The Sun.
London, England, 1868-12-05 00:00:00

The work of reconstruction progresses somewhat slowly,
partly through the absence of some of the foremost
Liberal statesmen, partly through the intrinsic difficulty
of the work. The formation of a Ministry is at no time
an easy or a thankful occupation, but in the present case
the task must be one of peculiar delicacy. The number
of Liberal statesmen who can justly claim a place in the
new Cabinet is large, whilst the diversity of opinion and
policy existing amongst them is very considerable. II
"uneasy lies the head that wears a crown," the head that is
now to represent one must be perplexed indeed. But there
can be no doubt that the Liberal party can at the present
time furnish abundance of Cabinet material, and when the
general settling down is over, the result can hardly be other
than a strong Government. As the Speetatorremarks, it will
be difficult to rival, to say nothing of surpassing, the Conser-
vative Government in the Foreign department, but in all
other respects the Liberals ought to be equal, and in many
superior, to their predecessors. The Times thinks the com-
parison between the incoming and the outgoing Ministry is
eminently infavour of the former. "Mr. Disraeli, Lord Stan-
ley, Lord Cairns exhaust the front rank of the late Cabinet,
Sir Stafford Northcote and Mr. Hardy only just appearing
below them. The rest of the chosen advisers of the Queen,
from'the dukes downwards, were rather like flies in amber.
It cannot he said of Mr. Gladstone, Lord Russell, Lord
Clarendon, Lord Granville, the Duke of Argyll, Mr.
Lowe, and Mr. Bright that they would not hold a dis-
tinguished position in any Administration." Even the
Standard, which of course anticipates that Mr. Gladstone's
task will be one of almost insuperable embarrassment,
attributes the difficulty to the number of candidates for
office. Thirteen or fourteen is at most the number Mr.
Gladstone can gratify out of the noblemen and gentlemen
who will offer him their services with the conviction that
the offer ought to be accepted. And yet the Standard
enumerates some thirty names who will be put forth to
fill these places. The Liberal party will be rather asto-
nished to learn that its embarras de richesses is of such mag-
nitude as this. The Spectator has faith in the incoming
Administration, and hopes that we shall now have a
middle-class Government bent on extirpating the worst
and rankest growths of the middle-class prejudices and
selfishness of these latter days.
Some little time must elapse before everything is finally
determined, present appointments being, in fact, in a
measure provisional. Meanwhile the political atmosphere
is full of rumours, not to speak of " prophesying with
accents terrible of dire combustion and confused events."
Some of the speculative appointments very well
authenticated, and others less probable, are worth notice
as a reflex of public opinion. To begin with
the Deus ex machind. A Cabinet appointm'ent without
portfolio is generally assigned to Lord Russell. He will
thus take the place which the Marquis of Lansdowne held
in more than one Liberal Administration. The Privy Seal
is allotted by the Imperialßeview to Earl Granville, a noble-
man who is at present filling more imaginative posts than
any other prospective Minister. That he must lead the
House of Lords is deemed by the Spectator a matter of
course. " There is no man half so well fitted by sagacity,
by intellectual tact, by grace of manner, and for large-
ness of view for that rather delicate task for
Liberal Administrations." The Presidency of the Council
is quite an open question. The Times observes that "the
President of the Council is by long tradition, if not by
necessity, a great peer, but it is at present uncertain
whether the Duke of Argyll, Lord Granville, or another
peer will fill this position of highest dignity. Lord Gran-
ville would have the advantage of considerable experience
in the office, but we do not abandon the hope of seeing him
at last obtain a more adequate field for the exercise of his
very considerable abilities." The same journal assigns the
Chancellorship of the Exchequer to Mr. Lowe, but three
other candidates are named—Mr. Cardwell, Mr.
Childers, and Mr. Goschen. Of these Mr. Childers is
the favourite, though the capacity of Mr. Cardwell is
very highly spoken of by journals so diverse as the
Spectator and the Imperial _Review. Of the Secretaryships
the Foreign Office is decidedly the most difficult,
because in this direction the late Ministry was strongest,
and the danger of a comparison unfavourable to the
Liberal party is most imminent. The French moat
desire the Earl of Clarendon to fill this post—not that this
will be considered by Mr. Gladstone any very good reason
for appointing him. The Spectator thinks that Lord
Clarendon would not support the prestige which Lord
Stanley has acquired, but the Times seems to be
certain that he has already been selected. The
chances of Earl Granville and Lord Kimberley are
not to be overlooked. The Imperial Review. says : "It is
not known, as yet, whether Earl Granville will assume
the direction of Foreign Affairs, which he held for a
short time after the secession of Lord Palmerston from
Lord J. Russell's Government in 1852—0 r whether he
will return to his old post as President of the Council. In
either case, we are informed, Lord Kimberley will take
the office which Lord Granville declines." The
Horne Office is generally assigned to Mr. Cardwell, though
this gentleman must he highly flattered by the diverse
rumours which consider him capable of guiding half a
dozen of the most important departments of the State.
He has been allotted to the War Department by the Times,
to the Admiralty by the Imperial Review, to the
Chancellorship of the Exchequer and the Colonies
in less well-informed quarters. But the balance of
probability decidedly points to the Home Office. For the
War Department, Lord Hartington is almost the only
candidate spoken of. The Times' speculation respecting
Mr. Cardwell is almost the only exception. The public
voice, too, largely preponderates in favour of Mr. Forster
for the Colonies. The Duke of Argyll and Mr. Bright are
mentioned for India. The whole formation of the Ministry
rests very much upon the decision of the member
for Birmingham. The Advertiser positively announces
that he will take office, and that he bas been congratulated
upon his acceptance. The Times favours Mr. Bright's
chances, though it is doubtful whether his depart.
mental energy will be equal to India. Should
this difficult choice finally end in the selec-
tion of the Commoner, the Duke of Argyll may
have the Presidency of the Council or the Privy Seal.
The Star, however, has no moral doubt that the nobleman
will govern India. For the Admiralty nobody is men-
tioned but Mr. Stansfeld and Mr. Childers, the former
having by far the greatest number of votes. The Presidency
of the Board of Trade is generally given to Mr. Goschen,
and the Chancellorship of the Duchy of Lancaster to Mr.
Brand or Mr. Bright, should thelatter take no more respon-
sible office. Mr. Chichester Fortescue, says the Tinzes, will
return to his position as Secretary for Ireland, but follow-
ing the example of the outgoing Government, Mr. Glad-
stone has wisely determined that his Irish Secretary shall
have a seat in the Cabinet.

