The Press. — London, England, 1855-10-20 00:00:00

6fturt anb lastion. Queen and Prince, with the Prince of Wales, incess Royal, Prince Alfred, and the Princesses , Helena, and Louisa, attended by the Duchess ellington, the Hon. Beatrice Byng, Colonel the en. C. B. Phipps, and Major General the Hon. jharles Grey, left Balmoral at half-past eight o'clock on Tuesday morning, and arrived at Edinburgh at a quarter past six o'clock. The royal party left Edinburgh on Wednesday morning, and arrived at Windsor Castle in the evening. The Prince Ai thur aed Prince Leopold, attended by Lady Caroline Barrington and Colonel the Hon. N. Hood, have arrived from Osborne. The Hon. Caroline Caven dish and the Hon. Mary Bulteel have arrived as Maids of honour in Waiting. Lord Byron and Major-General Buckley have also arrived as the Lord and Equerry in Waiting to her Majesty, and Colonel Seymour as Equerry to Prince Albert. The Duchess of Gloucester, attended by Lady Caroline Murray and the Hon. Colonel Liddell, quitted Brighton for town on Tuesday. Amongst the passengers for Gibraltar in the mail steamer Sultan, which left Southampton on Wednes day, were the Earl and Countess Talbot. The Duke and Duchess of Buccleuch are at Drumlanrig Castle, Dumfriesshire, where the Earl of Dalkeith, M.P., and Lord Henry Scott, are also staying. Lord Walter Scott has joined his regiment at Exeter. Sir James Graham, Bart., M.P., has arrived at Haddo-house on a visit to the Earl of Aberdeen. Lord John Russell paid Oxford a visit on Tuesday. His lordship, who was the guest of the Rev. Dr. Cradock, principal of Brasenose College, left Oxford on Wednesday for London. Sir G. Grey has arrived in town from Balmoral. Irtttingo. CRIMEAN BANQUET AT GLASGOW. A SPLENDID banquet to celebrate the Crimean victo. ries took place at Glasgow in the City-hall on the 12th instant. The company were numerous and dis tinguished. The Duke of Hamilton presided, and Sir A. Alison officiated as croupier. One circumstance deserves special notice. All the non-commissioned officers and privates who bad shared in the Crimean war, and were in Glasgow at the time, to the number .1:;$f fifty, were invited as guests to the entertainment. As was natural on such an occasion, the services rendered by Scotland to the war formed the staple of the eloquence. Mr. M'Gregor, as a financier, declared " that Glasgow had exceeded all other places and cities in its contributions to the Patriotic Fund.", ( ? ) He was heard, however, with great impatience, and coughed down at last. Sir A. Alison roused the enthusiasm of the company, by relating how the Highland regiments stood firm when the enemy drove the Turks before them on the morning of the Bala klava encounter, and how the Scots Greys had led the charge ; while Mr. Baillie Cochrane dwelt on the hundreds Scotland had sent to swell the crowd of heroes who combated at Alma, Balaklava, Inkermann, and the itedan. The CHAIRMAN gave the usual loyal toasts in graceful terms, and in proposing " Her Majesty's Ministers," said all he could for the Premier : I really think Lord Palmerston has conducted this war with a degree of vigour, which at his period of Life is almost unequalled, I believe, in history. I think all Englishmen, of whatever party or shade of politics, should be grateful to him for it. To " The Houses of Parliament," Mr. HASTIE and Mr. M'GREOOR responded. The former alluded harshly to the course taken by the Peelite tri umvirate : I may further just express the deepest regret, the greatest mortification on account of the speeches made by three ex Ministers of the Crown, which 1 consider most unpatriotic, and as likely to render it more difficult for the Administration they have left to carry on that war to a happy conclusion. I felt mortified exceedingly to think that any British subject, especially any who had been parties to declaring war, should give utterance to such expressions. - - In proposing " The Crimean Army," the CHAIRMAN eulogised our allies, but thought also that we should do justice to our foe : While we congratulate ourselves, and thank Providence for our success, we must not forget the fallen foe who have gallantly struggled against us, who have gone to rest, who have deserved well of their countrymen. Let us not forget also, in celebrating this glorious victory, that we raise ourselves in our own estimation by praising our foe. I wish that feeling had been more carried out. I regret expressions which have been made use of in regard to the Russians, because, though none can be more gratified than I for victories voinhsafed, we ought to be generous to a THE PRESS. guished himself like General Todtleben, and others high in position in the Russian service. Sir JAMES FERGUSSON acknowledged this toast, and the Duke of AlusTuesE gave "The Emperor of the French and our brave allies," alluding with emphasis to the Duke de Coigny, who was present, "a noble duke and a native of France connected with this country by ties of family, but one who in former times served in, the great army of the late Emperor Napoleon." The Duke MC COLONY returned thanks : I beg the noble duke and this company to accept my cordial expression of gratitude, and, on behalf of my country, 1 must thank the noble duke most heartily for what he said about our happy alliance—that alliance which, I am proud to say, has beeu the constant dream of my life. (Cheers.) Yes, gentlemen, I may boast that it Las been a dream always present to me, even when I was fighting against you. ( Renewed cheers.) After every battle I could not help deploring that two great nations like yours and mine could not come to a good understanding. (Cheers.) I hoped, if it pleased God, that