The Press. — London, England, 1854-01-07 00:00:00

( CPa,al4/ •,, t I)t,trAit No. 36.—VoL. 11. LONDON, SATURDAY, JANUARY 7, 1854. eft V rtss, not have had—WAR. Alternately encouraged and thwarted by a Coalition Cabinet, the Em peror of Resent has been brought to a position which at first he never contemplated occupy ing, the traditionary policy of Russia has been precipitated ; and a struggle, which, even if inevitable, was certainly not imminent, may perhaps engage the remaining years of the existing generation. The country, we are told, is now going to war in order to preserve itself from a disgraceful peace, with the conviction that, if our affairs had been administered with the dignity and directness which result from an united Cabinet, the terrible alternative might have been avoided. The most important question of home poli tics is that of Parliamentary Reform—to what classes the power of the State is mainly to be entrusted. Lord JOHN RUSSELL and Sir JAMES GRAHAM, two of our most eminent and ex perienced statesmen, have given it as their deliberate opinion that a great change ought to be effected in our representative system; that there should be " a large measure " of Parliamentary Reform; and that the franchise should be widely extended. As the responsi ble Minister of the Crown, Lord Jous has even prepared a five-pound franchise. Two Prime Ministers, Lord JOHN RUSSELL and Lord ABER DEEN, both now acting, if not united, in the same Cabinet, have announced Parliamentary Reform as the basis of their policy. After such sanctions the question eannot sleep. We cannot complain of agitators among the mul titude when the Queen's chief Ministers set such an example of discontent. If Lord ABER DEEN, Lord JOHN RUSSELL, and Sir JAMES GRAHAM cannot carry this measure, which two Ministries have declared indispensable, they should resign their posts, and, according to the spirit of our Constitution, advocate their opinions in opposition until they are ripe enough to be embraced by general conviction. Reformers, as well as those who would stand upon our ancient ways, the supporters of our free aristocratic Constitution, and the admirers of transatlantic institutions, have equally a right to demand this, and equally desire it. The hopes and the fears of the community on such a subject should not be tampered with and kept in suspense. Prolonged uncertainty in such matters is disquieting to the public mind, and ultimately may lead to disastrous consequences. With no standard of opinion, with no convictions among those in power on the very principles upon which our common wealth is to be founded, a lax, vacillating, and nerveless tone creeps over the spirit of the country. In such moods, at the critical mo ment, an active minority may conspire with effect against public liberty, and it resolves it self into an accident whether communities in such a plight fall victims to Red Republicans or Military Dictators. The vacillating conduct of the present Go vernment on these two cardinal points, con duct, be it remembered, inseparable from coalition, is one of the causes of the fallen 'hich the - it blic estil LONDON, SATURDAY, JANUARY 7, 1854. "PRESS" OFFICE, Friday Night, Jan. 6. ORDERS have been sent out for one ship fron the English and one from the French fleet ti enter the Black Sea, and under flag of true to approach Sebastopol. WI en there the are to inform the Russian Admiral that if h 4 leaves the port of Sebastopol he will be im mediately fired into. THE country each day feels more acutely the significance of the last words of Lord DERBY'S Chancellor of the Exchequer, " England does not lore Coalitions." At the period these words were uttered we were vehemently assured by every means that could influence opinion that the sentiment was merely a legend of past times, and could have no application to the altered circumstances of the age in which we live. Parties, we were told, were worn out ; all statesmen were now of the same opinion ; and the country required, and public morality sanctioned, that tho ablest subjects of her Majesty should, for the future, unite together and devote their energies to her service, without any reference to obsolete politi cal ties The Coalition Cabinet has existed barely twelve months, and it is already rent with divisions on the most important subjects both of foreign and domestic policy. Let us trace the effect of a Cabinet of dis cordant opinions upon public events and the public welfare. We will refer first to our external affairs. _ _ . It is a controversy whether the foreign policy of Great Britain should be mainly re gulated by the French, or by the Russian, connection. We ourselves