The Press. — London, England, 1855-03-10 00:00:00

224 broadcloth. In accordance with this doctrine Mr. RICARDO would at once remove every re striction upon Russian commerce. He would cease to blockade any one of her ports, and he would allow at the same time the full impor tation into her dominions of British lead, gunpowder, Lancaster guns, or any other en glues of war, for he would, by a stroke of his pen, abolish the right of search as a barbarous remnant of the dark ages. He would carry out, in short, the free-trade theory to its utmost limits, regardless of all consequences, but profoundly convinced at the same time that it must be attended with unspeakable advantages to the whole civilised world, and more especially to that country which has the wisdom to adopt it first. NAPOLEON I. once observed, that although an empire were made of adamant, the political economists, if freely allowed to reduce their theories to practice, would break it in pieces with inconceivable rapidity. Of the justice of this remark Mr. RICARDO'S pamphlet is a striking proof. Yet we must admit that the line of argument he has adopted is at least intelligible and consistent, which is more than we can say for the theory of Lord GRANVILLE and his colleagues. On the one hand they blockade the Baltic ports; on the other they allow Russian produce to be freely imported into this country in neutral bottoms. The result is, that we pay about 50 per cent. more for the flax, and hemp, and tallow which we obtain by means of this indirect traffic than we should pay if we received these articles direct from Russia. It is estimated that the additional cost of Russian produce to this country during the past year has been upwards of two millions sterling, which sum has been divided between the traders of Russia and Prussia, in addition to their ordinary profits. No wonder, therefore, that Russia has not yet wearied of the war. No wonder that Prussia preserves a neutrality which many of our con temporaries denounce as fraudulent, but which our anomalous policy gives her every motive to maintain. That policy, notwithstanding the exp l ana tions of Mr. CARDWELL and Lo rd G RAN VILLE, must appear wholly unintelligible except to those who profit by it. In the course of the late debate in the House of Peers, Lord BERNERS complained that, in spite of the measures taken for the destruction of the commerce of Russia, as much of her produce reached this country since hostilities began as previously. This point was warmly contested by Lord GRANVILLE, who referred to the latest Board of Trade returns to show that there had been a considerable falling off in the amount of her imports. What, then, does this Noble Lord want ? If he seeks to cripple the Russian trade, why, in the name of common sense, allow the indirect traffic ? if he does not seek to cripple it, why maintain the blockade of the Baltic and Black Seas ? Escape from this dilemma is impossible ; and it is with justice that Mr. RICARDO complains of the irreconcileable con tradictions involved in the maritime policy of the Coalition, and to which their successors cling with such affectionate regard. To us it has ever appeared that no graver error has been committed in the conduct of this disas trous war than by sparing the commerce of Russia, which is entirely at our mercy, and upon which her credit and her financial capa bility of prolonging the contest entirely " CABINETS REVIEWED." AT a time when the country is being favored with dissolving views of various confederations called by the name of Governments, and the question whether a Government, properly so called, is in existence must be solved, not from any act of Ministers, but by watching the daily announcement of some new and unex pected appointment, or desertion, or some new attempt and failure, the attention of the public is usefully recalled to the events of the last few years by an able pamphlet under the title of " Cabinets Reviewed," written by Mr W. EDMONSTONE LENDRICR. The marvellous impudence with which the Aberdeen Coa. lition took advantage of their predecessors' measures, both of home and foreign policy, w hich most of the Coalitio nists had previously with factious bitterness endeavoured to defeat, THE PRESS. has almost confused the public memory of their authorship. What the Derby Ministry was enabled to achieve, in spite of the most profli gate opposition which has of late years been ventured in Parliament, and what that Cabinet was prevented by faction from perfecting, are placed by Mr. LENDRICH in clear narrative be fore the public. It is that " plain truth" which " needs no flowers of speech," and the careful reader of it will think no heavier indictment than this lucid statement needed to show that with respect to certain notorious members of the Coalition it is impossible to award them any other character than that of men seeking mere place by means in which principle had no part whatever. The Administration of the Earl of DERBY took office at a time which the involvments, both at home and abroad, combined to con stitute something more than merely "a critical "period of affairs." At home, those departments on the efficiency of which our national rank in Europe depended, had been left by popularity hunting placemen in such a state of neglect that one would have supposed they believed that the end of all wars had come ; while abroad, France, the great keystone of any structure of European peace or war, had just established a popular throne, which had been assailed by Cabinet Ministers of the Peelites and Whigs with a scurrility unparalleled in political discussion. The free-trade system, depending as it must on new systems of finance, had scarcely begun—at all events, it was denied as yet to many interests in the State. The Opposition in Parliament were actuated by that malice which is the peculiar result of in. competency and failure, and they were led by a Minister who did not even conceal that, quo cunque modo, the Cabinet was to be overthrown. Of a Government before which was placed the task of remedying the blunders and neglects of many years everything was demanded at once, their opponents adopting the sentiment so differently applied in Lucan— Nil actum raputans xi quid superesset agendum. What the Derby Ministry did accomplish, in the face of Lord Jolts RussELL and the Peelites, will be matter of sincere astonishment to every candid political historian of the time. While