The Westport Times. FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 13, 1872

Westport Times, Volume VI, Issue 1004, 13 September 1872, Page 2

The Westport Times. FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 13, 1872

The selection of names as set forth, of the probable members of the new Stafford Cabinet, can only be looked . upon from the most favorable point of view, as a very weak team indeed, . possessing neither the essentials of stability, popularity, or unity of purpose, and unless a happier choice can be made there seems little chance of . Mr Stafford being able to administer , public affairs with any satisfaction to . himself or his expectant admirers, and still less chance of successfully combating the phalanx of adversaries to i be arranged against him, by the leaders 1 and adherents of the party just ousted , from office. The suggestion of a Coalition Ministry, by the supporters of the Stafford party so soon after the 1 division that has resulted iu s small majority in their favor, may be acceoi ted as an indirect admission of weak- • ness, as evidence of doubt in the ability , of the opposition, to form, from among • their own party, any ministry capable ! of pulling well together, and posses- . sing individually or collectively the ' requisite ability to administer the t affairs of the Colouy, which they assert , their predecessors have failed to properly control. The formatiou of a ; Coalition Ministry seems however, ! in the present aspect of affairs, to be ! well nigh an impossibility, The Native | Minister, Mr M'Lean, hns expressed , in most unequivocal terms, his intention > not to desert the party wherein he still \ has exceeding good faith, neither are . Messrs Vogel or Fox, a whit the more . likely to coalesce with those who have I driven them from their Ministerial seats, by so insignificant a majority, '. and of the rest of the honorable mem- ; bers with any pretensions to fitness for office, they are so divided in opinion, and so notoriously prejudiced 1 in favor of special pet schemes of legislation on particular subjects, that any harmonious working together seems out of all question. Failing to form a Coalition, Mr Stafford will fail to achieve the purpose he has undertaken, and, failing this hia only alternatives are an appeal to the country, or an abrupt conclusion of the business of the session. And to this end events seem tending. It is by no means improbable that a scratch compiny of Ministers may be gathered together for the one express purpose of holding office for a season, scrambling through the business of the country as efficiently as good luck or providential dispensation may determine, and that the representatives of a much suffering, much enduring people will be hastily sent home to their constituents to give, as best they may, an account of their stewardship. [Since writing the foregoing, definite news has come to hand that the Fox-Vogel Ministry have formally resigned office, and the question whether the country would be appealed to or a Coalition Ministry formed, has been, for the present, set at rest, by the strenuous efforts made by Mr Stafford to form a new Cabinet. The ' Colonist' reviewing the situation says Mr Stafford's task has been by no means easy to perform, when the peculiar composition of his party, and how iucommensurate their powers to their pretensions really are, is taken into account. It is said that Mr Stafford finds great difficulty in assorting together the incongruous elements of the late opposition. Those who are capable do not seem inclined to quit comfortable certainties for the uncertainty of office in the present condition of the House, and where there is every prospect, after the most favorable draught attainable from the Cabinet fold, of there remaining an Opposition so strong as to render ' their posts very uncomfortable indeed. , The late Ministry have been accused of purchasing adherents, but it is j pretty certain that if they have don« i so, it has not been wisely performed, and that some votes against the Go- [ vernment might have been very easily ' secured and defeate obviate. There j appears to be a weak place with their \ successors also, or there would not ' have been so much bidding for Mr \ M'Lean, who was flattered, badgered, ' or depreciated during the debate in the vain attempts ro shake his adher- j ence to the late Ministry, and to set f aside bis repugnance to their sueces- ] sura. ] c