The Press. — London, England, 1854-10-07 00:00:00

P•fP'77°T• - - rommum a 0 . , 1 No. 75.—VoL. 11. LONDON, SATURDAY, OCTOBER 7,1854. E t Vrtss. ever dearly it may cost us. The triumph of our arms will be the triumph of the whole people. We have faith in the star of our country, but we disconnect its glory from the temporising expedients of an Administration avowedly without principle or policy. ' Its conduct of the war has been without plan or foresight. One of its earliest acts after the formal declaration in the Gazette was to revolutionise our whole code of maritime war fare, and to decree that free ships should make free goods—in other words, that the flag of a neutral should protect the property of an enemy. The immediate effect of this regula tion was to relieve the great producing in terests of Russia from all fear of exclusion from their lucrative foreign markets, and to transfer to German ports that carrying trade which had previously been mainly in the hands of British merchants. The folly of attempting in any way to maintain commercial relations with a country opposed to us in war was ex posed at the time. We reproduced the words of NELSON, that the proposition that free ships make free goods was so monstrous in itself, and so injurious to the maritime interests of this country, that we should resist it to the last drop of our blood. But the economical section of the Cabinet prevailed—the order was upheld—and what has been the result? Russian produce has flowed into our markets without intermission—an enormous price has been obtained for it—the price has been paid in heavy and continuous remittances in gold —Russian landowners and Russian shippers have been getting rich at our expense—and the finances of Russia have been upheld through the timely aid of English capital. Sir WILLIAM MOLESWORTH, at Edinburgh, makes this measure one of the claims of the Govern ment to public confidence : he pedantically describes it as establishing " the maritime " rights of neutrals on the firm and solid basis "of reason and justice." But the Ministerial press takes another view : it has discovered that the system does not answer, and hints in no obscure phrase that it must be modified or abandoned—a new proof of the unanimity of the Government, and its accord on principles of vital import. The sailing of the Baltic fleet excited the highest hopes of the country, but it now turns out that it was despatched without the gun boats, which Sir CHARLES NAPIER declared were indispensable to the success of the operations ho contemplated. He has pe. titioned for them in vain; the great strong holds of Russia remain in consequence uu assailed ; the fleet, since the capture of Bomarsund, has been cruising about without an object ; and the last intelligence we hear concerning it is, that the orders for its return had been countermanded—whence we are left to infer that it was ordered home when the weather was fair, and some weeks of the open season remained, and that it has been ordered to stay out, when storms and fogs are to be expected, and the hazard of all operations in the difficult navigation of the Baltic must be greatly increased. In the ordering of that expedition on which the eyes of the world are fixed, and from which such great results are anticipated, what evidence do we find of the despatch, the energy, and the secrecy which should charac terise the councils of a really able and prudent Government? Before pestilence broke out in the camp the spirits of the men had been weakened by their forced inaction. The de- I LONDON, SATURDAY, OCTOBER 7, 1854. IT is evident that the Ministry of Lord ABER DEEN are quite ready to make political capital out of the war into which they have helplessly floundered. They are as willing to avail themselves of the popular feeling in its favour as they would be of a cry for Reform, or of any other movement which promised them support on condition'that they headed without pretending to direct it. 'We all recollect Lord ABERDEEN'S sneer at Lord LYNDHURST as a " Colonel of Dragoons ;" we all know with what earnestness he deprecated any encouragement of Turkey or defiance of Russia, long after the Russian troops had entered the principa- . lities, and long after fatal Sinope, yet now, to crown the absurdity of his gyrations, he con sents to masquerade in the character of a War Minister We shall, perhaps, next hear of him as the champion of Liberal ideas against continental absolutism. Can we forget a year ago, when the fate of Turkey, so far as it depended on British in terposition, trembled in the balance? How cunningly was the pulse of our public then felt to ascertain its temper ! What had we to do with upholding the barbarous empire of Othman? The quarrel was none of ours — why not let those whom it concerned fight it out? It was