The Press. — London, England, 1855-09-22 00:00:00

894 into the columns of other journals, much to the annoyance of the Times. Certain it was, however, that the present Premier was abused without intermission in its columns. At the for mation of the Aberdeep, cabinet, c4iso, pretty strong hints, and even merutces, were given $* the Noble Viscount oA tima Slanged of attempt ing to be " factious." But no sooner does the sky seem to clear over Downing-street thaii . the anteriliitmber is visited by the quondam satirist, all at once turned into the courtly panegyrist. Aspersion ceases, and admiration begins. The Jesuits' rule for calumny and compliments is followed —" Give them fortiter ; aliquid ad licrebit. 9 We are to hear nothing more about " the " Brummagem Alcibiades." The Viscount is now to be lauded as a "magnanimous Minister." Ho is to be congratulated on " the triumphant "result of a quarter of a century's diplomatic " contest with Russia " ! There is amusing audacity in such praise from such a quarter, when we remember by whom the Viscount was abused during that "quarter of a century." He is also to be praised for " the consolidation " of the French alliance," and not one word, of course, is to be said about the vigorous and successful exertions of Lord MALMESBURY in furthering that great object. Well, such a panegyric from the Times, after all that it said for years about Lord PALMERS TON, is the drollest of all the jokes associated with the Premier's career. Atter each super lative the face of the reader with a memory relaxes into a grin. It is so purely comic to see the rouge and pearl-powder put on by the same fingers which painted the Viscount to an " Uncle Toni" degree of blackness. For the " quarter of a century" more than enough of virginia and vitriol was squirted over " the "juvenile Whig ; but now that he is become powerful a posset of honey, on bended knees, is to be presented to him. At last the fa vorite of Mayfair has come into fashion near Blackfriars. The gay Viscount's laudations commenced fifty winters ago with the fair leaders of the ton, and they are now to end amongst the (mid-)leaders of the town. His faults were always looked on through a magnifying glass by the Times, and it perpe tually used a microscope in counting the ble mishes on his escutcheon. But now that process is exactly to be reversed. Yet, after all, the thing is not so wonderful. In the art of rapidly and adroitly wheeling, the Viscount and the Times were rivals for twice " a quarter of a century." It was the jealousy of the big weathercock of the City news brewery against the ever-revolving vane of Downing-street, changing at each Ministe rial zephyr. "Which was the greater weather cock ?" would puzzle the gentleman who keeps the register for the Gentleman's Magazine. But the Times seems disposed to confess itself beaten. It succumbs before the West-end weathercock, with its superior facility in going round. Official oil has wonderful virtue in promoting lubricity. And so the Times is again beaten. After battering at him for " a quarter of a century," it finds that it has not written down the Vis count any more than the British Association. Even within the last few days its own columns have borne testimony to the flourishing state of that Society, whom it vehemently vitupe rated in invectives rendered innocuous by their vulgarity. PAM has now humbled his old enemy into being his trumpeter. The Premier and the British Association are con spicuous instances that a literary dictator is not obeyed in England. Grave conclusions might be drawn from these facts, but it is impossible for any one to be serious after the absurdity of the Times committing itself to a panegyric on the Pre mier. It is plain that Lord PetrazasTorr has regularly " done" the Times ; and as to the panegyric, recollecting his practical jokes, some people raise the question, " Whether " the incorrigible old wag did not ' do' it him self." A THE " LACHES " OF LIBERALISM. To those who are conversant with the history and have watched the career, of Lord PALMERS TON'S Ministry, it will have long since been a THE PRESS. subject of painful conviction that its posses sion of power at this crisis is a standing menace to the hnpur a t ii4 interests of England. In their minds tlie Niter truth will stand m}- washed in all 4i5%4 reality, that destinies pf the action ,s ctrusted—not to the inen whose abiAtx haciustified its confidence, or whosc integr4 144§ commanded its sym pathy—not to the ma% wo, empowered to execute its high behests, have risen with the dignity of their mission, and achieved results commensurate with its hopes and proper tiouate to its enthusiasm—but to a clique who regard their position, not as the means of serving their country, but of aggrandising themselves ; with whom statesmanship is the art of retaining office at all hazards and by all expedients ; who covet the emoluments, but evade the responsibilities of Government, and, unable or unwilling to take their stand boldly by a definite, determined policy, are content to follow, not to lead, and to wait upon public opinion, rather than to mould and fashion it by the force of its creative energies, thus throwing into contempt institutions which tolerate at the head of affairs a Cabinet so destitute of all the insignia of authority. But although reflections akin to these will readily occur to the intelligent observer of our condition and prospects under the Ad ministration of Lord PALMERSTON, there is a point of view in which the subject may be treated with interest and with advantage. It is unquestionably true that the war in which we are engaged engrosses the thoughts and absorbs the solicitude of the community. All the prominent questions of internal legislation which have formed through our annals the battle-ground of political controversy and party collision have been thrown into the shade by the superlative importance of the present conjuncture. But it is not to be for gotten that the various opinions which have agitated the popular mind iu recent periods have not been disposed of, but only sus pended. The broad line of demarcation