The Press. — London, England, 1853-06-25 00:00:00

/et lA o r r 1) rtl,6 ■ Eh : L,Z,C ES No. B.—Von.. I. LONDON, SATURDAY, JUNE 25, 1853. PRICE SIXPENCE. ilt Vrtss. varied the privileges of the Oreek Christians, anti thus the pretext for which Russia was watching presented itself. England assisted Russia in her first step; and, in addition to all that had happened, there was now seen at Constantinople a serious diplomatic email,- versy, virtually between France and Russia, the latter power assisted by the advice and approbation of England. Feeling her way at every step. and encouraged by the sympathy of Lord ABERDEEN, and his habitual declara tion that he saw no danger to the peace of Europe were the Turks driven back into Asia. Russia ventured on that course. the various phases of which, during the last three months, have astonished and alarmed the civilised world. At the last hour. the union of the English and French fleets, extorted from Lord ABERDEEN by some of his colleagues, and which took place contrary to all the intimations which he had given to the Court of St. Peters burg, told to the Emperor of RUSSIA that he had been misled, and had miscalculated. But the Emperor cannot recoil from his position as he would from an ordinary bad reckoning. The re pute of his empire is at stake. Better that the Euxine should be ravaged by the allied fleets than he succumb. After all that has occurred, it would be a diplomatic Austerlitz. Notwith standing, therefore, that the new firmainis of the Porte, by granting more to its Christian subjects than the Russian Emperor ever asked for, have destroyed the last frag ment of the raErExT—notwithstanding the combined action of the great Western Powers may endanger, if be persists, - the future pro gress of the CAVE—the Enspei•or will proceed. After the due course of rumours, and the usual manteuvres of agiotage, we shall learn some morning that the principalities are occupied. France has declared that she will look upon such occupation as a cairns Belli—and what will England do ? The future may be doubtful, but one thing is certain—that, if a general war take place, the solo cause of that war is the Earl of ABERDEEN. LONDON, SATURDAY, JUNE 25, 18)3. THERE is a lull in " the Eastern question," but it is only on the surfaee. We have, and we shall have for some little time, rumours of many conciliatory incidents which will never occur. Austria is to interfere, and settle that which has hitherto defied the resources of the ablest statesmen. This would be great honour for Austria, and would almost revive the renown of the days of Myrrsaxicit. Then we are told, another day, that Turkey, having unexpectedly the advantage, is to do that out of pure will - - which hitherto she has refused to arrogant assumption. These rumours assist stock jobbers, and cloak the embarrassment of diplo matists. The state of affairs, bowel , r, is much simpler than it seems. Having reason to believe, after the fall of the Derby Government, that the cordial un derstanding between England and France was impaired, Russia seized the first fitting occa sion to assert that traditionary policy of St. Petersburg which has been so long maturing, and so long matured. She acted, as she always must act under such circumstances, with a PRETEXT ; and arguments to prove that her pretext is not well founded, and arrange ments devised to settle that about which she is really indifferent, are modes of dealing with the shadow, while the CAUSE, which is the sub stance, alone engrosses her attention. Had Russia grounds to believe that the good understanding between England and France, the keystone of Lord NIALNIESBURVS success ful policy, was impaired? In the first place, she found, in the new Prime Minister, one who, in the course of a career of half a cen tury, had never concealed his sympathy with her fortunes and her policy ; one who had been educated in the negotiations of Vienna and in the traditions of the Great Alliance ; statesman whose anti-Gallican prejudices had only been mitigated by his relations with the house of Orleans, and who was plotting to contrive their restoration or to avenge their fall. It was known to Russia that the most powerful journals of the country were under the immediate influence of the new Prime Minister, and that they teemed every day with scurrilous invectives against the Emperor of the FRENCH. The hustings of Carlisle and of Halifax resounded with applause, while the discreet colleagues of Lord ABERDEEN either de nounced the French ruler as a despot, or, with ri bald intemperance, described the French nation as slaves. It was known that the Prime Minis ter, if not exactly in his place in Parliament, under circumstances scarcely less exposed, was in the habit of expressing his opinion that the French Emperor could not be trusted, and