The legal appointments will give rise to much difficulty,
except, of course, the Attorney-Generalship, which Sir
Robert Collier has obtained. The Times alone makes any
very definite statement on this question. We repro-
duce its remarks :—" The functions of • Minister
of Justice are divided between the Home Secretary
and the Lord Chancellor, but the moat arduous duty of
the Lord Chancellor in the new Ministry will be to provide
legal means for the disestablishment of the Irish Church,
and to carry the bill embodying it through a hostile
House of Lords led by Lord Cairns. We are told
that Lord Justice Page Wood has been designated
for the Great Seal. There could possibly be .no better head
of the law, nor would Sir William Page Wood's promotion
be grudged in any quarter ; but it will be admitted by his
warmest admirers that the faculty of lucid and con-
tinuous exposition is the least developed of his powers,
and the assistance he could render to the Ministry
from the woolsack would be very slight indeed. In his
present position as Lord Justice, Sir William Page Wood
is doing good service to his country, and it would be a
mischievous diversion to remove him from an office
in which he is supreme, when a lawyer far better
qualified to assist the Ministry in its political and parlia-
mentary difficulties may be found elsewhere. Sir Robert
Collier will resume his former position as Attorney-
General, and Mr. Coleridge will find in the post of
Solicitor-General opportunities of official distinction."

THE INTEw PARLIAMENT.—The number of new
..iernbers returned to the House of Commons exceeds that
at any general election for very many years. In 1859 only
131 new members came back from the country ; in 1865
there were 196 ; while at the present election the number
is 221.

IRISH LAWYERS.—The following legal appoint-
ments have been announced :—The Right Hon. the
Attorney-General has been appointed judge of the Court
of Probate, vice the Right Hon. Judge Keatinge, who
retires; Dr. Ball, Solicitor-General, has been appointed
Attorney-General, and has been sworn in a member of
the Privy Council ; Mr. Henry Ormsby, Q. 0., as already
announced, has been appointed Solicitor-General ;
the Hon. David Plunkett, Q.C., has been appointed law
adviser at the Castle; Mr. William F. Darling, Q.O.
LL.D. has been appointed to the chairmanship of the
county Wicklow, in the room of Mr. James P. Hamilton,
Q.C., who has been transferred to the county Sligo,
vice Mr. Hartstonge Robinson, Q.C., resigned; Mr.
Dodgson Hamilton Madden, barrister-at-law, has been
appointed a supernumerary Crown prosecutor for
the county Wexford ; Mr. Hugh Lane, solicitor, has
been appointed Master of the Court of Queen's Bench,
vice Mr. Bushe, resigned; Mr. Colhoun, solicitor, has
been appointed clerk of the Crown for the county Derry ;
Mr. Dane has been appointed clerk of the Crown for the
county Wicklow ; Mr. Thomas Gerrard, solicitor, has
been appointed Crown solicitor for the Queen's County
and County Carlow ; Mr. George H. Major, solicitor,
has been appointed sessional Crown solicitor for county