The Press. — London, England, 1854-10-14 00:00:00

OCTOBER 14, 1854. 973 THE PRESS. THE BATTLE OF ALMA. (AFTER ROBERT SOUTHEY.) It was an autumn evening Old Gordon's work was done ; He wasn't pleased with the result, Nor much inclined for fun; His grandson by his side was seen— Perchance the future Aberdeen. The kinchin watch'd an older boy With paper " Cossacks " play ; As fast as he could cut them out He put them in array; Till, wanting more, he stooped and found A paper broadsheet on the ground. Old Gordon gave a surly growl, And took it from the boy,— " And wad ye then, ye foolish lad, The vera Times destroy?— The Times that has the news," says he, " Of this most grievous victory? " I wish, indeed, agen the Czar 'Twad not mak sic a rout; 'Twas quite a treat to read that prent Before the war broke out ; But now it shows unchristian glee At this most grievous victory." " Now tell us what 'tis all about," The Cossack maker cries, And little Aberdeen looks up With wonder-waiting eyes ; " Now tell us all about the war, And what they kill each other for ? " " It is the English," Gordon cried, " Who don't like caviar, Who've taken a most strange dislike To my old fren' the Czar ; And as a consequence we see This vera grievous victory. "A year agon, wi' Greville's aid, We tried to snub the Turk, And threatened how we'd serve him, if He made a piece of work ; We talked of diplomatic notes, And never dreamt of cutting throats. " A year agon—ah, yes! we hoped. The Czar would have his way, And pacify the fractious foe, As in Sinope's bay ; The provinces we view'd as booty Sanctioned by treaty and by duty.' "Alas! the stubborn English will Can spoil the best beau role ; The force of English prejudice, Escaped from all control, Has borne us on until we seo This vera grievous victory. " St. Arnaud, ay, and Raglan were A trifle, perhaps, too keen." " Why, 'twas a very gallant thing !" Said little Aberdeen. " Nay—nay—my little boy !" quoth he, " It is a grievous victory. " I hear the troops who won the day Rush'd up the hill like mad." " But what will come of it at last ?" Inquired the elder lad. " The least that I can help," said he, " For 'tis a grievous victory." joyed a not undeserved reputation for producing men who knew how to take care of themselves, and the present generation is not likely to prove itself unworthy of the founders of the " Caw, me, caw thee," school. The fact that the Earl of Aberdeen is Premier of England, and the sequitur that he has many a good thing to give away, were ample reasons why every attention should be paid to him ; but the circumstance that in scarcely any other town in the kingdom wouli the prudent and wary statesman deem it equally advisable to show himself in public, at this crisis, seemed to the Aberdeen magnates to make their course still plainer. If Aberdeen only held to the Earl, it must follow that the Earl would hold only to Aberdeen. So, as matter of business, it was determined that the thing should be done in earnest. The Noble Earl proceeded to the Town•hall, attended by the officials, and the ceremony and introductory speeches took place pretty much as reported in the papers, the dialect excepted. At first this seemed to puzzle Lord Aberdeen considerably, from his having lately lived a good deal among civilised persons, and his ear having become unused to the " barbarian accent." But by degrees his ancient familiarity with the uncouth jargon in question began to return, and his Lordship appeared to understand great part of the congratulatory and laudatory harangues nearly as well as the speakers themselves. The portrait was then uncovered amid the cheers of the spec tators, a few dissentients being at once extruded by the police. The like ness is exceedingly good. The Noble Earl is represented as he appeared in his place in the House of Lords when he uttered the memorable sentiment that " we had gone to war with au enemy for whom it " was impossible that we could entertain any hatred." On the bench behind him lies a map of the Crimea, and a half-open letter in which the words "my friend of forty years" can be read. By artistic licence, a malachite column, against which the Noble Earl is leaning, gives colour to the picture, which might otherwise have been too sombre. Lord ABERDEEN then rose. After the usual formalities as to that being the proudest day of his life, and the one to which he should ever look with satisfaction, his Lordship proceeded to say that he was under a heavier debt of gratitude to the inhabitants of Aberdeen than he should ever be able to pay. (Murmurs, and some cries of " We'll just tak' instalments.") He would try, however—(cheers)—aud he be lieved that those whom be addressed and himself