The Press. — London, England, 1855-06-09 00:00:00

THE WEEK. A GREAT change has taken place in the position of parties this week, and at last the conduct of the Government is being fairly brought under the review of the House of Commons. The declaration of Lord PALMERSTON that the Vienna Conference finally closed on Monday con trasts most strangely with his previous declaration, after the return of Lord JOHN RUSSELL, that the Conference would remain open. The great fact now stands forth that the negotiation has proved utterly abortive, and no pretence remains for avoiding a searching examina tion of the conduct of the Government in reference to it. If the country owed nothing else to Mr. DISRAELI, it would be deeply in debted to him for the discussion which he has forced upon the Ministry this week. It has brought forth some sound and brilliant speeches, and shown the general opinion of the House to be wholly adverse to the conduct of the Government, in adopting as au ultimatum a principle which could not possibly lead to a satisfactory result. On this question there has been exhibited against the Government an overwhelming display of ability and force of argument. The amend ment of Mr. Lows was, de jure, the declaration of the policy of the Cabinet, though Lord PALMERSTON dared not, through fear of an adverse majority, give his vote in support of it. And thus has been exhibited the pitiful picture of a Ministry forced to condemn their policy in order to preserve their places. The great war-policy debate came to a conclusion last night, or rather this morning. Some mamorable additions were made by Mr. WALPOLE and Mr. Disaasti to the criticism upon the conduct of the Government in diplomacy and in war, from which Lord PALMERSTON and his colleagues have sustained so much damage during the pro tracted discussion. At the end Mr. LOWE and Mr. J. G. PHILLIMORE either withdrew their amendments or allowed them to be negatived without a division. There remained, then, nothing but the resolution of Sir F. BARING, which simply pledged the House to support the Crown—not the Administration—in carrying on the war. This pledge Mr. WALPOLE, in the name of the Conservatives, declared their readi ness to give, and the motion was accordingly carried unanimously. The despatches and letters received this week from the Crimea give a full detail of the Kertch expedition. The resistance met with was exceedingly trivial, but the brilliant little coup de main made by Lieutenant MeKimoe in the Snake steam gun-boat, by which he chased and cut off three vessels from under the batteries of Yenikale, formed an agreeable episode in the proceedings. We are glad to hear that the Admiralty have conferred promotion upon this gallant young officer. After bombarding Arabat a squadron of steamers proceeded off Jenitchi, landed a body of seamen and marines, drove out the Russian troops, burnt the stores collected in the town, and re-embarked, with out loss. A vast quantity of stores of all sorts—grain, clothing, and war materiel—has been destroyed or captured by the allies, and the Russians appear to be in full retreat towards Kaffs. or Kara-Su- Basar. What are to be the operations of this allied force is not yet known, but it is highly probably that the 5,000 Turks who accompanied the expedition will be left in Kertch, and that the main body of the troops will proceed to Arabat, or march direct to Kaffa, and commence a series of combined operations by sea and land against these places should any serious resistance be offered. The facility with which we acquired so easy a victory would argue a preconcerted plan on the partof the Russians to relinquish their posi tions without loss, so as to concentrate the whole of their force in the Southern Crimea for the defence of the more important position of Kara-sa-Basar. The success which must attend the advance oi Sir GEORGE BROWN must be very much dependant upon the combined operations which the grand army will carry on against the Russian positions outside Sebastopol. Should those positions be stormed the road to Simferopol will be almost open to Sir GEORGE BROWN ; while, on the other hand, should they prove impregnable, Sir GEORGE will create a most efficient diversion in favour of the army on the Tscher nays. The campaign has fairly commenced. Much must now depend upon strategy and tactics, but more upon the unwearied activity and ready resource of our generals. The news from the camp is meagre. The third bombardment re commenced on Wednesday last, and it is expected that an attempt will be made to carry the Mamelon. The army on the whole is healthy, in high spirits, and eager for action. Ample details have been received this week of the gallant actions on the nights of the 22nd and 23rd of May, successfully undertaken by the French against the Russian works in front of the Flagstaff Battery. The high terms in which Lord Raglan in his despatch speaks of the affair, and the desperate nature of the attack and defence, undoubtedly render the operation worthy of being ranked among the mkt brilliant and successful coups of the whole campaign. The French had made such rapid advances towards the Flagstaff Battery, that considerable uneasiness was felt by the Russian Generals, and, after a careful reconnaissance of the French advanced works, lines of counter approach were constructed by the Russians, and during the day and night of the 21st an advanced trench which, at twenty yards, crossed the French parallel at right angles, was completed, together with a SATURDAY, long flanking covered way which enfiladed the cross trench. So rapid had been the Russian work, and so completely successful tha manoeuvre, that the French working parties, though strongly sup ported, were immediately swept out of their advanced parallel and unable to hold their ground for a