The Press. — London, England, 1854-08-12 00:00:00

■P■■ r.• #` s 11- ' .),•‘ if' 71;/ ;i b t rt ~ , ~„„ Aii ._~-~ f•M :~- No. 67.—VoL. 11. (Cle V ress. LONDON, SATURDAY, AUGUST 12, 1854. THE Queen will this day prorogue Parliament after a six months' session. It separates in the same state of public feeling in which it assembled,—distrust and dissatisfaction. In the few imperfect or provisional measures which have become law, scarcely a trace is to be found of the large and comprehensive legislation which was promised in the Minis terial programme. The session is mainly dis tinguished by this,—that it found the country at peace, and has left it at war. Its real busi ness has been to increase taxes and vote sup plies. The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER estimates that our increased expenditure is at the rate of eleven or twelve minions annually. The papers of the tax-collector are the only war trophies which Lord ABERDEEN'S Government allows the country to display. It is now evident that when the Ministry met Parliament, at, Ake oonameneement -of .the • year, they had no intention of declaring war against Russia. They had not made up their minds to a policy. The disgrace and disaster of the autumn had failed to convince them of the imminence of the danger. Neither the failure of the Vienna Conference, which was an error ab initio, as it had no power to enforce its decisions, nor the fatal catastrophe of Sinope, could convince them of the necessity fa prompt and decisive action. Their blind ness or disunion prevented them from adopt ing those measures by which war could have been prevented. Lord ABERDEEN, seeing further than his col leagues, and understanding better the designs of the Court of St Petersburg, carefully pre vented that joint action of France and England which the Czar alone feared, as likely to oppose an insuperable barrier to his ambition.. Had the English and French fleets acted together in the spring of 1853, the Russians would never have crossed the Fruth ; but, when the French fleet quitted Toulon for Samos, the English fleet remained at Malta. The Emperor of RUSSIA complimented Lord ABERDEEN on his docility, and a Russian army entered the Principalities. On a later occasion, had our fleet entered the Black Sea, the disaster of Sinope would never have occurred, and the Russians might have found some pretext for recrossing the Pruth, and for avoiding a . contest which they were then unprepared to prosecute, Our timid and uncertain policy drew together those elements of strife it should have been our object to disperse; and when at last, urged forward by public opinion, our Government ventured on a decision, it seemed adopted merely as a device to satisfy the impatience of the public. There is decisive evidence that . even after war had been proclainied there was no real intention'of prosecuting it.' When Mr. GLADSTONE moved his first war estimate of LONDON, SATURDAY, AUGUST 12, 1854. three millions and a half, he described it as an estimate for the conveyance of our troops to Malta and back again ; and on a subsequent occasion, when he had to propose another and much-increased estimate, he admitted that when troops were first despatched to Malta he had not anticipated that this country would really be engaged in active hostilities. To this fundamental misconception must be attributed the failure of the whole cam paign, after the enormous expenses incurred. Our troops were sent out for show, not for active service. The camp at Chobham was to be repeated at Malta or at Gallipoli at farthest. No plan of operations was formed ; no care was taken to render the force effective by adequate complements of cavalry and artillery ; no commissariat was prepared ; no animals were purchased for conveyance ; and even after the troops had reached Varna they were at no time 'in a position to advance on Silistria. The same motives which urged the Govern ment to issue the declaration of war now impel them anew to make a show of activity. The season for active operations will soon close. The public is growing impatient ; and orders are sent out that " something must be done," that Ministers may shift the responsi bility of inaction from themselves to their commanders. Culpable credulity, succeeded by incapable negotiation, insincere menace, and aimless expeditions, are at last to result in " a good butcher's bill." But general officers will not forfeit their military reputation nor entail disasters on their country to help the gambling chances of a desperate Ministry. The grand expedition authoritatively an nounced as destined for the capture of Sebastopol will prove as delusive as other announcements of a like kind put forth to amuse the public for some months past. The season for operations in the Euxine closes with September, and that month and August are unfavourable to the commencement