The Sun.
London, England, 1868-12-08 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

The Times' must congratulate Mr. Gladstone on the
rapidity with which he has got his men together. It is
put five days since he received her Majesty's commands to
!orm an Administration, and we understand that to-
morrow ('Wednesday) the Council will be held, at which
the seals of office will be transferred from the members of
;he outgoing to those of the incoming' Government.
Parliament, indeed, meets on the following day; and after
the House has been constituted by the election of a Speaker
►nd the swearing in of the members, the writs for the
re-election of the Ministers who have accepted office
will be moved. Mr. Gladstone's despatch is probably
inparalleled, and it testifies forcibly to the unity of the
iew Government. The jealous difficulties upon which
Lord Derby descanted seem to have been for the most
?art avoided ; and, indeed, the single instance of a con-
het of pretensions which has beeninenticned was repented
)f almost as soon as it arose. Mr. Gladstone has had, of
:ours°, the considerable advantage of not being obliged to
Ko outside his own party. The general election has
livided the House of Commons into two sharply-
lefined bodies—the one composed of the large majority
Dledged to support the policy of ecclesiastical equality
M Ireland, the other containing the minority who
xre opposed to it. Mr. Gladstone's allies in the Lower
Elouse necessarily come from the first body, and the great
ssue before the country has divided the House of Lords
with a line of demarcation equally distinct. But if Mr.
3ladstone had no need of an accession of strength, he
night well have been embarrassed by the superabundance
)f his recruits. Some of the most distinguished members
)f the Liberal party—men who have done excellent work
Before now both in and out of office—have to some extent
relieved this difficulty by foregoing their claims to employ.
ment, and the good feeling of others has done the rest.

The Herald holds that the new Ministry is somewhat
me-sided and one-handed in the disposition of its strength.
[n the House of Commons it has a large majority, which
right for some time suffice to cover and conceal any
ieficiencies in debating vigour ; yet here it has concen-
trated its force, and can boast of three out of the four most
!ffective speakers in the House. Mr. Gladstone, Mr.
Bright, and Mr. Lowe, even withuut Mr. Forster and Sir
E. Palmer, may be able to hold their own in a contest
with Mr. Disraeli, Lord Stanley, Mr. Hardy, and Sir S.
Northcote. But in the Lords, where their weakness in
numbers will make their deficiencies in debate painfully
apparent, they are also deplorably weak in debating
_power. They will have to encounter the w:,tehful severity
A Lord Grey, the criticisms of Lord Carnarvon, the
unsparing opposition of Lord Cairns, the Earl of Derby,
and the Marquis of Salisbury. Nor will the assistance
:4 Sir W. Page Wood add much to their strength in
lebate, however valuable his aid may be in arranging the
technical details of Mr. Gladstone's scheme of disesta.
blishment.

