The Press. — London, England, 1855-06-02 00:00:00

512 REVELATIONS OF THE COALITION, THZ town has not been much edified this week by the publication of the correspondence between the Earl of ABERDEEN and Lord JOHN RUSSELL relative to the War Department. Lord Jons, in spite of his practice, does not improve as a letter-writer. On the last occa sion when he figured in a correspondence his hastiness of imputation received a signal chastisement from the formidable pen of Mr. CROXER. Though not so skilful as the great, slashing reviewer in the use of his literary rapier, Lord ABERDEEN also has inflicted some severe threats on the crack of Brookes's. Both of them suffer in the fray, but we think the de posed leader of the House of Commons has the worst of it. The tone of the correspondence is civil but very cool, and occasionally verges on the curt. Lord Jot's is fidgetty at the commencement, when on the 17th of November, 165-1, he takes np his pen to try and thrust out the Duke of NEWCASTLE from the War-office. Events in the Crimea are as gloomy as the weather *hich scowls over the great landscape in front of Pembroke-lodge. Lord JOHN has returned from his part of a provincial lecturer ; the noise of the cheers have died away, and he is getting nervous at the tone of " the ribald press"; and whatever becomes of the country " the " Whigs must be saved " from the impending crash. But how can he put PALMERSTON in, and get out the Duke of NEWCASTLE, after having acqueisced in the appoint ment of the latter? He pauses, and re collects the memory of the Whigs, and how SIDNEY'S motto was " Aut viam inveniam, aut faciam ;" and with that motto on his lips he resolves to show how the friend of SYDNEY SMITH could oust the colleague of SIDNEY HERBERT. He will make a way to put in " Palmerston," as the noble correspondents term the present venerable, if not venerated, Premier. " The War Minister should be in " the House of Commons," says Lord JOHN. But the question about a War Minister should be, not the convenience of his colleagues, or even of the House of Commons. It is his aptitude for his post, his experience, and his proved capacity for affairs ; and Lord JOHN RUSSELL has had the bitter mortification of seeing Lord PANIKURE, a Member of the House of Lords, made War Minister in spite of his lecture to the contrary. " On that head," as Lord ions says (the country was then thinking of " heads " in another sense), the Noble Lord was clearly in the wrong. Lord ABERDEEN sensibly re minded him that such a proposition should be permanent, and that it would be " objection " able in principle and inconvenient in prac " tics." But possibly Lord JOHN was only raising the point to cover his purposes. The Duke of NEWCASTLE must be removed to save the Whigs in jeopardy, and it must be done adroitly. He falls back on old times, and talks of wars being conducted by Prime Ministers, or Ministers of departments : We have exarn,les of both:—Lord Godolphin, in the first way, supported the campaigns of Marlborough ; Lord Chatham, in the other, guided the operations of the Seven Years' War. And then, resolving to make a push for PALMERSTON, he says:— My conclusion is that, before Parliament meets Lord Palmerston should be intrusted with the seals of the War Department. And signs the letter, " My dear Lord ABER. " DERN, yours very truly, 3. RUSSELL." The landscape was just as gloomy at the Ranger's House, Blackheath, where the Premier in sufferance was then staying . lie , answered the display of Lord JOHN'S party tact, and proficiency in " Gold " smith's England " (school edition), with perfect composure, to the effect that an an swer, when convenient, would be sent—and signed the note " Ever truly yours." In the meanwhile, Lord JoHN had consulted his pillow, and got fidgetty. He recollected all his escapades in letter-writing Ghosts of Edinburgh and Durham letters, and epistles from Mr. CROMER haunted him at night. " The " little boy who. chalked up No Popery' on " the wall, and ran away," became nervous. THE PRESS. He recollected scenes not at Blackheath, but at Putney-heath. " Canning versus Castle reagh," " Russell versus Newcastle," get jumbled in his mind. Was he intriguing against his colleague ? Was he acting as he ought? He gets into a " fluctuating " mood, to use his own subsequent phrase, and he Nens a tremulous complement to the Duke of EWCASTLE, on the 18th of November : It was my intention, in writing the letter, to avoid throwing any blame upon him ; indeed, I think he de• serves very great credit for the exertions he has made; but he has not had the authority requisite for so great a sphere, and has not been