POSTSCRIPT.
SATURDAY.
THE NEW HOME SECRETARY.
The Times understands "that the Cabinet will meet today to consider the steps that must be taken to supply the :vacancy so suddenly and un- expectedly occurring in the ranks of the Ministry " ; and very distinctly indicates the probable successor in the Home Office. "The office which Lord Palmerston has resigned is one which ran on no account be suffered to remain vacant for a single day longerthan i above- lutely necessary. The powers of the Home Secretary are most eoginionty called into action by sudden emergencies, in which hours, and evenza:- nutes, are of consequence. At the present time the necessity of fling' the office immediately is particularly pressing. The Lancashire Strikes may pass at any moment from smouldering discontent into open riot and tumult ; and the pressure of severe winter always requires a most superintendence of the high officer to whom is intrusted the maintenance of peace and the duty of watching over life, property, and juatice. It is also especially necessary at this moment; when the country is called on to assume a firm and unflinching attitude in the presence of all Europe, and to make an impression as much by the vigour and unity of her councils as by the strength and display of her armaments, that-there should be no seat vacant among those who are called upon to advise and support the Crown, and to maintain the safety without neglecting the dignity of the empire. The choice of a successor to Lord Palmerston is also invested with peculiar importance from the position which the statesman "whose services we have just lost filled in the eyes of the country, and had so long occupied in the councils of his Sovereign. . . . . If the Ministry does not mean to be forced by Lord Palmerston's sudden desertion into a confession of weakness, it must replace the loss by a person at least as eminent and MI well known at home and abroad as Lord Palmer-
ston himself. This it is, happily, easy to do
"It does so happen, that at this present moment we have a member of the Cabinet unattached to any office, and perfectly well qualified. 0.dinell/irge the duties incident to the Home Department. Lord John Russell hag already held the seals of the Colonial Office, and earned for himeelf,- in times when the true principles of Colonial management were much less perfectly under- stood than at present, the reputation of a wise and conciliatory adminii- trator. He has also during the first two months of the present year presided over our Foreign affairs; but there is no doubt that the special bent of his mind and the nature of his favourite studies point to the Home-Depart- ment as one which he is peculiarly qualified to fill. The position, aleo,,ofs. member of the Cabinet and leader of the House of Commons without.being attached to any office, has in it many embarrassments, which wero_prolinllly not foreseen at the time it was accepted. It seemed to want 4hjJpfft which office and patronage alone can give, and to do initelenkfAs
the powers of its occupant.
"It is impossible, too, not to see that Lord Palmerston'S'r>i8&has in it Something of a personal attack upon Lord John Russell; Matl pribabt not wholly unconnected with the transactions of December: 185L.aivcpse gauntlet is thrown down, and Lard John Russell is challenged to pick it up. No retort could be more dignified or more-just than to accept- thee and meet Lord Palmerston's sudden and petulant abandonment of his post hir a willing assumption and careful 'discharge of the duties which he has tints abandoned.
"There is an obvious fitness in the change thus suggested. . . . . With little support from public opinion from without, and with no sympathy with
Russell introduced his Riform Bill tt ;852yandliel4nadelthe pasaing f such a Measure an indispensable condi-
to of hisjoining thepresent Cabinet As a member. of the Govern- ;„'eat eflenterey,alsard,lelnyltuesell -introduced the Reform Bill of 1831; ag inemqtylcifgonuneat of Lord Aberdeen, we trust he will propose the Reform 'Of 1 . Such a step would be an assurance to the country that there is no intention to abandon or compromise the question." -
• '- • ajourroar. MOVEMENTS.
:r• - • rithridged from the 7Ymes, flee 171 of Aberdeen returned to town yesterday evening, from visiting blijasty at Osborne. He reached Downing Street shortly after six ow,o,--and was immediately waited on by the Duke of Newcastle. . 44, Oladstone arrived at his official residence in Downing.Street yesterday afternoon, from visiting Lord and Lady Lyttelton, at Bagley Hall, Worces- teehire. arl Granville, who is visiting the Earl and Countess Brace, at Sadenacho Lodge' near Marlborough, is expected in town this forenoon. --Mr Sidney Herbert comes to town this morning, from Wilton House, near lird John Russell also comes to town today, from Pembroke Lodge, Rich- '°r
.James James Graham returned to his official residence at the Admiralty on Thaklay night, from Grimsby, Yorkshire ; having been absent from town only twepty-four hours.
S ir William Molesworth, and Sir Charles Wood, have been in town for loam days past. Anseount Palmerston, accompanied byLady Palmerston, left town on Thursday, to meet the circle visiting the Marquis of Lansdowne, at Bowood. Lord Palmerston returns to Carlton Gardens this afternoon; and early in the evening quits London for Broadlands.
• Midnight.—Late in the evening the Earl of Aberdeen, the Duke of Newcastle, the Chancellor of the Exchenuer, and two other members of the Cabinet, assembled at Sir J. Graham's official residence at the Admiralty, and were in consultation until after twelve o'clock.
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