13 FEBRUARY 1836, Page 12

LORD STANLEY.

Timm is no longer any question about Lord STANLEY'S position. He bad leisure to ponder his future course during the recess, apart from the heat of Parliamentary contention, free from the nightly irritation caused by Radical cheese and Irish sarcasm. lie knew that many of the Whigs would have welcomed him back to their party, though his return to office was impossible until the Church question had been laid at rest. He must have been aware that, like all deserters, he would be received with distrust by the more cautious among the Tories; to whom, at the-com- mencement of the session lie was not irretrievably bound. He had an excellent opportunity of recovering to some extent the good-will of the country, and of the majority of the House of Commons, by supporting the Ministerial Address. Every one knows that the opposition to the Address was a mere party movement,—that, in point of fact, no individual, by assenting to the passage respecting Irish Municipal Reform, was pledged to a single provision or principle tt hick the bill, hereafter to be intro- duced, might contain. Lord STANLEY professed himself a thorough reformer of Corporation abuses; and, in consistency with the opinions he avowed in his speech on that very night, ought to have voted with the Liberals. But he had not the wisdom to discern his true policy. He prefaced a factious vote with a trumpery and feeble speech, indicative of spite towards his old associates, and of a determination to go all lengths with his new allies.

This conduct was sufficient to dispel any lingering hopes of the aristocratic section of the Liberals, that the heir of the house of DERBY might not yet prove an utter apostate from the politics of his once powerful, because popular, family. It afforded high satisfaction to the more zealous Reformers who support Ministers, as demonstrating the impossibility of Lord STANLEY'S readmis- sion to their councils in Liberal guise. It marked him for a Tory tool, anxious to prove his value by thrusting himself forward in an unpopular service. So much for his first appearance this session.

Lord STANLEY again acted a prominent part in the preliminary attack on O'CONNELL on Thursday. Here he showed bow i►n-

possible it is for him to smother his hatred of the man whom he aided and raised by attempting to humble, and who vanquished him in the unequal strife. In a manner which Mr. Hums: pro- perly designated as unparliamentary and unfair, he insinuated

what lie dared not speak out against O'CoNNELL ; he was the most virulent among the Tory assailants,—aspiring, with schoolboy eagerness, to be the chief gladiator of the Opposition, as he for- merly was of the GREY Administration, which he ruined. Keeping these two exhibitions in view, it is impossible to doubt that Lord STANLEY has gone over to the Tories—body and soul. He has perfected his apostacy. Most sincerely do we congratu- late the Liberals on being rid of this indiscreet, violent, and self- sufficient man. Next to that of losing him ourselves, our chief joy is that the Tories have got Lord STANLEY in their party. His presence among them is an additional guarantee against their return to office. He will render them still more odious and un- popular. He will counteract the effect of PEEL'S caution and cunning. Sir ROBERT PLAUSIBLE has for himself, whatever others might do, sedulously avoided giving unnecessary offence to the Irish people. He shuns collision with their champion and idol. Had all the Tories been as prudent as Sir ROBERT, it is very probable that he would now have been Premier. The bitter Orangemen, the Anti Catholic faction, with whom he was forced to coalesce, roused the Iiish millions against his Govern- ment; and it was on Irish ground that the fate of his, as of pre- vious Administrations, was decided. There is no person so thoroughly and universally hated in Ireland as Lord STANLEY. The Catholics look upon him as worse than an Orangeman; for, with professions of Liberalism and Reform on his lips, he has de- voted all his energies to the maintenance of Protestant Ascendancy and the oppression of the bulk of the people. The Coercion Bill, of which he avows himself the author and promoter, never can be forgotten. Well—this sane: Lord STANLEY takes his seat on the front Op- position bench, next to the Tory leader. Apparently they are in friendly communion. The Tory Members cheer Lord STANLEY'S diatribes and encourage his petulance. He is looked upon as second; only to PEEL,—nay, the violent Churchmen probably regard him as more trustworthy and zealous in the cause than the plebeian and "pluckless Sir ROBERT, and would exalt 1►im, if they could, to the Leadership ; but the prudent and calculating Tories know better. They have had enough of the conse- quences of a quarrel with seven millions of his Majesty's Irish subjects. Still, Lord STANLEY must be expected to occupy a dis- tinguished and influential, if not the first, place in any Tory Admi- nistration ; and this, we repeat, will of itself operate powerfully to pi-event the return of the Tories to office. It is on this ground that we wish them joy of Lord STANLEY. Long may the " juxta- position " on the Tury benches continue!