The Press. — London, England, 1855-12-22 00:00:00

THE WEEK. WITH refermee to certii::l statements which have appeared in several of our contemporaries relative to a supposed breach in the ranks of of the Conservative party in North Essex, we have the highest autho rity for giving a most emphatic contradiction to any such sinister reports. The Conservatives of North Essex are thoroughly united upon all essential points. The differences which exist are trifling and insignificant, and have their origin in the malevolent attempt of a local journal to avenge itself upon a cause which some years since abjured its equivocal advocacy. We have the best ground for believ• ing that whenever a dissolution shall occur, the Whig-Radical party will find the True Blue Electors ready to meet them with two candi dates, whose principles and whose character entitle them to the sup port and confidence of a Conservative constituency. Two notable events have occurred in the political world this week. Prince ESTERHAZY has departed from Vienna, charged with a special mission to the Court of St. Petersburg. It seems to be the policy of our " leading journal " Ito let its important news leak out through its Paris correspondence, though there are suspicions abroad, from certain curious coincidences, that parts of that correspondence are manufactured at a spot inuchinearer.Plinting-house-square than Paris. Be this as it may, it is the Paris correspondent, nominally, who in forms us that " the propositions which Count VALENTINE ESTERHAZY is " carrying to St. Petersburg are completely adopted by the three Powers "—France, England, and Austria." The same correspondent also makes a much more remarkable announcement :—" You will be sur " prised to hear that Russia has been beforehand with us, and has herself " made a proposition, to which, as it has the priority, that carried by " Count ESTERHAZY must be considered a counter-proposition." This proposition is stated to he a plan for neutralising the Black Sea, by leaving the naval forces to be maintained by Russia and Turkey respectively to be settled by those two Powers. This statement is worth nothing but the fact that the Russian Ambassador at Vienna has actually been in communication " for some (lays " with the Aus trian Government, on conditions of peace, is significant as to the . nature of the negotiations really in progress. More will be, doubt less, let out by degrees. The other event of the week is the treaty between the Allies and Sweden. The object, it will at once be seen, is simply to preserve the integrity of that kingdom in its present limit. Sweden engages never to cede any portion of her territory to Russia, and the Allies engage to support her refusal to any such cession. The Ministerial papers have very unnecessarily endeavoured to magnify the importance of this treaty, by representing that Russia was eager for un Atlantic port, and with the view of having ships in readiness to ravage our 'shores and so forth The treaty does not need such exaggeration to set off its value. It is a move in the right direction, as tending to bind the European Powers more closely together, to establish a code of European law and policy, and to place the minor kingdoms of the Continent under its protection. As regards Russia, the treaty cannot be considered as aggressive, though as regards Sweden or Europe generally it is protective and even pacifi c, by removing one cause of alarm in the north, and by defining limits which it will he impossible for Russia to pass. The capitulation of Kars is of course what everyone for months past has been expecting, and everyone foresaw, except those apparently whose especial business it was to prevent such a catastrophe. For six months has that heroic garrison been left to fight and battle it out as best it may against hunger and MOURAVIEFF. Representation and appeal were alike listened to and neglected by our Government and the Porte. It was a mere question of starvation against time, and there could be little doubt which would hold out longest. But no single effort was made to relieve the garrison ; for those contemptible reconraissances out of Erzeroum of SELIM PACHA, who instinctively dreads a Cossack, do not deserve the name of an attempt at relief. The Turkish army was kept in the Crimea utterly useless, wasting invaluable time, and becoming demoralised and disgusted with inactivity. The Turkish Contingent, comprising a tolerably effective force, was kept in utter idleness at the Bosphorus ; and in spite of the earnest representations of General BEATSON, who, in September, laid a plan before our Government for the relief of Kars by the Contingent, the plan was disallowed, and no single step taken in the matter. The capture of Kars seemed so certain an event, that it was waste of time to attempt its relief. Those mild and amiable Bashi-Bazouks were therefore saved the trouble of a campaign, and kept in pleasant quarters on the Bosphorus. Then, when at last OMER PACHA does reach Asia Minor, for some unaccountable reason, he attempts, with 26,000 men, to create merely a diversion of the Russian forces, not the positive relief of the town. The terrible straits to which the garrison was reduced left but one means open for its relief—a direct advance from Erzeroum ; and had OMER PACHA, instead of attempting so hazardous and uncertain a movement as ii diversion in MOURAVIEFF'S rear, marched upon Erzeroum, where a garrison of 16,000 men lay ready to join him, who will say that the Sirdar, with such augmented forces, would not have forced the defiles of one of the routes open to him, and lave succeeded in reaching and