The Sun.
London, England, 1868-10-31 00:00:00

LOIVDON, SATURDAY, OCT. 31, 1868.

CONSIDERED apart from the Irish Church Question,
the alternative now before the country at this Gene-
: ral Election is not by any means so clearly defined
as might be supposed by a superficial observer. In
one sense, of course, it is a choice between being
led, more or less in the serried ranks of party, by
Mr. DISRAELI, as Prime Minister of England, or
being led, in the same straggling order, by Mr. GLAD-
STONE ag the Head of the Opposition. But it
would be equally idle to assert that the two
sides are definable with any distinctness as—here
iiISRAELIANS—here GLADSTONEASS. Implicit obedi-
ence cannot in any event be expected, from the rank
and file of their supporters, either by the 'Premier in
esse or by the Premier in posse. Supposing, for the
sake of argument, that the enormous majority of over
two hundred at this moment confidently anticipated
by many for Mr. GLADSTONE, as the out-come of the
General Election immediately about to take
place throughout the three kingdoms his
embarassment then, as every one feels and
knows perfectly well, will be an embarras des
richesses. How long could even the most astute
leader hold together a phalanx so heterogeneous ?
If with a majority of seventy the harmonious
conducting of his party was a feat utterly
beyond the capacity of Mr. GLADSTONE to
accomplish—what can in reason be said of his
chances of success in that way, when the
seventy shall have expanded to more than
two hundred ? Why, the Cave of Adullam would
not be large enough to hold the probable se-
cessionists, the recalcitrants, the independents, call
them what you please ! On the other hand, in regard
to Mr. DISRAELI'S followers, or supporters, or what-
ever you may term them—it is a fact equally notori-
ous that among those also there are Adullamites of
another colour, "followers who won't follow," ac-
cording to the phrase of the right honourable
gentleman the member for Kilmarnock.
While to the left of Mr. SPEAKER there were men
like Lord ELCHO, and Mr. LOWE, and Mr. BOUVERIE
—to the right of Mr. SPEAKER there were men con-
fronting them like Mr. SANDFORD, and Mr. BERES-
FORD HOPE and Mr. RALPII EARLE. Nay, conspi-
cuously placed in the first rank of the Ministerialists,
there were Cabinet Ministers of the greatest
influence, of the highest powers, of the most for-
midable reputation, who preferred to throw up office
with disdain, rather than co-operate any longer with
Mr. DISRAELI, either when the right hon. gentleman
was still Chancellor of the Exchequer, or afterwards
when he rose to be First Lord of the Treasury.
Thenceforth, to all intents and purposes, Gen. PEEL,.
the Earl of CARNARVON, and the Marquis of SALIS-
BURY might be considered to have walked over to the
other side, one of them of the House of Commons,
the other two of the House of Lords. As for Gen.
PEEL, so absolute has been' his rupture with his party
that he prefers to withdraw altogether from public
life rather than run the risk of having anything
further to do with it, now that he considers it to be
so completely disorganised. While, with reference to
the two other distinguished seceders from the
present Government in the earlier of the two
phases of its existence, namely, while it was yet the
DERBY-DISRAELI, and before it had became the
DISRAELI Government—those two eminent and gifted
ex-Ministers, the Earl of CARNARVON and the Mar-
quis of SALISBURY —it is a fact, notorious
throughout the country, that so far from being in
any way sympathisers with the Prime Minister, and
his colleagues, and the ranks of the Ministerialists
generally, those noble lords are so diametrically the
reverse that they are about their most virulent and
and unrelenting antagonists. Insomuch that Lord
SALISBURY can hardly open his lips without sneering
sardonically, in season and out of season, against his
some time friend and colleague, Mr. DISRAELI. Inso-
much, again, in the other instance, that Lord CAR-
NARVON, time and again last session, indulged in such
audacious onslaughts upon the veteran chief of the
Conservative Party, the late Era; Minister of the