The Sun.
London, England, 1845-01-31 00:00:00

before determining on their course. They are not die
only judges of the question. There is some one who
ought to decide on it with them, or perhaps before them
—the majority. Four years of struggles, courageously
and:gloi iously sustained, under the flag of order and peace,
have generated between the Conservative party and
roe Cabinet close ties which cannot be broken
without the most imperious and the most clearly shown
necessity. It is not sufficient that this necessity should
be recognised by the Ministry, it must also be so by the
majority. The separation cannot take place, let us be
allowed is say, without the consent of the two parties.
The noble and firm attitude of the majority in the last
struggle gives it an additional right to be definitively
judged. Notwithstanding some individual treasons, the
Conservative party has remained compact and immsys-
able to the last moment—to the end it has been faithful
to the common cause. The Cabinet therefore owes it to
itself, before determining on a definite course, to take the
ads ice, and clearly ascertain the wish, ;of the majority.
In that M. Guizot and his colleagues will only follow
an illustrious example. It may be remembered
that Casimir Pifirier resigned, became he had ob-
tained a majority of only one vote. Some days
after he resumed power, to comply with the des
sire of the majority. It is thus that we compre-
hend the common responsibility, which four years' unio
and struggles have established between the Conservatism
party and the Cabinet. But after having estab:ished the
duties of the Cabinet towards the majority, the obligee
tions of the majority towards the Cabinet ought to be
clearly understood. In order that the Ministry should
decide on preserving power, and -till defending the po-
licy of the majority, it ought to reckon on its energeti-
and unanimous assistance. It is not sufficient to be sup..
ported by a more or less considerable fraction of this
majority—it ought to reckon on the whole of it—that is,
on the ,213 votes which were given for the paragraph
of the Address. Let the majority then declare itself
clearly, let it decide whether the Ministry ought to
remain or retire ; let it declare whether it prefers
the illustrious chiefs whom it has followed for the last
four years to those whom the coalition wants to
give it, in recruiting them by chance from all the
benches of the Chamber; let it say frankly if it prefers
the men of March 1 to those of October 29 ; M. 'Tiers
to M. Guizot ; M. Billault to M. Duchatel ; fur there
must not be any mistake at the point to which thirgs
have come—the question is there. Then the conduct of
the Cabinet will be clearly traced ; then it will know if
it ought to yield the power to ambitious scatterbrains,
and to inconsiderable intrigants, or whether it ought to
attempt new trials, and continue to defend the policy to
which it has given so many pledges. Let the majority
declare itself, and the Ministry will obey. But for that,
we repeat, a manifestation is required in no way equi-
vocal or incomplete, and without hesitation or frittering
into parts. On this condition all may be again saved ;
without this condition all is in peril. That is what we
demand from the majority ; all other conduct would be
worthy neither of it nor of the Cabinet."
The Globe, the only other Ministerial journal, re-
commends a bolder and more spirited course, and
adduces arguments, too, which cannot be refuted.
"We said yesterday, and we repeat it now," are its
words, " that there would be treason in abandoning a
firm, courageous, and devoted majority, having just
given one of those public testimonies of adhesion,
such as, perhaps, no other had ever offered an ex•
ample of. To abandon it, when it has just fought its
warmest and most perilous action for the Cabinet—to
deliver it defenceless to the mercy of a mob, wild with
passion and irritation, which it has just conquered—
to despair when it trusts—to fly when it remains—to
abandon the flag when it keeps it—would be ungrate-
ful and cowardly, and, allow us to say, even stupid ; for
such a devotedness, so disloyally betrayed, would never
be met with again. And ought not the Cabinet
to take the interest of the country into grand conside-
ration ? There exists at present a majority, which is
not very considerable, but which is very resolute and
well united. This majority is a powerful instrument
of order, of peace, and of government. To deliver it
up to a coalition would be to dissolve it, and, conse-
quently, would be to abandon the country to two or
three successive or transitory administrations,without
force, without credit, without stability; it would be
to recommence the grave fault committed by Count
MOLE in 1839, and expiated by three or four years'
violent struggles, destined to repair the evil which it
had produced in disorganising the Chambers. The
Cabinet will therefore remain ; it must remain, it can,
and it ought."
We subjoin extracts from the leaders in some of the
Opposition journals, and begin with the insidious
Presse. After stating that the true friends of M.
GUIZOT (meaning, of course, among the rest the
Presse, which honours his courage and admires his
eloquence), are afflicted at his determination not to
resign, adds :
"Ilis adversaries rejoice at the resolution. There is as
much difference between obstinacy and firmness as there
is between firmness and divcouragement. Had M.
Guizot been left to himself, we have no doubt but he
would have adopted a different resolution. If it be true
that he dues not intend to resign, it is because he has
suffered himself to be overruled by the interested ex-
hortations of a troop of subalterns and parasites who
ever surround eminent men. But whatever may be the
determination of Ministers—whether they resign or
whether they continue in office—the political question,
the question of dignity, of equity, and of reciprocity, has
been decided. If Mr. Pritchard receives the promised
indemnity, he certainly shall not receive it from the
State budget. The Duke de Broglie and Dr. Lushing-
tou may endeavour to find another solution besides that
of. the abolition of slavery in our colonies to replace the
conventions of 1831 and 1833. In fine, no British
Cabinet can hereafter seriously think of requiring from
any French Cabinet concessions which are not equal and
mutual. That was all we wished, and we have fully ob-
tained it by the vote of Monday last. As to ourselves,
we are completely disinterested, and if the Ministers be-
lieve that they can still conduct the affairs of the country
usefully, worthily, and firmly, we shall not endeavour to
oppose them. Our feeble support shoji not be withheld
from them, on condition that they shall not deviate from
the line traced by the vote of Monday."
The Constitutionnel of Wednesday, which receives
information from the leader of the Opposition, gives

