The Herald reports, for the hundredth time, that there are
changes in contemplation in the Ministry. Lord ALTFIORP is about to retire, and Mr. STANLEY is about to take his place. The Herald adds, very judiciously— Whatever the proposed changes are, it would be as well, we should think, that they should be made at once, that those who are to enter upon new offices may have some knowledge of the details and duties of them before the meeting of Pailiarnent. It has been part of the miserable dawdling policy of all Admi- nistrations of late years, to postpone every thing to the eleventh hour, and some- times later than that. When Pailiament meets, each head of a department should he prepared to lay before it all the wants and proposed laws or altera- tions attaching to his branch of the public service ; instemd of which, the public is insulted with the servant's cuckoo-note of 'want of time'—of this and that honourable gentleman having been so recently appointed to their offices, that the Estimates, &c., cannot have been prepared. This contemptible schoolboy sort of oxeme runs through half the session, till towards the end of which the most important business of each department is postponed, except that which is not unfrequently abandoned altogether. When Bonaparte called us 'a na- tion of shopkeepers,' he could not have been aware of the unbusiness-like quali- ties of our public men, arising from so many of them being trained in the club- house, and not in the counting-house."
We have stated in our SUPPLEMENT of this day, our opinion that the head of every department ought to be prepared with a detailed report of the state of his department, and of its wants, at the commencement of every session; and should lay that state- ment before the Nation, through its Representatives. As to the scheme of giving Mr. STANLEY the Chancellorship of the Exche- quer, it seems to amount to this—that that right honourable young gentleman, having been found wholly disqualified for a subordinate situation, should as a matter of convenience be trans- ferred to a superior station. He cannot lead a few Irish priests and justices, and therefore he should lead. the Commons of Eng- land.
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