The Press. — London, England, 1854-10-28 00:00:00

t rf,ti. 40 ' ...+w I No. 78.—VoL. 11. PRICE SIXPENCE. LONDON, SATURDAY, OCTOBER 28,1854. of Vrtss , • LONDON, SATURDAY, OCTOBER 28, 1854. No Administration (ever took office under more favourable circumstances than the pre sent. The revenue was prosperous, and gave a large surplus applicable to fiscal reforms and reductions of taxation ; the balances in the Exchequer were ample ; the country was at peace with all the world ; the great public services were in a state of complete efficiency ; our colonies were prosperous and contented ; and there was no more of political agitation or commercial complaint than must always be expected to exist in a free country when times are prosperous, and the people have to be amused with imaginary grievances, or excited by inevitable evils. On the whole, if a modern annalist had to point out one of the happiest epochs of our national existence, he would select the period immediately preceding the fall of Lord DOERBY'S Government. We do not attribute the blessings then enjoyed to the policy of that Government in any great degree. They were rather the fruit of nearly forty years of European peace—of unparalleled progress in all industrial arts—of the healthy action of our constitutional system —and of the unexpected and rapid develop ment of our Australian empire, with the cor responding stimulus afforded to all our great branches of manufacture and the general commerce of the globe. Our industrial in terests were recovering from the changes to which they had been rudely exposed—the painful state of transition both here and in Ireland had been passed through—and no thing seemed wanting to our prosperity but a period of tranquil government to cement it, and to carry into effect those practical mea sures of social amelioration which enlightened men of all parties desired. That the Government of Lord DERBY satis fied in every respect the wants of the public is its highest praise. It excited no expecta tion which it did not fulfil; and as, in looking back upon any distant period, trifling inci dents which had no consequence disappear, and great events only assume promi nence, all the captious objections which were urged against the late Administration are already forgotten, and its history is written in the substantial benefits it conferred upon the nation by its solid reforms and administra tive skill. Not one person in a hundred, we will venture to say, recollects at this time the precise ground taken for obtaining a majority against it. At the general election some seats were obtained by a display of false colours, and the Conservative feeling of the country was deceived into contributing to the over throw of the only practicable Conservative Government. In some important particulars the Coalition Ministry were directly indebted to their pre decessors for the favourable position in which they found the national affairs. It was to the judicious policy of Lord MALMESBURY that they owed the French alliance, which at first they affected to despise, but were afterwards so eager to embrace ; the naval administration of the Duke of NORTHUMBERLAND, unequalled for vigour, if its short tenure of office be con sidered, gave them the command of a fleet equal to any emergency ; Sir JOHN PAKINGTON'S colonial rule dealt with the new questions and new interests raised by the gold discoveries in a conciliatory spirit which imparted equal ad vantage to the Australian colonies and to this country ; and the most adverse critic must admit that Mr. DISRAELI'S management of the Exchequer tended both to augment the re sources of the country by increasing the public balances, and to diminish its burdens by reducing the interest on the floating debt. These are facts concerning the executive busi ness of Government which it is impossible to deny. Be it admitted that in all these parti culars Lord DERBY'S Administration acted only with ordinary prudence, yet how great is the contrast between the order established by their vigilance and foresight, and the confusion which has ensued from the mischievous med dling of the Government which succeeded them. How is it that, in less than two years, the whole aspect of affairs has so entirely changed? From the moment of the Coalition taking office until this hour troubles have been gathering about us, and are still thickening. Its influence has been felt like a malignant blight overspreading the country with disaster. The war is, of course, alleged as the great cause of the change. But can it be for gotten that the designs of the Emperor NICHOLAS upon Turkey were exactly coincident with the formation of the Aberdeen Cabinet? The mischief done is irreparable. The only question is, how it is to be encountered. There is no party in the country which hesitates as to the necessity of vigorously prosecuting hos tilities except the party in power. By their conduct it would seem that they hope to blunder out of the war as they have blundered into it. They are as destitute of a foreign as of a domestic policy, and trust to the same chapter of accidents for the triumph of their arms abroad as for the success of their mea sures at home. The Baltic fleet is ordered out and ordered back, as the Reform Bill last session was introduced to be withdrawn. The power of England in their hands is like the sword of a giant in the hands of an imbecile. The mighty weapon moves and gleams, but wants the nervous grasp and steady direction required for its effective exercise. The country now demands men of masculine intellect and firm nerves at the head of the Government. The time for antiquated weak ness and routine experience has past away. The boundary lines on the map of Europe are melting away. The whole Continent is heaving with the throes of warfare, and even America is taking counsel on the part she shall play in the struggle, or on the advantage she may hope to reap from it. With the prospect before us of one of the greatest wars in which we have ever been engaged, we have a Premier mumbling peace, and a Cabi net only equal to the exchange of meaningless or deceitful diplomatic formalities. It is when old settlements of territorial empire are broken up that the prescience of true statesmanship is most urgently required to strike out those new principles of policy for alliance and com bination which the changed circumstances demand. At such crises the destiny of nations is at the mercy of the men who govern them, and a single false step—especially on the side of vaccination or timidity—may be productive of irreparable misfortune. Can it be that our people are yet alive to the magnitude of the war into which they have been plunged, and the sacrifices it will de mand from them ? The sanguinary con test in the Crimea may tend to open their eyes to the real state of things. That contest is yet doubtful, though it has already cost much of the best blood in our nation's veins ; and many incidents attending it, even to the inexcusable neglect in the transmission of authentic intelligence, show how little our Government comprehends, or is prepared to fulfil, the most obvious duties imposed on it by the war. If we triumph at Sebastopol, the Emperor NICHOLAS will triumph in the Baltic. The return of Sir CHARLES NAPIER with no other trophies than he won at Bomarsund is a tacit confession of the impregnability of the Baltic forts which will not be withoutits effect on the other States of Northern Europe. After the reflections passed on the conduct of Admiral NAPIER in one sea, and of Admiral DUNDAS in the other, it will not be possible for those officers to remain silent when their season for operations is over. We shall then know whether their inactivity was due to any want of courage and enterprise on their part, or is chargeable to the Administration from the want of necessary armaments, or the absence of direct instructions. We do not believe that our sailors more than our soldiers have de generated since the last war, and in the case of NAriEn, we know that the only service he was expressly commissioned to perform was executed by him with complete success. That more has not been done with our magnificent fleets is solely attributable, we suspect, to feebleness at home. The most desirable thing was, a Ministry which by its resolution would have averted the necessity fur war. The most desirable thing is, a Ministry capable of discerning its true character, and of bringing it, by decisive action, to a speedy conclusion. To trust the Coalition with its conduct is like leaving to the careless domestics who have set fire to a house the work of extinguishingthe flames. REWARDS FOR RECRUITS. Ws do not entertain 'any doubt about the munificence with which the people of England will respond to the call of the Crown for raising the Patriotic Fund. To answer libe rally to the Sovereign's demand is the duty of every loyal subject, aud, as the widows and orphans are to be relieved in this particular manner, it is incumbent on us all to assist in its promotion. But, while we cordially approve the object, we must express o doubts as to the propriety of the wido and children of the fallen brave bei left to a voluntary subscription, whose weig will fall entirely upon the most generou while the frigid and the niggardly will contd.. bute but moderately. So important is the relationship of our soldiers to the State we request attention to some consideratio involved in the voluntary character of the Patriotic Fund. That we are now on the eve of a prolonged war is a matter which scarcely admits of ill I II ■ ..all