NEWS OF THE WEEK.

THE recent proceedings in Parliament must have prepared every one for an event which has this week occurred—the dissolution of Earl GREY'S Cabinet. An Administration which possesses the confidence of the country may outlive internal dissension. A vigorous and popular Premier would find no difficulty in cashier- ing mutinous or disorderly subalterns, and filling up their places with active and obedient recruits. But Earl GREY'S right arm had lost its strength. He bad been forced to pardon and even conciliate insubordinates. He feared to dismiss Mr. LITTLE- Tort, or to accept his resignation, tendered on Saturday last, even after publicly denouncing his conduct in the severest terms. Why ass this ? Because Earl GREY feared that he should not be able to fled a successor to Mr. LITTLETON, sure of a seat in the House of Commons. Here was a symptom of the weakness and unpopularity of the Ministry, not to be mistaken. The debate in the House of Commons, on Monday night, hastened the crisis. It revealed the actual state of dissension in the Ca- binet, on a question respecting which entire unanimity was said to prevail. Lord ALTHORP could not deny that there were Cabinet Ministers who voted against retaining the clauses in the Coercion Bill prohibiting public meetings. He was moreover conscious that he was among them, and therefore constantly liable to the taunt of speaking and voting on the bill in opposition to his own conscientious opinion. Lord ALTHORP has, on several occasions, displayed great intrepidity when placed in a similar pre- dicament; but it seems that his conscience kicked at performing this duty; or perhaps he was glad of an opportunity to escape from a situation which must have been for some time excessively annoy- ing to him. Whatever his motive may have been, be actually did resign on Monday night, and persisted in his resignation next morning, notwithstanding Earl GREY'S endeavours to alter his resolution. Deprived of his "right arm," Earl GREY determined to resign too; and the King accepted the resignations on Tues. day,—for all that appears to the contrary, without reluctance. The facts to which we have referred,—the communication of Mr. Lirri.Erots with O'CoNNELL; and the disclosure of the nature and terms of that communication, which was partially sanctioned by Lord ALTHORP, but never even mentioned to Earl GREY; the disclosure, by some means not avowed, of the Cabinet divisions on the subject of the Coercion Bill, and Lord WELLESLEY'S changes of opinion as to its necessity ; the consequent resignation of Lord Auritoar and then of Lord GREY,—were all detailed at. length in the farewell speech, as a Minister, which the Premier delivered in the House of Peers on Wednesday night. This speech IS in some respects the most interesting of' any which have been delivered in either House of Parliament for many years. It re- quired no slight effort on the part of Earl GREY to accomplish his task. His nerves and voice failed hint in several attempts to com- mence his oration; but at length he rallied, and went through it with a manly dignity, delivering some passages with much pathos. If any evidence were wanting to convince unprejudiced persons of Earl GREY'S unfitness to occupy the post of English Pr.ine Minister in times like the present, it is abundantly supplied in this speech. Earl GREY is Ultinzus Rotnariorum—the last of' the Old Whigs. He does not . sympathize with the existing or the rising generation ; and would never have carried. the Reform Bill of 1832, had he not proposed a similar measure nearly forty years before. It would seem that his colleagues were not in the baba of confidential communication with him ; fur he declares that he was surprised to find any difference of opinion existing among them on the subject of the Coercion Bill : and yet be was Opposed on that question by Lord ALTHORP, whom he speaks of almost with affection, by Mr. CH ARLES GRANT, Mr. ABERCROMBY, and by his own brother-in-law, Mr. ELLicx. It is scarcely credible

that a Premier should have known so little of the opinions of' his 653 colleagues on a matter of such importance. But of the fact there can be no doubt.

Earl GREY avowed his apprehension that the patronage of the Crown had been too closely curtailed, and that economical reform had been carried too far. On this point he is at variance with the vast majority of the people of England : who fully expect, and mean to insist upon, still further extensive reductions—in the mi- litary- establishments, for instance, they hope to cut down a million or two more. It would be unffiir, indeed, to deny the late Admi- nistration the credit of having reduced the expenditure and taxa- tion of the country very considerably. At the same time, it should be remembered, when comparing their performances in this line with those of their predecessors in office, that they have had to deal with a House of Commons inclined to economy ; whereas it was a well-founded complaint against the Rotten Parliaments, that they would not support the Minister in a system of retrench- ment.