the following version of the embarrassments in which
the proceedings of Monday have involved the Ministry.
It precedes the announcement with the words,
" Bulletin of the health, or rather the agony, of the
Cabinet."

" Yesterday, after the sitting, Ministers were sadly
dispirited. The result of the vote on the whole Address
appeared to them more frightful still than that on the
Prichard indemnity.: It proved that the Deputies who
abstained from voting had perfectly weighed the im-
portance of their resolution, and that their intention was
not to save their responsibility by a species of subter-
fuge, but to disavow in a signal manner the conduct of
the Cabin,-t; the 216 votes likewise convinced the Ministry
that the enormous minority of the opponents was not to be
broken up. The Chamber: being now divided into two equal
camp:, no longer permitted the Cabinet, to hope that
the indulgence they. had hitherto experienced would be
continued to them 19 future. The first movement of
the majority of Ministers, after the refl...ctions that
immediately followed the defeat, was to resign and re
tire. M. Guizot consulted the Duke de Broglie. The
reply of the Hon. Peer of France could not be doubtful.
He had only to remind M. Guizot of his own anterior acts,
and the proof he had himself given of his respect for the
conditions of the representative Government. M. de
Broglie advised M. Guizot to resign office without the
least hesitation. Other friends of the Minister were of
the s-sine opinion ; and the Journal des DebatB had pre
pared a dignified article, announcing the retreat of all the
Ministers, defying their successors to do better, and con-
cluding with the funeral oration of the Cabinet. In those
circumstances M. G uizot would have proved himself con-
sistent, and realised the declaration he had made before she
Chamber. If the co-operation of the great powers of
the state fail U'3, Ido not say completely, but if it be not
sufficiently firm to support our policy with success, we
should not continue airy longer in the direction of affairs.'
After leading during four years a humble and precarious
existence, obliged at times to solicit the charity of votes
reluctantly given, and exposed at other periods to have
their numberless contradictions insultingly thrown into
their faces, Ministers should have died a little more
proudly than they had lived. But several Ministers,
and M. Duchatel in particnlar, were, however, of opi-
nion that the most honourable retreat was not equal to
the retention of power for a few days longer. M. Guizot
vainly reminded him of his solemn words—' We will not
suffer our policy to be disfigured, enervated, and debased
by an insufficient majority.' M. Duchatel, who is not
to be put off with words, could reply to him, My
d
ear colleague, do you seriously imagine that your
policy with respect to the right of search, of Otaheite,
and the Pritchard indemnity, has
i made a very conspi-
cuous figure in the world ? that t was considered be-
coming and energetic, and bespoke any grandeur ? Let
us be consistent. To govern as we have hitherto done,
a majority of three or four votes is as good as forty.'
The Ministry, wavering between these conflicting opi-
nions, thought proper to advise withits Parliamentary
friends. Fifteen Deputies were called in consultation
tbat very night. We have not heard whether those po-
litical doctors were drawn by lot from among the Minis-
terial party, or if they were chosen with common accord
from among the most faithful. suppose that they
were so chosen, and thtet M. Fulehiron, their chief, was
of the number. A regular deliberation took place, and,
strange to say, five out of the fifteen volt d for the re-
treat of the Cabinet. The entire Ministry, nevertheless,
sided with those who expressed a contrary opinion.
Their ultimate resolution was adopted about midnight ;
the publication of the funeral oration of the Journal des
Debar was adjourned ; it may be useful, and we expect
to read it one of these mornings."

The Courrier Francais contains the following ill-
natured article respecting Lord BROUG HAM'S inter-

Terence in the business :

" Brougham is in Paris, and will leave in a few
days for London, to be present at the opning of Parlia-
ment. It is well known that his Lordship fills between

the two Cabinets, with an officious periodicity, the func-
tions of commercial traveller of the entente cordiale,
him, and throu4h him, are the words exchanged by the
two Cabinets, from the tribune of both Parliaments con-
.

certed and arranged. All this is settled in the discreet
conventicler of the Hotel Talleyrand."

The Comfit/Wynne/ saj s the Conservatives, de-