moment in presence of the Russian fire. The advantage of the position held by the Russians being great, and the danger to the French imminent, General PELISSIER, after a miuuto inspection, determined that not a moment should be lost in attempting to dislodge the Russians from their ground. A plan of attack was decided on, and soon after nine p.m. a force of some 2,000 men, and 2,500 in reserve, started. Unfortunately the columns of attack did not act with that degree of concert which is so essentially requisite to success in a night attack. One column mistook its road altogether, and the other got entangled amid broken ground and the dibris of exploded mines, was discovered by the Russians, and swept down by a tremendous fire, which they were utterly unable to return. However, the French pressed on gallantly, forced their way at last through the breastwork, bayoneted the Russians, were bayoneted in return, and, though five times dziven out, five times recaptured the work Meanwhile, the Russian batteries opened a precise and frighful fire of grape and shell upon the exact spot which the French occupied, but the advance of the reserve and the return of the lost column gave them fresh heart, and after the most desperate hand-to hand conflict, every Russian was bayoneted, and the cross trench won. Still the covered way was held by the Russians, and so terrible was the concentrated fire of the batteries and troops that towards morning the French were compelled to retire, with the loss of 1,300 killed and wounded. The next night, however, a full revenge was taken by PELIBEIIER for this unsatisfactory result. 10,000 men were ordered for the attack—PELlsslEß himself superintending every arrangement—and so well wore his plans laid, so thoroughly were they executed, that in twenty minutes the whole of the cross trench and covered ways were carried, and the Russians bayoneted to a man— no quarter was asked or given. Surprised and disheartened, the Russians fled in haste from their second parallel, which was imme diately occupied by the French, and a new battery, mounting ten long guns, four mortars and cohorns, was levelled to the ground, while the guns and mortars were spiked and otherwise rendered useless. The Russians, who, and we admit with justice, have so often boasted of the vigour and transient success of their own sorties, have been taught a lesson in this,—by which their own works are not only stormed but retained—which they will long remember. Their loss was most severe, and from the desperate nature of the conflict few wounded were saved. Altogether, it is one of the most successful achievements of the campaign, and reflects the highest honour upon the French army. The quicksilver volatility of the Premier's reputation has gone still lower during the present week. His popularity is now at zero. In other circumstances it would be a matter of amusement to observe the testiness of his former admirers while deriding the delusion under which they laboured. The bran has come out of their puppet, and the old toy is regarded as fit only for the lumber-room, or to be used as fuel by the Administrative Reform Society for lighting up the fire of indignation. The disclosure, through Lord ABERDEEN'S correspondence, of the Premier's confession that " the Foreign-office was too much for " him " has further injured him. Senile statesmen are getting out of date, and the country looks anxiously for a Prime Minister whose pre tensions shall not be contained in the words " used up." Mr. DISRAELI has often eloquently spoken and written on the text of " The Whig Oligarchy." It is now felt that the Right Honourable Gentleman was perfectly warranted in critically estimating " the Whigs" as an oligarchy The phrases used daily in society, and, still more, the current illustrations even in " Liberal" journalism, attest that the ideas promulgated several years since by Mr. DISRAELI have taken deep root in the public mind. When first the present Member for Bucks put forward those opinions they were regarded as illusions, but it is now felt that his keen intelligence was in advance of the time, and that the " Liberals " were the real visionaries in their notions about the hereditary clique which has always kept its followers in a state of feudal vassallage, while using the language and affecting the tone of Republicanism towards the Crown. Amongst the events of the week must be duly chronicled the prodigious roar of laughter when, on Tuesday the Member for the West Riding, looking to the Treasury Bench, declared that in all his experience '• he had never seen so black a jet and so stiff a curl." The aggregate mirth of all the Premier's multitudinous little jokes could not come near the storm of laughter provoked by this clever allusion to Lord PALMERSTON'S illustration of " Quantum mutatus ab illo." Maynooth, and " the Serbonian bog" of Irish polemics, occupied a morning sitting of the House on Wednesday. Four barristers kept up the shuttlecock between themselves, and on both sides there was too much special pleading. Mr Sergeant O'BRIEN made a tolerably temperate speech on the Roman Catholic side. Mr. WHITESIDE fol lowed in a copious and energetic address, delivered with spirit, but occasionally inconsecutive, and wanting succinctness. We have often had the pleasure of praising this gentleman's eloquence, to which Sir JAMES GRAHAM paid an elaborate tribute on Tuesday. We echo a general opinion in saying that Mr. WHITESIDE appears to more ad vantage when he is off and not on an Irish theme. On an imperial question, as in the case of the war, he rises into the senator, with large views and luminous illustrations, and at times he bursts into real oratory. But on Irish subjects his tone is too provincial, and the spirit of partisanship is made unpleasantly apparent. Mr. Moon, the THE PRESS.