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

V INF ~ -. wC (( ti •,~ ~• ...~~ .. q .'~' ':'. 7 .Y'x $, i fF' .. I r I 11 44 J4_&, i(/pAZ No. 80.—VoL. 11. Zit Vrtss. ~~,."' ,ttk t tt,E;s . 4 WNW • Y. PRICE SIXPENCE. LONDON, SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 11,1854. LONDON, SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 11, 185-1. We freely admit that no political significance is to be attached to the Ministerial speeches at our Civic Banquet on the 9th of November The Ministers attend as part of the pageant, and we no more expect any revelation of State secrets from their lips than we look for feats of chivalry from the men in armour who take part in the procession. Yet, when the public mind is strongly excited upon any subject, it is scarcely possible for a considerable body of persons to assemble without some expression being given to the ruling sentiment. There have been times when the citizens of London, at their annual festival, have been as noisy in their manifestations as the undergraduates at Oxford or Cambridge ; and, when the senti. merit has been purely patriotic, Ministers of the Crown have thought it not unbecoming nor unwise to swell by their eloquence the full tie of porlar fceli,pg, and to identify the po- ' t . cy of the Govermalpielryith the' throbbing of every heart in the crowd to which they spoke. It might have been supposed that the banquet of Thursday would have furnished occasion for one of those sympathetic outbursts which more than any premeditated display reveal the real temper of men's minds. For the first time in the existing generation, the banquet was held in the midst of European war ; the alliance of France and England was signalised by the mingled flags which adorned the hall, and by the presence and speech of the Count WALEWSKT, while the customary toasts could not be given without some allusion to the triumph of the allied arms at Alma. But, no ! These circumstances, so favourable to enthu siasm, failed to rouse the company. Lord ABERDEEN was there, and his cheerless aspect froze the spirits of the guests like the presence of the Commandant iu stone at the feast of Dos JUAN. Never before, on a like occasion, did a Prime Minister of England express him self in such cold and disheartening words. He dwelt still on the policy of the Government having been a " policy of peace," as if peace were the only thing desirable in national life, and terrified his auditors by descanting on the " horrors of war," and on the probable dis couragement of those who bad been eager for hostilities, now that they experienced " the " vicissitudes to which a state of warfare was " proverbially liable." To judge from his speech, the fate of the Crimea expedition must be utterly hopeless. From his lips there fell not a note of exultation for recent successes, not a thrill of admiration for the gallantry of our troops who have bled and are bleeding for their country, not a ray of honour for the dead, not a gleam of encouragement for the living, not a single indication of resolute courage to stir the spirit and animate the hope of the country. His brief speech was as gloomy as if he had studied how much discouragement could possibly be thrown into five minutes' after-dinner oratory. The banquet was in consequence the dreariest ever known, and if the national feeling is to be gauged by the pro- ceedings on this occasion at Guildhall, the Czar may well take heart of grace, and rely with more confidence than ever on the vacua lation and timidity of our Bourgeois spirit. The danger of discouraging the commercial mind of a country must always be great, as it is particularly sensitive to apprehension ; and fears of calamity may be attended with conse quences altogether as disastrous as calamity itself. We enter on this war under circum stances materially different from those attend ing any war which preceded it. By a change in our representative system, the great body of the people exercise a much greater and more direct influence than formerly on our Legisla ture and Executive, and for this reason alone, if for no other, we can imagine that foreign Governments must regard our course with especial vigilance. Will the England of 1854 be as firm and consistent in her policy, as un yielding in her resolution, as the England of the last great war? That is a question fre quently discussed on the Continent, and we shall be much mistaken if the proceedings at the Civic Banquet be not thought very unfa vourable to a reply in the affirmative. The fact is unquestionable, that since the close of the last war we have made prodigious progress in our wealth and trade. Our mate real resources have received amazing develop ment, and the commercial interest has gained largely upon every other interest. But is this material progress in manufactures, in shipping, in exports, in revenue, and in every branch of trade all strength, or is there weakness min Bled with it? In 1794 the land was in the ascendant. In 1854 trade predominates. Our character may be in no degree