The Press. — London, England, 1854-01-28 00:00:00

• , , No. 39.—VoL. 11. LOND gly ptss. LONDON, SATURDAY, JANUARY 28, 1854. "PRESS" OFFICE. Friday Night, Jan. 27. THE purport of the despatches recently brought by a Cabinet courier from St. Petersburg, to the Russian Ministers at the Courts of St. James' and the Tuileries, has very imperfectly transpired, and has, conse- quently, been incorrectly represented. We believe we are justified in stating that by these despatches, respectively ad- dressed to Messrs. de BRUNOW and de KISSELEFF, the Emperor directs those Ministers to demand from the Governments of England and France a categorical reply to the following question :—WHETHER, OR NO, IT IS THEIR INTENTION TO IMPOSE UPON TURKEY, IN THE BLACK SEA, TILE SAME DE FACTO ARMISTICE WHICH THEY HAVE JUST REQUIRED SHALL BE OBSERVED ON HIS PART If the answer be in the AFFIRMATIVE, the Ministers are to remain at their posts until they receive fresh instructions ; if in the NEGATIVE, they are ordered to demand their passports, and immediately depart. By friends and foes, but chiefly by means of friends—by the obtrusive vociferousness of those who sustain the present Cabinet as a bridge to their designs, the position of her Majesty's Ministers is made so manifest as scarcely to require even our own brief com- mentary. No sooner had they supplanted their pre- decessors in office than two leading members who represented the chief of the discordant elements which make up the Cabinet, the same who had planned its composition and construction, made a sort of sponsorial state- ment in its behalf. If that statement was not definite its leaning was obvious, and it was meant to receive a definite interpretation from the public. The recent elections had shown in the main a Conservative inclination in the electors of Great Britain, and therefore the " Conservative " character of the Adminis- tration was dwelt on as a plea to deprecate hostility. This Conservative plea was all the more impressive on the part of a Ministry who at that time, at all events, had rouchsafed no other pledge as to the character of their designs. At length, as we said, their position has become manifest. We do not allude to " the large measure. We need not recur to the • !?niluet of some of the Ministers in respect of e Gloucestershire election. We may avert -~ a- • .•, t thitll ON, SATURDAY, JANUARY 28, 1854. our eyes from the proceedings taking place in South Staffordshire. The support upon which the most advanced Radicals can reckon, as against the most moderate Con servatives, though it be an evidence, is by no means the most distinguished evidence of the policy of the Cabinet, which, professing itself Conservative, is content to derive its chief— we should say its only—public support from the Democrats and covert Republicans who take council at Manchester. The latter school of politicians is by no means destitute of political discernment : it has convictions on its part which are definite if they are danger ous ; and it is free to express them. In the fair exercise of this freedom its leading mem bers ostentatiously proffer their support to the friendly Cabinet. Those who are incessantly occupied in disparaging our English system and our English policy—the enemies of the Church—the aspiring class who disclaim attachment to a " feudal aristocracy," the reluctant subjects who have sneered at "the " barbarous splendour" of the throne, have met and proclaimed their confidence in the Conservatism of Lord ABERDEEN. WILLIAM the Silent, said SCHILLER, never trembled in danger, because he had trembled beforehand; and the preliminary tremors of a salutary caution may add confidence to the bold and courage to the brave. As Con servatives on their side must now perceive all the grounds of their credulity vanishing, they will recognise the necessity for combined council and action, lest they should have pressing occasion hereafter to reproach their present tardiness. The inclination of the Ministry has become manifest ; yet this is not all which is implied in their position. The vice of a Coali tion is this—it is an agreement among pub lic men, who think each others' principles pernicious to the country, to act together,— each as much on behalf of the principles which he deems pernicious, as on behalf of those which he considers beneficial. They agree that they will merge their individual views, to render their joint administration possible. While in opposition, this motive of cohesion is wanting, and they relapse into honesty. But place, and power, unite those whom concienco would keep asunder. In order to effect their official project—to turn thinkers and statesmen into administrators— another sacrifice is indispensable. This is the sacrifice of party,—in other words, of that mass of unbought support and general ad herence which their antecedent views may have procured for them'respectively. Reduced to a collection of eminent individuals, fortified with the munitions of power, but dissociated from party and from that which procured them party support,—their principles, they speedily find themselves, whatever their executive abilities, in that situation in which Lord MELBORNE*B Cabinet was felicitously depicted,—though the description was not more applicable then than now,—a " mass of " squeezable materials." XBOP tells us that the fox could not per suede his Ip'be to imitate his example. And, as some ladies remain in the State in spite of the official. announcement that party is obsolete, it follows that a Government such as we have described must endeavour to replace the legitimate support which they ab jured in the act of taking office by propiti ating with abject assiduity the parties which will listen to their overtures. I %k. PRICE SIXPENCE. The only parties which have yet pronounce d in any general sense their adhesion to the Ministry are the parties of the Romish propa ganda and of Radical aggression. The former had signed its compact of adhesion at the Treasury, and the latter proffers its vouchers from Manchester. With these allies, and sub ject to the pressure which a forced dependence on such support makes inevitable, and on the other hand with the pretext of " Conserva tism" exploded, the Coalition now commits itself to the chances of the session. WHO FITTED THE FLEET? THE Times of Wednesday last asserts in a leading article that " the great ability and " assiduity which have been devoted by the " present Admiralty Board to the organisation of " that department have placed at our disposal, " for the humiliation of Russia, a fleet such " as no civilised nation in the world has ever " possessed." This assertion is so notoriously opposed to facts as scarcely to need refuta tion, were it not a repetition of a similar state ment which had previously appeared in the same journal on the Bth inst. Our contem porary on that occasion entered into details of the condition of the navy, and after giving a formidable list of line-of-battle ships, poµ•er ful frigates, and others of either class now building or afloat, concluded:—" This result. " is already creditable to the Admiralty, and " it has been accomplished within the last = few " months, on what is still a peace establish " ment." This statement, reiterated by the Times, imposes upon us the duty of referring to what has previously appeared in our own columns. In our impression of July 9we remarked upon the very unsatifactory state in which the defences of our ports were f►►und, when the Duke of NORTHUMBERLAND and the late Board of Admiralty entered upon their duties, and we published a tabul►rr account showing the number of ships, guns, and men on the home station, when the Duke assumed and when he retired from the Admiralty, viz.:— _ Ships. Guns. Men. March 1, 1852 .... 43 .. 1,2/4.1 .. 11,041 January 1, 1853 .. 47 .. 2,141 .. 15,025 In that number we did not enumerate tho screw-ships of the line built, or in part built, or altered, for the reception of the screw during the same period. Since, however, the Ministerial organ includes the whole naval force as " a result accomplished within the last fern months," we are compelled to publish the following list of screw line-of-battle ships that were in commission, and of sailing-vessels ordered to be adapted to the screw, and also of vessels building designed for the screw in October, 1852: Ships. Horsepower. St. Jean &Acre James Watt Agamemnon Sans Pareil Duke of Wellington Royal Albert Hannibal Algiers Princess Royal Exmouth 9O Caw Cressy Majestic Royal George Nile . . .. 400 .. .. 400 .. .. 44X) 400 .. .. 400 .. . . WO - j \._