The Press. — London, England, 1854-05-20 00:00:00

E; i ■ I • I 458 I MI I immediate events, and made provision for the future. The Derby Government, short as it was, established a lasting claim to our remembrance and gratitude. Unable to leave to its successor itit own qualities of vigour and foresight, it beqtiblithed to gig country their fortunate conseqUerices. Though war has , Hitt bomrdotictiti, every family in the kingdbih must libw begin to understand what thistnahagettibpt of our foreign relations means. It is made intelligi ble to the hearth of every family. It stints the labourer's noonday draught—it dimi nis.hos the . .prqfita of the trader—it restricts the dettlihga tit tibitraCis weighty .per tentage , from the landowner's rehtal. In every &billy some little comfort or luxury will be lost. It is impossible that ten millions oi' additioiial taxation can be levied froth the country without some check to in dustry, and a sensible diminution of indivi dual ease. And yet we know not how soon *e may have to groan beneath heavier bUrdens. • . T. CHAMBERS AND THE CONVENT QUESTION itt doubt whether any of • his friends could congratulate Mr. THOMAS CHAMBERS on his conventual exploits. He took up a great question, handled it awkwardly, and aban doned it abjectly. We do not blame him for his withdrawal, but we do condemn him for hastily assuming the management of a sub ject requiring discretion and foresight. On a subject where Protestants have suspicions, and the right of inquiry, and where Roman Catholics have feelings, and the power of being offensive, it behoves a public man not to em bark without having sounded its shallows and mapped out its currents. The hardiest Mariner would not put to sea without charts and chronometer. The ideas, however, of statesmanship and Mr. THOMAS CHAMBERS suggest ludicrous as sociations. English Radicals have their poli tical traditions, as well as Conservatives and Whigs; but in this instance, after their ex perience of him, the root-and-branch men will not accept the Roundhead member for Hertford as a leader for a politico-religious party. There is something incongruous in the idea of a religious Radical in modem times. Zeal for Protestantism seems strange in those who have learned BENTHAM'S " Cate chism of the Church of England" (which Sir SAMUEL ROMILLY tried to suppress), and who are familiar with Column's " Hornbook for Parsons." It gives us not the least pleasure to hear Babylon vituperated by men who, in the next breath, would sneer and scoff at that Church in which, for three cen turies of progress, the manly mind of England has chiefly derived its spiritual nurture. It would not be a comfort to us to know that the Vatican had fallen, if we were certain that Lambeth would be next laid in ashes. Papists are bad enough : they hide the truth, obscuring and disfiguring it with human in ventions. Levellers would be worse with a morbid hatred to the altar and the throne, assailing the ecclesiastical system of scrip tural religion, and, with shallow politics and sectarian rage, never ceasing until society should be " pulverised into the powder of " individualism." We may, therefore, be on the whole content that the conventual case has been taken out of the hands of one who, while embroiling Protestants and Catholics, has evidently not the abilities required for treating what Sir JOHN PAEINGTON well called " a grave con " stitutional question." On the right of in quiry there cannot be two opinions, for pub licity and personal responsibility are the primary principle on which our social system depends. The policy is another issue, subject to considerations of time and circumstances. We cannot, however, suppose , that the pre sent settlement of the case will be accepted as satisfactory by the opinion of England. We fear that the unconstitutional attitude as sumed by the Roman Catholics will raise a question as to the expediency of placing some THE PRESS. restraint on the audacity of their domineer- in g the 1 taint commented on that is now main- His assertions wh. tiith NI II - .heir JOHN say than an, that, in the will turn on the actual behaviour of the Roman Catholics. many possibly coe- E l . system. Ba Romanists froth , and, like Lord since, many will will )e more tole: whose sublime penetrated our poli\ flitiii From the attitude assumed by them, the question may be precipitated, as to Whether the creed of Rome and constitutional potver can be coexistent in our realm? We would gladly see an end to polemical passions largely intermingling in our domestic politics. Rut the unscrupulous ambition and incessant energy of Rome may not leave its the option of quiescence. The time of difficulty will be seized on as the Papist's opportunity for further demands, until England will be pro voked into demanding that securities be taken for the national fkith. THE WAR. THE Russian Colossus begins to exhibit some signs of weakness. The feet of clay are crumbling. It has already changed its atti titude, and, ceasing to attack, has to prepare for defence. The events of the war have thus far singularly belied expectation. The Turkish army has proved more than a match for its adversary, both in strategy and strife. The advance into the Dobrudscha seems to have been for the Russians a fatal error. The accounts received from their quarters are deplorable. Sickness proves more fatal than the arms of the foe, though the aim of the Turk is deadly and his steel well sharpened. " We are rich," says a letter from the Russian hospitals, " in ague, typhus, dysentery, scurvy, " home sickness, and hospital gangrene." While the Russian strength is thus wasting, the courage of the Turkish troops is rising higher. They have confidence in their general, and their camp is abundantly supplied. Mean while the French army has received orders to march on Adrianople, and the allied troops will soon be able to act with effect. The Cir cassians, on