it ! Notwithstand-
ing which we have had it given to us all over
again in the Tiverton Manifesto from the very
beginning down to the very end of the chapter !
Viscount PALMERSTON, it is true, immediately at
the close of the Address—fearful, probably, that
a mere insipid rechattffge like this might, after all,
pall upon the political palate of the country—
endeavoured to impart a relish to this old hashed-
up " Feast of Reason" about Foreign Affairs, by a
slight flavouring of that delectable " Flow of
Soul," pleasantly alluded to the other day in the
City of London by Earl GRANVILLE, and popu-
larly known as " The PALMERSTON Sauce." Disap-
pointingly, however, as we intimated last evening
—of this delicious condiment, the Noble Viscount
in his Address has vouchsafed to the Country only
the merest taste in the world ! What Epicures
would call just a suspicion of it I Enough only to
give, as it were, a yet keener edge to the appe-
tite ! Instead of satisfying it whetting it !
What, in point of fact, is literally the " tottle
of the whole" of this flavouring of the popular
condiment ? Why, simply after a quite unnecessary
flourish to the effect—" Abroad it will be our
[the Ministers'] earnest endeavour to procure
peace, but peace with honour and with safety—
peace with the maintenance of national rights—
peace with security to our fellow-countrymen in
foreign lands"—and all that sort of thing ! After
a gallinacious flourish of that kind, we have the
assurance that—" At home our [the Ministers']
guiding principles will be judicious and well-
regulated economy, progressive improvement
in all that concerns the welfare of the nation,
the continued diffusion of education" and
all that sort of thing Sundry specimens
of those very " words, words" that old
Lord DIIBERLEY reminds us in the Comedy,

" butter no parsnips." Evidently the Prime
Minister, while permitting those words to dribble
upon the paper from his pen, was about as
anxious as Mr. SNAGSBY, in Bleak Rouse, " Not
to put too fine a point upon it." As the result
of which, we have not a single particular in the
way of a deliberate announcement of one soli-
tary Reform intended to be carried out by
Lord PALMERSTON'S Government. Only—this
is really and truly about the English of it—the
most vague and flexible generalities. Generalities
that may be contracted or expanded at pleasure.
But now comes the rather pertinent question—
At whose pleasure ? At the pleasure of the coun-
try or at the pleasure of the Cabinet 7 Briefly,
the solution of that problem rests at the present
moment with the Constituencies I

Our Premier is a clever fellow. Here we are
precipitated headlong into an election in a few
days, when a fortnight ago we had a vague notion
of plenty of time, and, but a few days back, were
told in a whisper that the dissolution was to be on
the 25th ; and now, by to-morrow, several nomi-
nations are to take place, and on Friday a
long list of candidates will state their claims to
the constituencies on the hustings 1 On Saturday
every effort was made to anticipate the decisive
—dong I—of St. Paul's—the messenger posted
from the Council Chamber at the top of his speed,
to get the City Election proclaimed on Saturday
afternoon, that the election might take place on
the Wednesday. But old Time would not wait
even for PALmEnsTox, and the fates of the Metro-
politan Five cannot be decided till Friday.

At first, after the "fortuitous concurrence"
vote, Lord PALMERSTON seemed inclined to point
to the DERBY model of 1852. Fuur long months
the Conservative Premier worked with a Parlia-
ment which could have outvoted him at any time.
For those four months Lord Dan most cleverly
occupied himself in passing excellent measures of
Law Reform which the Whigs had indeed ready,
but could not get on with. Lord PALMERSTON
seemed to intend something too—something to
efface the recollection of an " unfortunate con-
tingency" or two ; but did he really intend it ?
We rather think his present course was his de-
signed one.

Whether this was the case or not, it is clear
that it became the best one for him. The more
time was given, the more was heard of Reform,
and the less of Canton. The China business was
considered settled. Lord DERBY had tacitly
owned that the country meant PALMERSTON
to keep in. Lord MALMESBURY openly said
so ; Lord JOHN RUSSELL agreed ; COBDEN could
not help it ; PALMERSTON was seen to be safe, and
none need trouble themselves more about the
right man for finishing the Chinese business keep-
ing in the right place. But then began the real
PALMERSTON difficulty. The cry of PALMERSTON
and the Chinese war became almost inaudible,
but the cries of the " Suffrage," the "Ballot,"
"Church-rate Abolition," and even " the Prin-
cess Royal's dowry" became audible in propor-
tion.

This would not de. " The Tory Chief of a Radical
Cabinet" no more wants a Radical Parliament
than Lord DERBY "a Radical Cabinet." Such milk-
and-water Radicals as they are is quite enough
for him. A really Radical Parliament, or, what
is quite possible, ono in which that section of the
Liberals so far predominated as to hold the ba-
lance of his Parliament try fortunes in their hands,
was an appalling thought. It would never do to
repeat the LOCKE KING trick too often in a new
Parliament. A Premier regularly saved by her
MAJESTY'S Opposition could not loag carry on her
MAJESTY'S Government. Quick, then !—pro-
rogue—dissolve—writs out—writs served—all in
four hours ! Non-Electors I leave off looking out
for Radical candidates, take such as you have, or
such as Palmerston has sent you ; it's of no use
to worry yourselves about the Ballot and all that.
Don't forget the honour of your country's flag,
avd leave Reform tome and to Father Time.
Such seems to be the advice of Buckingham Pa-
lace practice, and the Tiverton Manifesto.

Our advice to electors is to imitate Lord PAL-
MERSTON'S practice, and to reverse his recommen-
dations. We'll leave the honour of our flag with
him. We know he'll take care of that ; but
we'll take reform into our hands, because we can
beit take care of that. The Tiverton Manifesto is
our warning ; that " ha'porth " of reform in such
a long story about the old settled Chinese business!
It tells 113 plainly enough where we must look
to, if Reform is to be looked to next session at all.
Not a word abcuit any single definite reform. We
really cannot find one known quantity. Lord
PALMERSTON gives us " well-considered Reform"
-1-x+y-l-z. Why, Mr. DISR A.ELI beat that ;
he had " honourable peac, redndion of taxation,
and social improvement." Lord J. RUSSELL had
several extensions of the suffrage, and a little
more too ; but our pleasant Premier—he can dis-
pense with all of it ; nothing in the world does ho
off,.r but such reforms as "change of times may
require ;" not even such as changed times do
require.

Electors, the; must interpret for Lord PAL-
MERSTON. They mutt change his mystic symbols
into known quantities, and translate his gene-
ralities into particulars. Lord PALMEESTON has