The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1846-07-14 00:00:00

ty have ever of

the country, and their usual supporters,
exclusiven

hey hay

sown in

fining their appointments within the circ

ome half-

their characteristic

Nepotism has been

ea of jobbing is ever

inseparably connected in our minds with Whig
ascendancy. Unhappily for himself, Lord John
Russell has not been able to steer clear of this rock-

a-head

With two or three exception-9, and with a
somewhat altered distribution of their offices, the

present ministry is the resuscit

ment; and absolutely nothing to win fo-r it the
increased confidence of sober and reflective politi-
cians. The enlistment of Mr. H. G. Ward, of ap-
propriation clause notoriety, suggests sad remin-
iscences of that infamous contract, by which the
Church of Ireland was handed over for spoliation ;
and the selection. of an untried man in the person
of Mr. Milner Gibson, remarkable only for one of
the most glaring apostacies on record, for so impor-
tant an office as that of V ce-President of the Board
of Trade, indicates, with tolerable clearness, that

our commercial policy is to be henceforth dictated
by those crude statesmen—the political tinkers, who
have made the Chamber of Commerce of Manches-

ter an as

sembly, whose mention is the signal for
inextinguishable ridicule and laughter. The remain-
der of the list is principally composed of the old
hacks of past years, whose administrative ir.capa-
city has been again and again shown to be antipo-
dean qualities with their large pretensions.
An administration thus composed can have in
itself little pretension to permanence ; and the mode
in which the responsibility for conducting the busi-
ness of the country has been distributed amongst
its members is not calculated to inspire confidence
in its efficiency. We cannot, for example, discover
any great evidence of the fitness of Mr. Charles
Wood for the office of Chancellor of the Exche-
quer. The only circumstance,indeed, which accounts
for his being in office at all, most people imagine

to be the accident of his relationship to Earl Grey.
As little are we able to discern Mr. Laboucher6's
fitness for the In h Secretaryship. Lord Palmerston's
appointment as Foreign Secretary is a thing of
course; but how the objections of Earl Grey, by
which the last attempt of Lord John Russell to
form a ministry were defeated, have been got over
the public are not informed. He was a dangerous
member six months ago; but we should imagine
that he could scarcely change his nature as easily as
he changed his political opinions and alliances. Sir
J. Cam Hobhouse's recommendation for the Board
of Controut cannot be his former administration of
the duties of that offi.!e, connected with which the
nation has some unhappy recollections of disaster;
and, with respect to a number of the small fry, their
pretensions to their various offices are to be tried,
their past senatorial achievements containing little to
inspire confidence in their discretion or their ability.
It cannot escape observation that, with such a
ministry, in the present state of parties, the govern-
ment of the country must remain virtually in the
hands of Sir Robert Peel and his little band of Con-
servative supporters. Ultra-Whig legislation is ob-
viously impossible, unless the late premier is pre-
pared completely to reverse the policy, and surrender
the principles, of his past political life, and his ad-
mirers, the 120 gentlemen who so readily followed
him in his free trade movement, are prepared fur-
ther to stultify themselves. Mr T. B. Macauley, in his
speech to the electors of Edinburgh, stated truly
enough that theta big party was the only one callable
at the present crisis of forming an administration ;
but even that self-satisfied gentleman would proba-
bly acknowfedge that his colleagues and himself can
only govern permissively. Their measures, and the

extent to which their principles shall be carried out,
are-Taid down -for lifom.—TheY are to-earry out the
views of Sir Robert Peel. When they attempt to
go further—when they start anything original, and,
consequently, crotchety, the ex-minister will inter-
pose his veto and remind them of their subordinate
position.

The little that we know, thus far,' of their forth-
coming measures, affords abundant proof of this
utter want of independence. In the purposed final
settlement of the sugar duties, the ministry is only
following to its conclusion the policy which dictated
the surrender of protection to native industry. 'this
is certainly to be the main measure of the present
session. The only further hints which we have, as
to coming measures, is the announcement that the
Government is about to devote itself to measures of
social amelioration. We may look for a sanatory
bill; of which, no doubt, the bill of Lord Lincoln
will be the foundation. We are to have an exten-
sion of the means of education for the people, upon
the old Whig pattern, which has found such favour
with Sir Robert Peel and Sir James Graham. We
late not, at present, to h ye proposed to us the en-
dowment of the Popish Church in Ireland. That
pear is not ripe. It will not go down with the dis-
senting constituencies any more than with the ma-
jority of the Established Church; and is probably

reserved for a future master stroke of Sir Robert
Peel himself. The revenues of the Establishment
in Ireland, however, are doubtless doomed to be cut
down for educational purposes ; and Sir Robert

equality;" Which he proclaimed in his retiring
speech. We are also-to have a new settlement of
the law as between landlord and tenant in Ireland.
It is a part of the contract with Daniel O'Connell,
and accounts for his present wonderful good hu-
mour with the world, and for Dungarvon being left
uncontested for Mr. Richard Lalor Shiel, notwith-
standing all the past threats of punishment for his
recusancy. But beyond what is now chalked out,
Lord John and his colleagues are not to stretch

their fingers. Like children, they are to he per-
mitted to ride a few of their favourite hobbies—to

but the ex-premier is to hold the reins and to carry

the whip,

We do not urge the fact of this control being ex-

to lay aside his, or her, fears of the result- of Whig
incapacity and want of constitutional principle. On
the contrary, we would urge them to increased
watchfulness and activity. The seeds of future dis-

aster may be sown, with a professing Conservative
looking on approv.ingly, and ready, at the proper
moment, to step in and consummate the ruin. The

history of past inroads upon the constitution is in-
slructive as to the duty of loyal British men. Whig-
radical tampering with our institutions, and contem-
porary mismanagement of the financial affairs of
the kingdom, have, in every successive advent of

1 ._
that party to power, paved the way to large en-
croachments upon the integrity of the former, and

minister, armed with powers dangerous to the liber-
ties of the people. Let us ask what cireums
was which enabled Sir Robert Peel to betray the
confidence of those who placed him in office, avow-
edly for the purpose of resisting the very measur
which he has just carried. It was his oversvhelt
ing majority in Parliament

no of

mon so

sessea the ability to guide us out of the difficulties,
into which the partial adoption of Whig-radical prin-
ciples, and the incapacity of that party to administer
the financial affairs of the country, had brought us.
The bulk of the Conservative portion of his support-
ers voted for his corn importation bill, to preserve
such a minister in power. The nation had allowed
itself to be pushed to the brink of a precipice ; and
he alone was looked upon as the man who could
carry us over ; and if we fall asleep now—if we rest

confident t

hat no mischu

one to our in-

stitutions, because we see a Conservative party ap-
parently controlling a weak and incapable adminis-
tration—the time will come again when—our affairs
in utter disorder, the public mind exasperated, no
sound constitutional leader to fall back upon, and
no strong constitutional power organised—we shall
have to call in the aid of some talented worshipper
of expediency, to patch up our financial prosperity,
and to appease disorder and discontent amongst the
people, by further inroads upon the sources of the
country's greatness and happiness.