the other side of the theatre of war, are occupying the position abandoned by their enemy, and rebuilding the forts he destroyed. SCHAMYL BEY,—unconquered when he had to contend with Russia single-handed,— will now be a formidable foe, as his troops will be disciplined by European officers, and well supplied with arms and ammunition. Austria is daily assuming a more decisive attitude: she has ordered a new levy of 00,000 men, and will be able to give a good account of the Greek insurrection should it threaten mischief. The forbearance of our fleets is not to be counted on longer. No Minister will dare to trifle now with public expectation. Reports have been received that the bombardment of Sebastopol has begun in one sea, and of Revel in the other; British cruisers have been seen within twenty miles of Cronstadt—an an nouncement which will excite some sensation at St. Petersburg. From the commencement of the war it was foreseen that two great sea battles must be fought; and, should Sebastopol and Cronstadt fall, the Russian marine, which it has taken a century and a half to build up, will for the time be annihilated, and the com mand of the seas she hoped to make her own be lost. The only adverse item in the week's news is the reported loss of the Tiger. Should this fine vessel really have been driven on shore near Odessa, her " capture " will, no doubt, figure finely in a Russian bulletin ; but as yet we hope the statement is one of those fictions for which Russian agency is becoming infamous. SATURDAY, LORD GREY'S CHARACTER OF THE PREMIER. MR. DlgtaLl'h glib&flW ,on Lord JOHN Russzu aaing staiiiiiiiimtelY to L or d A BER. DERN have seen a stlib stibject with Peelites and ¢biitibal Jesuftd;d *b may add a still sorer bhe 'With thosi!; ihdejibildent Whi gs w h o iespea 1 4 did Jong, but disapprove of his acting iinder one for forty years, the Whigs ofEngland have disdained. These remarks have suggested the question, what do those who venerate Lord Gnat's memory at Brookes's think upon this unplea sant question of a Coalition Cabinet? We surmise that many, if not the majority, of them cordially approve of the independent course taken by one who inherits much of the talent, and nearly all the high spirit, of his famous sire. Lord GREY does more than keep aloof from the Aberdeen Cabinet. The departments of War and Finance have in the present session already twice winced under his withering strictures. Like Mr. GLADSTONE himself, we shall not soon forget the effect of Lord GREY'S speech on the CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER'S option of conversions. While listening to that lacerating commentary on blunders in finance, we were reminded that the speaker had once subjected the character of the present Prime Minister to a stricture almost as galling. On the 28th of February, 1835, Lord Howica said : How, for instance, could the House know what were the very first instructions Lord Aberdeen had sent to the colonies ? Talk to him (Lord Howick) of a fair trial upon a point which involved the necessity of committing the destinies of so large a portion of the inhabitants of the earth into the hands of a man whose opinions, honebtly entertained no doubt, but, therefore, the more to be dreaded, seemed so opposed to the welfare of the human race.— Hanaard, 1835, p. 379. Though some of the Whigs have recanted their old principles, and have consented to pass under the Caudine forks of Coalition, that consistency of opinion for which CHARLES Earl GREY was famous will not, in the case of Lord ABERDEEN, be departed from by his son. With prescient sagacity Lord GREY measured the momentous evil of committing the helm of the State to a man whose opinions are " opposed to the welfare of the human " race." Spoken as criticism, the words of Lord GREY have now the weight of a historical verdict, owing to the assiduous pains taken by the Czar's friend, during the last twelve months, to verify them as prophecy. Lord GREY distrusted Lord ABERDEEN as Colonial Secretary ; and with facts before him—with the revelations of the secret understanding be tween the two old friends—with the spectacle of the Emperor of the FRENCH goading a dila tory British Premier into reluctant activity — will Lord GREY change his sentiments on the propriety of " the destinies of so large a " portion of the inhabitants of the earth" being entrusted to one whose course has been practically favourable to the policy of the Kremlin, and to the religion of the Vatican? One need not travel as far as the ensanguined graves of the BANDIERO brothers to know how the character of Lord ABERDEEN, as given by Earl GREY in 1835, would be applauded on the Continent as fearfully accurate. THE NEWSPAPER STAMP. THE House of Commons adopted on Tuesday last, on the motion of Mr. MILNER GIBSON, the resolution that " the laws in reference to the " periodical press and newspaper stamps are " ill-defined and unequally enforced, and de " mand the early consideration of Parliament." With this resolution no one will quarrel unless it be the CHANCELLOR of the EXCREQVER. A change which would either wholly abrogate or else define these laws with precision and certainty would deprive that Right Honoura ble Gentleman of a delightful recreation which is at once intellectual and gratifying to his sense of self-esteem. To master the mysteries of a science without having received a pro fessional education is one of the happiest efforts of the highest genius, and when it occurs confirms the truth of Dogberry's theorl ; clergy. Mr. NEWDEZIATE I IT e extraordina discipline tha Lned in the 0191iCbody. qupported t Iota; And i 'ether Stich kip iiii; can p( th odi f'tee 88ustititinal * ILTON ind LBbiki 40 used F eir v ies of i pub l; polity, HN iiiIBBELL it fei . 434 rs Sir y that they do Hot f ish to 13( an those great Englishthen Ld deep thoughts have so 1 olitical teaching. It is evide Hie solfitiori of Hifi cjilea . • a