The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1852-12-28 00:00:00

mons; and it is also clear that the slender majority
by which they were outvoted was solely owing to
the treachery of a very few who profess to entertain
Conservative principles on all points but that con-
cerning Free-trade, which had been expressly sur-
rendered by the late Cabinet upon the intelligible
ground of the impossibility, and consequent im-
policy, of maintaining a contrary course. The
majority was also swelled by the votes of some
members of moderate :liberal opinions, who hal
declared on the hustings their intention to give the
DERBY Cabinet a fair trial, but 'had falsified their

promises on the first opportunity afforded to them.
And then comes also the important fact, that the
Conservatives were barely out-numbered even by
the votes of such ultra-politicians as Messrs. DUFFY,
LUCAS, and Co., upon whose aid no Ministry could
rely. It is a question which ought not to be difficult
of solution, whether MartomET should go to the

mountain, or wait for the mountain to come to him.
In a case like the present, where a surrender of
some opinions on minor questions has become a
positive necessity, it must surely be a less objec-
tionable transition for nominally Free-trade Con-
servatives to join a party which has given up the
only point of difference than for them to violate all
their avowed convictions by joining with their pro-
fessed enemies: Were the Earl of DERBY to
receive the support of but a few of the leading men
who profess to be Conservative in principle, the
difficulty which now presents itself would at once
be removed, hut no possible amount of concession,
or violation of principles, would suffice to render
an ABERDEEN Administration efficient. Nor can
we anticipate the danger to our Protestant institu-
tions, from the alliance of such men as have now
turned their backs upon themselves, and whose aid
would be requisite to render a Conservative Ad-
ministration secure against the hostility of demo-
cratic innovators. Under the guidance of so trust-
worthy a hand as the late Premier, their ultra-Church
tendencies would be powerless for evil, while their
business-talents would aid materially in the practical
duties of legislation. It would seem, however, that,
after all, it has been with them a mere question of
personal pride. Upon no possible principle could
they justify their recent votes in the House of
Commons, but, like the :fallen angels, deeming it

"Better to reign in Hell than serve in Heaven,"
they could not brook the fancied indignity of
accepting any post less than the greatest, and have
preferred to go over to the enemy, so that they
might enjoy the command. This accounts for their
remaining aloof, when last year Lord JOHN
RUSSELL was entrusted with the task of re-con-
structing his Cabinet, and their willingness to
coalesce now that the leadership is in the hands of
the Earl of ABERDEEN. It has been with them
aut Ccesar, aut nullus, and they have betrayed their
weak point at the very time when its realisation
has not the most distant probability of proving other-
wise than a miserable failure. Let us hope, how-
ever, that a better spirit will be awakened ; that
adversity, which makes us acquainted with strange
bedfellows, will open their eyes to the folly of the
step which they have taken in their new alliance, and
that with the candour and manliness characteristic
of English gentlemen they will acknowledge their
error, and for the future lend that support to the
Earl of DERBY which can alone secure to Great
Britain the blessings of good government. It is
the only course which can safely or consistently be
pursued, and if it should prove cu t,e the ti/Lfuidcu
result of the present fusion, or rather confusion, we
may see little cause to regret that a hostile majority
led to a re-construction of the DERBY Cabinet.

LORD ABERDEEN'S CABINET PUDDING.

THE COALITION MINISTRY—save the mark !
is at last formed. Such monstrous creations never
live long. But they are curiosities for the time.
Experience ought to have taught them by this
time that HORACE'S maxim is as applicable to the
manufacture of Governments as to that of poetry—

" Deqique sit quod vis, simplex duntaxat et unum."
But the utter want of unity in the ABERDEEN
composition is almost ludicrous. The olla podrida
served up as Christmas fare by the new Chef of
Downing-street may surprise the palate, but it will
soon turn the stomach of the country. The mess
is neither pleasant nor wholesome. A Cabinet
pudding, of which ABERDEEN and PALMERSTON,
RUSSELL and GLADSTONE are principal ingre-
dients, flavoured with NEWCASTLE, WOOD,
GRAHAM, and various other equally homogeneous
combinations, is a rather more quaint than dainty
dish to set before the QUEEN. 'Tis just such a
sort of jumble as a clown would concoct in a pan-
tomime ; and, so far, it is appropriate to the sea-
son. The somewhat venerable EARL of ABER-
DEEN will now find the team he has selected
utterly unmanageable in his recently unpractised
hands. Such bits of blood as PALMERSTON and
GLADSTONE will soon be kicking over the traces,
and refusing to answer either whip or bridle.
It is but a mockery, after all—a stupid joke—
what our neighbours call a " mauvaise plaisanterie"
—for any statesman to pretend to carry on the busi-
ness of the country with such a body of Ministers.
How meekly, for example, will Lord PALMER-
STON play second fiddle in the House of Com-
mons to his amiable friend Lord JOHN RUSSELL !
The noble Viscount's forgetting and forgiving dis-
position may possibly enable him to tolerate
for a time the old leader who first discarded
him, then lost office through him, and after-
wards was thwarted by him in his opposition.
Still when fresh occasion arrives for plain
speaking out, the new Home Secretary will
have small mercy for his old and new colleague the
Foreign Minister; and Lord JOHN, during his short
continuance in his new office, will have to endure
some far from agreeable buffets from the lively
representative of Tiverton. Mr. GLADSTONE, as
Chancellor of the Exchequer, will have this great
advantage, that his colleague WOOD, the man of
many budgets, will always be at hand to assist him
in proposing, withdrawing, patching, and re-
patching financial schemes for the country. The
GLADSTONE Budget, we doubt not, will please
everybody, and show a fine surplus after making
everybody easy. Of course the Government will
be a very strong one—of course the COBDENS and
BRIGHTS, though omitted from the official lists,
will be too high-minded to be disappointed, and
give their cordial support to the somewhat exclusive
coalition. As to " Brass Band" Tenant Leaguers,
Papists, Chartists, Socialists, and Radicals, they
can easily be conciliated by appropriate sops. With
such a Government, so supported, we have surely a
right to look for unity, peace, and concord, mode-
ration and prudence; and we may surely expect
the war of parties to cease for ever, a manly inde-
pendent Government to be established, and the
interests of the Protestant faith to be carefully
promoted.

CHRISTMAS BENEFACTIONS TO POOR CLERGYMEN.—
At this season of the year a considerable sum of money is
annually distributed among the poor curates. and other
clergymen, by the governors of the ancient Corporation
of the Sons of the Clergy, at the Corporation-house,
Bloomsbury-place, London. On Saturday week the cases
of eighty-five poor clergymen were submitted, and sums,
from £lO to £2O, given to seventy-eight.