The Sun. — 1856-11-25 (London, England)

LORD JOHN RUSSELL AND THE PEERAGE.  We have deferred for some days adverting to the feelers which have recently been put forth in the journals in the interest of the Bedford family, relative to the reception of Lord John Russell into the Palmerston Ministry, and his contemporaneous elevation to the peerage. We have hitherto been silent on the point until the journals in question had exhausted all they had to say on the subject. We presume they have nothing more to advance in favour of the two honours which they suggest should be simultaneously paid to his lordship. Let us now pronounce our deliverance. If the friends of Lord John are bent on pitchforking the noble lord into the Upper House, we have no objection. On the contrary, if that be their wish, we sty "So be it." He will be as well there as anywhere else. Though not possessing the shadow of a chance of re-election for the city, he would, no doubt, in virtue of the family influence of the house of Bedford, get smuggled into the House of Commons for some place or other ; and in the Lords he will be rather more harmless than in the Conimons.  So far we acquiesce in the wishes of the personal friends of the noble Lord. But his reception into the Ministry is quite another matter. Lord Palmerston, we trust, will resolutely and successfully resist all attempts on the part of the families— the Bedfords, the Sutherlands, and the Devonshires—to force the quondam Home Secretary into his Government. If he do not, he is ruined as the First Minister of the Crown. Were Lord Juhn only an encumbrance in the Cabinet—wore he simply, from his Finality predilections or deplorably defective judgment, a mere drag-chain on the' onward progress of the Government, that, though bad enough, might be got over. But there are no bounds to his ambition ; while his mind, in the pursuit of an object on which it has been set, is as restle ;s and uncontrollable as the sea. He would never be at ease until he had supplanted Lord Palmerston in the Premiership. That is the nature of the man ; and no more can he change it than the leopard can change its spots. With Lord John in the Ministry, Lord Palmerston would never have a moment's peace. He never would feel secure of his position. Why then should Lord Palmerston be so simple as even to entertain the idea of again receiving Lord John into his Cabinet ? To do so would be a piece of consummate folly. It would be official suicide. Lord Palmerston never stood higher in public estimation than he does at this moment ; nor was his position as Premier ever :core secure. Why then gratuitously introduce an element into his Administration which, before long, would inevitably prove his lull ? Even already a man so shrewd as Lord Palmerston cannot have failed to discern indications of the most unequivocal kind that Lord John Russell's friends contemplate his speedily superseding the present head of the Government in the Premiership, and that they only regard his admission into the Cabinet as the first step towards that end. They plainly state—and thereby betray the cloven foot —that Lord Palmerston's day is nearly done ; that Lord John Russell is ten years younger than he ; and that the ex-Home Secretary alone would be a fit successor of Lord Palmerston. This is actually stated, in so many words, by a journal which first suggested Lord John's re-introduction into the Cabinet, and which may be regarded as the organ of the Bedford family. We therefore warn Lord Palmerston against the folly which some of Lord John's friends say he is half inclined to commit. We are unwilling to believe the representations made to us on this point by the friends of him who would have sold not only Dietetic' but all Europe to Russia, at the Congress of Vienna in 1855. Perhaps no greater weakness can be detected in the character of Lord Palmerston than his belief that Lord John Russell is still a man of some political importance. He is nothing of the kind. He is a perfect cipher ; or if he be good for anything, it is only for weakening whatever Ministry he may chance to be connected with. We put the question to Lord Palmerston, whether he has ever found any difficulty in carrying on the government of the country since Lord John ceased to be connected with it ? If the Premier will be but. plain and candid in answering the question, he will unhesitatingly say, that so far from the exclusion of Lord John from the Cabinet bbing an obstacle to the satisfactory conduct of public affairs, it has, on the contrary, eminently contributed to the smooth-sailing of the vessel of the State under his presidency at the helm. Should Lord Palmerston entertain en.yne.vseor".. overtures that may be made to him by the friends to the Noble Member for the City he will will not only tender him a seat in the Cabinet, have the rime Minister joefotphaerdQi suee Queen s ownbut h e positionwill notas .tehroeehnl. f his overthrow. sympathy pt. the people in the . t There will be but one to have his heels that will be, that he _doo‘ n. Lord Palmerston, it tripped up by Lord J had enough of his quondam feseehrenFsnon the subject, and. might be supposed, has colleague already, and could not be expected to wish for any more. Lord Palmerston Foreign Secretaryship by Lord John ; an opportunity does not mean to give th 'Atter ; 1851, from the was expelled, in we hope of berepeating the game, as regards the Premiership. ' on this—that those are not his real friends, be they who they may, ord Palmerston may depend who counsel him to receive Lord John back into his Ministry. He ought to feel thankful that circumstances occurred when him a happy riddance of the extheytio rn e did, t o gi v Secretary.e