The Sun.
London, England, 1845-12-12 00:00:00

ROBERT PEEL felt of doing so still more, is the over-
throw of the Conservative party owing. Lord Joiax
Itysszw.. cannot forget what he owes to the free-trade
party, nor to whom he owes his return to power.

The sudden fall of Sir It. PEEL'S Government has
by this time caused much excitement throughout the
kingdom, and the greatest anxiety will exist till the
public can, from authentic sources, ascertain who are
to be the successors of the "strong Ministry.,
Judging from the accounts in a few of the country
papers which we have received, the event has excited
the greatest surprise in the provinces as well as the
metropolis, for scarcely any circumstances were con-
sidered less probable than that on Wednesday her
MAJESTY should accept the resignation of Ministers,
and on the next day have an interview with Lord
JOHN RUSSELL on the subject of appointing their
successors. The formation of a new Cabinet, now
that the surprise has subsided, is therefore
the main point that occupies the public
mind, because on the character and qualifications
of the men to be appointed to the principal
departments will, in a great measure, depend
the support of that powerful party—we mean the
public—who have dethroned the Conservatives, and
left no other choice to her MAJESTY but to select a
Ministry from their opponents. We see that one
organ of the old Tory school, which denounces every
species of reform, even with more sincerity than the
late unchangeable ELDON, blames the ex-Minister
for recommending to her MAJESTY Lord J. RUSSELL
without first respectfully suggesting that the future
Ministry should be selected from among those of his
late colleagues who formed the majority against him, in
other words, from the " remnants of a broken faction."
Sir ROBERT PEEL knew better, and had more re-
gard for his own character, as well as
respect for the Throne, than to make such an
absurd proposition. In the Lords, possibly ability
enough might be found easily for the decent
management of the routine business that generally
occupies that House; but what was to be done with
the House of Commons, and a Reformed House of
Commons too, with numerous and able Members re-
presenting large manufacturing interests, the very
existence of which depends on the accomplishment of
free-trade principles ? LThey could not have been
brought over to the Tories, and by whom, then, were
they, together with a powerful body supporting Sir
ROBERT PEEL, and a still more powerful party fol-
lowing in the train of Lord JOHN RUSSELL, to
be opposed ? There is not one speaker of
even ordinary abilities, or with the slighest skill
in Parliamentary debate, to be found among
the whole race. The case was utterly hopeless, and
had Sir ROBERT PEEL been so indiscreet as to make
such a suggestion, her MAJESTY would in a few
words have settled the question. There was nothing
for it but a total change of men as well as measures,
and to Lord Jour( RUSSELL, therefore, do the public
now look for the right selection. One point is quite
clear, that if his Lordship is resolved to form a
stable Ministry—one that will ensure general con-
fidence, and carry out the great principles which have
led to the present interregnum—he must forget
that the Whigs exist, and choose his colleagues, not
from the old aristocratic Whig school, but from men
of liberal opinions of every class, and, above
all, from those who have acted such a con-
spicuous part in the late movements for the
repeal of the corn-laws and the abolition of
all protective duties. He cannot forget that without
their aid the Whigs might long have remained on the
dreary Opposition benches ; for, till within the last
few weeks, they were, as a body, regarded equally
hostile with the Conservatives to total repeal, and no
corn-law repealer would have thought for a mo-
ment of substituting him for Sir ROBERT PEEL,
The " finality" speech too had done not a little
to damage his cause ; but we will pass over that
—ample amends have been made, and proofs of
repentance given ; and all that the country now
expects is the fulfilment of pledges on the Trea-
sury bench, solemnly given in the days of
adversity. The agricultural interest will, no
doubt, be sufficiently protected, for one-half,
perhaps three-fourths of the Cabinet will consist of
men who cannot forget that they or their families
possess large estates; but there is another interest still
more important to the community, because on its
prosperity depends all our colonial greatness, and our
very security as a nation—the commercial interest.
That interest has never yet been fairly represented in
any Cabinet. The aristocracy, or the hangers-on of
the aristocracy, have generally filled all the high
places, and Manchester, and Leeds, and Birmingham,
and fifty other great manufacturing towns have had
to trust mainly to the exertions of their representa-
tives in the House of Commons. On that head there
must be a totally new arrangement, and we cannot see
how Lord Jonss RUSSELL can form a Cabinet with
the slightest chance of prolonging its existence fo
six months, without the aid of such men as Mr
COBDEN, and the Hon. CHARLES VILLIERS, and a
few other leading free-traders. During the last
years—perhaps during the whole of the MEL-
BOURNE Ministry—men of that stamp never acted cor-
dially with the Government : they rallied to the fight
to keep out the Tories when a desperate battle was
expected, but they were always unwilling coadjutors,
and only wanted the fit opportunity to assert their
rights and the rights of the large constituencies which
they represented. That period has arrived. The public
will no longer submit to the old exclusive system;
new blood must be infused into the constitution of
the RUSSELL Cabinet; there must be representatives
of the manufacturing classes, and representatives,

too, of that neglected country, Ireland, which,
though containing a population of eight mil-
lions, could not boast of one Cabinet Mi-
nister, while Scotland, with less than three millions,
gloried in not fewer than three or four, for Lord
WHARNCLIFFZ is more Scotch than English. Lord
JonN, therefore, has a is sic of no little difficulty to
perform, and on his execution of the work depends
his political existence.