would not long be the case. Now that we are iu possession of that formi dable alliance, let us hope that we shall remain friends for ever. M. MANBOUSEIN, Consul of France, also responded to this toast, and then Sir. A. AmsoN proposed, in an eloquent national speech, " Sir Colin Campbell, the head of the Highland Division." He spoke of the war as unprecedented in magnitude : Two hundred and ten thousand French soldiers, 80,000 English, and 15,000 Piedmontese, with 1,200 guns, have been sent from the remotest parts of Western Europe to the theatre of conflict on the shores of the Crimea, and they have been confronted by at least an equal number of Russians. ( Hear, hear.) The annals of the world will be sought in vain for the waging of such a war at such a distance and with such means. In comparison with it the army of Alexander, the legions of Rome, the hosts of the Crusaders, sink into insignificance. Proportionally great have been the successes achieved in the terrible striki which ensued. Three victories in pitched battles in the field—an arduous and unparalleled siege of ten months' du ration, terminating in a decisive triumph—the total de struction of a fleet of eighteen sail of the line and a hun dred vessels of war—the capture of a first-rate fortress, with 6,000 pieces of cannon—and the bloody defeat of an army of 150,000 men signalised the campaign before the allied armies had been a year in the peninsula. He characterised the war as a struggle of "European freedom against Asiatic despotism," and with much pomp of language dwelt on the war of Greece against Persia, of Rome against Scythia, of the Crusades against the Saracens. The Duke of Hamilton had previously likened the officers and men who took part in the Balaklava charge to Curtius leaping into the gulf, and Sir A. Alison used the same image to express the heroism of the British troops in the as sault of the Redan Whatever we may think, rely upon it this will not be deemed the least honourable page in British story. Leonidas did the same at Thermopyhe—it was an army leaping like Curtius into the gulf to save its country. (Loud cheering.) And the event has proved at what a cost the glorious sacrifice was made, and shows how the English officers led on their men, for while in the assault on the Redan there were 153 officers killed and wounded to 2,500 men, in the French on the Malakoff there were only 260 officers killed and wounded to 11,300 men; and on the Russian side only 360 officers to 7,400 private soldiers. Rely upon it, this disinterested self•devotion will not be forgotten in history, any more than the heroic valour of the 3,500 soldiers has been who fell in the vain attempt to force the breaches of Badajos, but thereby rendered the castle an easy conquest to Picton's men, who got ►n by escalade. He likened the Highland Brigade to the Tenth Legion of Caesar and the Old Guard of Napoleon, and said that, though not engaged in the assault of the Bth of September, they paid the penalty of their fame in being kept to defend the vital line of the armies' communications. Mr. A. B. COCHRANE spoke eloquently on the same theme, in proposing "The City of Glasgow." A private soldier named MAC DAVID acknowledged the toast of "The Army," and pointed to the banquet as a proof bow warmly the nobility and people of the country sympathised with every soldier in the army. " The Press " was given towards the close of the pro• ceedings with a hope expressed by Sir A. ALISON " that the press, if it had the power of a giant, would not use it as a giant, and especially that it would refrain from prematurely pronouncing severe judg ments upon men fighting the battles of their country." THE MARQUIS OF GRANBY ON THE WAR. AT the annual dinner of the Waltham Agricultural Association, on Wednesday, the Marquis of Granby, who presided, took occasion to state his sentiments on the general policy of the war. After stating his belief that if his hearers were favorable to a con tinuance of the war, it was not because the prices of agricultural produce were high and the farming in terest prosperous, but beca_use_ they believed the war to • and • SATURDAY, We are told that we are to carry on this war in order to resist the aggression of Russia. Now, from the first I doubted the aggressive designs of Russia. But for the sake of argument I will grant everything that way be asked ; she shall he as aggressive as any Pole or anyone else may please to make her. She shall have the ambition to conquer the world. But I ask you this—With the experience we have had of our own power, united with that of our allies, 1 ask any reasonable man what real danger there is of the aggres. sive power of Russia? Have you not beaten her wherever you have met her—at Alma, and Inkermaun, behind the stone walls at Sebastopol, or behind earthworks : have you upon any one single occasion—be their numbers what they might, be their position what it might, he the arm with which you attacked them what it might, cavalry or infantry —have you ever been beaten by the Russians ? But this is not all. You must remember the different position of -- - - the Russians and ourselves in this war. Remember that they are not only lighting for their sovereign and their country—they are lighting for their healthy and for their homes : not only for their Emperor, but for their religion and their God. What I wish, then, to ask you, and through you the country, is, if these men, fighting for such great and holy objects as these, are not able to stand in any ac• tion against the arms of England and France, what have you to fear from Russia as an aggressive power? Do not ht me be misunderstood; I don't deny the bravery of the