POLICY OF THE DERBY ADMINISTRATION.

New Zealander, Volume 8, Issue 650, 7 July 1852, Page 3

POLICY OF THE DERBY ADMINISTRATION.

(From the " Britannia," February 25.) Lord Derby has developed the policy of the new Ministry in a speech as straightforward and plain as it was earnest. Called most unexpectedly to lead Her Majesty's counsels and to sway the destinies of our nation, the noble earl hesitates not to avow his and his colleagues views on disputed points, whilst with due deference to the recorded sense of the people, he declines to raise them until the nation lias had its long coveted opportunity of revising or reiterating its opinions on these questions. It was by no act of Lord Derby's party that he is now forced into office ; it was by no political schemes of his colleagues that he and they are now called upon to administer the policy of England. He succeeds to a post hastily and cowardly deserted by his predecessor, committed by his latest acts to no immediate reversal of his rival's policy, though in his heart convinced of its error. Under our constitution a Minister is called upon not merely to carry out, if he can, his own views, but administer the country according to the wishes of its best men. On the principle of a fair, equal, and moderate protection to articles of native industry, the Premier's views are well known. To force those views on the Commons of the country, if possible, would be neither just nor beneficial. In favour of the contrary policy the country has thrice decided, no real friend to or believer in the principle of fair protection would iioav wish to snatch a narrow victory in opposition to that public decision, or to anticipate the national verdict which, if he believe in his own views, he must expect with confidence in favour of that long-dc&pised principle. Whichever tide shall attempt to precipitate such a verdict, admits by its haste its distrust in the views for which it pretends to contend and in which it professes to believe.

Our relations with foreign nations are placed by Lord Derby on a foundation as safe as it is honourable. Earnestly desiring to maintain peace, and to avert the miseries of war, he justly holds that this desire is not to be supported by offensive preparations for war, nor the adoption of Utopian theories of disarmament, but rather "by observing to all foreign powers— -whether powerful or weak — a calm, deliberate, and conciliatory course, not in acts alone, but in woids also, by adhering with strict fidelity to the" letter of the obligations imposed on us by our duty, by respecting the independence of nations, whether great or small, and admitting their full right to regulate the internal afFairs of their own administration," However much we may feel satisfied with our own form of polity, it is not for us to depreciate that accepted by other nations, or to interfere to impose on them governments which they do not select of their own froe will. Absol ute Monarchy and Red Republicanism arc alike hateful to us, but if the one is accepted in the far north, and the other endured by our nearest neighbours, it is our duty to rccognibc these taw

