The Press. — London, England, 1854-11-25 00:00:00

~' 1106 with the policy of a State which counts her gains in our loss, her victories in our slaughter ? Yet this is the State whose in terests, according to Lord ABERDEEN, are identical with our own. It is impossible that such a state of thkpgrti can last, impossible even with a Ministry whose notorious weakness and disunion in vite a treacherous policy by promising it success. But for the mowent Lord ABERBEEVIgI pathetic entreaties for overtures of peace upon any terms have met with a response. The Northern Powers, we are told, are again busy with negotiations ou the four points as bases of peace. The boom of the Park guns is heard through London, and we are in doubt whether the feu-de-joie is for the victory at Inkermann, or for the answer which the Northern Potentates have granted to our Premier's prayers. It is while the whole nation is weeping tears of indigna tion for the loss of its heroes, that it is again to be insulted with empty talk of " points " and " bases," which, if they were realities, instead of the delusive shadows they are, could only have the effect of exalting the power of Austria, of affording her a safer frontier, extending her commerce, and placing Turkey at her feet. What this contest has already cost us is no more to be summed up in figures than the value of a limb or a sense can be expressed by any arithmetical formulae. The blood shed will cry out against us from the ground, if we allow it to be shed in vain. England has no views of aggrandisement, but, in return for the sacrifices she has made, she must demand ample securities against further aggression, not securities on paper, but those solid securities which arise from depriving a State, at once too powerful and too ambitious for the tranquillity of the world, of the means and capacity of again disturbing it. The inevitable tide of European events for the last forty years has had the effect of separating the policy of England more widely from that of the great Northern Courts. We speak of facts irrespective of political sentiments. The working of our free institutions has unde signedly thrown us into an attitude of an tagonism with despotic Governments. The divergence has become greater as the popular element in England has acquired greater force, and after 1848 the line became more sharply drawn than at any former period. The effect of the revolutionary storms of that epoch was to make the despotic Courts of northern Europe more despotic, to inspire I them with greater dread of liberty, and to induce them to revoke those concessions in favour of free institutions which they had formerly made. The sword was unsheathed as the great instrument of rule, and the Emperor NICHOLAS, as the mightiest repre sentative of despotic Government, began to regard England with suspicion, as the strong hold of that political system directly opposed to his own. This antagonism might have slumbered long, perhaps to a period when other ideas and in terests might have superseded it, but for the accident of Lord ABERDEEN being summoned to the head of affairs. To him the Europe of 1854 was the Europe of 1814; the holy alliance was in full force ; the Emperor NICHOLAS was commander-in-chief of the Conservative in terests of Europe, and the Emperor FRANCIS was his first lieutenant. With those ideas he was prepared to carry on our Government, with those ideas he listened complacently to the first proposals of the Emperor NICHOLAS for the partition of Turkey, and did what he could to prepare our public mind for their reception. He clung to the helm after he had lost the power to guide it, and he holds on still in the belief that absolutism must triumph at last through the intrigues of Austria and the savage force of Muscovy. But England and France, he thinks, may perhaps require more bleeding, and Turkey further exhaustion. A winter campaign in the Crimea, with a few more Russian assaults, may do much, with " the vicissitudes" on which he dwells so strongly, to weary both nations, and to induce them to receive submissively the "four points " when tendered by Austria at the head of half a million of men, yet unscathed by war, but fully prepared for it. THE PRESS. Is the country willing to play this game ? Will it suffer Lord ABERDEEN to lead it with hoodwinked eyes into disgrace after crippling it with disastee 'rho present attitude of Aus tria is intolerable ; nor is it possible to exagge rate 010 difficulty of our present position, sur vey it Avni what point we may. We fight not only io the dark, but also, from the peculiar nature of our relations with the German Courts, with fettered hands, and we are hopeless of extrication until the whole system of our policy be changed—till the decisions of our Cabinet, supported by the public voice, command respect—till energy ho substituted for vacil lation, and principle for that contemptible shuffling which first encouraged the presump tion of Russia, and, through continually grow ing complexities, has engaged us in a war in which all the gallantry of our troops can only gain victories that entail on them the mise ries of defeat. INCAPACITY OF THE DUKE OF NEWCASTLE. THERE is not in all England at the present time a public character less to be envied than the Duke of NEWCASTLE. His worst enemies could not wish for him a more galling punish ment than the position in which he has placed himself by his incurable desire of personal distinction for himself. Even his own friends are beginning to join in the loud outcry which is being raised from all sides at the spectacle of a mediocre mind being entrusted with military organisation at the present mo mentous crisis. His Grace's incapacity and ignorance are becoming painfully notorious through official circles. In the clubs, in Ministerial coteries, in general society, authentic anecdotes are rife of the strange ignorance which he has repeatedly shown in all that relates to the equipment and furni ture of an army. Even that degree of know ledge of military affairs which might be looked for in any experienced civilian seems entirely wanted by the Minister of War. His fussy self-importance imposed upon the cre dulity of faction, and