The Daily News notice that three out of five Secretaries
State, and four out of eleven Cabinet Ministers aro
peers. Two of the seats remaining vacant must be filled
by members of the same order, while an indefinite number
may be so filled. Men like Lord Clarendon, Lord Gran-
ville, and the Duke of Argyll, of great capacity and
energy, naturally prefer important offices of State, such
as the Foreign, Colonial, and Indian Departments,
to the almost honorary posts of Lord President,
Lord Privy Seal, and Chancellor of the Duchy of
Lancaster. There is no reason why their ambition
should not be gratified. Still, in proportion as it
is gratified, the effect must be to over-crowd the Cabinet
with Peers, and to leave the House of Commons with but
a slender representation in that body. If the peers are to
have their fair share of working offices, without having
more than their fair share of seats in the Cabinet, then
the monopoly of the honorary posts which we have named
ought to cease. Perhaps the Presidency of the Council
might be conveniently filled by the Prime Minister,
whose position would be more aptly denoted by the
title it gives than by the designation of First Lord
of tht Treasury. The First Lord of the Treasury has no
more real relation with the Treasury than with the
Foreign Office or the Home Department. The office of
Lord Privy Seal has no better claim .to be treated as a
political post, and to carry with it a seat in the Cabinet,
than the office of Lord Steward or Lord Chamberlain. If,
however, it is thought important to retain these places,
with all their political privileges, members of both Houses
should be indifferently eligible to them.
The Standard complains not that Mr. Bright has taken
office, but that he has been consigned to a position where
his policy will be neutralised and his abilities ignored. Its
objection to Mr. Lowe is the same in kind as that which
it has brought against Mr. Bright. There can be no
doubt that Mr. Lowe is a source of strength to Mr. Glad-
stone's Cabinet, through his powers in debate and his general
intellectual repute. Mr. Lowe, however, has earned
almost any place in the Ministry excepting that of
chancellor of the Exchequer. He is not known to have
a policy of his own in regard to our national finance—
he is famous as the author of a scheme of national
education, and as one who has peculiar qualifications for
the office of Education Minister. For what reason can he
have been put into the post of Chancellor of the
Exchequer, unless it was to muzzle him in the particular
line which is his own, just as Mr. Bright is muzzled by
being cast into the Board of Trade ? A Cabinet composed
of men who are mostly jealous of each other's particular
abilities, and in the formation of which the only principle
which seems to have been consulted is how to place each
man where he shall be " safest," contains within itself the
elements of its own dissolution.

The Telegraph says that without doubt Mr. Bright's
consent to accept office, and his appointment as a Minister
of State, form one of the most remarkable events in our
annals. It foreshadows all sorts of new things and new
times, by no means after the present mind of " country
gentlemen." Mr. Bright is not in love with lords, with
bishops, with primogeniture, the Game Laws, big
estimates for armies and navies, bragging diplomaeies,
or breakfast - tables cruelly taxed ; and Mr.
Bright is now one of the Queen's chief advisers. But
his character is greatly misconceived by those who fancy
that, in season and out of season, he will intrude hiss pecial
ideas into the arena of practical statesmanship. With
marked force has his recent career shewn how patiently
he can bide his time, and accept what is attainable in pre-
ference to what he thinks ideally good. No one fancies
that he liked Mr. Gladstone's Seven Pounds Franchise
Bill ; yet, conceiving it to be the best measure of Reform
within his reach, he was among its most strenuous sup-
porters. In a similar fashion will he act with respect
to the-other questions on which he is at issue with his
colleagues.
The Star thinks that a mistake was made in offering the
Chief Justice a peerage instead of the woolsack. In the
discharge of its judicial functions the House of Lords will
have reason to regret that it does not number among its
legal members one so capable of adding breadth and
dignity to its decisions as the. Chief Justice. But in a legal
sense no one denies that Sir William Page Wood's is a
strong appointment. It is in political discussion that
the Lord Chief Justice will be most missed ; and as the
matter at present strikes the public, it is a blemish on Mr.
Gladstone's Administration that an attempt was made to
secure Sir Alexander Cockburn's vast debating resources
and power by a retaining fee which he could not con-
sistently with his self-respect accept. Politically, Sir
William Page Wood is irreproachable, and lie many
years ago spoke and wrote against the Irish Establishment ;
but to pit him in tile House of Lords against Lord
Cairns is really very like throwing a Christian to the
lions, What we say on this subject is not intended to
embitter existing jealousies, but to expose the serious
nature of the mistake that has been made. We should
hope there is still time to negotiate an arrangement alike
honourable and amicable, by which Sir William Page
Wood might enjoy a peerage, of which lie is every way
worthy, retaining his Lord Justiceship, while the woolsack
might be offered to the Lord Chief Justice, as simply his
due.

The Post observes that things are not now as tney
were three years ago, when there was little difference of
(pillion near the border line which separates parties. Mr.
Gladstone is the leader of the Liberal party, and he has
identified himself with measures which the country
approves. In the presence of ab'e and vigilant opponents
his following may require judicious management and
have to be held well in hand ; but there is no reason to
suppose that his majority in the House of Commons will
split up into sections in pursuit of special objects and
crotchets, or that it will, as on a former occasion, drift
through disintegration into anarchy