The Press. — London, England, 1858-01-16 00:00:00

IWir THE PRESS, JANUARY 16, 1858. - - llAsTisos and HAVELOCK were not gentlemen— Lord RAGLAN was not a soldier. At the head of these time-servers during the late war the led captain stood pre-eminent. Though in the trenches or the field of battle he was still the property of his patron, and thought far less of his military duty than of picking up any bits of official incapacity to tickle the palate of Demus. We must. all remember his success. We have now to wit ness his rebuke, which silent though it be, can hardly fail to affect him with some degree of shame. The letter written by the Earl of W:,:sT IMORLAND to Lord FORTESCUE in consequence of the speech delivered by the latter in the House of Lords last year, only comes to swell the tribute now generally offered to the con summate ability of Lord RAGLAN. It has been acknowledged by the unanimous voice of the highest branch of the Legislature, by the leading writers of the day, and by the gallant generals of our allies, who have scorned to accept flattery at the expense of the brave and highminded Englishman. It has now been pretty well determined that in the three leading points on which Lord RAGLAN differed from his colleagues his Lordship was right and the French General in the wrong. To pursue the enemy after the battle of Alma and Inkermann, and to assault Sebastopol imme diately after the latter action, was the course on each occasion recommended by Lord RAGLAN. Had the last piece of advice been followed, Sebastopol would in all human pro bability have fallen in the month of November, and our army have been spared the horrors of that ineinorablh winter. Many another man thus thwarted in the moment of victory, and compelled to share the blame of calamities which he had no part in producing, would have grown morose and reserved, and have augmented the perils of our position by an estrangement between the two forces. But never even in his most brilliant displays of gallantry did Lord RAGLAN'S cha racter shine with a brighter and purer flame than throughout his intercourse with the French. He was indeed a true patriot. Like his groat master, non sibi sed patrice was his motto through life. All personal considera tions he threw to the winds. He lent his best energies to the prevention of dangers which but for neglect of his own advice had never been incurred. His intimacy with the French leader was never for a moment impaired, and lie left -behind him as high a reputation for courtesy and fidelity as for chivalrous personal courage. Such are Lord RAGLAN'S recommendations to posterity ; but such are not his . only claims to the honour of a public monument. If the general who himself undergoes unparalleled trials with heroic patience, who saves an army threatened with total dissolution, who reor ganises and redisciplines his broken forces, and is finally rewarded by leading them to a splendid triumph, be deserving of all the Honours which his native country can bestow, how much more he who is cut off when the toil is now over, but the fruits still ungathered. Who has ploughed, and sown, and harrowed, and then, when the harvest reddens, is him self stricken down by the universal Reaver who bore the burdens of other men as well as his own, and yet received no wages ! Surely, in all our military history, in the long line of British worthies, there are few to whom all that posthumous honours can accomplish was So thoroughly due as to that brave and gentle spirit. No means should he neglected of per petuating the character of Lord RAGLAN. It deserves and will repay the attention of all military students. It has been too much the fashion to suppose that a great general is usually " a hard man "—that his career is fatal to the affections and amenities of do mestic life. In Lord RAGLAN we have an emi nent proof that such is not necessarily the case. In him we see high military qualities united with all the moral virtues, and a strong will and capacity of endurance with the highest graces of manner and singular kindness of heart. There are, then, two whole classes c. f reasons in favour of some national and lasting testi monial to Lord RAGLAN'S greatness. It is need ful, on the one hand, to record a perpetual protest against the calumnies with which him self and his order were assailed—a lasting warning to us to beware of similar accusations in future, and to suspect ignorance and malignity beneath professions of unimpeach able information and patriotism. The one simple fact that Lord RAGLAN was charged with isolating himself front the troops, only because he went his rounds in so unostenta tious a manner that these well-informed ac cusers actually did not know him, speaks volumes by itself, and would justify the in fliction of some public stigma on the authors and disseminators of the lie. On the other hand, all well wishers to the aristrocacy of the country and all friends to the cause of religion would desire to see Lord RAGLAN placed among those other great men who have so eminently adorned both. Westminster Abbey or St. Paul's, the two great national mausolea redolent of glory and antiquity, should contain some monument of one who was a model in his own person of the soldier, the gentleman, and the Christian. 