The Sun.
London, England, 1861-05-29 00:00:00

STON. As was emphatically said of the Premier '
years ago by one having authority to speak in the
name of the people of England, inasmuch as he
himself has been declared by the severest of all his
critics to have been the greatest Member of Parlia-
ment that ever lived—as was truly and strikingly
said of Lord PALMERSTON by Sir ROBERT PEEL,
"We are all proud of him." Never was
panegyric more eminently well deserved. And this
is now, if that be possible, more than ever the na-
tional sentiment in regard-to Lord PALMERSTON.
We are all of us still, without any pretence what-
ever, cordially and earnestly—proud of him. He is
in himself one of the noblest epitomes of what we
exult to think are among the most conspi-
cuous of the national characteristics. And the
Premier's age lends, as it were, the crowning grace
to his many radiant gifts as the Leader of a Party,
as the foremost of our Administrators, as the re-
sponsible chief of the Government. Against Lord
PALMERSTON, we do conscientiously believe, that
there is not any feeling whatever of antagonism in
the heart of the Opposition. When his Ministry
falls to pieces, the blame of its disruption will never
be attached to the Prime Minister individually.
As indicative of what are the real causes of peril
to his Cabinet, the ugly breaker now visible a-head
may be regarded as perfectly sufficient in the way
of illustration upon that point ! To-morrow even-
ing the House of Commons will be called upon to
decide, for once and for all, whether the Paper
Duties shall be abolished after the Ist of October.
Supposing the decision of the majority of the House
to be perfectly satisfactory upon this point, sup-
posing the Commons to decide affirmatively, to
declare again positively that the Paper Duties shall
be abolished at the time stipulated—well and good,
the risk will have been passed through at the cost
of a deplorable delay it is true, but still delay or not
delay, it will have been passed though in the teeth
of a very formidable Opposition. But—supposing
the result of the next Division to be the very re-
verse of this, to be distinctly adverse to the
revived notion of the Paper Duties abolition—and
this remember is possible, nay is more than pos-
sible, is really and truly probable [it was a matter
of exceeding probability, of all but certainty, on
Monday evening had Mr. KER SEYMER'S amend-
ment been pushed then resolutely to a division]—
supposing we say, and it is not such a very extrava-
gant supposition under the actual circumstances of
the moment—supposing, for the mere sake of argu-
ment, that Clause Four of the Customs and Inland
Revenue Bill should be struck out of that bill in
Committee—what would be the inevitable
consequence ? Why, it would quite plainly be
an alternative whether Lord PALMERSTON should
Appea! to the Country, or at once tender his
resignation, and that of his Ministerial colleagues,
to his SOVEREIGN. For the which alternative the
country would have to thank, not the rashness of
Lord PALMERSTON, but the obstinacy of his Chan-
cellor of the Exchequer. Let it not, at this crisis
in the fate of the Liberal party, be for one instant
forgotten that, but very shortly indeed before Mr.
GLADSTONE made his last great Budget Speech,
the Premier had himself distinctly and delibe-
rately assured a deputation, connected with the
paper duties, that there was not the slightest
probability of those paper duties being interfered
with in any way for another year at least. Yet
almost upon the very morrow of that positive
declaration from the lips of the Prime Minister,
Mr. GLADSTONE insists, first of all in the Cabinet,
and then in the Comm ins, upon forcing this parti-
cularly "vexed question," without any further
delay whatever, upon the consideration of both
Houses of Parliament. Supposing he succeeds
after all in carrying his point, in spite of the
original indifference felt in its regard by his poli-
tical chief and by not a few of his Ministerial
colleagues, in spite of the resolute antagonism of
the Opposition in the House of Commons, and
finally, and to crown all, in defiance of the irritation
of the House of Lords in having this bitter pill
crammed down its throat without the flimsiest
gloss of gilding upon it-L.well and good so far, it is
true, though so much of the session will have been
cmisumed in pushing the fortunes of an overloaded
Budget. Yet—in that happy contingency—it must
doubtless be allowed that Mr. GLADSTONE will
have especial cause for self-gratulation. Supposing,
however, as we have said, that the result should
turn out after all to be exactly the contrary of what
he has all along been anticipating—upon him, far
more than upon his political leader, will devolve the
onus of the responsibility. Mr. GLADSTONE'S
will be the blame for the imperilling of the power
now held within the grasp of the Great Liberal
Party, for the jeopardising of the fortunes of Lord
PALMERSTON'S Administration. Even, then, how-
ever, with the worst come to the worst—there is
yet one other man, we will hepe,to whom might
be quite as directly applied the full meaning of those
words in which Sir JOIIN WALSH pronounced that
noble and well-deserved panegyric upon Lord PAL-
MERSTON, there is yet, at least, one other man, we will
hope of whom it may be said quite as truly that
he has the "head of a Statesman and the heart of
an Englishman." So that even supposing the
Paper-sail that has now been spread with so much
temerity by Mr. GLADSTONE'S hand should per-
versely carry the vessel direct upon that breaker
of an adverse division, we will yet hope and trust
that somehow or another means may even then be
found for carrying on her MAJESTY'S Government

'lke grumblers about the forfeiture of the
Galway Contract have got their answer from Lord
PALMERSTON. The O'DONOGIIUE took upon him
to ask whether it was the intention of the Govern-
ment to carry out the views of the Postmaster-
General, as expressed in a recent letter, and annul
the Galway Contract. Without a moment's hesi-
tation Lord PaLatEns/oR informed him that the
communication of the Postmaster-General was not
a decision of the Post-office, but was " the com-
munication of a decision of the Government."
Parties concerned could make any representation
they saw fit in regard to the communication, and
it would be for the Government to consider such
representations; at the same time he intimated
that it would be better to wait till the whole
cor-
respondence on
thee subject had been laid be
fore
house could of course better
ftohrem its house,
judgment
when
for The O'DONOGHUE, the
on the subject.
Rather cavalierly this
taken, on which hangs the fate of the Ministry, or
night but one before an Imperial division was to be
was right. Not only
ar
of this Parliament,
-
or of both; Let, as a matter of
policy, Lord PALMERSM
because the Galway
job, too, for
company was undeniably a
political job—a very costly
the nation, but because boldness was more
likely to serve his cause to-morrow night
than to injure it. ,g We've done right and we stick
to it" was far better answer than a long defence
full of evasions and concealments. That PALMER-
STON should "show no fear," is a very convincing
argument with many waverers, stronger than any
constitutional precedents, or financial calculations
about a surplus. If Lord PALMERSTON can uncon-
cernedly send all the Galway malcontents to Coven-
try the inference is he does not fear them. And if he
does not fear them, he has made up his mind to win ;
and then, why we may as well be on tho lambing