his incessant intrigues were absurdly confounded with the inspira tions of sagacity. But his supporters have at length awoke from their delusion. Within the last few weeks his Grace's public character has undergone the most rapid collapse within our political recollection, and, ere long, the onerous office grasped at in the temerity of his ambition must, instead of being a post of honour for its occupant, become the instru ment of his public shame. For it is impossible to deny that the incom petence of the Duke of NEWCASTLE as a Minis ter of War is now patent to the world. He has mismanaged his own department—he has embarrassed that of others. He has neither the requisite official experience, nor the com manding faculties, which in superior natures supply the want of regular training. In fore sight as to consequences, and in facility of adaptation to the changing circumstances of the present contest, he has been wanting from first to last. Behold the terrible results of his grievous incompetence ! With prodigious resources at his command, with all the Militia to recruit from, and with unlimited financial means, the Duke of NEWCASTLE never antici pated the certain necessity for large resources, and it is only at the eleventh hour that he prepares to send reinforcements ! Ample no tice was given of what would be required, by the drains on the expeditionary army from disease and exposure, but, procrastinating at one time, and vacillating at another, having no clear conception of the difficulties of the war, the Duke of NEWCASTLE has drifted on from week to week until the public feeling is tor tured with what to multitudes is the agonising spectacle of a " remnant of our army " left to struggle with the myriads of our adversary. For weeks and weeks the cry has been for re inforcements ; and with tardy pace, and with trivial supplies, the Minister of War meets the demand. Fifteen thousand men could easily have been sent two months since, and, of the promised eight thousand, we now see that the SATURDAY, 90th Regiment were shipped from Dublin only on last Sunday Under such circurnst.ances we are not stir prised at the caution displayed by the most powerful supporter of the Coalition. On last Monday it guardedly asserted that "it was " no business of ours to account for or to " palliate the delays" in reinforcing the army of Lord RaoLkii, words which, from that par ticular quarter, contain whole volumes of serious incrimination. The admission that the " delays" have taken place, and that they require being "palliated," are most important on the lips of the recent supporter of the in competent War Minister ; but they only faintly echo the feeling entertained on that point, and expressed without the least reserve, by several of his Grace's more immediate political con nections. Within the last three weeks his Grace has had repeated instances of knowing the fact, if he never surmised it before, that political friendship can be both candid and contemptuous in its comments on Ministerial imbecility. Indignant strictures from angry Coalitionists must be far more bitter to his Grace's ears than the hostile remarks of the Conservatives whom he deserted, and of the Radicals upon whom he fawned. Our own sentiments to the War Minister are not dictated by private prejudices against him. We leave others to gloat over the abject humiliation of this vainglorious Minister. Our feelings at surveying his imbecility are of far too solemn a character to be shared with the cynicism of personal animosity. We are outraged at the army of England, with its brilliant general and his gallant officers and soldiers, being subordinated to a weak mind infatuated with passionate ambition. We behold an army overtasked for weeks, at night toiling like artisans in the trenches, and by day defending their position with terrible odds against them. By physical exhaustion, and not by the weapons of the enemy, hun dreds of our heroes have fallen in the strife. Each noble spirit amongst them has been undergoing treble duty for weeks, owing to the want of provident arrangements in the office of our Secretary for War. Under these almost tragical circumstances the question is started—What should be done ? Many think that the presence of the Commander-in-Chief in the Cabinet might considerably prevent the official blunders of the Duke of NEWCASTLE. With such a Ministry as we have in office, it would be a security if Lord HARDINGE were summoned to the Cabinet Councils to give the immediate benefit of his experience and military knowledge in presence of all the Ministers. It would save time, and prevent crude projects being impotently con ceived, ignorantly initiated, and then igno miniously abandoned. Most precious official time of many valuable public servants has been prodigally wasted to no purpose under the mismanagement of the Duke of NEWCASTLE. If the time lost in devising futile schemes, then cancelling them, and thus confusing the public service, had been steadily devoted to the organisation of an army of reserve, we should not now see a handful of troops ex posed to trials, not too much for unparalleled valour to confront, but far too much for human fortitude to endure. If Lord HARDINGE had been in the Cabinet, it is more than probable that many of these evils would have been avoided, and one appointed to command the whole army ought surely have presump tive claims to being consulted in deliberations as to its employment. Nor is it any answer to our suggestions to say that in some certain cases Lord HARDINGE has actually been con sulted. We urge, in reply, that the whole Cabinet, and not single depar tments of i t, should have opportunity of frank and un reserved communication with the present Commander-in-Chief At present Lord lien- BINGE, the man of experience and knowledge, is used as a military clerk by the Duke of NEWCASTLE, while his Grace (whose mere c l er kly qualities we do dispute) is the virtual ruler of the War Department . Responsibility must be fixed somewhere , an d let it be placed where the highest official aptitude is to be found. Save our glorious troops from thrice too much work—from ruinous exposure without adequate assistance —from the perils