25 SEPTEMBER 1852, Page 15

1.LiE CONSPIRACY AGAINST Tag STATE.

TEE newspaper organ of the present Government continues to imagine the existence of a conspiracy to oust the Derby Cabi-

net, by a coalition of Whigs and Peelites. The announcement

vely made is, that, eschewing official inequality, Lord John Russell and Sir James Graham are both to be Secretaries of State

under a nominal Premier ; the latter to be a " veteran Whig noble- man." Evidently, this coalition is the bete noire of the Ministerial journalist, and any passing phsenomenon is sufficient to call it up,

much more such marked fraternization as that of Sir James Gra- ham and Lord Carlisle at the East Cumberland dinner. But as children recall the various obstacles which may prevent " the black man" from coming to eat them, so the Tory writer consoles him- self by recalling all the " difficulties" which stand in the way of the monster Cabinet.

Undoubtedly, it is a cunning device even to talk of " difficulties " to Whig aspirants ; but, unluckily, the Morning Herald can only muster such as are provocative rather than deterrent. The first is amusing. It " arises from the trifling circumstance that, although the Peelites and the Russellites are amazingly nimble in furnishing our unhappy country with a Cabinet, yet it does so happen that these various sections of politicians do not form numerically any- thing like one-half of the present Opposition; and how is one :fifth part of the House of Commons to govern the country " The writer might stop here : so fractional a monster is scarcely worth all the writing levelled at him to drive him off. But then comes the pinch : " the extreme Liberals and the Re- rnish party outnumber the various sections who are now so busy in arranging an Administration "; " the Whigs can no longer do without the Radicals," and can only make a Cabinet by forming " a junction with the Irish priesthood." Hence the third difficulty, which is, that Lord John will be obliged to redeem "his pledge about enlarging the franchise "; and " what will the Duke of Newcastle and others of his new col- leaes say ? " The threat that it may be necessary to redeem a pledge is formidable ; but why should the melancholy Herald be so anxious to know the dictum of the Duke of Newcastle on that particular point P It might be quite possible to beat up recruits in favour of suffrage-extension nearer to the Treasury-bench, even at this moment. Mr. Secretary Walpole has proposed one exten- sion, with the militia musket as a qualification ; and the public estimate greatly overrates Mr. Disraeli's ingenuity if it is wrong in supposing that he could find constitutional, Anglo-Saxon, or Caucasian reasons for universal suffrage itself. Difficulty number four—What will the people of England say to the repeal of the Ecclesiastical Titles Bill, exacted by the Irish party ? We can solve this difficulty for our proteges the Whigs under the bullying of the alarmed Herald: the people of England will say that it is quite unnecessary formally to repeal that which fell still-born from the Parliamentary.press, and which is subject to the veto of the Attorney-General. It may be left a while. But then, for difficulty the fifth—" What will Mr. Sidney Her- bert and the Duke of Newcastle have to say to the motions of Messrs. Cobden and Hume on the subject of church-endowments, and financial reform, and aristocratic influence ? " This is the species of collective difficulty coming within the category of " pretty kettle of fish"; but it is the creature of an ideal Billings- gate. What " motions"? What motion, for example, is on the Notice-paper about "aristocratic influence " ? Even if there were any, when did a Member in office ever trouble himself about the motions which he put upon the Notice-paper as a " private Mem- ber " ? There is, then, no occasion to call for anticipatory drafts of all the speeches which Mr. Sidney Herbert and the Duke of New- castle would have made, if &o.

But difficulty the sixth is awful. " If Lord Derby can be over- thrown, his overthrow will immediately be succeeded by a Revolu- tionary Government." " This is the conclusion which we are anx- ious," says the Herald, "to impress upon the minds of our readers " ; " there is no possible alternative." With all respect for our con- temporary, we cannot but confess to a suspicion that he is com- mitting that solecism against modern political science of being really in earnest ! " Apres nous " ! " Derby or Deluge," cries Lord Maidstone, in verse ; Derby or Revolution, cries the Herald, in a prose poem. As a difficulty in the eyes of the people, however, this is amusing. Nothing would render Lord John more popular than a supposition that he would be " Revolutionary," in the Heraldic sense. Cunning horse-dealers know how to caution a purchaser lest a very veteran horse should " ran away"; and the Herald is now playing chanter for the poor old Whig stable. But there is balm in Gilead : there are patriots to save society in England as well as in France; and the _Herald, in its tribuls-

tion, bethinks it of Now who are the men that occur to the reader as the saviour- statesmen for the hour of peril? Perhaps he does not know what the country possesses in that way, and the announcement by the Conservative journalist will gladden him unexpectedly.

" We presume," says that candid politician, growing once more calm at the reflection, "that the more moderate and respectable part of the Opposition—such men as Lord R. Grosvenor and Mr- Cayley—will not be in a hurry to turn Lord Derby out." No ; " it is all very well for people in Lord Russell's condition to be arranging Cabinets," but there is Lord R. Grosvenor to be con- sulted. " eels& sedet lEolus arce."

Besides this guarantee, there is that blessed "if "—" if Lord Derby can be overthrown." No, the country cannot do without Derby; that is the practical conclusion to -which the Herald guides us. No Derby, no future for England. There is but one resource, the Herald intimates, for the British Marina—the dagger : Derby, beware of the poniard-bearing Russell !