The Premier defended himself feebly against the charge of nepotism. He complained that the numerous promotions of his connexions and relatives should all be laid to his charge: but surely Earl GREY will not pretend that those fortunate persons would have been so comfortably placed, had not the head of their clan been the head of the Government also. His Lordship intimated that the whole brood would retire unpensioned from the public service along with himself; but we shall be surprised if such is the case, unless a Tory Administration be appointed. At all events, the GREYS, PONSONBYS, BULTEELS, &c. will have re- ceived during their tenure of office a certain portion of the public money, which but for their connexion with the Premier they never would have touched : for out of the whole tribe, with the exception perhaps of Lord DUNCANNON and Mr. EoLice, there is not a man noted for having done the state any service; and we question whether either of those gentlemen has any intention of resigning. Earl GREY complained of the opposition he had encountered in the House of Peers ; and we agree with his Lordship that the Peers treated him shamefully. Their petty, spiteful, shortsighted ani- mosity against the chief ornament of their "order," and a victim. to his love of it, has been conspicuous throughout the whole of his Administration. It has been truly observed, that the late Minis- ters" stood between the Aristocracy and the People." Of course they had a right to look for support from the former, but they did not receive it. The consequences will be disastrous to the Peers. No future Minister will dare to occupy the position which Earl GREY 11US just abandoned. It is too plain that the grand defect in his policy was a constant effort to conciliate the majority of the Upper House. In this he totally failed ; and who, among those who have any pros- pect of succeeding him, can hope for better fortune in following the same course ? With a House of Peers constituted as the pre- sent House is, attempts at conciliation were from the first hope- less. It would have been far wiser to have created a hundred Peers, for life, during the Reform struggle, when Earl GREY was

in fact dictator. In default of this, the force of public opinion should have been constantly brought to bear on the House of Peers, by means of popular measures, sent up in rapid succession

by large majorities from the Commons. But Earl GREY stood in the way of both these plans. He hesitated to demand a creation of Peers, and ruined his popularity by neutralizing the force and mutilating the measures of the House of Commons.

Earl GREY is entitled to the credit be claimed for resisting all importunities to employ extraordinary measures for the sup- pression of Political and Trades Unions. In this respect he showed sound discretion, and knowledge of the English character. What a pity it is that he was averse to treating his Irish fellow subjects like beings of the same species ! But he seems to have reserved his sympathies for Englishmen; and his jealousy of any' attempt to interfere with their privileges when even the exercise of those privileges was attended with great annoyance to himself and his Ministry, was changed into an obstinate preference for "strong" measures when Irishmen were to be dealt with. It is

lamentable to see the immediate cause—the ostensible reason—of Earl Gasx's final exit from public life, associated with a futile attempt to renew the " unconstitutional" Coercion Act. We think Earl GREY has, upon the whole, been fortunate pit successful in his foreign policy. His views have perhaps.feen

thwarted in some degree by the employment of disaffecWil diplo-

matists: another sacrifice to the malignant Tqries. this oppo- sition to the English Movement also encouragdd Lotas: PHILIP to proceed with confidence in his attack upon the !BbOtias of France. The affairs of the Peninsula, on the other filind, have turned out better than it was reasonable to expect; and.-Btarl GREY has steadily adhered to the pacific policy he laid diveti,o, entering- office.

But the great measure with which the name of Earl GREY in imperishably associated, *de the Reform DK He Witt the in- strument of effecting a mighty redelutitm in tht politibil Constitu- tion of the British nation. He ptillthetneanstif goodtosefrnment into the bands of the People ; and &the first use of those means has not been attended with the beneficial result anticipated by the Reformers, still there is no question that the ruling power has changed hands, and that in future it will be the People's own fault if it be unwisely exercised. Much gratitude, and some charity for the prejudices of caste and training, as well as sympathy for the infir- mities of advanced years, is due to the statesman who had the ho- nesty and courage to take the lead in this great work. As regards the personal character of Earl GREY, it is pleasant to know that it is stainless. We have had reason to charge several of his colleagues with a propensity to shuffle and deceive. Even in the Cabinet there was too much of doubledealing going on ; and the Premier's narrative of the proceedings which led to

