NEWS OF THE WEEK.
No longer possible to be put off, the meeting of Parliament is now fixed for the 4th of November, and Ministers will have to face their new House of Commons within a fortnight. An explana- tion will be required from- them on many important topics : not in pursuance of any,suppesed promise to that effect, which may be struck off the account as not worth further question, but on the strength of substantial events and important changes since Minis- ters last steed before the oountry,in Parliament assembled. The arrangements about the great state funeral will of course be settled with all decorous despatch, and will cease to encumber the view of public affairs with a heavy -veil of crape forbidding a hasty hand to lift it. But when that is away, there will be some substantial matters to explain. Mr. Beresford will have to report the decision on Free-trade or Protection involved in the results of the general election. The finance queslion will no longer depend upon a pro- mise for itapreliminary solution at the hands of Mr. Disraeli, but will demand somesatisfaction-on the strength of .public curiosity and practical interests. Lord Malmesbury will have to explain howhe stands with foreign countries, especially with the United States, our irritated ally, and with France, our hazardous neighbour. In fine, Ministers will have to tell us, not only how they stand, but how "the country" in their charge stands, abroad
and at home. - Some matters, at present before the public only as reports, are too important not to demand full explanation. What is the mean- ing of these rumours respecting the assemblage of Convocation for the despatch of business ? what is to be the bearing of such a mea- sure, if the rumour is true at all? Is it a political diversion ; a concession to enthusiastic allies ; or an act of spontaneous zeal in the Prime Minister? Is Lord Derby's Government in a position that would fit it to undertake any measure so important ? The answers will not brook delay.
Again, how does the Ministry stand with regard to its own con- struction ? Is it still provisional, or is it a real Ministry ? The reports or surmises as to a coalition are vague enough ; but still there is in them that species of concurrence which indicates a com- mon feeling and probably a substantial origin. The most promi- nent idea is that of a coalition with Lord Palmerston, discussed as if he had given some countenance to it; though we oeuld hardly think it possible that so able a political calculator could consent to join fortunes with Lord Derby. Another step indicated by the opposition to it is a union with the Duke of Newcastle ; who has, we believe, much toojust an estimate of men and the times to unite with the present Ministry. Indeed, it is generally understood that gentlemen of the peculiarly elevated party to which the Duke belongs would entertain insuperable objections to sitting in the same Cabinet with the most conspicuous member of lard Derby's party ; not only'from respect to the memory of the statesman he lent himself unworthily to malign, but also from a feeling that the gentleman in question, clever as he has been in contriving " situations" for his partners in any venture, has not succeeded in defining his own position politically so as to have earned the trust of scrupulous statesmen. A. man of congenial re- sources, of equally unscrupulous ways, and of even more skill in silence, has made himself "Emperor "; but many below the rank of royal blood would scruple to marry into the family of that ex- alted personage. Mr. Disraeli's presence, however, seems essential to the existence of Lord Derby's Cabinet. Not that we join in the vulgar notion that after all Mr. Disraeli will bring forth some great Iteasure---that he will get into "the quart-bottle " : we have no belief in the possibility of devising a great measure able to pass thr°9411 Lord Derby's button-hole--the fatal condition cast on the Bagman at his spell. These reports attest the unsatisfactory position of her Majesty's Ministers ; and when it is hinted that several of them are willing to resign their seats in order to facilitate a reinforcement for their Premier, while we respect so disinterested a feeling, we perceive the self-consciousness of debility. Yet the times' approaching look as if they would be critical, and all unsuited to any weak Govern- inent. Nor are we to expect a strong Government from party tinkerings and patchings. It would indeed seem impossible to construct a really strong Government out of existing party ma- terials ; the less, while even the picked men of all parties are to be trammeled by old and worn-out party ties. No, we must repeat, a strong Government is denied to us, until the Sovereign shall be ad- vised to forget party distinctions; and to " send for " a score of men only because they are the ablest in view. Then we might have a strong Ministry—if not a party at least a national Government.
