THE DANGER BEFORE THE MINISTRY.
1XTHENEVER Parliament meets, whether it be in February V I' —as we fear—or on 17th January, the day to which it now stands prorogued,—as we would fain hope,—the Ministry
will become conscious of a changed atmosphere, one heavier, hotter, more charged with electricity than that in which for two Sessions they have moved so easily. The Recess has not been favourable to their prospects. The Cabinet has not changed much, though one prominent member is dead, and another has resigned ; but the work of its chiefs has changed, and they are less suited to the new task than to the old. Mr. Gladstone's Government was intended to be a kind of ideal government for a peaceful time, a government that should reform and retrench, and in certain departments build ; that should conciliate Ireland, and enlarge national education, and liberalize the Universities, and remodel the bureaus, and reduce the taxes ; and all these things it has done, and done so well that, had circumstances not changed, Mr. Gladstone might have met an approving or placid House, content to register his suggestions without overmuch even of discussion. The dis- content in the ranks of the extreme Liberals, though perceptible last year, and greatly increased by the blunder of appoint- ing Lord Halifax to the vacant seat in the Cabinet, would not have mattered much, for they have no sufficient leader, and their opposition, whenever it became serious,
always attracted Tory votes. There was plenty of work to do of a kind the Cabinet was sure to do well, and there was nearly a certainty of one of those mighty surpluses which are accepted in a commercial state as proof that internal administration has been on the whole successful. The Continental war destroyed all those prospects to an extent of which we expect the Ministry have as yet but little idea. It increased, as it happened, the popular feeling in favour of education, the conquering Power being one which had encouraged instruction ; but in every other department of effort it changed the whole kind of work, and even the kind of official tone, demanded of the Government by the people. Economy seems almost contemptible when expenditure is so necessary. Instead of wise internal measures the people wish for vigorous foreign action, instead of reductions they ask for soldiers, instead of elaborate plans of far-reaching improve- ment, they long in their hearts for sudden, intelligible, and daring resolves. The Cabinet, it must be confessed by its friends, is by no means so fitted to deal with the new as with the old conditions of success. Its Chief, though his marvellous intellect may yet adapt itself to the change in the aspect of all public affairs,—to a change in the object of politics which may last for years, has never displayed any one of the qualities which make up a great War Minister, knows little of Foreign politics, detests the idea of war, exaggerates to folly Lamartine's theory that "opinion is the executive force of the nineteenth century," and is suspected—we believe on inadequate grounds—of want of sympathy with the English resolve to be great among the nations of the world. He has shrunk not only from leading action, but from leading opinion upon the war, has preferred a weakly- wise reticence upon the whole subject to the frank and stimu- lating expression of feeling by which Lord Palmerston would have defined and strengthened the position of the country. His War Minister is the least original member of his Govern- ment, the man from whom the country would least expect a swift and a great extension of its visible resources. Mr. Cardwell has great capacities, it may be, but they are not of the kind which, were Great Britain threatened, would make all her children brave. His new Foreign Minister, though by no means a failure, by no means completely answers public expectation. He may yet show himself to have been far more determined than the world knows, but the effect of his action as yet has been to create an impression that the British Ministry knows how to retreat in a highly-dignified manner. Dignified retreating may be most wise,—we are not discussing that—but dignified retreating before a most truculent foe, before a statesman who thinks nothing achieved unless it has been achieved by fear, is not the attitude which the average Briton loves. There is a restless impatience of it among very quiet people, among people dis- posed to believe that Government knows best, and quite philo- sophical enough to retreat, if only quite sure that retreat is a strategic movement, and not a simple running away. The tone even of Liberals is becoming querulous at the want of dignity in the Government. And should the great scheme for increasing our military strength prove to be a little scheme, or Mr. Lowe talk too much about the importance of pennies, or the Government again recede when insulted by a military power, the querulousness may become rage, which, in spite of the immense majority yielded by the elections, may be- come most formidable to the Administration. Mr. Gladstone
must not depend too much upon the opinions of his colleagues, or even upon those of prominent Members of Parliament. He cannot have more support of that kind than Lord Palmerston had for his Conspiracy Bill, the opposition to which pul- verized a strong Government in a week, and arose as it were spontaneously outside the political circles altogether. The " country " would not have it, whatever the consequences, and the Government went down like a ship in a calm. We seriously believe there is risk, imminent risk, of a similar catastrophe ; that the country desires the Government to arm ; that it suspects the Cabinet of an intention to evade its de- mand; and that if the suspicion is justified, the ironclad will be on the rocks at once. It is not danger from Germany, or Russia, or America that is feared, for the people still retain even too much confidence in the fleet ; it is the want of influence, of respect throughout the world, which creates a disaffection all the more profound because its origin is so obscure and its objects so vague. There is a vote of want of confidence in Mr. Gladstone as helmsman for a stormy time being passed silently through England, and unless that vote can be recalled or cancelled, it will be more fatal than any vote of the House of Commons. Statesmen smile very justly at noisy meetings of nobodies held in Trafalgar Square, but those meetings are symptoms of an unrest, a dissatisfaction which, though it may be as yet only dissatisfaction, reaches far higher in the electorate than the attorney who just now makes himself the mouth-piece of the mob. The desire is not for war—many of the most discontented are most anxious to avoid war—nor is there any scheme of military reform which has caught or is likely to catch the public fancy ; but there is a deep, half-angry longing for a Government which shall be strong abroad, which "can give Bismarck as good as he brings," upon which allies can implicitly depend, and which must be treated in every Cabinet of Europe as an equal power.
We are perfectly aware that a great many clouds very often gather in the Recess which are dissipated when the Session commences ; that during this recess public men have been ex- ceptionally silent ; that at no previous time has the true state of our foreign relations been so carefully concealed from the public; that tha Ministry may have defences to offer which will dissipate much of the discontent. But the permanent character of the British people, or rather of the English-speak- ing people—for it is as true of America as of England—never changes, and the first peculiarity of that character is a deep inner pride, a pride absolutely inflexible, though often so calm that observers from time to time doubt its existence. No Government which offended or overlooked this pride- ever lived long, and our strong apprehension is that this Govern- ment is overlooking it, is mistaking quiet for apathy, is con- fusing a great reluctance to be bored by exertion for a willingness to remain incapable of exertion, should the necessity arise. There is no such willingness anywhere, no effective party in the country which does not at heart believe it better to run the risk of wasting money than to leave the country powerless to give its will effect. There are not ten men anywhere, for example, to whom the Premier would pay five minutes' attention who are not resolved that, be the effect on Ministers what it may, the Artillery shall be doubled ; and that resolve is but a symptom of the general feeling. The Times does not always, nowadays, express the popular feeling ; but its mistakes are very seldom on the side of too much action, still more seldom iden- tical with those made by journals less anxious to be in acoord with the general opinion. Let Mr. Gladstone note as one of the hundred signs of the storm that is coming the line the Times has adopted. Its conductors are not de- fending or attacking any special method of preparation, are not advocating any definite line of action, are not, from all that appears, at all convinced what line action should take. But day after day, week after week, amidst the most astound- ing gyrations on every other subject, now German, now French, now all for audacity, then all for retreat, the big journal in- cessantly recurs to one and the same refrain, "We must arm." That is the murmur heard in every momentary lull in the parochial noise and loud gossip about the war, and every time it is audible it is louder and more menacing to the Administration.
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