THE FAMILY CABINET. [From the "Morning Herald."]

New Zealander, Volume 8, Issue 642, 9 June 1852, Page 4

THE FAMILY CABINET. [From the "Morning Herald."]

The appointment oi 1 ord Oran*'ille to hold the bpdls of the foreign Depaitment must hnve at least one good effect. It mubt awake the attention of this fnecom* munity to the scandalous system of nepotism and family cliquene under which the affairs of this <p eat empire are now virtually administpred. Venice was never more completely or more closely in the hands of a Patrician coteiie than England is now, in tho councils of its Cabinet, in the hands of a family compict. The choice of lhe Sovereign in Jiei advisers is v.rtually limited to the immediate connections of some one of the noble

I houses to whom belongs the titles of Groy, Ueilfonl, i nntl Carlisle. Of tho fifteen membeis of whom the Cabinet now c oasisfs, theie are just six whom we do not know to be connet led with the families we have named. It is very possible, tlint oven the six wliom sve regaul as exceptions .ne qualified for their offices by relationships that have escaped our not very deep lesearch. The appointment howuvei, of four out of the six is certainly to be ieforred to the influences of Whi;r tiaditional or family connections. To begin with the nowly-appoinled Foreign Srcietary. The Earl G'ranville is the first couisin of the Eail of Caili§le. lie is doubly connected with the uohle Chancelloi of the Duchy of Lancastei, .is being also the fust cousin of his Giace the Uuke of Sutherland, and nephew of the ' Duke of Devonshiie As one of the younger members of the ducal bouse of Sutherland, be j has «lao the good fortune to stand in the relationship ol a kinsman to Lord J. Rus b pli. The system of nominating to Cabinet offices members or connections of one or other of the families we Live mentioned, will only be be pi edited to the mind )n a glance at the u.imes of the dinner. We print the names of the Cabinet as it is now consliluttnl, distinguishing by star those who s 1 re connected with the family alliance. '1 he Cabinet Mmisteis are: — ** Loid John Russell j Marquis of Lansdowne ; * Loid JMuito ; Lord Tiuro; * Lord Gi.inville ; * Lord Grey , * Loul Broughton ; *Sir Geoige Giey ;* Sir Charles Wood, * Lai 1 of Call isle; 4 Mr. Laboucheie ; * Sir Francis Baring- ; Mr Fox Maule ; Lord Seymour ; and Marquis of Claniicirde. To begin with E.irl Grey, the head of the most, porcei ful family connection. He is himself Seciet.iry for the Colonies. Ihs biothei-in law Sir Charles Wood is Chancelloi ol the Excheijuer. Ihs cousin Sir Geoi»e Grey, is Secretary for the Home Uepaitment Sir George hi 11135 w itb him a iollowing : — Sir Francis IlHinig, Fust ford of the Admiiaily, is brother-in-law el tin 1 [fotne Sccietuv ; Mr Libouchere, the President ot ihe Honid of Tniue, is coumii and brothei-in-huv of the Fir^t Lord of the Admiralty. No one ceitainlv will deny that in the persons of thet-e five Cabinet Ministers, the Grey connection is very fairly lepresented iv the Councils ol the Sovereign. The duc.il house of Bedford supplies the Prime Ministei. He agpin is supported by bis father-law, the Eail of Minto, and his cousin, the newly-appointed Secretary for foreign Affairs, who again conveniently supplies a closer bond of union between his cousin the Prime Minister, and his cousin the Jlarlof Cailisle. The alliances and cross-alhnnces between the noble bouses we have mentioned, and those of Cavendish, Goner and Ponsouby, unite the nine Cabinet Ministers we have pointed out in the closest bonds of family connection. '1 he appointment of most of the remaining Cabinet Ministers is easily traced to the same spirit of aristocratic clanship winch makes the great offices of State the exclusive patrimony of a patucian coterie. The Marquis of Lansdowne, with all his talents and high character,yet represents in the Cabinet the hereditary claims of the Earl of Sbt'lhuine upon the Whig dynasty. Lord Seymour would never b.ive been in the Cabinet if lie weie not the sou of p. Whig JJuke. Even the Chanceller, the Minister of nil others wliosb elevation might be supposed uninfluenced by aristocratic or family conBidei.itions is indebted for his seat on the woolsack more to alliance with the family of U'Rste than to his legal qualifications to he the Keeper of the Great Seal. Lord Clam icarde, the nevvly-cieated Lord liroughron, and the sou of Lord Panmure, hardly ledeem the Cabinet from the imputation of exclusiveness.