Russian soldiers : there is no soldier I believe fighting before Sebsatopol that will not come forward and honour the bravery of the Russian soldier. My belief is that as an aggressive power he can do nothing, but if you intend to enter the interior of Russia, 1 fear we have a war before us which will last longer than the youngest of us will live to see. (Hear.) There has been a strange revolution in the public mind. Four years ago all nations were to meet in the Crystal Palace, and there was to be no more war. Now a quarrel had arisen about the key of a Church three thousand miles off:— We rushed headlong into this war, and not only we, but France also, and there seems every probability of its be. coming a universal European war. We have had forty years of peace, and the last war that we waged was to prevent a foreign country from interfering in the affairs of its neighbours. We are now, if one may judge from the articles in the Times, waging this war for the sake of free• dom—for the sake of civilisation, as opposed to barbarism, and for the sake of freemen, as opposed to serfs. Let us beware. It is a most dangerous thing for one country to interfere in the concerns of another. Depend upon it, that though there is nothing nobler, nothing more exalted, nothing mom exciting, than to wage war for the sake of freedom, that freedom, though a tree most beautiful in itself, is one of slow growth, and one that must be huh. genus in the soil, and must spring up under the pure air and the sunshine of heaven. It is not a plant that you can force in a hothouse, or cause to spring up when and as you wish. Depend upon it, that to set free a large mass of men when they are not themselves prepared fur freedom is to doom them to the greatest possible misery, and is to throw them back, instead of advancing them, for perhaps some thousand years. He thought that peace might have been, and should have been, concluded last year at Vienna : It was not France that objected to Austria's proposals; it was some one in London that telegraphed to Vienna that no peace was to be matte. And look at the difference upon which you stood out—look at the difference between the proposals made and those which you would have accepted. You were willing to accept a limitation of the Russian fleet; but a counterpoise you would not hear of. A limits• Lion of the fleet—what a perfect humbug that would have been I You may say a counterpoise would have been so also. I tell you frankly I believe there is no treaty you can make but the Emperor of Russia can drive an express train through it to-morrow if it suits his purpose. You may take his fleet, but the moment it is his interest to make war with you, which I do not believe it ever will be, do you suppose he would not build ships, and increase the number over the limit before you knew anything about it? Why now, you have not only limited the fleet but sunk it. Some eighteen or twenty ships of the line are sunk at Sebastopol, some burnt, and some destroyed. How far are you advanced, then, with your limitation? I say it is all stuff and nonsense your talking of limiting by treaty the fleet of the Emperor of Russia. But if you could do it, what is the use of the limitation to you? What is the use of limiting the fleet in the Black Sea? That is not the fleet that menaces the shores of England. The fleet that menaces you is that in the Baltic. There are some twenty-one ships of the line there, and you have entirely overlooked them ; you thought nothing of having any limitation to them. We insult Russia on the one hand, and we allow her to increase her navy where she is really formidable to us on the other. Can there be such absurd folly as this ? What I say is this, supposing Russia to be as aggressive as she is believed to be, the only real, sound, material guarantee you can have against her aggression is your own fortitude and bravery, joined by the whole of the Western powers. That is the true barrier to Russian aggres sion, if it exists. It is not a piece of paper, that Russia will take and tear the moment it suits her purpose ; it is the cor dial conjunction and union of England, France, Austria, and Prussia. These are the four powers that, if you really want to limit Russian aggression, must do it ; and with out it you may fight twenty battles, you may continue the war for twenty years, you may gain twenty more victories like Alma and Inkermann, and you will gain them, but you will have done nothing equal to what you would have done were you to agree with Austria as to the terms upon which you should limit the aggression of Russia. I will - possible- 1 'hat terms not what . not know accept; bat I I. k . 998 The ( the Prir Alice, of Well Flinn_ II expressions winen nave ri agcultural produce were high and the Terming' in- .• Russians, because, though none can be more gratified than - - - done were you to agree with Austria as to the terms of I for victories vouzhsafed, we ought to be generous to a terest prosperous, but because they believed the war to which you should limit the aggression of Russia. I fallen foe. (Applause.) We must not forget that the be just and necessary ; and, after avowing his admira- not say that peace is now possible—l know not what ter Russians have fought bravely, that they have fought tion of the courage and conduct of our army, he pro- that France may be willing to accept-1 know not hand to hand with the best troops of Europe, and ceeded to say that Russia was not to be feared as an terms England may be willing to accept—l do not kr that tills war has raised from its ranks one iyho has aggress i ve power even what terms Russia might by willing to wept; bi 1111111111111111111111