NEWS OF THE WEEK.
FROM the North and from the South, Lord MELBOURNE has this week received fresh intimation, that, on its present policy, his Cabinet cannot stand. Lord DALMENY, a Lord of the Admi- ralty, has been to Dunfermline to talk over political matters with his constituents. Had he gone with the Premier's permission to promise that the Ballot should no longer be opposed by the Cabi- net, even his speech after—it would be absurd to say in reply to—
Mr. GROTE'S unanswered arguments in favour of independent voting, would have been forgiven. His constituents would have done their best to forget, that of all the Ministers, their Repre- sentative alone made himself ridiculous on that occasion, by at- tempting a refutation of facts and reasoning which could not be shaken. The opposition which will probably eject him from his seat in Parliament at the next election, would have been stifled, and Lord DALMENY would have returned in triumph to White- hall. But his Lordship was forced to admit his variance with his constituents on this point; and his constituents did not scruple to pass a vote of censure upon him, to his face, and in the most explicit terms. Lord DALMENY seems to be personally popular as well as amiable. There was nothing like an attempt to dra- goon or abuse him. But he was obliged to speak out ; and where the Whigs are driven to that extremity, the consequence, as a matter of course, seems to be the dissatisfaction and distrust of the Reformers.
The influence of the Duke of SOMERSET may be sufficient to prevent his son from being turned out of Totnes ; but his security cannot make Lord SEYMOUR, who sits at the Treasury Board, in- different to the demonstration of his constituents, and hundreds of their neighbours, on Wednesday last, in favour of Ballot and Peerage Reform. There was a grand gathering of real Liberals
on that day, at Totnes. Sir WILLIAM MOLESWORTH, Mr. NEW- TON FELLOWS% Mr. LEADER, and Mr. PARROTT, exposed the in-
justice, the insanity of the Whig refusal to adopt the policy of open questions. The enthusiasm which their speeches excited, as we learn from one who witnessed it, was "tremendous." Lord SEYMOUR appears to have been the only Whig in the assembly.
His colleague, Mr. Pisani:n-1,, hitherto more of a Whig than Ra- dical, was the first to declare the necessity of the Ballot; for
although Lord SEYMOUR may rely upon family influence, an in- dependent Member for Totnes has no chance of his return except on Radical principles.
VVe have already a long list of Whig officials, whose visits to their constituents have given opportunity for the display of the honest feelings of the electors,—Sir HENRY PARNELL, Sir JOHN
CAMPBELL, Lord DALMENY, Mr. CHARLES WOOD, Sir GEORGE GREY, and Lord SEYMOUR; and, of the Whig supporters of Go- vernment, Lord WILLIAM BENT1NCK, Lord EBRINGTON, Sir RO- BERT PRICE, Mr. G. CAVENDISH, Sir H USSEY VIVIAN, and others, can tell Lord MELBOURNE and his colleagues, that Whiggisin is not the political creed of the majority of the Reformers, or of the great body of his supporters. If there is any doilit as to the prevalent opinion in Mancliestes, Nottingham, or the West Riding of Yorkshire, let Mr. PouLarr THOMSON, Sir JOHN HOBHOUSE, and Lord MORPETH or Sir GEORGE STRICKLAND, follow the ex- ample of Lord DALMENY—call a public meeting of their consti- tuents, and discuss with them the principal questions on which Radicals and Whigs differ ; and if they are not already advocates of the open 'question policy, we would wager much that they re- turn converts to it.
Reformers, everywhere, cannot do better than follow the ex- ample of the South Devon dinner-party. Avoiding the blunder of the abortive Lambeth meeting, let them adopt the independent and straightforward course recommended by Sir WILLIAM MOLES- WORTH, and raise their voices against Cabinet opposition to the Ballot, Peerage Reform, and other popular measures, but more especially the Ballot. Let not dissension be introduced by any attempt to bolster up the present Ministry by indiscriminate votes it confidence; but let there be an open, unrestrained exhibition
of public opinion on leading questions. Now is the time for the Reformers to be stirring. In Birmingham, Sheffield, Hull, Leicester, Newcastle, Leeds, and all the great towns, let
meetings be called, and let them demand the Ballot. On that question no disagreement will arise. Is there a single constitu- ency in the Three Kingdoms against the Ballot ? The free exer- cise of the elective franchise is what the voters must everywhere desire ; and if they will only assemble and say so,—if they will only "agitate" the question with vigour,—it shall go hard with both Whigs and Tories but they yield even in the very next ses- sion.
Though we deprecate any attempt to render Reform meetings subservient to merely Ministerial purposes, there can be no reason for proclaiming hostility to the Government. In fact, most of those who demand the Ballot will generally vote with Ministers, even though the Cabinet opposition to that measure be conti- nued,—that is, they will vote with them to a reasonable and seasonable extent, but not kill themselves for Whig advantage : they will not, of course, attend early and late, night after night, to carry Ministerial measures, while the dandy Whigs are at Almack's or Devonshire House, as they did last session—vide the Division-lists; they will not put themselves out of the way to vote for the Appropriation-clause and "nothing more; " they will support those motions in which their constituents are inte- rested, though the Government be opposed to them, as zealously as before: but the aid they yield to the Ministers will be languid; and it may happen, on some wet night, that Lord JOHN RUSSELL will find himself left to rely on the Whigs, and consequently be beaten by the Tories. It will then be no slight aggravation of the distress of Ministers to reflect, that their downfal has been occasioned by the monstrous impolicy of making that a Cabinet question which could not have been one of the articles of agree- ment when the Cabinet was originally formed—to find that, Whig-like, the wall against which they knocked their heads, was one of their own building.