of a great enterprise, from the liability of the troops to sickness, and the shortness of the time which remains for accomplishing any ex tensive military design. The session has not only been unproduc tive of measures for the public benefit, but it has proved damaging to the character of all the leading members of Administration. Lord ABERDEEN'S declarations have not only been opposed to those of his colleagues, but have been inconsistent with each other. He has been reduced to the humiliating position of being compelled to " explain " a premedi tated speech in a Retitle entirely different from its Obvious meaning, under threat of being called to account for his language in the Com mons, and of being arraigned by the City Common Council ! He has made appeals for character to his colleagues, who have deelined to answer them, and he is now an object of universal distrust through the country, justly grounded on his antecedents, on the part he took in urging the treaty of Adrianople on the Porte while pretending to protest against it, and on the publication of the secret memo randum of 1844. Lord JoHN RUSSELL, with natural versatility, has figured during the session in three capa cities—as a diplomatist, a statesman, and an administrator, and been equally unfortunate in all. • His fatal despatch when Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs—which first saw the light in.that secret and confidential correspon dence with St. Petersburg which the Govern- PRICE SIXPENCE. ment was forced to produce—admits, without reserve or qualification, the right and duty of the Emperor of RUSSIA to exercise that protec torate which we are now at war to prevent. When Lord Joni; introduced his last Reform Bill, he made the threatened hostilities a ground for proceeding with it ; and when with hysterical adieux, he announced its with drawal, he still made those hostilities an ex cuse for its abandonment. As an administrator he disgraced the Government by a series of changes, which had no better motive than to discard Mr. &num and degrade Lord GRAN VILLE. that he might secure a post of easy di Ff nity for himself and a Secretaryship for Sir GEORGE GREY, which the Right Hon. Baronet had not the slightest pretension to fill. The Duke of NEWCASTLE has earned a double claim to distinction by his mismanagement of the war, and by the exposure of his system of organised corruption. Mr. GLADSTONE, by the failure of his inge niously-contrived schemes, has thrown our finances into utter disorder. Essentially a schemer, he has found ample scope for the exercise of his peculiar talent in mystifying the public accounts, tampering with the funds of savingsbanks, and jobbing on the Stock Exchange. Preferring always a tortuous to a straightforward course, and unable, from the ambidextrous constitution of his mind, to make a candid statement, he professes to defray the expenditure of the year from its revenues, while he has recourse to loans in disguise. He squanders millions in abortive schemes while affecting puritanical regard for the public purse; and impairs public credit by shaking confidence in the stability of the unfunded debt and securities. The double dealer is as apparent in his political ma nceuvres as in his finance. He leans for support upon High Church on one side and on Low Radicalism on the other. He gives one hand to the Bishop of OXYORD and the other to his new colleague, Sir BENJAMIN HALL. He has yet a third claim to distinction by his " sanctimonious " co-operation witli New castle system of corruption. Lord PALMERSTON has been , .by his ffl s udden secession from ooli ' t. sudden return to it,—conduet received from him a frank, par • tarp, and constitutional explanation ; by his consenting of to the crude and dangerous Re form Bill Lord Toss RUSSELL, after be had privately repudiated it, and represented it to his friends as the real cause of secession ; and by his great inefficiency in his department, and the total failure of all his measures. It is impossible that her Majesty, while going through the forms of the Constitution this day, can overlook the unfortunate posh tion of affairs, or the degradation of her Ministers. Regarding the increasing dis orders of the State, the Queen must be tempted to ask her Ministers, " How is it that " the England I entrusted to you in profound " peace is now involved in a vast and imps*. " fitable war ; that my Government, which of " found respected and efficient , is now fi " into universal contempt; that my authority " is insulted by the appointment to places of " trust and honour of ruined gamesters and " electoral jobbers ; that business essential to " the public welfare has been uncared for, " while the time of the Legislature has been " occupied with sham measures and motions; " that the Exchequer, which you found " flourishing, is now exhausted; and that the • 4'