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

THE PRESS. SATURDAY, confidence, but wants official confirmation. Prince GORTSCHAILOFF has assumed the command in the Crimea, and the defence of Sebastopol is certainly cairied on with greater vigour than ever. The delay in the sailing of our Baltic fleet will be golden news for the enemy. We hear that the Russians have established two for tified camps of 30,000 men each for the defence of the Baltic provinces, and all their sea forts have been greatly strengthened. The death of the Emperor NICHOLAS, therefore, so far from impairing the vigour of the Russian Government, seems to have been the occasion of diffusing greater energy into all its departments. The Sacred Synod of the Russian Church has issued (dated St. Petersburg, March 19) a kind of " fiery-cross " appeal to the people ; " the defence of Russian soil," it is said, " calls for new sacrifices and new feats, as God required by the " mouth of his anointed, now entered into the mansions of heaven." Every day brings new proof of the deplorable mismanagement of the Militia force. Men are leaving their regiments by hundreds, and this withdrawal is the more to be regretted, as in some cases a considerable proportion of those now leaving had volunteered for foreign service, their offer being most unwisely rejected because the number did not reach the arbitrary amount fixed on. If the war is really to be continued, it is evident that an entire change of system will be required, as the military resources of the country are to a great extent disorganised, and require the most prompt and vigorous measures for their reconstruction and development. The revenue returns for the year and quarter ending 31st March last are tar from sustaining Mr. GLADSTONE'S calculations. The great deficiency is in the malt duty. By raising the duty from 2s. od. to 4s. per bushel, Mr. GLADSTONE calculated that he should derive an in creased revenue of 2,450,0001. The fallacy of his calculation was exposed in THE PRESS at the time. We wrote, May lath, IN54: The attempt to raise between seven and eight millions from this commodity alone, may perhaps push taxation to that oppressive point at which it ceases to be productive. Itis a much larger sum than we raise from any single article of consumption. Already the duty presses so heavily as to prevent any expansion of the revenue. Mr. Gladstone may not improbably overload his camel. The increased duty took effect from the Bth of May last, and has therefore extended over forty-seven weeks out of the fifty-two of the financial year. The increased sum realised, therefore, should, accord. ing to Mr. GLADSTONE'S calculation, have amounted to about 2,200,0001., while the actual increase has only been 800,0001. Never did financier make a greater blunder, or one more inexcusable, as practical saga cious men announced, in the debate of the stli of May, what the result would be. Yet, in the face of this " great fact," the Times, pre suming on the ignorance of its readers, and their forgetfulness of events, trumpets forth the success of Mr. CrtAnsToNE, and audaciously proclaims that " the revenue responds to the demands made upon it," and that " the CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER has only to indicate the " tax to be raised, and it rises at once to his call!" The Conserva tive party, we hope, will make a determined stand against the reim position of a duty which has proved so burdensome to the revenue and so little productive to the Exchequer. The value of our exports for the month ending March 5, shows a great diminution over the corresponding period of last year. The decline is nearly two millions and a half ; it may be partly accounted for by the contraction of our trade with Australia and America, but still it must indicate great languor in all the staple branches of our trade and manufacture. Several singular trials have occurred during the week. The " Hopwood Will " case can have hut one result, yet the numerous instances of late in which scandalous family intrigues have been exposed, suggest the expediency of imposing some limit to individual caprice in the disposition of property, and of lessening by so much the chance of family dissensions. Another trial,—that of " Evans v. Robin son," as reported in the Times, has excited the strongest disgust. We question if ever before such revolting details polluted an English print. Societies for the Suppression of Vice must act in vain, if reports of this character are to gain a world wide circulation through the columns of the Times. The infamous publications which the vigilance of our police occasionally drags forth from obscure dens in holes and corners of the metropolis, that the dealers in the vicious traffic may be convicted and justly punished, contain nothing viler than the particulars which, through the agency of the Times, have been laid on every table in the kingdom. The publication in this case calls emphatically for reprobation, as it has been usual in reporting evidence to suppress whatever was offen sive to decency. The trial of " Boyle v. Wiseman" is a curious com mentary on that boasted unity which is said to prevail in the Roman Catholic Church. The artifices which were attempted to screen the defendant were not successful, and a verdict of 1,0001. damages fixed on him in a substantial shape the responsibility of the libel. Two other trials—" Waldron v. Bates " and " Clarke v. Richmond " suggest grave doubts of the expediency of that alteration in the law which permits principals in a cause to enter the witness-box them selves. In both these cases the plaintiff and defendant flatly contra dicted each other, and the painful conviction is of course forced on the mind that one or other of the persons concerned must have committed perjury. The dictum of Baron ALDERSON in the action against the Art- Journal for libel has excited universal astonishment. According to the Learned Judge, public prints acting under " a sense