FROM A CROAKER IN THE COUNTRY.
IT is come, then, sooner than I foretold—that most satisfactory state of politics in which the country expects to he without a Government, and without the means of forming one. The Ministry is cracked, and a slight touch will break it in pieces : it is cracked in another sense—de- mented, as the Chronicle says—for it is bringing all public men into contempt. We used to consider the Whig Lords as a good instrument for accomplishing in peace, and with unmixed good, the change which this nation must undergo. Confidence in the Reform Ministry was safety for the People. Was, not is ; for now, where are the men of i
mark n whose knowledge, judgment, and courage, the public confides ? There is one such mail ; but an individual is not a government ; and Lord DURHAM, as Prime Minister, would soon be "poor Lord Duo- ataxt"—" pitiable Lord DURHAM" (just as we now say, "poor Lord GliEv"—" pitiable Lord BROUGHAM and Vatrx"), if he should have for colleagues ninny of those whom the Lords GREY and BROUGHAM are now dragging through the dirt. Whom else could he have ? Where will be the materials for a good Ministry, after ELLICE, and JOHN RUSSELL, and P. THOMSON, and Lord ALTHORP, shall have stood for another month to be spit upon by the indignant public ? Would Lord DURHAM be able to wipe them clear of the sp:ttle of contempt with which, in a month more, they will be covered all over ? Not he ; and in attempting it, he would only besmear himself. Then he must look for others. But who are they ? We might name a few; but even of these, some remain behind Lord A LTHORP, to catch a part of that shower of contempt which is pouring on the despised Ministry. So that when we shall be without a Government—not many weeks hence, perhaps—there will be no materials for forming one. Wise Lord GREY! much-reflecting Lord BROUGHAM ! excellent Lord A LTHORP ! If I could advise our Sailor King, I should say—We are in a pretty mess ; but let us do something. Seeing what has come of a Ministry possessing confidence, let us try one that would be suspected and scorned. Make JOSEPII SURFACE Premier ; give back the Colonies to GOOSEY GODERICH ; make Mr. HALLOMB President of the Board of Trade, Mr. FRYER or Tom Armour) Chancellor of the Exchequer, and Sir ROBERT Wicsost Foreign Secretary; but, above all, do manage to keep Lord VAUX, honest Lord ALTHORP, arid poor old GREY. Without the last three—the tricks of Lord BROUGHAM, the iuelfable stupidityof Lord ALTHORP, and Lord GREY'S greedy relations—the new Ministry would not be contemptible enough. And yet, why so advise the King, when he has got a Ministry that 'would not be rendered more despicable than it is by the accession of HALCOMB, FRYER, ATTWOOD, WILSON, WYNFORD, Sir SAMUEL WIIALLEY, and ORATOR HUNT?
Lord Dututam has behaved like a man, as he is. You London edi- tors write as if he had wished to be one of the present Despised Ministry. We know better in the country hereabouts ; where it is said, and fully believed at all events, that they longed to offer him a seat (hoping to ruin him), but were afraid to meet with an indignant refusal. In these parts, there is no anger. Speak to whom you will of the Auckland Cabinet, and a smile follows, or a horse-laugh ; and we are getting into a way of shrugging our shoulders like the French.
By the by, I observe you call Louts PHILIP a "selfish despot." Pretty well this, not four years after the " Glorious Three Days." Does Dr. BOWRING join the AUCKLAND Cabinet, or is it a quiz of the Times? Do I spell the noble lord's name correetly?—for I do not re- member to have seen it in print ; and I am sure I never heard it till last Week.
Our bad Radicals—our Revolutionists—are delighted. They say-- by Christmas there Will be no government, and then we shall do as we like. If you don't know what they would like, ask COBBE.TT and the Trades Unions leaders. Altogether' it is as nice a state of danger anti gloomy expectation as could be desired by A CROAKER IN THE COUNTRY.
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