The Press. — London, England, 1855-11-17 00:00:00

1096 THE WEEK. THE speech of the French Emperor at the close of the Exposition is the great event of this week. Louis NAPOLEON never before uttered words which will be so eagerly scanned by Europe. The tone of this graceful and dignified address will be critically contrasted with the war-to-the-knife bluster of our Premier at the Mansion-house banquet. With the French Emperor the war is undertaken for a definite principle, and wholly discountenanced for any other purpose than the attainment of those objects for which hostilities were commenced. " Peace," said his Majesty, "to be durable, " must clearly resolve the question from which the war emanated." This view coincides remarkably with the opinions which have been put forth in THE PRESS. In the speech of Louis NAPo LEON the object and limit of the war are clearly defined, and the prin ciples of peace as clearly laid down. On his own desire for peace the Emperor laid marked emphasis,—" You should desire each of yon, as " I do, that this peace should be prompt and durable." It is most unlikely that the Emperor would have spoken these words if he had not been convinced that peace was not only desirable but practicable and if he had not received convincing proofs of the desire of Russia to terminate the contest, and to make every concession which can reasonably be desired for the prompt and lasting settlement of the Eastern question. As the campaign for 1855, both in the Baltic and Black Sea, is over, it becomes a question of no little importance, assuming the war to con- inue, to consider the preparations necessary to enable us to resume the contest with a chance of attaining some more unequivocal success than has yet fallen to our arms To what purpose, therefore, can the energies of the country be most profitably directed between this time and the opening of the next campaign? Of course our army in the East should be duly cared for and strengthened, and our Euxine fleet he kept in an efficient state, to continue the system of warfare which has proved so injurious to the enemy. But it is not in the South that we can now hope to strike a decisive blow against Russia. Should she be resolutely bent on maintaining the contest, we must strike nearer her heart before we can hope to break her power and her pride. Cronstadt is the grand point to be attacked. Of all the enemy's defences, that is the one on the impregnability of which he counts most securely. It is the gate of his capital, the stoutest bulwark of his empire. When we reflect on the incredible preparation and toil it cost NAPOLEON with his grand army to penetrate to Moscow, and consider the ease with which the allied fleets can reach Cronstadt, the only obstacle to an advance on St. Petersburg, we must acknowledge that no effort would be too great to reduce this famous fortress. The only question is, whether with all our naval strength and resources we are equal to its attack. The failure of the two Baltic campaigns already tried, counts for nothing, as the allies had not the description of force which would have enabled them to attack with advantage. Next year, with greater energy on the part of our Executive, the result may be very different. The experiment lately tried with the floating batteries in the Kin- burn expedition has been encouraging. The French batteries seem to have answered admirably, and it will be our own fault if wo do not profit by the inventive ingenuity of our Allies. At Sweaborg our gunboats proved their efficacy. The only fault was that there were not more of them, and that extra mortars were not kept in reserve to replace those worn out by the firing. Knowing how destructive was the fire of fifteen of these active and stinging vessels, we can imagine what consternation would be caused to the defenders of a fortress by the concentrated fire of a hundred of them. The principle of the floating batteries is similar. They are de signed, like the mortar•boats, to present as small a mirk to the enem y as possible, while carrying guns of the heaviest calibre to assail the enemy's works. But, in addition, they are made shot and bomb proof From their size, structure, and capability of continual motion they will be difficult to hit, but even if hit, will throw off the missile which strikes against them. It is to this new arm iu conjunction with the gun boats that we must look for success in any serious attack upon the Baltic fortresses. It seems to be admitted that our screw liners and frigates are machines too costly and too easily susceptible of injury to be risked against stone walls with the improvements which have made battery firing so much more destructive than formerly. The work must be done by less pretending engines of destruction, and the floating batteries seem to possess every requisite for the purpose Would it be possible to build and equip a hundred of these vessels against next summer? With our immense resources it would seem so• THE PRESS. SATURDAY, Part of them might be contracted for when a really effective model has been settled. With a powerful fleet of mortar boats and batteries, in addition to the