21 MARCH 1835, Page 13

TOPICS OF THE DAY.

STATE OF PARTIES, AND OF PUBLIC FEELING : POLITICAL PROSPECTS.

THE Tories exult in the stand they have made in the House of Commons against the Liberals. But if we look closely at their actual position, we shall find it to be such as affords very slender grounds for triumph. True it is, that owing to the timidity or backsliding of many supposed Reformers, the Ministers are getting what they asked— a trial. Sir ROBERT PEEL, with his usual adroitness., seizes every opportunity of fortifying himself, and seducing the Waverers from the Opposition. It does not appear, however, that he has had much success in gaining over his opponents since the division on the Address; and the full strength of the party of his occasional ally, Lord STANLEY, seems to be now ascertained. Both these sections of the House, united, still fall short of a majority ; and if the Opposition agree upon vigorous measures, the Ministry, in spite of its utmost exertions, must be ejected. But hitherto the Opposition has shrunk from the performance of that first duty which the Country expected from it ; and hence it happens that Sir ROBERT PEEL. is actually getting what be most wants—delay. It is, however, rather a good augury for the Reformers, even within the House, that notwithstanding their bad tactics, and the opportunity they have afforded their antagonist for sowing divisions among them and for luring the unsteady from their camp, the different sections of the majority are at present acting more cor- dially together than at the commencement of the session, and that the " STANLEY Tail" has not been lengthened.

Still, this state of parties is any thing but satisfactory to the Country. It was expected by those who elected a large ma- jority of professed Anti-Tories, that every constitutional method would have been used before now to turn out the WELLINGTON- PEEL Cabinet. They have been betrayed by numbers, who have sided with the Tories—disappointed by more, who were counted on as earnest, but have proved themselves lukewarm. But the constituencies are not changed ; there is not the slightest reason to believe that they regard the Tory Ministers with more favour now than a few weeks ago, when they returned a majority of be- tween one and two hundred Members, from whom they expected such measures as would render it impossible for the Duke and Sir ROBERT to keep their places. This, then, is the relative situa- tion of the Ministry with the House of Commons and the Country. It is plain that any accidental circumstance which should lead to the dissolution of Parliament and another appeal to the consti- tuencies, would put the Ministry in a much smaller minority than they are in at present, and very decidedly augment the numbers of the earnest Reformers, to the almost utter exclusion of the " Waiters upon Providence," and the STANLEY Thimbleriggers. If this state of things is not what the Country desires, it must be admitted that it is any thing but agreeable to the Tory Minis- ters. And if we look at the composition of the Government, in- dependently of its party politics, we shall find that no set of men ever had less chance of covering the weakness of their actual posi- tion, and dazzling the House and the Nation by superior powers in debate, or talents for statesmanship, than they who have thrust themselves into places of authority. The most acute, experienced, eloquent, and personally respectable men in the country, would find it impossible to maintain themselves long in office under the circumstances in which Sir ROBERT PEEL and his colleagues are placed. But, with the exception of the nominal Premier him- self, there is not a member of the Administration in the House of Commons qualified to enter into the field of debate with the Op- position. When Sir ROBERT PEEL has spoken, it seems as if all the ammunition of the Treasury bench was expended. It is ludi- crous as well as pitiable to view the display made by Sir EDWARD KNATCHBULL, Mr. BARING, Lord MAHON, Lord ASHLEY, and Mr. GOULBURN, when it is felt to be absolutely necessary that some reply should be attempted to the arguments, or the jeers, of Lord JOHN RUBS: LL, Mr. IIUME, Sir JOHN HOBHOUSE, Mr. SPRING RICE, Mr. O'CONNELL, and sometimes of Lord STANLEY. There is not, absolutely, with the exception of Sir ROBERT, an individual on the Treasury bench who is of any service in the House of Commons. Mr. BAKING and Sir EDWARD KNATCHBULL are much worse than inefficient allies ; for they provoke just and constant attacks upon the Ministry. Sir ROBERT PEEL is in the greatest trepidation, lest, when they do speak, his colleagues should let out more than is prudent, and give offence to those whom it is sought to conciliate. He is conscious of acting a false part, and fears that the less cautious performers in the piece may divulge some portion of the plot not yet ripe for exhibition. Such blunders might be ruinous to him; for he has not a plain straightforward course to pursue, and has no broad line of policy to point to as a proof that illiberal sentiments and measures must be exceptions to his general rules of thinking and acting. The Gams and ALTHORP Ministry often committed errors; but although their course was devious, the Country believed that their end was patriotic. With the present Ministry the reverse is the case : it is universally believed that their Liberal measures and appointments are merely tricks to gain a little temporary popu- larity, while the real spirit and end of their policy, domestic and foreign, is discernible in their resistance to Irish Church Reform, and the attempt to send Lord LONDONDERRY to St. Petersburg.

