TOPICS OF THE DAY.
HOW TO KEEP PEEL OUT AND RUSSELL IN.
IT is commonly said that there may be half-a-dozen Govern; meats before we get what Lord George Bentinck called a '! stable " one. Likely enough ; for the fusion, by which alone the frag- ments of party might be blended into a strong Goiernment, seems yet a good way off. But there must always be a Govern- ment of some sort. The first experiment is to be a Russell Government. That means a Whig Government without Lord Grey—a mere reconstruction in 1846 of the Melbourne Government of 1840— a Government representing no prin- ciple or policy save the belief of the Whig aristocracy that they are born to govern England. Be it so ; but the Whig Chronicle must permit us at least to wonder at an event so utterly at variance with foregoing probabilities. We venture, moreover, to ask a question about this Russell Government. How
long is it expected to last Without Lord Grey, and not repre- senting the large portion of the Liberal party who now think Peel the fittest head of a Government for these times, it is not the organ of a majority either in Parliament or the country. .It is conspicuously the organ of a minority. To what then does it owe its existence ? Not to Court favour : "our lovely young Queen" and all that sort of thing is out of fashion ; and indeed; people do say that if Peel's friends chose to work the Queens name as the Whigs did in Melbourne's time, we should heir of sorrow at Court for the loss of "the most comfortable of Minis- ters." But on what then is the Russell Government founde4 f how came it about ? what occasioned it? To judge of its probable duration, let us estimate the stability of its cause ; for as the cause promises to last so may the effect.
The manifest cause of the restoration in 1846 of the Melbourne Government of 1840 is twofold—the "kicking out" of Peel by the Protectionists, and Whig alacrity to take the vacant -place. Neither cause by itself would have had the effect : it is only in combination that they become productive. The Russell Govern- ment, then, is founded on a combination or coalition of Whig love of place and Protectionist revenge on Peel. By means of the coalition, there is a majority in both Houses of Parliament for turning out Peel and bringing in Russell. But keepiml Peel out and Russell in is another thing. Here the cause is insufficient, because the coalition ceases. In order to prolong the Russell Government, the coalition which occasions it must be prolonged.: the Government must represent the principle of ire own creation : Stanley and Disraeli, as well as Russell and Palmerston, should be leading members of the Government. In this way, the great majority which substitutes Russell for Peel might perhaps be kept together for a general eleetion and through a new Parlia- ment. If there is any other way of keeping Peel out and Russell in, will the Chronicle favour us with some account of it ?
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