of what they " choose to call duty," in the exposure of abuses and frauds, must expect to be visited with the severest penalties of the law. Perhaps the verdict of 405., instead of the "full compensation " . he demanded, 328 THE WEEK. ANOTHER week of suspense and delay has elapsed. The Congress at Vienna has adjourned until Monday next, the war stagnates in the Crimea, as far as any real movement is concerned—though the skirmishes grow continually more frequent and more bloody—the Sardinian contingent delays its departure, and our Baltic fleet has sailed—for the Downs. How long it may remain there is not known, but our correspondent, it will be seen, hints that it may wait the arrival of the Emperor of the FRENCH, to be inspected by his Majesty in company with our Queen. Last year the Baltic fleet sailed nearly one mouth earlier. Sir CHARLES NAPIER, with the first division, fifteen sail, left Spithead on the 11th of March ; this year the fleet sails on the 4th April—twenty-four days later. Sir CHARLES NAPIER anchored in the Downs on 12th March, and on the following day made all sail for the Baltic. On the 15th he was at Wingo Sound, and on the 20th at Copenhagen. This year the fleet anchored in the Downs on sth April, how long to be detained there no one knows. The delay does not look much like that " vigorous prosecution of the war" which was to mark the advent of Lord PALMERSTON to power. Moro than ever attention is now directed to the Vienna Conference. Let us see what has been done. The Conference met on the 15th March, and on Friday, the 30th, held its eighth sitting, when it adjourned to the following Thursday. In those sittings, the preliminaries of the first point, for putting an eni to the exclusive Protectorate of Russia in the Black Sea, were settled and signed ; and the preliminaries of the second point, for the free navigation of the Danube , were agreed to, and " initialled." The third point was next taken into consideration, but the Russian Pleni potentiaries found it necessary to apply to their Court for further instructions. Waiting those instructions, the Conference, when it met on Monday last, adjourned for a week. The importance now attached to these proceedings is shown by the hurried visit of the French Minister of Foreign Affairs, M. DROUYN DE LHUYS, to London last week. He left Paris on Monday for Vienna, and seems to contemplate a somewhat lengthened absence, as he addressed a circular to his agents stating that he left M. THOUVENEL in charge of his department. ALI PACHA. left Constantinople on the 29th March for Vienna, and it is supposed would arrive there on the 6th or 7th April. When the Conference, therefore, resumes on Monday text, it will be attended, we presume, by Lord JOHN RUSSELL and Lord WESTMORELAND, on the part of England ; by M. DROUYN DE Limit's and M. DE BOUHQUENEY, on the part of France; by Prince GORTSCHAKOFF and M. DE TITOFF, On the part of Russia, with precise instructions from their Court on the construction to ho placed on the third point; by ALI PACHA and RIZA BEY, on the part of the Porte ; and by Count Bum. and Baron PitoxEscH-OirrEti, on the part of Austria. The abandonment of any intention on the part of the Western Powers to insist on the reduction of Sebastopol must tend to simplify proceedings, and it would seem that once more the determi nation of the question of peace or war rests solely with Russia. Her impenetrable, and we must acknowledge incorruptible diplomacy, has prevented any distinct intimation of her purpose transpiring. A final decision, it would seem certain, must be come to next week. Letters from the Crimea to the 23rd of March have been received, and we are now in possession of details of that desperate skirmish, on the night of the 22nd, which has been claimed as a success both in St. Petersburg and in Paris. The enemy made a sortie in force from Sebastopol, and penetrated to the second parallel of the allies before they could be driven back. On our side seven officers were killed, wounded, or missing, and about one hundred men were placed hors de combat. The French lost, according to the bulletin in the Moniteur, six hundred men. The loss of the enemy is conjectural, but it must have been severe. They succeeded in carrying off most of their dead. We have to deplore the loss of Colonel Kelly, Lieutenant Jardan, and Captain C. Browne. _ _ Our allies have not again attempted to gain possession of the work in front of the Malakoff Tower; and this fact alone shows the strength of the enemy's positions, and the desperate tenacity with which they are defended. The works are pushed forward with activity on each side ; and it seems difficult to say whether the Russians make most progress in their advances against the camp, or the allies in their advances against the town. The enterprise is undoubtedly all on the side of the enemy. Their sorties are more frequent and more vigorous, while the allies are content to remain on the defensive. The French, in spite of their numbers, have lately done nothing to vindicate the fame of their arms, and win new laurels. The desperate contests for the rifle-pits in front of the Mamelon, on Gordon's-hill, have not been attended with decisive results, the Russians yet holding part of the ground with almost incredible obstinacy, notwithstanding the accurate fire directed against them. Private letters say that the French troops are really excessively discouraged, and that they manifest none of that ardour for the assault which has been attributed to them. The Russians continue to receive immense reinforcements, and one train of waggons, 450 in number, was observed to enter Sebastopol from the north. The want of enterprise on the part of the allied commanders at present appears unaccountable. The health of the allied troops still continues to improve, the railway-works are pushed on, new bat teries arc armed, reinforcements arrive, yet the siege makes no pro gress. Tre report of Prince DlENsciacoFfs death is asserted with