as the ruling powers, and only &o far to distrust thorn as all the more carefully to watch, least, in the promulgation of their own views and furtherance of their own objects the safety of our political and social position is not endangered. To the ingitives of every nation our island is an asylum, to the conspiratois of noue is it a hiding place. " It is the ho unclcn duty," to use the words of the noble earl, "of all those who thus flee from the misfortunes of their on n country — having found a safe and a secure asylum here — not to abuse the rights of hospitality. It is their duty not to compromise, at all events, the interests of this country while receiving them into its hospitable arms, by organising measures of hostility against their own country, which they may possibly think they can carry on here with comparative safety. It is not only the right but the duty of the Government, without descending to a system of espionage or surveillance, to keep a guard over the conduct of such persons who are disposed to abuse our hospitality ; and if any stops hostile to their native country come to the knowledge of the Government, it is their duty to put the foreign Government thus threatened in possession of these facts, and thus place them upon their guard against such machinations. Further than that, it is not right, nor in the power of the Government of this country to go. If these persons, under any circumstances, and from whatever country, arc attempting to lev}'' war against their own country, that is, by the law of their country, a punishable offence. And it is the duty of the Government to visit such an offence with immediate and condign punishment. And on the other hand, while wo are bound to preform the duty of friendship, and' that which the amity of nations suggests towards foreign powers, we cannot, even to maintain the friendship of those countries, strain the law and constitution of this country beyond that which is warranted by the law." Christian Education will not be neglected by the new Administration. Whilst readily accepting the verdict of the people, high and low, rich and poor, that the greater the amount and the more wide the spread of education among all cldbbes of the community, the greater the prospect of the tranquility and the well-being of the country, the noble Premier rejects the notion of mere temporal knowledge and instruction in social acquirements comprising the necessary education of the people. " Valuable as such instruction may be," said the noble Earl, " when I speak of education I speak principally of that education which includes the culture of the mind and the culture of the soul, laying the foundation and the ba&is of all knowledge in Scriptural and evangelical truth. My Lords, added the Premier, I desire to look upon all those who are engaged in the work of spreading education, although they may be of a different communion from that to which I am most sincerely attached, rather as neighbours and allies than strangers and opponents. But, I trust, by resisting 1 all encroachments on that Church and on her clergy, come from what quarter they may, and by lending to hex- all tlic pow-ex oi Govei limcrxt, -to suppoit and extend the influence of that Church in its high and holy calling, of diffusing throughout the length and breadth of the United Empire— l speak not of this country only — the knowledge and blessing to be derived from the Holy Scriptures." The Derby Cabinet is free from the imputation of cliqueism. Family interests find no place in it, and Governing Houses hold no sway over its members. It is no longer my cousin in the Home-office, my brother-in-law in the Colonial, my uncle here, lny nephew there, but a fair and honourable selection of the leading Members of the political party, irrespective of titles, professions, or relation-ships. At the head of the Cabinet the noble Earl, with much practical knowledge of detail, with a vigorous intellect, matured by experience, unfailuig energy tempered by trial, firm convictions strengthened by time, close in argument, clear in detail, eloquent in speech, his time unoccupied by the minutisc of any particular department, will exercise, without tyrannising, that influence over every department of the public service so necessary to insure unanimity of action and so desirable for the interests of the nation. In the Commons the lead falls by right of energy and eloquence to Mr. Disraeli, whilst the study of financial questions which his equal taxation motions have called for, fits him to reduce to practice as Chancellor of the Exchequer those principles of full and fair taxation he has so ably advocated in opposition. In Mr. Walpole, the new Home Secretary, we have a man of large capacity, severe mental training, clearheaded and deservedly popular with the House of Commons, and whose legal training fits him in a peculiar manner for that most important portion of his duties, his ministry of justice. In the Foreign-office Lord Malmesbury may be depended on for firmness and fairness. Without aiding revolution and fostering republican exiles, he will not permit the right of sanctuary to be invaded at the nod of an Austrian Emperor or the threats of a Prince-President. For the Colonies Sir John Pakington is well fitted from the long and continuous attention paid by him to the effect of late measures on our colonial produce, and especially on that of our West India Islands. He comes into power with no old quarrels to fight out, no former slights to avenge, but as free as he is anxious to do justice to each and all of our numerous dependencies. To praise the learning pf Sir Edward Sugden is to gUd gold, to defend his appointment as Chancellor is to suggest that doubt of his fitness for his high office which not even au opponent questions. A Thesiger and Kelly in England, a Blackburne, a Napier, and a Whiteside in Ireland, would be an ornament to any party. Equally well it is with the Admiralty. The noble Duke who heads this Board, though for some years past retired from active service, has never ceased to interest himself in the noble profession which he followed in early life, and which with the respect of all in it, lie now will rule. Mr. Herries brings long official experience to the Board of Control, Mr. Henley admirable business habits to the Board of Trade. To Lord Lonsdale as President of the Council, Lord Salisbury as Privy Seal, Lord Hard wick as Postmaster-General, or Lord John Manners at the head of the Woods and Forests, no one objects. To complain of the Cabinet that its best men are as yet untried, is simply to give a monopoly of power to two rival cliques, and to deprive the country of its rising talent and its youthful energy. To hear some men speak one would suppose that Greys and Russells, and Elliotts were borng full-fledged ministers, and sucked in official experience with their noble mother's milk. There was a time when the Cardwells, Gladstones, and Herberts of the riv.il clique were untried hands, and not a whit more trained for high office than the men whom their critical terrier goes about depreciating. The Army will not lose its courage, its strength, or its discipline, under England's hero, aidcxTby his noble comrade who turned back the eagles of France, on the bloody field of Albuera, and cruohed the disciplined masses of the Sikhs at Feroseshah and Sobraon. To a long life of military experience Lord Hardinge has added a short but active cal eer of civil rule. Under a Wellington and a Hardinge, with the worst and weakest Ministry, our army would be safe ; when, however, they have to act with those who feel proud to defer to their better judgment, and will not thwart the earnest veteran, or despise his timely warnings, to curry favour even for a passing moment with political charlatans, we may rest assured that oiir forces will be efficient. For the Navy, too, there is good hope, not ooly in the noble Duke at the head of the Admiralty, but also in bis junior lords. Sir Hyde Parker has seen much service, is frank in his manners and prompt in bis habits. Admiral Hornby has served more actively than most men on the list ; Sir Thomas Herbert won his honours afc the passage of the Parana ; Admiral Mylne, agood man of business and no politician, remains from the old Jjoan), and Mr. fcJU/Ibrd has but to unihtcr the red

tapeism of bis duties to become a mo&l efficient secretary. To a 6 ibinet thus led, thus composed, and thus called into power, by the ilight of the former possessors of office, and not by their own schemes, few rightly minded men -will offer any factious opposition at the outset of their career. The attempt of the most desperate of the Corn-law Leaguers to precipitate that national verdict which must come sooner or Inter, -will we trust be repudiated by the more earnest members of the liYeetrade party, and a fair trial given to those men on whom, by no act of their o^Yn or their frien ds, rest the i-esponsibilities of the government of our great nation, at a time of trial at home and difficulty abroad.

