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

11.11.11/..... 7 V0;wi•;<• •••• •ls 208 THE WEEK. Tun awful intelligence of the death of the Emperor of RUSSIA was received in town yesterday evening. The announcement reached us, in the first in stance, from Berlin. Lord JOHN RUSSELL arrived at Berlin on Wednesday at noon. On Thurs day at noon he had an interview with the King of PRUSSIA, in presence of M. MANTEUFFEL. His Lordship was to have dined with the King yesterday, but the dinner was put off in consequence of the alarming illness of the Emperor, who was reported to be past recovery. Yesterday evening a telegraphic despatch was received, dated Berlin, five o'clock in the afternoon, stating that the Em peror had died that forenoon. Intense anxiety was manifested in both Houses of Parliament as the rumour spread, and Lord CLARENDON, in the House of Peers, and Lord PALMERSTON, in the Commons, announced that a despatch had been received from the British Minister at the Hague, reporting the death of the Emperor between twelve and one o'clock of that morning. "La Russie c'est un despotisme modere par l'assassinat," said TALLEYRAND. In the absence of all details it would be rash to speculate on the immediate cause of the Emperor's death ; but an event so sudden, and, as perhaps some portion of the Russian aristocracy may consider it, so opportune, must be viewed with strong suspicion, more especially as it accords so exactly with the policy of Russia on previous occasions. There was some animated debate last night on the question whether the committee of inquiry should be a secret or an open one. The committee itself decided in favour of secrecy, but the feeling of the House was so strongly in favour of publicity that when Sir J. GRAHAM on one side, and Mr. DISRAELI on the other, declared in favour of that cause of procedure, the question was con ceded. Lord PALMERSTON, fearing apparently to commit himself, and to incur the hazard of defeat, expressed no decided opinion, and thus left the House to its own decision. THE PRE ss was the first journal to announce last week that Lord PALMERSTON was in communication by telegraph with Lord JOHN RUSSELL. The object, it seems, was to secure the adhesion of the " Old, Old" Whigs to the Palmerston Government, by persuading Lord JonN to accept a Ministerial post in it. " Persuading "we wrote inadvertently. It is notorious that Lord JOHN needs no persuasion to accept any office, or any number of offices, which may be offered to him. He clutched at the post of Colonial Secretary, but was so enamoured at the same time at the idea of acquiring diplomatic fame, that he determined to proceed to Vienna. "Jack-of-all-Trades," he has now his hands tolerably full. He has to treat of the difficult questions which relate to European peace backed by the feeblest English Government ever known—with the English army destroyed—with the Emperor NAPOLEON intent on proceeding to the Crimea — with the Russian Government elated at our disasters—with Austria still doubtful, and Prussia still intriguing ;—this might seem enough for an ordinary mind. But the mind of Lord Joint is not of that cast. It is of a most extraordi nary order. The Plenipotentiaryship is not enough toed' it. It requires the go vernment of our colonial empire as well,"and that, too, at a time when the colony of Victoria is in revolt—when immediate and emphatic instructions are required from the Colonial•ofce to quench the spark which threatens soon to kindle into a great blaze, and when all our colonial possessions require the greatest attention to husband their military resources, and draw from them imperial troops or native aids. Can Lord JOHN effectively fulfil the duties of Colonial Secretary when he is engaged in negotiations at Vienna? Common sense says—No! Why, then, is the post thrust upon him? Is it to gain the assistance of such dives of Lansdowne-house as Mr. 'VERNON SMITH? Perish the empire, so that Whigs flourish. The Liberal, or Reform Association, or by whatever other name the jobbing clique of tailors and drapers in the City are termed, who claim to have the representation in their bands, are in raptures with Lord JOHN'S address. They have met in solemn conclave to declare that he has their confidence. Two or three weeks back no epithet in their mouths was too bad for them. He had broken up Lord ABERDEEN'S Administration. Now they are in raptures with this modern WARWICK—this Puller-down and Setter-up of Cabinets—for his fiat has gone forth that PALMERSTON shall stand. Rational men ask for what reason on earth can the Colonial-office have been thrust upon him at this time ? Its duties are important or they are net. If they are, why should they be neglected for an uncertain period ;—if they are not, why should the office be retained? Is not one post at a time enough for the grasping vanity of Lord Jour; ? The reality of his conceit has gone beyond the invention of satire. SIDNEY Srarra supposed that he would be ready to command the fleet or build St. Paul's—but never imagined that he would under take both tasks at the same time. The other offices of Administration have been filled up with due regard to the claims of connection or of traditionary policy. Lord CLARENDON is quietly establishing for himself an administrative, following. The Premier seems to have been driven to his wits' end to get his - team into harness. Mr. LAYARD was one day offered the post of Under Secretary of War, and the neat day told that he could not have it. The benches below the gangway on the Ministerial side are now ottfiousty filled,—Mr. LAYARD, Mr. RoEDUCK, Mr. BRIGHT, Sir JAMES GRAHAM, Mr.. 1134.4p8T0NE, and Mr. SIDNEY HERBERT, are thickly clustered to gether. Why .4)t.Wd not, as in the case of shipping for sale, a broom be hoisted above tthail)enches, or a board with the inscription, "To be sold to the highest bidder?" In the highest diplomatic circles a conviction prevails that terms of peace have been virtually arranged, and that when the Plenipotentiaries assemble they will only have to settle formalities, and decide on an armistice. About three out of the " four points " there can be no dispute, and as to the remaining