The Washington critic., 1885-06-25
THE SALISBURY CABINET.

The New English Cabinet takes up, rs it
were, where the Gladstone Cabinet
left off, which means that it will have a
heavy load to carry; but that it is fore
ordained to discontinue does not neces-
sarily follow. There have been Tory
Cabinets before that were brilliant sue
cesses; there may be again. The Marquis
of Salisbury is very able man. He may
be able to disentangle the snarl which the
outgoing ministry is only too willing to be
relieved of. AT least it is premature to
adiudge his government failure until it
is so demonstrated by lack of capacity
to deal with the emergencies of the
situation.
There is no doubt n want of symmetry
in the new Cabinet, and it presents some
very striking contrasts-a singular inter
mixture of strong and weak material--but
it must be remembered that in the prog
ress of political events, old parties are be-
ing constantly brought nearer the same
plane, scarcely less so in England than in
the United States, and the sharp antago-
nisms that once divided them grow less
and less in number and intensity.
Toryism, as we are still pleased to call it,
is fully rs compatible with genuine
patriotism rs Liberalism. There is no
reason to apprehend that the honor of
the British Government is any more i'm
periled in the hands of Lord Salisbury
than it was in the hands of plain Mr..
Gladstone; while as to questions of for.
eign and domestic policy, now uppermost
in the popular mind, there are as wide
disagreements, both with Whig and Tory,
as there are in the two great parties of the
United States with reference to the tariff,
or the coinage of silver, or the reduction
of the public debt.
There were discords in the Gladstone
Cabinet concerning legislation for Ireland
far greater than can reasonably be pre-
dicted of its successor. If anything, the
incoming Ministry will incline to larger
freedom of the franchise and a larger
measure of Irish liberty than the Min
istry which preceded it. TO be success
full it must keep fully abreast of the de-
mand for reform. The time for reaction
ary politics in England has passed, and
even so ultra Conservative as the new
Premier has shown his wise appreciation
of this fact by recognizing in his selection
between whose Liberalism and Conser-
vatism it would be difficult to trace the
separating lines, and for Chief Secretary
for Ireland man whom the Freeman'S
journal approves.
Still, it is Tory Cabinet and there are
some narrow, irascible and obstinate men
IN it-Stafford Northcote, Hicks-Beach,
Randolph Churchill. What it will do
with the Russian negotiations that are
still pending, with neither party in as
gracious a humor as before; what with
the Egyptian problem and its ragged
edges what with the budget and the tax
rates, remains to be'seen. That it will at
tempt to tide over existing embarrassments
in q way to gain the public confidence
goes without saying. That it will fail to
do so, however probable it may seem to
the casual observer, is something that the
clearest-headed statesman in England to-
day dares not stake his reputation rs q
prophet by forecasting.
Gladstone has the advantage of being
alive, but the spirit of Beaconsfield still
walks the earth.