RESULTS OF THE MINISTERIAL CRISIS.

New Zealander, Volume 7, Issue 559, 23 August 1851, Page 3

RESULTS OF THE MINISTERIAL CRISIS.

From the " Spectator.* It is not the opinion of competent judges tbat the Great Biitain steamed out of Dundrum Bay in better condition than she went in ; nor that upon the whole, captains are justified by experience in running their ships aground in order to render them seaworthy. In uii,e cases out of ten such an experiment would end luckily if the captain aforesaid could knock up a jury-mast, and crawl into the nearest port, there to wait the pleasure of suiveyor and carpenter, and the sentence of a court marti<il. Lord John Russell, with tbat super-Nelsonic boldness which Sydney Smith predicated of him, has waited neither for carpenters, surveyors, nor court martial, but, having run his ship aground, has quietly shored her off again, and steered along his course rejoicing, as if nothing had happened, and the passengers had not been made aware of a leak in her timbers and a lamentable deficiency of steam power. In spite of the captain's imperturbable coolness, we frill venture to assert that the passengers are aware of the leak, and of the necessity for new engines ; and that if they consent to go the voyage, it is with the full determination to depose the comruander and reinforce the crew at the end of it. To drop metaphor, Lord John has succeeded in securing his post for tbe session at the expense of d< - stroying what is his own party par excellent; and, n - convenient as it is to have the business of the legislature interrupted at the beginning of a session, this fact, along with other facts that last week's crisis has esta' - lished, may be received as ample compensation for a considerable amount of annoyance and perplexity. It is really something for those who have long felt that the combination of gentlemen styling themselves "the leaders of the Whig party" has obstiucted the practical progress of the country, that these gentlemen have passed sentence of deposition on themselves. It is not left for us to characteiize those who flee when no man pursueth. A party may recover a defeat — may even recover in consequence of a defeat; the mere act of vigorous resistance will biace up relaxed energies, concentrate scattered and disorganized forces, and win bcc'c forfeited sympathies ; but a panic terror resulting from no cause but consciousness of incapacity— from a sensp that adherents were falling away, and had good reas>ois for so doing— an abandonment of the reins of goveri - ment from "sheer inability to hold them— for this theie is no remedy ; the only sentiments it inspires are indifference and contempt. A candle thai is blown out may be lighted again ; but whut is to be done with one that h.is incontinently gone out? Salt is good, hut if tbe salt have lo^t its savour wherewithal shall it be resalted 1 ' So, whatever be the ultimate result of the etisis, of which Lord John himself can scarcely suppose that we have seen moie than the penultima, at any rate the Whig party, with its okl-woild constitutional theoI lies, its°tiadirionjl personal preferences, its claptrap heritage and invocation of illustrious names, and its practical obstruction of large, bold, far-sighted legislation, adapted to present wants and commeiibiirate with piesent possibilities, may be said to have passed as an effective agent from the political scene. Henceforw ard, with its stalehness uud its maxims, it may play chorus, and jtiit for the present keep the audience amused while the real actors are donning the cothurn and the mask. It is, however, to be remembeied that the incompetence of a party by no means involves the incompetence of all tbe individuals who compose it; otherwise it would bp anything but satisfactory to be forced to recognize such incompetence. Our quanel is with the Whig leadeis, that having gained powei by past services, they have shown an undue leaning towards the furtherance of party in preference to national interests ; that they have displayed a jealousy of talent rather than an eagfi ness to welcome it to the service of the country, wherever its co-operation was to be obtained only oil condition of a step forwnrd in legislation or a reform in administration; thatinmoie than one appointment of great importance they have yielded to the lowest form of party spirit, and hare in con<>equence been compelled to tlnow the ajjis of Ministeiial protection over reckless folly amounting to ennnnnhty ; and that, while themselves unable or unwilling to fmme practical measures to anticipate and guide the wishes of the people, they | have blood in the way and paralyzed the efforts of men who could and would have seen the necessities of the tunes, and had boMness and wisdom to translate them into acts of Parliament. All this we attribute chiefly to theei durance of a paity organization which originated jii the ciiciimstsnces of the p<^t : and we lejoice at the

