THE RIGHT HON. EDWARD CARDWELL, THE NEW SECRETARY OF STATE FOR THE COLONIES.

Hawke's Bay Times, Volume III, Issue 178, 10 June 1864, Page 6 (Supplement)

THE RIGHT HON. EDWARD CARDWELL, THE NEW SECRETARY OF STATE FOR THE COLONIES.

It is a fair testimony to the public character and business aptitude of an English politician that, without rank, without powerful family connexions, and wanting even the weight of ample fortune, he should, in the short space of little more than twenty years, have earned so reputable a position in politics and office, and won so early in life the high and responsible position to which Mr. Cardwell has now attained as Secretary of State for the Colonies. Mr. Cardwell is one of that section of contemporary statesmen who now stand between the extremes of English parties, condemned by each' as politicians, but whose character, talent, and business qualifications are envied, and would be gladly hailed would they enlist body and soul under either banner. In that select class of liberal conservatism and “ the talents” which numbered, or still numbers, Gladstone, Sidney Herbert, and Newcastle, Cardwell is not the least notable of the men trained to office by Sir Robert Peel. One of the favorite pupils of that statesman, he bears more, perhaps, than any of the school about him the influences, mental and moral, of the chief he served ; all the more remarkable that there is some resemblance, personal and in manner, to he who organized and disorganized one of the most powerful arrays of the conservative party. Mr. Cardwell springs from about the same social rank in the commercial north as his political master, but from a family less opulent than Peel of the spinning jennies. Mr. Cardwell is the son of a flourishing Liverpool merchant, and was born in the year 1813. He received a first-rate education at Winchester, and then at Baliol College, Oxford, which is evidenced by the fact that, following the example of Sir Robert Peel, he took a double first-class degree in 1835. For some time he held a Baliol fellowship. In the interval between graduating M.A., which he did in 1838, Mr. Cardwell kept his terms as student of the Inner Temple, and in due course was called. To the bar he brought a brilliant college reputation, popular manners, industry, and talent for public speaking; and there can be little doubt, from the creditable appearance made on circuit and Westminster Hall, that, had he not forsaken the forum for the senate, and looking at the far inferior men who have “ got on,” he would, long ere this, have earned one of the highest judicial prizes in England. But politics were Mr. Cardwell’s destiny, and instead of elegantly filling the woolsack or a chief justiceship, he now, at the early age of fifty-one, is advanced to administer colonial affairs.

Independent of the necessity of toiling at the bar, and with some family influence, Mr. Cardwell obtained, in 1842 a seat in Parliament for the Lancashire borough of Clitheroe, and soon became a noticeable man, with the best of early reputations in the House of Commons —as a business member. When he spoke he spoke well and to the purpose, and with a quiet self-possession and clearness which clearly pointed out his parliamentary model, and not many years elapsed ere he was a man of mark in the most important debates. Mr. Cardwell’s early business rereputation is indicated by the fact that in 1847, he was elected to represent the important mercantile community of Liverpool, for which borough he sat, till defeated at the general election of 1852. After being out of Parliament till the following year, he was returned for the city of Oxford, which he represented till 1857, when he was again seatless. He, however, soon afterwards, as an avowed Peelite, found favor with the liberal townsmen of Oxford, who send up men of a very difterent stamp from the University favorites, and he has continued worthily to represent that constituency. On the occasion of the Oxford elections, he had the honor of being opposed by Thackeray.

Mr. Cardwell’s career in office has been equally rapid and reputable. Under Sir Robert Peel he was Secretary to the Treasury from February, 1845, to July, 1856, when he retired with his chief after the corn law e Cement and the conseivative break up. In the Government of Lord John Russell, Mr. Cardwell’s eminent business talents and commercial knowledge were made available much to the advantage of the country as President of the Board of Trade, which office he filled from December, 1852, to February, ,1855. On assuming that important administration, he was sworn in as a member of the Privy Council. In 1855 he was appointed Chief Secretary for Ireland. Mr. Cardwell’s next step was the appointment to the Chancellorship of the Duchy of Lancaster, in 1861, with a seat in the Cabinet.

Mr. Cardwell thus brings to his present position in connection with the colonies, am-

pie administrative experience. Time will be the only true tesf, but it is not too much, concluding from the past, to predict, if not a brilliant, a useful career as Colonial Minister.

It may be mentioned, as a mark of the confidence the late Sir Robert Peel reposed in Mr. Cardwell, that he, conjointly with Lord Mahon (now Earl Stanhope), was, by the stateman’s will, appointed a trustee of the Peel papers. The portions of the memorials which have been 'given to the world, were under the joint editorship of these two faithful and attached friends. —Melbourne Age, May 12.