Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1880-04-17


Carlton Terrace and announced his
intention of taking the position of a
private member of parliament.
Lord Harrington was then recog-
nized as leader of the opposition in
the house of commons, and Lord
Granville, who had led for Glad
stones cabinet in the house of lords,
now led the opposition in the same
house. This arrangement soon led
Gas was anticipated az the time) to
most inconvenient anomalies and
complications. Gladstone i'm parli-
ament could no more take a subor-
dinate place there than the sun
could veil his splendOrs in the day
time so as to give the moon and
stars a chance. His transcendent
talents, his splendid elOquence, and,
above all, the impetuOus, passionate
energy with which he throws him
self into any cause in which he once
engages, all stamped him as man
to be first in his party or nowhere
in it-Gm Cesar AIT nHlL,s. But
this was an anomaly, and a serious
one, for it established the unfortu-
nate position that Lords Harrington
and Granville were responsible for
the policy of the opposition, but
could not control it; Mr.. Gladstone
controlled it, but was not re-
spOnsible.
And now that the relative posi-
ton of parties is again about to be
changed, now that the party Of the
administration is again about to
become that of the opposition, the
anomaly we have described be-
comes more serious than ever. Ac-
cording To precedent (and it is a
precedent grounded on right prin-
ciple), when a cabinet resigns, the
sovereign should send for the leader
of the opposition in one house or
the other and devolve on him the
responsibility Of forming a cabinet
by negotiating with the leading
members of his party. The reason
ableness of this arrangement will
easily be seen when we consider
that the way in which an admins
tration is displaced by another of
the opposite party is by the oppOsi-
ton gaining a majority in parlia-
ment for Il policy to which the
administration mas been adverse.
Now it is the one thing which
curbs the excuses of opposition,
prevents it from rushing into inn
practicable schemes, that whatever
policy it may advocate while in
opposition, it will have the respOns-
Utility of carrying out in actual Leg
islation and administration when it
shall have succeeded to the control
of government. 1t will be seen,
then, that the principle of party
responsibility requires that those
who have moulded the policy and
defined the positions of the party
should be entrusted with the duty
and loaded with the responsibility
of carrying out that policy and de-
Tending those positions when in
power.
The recognized rules, then, of
political procedure would require
that, as soon as the resignation of
Lord BeacOnsfield and his colleagues
has been accepted, the queen should
send for either the Earl of Granville
or the Marquis of Harrington to
form the new cabinet, though it
appears that the unusual position of
Mr.. Gladstone is likely to compel
departure from precedent, and that
he is likely to be the premier of
cabinet selected by him.
Apart from the objection to such
a departure from precedent, we be-
lieve it to be the feeling of thought
full Englishmen that an adninistPa-
ton formed under the auspices of
Lord Granville would be a safer one
than one of which his more brilliant
colleague shall be the author aud
officer, Mr.. Gladstone
throws so much passion into his
political life, and into the present
regarding the Eastern
question he has precipitated his
whole fiery nature with such an in
tensity of rage and fury, that even
his great intellect cannot restrain
him from dangerous extremes. We
are not now going to discuss the
merits of his views of East |
ern policy and those of Lord Bea-
consfield, but the contrast between
them is SO extreme that an abrupt
change from the one to the other
cannot but produce dangerous COM
plications, and it would not be at all
an improbable result of such move
ment that a general European war
should arise from the accession to
power of a party whose main
doctrine is opposition to
war under all circumstances.
There are means, however, sup
piled by the English usages in |
forming a cabinet capable of re-
in some degree even so
a character as Mr.. Glad /
stone. A prime minister cannot act /
a cabinet, and in forming
one some agreement has to be /
arrived at as to the general princi-
pies upon which the government
shall be carried on. Thus, If Mr..
q. should undertake to form a eabi-
net, he must negotiate with the
eading men of his party for their
of seats in it. A cabinet,
wen with Gladstone at its head,