The Sun.
London, England, 1857-03-16 00:00:00

nuate, no matt,,,r who the Stat Osman might be, his
remarks allw3ed to, or what the GovQrnment

No ; the Member for Finsbury was right —we
believe we ourselves have been all along
asserting that Lord PALNIERSTON'S Governmeut, ii
they really waut to avail t ierns.lves of Vle present
golden opportinity, must, in regud to their Mine

Policy, i❑ regard to tho whole series of problem

referring to the complex Question of Reform, go
to the country proclaiming, NOM evens chafige
tout cela ! At any rate, from Lord PALMERSTON
himself individually, we repeat, the Electors look

(and again we say not unreasonably) for a Politi-
cal Manifesto, giving to the world, leg,ibly in
black and white, a candid statement of the

Opinions and Principles which will guide, and
influence, and regulate the whole of the compli-
cated machinery of his Government.

A Manifesto which may be demanded all the
more reasonably now--when we have arrived at

the very evening upon which, through his prc,
wised Speech iu the House of Lords, the EArl o

DERBY is to make what may be regarded as a
formal bid for the Premiership I

Never has the necessity for 1 trge and compre-
hensive measures of Parliamentary Ref )rm seen
more powerfully demonstrated than during the
brief Session now rapidly drawing to a conclusion.
Noble Lords, Right Hon. and Hon. Gentlemen
have shown themselves utterly ignorant of the
wishes and opinions of the People--or profoundly
indifferent thereto. They acted as if a day o
reckoning could never arrive, as if their legisla-
tive tenure were permanent, in place of being of
the most fleeting and precarious character.
Every person of ordinary capacity, out of doors,
well know that public opinion was in favour of
the course adopted by Ministers respecting the
Chinese difficulty—could have stated that the
coalitionists were ruining their own prospects by
the factious vote they were about to record. But
in Parliament the temporary triumph was all that
was regarded. The majority scarcely imagined
that the act which they fondly hoped would hurl
Lord PALMERSTON from place and power, and bring
into the same Cabinet DISRAELI and GLADSTONE,
RUSSELL and COBDEN, would be the signal for their
own political annihilation, the sealing of their
death-warrants as public men ! They regarded
objects through Parliamentary glasses, which pre-
sented them in a very different point of view from
what they appeared to the naked eyes of the
people. They bad many favourable grounds for
opposing the Government, and had they
only
given Sir G. C. LEWIS sufficient rope he would
speedily hare rendered himself and his colleagues,
according to the expressive Hibernicism, " past
praying for." But they permitted the golden

opportunities to slip unnoticed and disregarded

They made no decided effort for the amendmen

of the Bank Charter Act, but permitted Sir G. C,

LEWIS to "pack his Committee" to his heart's

content. Parliamentary Reform was passed, in like
manner, with scant notice. And although there was
a sharp contest on the budget, weak points were
slurred over, and the real battle took place on mat-
ters of which the public thought but little. And,
finally, all their strength was concentrated on the
point when Ministers had not " a slight convenient
intrenchment in the distance," but au impregnable
fortress—guarded and supported by national en-
thusiasm and public opinion. It was a grave
mistake into which they were betrayed, and we
already find sundry members of the party makin
whining appeals ad misericordiam g
, declaring that
they were not aware of the consequences of their
vote. We cp,n forgive one of the members,
and
one only. Mr. WILLIAM WILLIAMS, the Member
for Lambeth, has made economy and retrench-
ment his guiding stars. His Tote, although a
grave mistake, was unquestionably honest. It