The Sun.
London, England, 1857-04-07 00:00:00

LONDON, TUESDAY, APRIL 7, 1857.

St. Paul's—" Every one would suppose, from his
manner, that he was playing at chuck-farthing with
human happiness, that he would giggle away the
Great Charter, and decide by the method of tee-totum
whether my Lords the Bishops should retain
their seats in the House of Lords !" Yet Viscount
MELBOURNE, acting thus, though he did, through-
out his public career, with the " eternal and

wearisome affectation of a political roue,"--was
a Prime Minister, nevertheless, who has left a
reputation stamped upon the History of his
Country as a Reformer ! He has not only left a
reputation as a Reformer, but beyond that he has
the glory of descending to Posterity, as the Politi-
tical Mentor of one of the most liberal-minded, one
of the most constitutional, one of the most en-
lightened, one of the most patriotic, and one of
the most beloved of English Sovereigns.
If the country, then, has passed well through
the Premiership of Viscount MELBOURNE, it may
reasonably hope to bear, without detriment to its
interests, the Premiership of Viscount PALMERSTON.
There is reared up about each of these notabilities
the same "magnificent fabric of levity and gaiety."
Each of them has in turn seemed to affect' (as PETER
PLYMLEY Expressed it in regard to the former) " to
play with kingdoms as other men play with nine-
pins." Cupirl, in his youth, with the generality of
wags—Viscount PALMERSTON, in his later years, has
boon designated by " Boz" the greatest of all wags
—what ? why, in consideration of the aforesaid
"levity and gaiety"—the First Lord of the Jokery
Yet the country looks to Lord PALMERSTON at this
moment, confident of finding in him—a Refortn-

ing Prime Minister ! The Country so relics upon
this, that it answers his appeal by returning a
Mini,terial House of Commons, comprising a vast

majority of Reformers Reformers as well as
Palmerstonians ! It will not be deceived in its

anticipations. The light-in-hand young Barnacle,
the touch-and-go young Barnacle, with his hat
rakishly cocked on one side as he sits loungingly
upon the well-padded
.cushions of the Treasury
Bench—is sofar "upto a thing or two" that we may
be quite sure of it he won't disappoint us ! With
such a House of Commons. He will prove himself
to be what the country counts upon his being--
A REFORMER. He is too clever to let slip the
golden opportunity. He knows perfectly well

what it is, precisely, that is expected from him--

and ho will act accordingly—especivlly seeing that

if lie so act, the coveted tenure of office is his

assuredly for the rest;of the term of his natural

existence !

A Reforming House of Commons oars--wo
may be sure we shall ti.ill that we have a Rt:-

forming PALMERSTON !
And have wo not a Reforming Parliament ?
Look at tho Ministerial g;-tins as contrasted with

the gains of the Opposition..

Look at the former

gains even among the coon`

constituencies

Look at the extraordinary number of " Old Mem-
bers," rejected here and there all over the country
in favour of New Candidates !" Close upon Otte
Hundred and Fifty whose names will no longer
be glorified in Lod ! And out of that " Hun-
dred and Fifty," about Eiyhty of these men re-
jected because of their vote in Mr. COBDEN'S not-
able Majority ! Nobly has the country responded
to Lord PALMERSTON, It remains for Lord

Our Constitution is remarkable for such won-
derful Elasticity, and for being balanced at the
same time in such an exquisite state of Equili-
brium, that it is something astonishing the Shocks
it can endure with the most perfect impunity.
A General Election, as marvellous even as the one

which is just now drawing to a close, is nothing
to it—affects it not in the smallest degree preju-
dicially : rather, for that matter be it said, bene-
ficially, wholesomely, invigoratingly ! Rendering
the Representative System, ANLEus-like, all the
stronger, as a Guardian to the Constitution, every
time it touches the ground—or, in other words

every time there is an Appeal to the Country !

A circumstance not so very surprising, however,
when it is borne in mind how much more serious
than any General Election upon record, have been
the shocks endured, without detriment to it, by the
British Constitution—shocks sustained without

any perceptible strain to its elasticity, or any ap-

preciable jar to its equilibrium. For example :
Ms not England survived, before now, the Pre-
mierahip of one whom the Member for Bucks
once wittily designated the "Arch Mediocrity 7"

Has not the Executive in this country

been presided over, ere this, by a personage
whom SYDNEY SMITE defined thus wisely and

humorously, saying of him, that " Everything
about him seemed to betoken careless desolation,"
insomuch that—wrote the Rabellaisian Canon of