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

,ON

i There is some talk however, of Lord Justice PAGE
WOOD being promoted to the woolsack. That would
hardly strengthen the A,!ministration. It would
place an admirable equity lawyer in the position of
Chancellor, but it would secure but a feeble antago-
nist to the out-going Chancellor, Lord CAIRNS.
Whereas with a brilliant debater of commanding in-
tellect like the Lord Chief Justice of England, nomi-
nated as Lord CAIRNS' successor upon the woolsack,
the Liberal Cabinet might look with confidence to
the future in the Upper House in reference to
those momentous debates which are looming up
in that future in regard to the Irish Church, debates
in which Sir ROUNDELL PALMER, even if raised to the
peerage as is proposed, can in no way participate in
the House of Lords to the advantage of the Go-
vernment. With a Chancellor like COCKBURN and
a Chancellor of the Exchequer like CHILDERS, and a
Colonial Secretary like FORSTER, and a Minister
of Elucation (in the future) like LOWE, and au In-
dian Secretary like BRI.GHT, and a Home Secretary
like CARDWELL, and a President of the Council like
GRANVILLE, with COLERIDGE as Attorney-General
with either Lord KIMBERLEY Or Lord DUFFERIN as
Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland, and so on—with the
offices of State thus distributed, or distributed at any
rate somewhat after that fashion, the Premier elect
would find himself surrounded by statesmen and ad-
ministrators qualified to co-operate with him in the
weighty responsibility of cerrying on at this junc-
ture the affairs of the QUEEN'S Government. If, on
the other hand, the lesser names that are many
of them now in people's mouths are really the names
of those likely to constitute the majority of the
occupants of seats in Mr. GLADSTONE'S Cabinet, the
incoming Premier will be regarded as having, in
some measure, weakened the otherwise enormous
strength of his position, certainly as having to
a considerable extent foregone a magnificent
opportunity. What the Liberal party wants now for
its Cabinet is—a great man, not surrounded with medio-
crities, but clustered about with the ablest intellects,
the most vigorous administrators, the foremost chiefs
selected from the very front rank of what is still
numerically the weaker side in the Lords, but
the immense majority in the House of Commons.
Let the lesser names be introduced in place of those,
and we may almost as well have at once a Cabinet
mado up once more of the old worn-out materials
—of such mere political nobodies as Lord_HALIFAX
and Lord STANLEY of ALDERLEY.

TIrE intelligence from New Zealand grows more
and more gloomy. It is unsatisfactory enough to
find, after several years of conflict with the native
race that our position remains very much where it
was at the beginning of the outbreak. If the
colony has not retrograded in its relations with
the Maoris, it has certainly not progressed ; the
chance of a settlement with that warlike people is as
remote as ever. But the gravity of the situation is
greatly increased by the fact that the recent disasters
are not due to accident or unforeseen causes, but are
the direct result of mismanagement. There
can no longer be any doubt that the
disgrace which has befallen the colony is
largely owing to errors both of design and
execution, to the inadequacy of the means at the
disposal of the authorities, and the unskilfulness
with which they were put into operation. The task
of keeping down the Maoris is one of great diffi-
culty; but of this the Colonial Government was
fully aware, and ought to have been prepared
accordingly. The war which employed the Imperial
troops so long resulted at last in the accumulation in
the islands of no less than ten thousand soldiers. As
the entire native population numbers not more than
forty thousand, and as the colonists themselves bear
a proportion to the Maoris of five to one, this army
was preposterously large. But it is not the less evi-
dent that the force which the authorities have kept
in hand is altogether too small. The onus of pro-
tecting the colony was recently thrown upon the
colonists themselves, and the troops were withdrawn.
The result was very significant. So long as the
English taxpayer was willing to pay the cost of
defending New Zealand, ten thousand soldiers—who
were not unprofitable residents—were not too many ;
but when the local Legislature had to find the money,
a wretchedly equipped detachment of two or three
hundred inexperienced recruits was deemed sufficient.
It is not surprising that such a body, ill-disciplined
and badly led, has been signally beaten in the
woods of New Zealand, that the natives have gained
a material and moral triumph, and are making the
most of it.

This is by no means the only shortcoming of the
local arrangements. If the vice of intemperance is
not rampant throughout the colony, there is too
much reason to believe that it is unusually prevalent
amongst those who ought to have been the guardians
of the public safety. The information furnished on
this subject is extraordinary, but too precise and well
authenticated to be incorrect. Not only has drunken-
ness been very common in the New Zealand " army,"
but it has largely prevailed amongst the officers, and
some of the couriers charged with the important
duty of transmitting despatches have been stopped
on their journey by intoxication. The primary cause
of this last outbreak was the escape from the Chatham
Islands of a large number of Maori convicts. This
escape was effected with great skill, and, be it said to
the credit of the natives-, with no violation on their
part of the laws of humanity. It now transpires
that the convict establishment at the Chatham
Islands is under the care of twenty-eight constables,
and that there are two public-houses in the place,
each of which does a " roaring business." The
number of regular customers necessary to support a
public-house may best be estimated by those who
keep them, but fourteen individuals must do some
tolerably hard drinking in order to secure the
prosperity of a house which has no other rescources
whatever. It is not stated that the constables were
all drunk when the prisoners escaped ; but it is
affirmed that the success of the attempt was owing to
the negligence of the police. These details are suffi-
cient to point out the causes to which the recent re-
verses are to be attributed. The authorities have not kept
up a force in any respect equal to defending the
property of the colony, and they have not exercised
sufficient care in choosing the men to whom this
important duty should be entrusted. The love, or
the want, of money seems to have been the root of
all the evil. The Government could not, or would
not, pay for a sufficient force, and it did not suffi-
ciently remunerate each individual. The wages
paid were so low that only the scum of the
colony could be found to undertake its defence.
The authorities have saved their money. But in
the recent battle they lost the lives of several valu-
able officers; part of the territory has been handed
over to the natives—conquered, in fact ; and much
valuable property has been destroyed. This is not
economy.

THE hesitation of the Reform League to testify
their admiration of America through a medium so
" tainted " and generally unsuitable as Mr. REVERDY
JOHNSON is not very important. But it is unfor-
tunate, on the eve of the settlement of a great
difficulty, and at a time when the relations between
England and America have assumed so promising
an aspect, that Mr. lIEVERDY JOHNSON'S conduct
should have caused so much dissatisfaction in
America. That the dissatisfaction is great and
general cannot be doubted. That it may lead to
unfortunate results is much to be feared. The
American press is, almost without exception, engaged
in crying down the policy of their Ambassador, and
even his recall is said to have been decided
upon. Such an extreme course can scarcely be
justified by the evidence against Mr. JOHNSON. The
people of the United States are best able to decide
for themselves on this matter; but there is an. Eng-
lish :as well as an American side to the question.