THE PRINCIPLES OF THE NEXT MINISTRY.
THE result of the election contest in the City of London, lowered the insolent tone of the Times amazingly. The versatile journal straightway began to preach up an alliance between the Duke's men and the Whigs, as the only means of stopping the " Move- ment." This, which may be meant as a cunning device, is in truth a very silly one. The Times itself stated, on Wednesday, that the GREY Cabinet was broken up by the "combination of external pressure with domestic intrigue:' The fact is—and it is of the first importance to keep it in mind—that the real efficient cause of the downfal of Lord GREY, was the pressure from without, acting upon the supporters of the Ministry and some of its mem- bers, who were thus made aware of the impossibility of carrying on tqg Government on the system of" resistance." Their majority in thT House of Commons was becoming restive, as the consti- tuencies became more and more impatient of the "clipping and compromising" of good measures. It is absurd to pretend that the public was roused by the more Liberal section of the Cabinet into the application of external pressure. On the contrary, the Liberals very blameably sacrificed their own convictions on vital questions to the will of the Conservatives. But when Mr. WARD brought forward his celebrated Resolutions for the Reform of the tie sound the feeling of important constituencies, had convinced the ?nos* moderate of the Ministerialists, that if they were to retain
any ohance of reelection, it must be by the sacrifice of the STANLEY FIRST THINGS TO BE DONE BY THE NEW principles and party. It was therefore the pressure from without PARLIAMENT.
It is now proposed to reconstruct another Coalition Ministry. and place.
of Sir Charles Manners Sutton, he refused to increase the number of his pushed beyond his depth, and puffed far beyond his merits. He opponents in the House of Lords, by conferring a Peerage upon a gentleman must gain experience before he can be a useful ally to any whose hostility to the Whig Government was undisguised and unbounded. Minister. To think of Lord STANLEY as Premier, or as a leading Well, the Tories have now been in office six weeks. They have not held a Minister, is even more absurd than the scheme of exhuming Cabinet, which the late Speaker has not attended ; yet we hear nothing of lis Earl GREY. Peerage, or of his admission into that Administration, of which, when the advent of the party to power was talked of in June last, the Speaker was to Having disposed of Earl GREY and Lord STANLEY, the Times have been the head. The mystery of this inconsistency is easily solved. Sir comes to the proposal that Lord MELBOURNE should be associated Robert Peel thinks, and very jnstly, that Sir Charles has personal claims to the with the Duke and his man. chair, which no one else possesses. He knows that Mr. Wynne, or Mr. notil- " Why not inquire into the feasibility of an alliance with Sir Robert Peel, burn, would not have the slightest chance of replacing him ; and, looking upon and on the principles of Constitutional Heft,' m ? There might possibly, on the it as a great object for the Government to gain an advantage,lowever slight, at kirk Church question, be less difference between Lord Melbourne and Sir first starting, he has prevailed upon the Speakeir to become its champion, and Robert Peel than between Lord Melbourne and Lord Stanley. We hazard the to undertake the irksome task (tor a most irksome task it is) of presiding on opinion that if ever the Ultra-Radical pressure is to be effectually resisted, it more over the deliberations of the House. We do not mean by this to impute will—it must—be by such a union as that which wa have now suggested, be- to Sir Charles any superhuman disinterestedness ! No : if the sacrifice be tween the rational and moderate portions of the Conservatives and the Whigs."