able to do all that might have been done with larger powers of control. Lord ABERDEEN saw that ho had to deal with a waverer, and he wrote a vigorous letter, with ever so slight a tone of well-bred contempt for his correspondent.. Writing on the 21st of the month, he intimates that he will stand by the Duke of NEWCASTLE, and that he will not give him up. He says, with some thing like that " pluck " which extorts respect even from an adversary : The dislocation of the Government would be so great, and the reason assigned for it apparently so inadequate, that it could only be considered as a mode of substituting one man for another. Although you may be far from en tertaining any such desire, the transaction could receive no other interpretation. In justice to the duke, Ido not think that his colleagues, without very strong grounds, would wish to place him in such a position. The irony is eleverly maintained throughout this letter—" although you may be far from " entertaining any such design,"—the Mrs. Candour tone of the Premier is very good of its kind. Then other folk have as good a right to form an opinion of PALMERSTON as Lord JOHN RUSSELL, and here is Lord ABEREEEN'S : Now, with respect to Palmerston ; Ido not know whe ther he is aware of the burden you are disposed to lay upon him; but, if not, I should greatly doubt his inclina tion to undertake it. Palmerston, within a few months, is as old as lam ; and, without disparaging his inherent vigour of mind, he possesses no immunity from the effects of age. That was a long time due. Lord ABERDEEN owed a heavy debt for " antiquated imbecility," and paid it back with compound interest. And with still more calm contempt he puts aside references to old times of Lord GODOL PHIN. Ho snubs the provincial lecturer, and tells him to study the glories won by au out and-out Tory Ministry. The ex lecturer seemed fairly posed. Taunted with having acquiesced in the appointment of the Duke of NEWCASTLE, he tries to defend himself by con fessing that he wavered. Here are his.words, written a week after the last charge from Lord ABERDEEN : You say next, that it was your strong impression, from various conversations, that at the time of the separation of the War Department, I greatly preferred the nomina tion of the Duke of Newcastle to that of Palmerston. You are mistaken in this respect. But it is true my opinion fluctuated very much. What can be more damaging? "It is true, "my opinion fluctuated very much." True ; and Lord JOHN has " fluctuated" in public life. He was for rotten boroughs and protec tion in 1819, when he made his " Aladdin" speech ; for a Coercion Bill for Ireland in 1833, and for a Lichfield house Compact in 1834. Then he was for Popery, and Appro priation, and afterwards for Durham Letters. Yes ! there could not be a more felicitous word upon himself than " fluctuating" from Lord Jourr's own pen. The stormy correspondence raged to the 3rd of December. Lord JOHN RUSSELL closed it with the announcement that he would propose to the Cabinet " that for the present, at least, " the office of Minister of War should be held " by a member of the House of Commons." He wound up with a frigid " truly yours," not prefaced by " My dear Lord ABERDEEN," and since then he has again " fluctuated," and consented to one not a member of the House of Commons, being put in place of the Duke of NEWCASTLE! THERE is a great competition among the leaders of the bar for the appointments vacated by Mr. Phinn, the second secretary to the Admiralty, viz.:— Counsel to the Admiralty, Judge Advocate of the Fleet, Recorder of Devonport, Counsel to Post-office on Western Circuit and to the Royal Porests in Hampshire. The first appointment is worth foool. per annum. SATURDAY, EARTHQUAKE IN NEW ZEALAND. LETTERS from Wellington, New Zealand, to February 12th, give ample details of the earthquake on the evening of the 23rd of January, which seems to have visited the whole country, although to a less serious extent than at Wellington. At that settlement much damage was done. The first shock occurred at nine p.m. on the 23rd, without any previous warning, and more or less injured every stone or brick building in the town, hardly leaving a single chimney standing in the whole place. The branch of the Union Bail of Australia, the gaol, and the Government-house, being the most substantial buildings, suffered the most, while the lighter constructions of wood were generally uninjured. Although the alarm and de struction of property were great, only one life was lost. The shocks continued at intervals for several days, but none were so severe as the first. In the valley of the