understood one another. The demonstration they had made was most peculiarly valuable and acceptable at the present time. He did not regard it so much as touching himself, for he cared very little, as his recent course of politics must have shown, what people—at least people in this country—thought about him. But as a tribute to the Ministry to which he belonged, or which belonged to him—(laughter)—the pro ceedings of the day were invaluable. They showed—and they would be proved by his friends elsewhere to show—that the British nation approved alike the conduct of the Coalition Ministry both in negotia tion and in war. and they would give a flat contradiction to the impu dent assertion that the country had originally desired to coerce, or now desired to chastise, Russia. (Cheers.) Negotiations, whose only object was delay, had thus been ratified by the nation ; and war, con ducted upon a system which threw every advantage into the hands of the enemy, had thus equally received the national approbation. A naval armament without gun-boats, and a military force without cavalry, had thus been proved to be the kind of weapons with which the country desired that her commanders should go forth to battle. (Loud cheers.) For this testimony to the character of himself and friends he, for self and friends—(laughter)—begged to return his best thanks. As for this melancholy war itself he would be glad to avoid saying more than was necessary. They were in it, and they must get out of it. He had had no part in getting them into it, and, had his counsels prevailed, Russia would be at this moment spreading the blessings of Christianity and civilisation among the wretched Mahommedans of Constantinople. But the country, misled by ancient traditions of false honour, and misguided by modern teachers of false policy, had taken the matter into its own hands, and all that the ablest statesmen could do was to put as many drags as possible upon the vehicle which he could not stop. (Applause.) That he had endea voured to do, as he trusted was proved by the palsied faltering of the expedition in the Baltic, by the utter inaction of the fleet in the Black Sea, by the long-enforced and enfeebling idleness of the army in Turkey, and by the inadequacy of the force with which at length it went to battle. This army had certainly gained what was called a victory— that is, it had crossed a shallow river, and taken possession of an un defended bay. At what price these stupendous results were pur chased he would not say ; but he would say that he was quite pre pared to learn that the blame of having made such a sacrifice necessary would be laid at his door, and that he should treat it with the same contempt that he had manifested towards every other com plaint. (Applause.) He would add that Sebastopol might, despite of all precautions, fall—or it might not. (Laughter.) We had been in a precious hurry to believe it taken the other day, and he could imagine the amusement of his friend the Emperor at reading the jubilations which had been put forth on the strength of the false news of that Tartar—that cream of all Tartars—(shouts of laughter at th humorous expression assumed by the speaker)—who had " sold " Europe. But, if Sebastopol did fall, he could assure them that it would be a prize scarcely worth having, for all the guns would be burst, all the ships sunk, and all the powder exploded. He would only add that he looked forward to speedy peace—(cheers)—and he would promise them that he would continue to use every means to that end, by taking care THE INAUGURATION OF THE ABERDEEN PORTRAIT. (SPECIALLY REPORTED.) [The reports which our contemporaries have published of this interesting ceremonial are, we observe, incorrect and imperfect. Nor can this reasonably be made matter of complaint, for the accounts in question must have been furnished by parties on the spot, who. for good Aberdeenian reasons, joined in the demonstration of that grati tude which is said to consist in a lively sense of future favours. It is not probable that the conductors of London journals would send several hundred miles to obtain a correct version of anything the Earl of Aberdeen could say. Convinced of this, and equally convinced that the published reports were worthless, we have taken our own measures to obtain a more faithful account of what did occur, and this we submit to our readers, without, of course, pledging ourselves to its literal accuracy, but believing that it affords an adequate idea of the proceedings.] THE inauguration of the portrait of the Premier, which was un veiled to the view of the world on Monday last, occasioned a great sensation among the authorities of Aberdeen. That place has en- ~,, ~