that concerted action with the spoliator of the house of Orleans was impossible. In this temper of the English Government, France, unhappily, unwisely. and unwarrant ably, embroiled herself for the privileges of the Latin Church in the Levant. Her ambas sador, M. LAVALETTE, forced the Sultan to grant concessions L to the Latins which in- THE INDIA BILL MINISTERS persevere in pressing forward their India Bill ; the defects of the measure being in a manner counterbalanced by the prevailing apathy of Parliament, which thus confesses itself an assembly of delegates, indifferent to all questions which do not interest the con stituencies. Perhaps this state of feeling supplies the best apology for the existence of that singular anomaly, the double government. It is the function of the House of Commons to control the Minister; but, if the House of Commons chooses to abdicate this funetiol by whom shall it be controlled ? The fault of Sir C. \Voon's measure, in our view, is, not that it does too little, but that what it does is done in a wrong direction. For years past the Board of Control has monopolised power, leaving to the Court of Directors nothing be yond the disposal of patronage and the conduct of routine affairs. Two remedies offer them selves—one, the ostensible as well as real concentration of power in the hands of the Indian Minister; the other, a reorganisation of the directorial authority, by which the balance, now utterly destroyed, may again be redressed. To the former scheme we object. on the simple ground that Indian statesman ship is not to be studied in the school of par liamentary debate. Irresponsible administra• tion----and the neglect of the Legislature renders the President of the Board of Control practically irresponsible—is had enough in all eases ; but irresponsible administration. eom bitted with ignorance in the administration, presents a union of all possible inconveniences. A Secretary for India. changed every three years, must be in the hands of clerks and per manent under-secretaries. which neither iu theory nor in practice is desirable. The - remedy, therefore, seems to lie in the opposite direction. Can a depositary of power Ito ereated—for none such now exists—at once controlling and aiding the Minister, itself independent of the Crown, and possessing, not indeed a co-ordinate authority with that of Government, but a perpetual appeal, either directly or through written protests, to the Legislature and the public.? We believe that such a council can be formed, and that it would preserve the advan tages, while doing away with the tiodts. of the existing arrangement. But this is not what Sir C. Wool) proposes. He retains the absur• dity of the Court of Proprietors, in whose .defence neither he nor any one else has vim • tured to say a word ; he leaves the patronage to be jobbed away see before, but he introduces into the Anglo Indian council of Leadenhall street a nominee element, of which the effect is to destroy the single redeeming virtue now possessed by that body its independence. For, where opinion is divided, the united votes of six men acting together, out of eighteen, ensures, in the long ran, a perms• nent nuijority. Nor does the non-renewal of the Indian constitution for any definite period appear to us less objectionable. It sounds very well to say, " Surely, if this bill which 1" you condemn does not work well, you will '" not debar Parliament, from interposing to " mend it." But the answer is plain " Par- Ihunent will not interpose. Parliament in " general cares nothing about India ; and the " only means of attrueting attention to the " subject is to fix certain periods at which the work of legislation must be entered upon. " Otherwise more popular topics will per " petually interfere ; and half Asia will eon " tinue to be misgoverned. in order that an " Irish grievance may be talked about." We profess no friendship ti the directorial functionaries ; although it may be that during the ast few months the current of opinion has set in against them with undue strength. But, in our minds, the old, anomalous, ill contrived. but really independent court was, and is , with all its faults, a better machine for the purposes of joint administration than the subservient senate which Sir C. Woou has substit uted. n, THE Debate of last night added little in illustration of our present view. The resources of Mr. MACAULAY'S rhetoric were called into play to meet the anal►lo and admirable exposi tion of Lord STAN I.EY MI the preeeding even ing, and the brilliant orator relied on his Indian experiences, now somewhat out of date, to envelop the question in a judicious haze. Popularly speaking, Mr. MACAULAY en deavoured it, perform the feat of trailing a red herring for the benefit of Str CHARLES Wool). The ,question being solely as to the