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of the counties a new and epeciaT rural borough constituency , to rehabilitate the Whigs—a virgin electorate to restore their vitality—the Abishai which the tribe of Coppock was to bring to cherish the expiring Whig-David ! The last official act of their Premier was a petty , taunting triviality , the i mportant motion pro forma , that Lord Palmerston and Mr ; Bernal sliould bring in the Militia Bill Lord John had a right to make such a motion ; but how many statesmen , standing before the senate to make their last state
act , would have availed themselves of such a right ? Imagine Csesar , who covered his face , and died folded in the robe of his own dignity- — imagine Caesai , instead of that majestic submission to Destiny , falling , with a gesture of impotent defiance , and " taking a sight" at Brutus ! As in 1841 , Lord John goes out with , an eleventh-hour measure , a boast , and a promise . The offered sugar of 1852 is the Whig-restoring Reform Bill . The boast and the promise are , that he shall continue to maintain free trade ,
extended suffrage , and peace—peace , which he has endangered , without providing against aggression , by the mockery of a Militia Bill!—free trade , of which Peel effected nine-tenths , and John Bussell has been in office for six years without being able to accomplish the residue!—extended suffrage , which he neglected for those six years , except when he tampered with it to no purpose , and finally gibbeted it in hisridiculous newReform Bill . ' But let us remember , that if he did so , he could not help it : Mr . Cobden has reminded us of the excuse—most of the late Ministers have
reached that time of life when energy , activity , and efficiency are physically impossible ; if some few are not old in years , they are evidently so in constitution . The one man who was not so , was too strenuous for their quiet notions , and they turned him out . The young and energetic man whom they took in , Dr . Layard , was an antiquarian . If they boast that they intend still to work for * their nation i $ t great national enterprises , it is the harmless boast of superannuated memory , which , according to its wont , is mistaking the future for the past . Many Reformers are declaring that they will have no more to do with the Whigs ; theymay as well abjure Grandfather Whitehead . When Lord John introduced
his Reform Bill , the funds rose one-eighth—no one knew why : when his resignation was known , they fell one-eighth : half-a-crown , then , is the price which the public puts on Lord John ; exactly the price that the tailor asked King Stephen for his oreeches , and yet "he held them all too dear ! " If the chief of the party is worth twoand sixpence now , what will ne be a year hence ? No , no ; we are not going to be troubled with the Whigs any more . They are gone—Budget Wood , of chicory renown ; Borough-mongenng Reform Russell ; Grey , Beloved of Colonies ; Hawes , the Silver Tongue of Truth ;—gone all the Elliots , the Russells , and the Greys—gone the mealymouthed dealers in " measures from time to time suited to the occasion I" Peace be to their manes !
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THE STEANGE DINNER-PARTY IN POWER . A Tbeasury entrusted to Lord Derby !—an Exchequer to Mr . Disraeli!—tho Free-trade of Downing-street surrendering ^ its place in Parliament , for Protection to try its hand at making a majority 1 England , Liberal by every sign which society and statistics can furnish , handed over to the government of the Tories ! Such is the strange aspect of the crisis which has givon us a Derby administration . But tho case is not quite bo bad as that . It is more absurd , but not so
desperate . in the first place , despite the " constitutional " figment , the country has not called Lord Derby to power ; but tho Crown has dono so , and has done ho , probably , on tho advice of Lord John Russell . Such a selection is not by any means unprooodontcd , although it somewhat violates tho rationalo of tho constitution . Lord John Russell rosigns , becauao ho is beaten by a majority ; , tho hoad of that victorious majority ,
liowover , was not Lord Derby , but Lord Palmdrfitoni Lord Derby was notoriously loader of a minority in tho Representative Hoviao ; still tho Crown has selected him us Prime Minister . By the existing constitution , the Crown has a perfect right to make that choice , and wo have no disposition to quarrel with it ; wo aro onl y keoping tho facts distinct . Tho choico of tho now premier , we say , wan not , in any respect , the affair of " tho country / " tho nation , " " tho
people , " or the Parliament : it was arranged by the Crown , probably with the advice of the outgoing Minister . How far Lord Derby was justified in accepting it , with so striking a want of men to form a Cabinet , without a majority in Parliament , and without a policy that the " country would countenance ,, it is not for us to judge . ; He is responsible , and by the same constitution still existing , he has the full right to undertake the
responsibility . He will probably be punished , not by the obsolete penalty of the block , but by the more shocking penalty of defeat and ridicule . Meanwhile , for our own part , we are not sorry that the Protectionists should have one more trial , a last opportunity of showing what is in them , and wliat , in their patriotism , they can do for their country . Nevertheless , we cannot close our eyes to the probable fate awaiting such an experiment and those who undertake it .