the most obtuse must have seen that the cloud in the North and East must be followed by war, the Militia Bill, brought in by Mr. Secretary WALPOLE, was bitterly and almost successfully opposed byLord JOHN RUSSELL. It was carried ; and Mr. LENDRIOIE remarks on the curious fact that," Amongst the many changes "in the measures for the defence of the country " which have since taken place, none has ever "been proposed in the Militia Bill of 1852." But the attention of the Government was not confined to prospective measures. They found departments for the support of which the country was led to believe it was providing, in a state of the most shameful in efficiency and neglect. How this was reme died cannot be better told than in the words of the pamphlet before us : The next step was to put the Ordnance on a proper footing. This important department had been grievously neglected for above thirty years ; and had a large British army at any time during that long period been forced to take the field, it would have been found utterly deficient in many of the requisites for carrying on war. Guns had rusted, and their carriages were rotten, whilst the soldiers themselves were supplied only with an obsolete species of firelock. All these defects were remedied by the energy of those to whom the department of the Ordnance was intrusted—Lord Hardinge, Sir George Berkeley, and Colonel Dunne. The Enfield (miscalled Minis) rifle, now found so advantageous in the Crimea, was extensively in tzoduced in the service ; and large sums were judiciously expended in fortifying the Channel Islands, Sheerness, Sconcepoint, Tilbury, and other places along the coast. The Admiralty, moreover, immediately placed nine additional screw line-of-battle ships, together with several smaller vessels, in commission; whilst the first secretary of the board was despatched to the Mediterranean to inspect the state of the fleet and the condition of our military and naval posts in that important quarter. Most materially in conjunction with mea sures for the defence of the country came the conclusion of that cordial alliance with France which was perfected by the Derby Adminis tration in spite of conduct and language which cannot have been otherwise intended by the Peelites than to interrupt or destroy it. This alliance alone would have been sufficient to have given a place in history to the Govern ment and the Minister (Lord Malmesbury) who concluded it. SATURDAY, When the Earl of DERBY acceded to power a distinct promise was made, not only of de fensive measures, but of internal improvement; and how well this promise was fulfilled may be seen by the lists given of measures carried at pp. 7,8, and 9 of Mr.LENDRICIed pamphlet. His review of Lord ABERDEEN'S Ministry, as the late Coalition is sometimes called, is clever and trenchant, but, as its no minal head might have said, it is now " throwing water on a droon't moose." The history of the Coalition is a history generally of want of principle, accompanied by want of vigour. Lord PALMERWTON, perhaps, was an exception to some of his friends. He had the merit of voting for and supporting the Militia Bill. Public opinion had separated him from the rest of the clique. He has chosen, how ever, to sacrifice that opinion, and to accept the judgment of nosoittir a sociis, which the nation had been unwilling to fix upon- him. How we will fare is hardly a question. WHO AND WHERE IS THE COLONIAL MINISTER? EVENTS of mighty importance to the existence of the British empire are crowding upon us with fearful rapidity. The auriferous soil of Victoria is reddened with the blood of our fellow-subjects, and soldiers of the line have fallen in open combat with armed insurrec tionists. Every mail from the Antipodes is looked for with intense interest. The desperate character of the depraved classes in Australia, and the passions that burst forth with such fury in all new communities, make colonial politicians look grave when the state of Aus tralian affairs is mentioned. As if that would not be enough of evil for our Coloni-office to deal with, the announce ent of a al new Kaffir war is s imultaneously brought from the Cape of Good Hope. The courage and ability of Sir HARRY SMITH and the late Sir GEORGE CATHCART seem not to have produced lasting results. The work will have to be done over again, and more demands will be made at the Treasury and the War-office for money and armaments to sup port the Queen's Executive in her Majesty's most important settlements. Never since the American war was the British Colonial system in more danger than now. During the last ten months the Colonial-office has been visited, we cannot say ruled, by Sir GEORGE GREY, the Duke of NEWCASTLE, Mr. SIDNEY HERBERT, and Lord JOHN Russ Nu.. The first of these politicians has long been in infirm health, and is noto riously unequal to laborious work ; the second of them has retired from the public service, totally discomfited ; the third had no special knowledge of colonial affairs ; and the fourth is rambling from Paris to Brussels, from Brussels to Berlin, and thence to Vienna. To make affairs still smoother, the late Under- Secretary for the Colonies, Mr. FREDERICK PEEL, iS now removed to the War office, where his facility in tying red tape is held preferable to the manly energy and extensive European knowledge of Mr. LAYARD. The vacant Under- Secretaryship kept open for the acceptance of Sir ROBERT PEEL (1) is at last declined by him, and at this moment is unfilled. We really believe t hat such outrageous audacity in trifling with mighty nati interests could be displayed only under a Ministry of old Whigs. The morbid vanity of Lord JOHN RUSSELL must be propitiated at any price. The House of Bedford must exercise its hereditary right of ruling a sec tion of the Sovereign's Cabinet. The fall from the Premiership must be concealed from the publio eye, by assuming the office of a m ighty ambassador, and a histrionic air of greatness must be given to Lord JOHN in the decline and fall of his power. Hence European mission, along with the sceptre of the Colonies, has been confided to a s t a t es man morti fi ed, but not yet humbled, by his reverses. And it is with grayef, that fore• bodings that we echo th e prevalent 'belie before we have heard the last of Lord Joliti R U SSELL and his " great Wh i g party" England will have to mourn over calamities eontnved by the little designs of little men in lofty stations.