not until this country spoke out in a voice not to be misunderstood, and till France, weary of the incertitude of our Government, took the lead in action, that resistance to Russia was seriously contem plated. Could Lord ABERDEEN have had his way, the legions of the Czar would have been at this moment in Constantinople, and his ships riding safely in the Sea of Marmora. We were saved from the ignominious neutra lity he meditated only by an outburst of public feeling which he saw it would be dan gerous to resist. Throughout last summer and autumn, when the Opposition insisted on the necessity of a firm and decided policy, it was reproached with its eagerness for war, and now it is represented as Russian in its tendencies if it denies that the successes of our arms are to be regarded as Ministerial triumphs. We believe that the war might have been avoided—that no one really desired it—that the arrogant pretensions of Russia were en couraged by the weakness of our Government and the notorious predilections of its head — that the strife with its bloodshed, its dangers, and its waste, is in great part due to the timidity which dared not use the language of count genus statesmanship when it might have com manded deference. But we are not the less satisfied of the course to be pursued in the ac tual state of affairs. The mischief done is ir reparable. The honour and interests of Eng land are bound up with the contest in which we are engaged. It may yet severely try our strength ; and the spirit of the country must be sustained, and all its energy put forth, to bring the struggle to a successful issue, how- Tbt I)tt,6s I PRICE SIXPENCE. pressing results of that dreary time of idle expectation are visible in all the letters which have reached us. We know enough now to feel assured that, had the expedition, though in inferior force, sailed three months back from Varna, those brilliant consequences which have deluded the country during the week would most probably have been accom plished to the letter. Tho Russians in the Crimea were then unprepared for an attack by a land force, and Sebastopol might have been carried by a rapid assault. The slaughter of our troops which has occurred shows how dearly we have already paid for the delay, and warns us that the resistance may yet prove formidable. Still more culpable than the delay was the ostentatious proclamation of the purpose of the expedition two months back. The mischief done by this disclosure is altogether incalculable. In great military operations secrecy is the first requisite of suc cess. The safety of the whole expedition has been perilled by the babbling which, on the most favourable construction, was authorised as the price paid to a powerful newspaper for its support. Should any real disaster attend our arms we shall have to attribute it much more to this inexcusable betrayal of the secrets of the Cabinet than to the strength or sagacity of the enemy. The French knew better how to keep their counsel. The disclo sure was on our side alone. Our hearts and hopes attend our gallant troops. Their loss has been severe. Nobly, too, have our officers refuted the aspersions cast on their courage. The two thousand killed and wounded in the first engagement with the enemy are an earnest of the sacrifices the war will demand from the nation, and should moderate the exultation which a thoughtless portion of our people seem inclined to indulge in. Come what may, we have all confidence in the valour of our soldiers and the ability of their leaders. But we refuse to ascribe the merit of their success to a Ministry which, by glaring mismanagement, has heightened all their difficulties, and inter posed many a bloody field between them and the conquest which we yet confidently hope they will finally achieve. FACTS FROM THE CRIMEA. THE melodramatic details of the fall of Sebas topol which prevailed during the early part of the week were set at rest by the Government despatches published in an Extraordinary Gazette on Thursday afternoon. The battle of the Alma was fought on the 20th of September, and from that date to the 28th, when the latest intelligence left the Crimea, no other engage ment of consequence seems to have taken place. We must suppose that Prince MENs- MINIM, through driven front his position on the heights of the Alma, was enabled to re treat in good order ; and we gather from his despatch to St. Petersburg that he retreated on Baktschi Semi, and not on Sebastopol. The allied commanders, finding that their landing place on the west coast of the Crimea did not afford facilities for the debarkation of the siege artillery, crossed the country in a south easterly direction, leaving Sebastopol to their right hand, and established themselves at Bala Cleve, on the south coast, about seven miles ~-- ... .. ' . 4