The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1874-01-29

| The Gladstons Coup d'Etat.
In taking survey of the political situation
in England our readers may have been strucl
not only with the very sudden character o
Mr. Gladstone's recent d6noaement, but by th'
apparent want Of sufficient cause for sucf
energetic action But the more careful OBJ
server Of the political arena in Great Britain
must have observed that in the struggles Of
the Gladstone Cabinet through the last session
Of Parliament it was painfully exhibited-that.
although they were backed by large ma
| jority in the House of Commons, the Ministry
were being crushed and borne down by dead
weights-in fact. were too heavily loaded.
| First, with the Irish Education bill, meas
ure intended to please both Protestants and
Catholics, which. az a matter of course. pleased
neither and was finally rejected by a large
majority, dragging down with it the Ministry
itself Second, the Cabinet was further
weighted with two able but most impracticable
members-Mr. Lowe and Mr. Ayrton. The
impudent efffontery of the one and the cool
audacity of the other was freely vented, with
out regard to party or distinction of persons
throughout the session
It was immateril who had question
to put 70 these Minister'S or what the nature
of the inquiry-the response when offered.
if not directly rude, was generally clothed
in some muttering sarcasm that was a re-
proach to the government of which they
we're members. Occasionally they met their
match. and then ensued one of those scenes
SO keenly relished by the auditory. called
personal" On some occasions Mr.. Ayrton
had the whole House upon him; and, 80 far from
being abashed by the yells of . furious House,
he would calmly stand with bis heavy droop-
ing eyelids with apparent enjoyment
However, shortly before the session ended
these pugnacious statesmen, who all the time
had been waging war on friend and foe. fell
out, the cause being apparently one Of supreu-
acy and now commenced neck and neck
struggle between them, ending in one of those
rare but disgraceful scenes in which two
gentlemen, members of the same Cabinet
were mutually attacking each other in the very
face Of the opposition, to the very infinite dis
gust OF the government and their supporters.
This alone was enough to bring about the col
lapse of any Ministry, however strong; but if
it showed how little influence Mr. Gladstone
had over his Cabinet and the weakness of the
Ministry, it also revealed that the conserve
tives were still weaker, and that if they were
unable to take the reins of government when
the Gladstone Ministry resigned in the earlier
part of the session, they were still powerless
for action then. And 80 the session ended.
Parliament once closed, and the Ministry
safe for at least six months, Mr.. Gladstone
determined to change his front and reconstruct
his Cabinet, and the exposure Of the secret
relations between members of his Cabinet, 30
much to be dreaded during the session, was
now freely made 1t appeared that Mr.. Lowe
and Mr.. Ayrton had not been ON speaking
terms for months, although the nature of their
departments demonstrated that they should
have been in daily communication To make
things worse, Mr. Lowe has quaFelled also
with Mr. Monsen, Postmaster q bral; for,
not content with the administ bn of the
affairs in his own Office, he had been directing
and signing contracts, without the consent or
even knowledge of Mr.. Monsell So here
were three of the chief members of the Cabi-
net acting antagonistically to each other.
Mr.. Ayrton was quietly placed in sinecure
of two thousand pounds per annum, and
Mr. Monsen was made Peer. The remaining
delinquent, Mr.. Lowe, had to be more care
fully dealt with the soi-disant heir pre-
sumptive to Mr.. Gladstone's own exalted posi-
ton could not be 'potted'' with safety. If he
was mischievous in the Ministry he would be
hundredfold more 30 in the ranks Of the
opposition. for he had on former occasion
shown that his was not nature to sink into
quiet retirement on dismissal. The memory
OF the Cave Of Adullum and its little band of
conspirators was still green. He was too dan
gerous to be excited to fresh revolt. It was,
therefore, found that, however inconvenient
the retention of Mr.. Lowe in the Cabinet
might be, his presence was unavoidable; SO he
was transplated from the position of Chancel-
lor of the Exchequer to the supposed less
dangerous post of Home Secretary. Other
new blood instilled, the most important acqui-
sition being Mr.. Bright. Such is the con-
stitution of the present English Ministry.
The advent of the new year no doubt re-
minded Mr.. Gladstone that in q few weeks he
would once more have to meet Parliament,
and we have no doubt that the usual Cabinet
councils were called for the purpose of ar
ranging the programme for the approaching
session. We can quite understand that one
of the first questions to be discussed would be
the relative status of the Cabinet and their
chance of successfully pulling through the
next session, and with such master minds as
Gladstone Lowe, Bright and Chancellor Sell
bourne we can quite understand how readily
the situation would be appreciated and prompt
action taken. II must be borne in mind that
the seven years lease Of the present Parlia-
ment had nearly expired, and it was merely q
question of dissolution now or in the follow
c. E AZ