FORMATION OF A NEW MINISTRY.
The queen sent for Lord Lansdowne, by whom she was advised to send for Lord Aberdeen, as the most prominent member of the Peel party, upon whom it would properly devolve to form a government, as that of Lord Derby was defeated on a question of political economy and finance.
On the 27th of December the new government appeared before parliament. Its constitution was as follows:—
In the Cabinet First Lord of the Treasury...... Earl of Aberdeen. Lord-Chancellor ............... Lord Cranworth. Chancellor of the Exchequer...... Mr. Gladstone. President of the Council........ Earl Granville. Privy Seal....................... Duke of Argyle. Home Secretary ................ Viscount Palmerston. Foreign Secretary................ Lord John Russell. Colonial Secretary ............ Duke of Newcastle. First Lord of the Admiralty .... Sir James Graham. President of the Board of Control Sir Charles Wood Secretary at War................. Mr. Sidney Herbert. Commissioner of Works/Buildings Sir W. Molesworth. Honorary.........,.............. Marquis of Lansdowne.
On meeting parliament, an adjournment until February was approved by all parties.
The government was not popular: few of the positions were occupied by those whom the country regarded as the men for the place. The premier had, as foreign minister, neglected the honour of England more than Lord Malmesbury had done. He had been outwitted by Louis Philippe, and had been the sycophant of Russia and Austria. He was, to use his own phraseology, “regarded as a sort of Austro-Russian.” His sympathy with Puseyism made him unpopular with large and influential sections of the religious public. Indeed the Aberdeen cabinet was regarded as, on the whole, more Puseyite than any which England had seen since the rise of the party in the established church. The Duke of Newcastle, to whom the administration of colonial affairs was entrusted, was of the Puseyite school, and his appointment, when known in the colonies, gave great dissatisfaction. The chancellor of the exchequer was more a champion of ecclesiastical exclusiveness than any member of the Derby cabinet, and Mr. Sidney Herbert rivalled Mr. Gladstone in this respect. The Lord Chancellor was also of this politico-ecclesiastical party, and was regarded as a crotchetty man, of little intellectual strength. As an equity lawyer, he had won reputation; as a judge there had been more appeals from his decisions than from all the other judges of the bench.
The appointment of Lord John Russell to the foreign-office, while Lord Palmerston was placed in the home-office, was regarded as an absurd inversion of their appropriate positions, and the arrangement was considered as an unwarrantable concession by Lord Aberdeen to the vanity of the ex-premier. Events justified the suspicions and dislikes of the public, except in the instance of Lord Palmerston, who proved himself to be the most efficient home-minister the country ever possessed.
The Irish appointments were very unpopular amongst the Protestants in Ireland, and among those in England who gave themselves any concern about Irish appointments. The Irish ministry of Lord Derby was greatly superior to that of Lord Aberdeen, in talent, moral standing, and influence in the country where their functions were to be sustained.
With the adjournment of the house closed the parliamentary history of 1852.