his resignation proves that our appellative of "Tricky Ministry"

was not misapplied. But Earl GREY himself is free from this im- putation. He was uniformly straightforward, consistent, and manly in his avowals of opinion, and in his conduct both in and out of Parliament. Had he been more pliable, in some respects, he would perhaps have made a better Minister. But though he pro- fessed to move with "the spirit of the age," he by no means kept up with it, and hardly understood its force. It would he hypocriti- cal in us to lament his retirement. His day of usefulness was over, and he has done well to resign.

Lord ALTHORP stated the reasons for his own resignation, in the House of Commons, while Earl GREY was addressing the Lords. His explanation was received as all previous explanations from their chief favourite have uniformly been received by the Representatives of the People. Never certainly did any Minister succeed so well in gaining the regard and good-will of his brother Members. Even Mr. O'CONNELL and Mr. HUME pro- fessed to place perfect confidence in the good Lord ALTHORP.

Mr. LITTLETON harped upon one string—that of his own indis- cretion in talking with O'CONNELL. This is superlatively silly. Mr. LITTLETON acted discreetly in consulting with the foremost man of that country, with whose government he was intrusted, and for whose tranquillity he was responsible. The result only caused him to be blamed by his colleagues; but the country has reason to rejoice at the consequence of his indiscretion. Had he resigned immediately on discovering that he had misled O'CONNELL, he would have stood well with the Liberal party ; and it appears from his speech, that Mr. LITTLETON is himself aware of the mistake lie committed in remaining. The only Ministers who have actually resigned their offices, are Earl GREY and Lord ALTHORP; though some expressions in the explanatory speech of the latter conveyed the impression, that Mr. ABERCROMBY, Mr. CHARLES GRANT, Mr. SPRING RICE, and Mr. ELLICE had also seceded from the Cabinet. Lord ALTHORP had stated, that while he was speaking, Earl GREY was communicating to the Upper House the fact of the dissolution of the Govern- ment: and certainly the whole tenor, if not the express words of Earl GREY'S speech on Wednesday, was to that effect. But on the following evening, Lord BROUGHAM, being questioned on the subject by that bustling personage Lord LONDONDERRY, denied most positively that the Government was at an end ; declared that Lord ALTHORP had been misinformed as to what had fallen from Earl GREY; and referred to his own declaration on the preceding evening, that he had not abandoned his Sovereign,—a declaration which produced roars of laughter from the Peers, who seem to be unanimous in the belief that Lord BROUGHAM never will aban- don his Sovereign, but that he will cleave to him, for better for worse, till death do them part. Assuredly there was nothing in the tone and manner of Lord BROUGHAM'S harangue which could lead any one to suppose that it was his intention to share the for- tunes of the fallen Minister. He spoke in reply to what the Times justly calls a " rude, unfeeling, vindictive" speech of the Duke of WELLINGTON; but the triumphant tone and exulting style of his oration, notwithstanding be plastered Earl GREY with fulsome praise, was far more unfeeling, far more disgusting, than the blunt and coarse asperity of the soldier. The conduct of Lord BROUGHAM, in the whole of this affair, has done him no good with any party. He wishes to have it believed that the Cabinet has not been dissolved, notwithstanding the resignations of the Premier and Chancellor of the Exchequer, as long as he retains his wig. But although the other Ministers still act as individual servants of the Crown, they cannot act together as a Cabinet. The Govern- ment is therefore virtually broken up.

Little progress has been made towards its reconstruction. Lord MELBOURNE has been consulted by the King; who is said to be desirous of forming a Coalition Cabinet of Whigs and Tories. The serious, if not insuperable difficulties in the way of such a scheme, must retard if not prevent its execution. The Duke of WEL- LINGTON and Sir ROBERT PEEL are also reported to have been in communication with his Majesty. But the Tories are evidently dispirited, and see little prospect of their return to power. Up to this time all is uncertainty.