The southern press., 1852-01-12

natural positi0n. II Lord PaImerston was at
times the Quixote Of liberalism, there are worse
Quixotes to be found. We do not say this of
Lord Granville, of whom the public know but
ittle-and that little chiefly in connection wi h
the great exhibition. His appoint ment has ap
parently originated with the court. The cir
cumstance Of the foreign minister being in the
House of Lords will probably make Lord John
Russell the mouth piece OF foreign policy in the
House Of Commons, no disadvantage in great
many respects. But the. possibility OF Lord
palmerston in opposition, and abetting in the
House of Commons Gallcan friendship and
alliance, in contradistinclion to an Austrian or
Russian connection---this, every one must see,
would weaken the whig ministry and destroy
the whig party, beyond all the slender talents of
the Greys to uphold them
From the London Times Of Dec. a.
RETIREMENT OF LORD PALMERsToN.
A few days ago, after the departure of all the
ministers from London, and at the near approach
of Christmas, cabinet council was unexpected
y summoned although no assignable cause of
public interest has occurred to explain this sud-
den requisition. This council was held on
Monday, the 22d instant; and it was remarked
with surprise that Lord Palmerston, one of the
most assiduous members of the government,
suspicion was excited, and surmise became rife.
We now have it in our power to remove all
further uncertainty on the subject, for we are
enabled to announce that from the day on
which that council was held, Viscount Palm.
erston ceased to hold the office of Secretary Of
State of foreign affairs, or to be a member of
her Majesty's government.
1t would not be easy to overrate the import
ance of such an event, both to the stability of
the ministry and to the foreign interests of this
nation, at time unusually critical in the affairs
of Europe. But. on both these grounds, we
believe that when the motives Of this decisive
measure are more fully before the country,
they will be found to be such that the dignity
Of the Queens advisers, and the best interests
of the state, rendered it indispensable. Diff
culties had arisen, not only in the conduct of
affairs with foreign States, but. in the transac-
ton Of business connected with our foreign
policy at home, which had shaken the conf
Gence of ministers in the secretary for foreign
affairs, and had weakened that control which
the first minister is bound to exercise over every
department of the government.
These difficulties are not of Yesterday though
they may have been heightened by some recent
oficial Expressions of sentiment, which have been
received with irritation abroad and with aston
ishment at home. Her Majesty's government
could not be Indifferent to the fact that, from one
reason or another, the administration of foreign
affairs by Lord Palmerston had apparently left
him without an ally in Europe; and, as some
think, without friend. That, undoubtedly, is
not the natural or proper position Of England,
or OF an English minister especially at a time
when our sole interest and object should be to
cultivate amicabe and pacif; relations with all
foreign States; and when, in fact, those arnica.
ble relations are established everywhere but with
the foreign office.
1t was Lord Palmerston's misfortune, if it
were not his fault, to have excited among the
elder statesmen of Europe degree of hostility
and distrust which exaggerated all his defects
and denied all his merits. Nor, on the other
hand, could much reliance be placed by the lib
eral party on his attempts to second their efforts
for the establishment of constitutional govern
ment; for we believe that his very last act in
power was to express his unqualified approba-
ton of the French coup detat. This want of
personal good will between the English foreign
secretary and all the leading cabinets of the
continent, operated as a practical disqualification
for the transaction of important affairs, and had
a tendency to deprive this country of its Just
influences abroad. With nothing definite to
quarrel about, the position Of the Queens min.
with the duties of their mission
These inconveniences would, however, have
been of less account if there had been more
cordial union of opinion and conduct between
Lord Palmerston and his colleagues But we
are now entitled to assume, from this severance
Of their official connection, that although they
had chivalrously stood by him when he seemed
plunged in insurmountabIe difficulties by his acts
of intemperance and indisc retion, they were not
sensible to the painful consequences of such
situation. And if we wanted any proof Of the
justice of the expostulations we have sometimes
felt it our duty to address to the late foreign
minister, we should find it in the fact that Lord
Palmerston's colleagues have at length separa ed
themselves from him, on grounds probably not
dissimilar from those arguments we have con-
sistently opposed to him. On their response.
bty to the crown and to the nation, which out
weighed at last in their minds all party interests,
personal ties and the habits of long intercourse,
they have felt that the time was come when
Lord Palmerston could no longer hold the seals
of the foreign department; and if any other
office in the State was proposed to him, it was, at
any rate, not accepted.
No doubt, under any circumstances, the diff
Guilty and hesitation which must have attended
such a step before it was irrevocably taken,
"O'0 S'oo'iy iHS'caoCu Wy Iic HcCeSSlly OI HUu.
ing successor to minister whose experience
embraced forty years of official life, and whose
activity had absorbed all the business of his office
But we have reason to believe that the seals
have been offered to, if not already accepted by,
a nobeman who, though comparatively young
in political life has commanded the praise and
esteem of the country in all the positions he
has hitherto filled. We believe that such man.
entering upon one of the most arduous and inn.
portant offices not only in this country, but in
the world may confidently rely on the support
OF the nation whose interests it is his first duty
to protect and to represent and no less on the
friendly feeling of those foreign states whose
interests are identified with our own defence of
the general principles of legality and peace.
This change, important as it is, has been die
tated by no personal or party motives, for they
all tended in the opposite direction, but by n
imperious sense Of duty and necessity and we
have no doubt that it will be considered hy the
country as sacrifice, not hastily or inconsider.
ately made, to the public good.
From Wiimer & Smiths Times, Dec. 81.
1t is clear that the causes which have led to
the retirement of Lord Palmerston, will not be
known in their entirety until Parliament meets