The Press. — London, England, 1855-05-26 00:00:00

MAY 26, 1855. "all right," as lively as usual, only unfortu nately, as usual, be " has nothing to propose." Indeed, if we are to believe his Lordship, it is quite unreasonable to expect that he should. Many gentlemen (said his Lordship in the debate on Sir W. CIAY'S Bill) say it is the duty of the Government to " propose a measure." Loud cheers from both sides of the House intimated a belief that the expectation was not wholly preposterous. The Premier is of different opinion : It is very easy to say so. ( Gaughter.) It is exceed ingly easy for gentlemen who have puzzled themselves to solve an enigma to say Government must find out the secret of the riddle. Governments have tried before and failed. I can only Nay that at the present moment Govern meat has no proposal to make. /so doubt (he continues) the importance, and, I may say, to a certain degree, the urgency of the matter, have not escaped the attention of the Government—[though the head of it seems to have kept tolerably clear of the subject]. And most happy should I have been if I had been able to propose, dm, but not being at present in a position to make such a tender, and (it is superfluously added) feeling that this is a ques tion on which it would be unbecoming in a member of the Government to trifle with the House. So, the Premier sat down. Two or three of the Ministers opposed the measure, while a majority of their colleagues supported it. And this is not " trilling with the House"! Lord PALMERSTON seems entirely to have forgotten that the Government in which he was himself Home Secretary promised last year (if we remember by his own mouth) to endeavour a settlement of the question in the course of this session ; that it is one ripe, and more than ripe, for settlement; that the pre sent uncertain footing on which the main tenance of our churches stands is the cause of more squabbles, and a greater hindrance to the efficiency of the Church herself, than, perhaps, any other thing ; and that a law which provides no practical penalty for its infringement is a dangerous element in the statute-book. Of course, also, he is wholly unaware that it is a point on which, perhaps, men's minds are made up with unusual unanimity, that something must be done in the matter at once. We have no space here to enter into the various schemes proposed , but we are sure that we speak the sentiments of even the stoutest defenders of the rights of the Church (with very few exceptions), when we avow our belief that they have no wish whatever to continue to tax Dissenters for the maintenance of the services of the Church, provided only due provision be made for the maintenance of the fabrics (by some better means, however, than by excluding the parishioners from two-thirds of their areas, us Sir W. CLAY proposes), and that those who refuse to contribute to the support of the Church shall (of course) be debarred from interfering in the administration of her affairs. We are now, however, speaking not so much of the measures of the session as of Lord PALMERSTON'S mode of treating this whole class of subjects; and we repeat that Parliament has never witnessed such injurious levity before. If the Noble Lord were his own too celebrated " civis Romanus," and Christianity were as recondite a mystery among us as the theology of JOANNA SOUTHCOTE, we could make more allowance for a person whose solitary principle of administration in things moral and spiritual appears to be that of GALLIO. As it is, we can only suppose either that his Lordship, faithful to his happy theory that " all men are born good," considers churches, schools, Sundays, and the rest to be all very " respectable," no doubt, but rather humbug than otherwise ; or that, divining by instinct (it required no sagacity), that his Administra tion would be the crucial test of constitutional Government, he determined to make the experiment as complete as possible in all its parts ; and he has been very successful. If it can bear that it can bear anything. THE CRIMEA. To under-estimate the strength of an enemy and to overestimate our own is a dangerous error in the conduct of a war ; and yet from the nature of things there is a continual tendency to its adoption. We send out noble troops in numbers that are large in proportion to our establishment, and we feel every confidence in THE PRESS. their skill and prowess ; we learn that our ally is despatching similar reinforcements scarcely inferior to our own. The forces of the enemy are out of sight ; their number is carefully con cealed ; their condition and discipline are con sidered unworthy of comparison with those of the allied armies. Our troops occupy the fore ground, brilliant in appearance, and irresist ible in power; while in the horizon are the legions of the foe, dwindled into pigmies, in appreciable in numbers, and apparently con temptible. We do not consider the obstacles which intervene between ourselves and our adversaries—the strength of their positions, and the probability of the concealment of mas ses of their troops. Such appears to be the state -of the public mind of England at the present moment. An opinion has gone abroad that the conquest of the Crimea is easy. There is much to confirm the .impression. The French and English reserves have been ordered up, the Sardinian Contingent is arriving, and in a very short time we shall have on the heights of Sebastopol an army of almost unequalled strength and efficiency. With the Turks at Eupatoria we shall number 200,000 men. What ought not such a force to be able to do ? The Russians, according to some ac counts, can only muster 150,000. Why should we suppose ourselves incapable of their con quest? But a little examination will reveal the diffi culties that give strength to the Russians, and weaken our own forces. We are not a single army under one head. We have two distinct and distant encampments under three heads. The Turks at Eupatoria are 50,000 strong, and yet are useless in the present operations of the war. A few regiments of cavalry suffice to hold them all in check. They must be struck off the roll of those who are available at the com mencement of active operations. Our army is reduced to 150,000 men. The next difficulty is the enormous extent of the lines before Sebastopol, no part of which can be abandoned The camp is sixteen miles by nine, with out works and batteries, and railways, and har bours, and every species of establishment that stands in need of the amplest protection. No later than two months ago the immense body of troops collected in the French and