The Press. — London, England, 1855-04-07 00:00:00

318 that after the storming we should have been too weak to hold Balaklava and the heights. In the hour of victory we should have been over powered. Since that time the defences of Sebastopol have enormously increased, and the cost of taking them has risen ift au equal ratio. Both have increased quite in propdt tion to the numbers of tho besiegers. The army of observation will also be larger. We can scarcely be said to be in a better position for the assault than we were before Inkermann. What would be the remedy? To pour in troops. This is the healthy time of the year when they will be most easily acclimatised. This is the dry part of the spring when mili tary operations are the most easy. It is the month in which the fewest Russian reinforce ments can have come up. It is the critical period which is most favorable for a coup de main. Our reinforcements ought to be upon the spot, ready for the decisive stroke. The assault, if it is really intended, might then most advantageously be executed, while the new troops held the heights, and set at rest all apprehension from the relieving army. But let us take the other scheme, that of raising the siege and meeting the Russians in the field. Look at our present position. We have two intrenched camps, one at Eupatoria, the other on the heights above Sebastopol, the latter of very great extent. Can we stir out of them? Whatever may be the force of the enemy, are we not strictly beleaguered? Is not Eupatoria almost in danger? Can we sally from our own camp without leaving a large body of troops to preserve our base of commu nications, so large a force as seriously to dimi nish our strength in the field? Conjectures and rumours reach us respecting the numbers of the foe, and they are not calculated to in crease our confidence. It is said that the Russians now in the Crimea are not far short of 150,000 men, besides the levies at a greater distance. What is the only means of insuring our success in the field ? Again we say, to pour in more troops. Where are the Mediterranean garrisons that should have been relieved long ago by the Militia? Where are the Sardinian troops, so long the subject of congratulation ? Where are the Indian regiments ? Where is the re serve that should have been accumulating in the depots at home? Where are the cavalry regiments to replace the survivors of Bala klava, and put us on terms of equality with the Russians in the plains ? Few of them have started ; none of them have arrived. Again the Government is too late. There is a danger that the favorable moment may pass, that the armies of the Czar may become overpower ingly strong, and that our own forces may be doomed to a dishonourable return. THE ANTE-EASTER SESSION. ;::.` WE congratulate the country on its choice. Lord PALMERSTON is an active Minister indeed. The Parliament has sat (with a short interval' of some three weeks or so) for above four months, and has now adjourned for its Easter holidays. What has been done during those four months of valuable time? what steps has the Ministry taken to accomplish the end for which this great war has been under taken—what means to relieve the suffering army by which it is carried on? what measures of improvement for the people at home have been proposed—what reforms in our colonies abroad have had the Ministerial attention? These are important questions. Parliament met on the 12th of December for the express purpose of legalising the em ployment of militia in our foreign possessions. The measure to effect this was passed nem. con. by a willing Parliament, a trusting people, and a generous Opposition. What came next? The real object for which the Legislature was eonvened—the former was only the pretence— a till to employ foreign mercenaries and insult the nlble spirit of our own people. This el'ous measure. against which every voice in Snglaqd was raised, passed because the ver orient assured us of its "absolute and immediate necessity, without which aid they could not possibly carry on the war." This " absolute and pressing necessity" may be Nbal. THE PRESS. judged of by the results, which are that up to the present hour not one single foreign soldier has been introduced into England, nor, so far as appears, has any foreign enlistment whatever taken place under this valuable mea sure of " pressing necessity." It is, in fad, as if it had never been. So much for the result of our parliamentary session in Decem ber last. What occurs in that of January ? A brilliant programme, indeed, was flashed before our eyes, but it never came to anything ; for, first of all, Lord JOHN RussELL, in terror of Mr. ROEBUCK, runs away; then Lord ABER DEEN is turned out; then the Duke of NEW CASTLE ; then, after having played fast and loose alternately, promising one thing to Lord DERBY verbally and another to Mr. GLAD STONE in writing, Lord PALMERSTON, forms his Ministry—a rechauffee, and a bad one, of Lord ABERDEEN'S. Scarcely are they all in, however, before they are all out again. Lord PALMERSTON, who to become Premier broke his word with Lord DERBY and kept it with Mr. GLADSTONE, now that he is Premier breaks it with both, and agrees to that which he had pledged himself to oppose. Peachum and Lockit are again enacted by Lord JOHN and Lord PALMERSTON, and the vacant places of the indignant Peelites are filled by three of the most incapable gentlemen in the House. Then it is that legislation begins in real earnest, and the Government take counsel together what course they should pursue on other people's bills, but wisely abstain from bringing in any of their own. Mr. Cons Err brings in an improved Ten Hours Bill, and they oppose that; Mr. HEYWOOD his Marriages Bill, and they support it ; Mr. WILLIAMS a probate duty, Mr. LOCKE KING a Real Property Succession Bill—both are rejected ; Sir JOHN PAKINGTON'S admirable Education Bill meets with universal approbation, Sir J. WALMSLEY'S Sunday-open ing scheme with universal condemnation ; and at last comes Sir WILLIAM CLAY'S favorite anti church-rate measure, to which the Govern ment " lend their support," as they term it—a very happy phrase, implying, probably, that they mean to withdraw it at some future period. Excepting a long discussion upon the newspaper stamp scheme, not a measure has been originated on the part of Ministers to the present hour. Even the old stereo typed reply to any inconvenient question touching some subject to which the Go vernment had never given athought, that it was " engaging the anxious attention "of her Majesty's Ministers " even this seems to have fallen into disuse. Nothing engages the anxious attention of that active and intelligent body but how to preserve themselves in office. We can only say we are much mistaken in the feelings of the country, in the spirit of our people, if they will long tolerate in office a body of men who use as their stock in trade that fearful war in which their culpability has plunged us—those hor rible disasters which their incapacity has brought upon us. LORD HARDWICKE AND SARDINIA. WHEN the Earl of CLARENDON moved last week an address to the Crown, in reply to the message from her Majesty respecting the con vention lately concluded with Sardinia, he stated, in the course of his speech, that Sar dinia, in the marked advance she had made of late years towards representative institutions and constitutional government, had herself alone matured and carried out those plans to secure the civil liberty of the subject, without any assistance whatever from England. Lord HARDWTCRE, in seconding the motion, modestly avoiding any allusion to his own great and successful services to Sardinia, paid a willing and graceful tribute to the Sardinian army, and acknowledged the wise and liberal policy of that Government which had preserved, at least to one portion of Italy, freedom and independence. That it is to her own energies, to the careful piloting of the Constitutional Government by CAVOUR and D'AzEouo, and to the consistency and moderation of her Sovereign, that Sardinia owes her successful career of late years, no one can deny; but SATURDAY, few will fail to allow that, in 1849, after the fatal battle of Novara, with fo reign invasion staring her in the face, republican intrigues distracting her at home, and with Genoa in open revolt, Sardinia stood upon the brink df ruin. The assistance of the flag of England In the port of Genoa at this critical moment, and the energy, reso lution, and regardlesauess of self that actuated the captain of a ritish luau-of-war in tho roadstead turned the tide of her fortunes. He took upon himself the sole responsi bility of direct interference with the in vested city of Genoa, and with the besieging army under General MARMORA ; and, fortu nately for the Sardinian monarchy and for the best interests of the Piedmontese people, de feated the intrigues of the republican party, and speedily brought about the surrender of the city into the hands of the King's General. Very little is known by the public of the details of this event, or of the success of Lord HARDWICKE in obtaining the surrender of the town on the one hand, and the acceptance by General MARMORA of the terms which Lord HARDWICKE had himself drawn up on the other. In those terms he secured that no blood should be shed upon the scaffold, though the leaders of the revolt were excluded from the general amnesty ; and we speak from good authority, when we state that for two days and three nights Lord HARDWICKE laboured incessantly to bring affairs to a happy conclusion. The bombardment had continued for two days, a general assault was anticipated, and probably the beautiful town of Genoa might have become a heap of ruins, but for Lord HARDWICKE'S successful interference. While saving the town from destruction, he freed the Government from a position of no ordinary difficulty, and mainly contributed to secure those civil liberties and that Constitutional Go vernment for Sardinia which have insured her steady and progressive advancement. The King of SARDINIA felt and acknowledged the importance of the service rendered to his Crown, but the Government of England, which now so eagerly seeks the assistance of Sar dinia, would not permit Lord HARDWICKE to wear the honour he had so deservedly won. We can only hope that the Sardinian General will be able by the services of his troops in the Crimea to repay that assistance which Lord HARDWICKE generously afforded to Sar dinia iu the hour of her greatest need. MR. GLADSTONE. CEREBRAL natures—men of mere intellect, without moral passion, are quite unsuited for governing mankind. They may theorise pro foundly, or spin the subtlest webs of argu ment, but they can neither rule Cabinets, nor control empires. Something more than brains are required for mastering beings of mixed elements of life. There must be the pre sence of sturdy power, the fascination of masculine resolve, before numbers of men will yield to a leader. In the practical affairs of the world, strength of character is worth nearly all the other qualities. What hordes of clever men swarm through the crowded thoroughfares, and yet how few are the resolute characters amongst them! The courage inspired by a vigorous volition is absolutely necessary before genius can be constant to its own inspiration. MLRABEAU well said that "a person without a strong " character is not a man, but a thing." No British statesman so thoroughly exem plifies these truths as Mr. GLADSTONE. Our recollection of him goes back to those early days when the young Oxonian, even then with a laurelled brow, was an object of interest to all who saw the honour able pride with which his worthy parents regarded one who has largely justified their bright anticipations. Of his mere talents and accomplishments we have never had a second opinion. His aptitude for sus tained reasoning, his copious flow of choice language, and the supple adroitness with which he can wind through the mazes of a 4.milli q -----~~