The deplorable want of men is shown by the composition of the new Ministry , which is remarkable in several respects . It has been observed that , of the Cabinet , only four have previously been in office—an observation not strictly accurate when it was made , since Lord Lonsdale and others have been in office before ; but the remark is not far from the truth . No objection could be made to the introduction of " new blood , " but the search for men beyond the old ex-official bounds cannot be without its
peculiar significancy , when it is so sweeping . The " new blood" is furnished almost entirely by the class of " private" Members or unobtrusive Peers , intelligent men , who are not entirely strangers to the public , and whose abilities have , in most instances , been meted long ago . Mr . Walpole , the new Home Secretary , is a gentleman m every sense of the word , and has a rising parliamentary reputation ; but he will be regarded as virtually the Under-Secretary . Indeed , most of the gentlemen newly introduced belong , bv parliamentary standing and by repute ,
to the secondary grade . Together with that underrating of the offices , there is a curious misallotment of offices . Although Mr . Disraeli ' s appointment to the Exchequer has been very generally received as a joke , we are not inclined to go with those who laugh , having a strong expectation that the historic artist will acquit himself creditably in any part that he may perform ; but
unquestionably the public would have been less surprised to see him entrusted with Foreign Affairs ; and if it was a mere question of making him leader of the Commons , we all remember that Lord John Russell held that post while he was a Secretary of State . Mr . Herries is not appointed to the Exchequer , the duties of which he mignt have fulfilled with a certain respectable regularity , but is shelved as President of tho Board of
Control . Mr . Disraeli , who has strong opinions on foreign affairB , is not appointed to the Foreign-Office , but the Earl of Malmeabury , grandson of a known diplomatist , who did some unpleasant work with a good deal of clever tact , including the marriage of George the Prince Regent . The First Lord of the Admiralty is tho Duke of Northumberland , once upon a time a sailor ; but tho Earl of Hardwicke , who has marked convictions as to tho efficiency of the navy , is made Postmaster-General . Altogether , the composition of the Cabinet indicates a deficiency in men of mark ; but such as are marked , aro mostly put whore they will have least opportunity ; as though tho compounder of the Government wished not to make
it too pronounced in its tone or action . Without a majority in Parliament , the Ministry must seolc to make a majority by a general election ; but it cannot do so without disclosing its jfolicy ; and tho question is whether it has a presentable policy . We write befoi'O wo have tho advantage of hearing tho Ministerial explanations ; but certain broad facts aro obviouB , even beforehand . A quostion has been raised whether tho now Ministry had not better tide over tlio session , and dissolve afterwards / At a vorf early hour , the experienced Tory Standard anticipated some such policy whon it said , — -
" Tho Wings aro out , and wo aro thankful that thoy aro , but in our gratification at their expulsion , we munfc not forgot that wo havo to deal with a Hiihtlo and un-HcrupulouH faction , or rathor with two bucIi factions for tho Poclitcs will , of course , fall in with thoir couipauioiiH in opposition ; and if wo would keep out WhigH and PoolitoH , wo must ho careful not to proaa our friondei to a hasty and imprudent course . It is tho groat
advantage of those who act upon principle , and not by expedients , that their measures will hear keeping back . If oar principles are , as we know they are , sound , every day will more manifestly demonstrate their soundness Some suffering must necessarily attend delay in the ap . ' plication of these principles , but this is the price which must be paid for every human good . A whole mountain of falsehood , the collection of many years of misre * presentation , must be cleared away before the mass of the people can be made to understand their actual