have a strong opinion on this head ; but undoubtedly much may be urged in favour of both views ; and with either influence a powerful and prudent Minister might be able to carry on afl.irs with general advantage. Lord ABERDERN is a warm votary of the Russian connection, and, had he ided Cable ' the Me • PRICE SIXPENCE. ment could then decide what opinions it was most expedient for the country should pre dominate; but the present system is a con spiracy which deprives Parliament of ita power and privilege, while, at the same time, it de prives the Executive of consistency and vigour, the only sure sources of influence and success. There is yet another and a grave point. When it was declared that "England does not " love Coalitions," it was urged by the supporters of Coalitions that they had previously failed, because the Crown had always been opposed to them, but that, in the present instance, the Coalition was especially favoured by the Crown. We doubt not, whoever may be Minister of this country, that her most Gracious Majesty, with that loyalty to the Constitution and that love of truth which distinguish her, would ex tend to her counsellors a cordial and sincere support. Nor is it at all strange or unreason able that her Majesty should feel a peculiar confidence in Lord ABERDEEN, who ought to be, though we think he is not, a wise and skil ful and trustworthy man. But grant, L6r the sake of argument, that the Crown ext4hds to its present counsellors an unusual share of confidence and favour and support, what are the respective influences on each other of the Court and its counsellors in the present in stance and at the present moment? In old days, we are told, the Court was hostile to the Coalition, and that made the Coalition odious. In the present day, we are told, the Court is more than friendly to the Coalition. Has the Coalition made the Court popular? On the contrary, that has happened which, twelve months ago, the most malcontent could never have dreamed. In addition to aU its miscar riages. the Coalition has even succeeded in alienating the national heart from the most virtuous and enlightened Court that ever go verned England. A RETROSPECT. We will not affect the air of offering informs. Lion which we do not possess, and which no one in this country at this moment does possess, as to the ultimate solution of the Eastern question. It may be known at St. Petersburg with all the positiveness of de fiance—it may be suspected in Downing street with the tremulousness of distracted sym- pathies that the die is cast for a war which will convulse the civilised world ; but in the ab sence of conclusive knowledge of the alterna tive for which we must prepare, of inve terate war or ignominious peace—in the interval of inevitable suspense—it will not be inappropriate briefly to recapitulate the stages by which her Majesty's Govermnent have falteringly, but effectually, conducted us to this issue. We pass by the encouragements to Russian aggression afforded by the speeches and antecedent intrigues of some of its mem- tf votary of the Russian connection, and, had he coalition, is one of me causes or me ninon - - - presided over a unanimous Cabinet, the Mens- p os ition which they occupy in public estima- and antecedent intrigues of motne of its mein- chikoff or some treaty in that vein might Lion, and has rendered Lord ABERDEEN the hers, and refer simply t.) their appreciation of have been concluded without attracting public most unpopular Minister that has figured since the question before them, and the mode 0, attention, and there would not hive been— the Revolution. What confidence, indeed, can which they have contributed to its final deter WAR. On the other hand, had Lord PALMERS- the country have in men who have no confi- J..-' TON-a strong supporter of the French alliance dente in each other? And how can they have urination. .: —been the chief of a congenial Cabinet, no confidence in each other when their principles So little did they know, or affect to kr ,, w , 4 doubt the prompt and vigorous interference on the most important subjects which can the complexities before them, that on Friday, . . of the British Ministry would have prevented occupy statesmen are diametrically opposed? May the 20th, the leading organ of the (io. the passage of the Pruth; and in that case If they were ranged in the two Houses of vernment was commissioned t o a nnounce that . ..40 also, th o ugh with a contrary policy, we should ' Parliament according to their opinions, Parlia- . Prince MENSCHIROViII ultimatum "had been • fia . ._ _._ _ , - .1_..,it: ._.--gaila....-- .. I --.— • ,---- . • - - -- -- - - - - -- - - -- - - I r