(From Iho Morning Clnoniclo.) The statement of the Earl of Derby on Friday last was sufficiently explicit upon every question except that which most needed elucidation. There was one point, however, upon which the public were awaiting anxiously a clear avowal of the Premier's intentions. Is he prepared to effect any changes in our commercial system, and if so, what are those changes to be ? The answer which he returned to this question was, to say the least of it, evasive. Is Protection to hang like a sword over the country from year to year, or is the blow to descend at once 2 Is Lord Derby — an avowed Protectionist, so far as his personal predelictions are concerned — to acquiesce in Free Trade until he finds a favourable opportunity of upsetting it. * * We are far from desiring to drive Lord Derby to detail prematurely any particular measures which are to constitute his future policy. Let him have as much time as he likes to prepare his measures — but we do not see that he has a right to ask for six months, or even six days, to make up his mind as to their general scope and aim — as to the principles on which he proposes to carry on the Government. To demand from him a statement of the exact moans by which he proposes to relieve the agriculturists from the "distress" of which they complain, or from the "peculiar burdens" to which they are said to be subjected, would doubtless be premature ; but we are clearly entitled to ask him whether he intends to recognise their claim to such relief, and whether, recognising that claim, he intends the relief to assume the shape of Protection. A man who tells us that we shall be safe.as long as we ask no questions, naturally excites our distrust. The evils which cannot but result from uncertainty are incalculable. As Lord Grey truly remarked — and the fact cannot be too constantly remembered — " There is not a single question between landlords and tenants, not a single trade or manufacture, which is not affected by the ignorance of the country on this subject. * * * The grounds of Lord Derby's hesitation are, indeed, sufficiently obvious. On the one hand, he knows that to reverse a policy which the experience of six years has proved to be one of the greatest benefits ever conferred upon the country, would throw England into a ferment which could not be allayed until its cause was removed. On the other, he must feel that if the rote of Protection be omitted, the political drama which he and his colleagues have been so long rehearsing, will look very like the "Merry Wives of Windsor," without the-charac-ter of Falstaff, or piece of roast beef and horseradish without the roa&t beef. If we are not to have Protection, why on earth should we have Sir John Pakington ? What is the use of scraping together a Government, composed, with two exceptions, of all the leading incapables in either House of Parliament, if it be only to carry out measures which they abhor \ Unless we adopt a theory lately propounded by some ingenious politicians, that Government ought to go in rotation, and that everybody is born with a natural inherent right to be Secretary of State, it is difficult to see the precise object of picking our rulers at random out of the coffee-room of the Cailton, merely in order to preserve Free Trade. So long as Lord Derby took his stand on Protection, his position was intelligible ; but a Protectionist Premier, with a Free-trade policy, would be one of the greatest anomalies in nature. * * * It is absurd to say that those who call on the new Ministry to speak plainly on the most vital of public questions are guilty of " factious opposition." The country has surely a right to know the policy which its rulers mean to adopt. The best interests of the community imperatively demand that the baneful uncertainty which Lord Derby's recent mnnifesto has cast over its agricultural, commercial, and financial prospects should be dispelled with the least possible delay. He has himself referred the question to the decision of the country, and no time ought to be lost in submitting the issue to the tribunal to which he has thus appealed.

(From the Morning Herild.) That tbc position taken by Lord Derby on i Friday night was a judicious one, is made tolerable clear by the vexation of the Free-Trade Journals. They hoped that his Lordship would have committed one of two blunders — either the disclaiming all intention of ever reverting to Protection, and so have alienated the agriculturists throughout the three kingdoms — or else, by announcing an immediate campaign, at all hazards, I for the restoration of the Corn Laws, as the one sole object of his accession to office, and so arousing the fiercest passions of the Leaguers in e\-ery manufacturing district. But he committed neither of these mistakes. lie most frankly and unreservedly avowed his adherence to those opinions for which he quitted office in 1846 ,• and of course left it to be naturally inferred that he would readily restore Protection whenever he saw the public mind prepared for it ; but he did not go to the absurd length of making that one thing the sole object of his public life, or of declaring that the whole affairs of the State must stand still still this controversy was decided What, then, tbfi present position of the question ? * * * Surely the following propositions will hai-dly be denied : — 1. Protection cannot be re-enacted in a House of Commons, a majority of the members of which are pledged to Free Trade 2. Free Irade cannot be persevered in if the people at a general olection shall return a majority of members pledged to Protection 3. It was the declared purpose of the agriculturists, at the next general election, let who would be in power, to strive to return a majority of men pledged to Protection 4. To the decision of such a majority all must bow who are not prepared to set themselves above the law and the constitution, and to declare that their own notions and fancies ought to be the only rule of their obedience.