The Sun.
London, England, 1868-02-26 00:00:00

rEWPgiTugemiLxi

raw

The'daYs -oddrupled in the foinaftiiOn of a araiiiiiiineEt
"ale; says
:the Times, always a period of busy speculation.
thousand rumours chase one another out of existence.
i.eSent crisis has, however, bein for some time foreseen,
and as it is not occasioned by the defeat of a Ministry and
the coniecpient accession of a new party to power, but
simply by the failing health of the Premier, it might be
supposed that it would be resolved with comparative ease.
But there are elements of strangeness in the state of affairs
'which are wholly with Ont parallel. The statesman
henOnred by the
,Queen with the duty of re-forming a
flinistry has fairly soon the high plaCe he occupies ; he is
the first in` power and in ability of the colleagues of Lord
Derby, and he had acquired a position in the House' of
Commons to which no other statesman of the day can
pretend. Yet, if Mr. Disraeli be evidently the fitting
successor to Lord Derby, it must be remembered also that
he has achieved that distinction in spite of every disad-
vantage of birth, of education, and of position, and in
spite, above all, of the great and at one time ap-
parently unmitigated distrust of the party now ac-
cepting
,him as their leader. The Tory party, the
Chancellei of the Exchequer has often declared, is
the historic party of England ; but of that history
he himself cannot claim the inheritance. It has ever
accounted itself the party of long descents will ancestral

English honours, but Mr. Disraeli has boasted that
" literature was his only scutcheon," and has described
himself as " a gentleman of the press." The records of
the early career of the Chancellor of the Exchequer have
often been cited as additional evidence of the inconsistency
of his opinions with his present position, but the Conserva-

tires have never harshly judged the effervescence o 1

youthful independence. The Chancellor of the Exchequer
has served the Conservative party for more than twenty
years. He slowly reconstructed its parliamentary organi-
sation, and has thrice brought it into power:. By the
public he has been always regarded as the ruling spirit of
the Cabinet. The time has arrived for the servant to
become the malter ; nor could Mr. Disraeli have accepted
a lower place without a loss of dignity which would have
been unworthy of himself and discreditable to his
party. We believe the members of Lord Derby's
Cabinet, with probably only a single notable ex-
ception, will compose Mr. Disraeli's Ministry, and
the conduct of public business will receive'no check. Some
changes are, of course, inevitable, and may, perhaps, tend
to the increase(' stability of the Administration. The
nomination of Mr. Disraeli as First Lord of the Treasury
places the office of Chancellor of the Exchequer at his dis-
posal, and in recent times the two posts have been filled
by different persons ; but Sir Robert Peel was First Lord
and Chancellor of the Exchequer in 1835, following the
example of Mr. Pitt, and it may not be inconvenient to
revive the practice. Whenever Lord Derby was absent,
the excessive weakness of his Administration in debating
power in the House of Lords became painfully apparent,
and it will be a matter of common prudence to strengthen
the new Ministry in this respect. The transfer of any
prominent member of the House of Commons to the here-
ditary Chamber is commonly a tax on the patriotism of
the new-made peer, but when an heir-apparent is sum-
moned in his father's barony the hardship is sensibly
diminished. Lord Derby himself sat for several years
in the Upper House before he succeeded to the family
honours, and the singular destiny of Lord Stan-
ley would be consistently fulfilled were he to
lead the House of Lords while continuing to
hold the seals of the Foreign Office. Other solutions of a
difficulty which must by some means be solved are, how-
ever, possible. The political abilities of Lord Cairns are
put to little use in his position as an independent supporter
of the Ministry, and means may possibly be found of en-
listing his services more directly in the ranks of the party
he adorned when a member of the House of Commons.
It is said, indeed, that Lord Chelmsford desires that he
.may be relieved of his office upon the reconstruction of the
Government. Such changes as have been foreshadowed
would scarcely alter the personal composition of the
Ministry ; nor is it probable that Mr. Disraeli's Adminis-
tration will differ materially from that which was led by
Lord Derby. The House of Commons will weigh with
candour the conduct and pretensions of Mr. Disraeli's
Ministry. Mr. Disraeli is known and admired by the
House, and members willingly entertain the proposals oi
one who so manifestly defers to its authority.
Of the possible changes which may take place in the
constitution of the Cabinet it would, in the opinion of the
Post, be premature to speak. It is, however, by no means
improbable that the woolsack will be vacated, and in that
event we may expect to see the Great Seal entrusted to the
custody of Lord Cairns. Mr. Disraeli will most probably
continue, whilst First Lord of the Treasury, to discharge
the functions of Chancellor of the Exchequer, and no
material changes may be expected in the offices of Secre-
taries of State. It is not unreasonable to assume that Mr.
Disraeli obtained assurances of the support of the principal
members of the Cabinet before the Earl of Derby placed
his resignation in the hands of the sovereign and sug-
gested that the present Chancellor of the Exchequer wa:
the fittest person to whom to entrust the task of forming
a new Ministry. Lord Stanley, to whom common
rumour pointed as the probable successor of his father,
favours the present arrangement, and most persons will
be inclined to think that he has acted wisely in postpon:ng
till a future time claims which must eventually be
recognised.

