There are rumours also of a " split " in
the Cabinet. One tale lS that Sir Robert Peel and the Duke of Wellington do not agree About Irish affairs, and that the Duke, eager for stern ma- [LATEST EDMON.]
sures, will retire : the other is, that there is some " irreconcileable difference" between the Premier and Lord Stanley. There are always such rumours in the recess, when statesmen have retired. awhile into greater privacy. The Duke of Wellington, no doubt, has manifested the most professional activity in adopting military precautions, but, pub- licly, not a particle of eagerness for a stern policy in Ireland ; and words said to have been uttered in passing talk, such as the lax remark that "there is no Government in Ireland," are not safe foundation for any wide inference. The Duke is too good a dis- ciplinarian to meddle with departments not his own. Although entertaining strong feelings on political subjects, with an habitual and military bent towards sanctifying established power, and although apt at taking a plain common sense view of the questions of the day, with sensible and practical though not always profound conclusions on them, the Duke cannot be said to have dealt in abstract principles, or ever to have represented any definite opinions. His seems just the mind to approve of what the astute and judicious Peel thinks needful and contrives with so much moderation.
Lord Stanley's position is different. At one time his repute in the House of Commons made him formidable as an opponent, useful as a partisan ; but he has consented to be so completely the tool and mouthpiece of his chief, that his use as an effective Parliamentary condottiere is gone : and yet he retains enough of impracticability to make him troublesome as a retainer. He is both maladroit and wayward. It is to be observed that Sir Ro- bert Peel threw the shield of protection over his discomfited officer in the New Zealand business ; on the other hand, the officer was virtually superseded. But nothing new has recently occurred about which there is likely to be any difference. There is no more probability in the rumours than lies in the nature of things. Sir Robert Peel could do without either of his colleagues : there is no reason to suppose that he will be deprived of the prestige lent by the name of Wellington; there is no fresh reason to suppose that Lord Stanley's blunders in the Colonial Office have exhausted his patience.