In other words, it is recommended to forma Coalition Ministry, session, if his fr iends remain in so long; and if not, their last act is to be his less Liberal than Earl GREY'S. For, however the Times may en- elevation to the Peerage, in which case he retires with his title, and his pension deavour to mystify the matter, no man in his senses will believe of 4000/. a year. The same awaits him in the event of his defeat,—a contin- that a Wellington and MELBOURNE Cabinet will be more Liberal gency, which must be provided for; as Mr. Abercromby will be started against him, under the impression (and a very fair impression it is) that wberea or popular than the one of which Lords GREY and MELBOURNE question is made avowedly a party question, personal feelings should not be allowed were principal members. But we have seen that the origin of to interfere. Personally, the late Speaker may be better qualified than any other trouble in Lord GREY'S Cabinet, and the active cause of its ultimate individual to fill the chair ; but if the votebe considered as a vote of confidence, fracture, was the public dissatisfaction, manifested by that external which it is, no man who refuses his confidence to Sir Robert, can give his vote pressure which Anti-National statesmen deprecate and dislike so to Sir Charles. Besides, Mr. Abercromby has great claims both upon the Country and the House. His services to the cause of Liberty have been con- fervently. And the question now to be considered is simply this— stint; his experience is great ; his knowledge of the House great ; his manner Has the Nation become less Liberal and more Tory in its opinions quiet, but impressive; Ins language invariably good. All these are points very than it was last summer? If not, is it not vain to expect any much in his favour; and when it is considered that the late Speaker will come Ministry to endure, which is not formed on more Liberal principles forward, not as a bond fide candidate for the highest honour which the Cons- than the Cabinet of Earl GREY? We apprehend that the result moos of England can bestow, but as a mere Tory stopgap, in the hope that, in the Administration can survive the first six weeks, there will be less difficulty m of the pending election struggles, together with the sentiments providing him with a Conservative succe•sor, we think that no man of any expressed within the last two months by the mass of the most pretensions to Liberal principles can hesitate as to the line which he ought to influential classes in the country, will convince most people, not pursue. Some few may be biassed by old associations, or committed, like Lord convinced already, that the power of the Movement is and has Morpeth and Sir Francis Burdett, by the expression of strong opinions; but been for some time on the increase, not on the wane. Therefore, the great majority of those, whom we now confidently announce as 'the Ma-
jority ' in the new House of Commons—the Reformers as contrarlistinguished unless it is proposed to establish arbitrary government--to rule
from the present men—will, we have no doubt, rally round Mr. Abercromby, the country despite of the House of Commons, it seems ihevitable, and secure, by his elevation to the chair, a man of kindred feeling to support that a Ministry far more popular than Earl GREY'S, and such as the dignity and character of the House, during the great struggle which awaits the Duke and PEEL cannot form a part of, must be resorted to. it."
to choose between "me and DURHAM.' We should be very to watch him more closely than before ; and we discovered that pleased if the Nation should agree with the Tory writers and the be frequently allowed the House to get into difficulty, which a Tory Premier. Sir ROBERT is already beaten. According to him- little more attention to his duties, and less chattering with idle self, then, there is an end of "me ;" and now let us try "DURHAM." Members, would have prevented. On questions where clearness and But the fact is, that the country has more than one string to its decision were wanted, the Speaker was almost invariably pompous bow ; and if Lord DURHAM should not be the next Premier—which and mystical. He left difficult points precisely where he found the friends of that nobleman are in nowise anxious about, knowing them. He seemed to us frequently incompetent to the performance as they do that his time will come full too soon, to allow him fair of the higher class eta Speaker's duties. Were there no other play—we see nothing to prevent Lord MELBOURNE resuming his reasons for rejecting him and choosing Mr. ABERCROMBY, those late post at the head of a thoroughly Reforming Administration, we have assigned are sufficient. such as Lord DURHAM might consistently support. Such a But the recent conduct of Sir CHARLES Surrote must deprive Ministry would have nothing to fear from that bugbear of Anti- him of the vote of every sincere Reformer. Instead of keeping National Governments—the pressure from without. Such a aloof from party politics, he has been caballing actively with the Ministry would be allowed ample breathing-time. Credit would Tory placehunters. He has been anxious, seemingly, to return be given to it for good intentions. There would be no disposition the favour which the Whigs conferred on him, by doing them the to embarrass it. Due allowance would be made for difficulties, as most injury in his power. Secure of his pension and his peerage, long as there was no compromise of the principle of great ques- he laughs them to scorn. And yet it is believed even now, that tons, but on the contrary an evident determination to govern some of his late supporters among the Whigs may be cajoled into Irish Church, a large majority of the House of Commons, ineltid- honestly in the true spirit, intent, and meaning of the Great ing very many of the most Anstocmtic and Conservative members Charter of 1832. This it is, we reply to the Times, that we "want" ef the Whig party, determined to take that opportunity of render- —instead of the miserable jumble of men and principles which it hg the Cabinet more Liberal. The result of seveml elections, would recommend to the country in the shape of a Coalition and of the steps taken, as the opportunity or necessity occurred, Ministry, as " a sovereign balm for all our woes."
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