position and their true interests . Time is , even in defiance of a dishonest Government , doing something to reduce the heap that conceals the truth , but time } with an honest administration of public affairs , will make much shorter work in overthrowing the reign of falsehood . It is by no means improbable that the House of Commons may prove its loyal submission to the will of the Sovereign , and the sense of the inconvenience and danger of a general election , entertained by some of its members , by supporting the minister of the Queen ' s choice . "
It has since been understood that Lord per by would dissolve forthwith , and try to gain hia utmost by a surprise ; yet later , that he will not dissolve atpresent , but try the " loyalty" of Parliament . He lias not a majority in " the country , " and can only make one by a process of propagandism . To attempt an election without that process , of to put on the election , and set an example of postponing principles while asking the Protectionist l > artf for new exertions of " enthusiasm" —Hrach is the choice ascribed to the new
Ministers by their own friends ! What , indeed , can such a Ministry do , except die . They know that ft is nothing : they have no vocation in office ; they go in because they can't help it , since they cannot for the third time decline the opportunity held out to their party . Yet they know that they go in to be a Ministry of agitation—a Ministry to agitate among the people for the adoption of an impracticable policy . Lord Eglinton may go to Ireland , and amuse them \ li f
VVll / JJ . VC 11 / 1 U UJAl / itJU . lUlua AJJ . } jagDau . ; x j , uu . " ¦«" that suffice to master the excitable nation P The Orange party will expect a restored ascendancy , and if they do not get it , not Protectionist rage at Peel would equal Orange rage at Derby . The Roman Catholics will expect coercion ; and if their instant resistance be met by conciliation , they will construe the kindness into fear . Mr . Disraeli may advance a budget more epical in its construction than Sir Charles Wood's , and is
very likely to prove that imagination and figures are not incompatible ; he may render the Incometax more equitable in its incidence ; he may do something to remove or compensate the " special burdens" of the landed interests ; but we jmow beforehand that the landed interests regard that thrice-proffered boon very thanklessly ; that they would be content with nothing but relief from the Income-tax , and Malt-tax , and the restoration of Protection ; and that all the ingenuity of the most ingenious man in tho new Cabinet cannot devise a policy which will at once content them and be practicable—which will not exasperate them with disappointment , or rouso the general country to resistance . Mr . Disraeli is doomed to study tho
interests of the minority , of a declining party—a party declining because it has declined in public virtue , in the " aristocratic" paternity towards dependents , in chivalrous vitality of all kinds , lho Ministry which his Premier has constructed is deficient in men , because men fit for such posts havo abandoned tho principles to which Lord Derby adheres , through a boyish fighting obstinacy—to which most of his friends adhere through lack of tho ratiocinative faculty , and to which the Anglo-Venetian Disraeli adheres in the spirit or knight-errantry . This weak partywith tins
ob-, solete policy , ia going to tho country on the dosporate enterprise of convincing tho pooplo that dear broad is a good—that tho aristocracy is still an aristocracy in tho chivalrous Disraelcsquo sonao of tho word—and that all tho nation ought to think with Lord Derby and Georgo Fredor / clc Young . It cannot evado the suicidal enterprise , because-it has no kind of claim on public attention except Protection . The enterprise is hopeless for thomsolvefl ; but in tho course of it , tho country will bo stirred up to somo now Hfc and action .
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THE BU-OPHNJOI ) FIELD FOB BEFOBMEBS . Onwaud once more—tho path is cleared of tho sickly loaders wlio blocked it up , and on whoso hools we wore bidden not to troad . Tho transit of thoii Purliainejatary representatives to tuo
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Feb. 28, 1852, page 202, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1924/page/14/
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