NEWS OF THE WEEK.

Tut scene in the House of Commons on Friday night was fol- lowed by the event which all who looked closely must have fore- seen—Lord,Palmerston's resignation. No doubt, many were sur- prised.; even some few who swelled the majority against him did not calculate the consequence; but now that it has happened, we observe, others are not unwilling to identify themselves with the victorious side. We certainly anticipated the possibility a fort- night ago, unless -the Premier should alter his course ; though he did not perceive it nail the clay after the event. 'What," we asked, of Lord Palmerston's majority, with which he was said to be ruling so prosperously and so resistlessly ? Undoubtedly, it witnessed the introduction of this French measure with dismay and annoyance. It may bethiiik itself that if the bill were re- jected Lord-Palmerston must resign ; and parties in the House of Commons, speaking generally, are not prepared to reconstruct a Ministry. Nevertheless, in the ulterior stages of the bill, the Parliamentary mind mtyht become familiarized with the idea of a resignation, while familiarity with the bill can only bring out more evidently its odious characteristics ; and if the Minister persevere, the House of Conunons might ultimately prefer the in- convenience of a Ministerial crisis to a national disgrace." The House of Commons has made the choice. For some years there have been few questions on which the debate had a more obvious effect. The pertinacity with which Ministers avoided the political part of the question was a confession of weakness. Mr. Milner Gibson laid the ease before the House with the greatest clearness and no com- mon skill; the sharp though eccentric hits of Sir Robert Peel on the position of "the Roman citizen" told for something more than amusement ; Mr."Gladstone's impassioned logic drove the attack home ; and when Lord Palmerston rose to reply, his reck- less attempt at retaliation while he stood at bay, his violent run- ning amuck at his opponents, and the cries of interruption that a Premier seldom hears, showed that he had lost the lead of the Commons, and that he saw the full import of the coming division. Our Postscript announced the carrying of Mr. Milner Gibson's motion by 234 to 215.

Many were the speculations within the next forty-eight hours as to the consequences ; but Lord Palmerston at once confronted his fate. He summoned a Cabinet Council, which formally de- cided the question of resignation; and at the meeting of the Commons on Monday, he announced that he succumbed to the vote censuring him as the Minister of Queen Victoria, for preci- pitancy in, altering our laws without proved necessity, and for not efficiently repelling that first moral encroachment of the foreigner, which might be inconveniently followed up.

Lord Palmerston' retires from office, therefore, under a sentence of " poetical justice" that is almost excessive in its severity ; as if Fate had resolved to punish the levities of his career by making him the victim of a great practical joke, and retrospectively im- parting an aspect of verisimilitude to the accusal of Mr. David -Urquhart. Palmerston, the statesman, par excellence, who was to be called in for the sake of his adroitness in settling difficult affairs, is convicted of a capital piece of diplomatic gaucherie ; the vindicator of Sicily, Piedmont, Naples Italy, Hungary, Belgium, and Europe in general, against despotism, quails before a favourite despot; and the champion of English independence submits her legislation to Imperial dictation on the poor security of some unexplained verbal understanding.

Lord Derby, head of the party that formed the most numerous section of the majority in the division, now received the Queen's authority to form a new Ministry. He undertook the task, but did not succeed without encountering the difficulties incidental to his Position. The Palmerston Cabinet was turned out by a majority formed for the occasion; in taking the vacant Treasury-bench, Lord

ILATEST Enrrro.s.]

Derby is conscious that he has neither the Parliamentary majority nor the broad basis of popular support in the country which is necessary for the leader of the Government. Some days therefore elapsed after the retirement of Lord Palmerston before the forma- Lion of the Derby-Disraeli Cabinet was announced. In the interval, the newspapers had reports of overtures made to members' of that which is absurdly called "the Peelite party " : but if such pro- positions were really made, they have come to nothing. In one case rumour was in some degree corroborated by public expecta- tion—something in Mr. Gladstone's position, leading to the idea that he especially might be open to such an alliance. But what- ever may have passed between the new Minister and that gentle- man, he has not seen fit to identify his political future with Lord Derby and Mr. Disraeli. The upshot has been, that in tb,e main those two leaders have been compelled to limit themselves to their own-political ranks. - We might call it a Tory Government in deference to the personal consistency, as it is called, of the principal men in the party; though, both for its advantage and its disadvantage, it enter; office without the intention as well as without the means of carrying out any distinct Tory policy. And while the Derby-