An Administration composed like the present, of men for the most

part without weight of character, deficient in statesmanlike acquire- ments and debating power, and what is of more consequence, exten- sively unpopular with the great mass of the middle classes, cannot long endure. This seems to be the almost universal opinion. The necessity of modifying the Cabinet is generally admitted, even by those who wish well to PEEL. But how is it to be done ? A no- tion has obtained, that the Duke of WELLINGTON and his Ultra- Tory friends would retire to make room for Lord STANLEY and some of those who for the sake of place might call themselves his party. If the change could be so managed as to render the haughty heir of the Whig house of DERBY the useful and sub- servient tool of the Tories, we doubt not that the Duke would do his best to bring about the arrangement. Sir JAMES GRAHAM would probably take any post of a certain rank, and with a cer- tain salary ; but we question whether Lord STANLEY would con- sent to play a second part to any Tory. His feeling of personal importance will probably prevent his open alliance with the To- ries, even supposing him to be indifferent to the Whig doctrines he formerly maintained. Besides, nothing would be more easy than to propose questions on which he and Sir ROBERT PEEL arc pledged to act differently; and thus sadly embarrass the alliance. For these reasons, among others, we are unwilling to believe that any coalition will take place between the Tories and Lord STAN- 1-Fx. But still it is possible. On the supposition, then, that the alliance is concluded, would the party of the Obstructives be ma- terially strengthened by it? Decidedly not. There would be a gain of debating power in the House of Commons—none of safe or popular statesmanship; while the disgust of the Country would be vastly augmented by this additional evidence of the laxity of principle in public men. The voice of the Nation would drown the whisper of the Faction; and no long period would elapse before the disgraceful alliance would be broken to pieces, by the same force of public opinion which carried Catholic Emancipation and Parliamentary Reform. Supposing that the existing Ministry survives the division on the Irish Church question, and is not pummelled to pieces in the course of a few weeks,—and supposing that an alliance with the STANLEY Section is in vain effected with a view to stop the Move- ment,—what, we shall be asked, would come next? what would follow the breaking up of the PEEL and STANLEY Administration ? We reply, a decidedly Liberal Government,—in exchange for which, the Tories would sink on bended knees to beg back the MELBOURNE Cabinet, so insolently and exultingly displaced by them. But the party of Resistance, the Obstructives, would then plead and intrigue in vain. Their grand weapon, the Pre- rogative, would be useless in their hands. The democratical feeling in the country would have gained tenfold force. Monar- chical institutions would be looked upon as nuisances, to be abated, perhaps, by their overthrow—as the means, not of good government, but of enabling the Aristocracy to trample upon and insult the mass of the People. How far this feeling, which has increased, is increasing, and which the late exercise of the Pre- rogative has by no means tended to pacify, might carry the People of England, is more than we are able or willing to predict. But of this we are certain, that no abuses however venerable would long be tolerated ; that " prescription," of which Sir ROBERT PEEL is so fond of talking, would be laughed at ; and that vested interests in any thing injurious to the public weal would no longer meet with the tender consideration which even the most ardent Reformers are now willing to grant.

Unless we are deceived in our estimate of the power and popu- larity of the Tory party, it is evident, that notwithstanding its struggles for supremacy, it is doomed to experience utter defeat. Ultimate success must be to the great mass of the nation; but this victory may only be achieved through a long course of political turmoil, dangerous if not destructive to existing institutions. It follows, that every real friend of the present form of government— every lover of peace and the prosperity which accompanies it— every one who has any thing to lose—should unite for the instant overthrow of a faction whose temporary success may produce severe, though not irreparable calamities to the country.