relieving Kars? But the town is lost, lin(' a mixerere has been sang over its fate by all the Government li 1216 THE PRESS. SATURDAY, papers. The capture of Kutais by OMER PACHA may bring the balance back to the side of the Allies, and give him winter quarters for his troops; but Kutais is an extremely strong position, and MOURAVIEFF, in conjunction with Prince BEsuTovi, will now make every effort to save it. Death has this week been more than usually busy among our eminent men. Mr. RoGERs, tho poet, the patriarch of literature, died last Tuesday morning, at his house in St..Tames's-place. Of a life that extends over ninety-five years, and embraces several distinct phases of English society, we cannot pretend to give even a sketch. The first of his celebrated works was his best. " The Pleasures of Memory " is remarkable as having been one of the first poems which caught the eye and gratified the imagination of THOMAS MOORE. RooEßs's mind was at once benevolent and satirical. Yet satirical rather because he could not resist the temptation of saying a good thing than from any cynical feeling. His charities are well known; and to his eternal honour be it recorded, that, while titled and fashion able friends stood aloof, he consoled the last sorrows, and ministered to the last wants, of SHERIDAN. Only a few days before SHERIDAN'S death, MOORE conveyed to him a cheque for 1501 from the generous poet who survived him so long. The chief foible of ROGERS seems to have been a tendency for " tuft-hunting," and one or two diverting stories on this subject are told at his expense. His house at 22, SL James's place, which he inhabited from the year 1808, has long been well known for its treasures of art; and, u Mr. ROGERS was never married, we suppose the dispersion of them will not long be delayed. We have also to record with regret the death of the gallant, generous, and amiably eccentric member for Lincoln. Colonel SIBTHORPE ex pired last Saturday, in the seventy-third year of his age, and tweuty ninth of his representation of his county town. His politics are too well known to need our explanation, and his honesty to need our praise. He adhered resolutely to the principles which he advocated on his first return to Parliament. His influence at Lincoln was im mense ; and the only candidate who ever succeeded in unseating hint was Sir E B. LYTToN, in 1833. Clincher : Well, the news, dear Captain. You sailed a bravo squadron of men of war to the Baltic. Well, and what then, eh? Fireball : Why, then—we came back again ! What a prophet was Farquhar, when he wrote Sir Harry Wildair Little did he believe that the day would come when fine British fleets should sail up the Baltic and—come back again ! But we are accus tomed to it now, and when this amiable mode of carrying on warfare is changed for something a trifle more effective—when the fleet really accomplishes the object it has in view in spite of shot, shell, and splinters, our suprise will know no bounds. Meanwhile, Admiral Durms, like old Fireball, has been up the Baltic and come back again with his fine fleet of ships safe and uninjured, save a little bumping now and then on unknown rocks. Without entering into any compa rison between the results of the two campaigns, or ill-natured remarks on the sum total of both, we may safely say that never in the history of this country did we cut so ridiculous a figure as up the Baltic iu '54 and '55. The operations of the fleets have been contemptible in extent and unworthy of the nation The hereditary British Lion, it would seem, under the care and feeding of ABERDEEN, PALMERSTON, and Co., loses his daring, and, with the spirit of a degenerate poodle, contents himself with hunting rats and mice in preference to more noble game. Even had the public been disposed to forget the poisoning mystery at Burdon, the fresh occurrence at Rugeley would effectually have roused them. The second case adds weight to what has been repeatedly urged about the first, i e., that poisoning being a crime which so readily eludes detection, it is impossible that it can ever undergo too searching an investigation. Here are the deaths of two persons coming close upon one another, whom it is pretty clear have been murdered by some one—whose murderers it is equally clear; stand an excellent chance of escape. No excuses whatever can pos sibly palliate this. Dr. HAZLEWOOD'S letter, though not indeed penned with all the discretion we could have wished, inasmuch as he still continues to throw out hints against an injured person, is still all the more evidence of the necessity for a searching inquiry, while the appalling rumours which are rife concerning the antecedents of the prisoner PALMER, must compel the public to demand that more stringent steps be taken for their safety than have hitherto been devised. THE PARLIAMENTARY ALPHABET. A is poor Aberdeen, pompous and dull, Whom the nation discharged as a worn-out " Scotch mull"; B begins Bright, who denounces the war; C stands for Cobden, less eloquent far; D for Dundas, who can only aspire To the glory of keeping his ships out of fire While E is poor England, who blushes for shame, And F for our foes who exult at the same; G stands for Gladstone, with sophistry stored ; And H for Ben Hall, who would fain be a Lord ; I for poor Ireland--sorrowful isle— For Lord Eglinton's gone, and she's ruled by Carlisle ; J for John Russell, with soul mean and small, Talking twaddle to shopboys at Exeter-hall ; K is for Keogh, pronounce it who can, A little fat, vulgar, Papistical man; L for poor Labonchere, never once thought of, Till Pam fiiund Conservatives would not be bought off; -