ships of the allied fleets, the defenders of Cronstadt would have reason to tremble fur its safety. A strong land force might be required to co-operate with the navy. Might it not be better to prepare an army for this special purpose, even though scant reinforcements were sent to the East. It is probable that next year, when Russia has taxed her strength to increase her forces in the South, she may be found more accessible in the Baltic than the Euxine She relies on the impregnability of Cronstadt. Its fall would shake Russian power through Europe, demonstrate in contestably the superiority of the Allies, and make our navy again the pride and hope of our people So great an object is worth every exertion and sacrifice. The fall of Cronstadt would be a far grander triumph than the fall of Sebastopol, and would probably have a far more direct influence on the fortunes of the war. In a late number of THE PRESS we called attention to the way the " Mone3 Went, Abroad ;" but from facts lately brought to light by some of our daily contemporaries we perceive that the Government is not only lavish on Bashi-l3azouks and Crimean Tatars, but displays much the same ignorant extravagance nearer home. We allude to the " New Record office." When GARGANTITA founded the Abbey of The leme, the only rule he thought it necessary to enforce for the Govern ment of the Order was the very simple ono, " Faz ce quo vouldras ; " Do what thou wilt :" and with reference to the arrangement of public documents in the New Record office, it would seem that the responsi ble authorities of the Rolls acknowledge no more stringent rule than that which guided the actions of the happy regulars of GARGANTUA . B monastery. The new repository was originally constructed for the sole purpose of concentrating in one fire-proof building the records of the four courts ; indeed, it is only an object of similar importance which could have justified the very great expense incurred in its construction. Into this building, erected at an outlay of upwards of 100,0001., an enormous mass of the most useless rubbish, carefully rescued from appropriate obscurity in the War-office, Chester, and the Welsh courts, has been lately conveyed, to the almost entire exclusion of the valuable matter it was originally intended to contain ; indeed, it has even been thought necessary, in order to find room for the rubbish itself, to puchase and repair, at an additional outlay of 6,0001., a dozen minor houses in Chancery-lane. Meanwhile, the invaluable Public Records now scattered about in the different branch offices between Westminster and the Tower must remain where they are, to the continued inconvenience of the public, who have laid out an enormous sum for the sole purpose of uniting them, and them alone, in one central repository. We do not profess to decide who or what is to blame for this wanton waste of the public funds; whether it arise from that diseased passion for antiquarian accumulation, that species of learned avarice which characterises the old age of some archaeological dilettanti, or from a positive indifference to public duties and interests, which hopes to escape detection from the apparent obscurity and unimportance of the position which it neglects. Judging from the published report, it would seem that the Deputy-Keeper and the Master of the Rolls are equally to blame ; " each is so like both that you can't tell neither from which," as the showman said of his portraits of the pig and the porcupine. It may be true that the Record•off►ee is one of the least important of the Government establishments; but for that very reason the strictest economy in its expenditure is the more imperatively required. If the service be insignificant, however, the sum is certainly not so; 100,0001. is no trifle from any point of view ; but the Government "is in for a good thing" and is willing to put on all its friends, from a Master of the Rolls to a Bashi-Bazouk. Our " Contingents" do not seem likely to do us much credit, or to retarn us an equivalent for the enormous sums expended on them. We read in the Constantinople correspondence of the Times, under date of Nov. 5, that a great part of the cavalry of the Turkish Contin gent had been embarked for Kertch. The first regiment was to have been first despatched; but while they were being shipped, the second regiment took advantage of the opportunity to desert so fast, that the men of the first were ordered back to laud, and the second were em barked in their place as speedily as possible. From Alexandria, (Nov. 6,) we hear that an agent of the Land Transport Corps has been busy engaging men since September:— He has enlisted some five hundred or six hundred men ; they are daily fed and lodged at an small cost to the British uovernment. They do nothing; no steamers come to carry them off, and it is anticipated that when the time comes for them to embark, a lurge proportion of them will disappear.—Times Cur. The foreign drivers of this Laud Transport Corps, according to a letter Elvin the Crimea, use, or rather abuse, their mules so cruelly as to speedily render them unlit for service. Meanwhile, the German Legion