The Sun.
London, England, 1857-01-14 00:00:00

THE PENINSULAR MAILS•

SOUTHAMPTON, WEDNESDAY, 91.3 G
The Madrid steamer, Capt. Bradshaw, has ar-
rived with the Peninsular mails, an dates from
Gibraltar to the sth Jan. ; Cadiz, 6th ; Lisbon,
9th ; Oporto, 10th ; and Vigo, 10th.
She hasl7
(value 30,0171.), and a cargo of fruit, wine, and
passengers, 33 packages of specie
general merchandise.
On the 9th of Jan. at .12.45 p.m., 22 miles
south of Burlings, passed the screw steamer Gibral-
tar, steering to the south.
At Gibraltar her Majesty's ship Curlew ; at Lis-
bon the same as reported by the Tyne yesterday.
Lisbon Exchange.—London, 52i ; Paris, 5.37 ;
Amsterdam, 41i ; Hamburg, 463/4 ; Genoa, 5.32 ;
paper scarce on London and few takers ; scarce on
the continent, but in demand. Stock-market dull.
Proceedings in Cortes devoid of interest.
sf. 33c. ; Genoa, sf. 34c.
which went Gibraltar Exchango.—London, 50i ; Paris,
sf. 31c. ; Marseilles,
oMrinosotfotfhtehe2s7haeiliadg
nslti shore in
again,inthe
wereon
with more or less damage.

MARKET NEWS.—(This Day.)

THE GOVERNING CLASS.

(From, the Times.)