There seems to the Daily News to be no alternative but
the elevation of Lord Stanley to the Upper House. His
removal will leave Mr. Disraeli without a colleague iu the
.Commons capable of speaking with authority on great
questions of policy. Sir John Pakington, Sir Stafford
Northcote, and Mr. Gathorne Hardy are tolerably efficient
heads of departments ; under pressure they are equal tc
the delivery of good party speeches ; but above this level
nothing can raise them. It is possible that Mr. Disraeli
may seek for aid where Lord Derby looked for it in 1864
—in the Cave. Mr. Lowe and Mr. Horsman are out ot
the question ; but Lord Grosvenor, whose intellect is up
to the ducal standard, and Lord Elcho, who is a Eta.;
above it, remain. Lord Cairns, out of office, is as helpful
In debate as if he belonged to the Ministry. His advice
In the Cabinet would be valuable. But if he were dig-
posed to exchange the life tenure of the Lord Justiceship
for the precarious party tenure of the Lord Chancellorship,
the duty of presiding over the sittings of the Peers would
prevent his assuming the Ministerial leadership.
There have been times, the Herald observes, when
Cabinets have been broken up by the punctilios of men
who would serve under none of less than high hereditary
rank. Those days have gone for ever, and Mr. Disraeli
adds one more name to the catalogue of brilliant Corn-
moners who have been Premiers of England. More :he adds
the example of a man who, through his commanding
ability and steadfast devotion to his party, and far-seeing
oomprehension of its necessities, and opportune recog-
nition of its mistakes, has made himself its head, raised
it from despond, and enabled it to set a permanent stamp
upon the legislation of the empire. As a rule, perhaps,
it is better that the Chief of the Cabinet should sit in the
"louse of Commons. Various sections of the Liberal
Opposition, as is well known, contemplate, whenever the
day of their return to office arrives, accep',ino. Mr. Glad-
stone as Premier, and it is certainly as well that the leader
of the Government should be a member of the House in
which the principal questions arise and the principal busi-
mess is transacted.

. retrospect of Mr. Disraeli's career does certainly not
'warrant the Standard in refusing to him all the credit
which he wins by his present elevation. If Mr. Disraeli
has not been always of the same opinions, it is only to say
of him that he is not free from a common human infirmity.
''Co bring against him his early Radicalism is no more to
fasten a reproach upon the Conservative statesman than to
allege that he was once youthful and unripe, and is now
middle-aged and mature. Everyone who thinks strongly
xut all about politics has gone through the same stages of
belief ; few have emerged from the domain of the early
A-ions into the region of settled faith with less freshness
fof youth than Mr. Disraeli. If he is not now what he was
thirty years ago, he has but gone through the process
':which was held to be no fault in Halifax end in many
Other of our greatest English statesmen. Fairly regarded,
and in the spirit which Mr. Disraeli himself invariably
ihews to every fair opponent, his career has been one of
singular and remarkable consistency.

• It is, the Telegraph contends, obvious that a new Finance
Minister will be required. Should the Premier confine his
choice to his colleagues, Sir Stafford .Northwte would, of
course, be the statesman first suggested to his mind ; but
there are manifest obstacles to Sir Stafford's removal from
his present post. He has mastered the intric .te and
important details of Indian government, and has espe-
cially devoted himself to the work of preparing and super-
intending the Abyssinian expedition : and it would be a
serious loss to the public service if another were now to
supersede him. There are not many men in the Ministry
who are, to use a homely expression " big enough for the
place." Mr. Wilson Patten may be thought of :he has
character, capacity, and the confidence of the House ; but
he is no longer youms, and would probably shrink from
the task. Will Air. Disraeli endeavour to go beyond his
own colleagues, or will he ask us to see, perhaps,in Mr.
Ward I runt a candidate of sufficient mark and experience
foe the Exchequer ? If so, it can only be with the idea
that finance at this moment is not the main business of the
('ahinet. The revenue is unhappily inelastic—no possi-
bility for the ingenious remission of taxes exists, nor does
anybody dare to demand it ; so that an accountant, rather
than a Chancellor of the Exchequer, might carry on-the
w rk. Leaving the problem of discovering one to tilt
Prime Minister, we may observe that the woolsack will
probably have a new occupant. Lord Chelmsford has
earned his pension, and for some time past everybody has
peen expecting that he would make room for the stronger
11 ea, Iwhichupon the shoulders of Lord Cairns.

'he Star is sorry that it cannot congratulate Mr. Dis-
raeli with a more thorough admiration for his genius and
his career. That he has won the position which mtelldc-
than.' he is so well qualified to fill we are glad to record.
That inere ability sprung from obscurity has thereby
gaiLied a triumph over prejudice and flunkeyism,:is some-
thing which, regarded even in the most practical and
btrines3-like point of view, the country_ ought to look at
with satisfaction and new hope. But we wish the
triumph won by Mr. Disraeli had been snore thoroughly
a legitimate success ; that it had been . earned by
the inauguration of great political measures, rather than
by clever triumphs over political opponents. We wish we
could think of any great thing projected, planned, and
done by him for his country which history might boast of.
:md in the memory of which the mere record of the offices
he filled might seem but of little interest. Lookinc, back
over. his career as impartially as we can, we remembernotlupg of the kind. His has been a greaetriumph for di
individual career. But it is lackinr, in much which the
aftertuw tl4lllu Awn 9f thail
,the P;csqa.