Disraeli Cabinet is in the main-the same that we knew it in 1852,

it has acquired increased strength in some of the offices, either by the accession of new men or the improved position of others. Bir Frederick Thesiger, the Attorney-General of the Cabinet of 1652, is elevated to the woolsack ; and if there are reasonable doubts whether his training as a lawyer has been such as to render him' the most efficient chief in the Court of Chancery, there can be no doubt that his reputation as a high-minded and consistent though not a bigoted party man, his pleasing elocution, his commanding presence and dignified bearing, will enable him to enact the pre- sident of the House of Lords with imposing effect ; and if he is not distinguished amongst law-reformers, neither has he distinguished himself by obstructiveness in law-reforms like the retiring Lord Chancellor. The place of Attorney-General is taken by Sir Fitz- roy Kelly, one of the most active if also one of the most conser- vative of law-reformers. One of the accessions to the Cabinet is Gene* Peel, who takes the new office of Secretary for War : a prudent, conscientious man, he may earn a new reputa- tion as a Minister. As the Indian Minister, Lord Mien- borough introduces into the Cabinet hopes not unmixed with

apprehension : he is seen: to have energy., decided views, and considerable knowledge of India ; but he has seemed over-, eduscious of his own energy, with little deference for the opinions

of others; and although a civilian, he has taken a dangerous pride in wielding military machinery. Lord Stanley, as &ffe- tary of State for the Colonies, must also be regarded as an acces- sion; for he brings with him a reputation made beyond the con- fines of party, insomuch that he may almost be deemed an acces- sion from the Liberal ranks. Out of the Cabinet, we have in Mr.

Adderley one of the most promising of men for Education Minister. With regard to some others of the party, their reputation is certainly not advanced. In 1852 Lord Derby did little more than convince the British public that he had no capa- city for being master of a Cabinet. Mr. Disraeli's essay to re- concile Conservative politics with the possibilities of the day turned out a sad travestie. Both Derby and Disraeli had ar-

rived at the prime of life and something more, and both showed themselves unequal to the opportunity, with which they had been

favoured. At the present moment, with reference to the event of this very month, a peculiar importance attaches to the Foreign department, and it cannot be with much confidence that we see

it resumed by the Earl of Malmesbury, the intimate friend and. correspondent of Louis Napoleon' whether as President of the Re- public or Emperor of the French.

To a certain extent the accession of the Derby-Disraeli Ministry was an inevitable sequel to the simple displacement of the Pal- merston Ministry; and those who complain that inconveniences must follow from a change of Government just now are not altogether without reason. It is indeed an advantage to Lord Derby that at the present day, instead of taking office with the awkward pledge not to force "protection" in the teeth of events, he is liberated from any question of that old dogma ; and in carry- ing on her Majesty's Government, he will be Judged, in the first instance at least, by his conduct in reference to that practical, work which lies before Parliament. This is indeed important; and the new Government would have a rigLt to claim indulgence for the circumstances under which it takes up the thread of public business ; though in doing so it is not without advan- tages as well as disadvantages. The point of greatest anxiety at present is the state of our relations with France: but if we doubt the particular fitnese of Lord Malmesliury to be the representative

of this country, it is m& to bit denied. that tha known favour with which, he ha regnated it tie Tuileries may tier t peculiar facility it, enabl a: ing certain °fronded and `alarma personage to bend lift* an.d tnextricate bismelfirenr .tint fah* position, into which his feelings have driven hint. Taus the French Government will have a loophole which was not offered to '