Slate of things under winch all that ih ugoious and vitnl in the party wl'\>,h has just umlcigotie vu tual dissolution may dmenovie itself' f |Om wuat ls l^ e[e ail(1 rutwoni, whether of tucii oi of «ysteni,nnd mar in new combinations i ntor upon n now c.iieer of activity and a pr-mder epoch of political progress. I'lns cusi* of .iffairs has undoubtedly hustpned t!x> time, which cannot bo fir distant, when what is now actual agreemenc in piinnple ami opinion shall upen and be consolidated into official connexion ami united action — wJipm tljp statesmen who are least personally lesponMble lor the errors and least penonally identified with the mwleeds of the exhumed Cabinet 'shall combine with the stutesinpn who shaied the counsels and tho saciitices of bim who was The pillar of the n.itio!i'« hope, Tkeccntic of the Jaiirl's ilcbiiL ! a nrl present to the country. for tlip fit st timp in our remembrance, a compact phalanx embracing all that there is among' us of tried administiiitive ability in conjunction with legislative wn-dom and personal distinction. Tn our opinion, the nation would have been comnensntpd for the excitement and inconvenipnce of the last fortnight, had tbr only result been the cprtaintv of the speedy union of all sections of the party of Proves to carry the State sa'ely over the changes which aie in action or rising hopefully in the near prospect. It is a farther pain of no slight importance that the Pro'ectionist party has been tested and found wanting. Agricultural constituencies are not over sharp wittfd, nor are country gentlempn keenly sensible of the ridiculous, but neither can fail to perceive and feel the ludicrous discomfiture of last week, heightened as it washy the vn'we candour of Lord Stanley's Parliamentary narrative, and his undisguised contempt for the administrative talents of the section which calls him leader. Tie recalls "Rupert at Bristol more than the Rupert of the field, though the country is undoubtedly indebted to the discretion which was not heretofore deemed his better part of valour. So much may safely be staled as the result of the crisis as it affects combinations of persons. In spite of the temporary resuscitation of the Inc.ipables, we may jeckon that two great parties are by their own confession inconmotent to carry on the government of ihe country. This simplifies the problem of the future marvellously, so far as the mpn aie concerned. But -we should be disposed to place more stress upon the specific declarations that have been elicitpd from leading men. Lord John Russell has finally renounced Finality. Sir James Graham has pronounced that thetime is come for an extension (and this involves a rp adjustment) of the suffrage. The Income Tax, though it may linger on through this Pailiament for purposes of rpvemip, has in its present iniquitous unfairness received the conp-de-grhce. Lord Stanley has declared that he will abandon the principle of Protection if a Protectionist majority be not returned at the next election ; thus tin owing his cause into the Regulation Courts, and fairly submitting- in prospective to the verdict of the people — lelensing himself from the impracticable position of attempting- to leverse an accomplished national decision. If all this is not progress, we know not what is. Much is clear and defined which before was vague and conjpctural ; words have been spoken which cannot be recalled ; piogrnmme"? have been issued which cfinnot be reeded from ; and the least progressive of those programmes 13 fie most cheering pledge of progress. Not the least important result of this free outspeaking is, that all Englishmen who are not mad must perceive, what this journal has constantly asserted, that all immediate legislation upon "the Papal Aggression" must be either ineffective or inconsistent with our established usage of toleiance — must be either ruliculons or unjust, and in eilher case impolitic. Lord Stanley's proposal of inquiry into the piobable and possible results of the aggression, seems adapted to assuage the national anger, and secure us agatnst the irreparable mischief of hasty, passionate, ill-considered legislation. But our sum of results would be very incomplete were we to leave unnoticed what appears to us the mo^t significant fact disclosed by the late events. Twenty years have passed since the Reform Bill was supposed to have thrown the preponderance of political power into the hands of the middle classps; tho government lias just gone begging, vet no attempt has bpen mad© by the party calling itself pre-eminently " popular" to seize the vacant reins, not even to put forward the faintest claims to share in the deserted functions and dignities of administration, Undue modesty is certainly not the cause of this singular phenomenon ; nor has the aristocratic exclusiveness of the Whig oligarchy very much to do with it; quite as little the often alleged want of official experience. The truth must be told: our popular politicians are agitators lather than statesmen — ably and effectively following up one idea or plan of immediate practical interest, but not men of imperial minds — possessing neither the ait nor the science of government. Indeed, they are often less than this — unpractical as well asnairow, theoiists yet not philosophers, shallow, ypl not men of the vvoild. The fault lies partly in themselves, paitly in the constituencies; and each reacts on the other and propagates and increases the evil. In order to become popular, candidates will seize on some proposition which the multitude can comprehend and use as a paity watchword, dazzling and definite, hut based on no compi ebvnsive viusv, on no large knowledge of facts; to this they will irrevocably pledge tbemsplves as though it were a principle — urge it as though the safety of the empire depended upon its immediate adoption — denounce all those who ■would limit or retard it as factious and oppiessois — organize a party to give it importance and keep it before the public — make all facts, men, and times bow to it. Then, when a crisis like the present leaves office open to him who can practically fill it — when the disorganization of parties gives golden oppoituuities to the real benefactor of his country—such men find, however great their talents, however unquestioned their services, that this popular cry cannot be carried with thorn into office, and that they dare not go into office without it. Thus they are caught in their own devicps, and fall into the pit they Lave digged for others. Then, again, the gieat constituencies are spoiled by this process — are used to bo petted, to have their wishes made the standard of political possibility, and are taught to look upon every one who opposes them as corrupt and inteiested. The result is, that such a man as Mr. Cobden can take no part in the Adminiatiation, whose almost sole claim to popular sympathy is tbeir adoption of the principle •which is identified with his name ; while such a man as Sir William Molesworth, distinguished for intellect and cultivation, as well as honesty, is hooted, interrupted, and insulted by his Soutbwaik constituents for as manly, sensible, and temperate a speech as ever was made to a body of Englishmen. Till the people can boar to hear truth — and till their leaders will tell them the truth whether they bear it or not— neither the one nor the ' other must wonder or complain that expeiienced statesmen would rather compliment them than admit them to Bhare and increase their official responsibilities. To check the national expenditure of shillings and pence, instead of directing the useful employment of national millions, is not an unpoetical retribution for fostering exaggerated notions and clinging to shov^y but impracticable crotchets. We wish the lesson may have its duo effect. Our countiy's reputation as well as our public service would be doubly gamers, were talent, energy, and influence, now partially wasted or misused, diiected to ends infinitely more noble, because po&siblo, and capable of immediate or speedy attainment.