The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1853-01-11 00:00:00

Kibtrpool. g?tattbarb,

TUESDAY MORNING, JAY. 11, 1853.

THE POLICY OF THE NEW MINISTRY.

THE bare announcement that the successors of the
DERBY Administration had been culled from every
section of the patchwork combination which formed
the Opposition, excited public curiosity as to the pecu-
liar mosaic policy upon which they could, by any pos-

sibility, unite to construct a Government. Specula-
tion was altogether at fault, for there was no unique
phase of political profundity which did not find its
representative,—from the professed Conservatism of
Mr. GLADSTONE to the ultra-Radicalism of Sir

WM. NIOLESWORTH and the members of the Ro-
mish Brigade. In such a medley of principles, from

which no solution of the difficulty could be obtained
from any recognised mode of reasoning, the only re-
source was the declarations of the several members,
and here confusion becomes worse confounded. It
was of course to be expected that former principles
must be surrendered, and many concessions made;
but, after all these allowances, the public
will be no wiser than when the investigation was
commenced. To begin at the beginning. The
Earl of ABERDEEN, as prime mover in the affair,
declared, with solemn pomposity, in his place in
Parliament, that he should not have sought the co-
operation of Lord JOHN RUSSELL, had he not be-
lieved him to be Conservative, and that he him-
self, being also Liberal, the measures proposed
would be Conservative as well as Liberal. So much
for the Premier's avowal, which might have had the
effect of disarming opposition to the return of most
of the members of his Administration. But what
say the members themselves as to their consent to
carry out this Liberal-Conservative and Conserva-
tive-Liberal policy ? Lord JOHN RUSSELL de-
clared on the hustings at London that his colleagues
in the Cabinet concurred with him in the abrogation
of the Christian oath, and the admission of Jews to
the Legislature. He had not yet made up his mind
to the Ballot, but should devise some means of re-
forming the present mode of election. Sir JAMES
GRAHAM, who has been everything by turns and
nothing long,—who was Radical in his younger
days, Reformer with Earl GREY, Conservative with
Sir ROBERT PEEL, subsequently Free-trader, and
is, now back to Radicalism again,—told his consti-
tuents at Carlisle—

" I scorn to deceive you. lam favourable to the ex-
tension of the suffrage, and I am favourable to the pro-
tection of the voter by every means consistent with that
open, manly conduct which is the characteristic of Eng-
lishmen, and there is nothing that I will not do, in con-
cert with my colleagues, to give effect to that opinion ;
but I am not prepared to vote for universal suffrage and
the ballot."

But he added—
" Sir William Molesworth—who, in passing, let me
say, is my colleague in the Cabinet—differs from me in
respect to the ballot ; he has always supported the ballot,
and with the consent of his colleagues, and of Lord Aber-
deen at the head of the Government, it is open to him,
and he has stipulated to vote for the ballot."
So that in this new Ministry, a colleague of Lord
ABERDEEN, not a mere Under Secretary, but a
member of the Cabinet, has permission to vote for
the Ballot, one of the most revolutionary schemes
ever devised by Chartist agitators. At Leith, how-
ever, the new Lord Advocate, Mr. MONCRIEFF,

said :
" You may depend upon it, that as I only care for
politics in so far as they advance the principles I have
all along entertained, I never would have connected
myself with Lord Aberdeen's Government if I did not
feel that it is to all intents and purposes, and in every
possible respect, a Liberal, and NOTHING BUT A LIBERAL
GOVERNMENT."

So much for the Liberal Conservative policy of the
new Administration. The Premier declares it to be
a union of both, and the Lord Advocate declares it
to be nothing but Liberal, or he never would have
joined it. Almost all the Peelites have declared the
policy of the Government to be essentially Conser-
vative, while with equal consistency the Radicals
have claimed for it a character totally opposite.
The Whigs on the other hand have mostly held
aloof, refraining from expressing extreme views,
but, in the true spirit of W higgery, holding out
vague promises of some undefined and undefinable
Reform in the representation, which shall make
everybody contented, and actually realise the long-
indulged dream of purity of election. Is it possible
out of this chaos of professions, this medley of
antagonistic assertions, to predict any on• tangible
measure upon which the Ministry can be agreed ?
The arena of discussion will be transferred from
the House of Commons to the Council Board, and
the most interesting division will be that which
takes place amongst the Ministers. These men
have boasted much of their patriotism in surren-
dering their convictions for the public good ; but
who can estimate the extent of the sacrifice, when it
includes an extension of the suffrage, the admission
of Infidel legislators, and the Ballot? Lord ABER-
DEEN might have spared himself the exertion of
endeavouring to conceal his turpitude by an inge-
nious circumlocution which was destitute of truth ;
for it has only been a question of time to discover
that he had turned Radical. His less scrupulous
colleagues have divulged the plot, and the Conser-
vatives must be prepared once more to struggle for
the preservation of the Constitution, which is to be
frittered away by these political tinkers.
Thus much for what may be called strictly poli-
tical questions ; but the important subject of
national education is deserving of serious conside-
ration. The London Gazette of Friday contained
an announcement that the new Committee of Privy
Council on Education consisted of Earl GRANVILLE;
the Duke of ARGYLL, a Presbyterian ; the Marquis
of LANSDOWNE, the patron of the management
clauses ; the Earl of ABERDEEN, a Presbyterian ;
Lord JOHN RUSSELL, the author of the Durham
letter ; Lord PALNIERSTON ; the Bishop of MA-
DEIRA. ; and Mr. SIDNEY HERBERT and Mr.
GLADSTONE, Tractarians. From which party, out
of this strange mixture, can the Church expect her
true interests to be maintained ? It will be, perhaps,
a mere rivalry between Romanism and Dissent, in
which we may see more sacrifices made in order to
preserve a harmony between antagonistic forces.
In commenting upon this jumble of guardians of
religious instruction, the Morning Herald of Satur-
day says :

" Of course the governing principle of 1851—that a
general agreement was essential to joint and harmonious
action—is abandoned. The experiment of packing dog,
cat, and monkey, parrot, and hen and chickens, all in one
hamper, is declared to be a rational one. In the next
Cabinet we may hope to see Mr. Cobden, Sir R. H.
Inglis, Mr. Duffy, Colonel Sibthorp, Baron Rothschild,
Mr. Christopher, and Mr. Carter, of Tavistock, all
jumbled together. Indeed, we can see no very solid
reason why another old prejudice should not be given up,
and Miss Martineau be appointed to the Home Depart-
ment, while Mrs. Chisholm undertakes to manage the
colonies."

We have treated in another article of the prospects
of our national faith when entrusted to such
guidance, with the additional danger of three
members of the Romish Brigade being members of
the administration. In no one point is there the
slightest hope of advantage to the country from the
coalition, excepting only the confident expectation
of its speedily falling to pieces.

The DUKE of WELLINGTON, says the Times, has ac-
cepted the office of Master of the Horse to Her Majesty
under the new Administration.
THE LATE DUKE.—We understand that the will of
the late Duke of Wellington is to be proved under
£BOO,OOO. It has been decided that the funeral car is to
be placed in the Repository of the Royal Arsenal at
Woolwich, and the pall in Chelsea Hospital.