British tents were inadequate to its perfect defence ; and the heights above Balaklava were con sidered open to attack by an overwhelming force. OSIER PACHA'S troops were welcomed because they relived us from apprehensions on that score. What is the deduction that we must make of those who must remain to carry on the siege? When the expedition has set out its diffi culties begin. Every mile of advance requires detachments of troops, and lessens the strength which can meet the opposing battalions. The greatest obstacles are presented by the nature of the country. All the heights and roads are effectually closed and fortified. We advance into a mountainous country, the accesses to which are defended with earthworks, in trenched camps, redoubts, and mined roads We engage in a succession of sieges, nearly all RS difficult as Sebastopol. When the heights are carried and the enemy has withdrawn into the interior, the transport of provisions will be very difficult. We are unprovided with a suffi cient number of animals; we have not sufficient means of transport for the necessities of 10,000 men; nor do we hear of any large arrivals of beasts of burden. As regards transport the Crimea is peculiarly disadvantageous to an invader from the want of water. Not only pro. visions, but water must be brought up for an advancing army. Will this want be antici pated and supplied ? We fear that it will occasion great loss, and that the nation must be prepared for fearful sufferings. But sup pose all these trials surmounted, and an allied army before Simferopol. What force will the Russians bring against them? Ac counts vary. Some say 60,000 or 70,000 men. Others report 100,000. Others go so far as to calculate 150,000 will be found concentrated in the Russian lines. They will be fresh, close to their supplies, and well furnished with water. After all our diminutions are we likely to be able to bring into the field a force that shall be in numbers at all equal to theirs ? Far be it from us to insinuate discourage ments, or to counsel timid measures. Bold. ness can alone succeed. The dangers must be met, the difficulties must be surmounted, and perhaps great battles must he fought. Th• daring general will command the support of the country. But one inference we do draw. So perilous au enterprise demands the utmost energy and the most consummate judgment. It can only he successful by a combination of exertions. The general will be of no avail, if the Commissariat breaks down ; the Commissariat will toil in vain if the Ministry fail them. Through every branch of our military service, and in every department of civil co-operation, the right man must ba in the right place, or we can expect nothing but the old story of failure and disgrace. THE NEW SECRETARY TO THE ADMIRALTY. THE appointment of Mr. PHINN to the vacant Secretaryship at the Admiralty gave rise to a short conversation in the Lords on Thursday evening. Mr. Firms recently brought forward a sham sno tion on Poland, mainly for the purpose, as it seemed, of complimenting Lord PALMERSTON of being a greater kingmaker than Waawicx, and of having it in his power to remodel the map of Europe by his word if be could but be persuaded to speak it. The purpose of Mr. PHINN'S oration was answered when the Premier had been sufficiently pane gyrised, and the motion was withdrawn. Mr. PHINN has remained quiet ever since, but his modest merit has been remembered by the Premier at the right time. It is not pretended that he has had any experience of official life, or that be has shown any remarkable diligence in Legislative business. He receives his appointment for the reason given by VOLTAIRE for the shooting of poor BYNO " pour encourager les " autres." The Government of Lord DERBY thought the post might be conveniently filled by a naval officer, and the arrangement by which one of the two secretaries should belong to that branch of the service which it is the duty of the Admiralty to administer, seemed both equitable and expedient. But. to have followed that precedent would probably have seemed to the Government like yielding to the popular cry for Ad ministrative Reform, so this lucrative, and at the pre sent time important post, is given to Mr. Phinn, a barrister, as if to show that the old Whig rule of confining public patronage to political adherents is more than ever to be acted on just now, as stricter discipline is enforced in a regiment if a mutinous spirit is observed among the men. The cry for Administrative Reform is getting trouble some, and the Premier is determined to " put it " down." THE FOURTH REPORT of the Sebastopol Inquiry Committee on the Army before Sebastopol was pub lished on Thursday, in the form of a blue book of nearly four hundred pages. The report merely con tains the minutes of evidence taken from the 2nd to the 15th instant, comprising that of Sir T. Hastings, Mr. S. Herbert, M.P., Admiral Dundas, Sir J. Graham. and the Earl of Aberdeen. The next publication will be the report of the committee, properly so called. A NAIVE CONYESSION.—Sir William blolesworth wrote, on Wednesday, to his constituents in South wark, "If Mr. Disraeli's motion be carried, the necessity of Administrative Reform will become more apparent." The result of a vote of censure against Ministers being carried would, in all likelihood, be their resignation. The meaning, therefore, of the somewhat oracular epistle from which we have quoted would appear to be, that the necessity for Administrative Reform is not apparent to Sir William Molesworth in office, but would become obvious to Sir William Molesworth out of office.—Daily News. THE ANNIVERSARY OF THE ROYAL LITERARY FUND, which, having been founded in the year 1790, is now in its With year, was held on Tuesday at the Free masons' Tavern. The Lord Bishop of Oxford was m -‘. the chair. Among the donations and subscriptions announced during the evening were those of her Majesty (18th donation), 105/. ; the Bishop of Oxford, 211.; the Duke of Somerset (48th donation), 10 guineas; the Earl of Ellesmere (25th donation), 10 guineas; the Earl of Elleaborough, Lord Londes- borough, Lord Hardinge, &c., 10 guineas each ; the Stationers' Company, 201. RESPECTING LORD DUNDONALD'S PLANS the Atht- nrum states :—" It is said, and we believe correctly said, by well-informed persons, that the scientific commission appointed to consider the feasibility of Lord Dundonald's plan for destroying the arsenals and fortresses of the Russians, have reported in favour of the project, subject to certain conditions, t wu,ch will have to be decided by military engineers. '4 , 411 •