Hutt, near Wellington, much ' injury VMS sustained, the bridge being destroyed and the road rendered impassable. The inhabitants of Wel lington were already taking measures to repair the damage, and they speak in high praise of the conduct of the military in helping to clear away the rubbish from the streets. It is presumed that no attempt will be made in future to build houses otherwise than of wood, and of one story, as these alone ap peared to sustain the shock. This earthquake is stated to have been quite as severe as that of 1848, although it has not created so much alarm and dis turbance in the general affairs of the colony. A fresh conspiracy, it is said, has been discovered at Madrid among the troops of the garrison. Two rebel chiefs and a priest, connected with the Sara gossa insurgents, and apprehended in the provinces, had been shot. EXPERIMENTS have been lately made at Munich, in the presence of the King and the whole of his staff, on a new gun-carriage, invented by Duke Wil liam of Wurtemburg, which were considered per fectly satisfactory. Although the carriage is constructed entirely of forged iron, it weighs two cwt. less than the common 6-pounder gun carriage, and therefore requires less manual labour to detach it from the tumbril, and can be placed in position with greater celerity. But the chief feature of the inven tion is, that the gun is placed beneath the axle, by which means the chances of upsetting the gun from the inequalities of the field are greatly reduced, as the centre of gravity is placed much lower than in the gun carriages at present used in the artillery. The last experiments are to be made in the presence of Prince Luitpold, the head of the Bavarian artillery, on his return from Italy in a few days, and the in vention will then be introduced generally. AN Acx intended to limit the hours of work of per: sons employed and resident in the establishments of dressmakers and milliners in the metropolis has been printed. The prohibited hours, exclusive of Sunday, are, from March 1 to August 1 in every year, between half-past nine in the evening and eight in the morn ing; and from August 1 to March 1, from between eight in the evening and eight in the morning. It is proposed to allow an hour and a half for meals daily. Penalties are to be enforced before apolice magistrate without power of appeal. AMONG the amusements in camp the 2nd Regiment of Zouaves have established a theatre. The performances, by the men of the regiment, take place twice a week, and are excellently arranged. The prices of admission are voluntary, and the funds devoted to the benefit of the French prisoners in Sebastopol and elsewhere. ABERDEEN'S TBITSTLE.—We are told by the historian of the late drawing-room that " the Earl of Aberdeen wore, among other orders, the Thistle,' which his lordship retains by especial command of her Majesty " Perhaps no statesman more richly deserved the thistle, seeing how many thistles his policy has thrust in the pillows of others. N hat a nosegay may history, Ophelia-like. cull for the noble earl from the grave grounds of the Crimea! Rue and pansy for thoughts—and such thoughts ! Of a verity the Earl of Aberdeen has earned a thistle of some sort, though hardly the one called Carduus benedichts Punch. THE works for the enlargement and embellishment fo the Palace of the Elysie are now almost completely ter minated. There are very few princely residences that have so often changed owners and destination as the Elysee. It was built in 1718 by the architect Moira, for the Prince de la Tour d'Auvergne, and sold some years afterwards to Mme. de Pompadour, who, having enlarod and embellished it, resided there until her death. Louis XV. purchased it of the Marquis de Marigny, the brother of the favorite, to convert it into a residence for extraordinary am bassadors, but it wan soon after used as the garde metible of the crown, while the building on the Place Louis XV. was being erected. In 1773 it became the property of the celebrated financier Beaujon, who fitted it up in the most sumptuous manner. It was sold in 1786 to Louis XVI., woo intended it for the residence of any foreign princes anti princesses who might visit Paris, as well as for extraordinary ambassadors. At the commencement of the revolution it became national property, but was in sold until the 25th Ventose An VI. Napoleon Bonaparte, and several members of his family, inhabited it. The Emperor Alexander resided there in 1815, and the Dnke de Berry occupied it at the commencement of the restora tion. Under the late Republican Government it was appropriated as the residence of the President of the Republic.