The author of Eothen may always be sure of
commanding the attention, even when he fails to
obtain the suffrages, of a constituency. Nor will
his claims on such attention or the numbers of his
auditors be diminished when he takes for his text
the pleasing theme of the inferiority of the govern-
ing class to the persons whom he addresses. Facile
aped Athenienses Athenas laudare. It would not
be difficult for a less accomplished candidate than
Mr. Kinglake to excite sympathy and applause by
a profession which must appeal so strongly to the
self-love of his audience.
Mr. Kinglake's creed is thus enunciated I
am strongly of opinion that the high offices of this
country are mainly distributed among persons of
particular families, and belonging to a particular
class in society, without due regard to their quali-
fication for holding them. And what is the result ?
Why, that in a country abounding in intelligence
and business:like power there is always one firm
that is breaking down, and that is the firm of the
Government." And upon this theme Mr. King-
lake cEates at length. It is undoubtedly a taking
theme, and one that will afford immediate delec-
tation on the spot even if it produce no material
fruits in the end. It cannot be denied that our
rulers belong to a caste. They are not all chosen
from our Smiths, Joneses, Browns, and Robinsons.
The humblest English peasant may, if he so like it,
proudly luxuriate in contemplating the names of
the Dukes, Marquises, and Lords who condescend
to do his business for him. He is governed and
directed, and has laws made for him, by men
whose ancestors were lords when his ancestors were
Beefs. That is one phase of the picture. But
there is another phase. Among the "lordly"
class are men whose fathers were, not so very
long ago,
in his own position ; but, of what-
ever descent, the Lords predominate in the
Administration, and of the Commoners those
who fill the most prominent positions are of
lordly stock or lordly affinity. So far a case
is made out, aad it is one well adapted for the
basis of a sentimental grievance. But Mr. King-
lake has overlooked one point to which as a lawyer
he could not have been, though as a candidate he
might be, blind. The constitution admits of our
Executive being supplied only from the Legislative
body. We cannot give the Treasury to any leading
banker, or the Home Secretaryship to the first
country squire or provincial attorney that we meet.
The men who govern this nation are responsible to
Parliament, and must, therefore, sit in Parliament.
It is by their efficiency in Parliament that their
fitness for administrative posts is tested. If there
are more men of aristocratic birth in the Executive,
it is because there are more of that class in Parlia-
ment. Perhaps this is wrong, and to be regretted
and amended. But it is a fact. There is a very
large proportion of this class which came into the
House of Commons before the Reform era and has
continued to legislate ever since. Some of these
men remain in the House of Commons; others have
gone to the Lords. But, whether in the Lords or
the Commons, their long political career has given
an amount of political experience which must make
men who are willing to turn it to use almost indis-
pensable in forming a Government. If we admit
it as a grievance that these men are not selected
indifferently from all classes of society, we must
blame the constituencies, and not the constitution.
We may argue that the Lords ought not to mono-
polise an Administration, but we must admit also
that, if they devote themselves to public business,
they ought not to be excluded from all share in ad-
ministration. We do not wish--and we presume
Mr. Kinglake does not wish—to reduce them to
the condition of Spanish Grandees and Italian
frincipi. If the country wishes to be governed
by another class of men it must send another class
to Parliament.
But are we quite sure that, in such an event, it
would be governed better ? We are willing to
concede all that the most clamorous agitators will
tell us about the ignorance and incapacity of cer-
tain heads of departments. Of many of them—not
in this or in any one particular Ministry, but in all
alike—we can truly aver that they are singularly
unfitted for their special duties. Men whom occa-
sional business or official ties have made conversan
with the machinery of different departments have
hundreds of stories to tell respecting the wondrous
ignorance of their chiefs. This is all true. But with
a different race of men are we at all surtt of getting
a superior class ? Under any circumstances the
heads of our Administration must be, to a certain
extent, speakers and debaters. This is their first
indispensable qualification. Are the men of great
and solid acquirements sue of recommending tnem-
selves to the suffrages of the electors throughout
the United Kingdom ? Is a man of special and
profound knowledge and thoroughly qualified for
departmental administration likely to be always
equally well qualified for Parliamentary debate ?
Mr. Kinglake urges the reproach that ‘4 in acoun-
try aboundieg in intelligence and business power"
the Government should be the only firm always
breaking down. Now, it seems to us that recent
events give to this complaint the appearance of
irony. Certainly a retrospect of the last year does
not enable us to triumph in the superiority of com-
mercial integrity or counnerciel adroitness over the
integrity auu skill of the Government. The middle
classes of this country hare a vast field of adminis-
tration in their banks, railways, and joint-stock
companies. Knowledge, economic and iinanjal,
vigilance, method, and integrity are as indispens-
able on their part as on that of any Government.
Yet how often within the last twelve months—to go
back no further—how often have the most critical
difficulties and distress been caused by the absence
of these very qualities in associations created
and controlled by the mercantile classes ? What
reason is there for supposing that the government
of the country would be better carried on if it were
confided to the hands of such men as administered
the property of the Crystal Palace, directed the
management of the Great Northern Railway, or
originated that splendid institution of the Royal
British Bank ?

As long as we have Parliamentary government
we must be governed by Lords and .M.P.'s ; and
we are bound to say that, judging from experience,
the Lords are not the worst element of this kind of
government. To the discussion of great subjects of
public interest the Lords bring an eloquence, an
argumentative and critical treatment, and a novelty
of illustration which a four nights' debate in the
Commons does not often elicit. A debate in which
Lord Lyndhurst, Lord Derby, Lord Ellenborough,
and Lord Granville take part is far more interest-
ing than most which the Commons can nowadays
produce on the same subject, and whoever has had
to conduct business before them both will admit
that the Lords' committees are at least equal to
those of the Commons. We doubt whether any
change which the constituencies are like!y to make
in the composition of the Lower House will improve
the component parts of our Administration. Ever
since the era of the Reform Bill there has been, on
the part of the towns, a growing tendency in favour
of the aristocracy of wealth. The rich retired
tradesman, the cornfactor, the woolstapler, and the
provincial attorney are at present the ordinary
choice of the borough voters. We do not quarrel
with such a selection, but surely it would be depre-
cated by none more than by those of whom Mr.
Kinglake may be taken as a type—men whose high
intellect and fastidious refinement at the same
time qualify them for pronouncing on the merits
of the candidates for high office, and indispose them
to join in a competition too often soiled by an ig-
noble pursuit of self-interest, and an ignoble forget-
fulness of self-respect.