enfeebled by this change in our social condition. We may be no less equal than formerly to steady effort and sustained sacrifice. But it is the duty of a statesman to recognise the fact of this change, and to resist with all his energy any attempt at commercial discouragement, not himself to take a leading part in promoting it. Lord ABERDEEN probably hopes, by still protesting his zeal for peace. to obtain the support of the commercial community. But a country has higher objects yet than its trade to consult ; and, if its patriotism be a living active prin ciple, will gather and combine all the forces of the State in resistance to that submission to material interests which is the sure and in. variable prelude to national degradation. The Premier might possibly be able to jus tify his lugubrious tone by private information he is possessed of. He refers to the " vicis " situdes" of the war as the best defence of his pacific policy, when, in truth, they are the direct consequences of it. Why was our army detained at Varna, with the cholera raging in its ranks, whilst the time for action was rapidly passing away? Because the siege train had not arrived, or, in other words, because the Government " did not think we should really " have to fight." The "vicissitudes" we now ex perience are naturally consequent on the half measures pursued, and our gallant soldiers have been made, and continue to be made, the victims of Ministerial vacillation. Every re solution adopted by the Government bears the marks of compromise on its face,—a Baltic fleet without troops or gun-boats,—troops sent to Malta with estimates for their conveyance there and back,—a force at Varna without ar tillery,—an army at Alma without cavalry to enable it to take advantage of its successes. The Crimea might have been invaded in sum mer,—winter is now at hand. Sebastopol might have been attacked when denuded troops ; the garrison is now as numerous aa the allied armies. Can it be doubted that this a policy well calculated to produce vicissitudes, and to make the war as unpopular as Lord ABARDMIN desires it should be ? The Crimea expedition was undertaken at a period when most ra tional persons decided that it would be aban doned for that year, and we now know how frightful has been the loss of life resulting from the delay. In eight weeks nine thousand of our men have been disabled. Of the splendid forge which from first to last left our shores for the seat of war, only sixteen thou sand men are now fit for service before Sebas topol. Russia triumphs in our losses, and day after day sends her bulletins uncontra dieted through Europe, announcing that " nothing decisive has occurred." We have to deal with the strength of an empire arrived at that stage when its arms are most dangerous. To barbaric force it unites the aids and resources of civilisation. Its head is all intellect ; its body all iron. It has none of those scruples on the lawfulness of warfare which disturb certain persons among ourselves, with the Premier at their head ; it cares nothing for carnage in com parison with conquest ; it laughs at our hu manity as a weakness not to be understood; scoffs at our ships anchored idly before its unharmed ports ; and carelessly leaves our sol diers to bury the dead of its flying armies; and our surgeons to tend the wounded of do ; 1 battle-field. In such a crisis as that which has now arisen, the safety of a nation does not rest, as we too long have flattered ourselves, in material development. Our danger may rather spring from that source. Individually, a peo- plc may be too wealthy, selfish, or refined to consent to the sacrifices necessary to their safety as a nation. Private fears and interests may prove too strong for public duty. When that time arrives the star of empire has passed - its zenith, and circumstances, apparently the most opposed, contribute in a marvelloul manner to its decline. On the conduct of this war must depend the question whe forty years of social and political change impaired our spirit or weakened our arm. is a reflection to excite some misgiving that our destiny is at present in the hands of a Ministry t o tally destitute of English spirit. A Government reflecting the high princip l and sentiments of the national charac would shake the power of the Empe NICHOLAS more than any defeat inflicted .. our arms. With an instinct superior to wisdom, he knows that, whatever expedition may be sent forth against him, his work i A being silently done and his designs advanced, while England continues to submit to the rule, equally shameful mid disastrous, of the Coalition. OUR HOME SUPPLIES OF CORN. WE called the attention of our readers last week to the serious fact that, under our pre sent system of indiscriminate importation, our home supplies of grain have materially dimi nished. It is to this cause that we attribute the unexampled circumstance of a rapid rise of prices immediately after the completion of an excellent harvest. Our experience of favourable seasons in times past furnishes no .f- MI M • I