The Courier of Monday comments upon some praise bestowed by
the Examiner on the Edinburgh speeches of Mr. ELLICE and Sir JOHN HOBHOUSE, in the following language.
"Mr. Ellice and Sir John flobbouse are, however, members of Lord Mel- bourne's Cabinet ; at which, when it was formed, one and all iV the journals, miscalled Literal, we are afraid, and which seem to mistake the gratification of their own arbitrary still for freedom,—Mr. Ellice and Sir John llobhouse belong to that Cabinet which Liberal jouriuds decried with one universal sneer at the instant it was formed. They must be strong-minded enemies, whom a few words—which might have received a slight colouring to accord with the views of the ussembly—aresufficient to change into apprcvers and partisans !" "A slight colouring to accord with the views of the assembly "— there is a compliment to honest Ministers, volunteering their speech and presence at a great political festival! Perhaps our contemporary does aot include the Spectator among the Libera/ journals; and therefore, although we also have praised the speeches of Sir JOHN HOBHOUSE and Mr. ELLICE, he may not intend to include us in his censure. If he did intend to give us a side-blow, we can tell him that he missed his aim ; for, in the first number of the Spectator that appeared after the formation of the MELBOURNE Cabinet (July lath), we observed, that "Liberalism had been advanced by the late changes ;" that "the additions to the Cabinet were worthy of praise ;" that every one spoke well of Lord DUNCANNON, whom we described as "upright, amiable, and clear-headed, though by no means brilliant." Sir JOHN HOB; HOUSE was called "clever, accomplished, and industrious." A' together, we said, "the aspect of affairs, we are inclined to hope, has been considerably improved." A fortnight afterwards, we ob- served, that there was "an evident change for the better in the tone of Ministers in both Houses of Parliament, since the retire- ment of Earl GREY ;" and we lauded as "another good symptom, the substitution of the clever and popular Lord MULGRAVE for that (publicly) inefficient Whig Lord CARLISLE." Now, it may turn out that our expectations were too sanguine; but the quota- tions we have made prove clearly, that so far from joining in the asserted "universal sneer" of the Liberal journals, "one and all," we were disposed to speak hopefully, kindly, and even flatteringly, of the new Administration. Though Ministers have not had the opportunity of doing much to justify our general good opinion, still they have not done any thing as yet to forfeit it. Certainly the speeches of the three Cabinet Ministers at Edinburgh lead us to augur well for the future.
We are mistaken if the Examiner, and most of the other Liberal journals, did not join us in welcoming the MELBOURNE Ministry, as an improvement of the GREY. The Courier, we suspect, has- again been slaying giants of its own creation. This sort of service is of no use to any Government.
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