. The Ministerial paper of this evening promises a dissolution.
The Globe, on Thursday, intimated that Lord John Russell was to make an explanation of the course which Ministers had in view : this evening it construes the laconic words which Lord John let fall on Thursday night into a very explicit declaration ; thus- " That announcement has put the matter beyond all doubt ; and the question, which the Tory journals for several days urged with a tenacity indicative of the deep interest felt by the party in the result—' Resiguatiou . or Dissolution ? '—is now answered in a way which has increased their knowledge without diminishing their anxiety or relieving their suspense. The Goverment will neither resign nor dissolve Parliament; but will—as we several days .since ventured to predict—proceed with the essential business of the country ." • • • The Globe them assumes that the annual Sugur-duties, to be moved op Monday, will be carried.] "The Whitsuntide recess will intervene; and on Monday the 4th June, the whole question of the Corn- laws will be brought forward by Lord John Russell; not with any expectation that the House of Commons will affirm the Government proposal, but that the country may be fully informed as to the bearings of the proposed attention on the interests of the community, and be prepared for the event which will immediately follow upon its re- jection—vie, A DISSOLUTION OF THE PRESENT PARLIAMENT, and a consequent appeal to the constituencies."
Rumours, however, are floating about, which tend to make it doubt- ful whether Ministers will be allowed the choice or uses of a dissolution. The friends of the Ministry have horrible misgivings as to the in- tentions of the Opposition : and one of the tales which exasperates their fears is, that the Tories will not wait for the Whig movement, but will at once move an address to the Queen from both Houses of Parliament, declaring want of confidence in Ministers, on the ground that they have been putting forward changes which they had no reasonable hope of carrying, for the sole purpose of throwing the country into a ferment, from which they expect to reap some indirect advantage ' • and praying for their dismissal. Another report is darkly alluded to by the Globe, in the assumption that Mr. Baring's motion of the annual Sugar-duties will not be opposed : the report is that it will ; though that is very un- likely, since free trade in sugar, the consequence of the annual Sugar- duties bill being allowed to expire, would not be a very fit up- - shot to Lord Sandon's amendment ; and the Tory Ministry themselves would hardly choose to forego the sugar-revenue. A third rumour, and one which produces most uneasiness, is, that if Mr. Baring, after the Opposition have refused to let him make up his deficiency in his own way, ask for a vote of credit for the immediate exigency, the Opposi- tion will refuse it, on constitutional grounds. It would be cruel to de- prive the Whig Ministers of the management of the dissolution, for which they have played so boldly! But it may be only a false alarm : the tone of the Tories is by no means triumphant.
Previous page