which has so long separated our Parliamentary combinations, though it may be in some re spects less clear and distinct, has not been effaced. The landmarks have not been re moved. The points of divergence have not been changed. The antagonistic principles of democratic ascendency and constitutional monarchy still live and move and have their being. Though eclipsed and obscured by the transcendant moment of the struggle to which the nation is committed, the flame is not ex tinguished, but only slumbering. If, then, the cessation of hostilities between the rival sections of the Legislature is to be regarded only as a short truce, a temporary armistice, the attitude which they respectively occupy in this great emergency, the part they take in the struggle, the influence they exercise over the counsels of the Senate, are all matters of supreme importance. We wish at this time to advert to the posture in which what was once known as the great Liberalparty is found in the midst of one of the gravest crises of English history. We hear a vast deal of sar castic comment upon the disunion and dis organisation of the Conservative ranks. We are constantly being assured that we have no leaders in whom we can trust, and no principles to which we are attached. But we should like very much to be informed by these Isneerers whether they have reviewed their own condition—whether they are cogni sant of the circumstances in which they them selves now stand in the face of observant Europe—whether they are alive to the degra dation which has fallen upon their once respected order. Let them, instead of banter ing about the weakness and decay of the Con servative body, embrace the opportunity afforded them by the comparative calmness now pervading the political world to take account of their own state, and to deliberate upon their own prospects. The task will be a humiliating one. It is utterly impossible for any public man in the kingdom devoted to what is termed the Liberal cause, and who comprehends the present status of his party, to feel otherwise than mortified and ashamed. If the sentiments he avows are genuine, and SATURDAY, not fictitious—are real, and not illusory—if the objects to which he aspires are realities, and not kliadows-4_ %mt. know that his creed is n # only at 4 Oiwant, but bids fair to be actual I annikll4oo. This statement is ni t papal* o f . f acile dg pxtstriition. In reviewing the ernti of the t tittipp years we find r i r some pry danring ts . ssociated with the Libe pikily. Flo 0fA . 44 . tion possessed of such e.stgth or ng such influence ever in so short a period suffered more disas trously. First in the long chain of calamitous epi sodes was the infamous Coalition which was formed to overthrow Lord DERBY'S Government. Here began the disgrace ofithe Liberal party, and here commenced its punishment. Contributing mainly to the success of the manoeuvre, it re ceived an insignificant share of the spoil. The highest offices were now monopolised by its new confederates, and it was reduced to the ignominy of holding a subordinate place in a Cabinet of which the most prominent mem bers were professedly Conservatives. We should surmise that subsequent occurrences have taught the Liberal party to regard this epoch with unfeigned disgust. We should suppose that they do not now derive much satisfaction from the vote which made Lord ABERDEEN their leader, and led ultimately to a rupture which was not more disreputable than it was disastrous, placing Lord JOHN RUSSELL and his Whig associates in the in vidious position of co-operating with a man they despised, in a cause they disproved—of acquiescing in a policy they felt to be ruinous, and continuing in a Government they admitted to be incapable. We cannot linger here to point out that the Liberal party by their slavish support of Lord ABERDEEN have become inseparably identified with his fatal career, and will not only be held responsible for the war in which we are engaged, but adjudged to be criminally inculpated in its aggravated calamities. We hurry on to the present period—and what do we find ? We find the Conservatives in opposition and the Liberals out of power. In the narrow coterie of large houses and wealthy families from which the Cabinet of Lord PALMERSTON has been taken Whiggism is rampant, but where are the energies of the Radical school to quicken and invigorate the torpid genius of Finality? The emissaries of progress, the disciples of development, the philanthropists of the species, find no place round the Council table, but sit grimly on the Ministerial benches, at one moment biting, at another licking, the chain which fetters them, ever making resolves to be independent, but with ears well attuned to the crack of the Treasury whip ! What a picture for the eyes of earnest-minded Democrats ! an Adminis tration which lives on their support and following entirely denuded of the popular element, so that even Sir WILLIAM MoLEswonrit has abjured all his eccentricities but the out landishness of his dress ! Will these things continue ? If the Liberal party be not dead to its own honour and traitorous to its own principles, it will no longer tolerate the usurping tyranny of the Whig oligarchy. If it persists in its alle giance to a Cabinet which practically ignores its existence it may certainly be enriched with such fragments of patronage as Mr. HATTER may be able to spare from his voracious con stituents, but its influence will bo overthrown and its character destroyed. THE NATIVES OF INDIA. II ONE unfortunate result of the late disclosures on the subject of torture has been the spread ing abroad an opinion which is both very erroneous and very dangerous regarding the natives of India. It has been alleged that because they have submitted so tamely to the proceedings of the Company's officials they must necessarily be a very meek, imbecile, and harmless set of creatures, incapable of resent ment, born to be bullied, and so patient of ill-usage as to make it a matter of little importance in what manner they may be treated. If this were true of them, it be would, in the minds of all generous men, ill