The Sun.
London, England, 1868-12-07 00:00:00

'.LOIN'DON, MONDAY, DEC. 7, 1868.

The GLADSTONE Cabinet is now nearly completed.
Ten of the greatest offices of State; in the Adminis-
tration have been already filled up, and, supposing
the aggregate number of Cabinet Ministers to be
identical with that of the out-going Administration,
namely, Sixteen, only half-a-dozen additional admi-
nistrators remain to be added to that supreme
inner circle of the Government. As it is, even
now, the ten Ministers who have been en-
rolled comprise among their .number six of the
greatest names that the country could have hoped to
see included within the list of the new Liberal Go-
vernment. Mr. GLADSTONE, Mr. BRIGHT, and Mr.
LOWE, the Duke of ARGYLL, Earl GRANVILLE, and
the Earl of CLARENDON. Besides the First Lord of
the Treasury and the Lord High Chancellor, four of
the Secretaries of State are already named, as
well as the Chancellor of the Exchequer, the
First Lord of the Admiralty the President of
the board of Trade, and the Secretary for Ireland.
Lord CLARENDON succeeds Lord STANLEY at the
Foreign-office. The Duke of ARGYLL undertakes the
direction of the Government of India in succession
to Sir STAFFORD NORTHCOTE. The Secretaryship of
War is allotted to Mr. CARDWELL on its passing out
of the hands of Sir Jong PAKINGTON. The Colonies
are entrusted to Lord GRANVILLE as the Whig suc-
cessor of the Tory Duke of BUCKINGHAM.
At the Admiralty, Mr. CHILDERS occupies the
place vacated by Mr. CORRY. In the person of Mr.
LOWE, a man of immense capacity succeeds Mr. HUNT,
a man of very moderate abilities, in the responsible
post of Chancellor of the Exchequer. As Secretary for
Ireland, Colonel WILSON PATTEN is followed by the
former occupant of that position under the RUSSELL
Government—Mr. CHICHESTER F 0 RTESCUE. In suc-
cession to the Duke of RICHMOND ai President
of the Board of Trade, Mr. BRIGHT, the great
Tribune of the people, consents at last to
kiss hands on his being sworn in (?) as a Privy
Councillor, and formally inducted for the first time
to office as a Cabinet Minister. The weakest ap-
pointment of all is that of Sir WILLIAM PAGE WOOD
to the Chancellorship—an instance in which the world
sees a sound equity lawyer and a lucid but otherwise
commonplace speaker, succeeding a man of genius
and a brilliant orator like Lord CAlRNS—whose
match, as we have already more than once insisted,
might so very readily have been found in the person
of the gifted and popular Lord Chief Justice of Eng-
land. For some incomprehensible reason, however,
Mr. GLADSTONE has prefered the promotion to the
Woolsack of a comparative mediocrity in the person
of the Lord Justice of Appeal—not merely passing
over Sir ALEXANDER COCKBURN as a man
of splendid parts and one in many ways
rarely qualified for the supreme post of Lord
High Chancellor, but coupling the selection of
Sir WILLIAM PAGE WOOD with thethe off 2r of a
simple peerage to the Lord Chief Justice, an offer
very naturally and most judiciously declined by the
latter personage.

The strength of the new Cabinet li,s, beyond all
question, in the half-dozen names already particularized.
And for, intellectual capacity, three greater names
could not possibly have been selected, from among the
Liberals, than the names (among that select half-
dozen) of the three Commoners. The three peers, on
the other hand, are men of high attainments, of con-
siderable administrative aptitude, and of large official
experience. And with those six most conspicuous
leaders of the Liberal party —with Mr. GLAD3TONE,
Lord GRANITILLE,Mr.BRIGHT, the Duke of ARGYLL, Mr.
LOWE, and Lord CLArtENDoN—there are already known
to be associated in the Ministry, so far as it has yet
been arranged, a Peelite as able as Mr. CARDWELL, an-
other advanced Liberal (like Mr. LowE) of Australian
antecedents, such as Mr. CHILDERS, and about as
popular an Irish Secretary as the new Premier could
possibly have selected—one, moreover, who has
already in that position won " golden opinions from
all sorts of men"—Mr. CHICHESTER FORTESCUE. As
for the rest of the Cabinet appointments, it is
understood that they will be distributed among
such claimants for office as Air. GOSCHEN,
Mr. VILLIERS, Mr. BRUCE, possibly Lord
DE GREY and very probably L3rd KI3IBERLEY.
The last named indeed has been spoken of as pos-
sibly President of the Council. The Privy Seal, it is
believed, was offered to and refused by Earl RUSSELL.
In the direction of the Poor-Law Board, it is pro-
bable that Mr. GOSCHEN will succeed the Earl of
DEVON. Rumour names Mr. VILLIERS as Chancellor
of the Duchy of Lancaster iu substitution for Lord
HENRY LENNOX, and asserts most confidently that
Mr. GATHORNE HARDY will be followed as Home
Secretary by Mr. 11. A. BRUCE, in spite of the latter
having as yet failed to find a seat in the new Parlia-
ment. To Mr. LAYARD, by some, is alloted the post of
Chief Commissioner of Parks and Palaces, but with-
out a seat in the Cabinet—in this, unlike the arrange-
ment in the outgoing Administration, in which Lord
JOHN MANNERS occupied the double position of
Cabinet Minister and Chief Commissioner. Substi-
tuted for that office within the Cabinet, it is said, will
be the Postmaster-Generalship—the Earl DE GREY
and RIPON, succeeding as Cabinet Minister the Duke
of MONTROSE, who had no seat in the Cabinet. Before
many hours more shall have elapsed we doubt not
but that the full list of the Ministry will have been
completed. Enough, however, is already known to
assure us that it will be a strong Government, a
wonderfully strong Government. If only—they can
hold together!

SEVERAL of the New York journals are informed
that the American Government approves of Mr.
lil:vEnny JOHNSON'S conduct during the negotia-
tions for the settlement of the Alabama's claims.
This intelligence is doubly welcome. It is in some
degree a contradiction of the very prevalent state-
ment that the American Ambassador was to be
recalled, and it may be accepted as a partial
response to some sinister reports which have been
circulated on the subject of the Alabama question
itself. It has been asserted that Mr. JOJINSON'S
settlement was in danger, and the Memorial Diplo-
matique—a paper which improves upon everything,
and which has justly earned the distinction of
being the most mendacious journal in Europe—is
confident that the whole affair has fallen through.
The danger has just assumed a more serious form.
Mr, SEwaitD has submitted to the British Govern-