The Press. — London, England, 1854-02-11 00:00:00

No. 41.—VoL. 11. LONDON, SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 11, 1854. Vrtss. disaster. The Government may not be re sponsible for all the calamities of the country. They may not have occasioned the bad harvest, LONDON, SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 11, 1854. which the CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER per sisted in not foreseeing, although warned by Mark-lane and the Bank of England ; they “PRESS” OFFICE. Friday Night, Feb. 10. THE statements which have very generally appeared respecting the mission of Count ORLOFF to Vienna, and which, to a certain degree, were repeated this night in the House of Lordg by the Earl of CLABENDON, are extremely inaccurate, and lead to a false impression. may not have caused the strikes, any more than the shipwrecks. But, from out the con gregated circumstances of danger and distress which on all sides gather round us, it is not difficult to show that the most important are directly occasioned by the policy of the Government, and that that policy has been the inevitable consequence of the heteroge neous materials of the Ministry. We are involved in war with one of our most faithful allies; we are menaced with " large " demo cratic innovations ; the securities far the Protestant . Church and cause, devised, a quarter of a century ago, by the emancipators of our Roman Catholic fellow-subjects, are to be abrogated. All these positive, or possible, consequences have been caused, or are to be carried, by the direct conduct of the Coalition Cabinet. No one can now doubt that, on more than one occasion during the last eight months, the Emperor of RUSSIA has been desirous of re establishing the peace of Europe, if he could do so consistently with his personal honour and the reputation of his empire. The Em peror, though pursuing his hereditary policy, has been drawn into a war which he never contemplated, and he has been drawn into that war entirely by the vacillating and de ceptive conduct of Lord ABERDEEN. The plea of the Coalition Cabinet, that they were de ceived as to the intentions of Russia, is not tenable ; and, to use the discreet epithet of Lord JOHN RUSSELL, when speaking of the despatch of a foreign minister, it is " fraudu lent." The intentions of Russia were more than suspected by the predecessors of the present Ministers, and they were providing against them. The present Ministers had not been a week in office when they received warnings from the British Envoy at St. Peters burg of the concentration of Russian troops on the southern frontier, and of the unsatis factory explanations of Count NESSELRODE on the subject. Even so early as January, 1853, M. DRODYN DE LETS sent for Lord COWLEY, and told him that " England and France must "prepare for the occupation of the principalities "by Russia." What was the conduct of the Coa lition under these circumstances ? After a Cabinet Council of long duration, held on foreign affairs, one of our Ministers went down to the hustings of Halifax, and delivered a ribald invective against the French Emperor and the French people. Of course Sir CHARLES Woo]) is as capable of forming a judgment on questions of high policy as a clerk in a count ing-house is on celestial mathematics ; but he is a shrewd man, of official experience, who knows how to take the right tone. He was in the habit, as all the Ministers in the country, foreign or domestic, were in the habit, of hearing Lord ABERDEEN speak of the French Emperor in terms of insult and distrust, and he followed his leader. Sir GEORGE Sr.rmoua Count ORLOFF was not the bearer to the Conference of the Emperor of RUSSIA'S reply to the Constantinople note, though it arrived during his presence at the Austrian capital, and was formally supported by him, being invested with full powers and being cognisant of its contents. It was specially provided that Count ORLOFF should not be the bearer of the reply, in order that the real object of his mission might be disconnected with the proceedings of the Conference. The sum moning of the Conference, and the protocol, were almost a matter of form, as the reply had been anticipated. The object of Count ORT.OFF'S mission to Vienna is, we apprehend, still unknown to the Governments of England and France, but we have reason to believe that the object has been attained. Our advices from Constantinople of the 24th of January intimate the possible con tingency of some remarkable events. It is far from unlikely that direct negotiations may be opened between Russia and Turkey. Count PISANI, First Drogeuman to the British Embassy at Constantinople, has arrived in London. We can state from the highest authority— not, of course, friendly to Russia—that the amount of AVAILABLE Russian troops in the principalities is, at this moment, probably not less than 120,000 men, in good con dition. IT is about a year since the attempt was made to form an Administration of men eminent for their parliamentary talents and their official dexterity, without any reference to the par ticular principles which they professed, or any consideration for the identity of their public views. The twelve months of this perilous empiricism have terminated in strange ( + PRICE SIXPENCE. tells us that, after the accession of Lord ABERDEEN to office, there was a striking change in the tone of Count NESSELRODE. Then commences a series of hostile expres sions whenever France is mentioned, combined with skilful compliments to Lord ABERDEEN. " The salutary impulse which Lord ABERDEEN "has given to the English Councils" is highly praised by the Russian Minister. The refusal of Lord ABERDEEN to join in the French de monstration, and send our fleet from Malta, is landed as a masterpiece of statesmanlike dis cretion. The Emperor of RUSSIA is charmed with the renewed proofs of " the confidence "of Lord ABERDEEN in his intentions." He desires Baron de BRUNOW personally to ex press his thanks to our trusty Minister. He absolutely compliments Lord ABERDEEN on the " beau role" that England is playing, in leaving France " isolee ;" the congratulations are received with a grim smile of self-satis faction, and—the Pruth is passed. We express our conviction that if Lord ABERDEEN had not been Minister of this coun try the Pruth would never have been passed ; but, being passed, what happens ? The anta gonistic element now begins to work in the alarmed Coalition, and, having encouraged the inrasion of Turkey, we now proceed to go to war with Russia. It is the same with the democratic innova tion. Lord JOHN, exhausted in 1850, began again to mutter Parliamentary Reform, mean ing that some " large measure," after a due term of exile in opposition, should restore him to another lease of power. In process of time, with this view, he formally and repeatedly iden tifies himself with this "progressive" policy, and takes his seat Rs Leader of Opposition, with his sagacity as a statesman staked on the necessity of Parliamentary Reform, and with a five-pound franchise as his ticket. Unable, in an evil hour for the Whig party, to resist the seductions of an abnormal section, who had the offer of office without a parliamentary party, he condescends to become the subordi nate of Lord ABERDEEN ; and to compensate for the degradation, and effect, as it were, an equality of disgrace, he prevails upon the minion of CAsmEaxiou and the " pupil " of METTERNICH to endorse the democracy of the Perth manifesto, to beome the colleague of Sir WILLIAM MOLESWORTII, and the boon compa nion of Mr. BRIGHT. A general war is to take place when every country wishes for peace, and Parliament is to be reformed when every party is against change. Such are the fruits of Coalition ! But the picture is not yet comlete. Some seven years ago Lord JOHN RUSSELL, in consonance with those principles of reli gious liberty which he has always advocated. proposed the admission into Parliament of those of her Majesty's subjects who professed the Jewish religion. His measure, though re peatedly sanctioned by majorities of the House of Commons, has been hitherto unsuc cessful. In Mt, however, the country being much agitated by Papal aggression, Lord JOHN RUSSELL, still Prime Minister, came down to the House of Commons and announced his belief that there was, and had been for some time, a great conspiracy of the Court and See of Rome against the Protestant religion, and the civil liberty which is its fruit, and he immediately proposed some measures of a de fensive character. These, carried by, over whelming majorities, were opposed in an uncompromising spirit by Lord ABERDEEN, Sir • ORM I