it before. Again, it would be quite possible to legislate on the subject of doubts in our criminal law in reference to the penal responsibility of aliens as well as British subjects in these islands, without resuming Lord Palmerston's damaged bill,, about which there is so much controversy as to its being a dropped order or &- rejected measure. Of even more permanent importance is the sub- ject of India ; but here, should Ministers find much difficulty in dealing with that extensive question at present, they can plausibly claim a postponement of it to smother session,—unless they choose to adopt the suggestion of our Belfast correspondent "J.. J. M.," and, with.a minimum of present hut a maximum of ultimate change, embody theuld Court of Directors as the first new "Council for

the Affairs of -India" under the Crown. Publisimpatience might make it difficult for them to take the course of postponement with re-

gard to Representative Reform : but again, the public would not be so strict on that head with Lord Derby as it would have been wit," Lord Palmerston. In regard to the general mass of miscel- laneous besiness, much of which is of a perfectly practical cha- racter, Ministers will of course do the best they can to prevent the community from feeling inconvenience through their accession be dam

The country has been long so satiated with movements, se fatigued by the trials of commercial revulsions, that it is with difficulty stirred at present; and even a change of Ministry can scarcely call it forth. Yet some few towns have been moving— in support of Mr. Milner Gibson; and upon the whole, a general survey of the country press implies that local feeling also goes in the same direetion. Here and there we see expressions of regret that Lord Palmerston should have left office ; in some places the satisfaction amounts to exultation.

Many circumstances oontribute to show the existence of ex- cessive smeasiness in Paris ; and extravagant " precautions " axe evidently having their most certain effect in reproducing a dis- turbed if not exasperated state of the public mind. The Public Safety itilh which M. do Moray took so much pains to relieve from popnlar odium as a " loi des suspects," has called forth, in the -very Corps 1.kgislatif, a speech of M. Emile 011ivier, admir- able for its Calmness and its boldness, proving that the bill vio- lates the. most essential principles of a just law, Soon after the division. in the British -House of Commons on Friday night, our Foreign Seeretary sent a telegraphic message &Hee for a de- spateh frcanLord Cowley exculpatory of Ministers; and in fur- nishing the voucher wanted, Lord. Cowley proclaims that the Emperor, am4 Ilia Government were in. a state of what he calls " irritauen," but which obviously means a rage produced by fear. Any attempt to bring them to listen to reason, he tells 'us, was at first—and may stall be for anything that appears to the contrary—hopeless. Hence, of course, those awe e•Ong measures for the repression of all France under a vast army, and new laws; hence those attempts to fasten new and impracticable responsibilities on foreign governments, which have created such surprise and inconvenient*. And in truth the :Trefich Government seems to have been hurried into ex- trente COnmes without any sufficient data It was to be supposed that the bill of indictment against the assassins of january 14th would be made as complete as possible : it has been published, but we find in it nothing to connect the assassins with this country BIM than. with Italy, Belgium, or France itself. All the princi- pals of the Party had been in France since their diameters were well known, yet they evaded the interference of the police. Na- poleon's carriage was surrounded by such bodies of military and police that twenty-four soldiers were wounded and thirty-one police-agenta ; and yet he owed his escape to chance alone. No event eCuld More positively establish the profitlessness cif attempt- ing, as the French system does, to tale precautions against every- body. The Principle of our system is to punish only the guilty, and to leave society responsible for its own conduct with the pre- mium of perfect liberty for those who do not actually infringe the laws. Our plan succeeds ; because his fails in France, Lotus -

Napoleon wants to force it on us in England.

President Buchanan has encountered a reverse that can scarcely have been expected, or it would not have been courted. The House Of Representatives has rejected the Lecompton draft of the Constitution for the State of Kansas by a narrow majority of two. The debates were violent ; the temper of the House was illustrated by some disorder. An indiscreet representative of a Southern State brought n just odium upon his party by copying Brooks's attack upon Stonier —with a result, however, very different; for in this ease the assailant drew upon himself severe personal chastisement and ridicule. The Northern party is resolved to admit of no com- promise in Congress. and it possesses the actual majority. It does not fall in with MI: Buehanan's lawyerlike view of condoning a little irregularity in the early stages of the new Kansas State in order to train it into more correct behaviour henceforward. This difference between the President and the House of Representatives Illustrates in a remarkable manner some of the inconveniences arising front the American form of constitution.