have no real power, and a determined President can always overrule them. When, however, the Councillors are avowedly invested by the Legislature with a representative character, they will be entitled to contend for the interests of their constituents. The government of India must be conducted on the theory of a compromise; the President must make the best terms for the public which he can extort from the Councillors; authority will be more divided, and the seat of responsibility more obscure than ever. Whatever may be the defects of the present form of the home Government of India and they are serious - we prefer it infinitely to the system which would be created by the new Bill. For the insertion of the names of the Crown-nominees in the Bill, at the first constitution of the Council, there are precedents: but why the constituency of 5000 are to be deprived of their first election we do not understand. The proposal of a list of names is meant to appear as a concession to Parliament, but it, in fact, gives them little option, and we should prefer to see the selection of the nine councillors left to the responsible advisers of the Crown. The character of the names proposed is not such as to justify the departure from the ordinary mode of selecting persons for executive appointments. The new Bill further contains a clause for the appointment of a Royal Commission, consisting of three persons, to inquire into the finances of India. This plan is obviously inserted, in order to create the semblance of an adoption of Mr. Disrael's plan of a Royal Commission. His plan, however, was of a much more extensive nature; it implied the supersession of the Governor-General and his Council, and the substitution of a new power for remodelling the entire civil administration of India. The financial difficulties of India arise out of causes which a financial commission could not deal with, and we see no sufficient reason for taking the inquiry, if it be needed, out of the hands of the local government. With regard to the patronage, about which so much alarm has been expressed, and which has been regarded as something not intended for securing good service for India, but as plunder to be divided among the English public-which has been described as the heritage of the middle classes of Great Britain'—the new Bill does not profess to do anything different from its predecessor. 6 We have now stated, as succinctly as we were able, the most prominent objections to this dangerous Bill. They might easily be multiplied and strengthened: but what we have said seems to us sufficient to prove that this measure involves a new principle which would be equally detrimental to England and to India, and that its adoption as law would produce deep and lasting mischief to both countries. So complete, indeed, has been the failure of the artifices resorted to for investing the Bill with popular attributes, that we expect to see all its characteristic provisions abandoned by the Government before the second reading. Such a course, however, will not restore them to the position which they held before they proposed their measure. It will be regarded as an admission of error in a matter of high importance, and they will be held to have evinced both arrogance and want of judgment in producing as amendments upon the Bill of their predecessors, innovations distinguished by nothing but their extravagance. The Reform Bill is not promised until next session. It seems strange that a Cabinet containing Lord Salisbury, Lord Hardwicke, Mr. Henley, and Lord J. Manners should, within a few days of accepting office, have agreed to the principle that the existing Reform Act is narrow and insufficient, and that a large and comprehensive measure of ulterior reform is needed, in order to supply its shortcomings. From this sample we may judge of their powers of tergiversation, and may estimate their capacity for adapting themselves to the circumstances of their position. For we infer from Mr. Disraeli's repeated denunciations of the Reform Act of 1832 as a party job, that Lord Derby's Reform Bill will not be a party job-that it will not be a contrivance for increasing the Conservative power by multiplying county members; but that it will be a bonâ fide measure of popular reform. The new Ministers cannot pretend to say that they were called to assist the Crown in a moment of emergency. The Exchequer was full; the defences of the country (as they themselves have admitted) were adequate; the Indian mutiny was nearly suppressed; Yeh had been captured, and Canton had submitted; our foreign relations were tranquil. They took advantage of a schism in the Liberal party to turn out the late Government. They sought office, and they found it. Having obtained office, not by a preponderance of their own numbers, but through a temporary dissension in the Liberal ranks, they can only keep it on condition of adopting the measures and acquiescing in the policy of their opponents. They do not hold office on a free tenure. They must do suit and service to their masters, if they wish to retain possession. They must renounce their distinctive opinions; they must subscribe the Whig test, and be passed under the Liberal yoke. It will be an edifying spectacle to see the Conservative Ministers sitting night after night to be macadamised under the hammers of a Liberal majority. They will soon learn by experience what it is to legislate under dictation;' and they must even consent at times to become the catspaw of the Opposition for carrying measures which might perchance, if they had remained out of office, have burnt the fingers of their adversaries. We have been careful to display the opinions recently expressed on important questions by Mr. Disraeli, because the public has been assured that he is the real Prime Minister, and it is certain that the Leader of the House of Commons must be at least equal in power to any other member of the Cabinet. Whatever may be his agility in escaping from these opinions, they at least afford a means of estimating his judgment and sense. Mr. Disraeli has been able to overthrow a government, but we doubt whether he will save an empire. We do not expect that he will have to deal with an indignant people; but we trust that he will meet with a determined Parliament, who will compel him to assume virtues which he does not possess, and to adopt a policy which, ever since he was a leader, he has been occupied in opposing. The history of the new Ministers —their course during the political discussions of the last twentyfive years renders it necessary that they should be constantly watched, and alternately coerced and impelled, by the Opposition. Their conduct during their short tenure of office shows plainly that they will be ductile and malleable under pressure, that they will become willing instruments in the hands of their adversaries, and will even be desirous of anticipating their wishes. The danger to be apprehended is indeed the opposite to stubbornness and tenacity of opinion. Our fear is rather that, like other new converts, they may caricature the doctrines of the party to which they apostatize; that, being destitute of any sincere convictions, or clear comprehension, as to the advantages of a Liberal policy, they may propose wild and fantastic measures intended to captivate the tastes of the uneducated classes, and that though Conservatives in name, they may become Destructives in reality. No. CCXIX. will be published early in July. Blackie, Professor, review of his works on Education in Scotland, Briggs, Lieut.-Gen., review of India and Europe compared, by, 1. C California, review of works on, 295, et seq.-climate and vegetation Campbell, Lord, and Sir P. Laurie, correspondence between, 293, note. VOL. CVII. NO. CCXVIII. Q Q Clarendon, Earl of, notice of his speech on the recent communications Conspiracy Bill, brought in by Lord Palmerston, notice of the, 555, - Currency, progress in opinion on the, from 1819 to 1844, 250, et seq. - D Derby, Lord, The second Ministry of, 540, et seq. - - - - Disraeli, Mr., notice of his speech on the causes of the revolt in E - Eastern Church, review of works relating to the, 322, et seq. F Farnham, Mrs., review of California Indoors and Out, &c., by, 295. Fox, C. J., Memorials and Correspondence of, edited by Lord J. H Hawkers' Literature of France, its extent and character, 232. I - India, review of works on, 1, et seq.-dangers to British Empire in, -- India Bill of Lord Palmerston, notice of the, 575-strictures on |