TOPICS OF TEE[ Di V.
EARL G REY'S FAIVILLY A!,tt.o:N(ilalENTS—EXCLU- SIVE STATESMEN.
THE mime of Earl GREY is imperishably c.minected with Parlia- mentary Iteihrm. For the services which he rendered the cause of good government during that struggle, the station must ever be grateful. No previous, no subsequent misconduct, should eflitee the memory of essential benefits once, rendered by a states- man to Isis country. But let each act, or series of acts, be judged according to its intrinsic merits.
It will not, we think, be denied that Earl Gila has drawn largely on his stock of well-earned popularity—so largely, indeed, that his drafts are now occasionally dishonoured. llu must have lived long enough, and studied the character of his fellow- countrymen sulliciently, to be aware that nothing de7ailes statesman so thoroughly- its their eyes, as the reputation of being Lou fond of the emoluments of oriii.,—to.ica,,,er to conv,-..1 his high station into an instrument of gain for himself or relati; es. Pre- viously to Earl Gnin's accession to power, this would have beet the very last fault of which we should Isa ye suspected hint : and stow we should refuse to acknowledge him guilty of it, exeept on the compulsion of the clearest proofs.
We commented lately upon the appointment of his Lordship's brother, the Bishop of 11],m...root), to a Prehendal stall in \Vest- minster, and expressed our regret that it should have been made. °titer journals took the opportunity to•pablistt it co I olt tient:. of dm idEees already conferred. upon different members of thi• Itchy family —and an astounding list it v.-as. The. past week has nivitle two additions to it ; for one morning we lied the following announce- ment— ', Ears (trey 11,1, within these few days, appointad one of his nephews, :Ile. ('. G rev, to the situation of Clerk in the Treasury."
And the next day we are informed that " General the Honourable Henry Grey, brusher t,) time Prim:, Itoloin:Ited Comptroller to the Alarquis AVellesley, at a salary of per annum.- If PITT was renowned for "raining his country g:.:ft 1.4,- Earl GREY out deserve the reputation of saving it for Ise:1st:lg. It is impossible that any statesman can long 1.ear up under t! so is till of disrepute which such an employment of the patronage of his (dike heaps upon him. Ilis power of public usefulness is diminished by the stigma of an all-grasping nepotism. future efforts to retain Isis post will be regarded in the light of a moan and in- terestull struggle fur the emoluments or his family and connexions.
NVe!Eire heard only one apology for this part pi' Ran ditEv's public cofeluct. The .Ministers, it is said, have bee.: much blunted
fi ir pivine. their patronage to irsner:;:. anti now, when
Earl GitEv selects for the recipients of his l'av,mr.: who lie
Under' 110 such imputation, but from their close personal con- in27,110t1 tt ill Ill111,61. !Mist he Stipro,vti it lyt the if ,arty sup- porters or thine itetbrin Ministry, he is oetniset1 of pro.. Fling Mr his connexions by the at the imblie exi,:un,c!--13iit the com- plaint was, that ,‘Tissisters abused the public patronage, by bestow- ing it On the enonirs of the Reform Government and the counter- actors of its policy : no one called for it monopoly of offices for the Premier's brothers, sin,, cousins-german, or those of any 'Minister. Now, to say nothing of the I3ishop of IIERE:001:1),—W hose merit certainly does not consist in his zeal for Ilefbrin and steady sup- port of his brother's Government,—we would ask it' Each Gsti.nt's acquaintance with men of talent and character, not Auti-lte- formers, is so limited in extent, that he is really obliged to resort so often to Isis own family, when Ito wishes to filet one upon whose fidelity in office he can rely ? Is it p ssible that one who has been constantly in public life for the last forty ye II's, should have so confined an acquaintance with the members of his own partv—or with his countrymen, bearing no party name, but en- dowed with every intellectual, every moral qualificatinos, for serv- ing the state ? such is the case, Earl Cain- is hotter fitted. to be the lion of static aristocratical coterie I hail the First Minister 01' a frreat natioo : one of whose principal and most essential qualifications should be, an extensive knowledge ofthe capabilities and eltarach!rs of !lie snen about him. But a noblenons who has intrench:td hiinself within the narrow (:ircle of his osyss near a;a1 the prejudices or his order—who shrinks witlt morbid repugnance front plebeian touch, besieged by well- bred flatterers, who give a fair but false colouring to what is said and done abroad-110%s- eon studs a man be qualnictl to dispense the patronage, or in other words, to select fit men to
carry on the business of a might:, empire ? time is gone by, if
it ever was, when a Prime of England could be an Ex- elusive. lie should be essentitiEy- a nststs of the world—fisixing
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