The Press. — London, England, 1854-07-29 00:00:00

--•••• ' r r,,9 1", ! ::~' WV. -.~-,~~ 5_757, PRICE SIXPENCE•, LONDON, SATURDAY, JULY 29, 1854. No. 0.—V01,. 11. c~l j c Alress. LONDON, SATURDAY, JULY 29, 1854. "PRESS" OFFICE, Friday Night, July 28, 1854. WE announced in our last number the retire ment of his Excellency Comte WALEWBIKA from the French Embassy at the Court of St. James's. A serious misunderstanding with M. DROUYN DE L'Huvs on a subject of pars mount delicacy and importance is alleged as the cause of an incident which`will be much regretted in this countnr. We have now to announce that the retirement of another diplomatic character from our Court may speedily be expected. His Excellency Admi ral VIRGIN, Minister of the King of SWEDEN, is about to conclude his too short residence ►among us. The negotiations between this country and Sweden are at the present moment, and have been for some time, of a critical character. Her MAjesty's Government have proposed to the Swedish Government to subsidise a Swedish army for the attack of Finland. His Majesty the King of SWEDEN has evinced an unexpected indisposition to reannex Fin land to his crown, but has communicated a counter project to her Majesty's Government for the guaranteed independence of that coun try. It appears that the British Government, sufficiently embarrassed already with the guarantees of Belgium and Prussian Saxony, hesitates ; and that some members of the Cabinet, involved already with the possible contingencies both of subsidies and guarantees, tremble at the abyss which they are ap proaching. We do not feel at liberty to discuss at pre sent how far the recal of the Swedish Minister from our Court arises from this imbroglio. The Austrian Government has positively declared that its occupation of the Principa lities is incompatible with the presence either of a Turkish force, or of the allied armies, in those provinces. Thus it recurs to its project of armed mediation. We have reason to believe that, in conse quence of urgent intelligence, of a peculiar nature, received at the Admiralty, Admiral STOPFORD will be despatched immediately to the Black Sea, and has, perhaps, already de parted for that quarter. As assault on the Ministry by a section of their own supporters, with respect to their -~' ~,-. foreign policy, and general conduct of the war, has been, so far as the intentions of the Government and the prospects of the country are concerned, unexpectedly produc tive of considerable results. Our unsatisfac tory relations with Prussia and Austria, so long ago, and so frequently, announced in this journal, were at length unreservedly admitted by the Ministers. A statement that the allied armada in the Baltic could not attack any of the great Russian forts in that sea, except with the certain destruction of the conjoined ships, was officially made by a Lord of the Admiralty to a startled House of Commons, and rivalled in interest the ingenuous confes sion of Mr. GLADSTONE, that, when our troops were despatched to Malta, the Ministry had no serious apprehensions of war taking place, which accounts for our inefficient commissa riat. Finally, the Lord President of the Council, after having declared to that assem bly—roaring, consequently, with enthusiasm — that, in asking for further aids, the Ministers were resolved never to cease prosecuting the war until Southern Russia was a dream—until Sebastopol was destroyed, the Crimea eman cipated, the mouths of the Danube freed, and its principalities for ever liberated from Muscovite protection—concluded the night, and neutralised six hours of debate, by recal ling and recanting all that he had said ; and, having carried the House captive by his almost dangerous distinctness, apologised for " the ambiguity of his language" ! The bouncing words of Lord JOHN RUSSELL, oso rapidly attenuated by explanation, the carriage of the Ministers in the other House of Par liament, the costive rhetoric and the grim re serve of Lord ABERDEEN, and the vague, im passioned feebleness of Lord CLARENDON, combined to convey to the country a painful impression that the Ministers have, at present, neither plans nor prospects ; that their calcu lations have been baffled, their expectations baulked, and their resources misapplied ; that they have only been headlong when they thought they were energetic ; and that their violent purposes have never been digested and defined. When Parliament first met, members of the Administration were assiduous in their pri vate declarations, that the war was to he " a short war ;" just as, last autumn, when hos tilities began to be inevitable, we heard that the war was to be " a cheap war ;" merely a naval war, simply the employment of the ships already in commission, and a few more. Some remarks from a distinguished correspon dent will be found in our columns to day, im pugning the justness of an observation in our last number with respect to Sir CHARLES NAPIER. We are no decriers of that gallant Admiral ; far from it ; there is no doubt that the boastful view generally attributed to him hefor3 he recently left these shores was an echo and reflex of that of her Majesty's Government. In official circles it was whis pered that there was to be quick work. The contagion spread, and the idea of the corn monalty was that in a few months the Czar would bo brought here, perhaps in an iron cage, as much to the satisfaction of his own subjects as those of her Majesty. Public passion on the subject of the war having now somewhat subsided, and the Ministers being self-confessedly quite incom petent to guide or form opinion in this matter, one may, perhaps not altogether unusefully, attempt to arrive at some clear conclusions amidst the bewildering passages of events. The political equilibrium can be sustained by two modes,—either by driving hack Russia to the north, or by developing the resources of Turkey in peace to such a degree that the Ottoman empire may eventually furnish a sufficient barrier to Muscovite or German encroachment. This latter plan has been pursued, during the last ten years, with con• siderable success, attested by the vigour and resources with which Turkey unaided has resisted invasion. A war, however, with Russia, which, after being waged for some years, is to terminate with the territorial status quo, will not preserve the balance of power, for while, it may, for the moment, re. strain the designs of Russia, it will allow tlu m ultimately to be directed against Turkey, hopelessly exhausted and disorganised. Un less, therefore, we are prepared for one of those energetic, sustained, and enduring strug gles, such as we have carried on against a Bourbon, or a Bonaparte, a Lous XIV., or a Napoleon, it is infinitely wiser, on all ac counts, for the sake of Europe, of ourselves, and of Turkey, that we should encourage those overtures of peace now, and long, rite, no matter from what quarter they may emanate. An ordinary war must, in the end, accomplish the purposes of Russia ; peace may baffle them. We wish earnestly to impress these con siderations on our readers ; the more so be• cause the tone of the Government makes us fear that, while the Ministry entirely shrink from a policy which would find a remedy for the chronic disturbance of the world in a new map of Europe, they are still not disinclined to persist in a prolonged, teasing, exhausting, and uneventful war, which, while it may he an excuse for not dealing with any public questions at home, and so keep them, perhaps, in an unworthy seat, will drain the resources and break the spirit of the Continental na tions, and leave the Old World in general a more fitting prey, at the right season, for the barbarous energies of the Scythian forests. SIR CHARLES NAPIER AND ADMIRAL BERKELEY. Is reference to an allusion to the commander of the Baltic fleet in our first article of last week, we have been favours(' by a distin guished Correspondent with some remarks on the language held by Sir CHARLES NAPIER previous to his leaving our shores on his pre sent expedition. Our Correspondent asserts that Sir CHARLES NAPIER is so far froth having any political connection with the Ministry that he is noteven agreeable to them. It is stated by our Correspondent that'in the speech of Admiral NAPIER, on occasion of the Reform dinner, and in his reply to the Portsmouth address, he not only did not encourage the boasting tone of the Ministerialists, but checked it simply and forcibly,as might have been anticipated from his honest, earnest, reflecting, and conscientious character. r