61 "seandalised " at the appointtrient of Lord CLANRICARDE, and though they may not have French enough for the cry of "a la porte," they have sufficient English feeling to make a genuine demonstration of " Turn him out." In truth, it is admitted that Lord PAL MERSTON has made a most ridiculous blunder in his nomination of Lord CLANRICARDE. The report from the Commissioners for inquiring into electioneering corruption at Galway has poured additional perfume over the Noble Marquis, and henceforth " decline and fall " must be anticipated for the run of luck which strangely befel Lord PALMERSTON in the even ing of his days. The Noble Viscount served for fourteen years under Lord LIVERPOOL. He must remember when an application for a pension was once made to Lord LIVERPOOL, how that straightforward statesman pencilled two words on the memorial, and those two syllables are what the whole British public apply to the selection of Lord (./LANRICARDE— " Too bad." Lord PALMERSTON'S last act has received what never was given to the perform. ances of RACHEL—sibillation ; and even his claque are anticipating an " exeunt omnes" for the Ministers. TIIE IRISH LAW APPOINTMENTS. NEVER in the history of the Judicature, whether English or Irish, have there been so many changes and alterations about filling up a legal vacancy as upon the simple question of the appointment of a successor to the late Mr. Justice MooRE, of the Queen's Bench in Ire land. On Saturday evening, the 9th of this month, the changes were " finally " fixed at Dublin Castle in the following manner. Mr. Sergeant O'BRIEN was "to have been" Judge in the Queen's Bench, and Mr. CHRISTIAN was to be made (as he now is) the new Judge in the Common Pleas in room of Mr. Justice JACKSON. The Solicitor-Generalship vacated by Mr. CHRISTIAN was " to have been " given to Mr. HUGHES, and the Sergeantcy of Mr. O'BRIEN was " to have been " conferred on Mr. FITZGIBBON. Twelve hours elapsed, and all was suspended ; and for three successive days every variety of paltry intrigue was employed to advance the interests of a certain person, whose forensic claims to promotion are far inferior to those of several gentlemen of his own faith in religion and party in politics. Three leading members of the Cabinet have had what Captain MARRYAT would have called " a triangular" argument on the question ; and that notable personage, the Marquis of CLAN.. RICARDE, has not been wanting in pronouncing " a strong opinion." In this interesting case, however, a latch-key would not be of the slightest use. The Premier, to do him justice, seems to have had a strong suspicion that " something was wrong" in the system by which, in recent years, the honours of the pro fession have been bestowed in Ireland. These are striking facts, of which Lord PALMEKSTON must have had official cognisance, upon which so astute a politician and so keen a man of the world might have asked for " explanations" from the Earl of CLARENDON. Here, for exam ple, are some of these facts. Lord CLARENDON (" with the advice of Lord Chancellor BRADY") selected Mr. HAICHELL for the Attorney-Gene ralship of Ireland; that learned person was chosen as the representative of the Irish Bar, and introduced into Parliament for the royal borough of Windsor. What figure did Mr. HATeuicia. make in Parliament, and what place does he now fill? The first question is answered by citing the cruel kindness of Sir JAMES GRAHAM, who said, " I feel for him," after witnessing one of Mr. HATCHELL'S attempts to address the House ; and the second is answered in the statement that an ex-Attorney-General for Ireland fills now the subordinate post of a Judge in the Insolvency Court, and for a similar declension there is no precedent in the Irish Bar. Again : Mr. HUGHES (" with the advice of " Lord Chancellor BRADY") was selected by Lord CLARENDON for the Solicitor-Generalship of Ireland about eight years since ; but Mr. HUGHES was afterwards dropped. and Mr. KEOGH, and Mr. FITZGERALD, and Mr. Cnats- TIAN have since been promoted over his head. I issigassi A . __ ._ . _.- - - THE PREMIER AND HIS CLAQUE. AN anecdote of the late Mademoiselle RACHEL, and the claque at a Parisian theatre, has been circulated this week. " She had just created " a new character in a modern piece, and " during the first evening was loudly " applauded. On the next night she received "no applause, and she complained of the " claque." The chief of the claqueurs answered the complaint of the actress in a letter of business-like gravity, the effect of which in reading is irresistibly comic. A great politician of our time and country, who has owed much to stipendiary applause, must now be thinking of what has happened to his claqueurs. Where are they all gone? Is Mr. HATTER sick? or does his " whip " want a lash, or have his clamorous friends deserted to a rival performer, who answers to the name of JOHN RUSSELL? The Premier, like the great actress in the anecdote, had "created a character in a new piece." He came out for the first time as a " Lycurgus." He would abolish the East India Company, and, acting on the advice long since given by Mr. DISRAELI, he would attempt to bring India in closer connection with the Crown. There was great applause, but it was suddenly with drawn, and it would not be strange that Lord PALMERSTON should blame his claqueurs. But really these political mechanics are not to be blamed. When RACHEL intimated her dissa tisfaction, she was told by the leader of the claque, "We had three acclamations, four hila " riiies, two thrilling movements, four re " newels of applause, and two indefinite ex " plosions." Ono may almost fancy Mr. RATTER writing something very similar to the First Lord of the Treasury. Canton, and the General Election, showed that the trained bands of the Treasury were extravagantly active in keeping up "acclamations," and even the dullest and tritest jokes of the Prime Minister were sure to be rAceived with ener getic " hilarities," most industriously sus tained. In " thrilling movements " the Trea sury members were rather deficient, but in " renewals of applause " their laborious efforts were unquestionable. In " indefinite explosions," also, they were not deficient, as the attempts of Lord MULORAVE and Mr. BERKELEY could scarcely be classed with any other specimens of demonstrations Dead silence, however, has fallen on the second appearance of the Premier as a legis lator for India. it has run through " the House" (the phrase is Parliamentary as well as theatrical), that Lord CLANRICARDE is to be Secretary fur India. It is certain that, with or without a latch-key, he has let himself into the Cabinet, and even Palmerstonians are dumb with astonishment, and cannot raise their hands for claptrap " Canningism." The claqueur told the actress in his own excuse, "In fact, to such an extent did we carry our " applause, that the occupants of the stalls " were scandalised, and cried out a la porte." It is not merely those who occupy "stalls," but even " the gods" of the upper gallery are