one, concerning the limitation of Russian power in the Black Sea, it is confidently THE PRESS• SATURDAY, believed that some terms may be decided on, which will save the dignity of Russia, yet appear to answer the purposes for which the Allies first took up arms. We do not learn that anything is said about the expenses of the war, nor do the sentiments of Turkey appear to be thought worth much regard. That our Government, with that of Austria and of Prussia, were intent on patching up peace on any terms practicable, we never doubted. But the attitude of France was always decided. Our policy has been, from the commencement of the dispute, contemptible, through its vacillation; but the policy of the Emperor NAPOLEON has been always firm and consistent. What will he do? On the supposition that the Court of St. Petersburg is really anxious for peace, the great stumbling-block to its conclusion is the duel before Sebastopol. It was the Emperor NAPOLEON who urged forward the expedition to the Crimea— it is he who has sustained it—it is by his energy that there is now in front of Sebastopol upwards of one hundred thousand fighting Frenchmen—will he now abandon the enterprise prosecuted with such zeal ? He is about, by all accounts, to visit the Crimea himself, to push forward the operations of the siege, or in person direct an assault. This has not a pacific look. How would the negotiations proceed, when the Emperor whose will has to be consulted on every point is at French quarters in the Crimea? Lord JOHN is currently re ported to have said to the Emperor, " If your Majesty is resolved to proceed to the Crimea, Ido not see what business I can have at Vienna." The Eastern question is on the point of assuming a new phase. The policy of Lord ABER DEEN Sir JAMES GRAHAM emphatically declared in the House last week, now carried on by his successor, Lord PALMERSTON, and that policy tends to alliance with the Northern Courts, and to rupture with France. United, emi nently prosperous, full of military ardour—with all her army departments in the highest state of efficiency—France, greater than she has ever appeared before, stands at the head of European monarchies, and reserves the declaration of her sentiments. Ordinarily there is a lull in the political world after any unusual excite ment. It seems to be settled that Lord PALZIRRSTON must be allowed to go on. No one has confidence in him. Every one sees and deplores the weakness of his Ministry, but there will be no opposition to it. The proceedings in Parlia ment have this week lost the animation which lately distinguished them• During the debate on Army Reform on Thursday night the House might have been counted out between seven and nine, had any member been so inclined. The discussion on the whole was tedious, and 'mainly confined to details. The accounts from the Crimea report an improvement in the general health of the troops ; the men are now well clothed, well fed, and the huts rapidly getting up. The climate, however, appears to be very variable—one day freezing, another day oppressive and hot, while a third sets in with rain, hail, and sleet. An excellent letter, which appears in our columns elsewhere, from a young officer of the second division, gives a most lively and amusing detail of his own " sufferings; ' and at the same time a more cheering account of the state of the men of his division ; indeed, the second division throughout have not suffered so severely by any means as the other divisions of the army. The arming of the different batteries is proceeding rapidly on the part of the Allies, while Russian sorties are nightly continued with desperate tenacity of purpose. The prodigious resources of the Russians in artillery, mines, barricades, and loopholed walls, backed up by the dernier resort of the northern batteries, which now count some forty in number, creates a serious doubt as to whether an assault could be successful, except at the most tremendous sacrifice of life. Everything at this moment bespeaks active operations. Rumours in the camp are rife upon every point. Combined operations in the field and against the fortress are hourly spoken of, but the when and where is kept a most profound secret by the Allied Generals. M. LA TROBE'S mismanagement of the Government of the colony of Vic toria is producing disastrous consequences. The puerile concessions which he made in 1853 to the diggers, attempting first of all to oppress them most unjustly, and then the moment they showed a bold front stultifying himself and conceding everything and more than they asked, is the sole cause of the present revolt. As far as the reports state, the diggers are in open rebellion, and some desperate engagements between them and the troops have occurred. Lord BACON tells a story of a weak and foolish man who, dressed in Lincoln green, tilted at a tournament, and tilted very badly. The next day, to the surprise of his friends, he appeared upon the field in orange tawney, and tilted with worse success than he achieved the day before. When closely questioned on this extraordinary behaviour, " Marry," he replied, " I did run the second " day in orange tawney, so that it should be said that the man in orange tawney " ran worse than the man in Lincoln green !" It is upon this principle we sup pose that Sir CHARLES Wow) has accepted the administration of our navy. The Right Honourable Baronet was bad enough as Chancellor of the Exchequer, worse as President of the Board of Control, and we presume that he has now accepted the onerous duties of the Admiralty, peculiarly so at this present moment, in order to show us how very much worse a First Lord he can make than as either President or Chancellor. THE COMING LEVEE. (It is rumoured that the following are amongst the intended presentations.) THE Earl of St GERMANS, on awakening from a three years' sleep in Dublin Castle, to deliver an account of certain knighthoods conferred in a state of somnambulism. Sir CHARLES WOOD, on his having mastered the facts and dates of a shilling life of Napoleon 111., and discovered that the Emperor is not an "assassin," and on his consequent retractation of his Halifax idies Napolioinennes. Mr. FREDERICK PEEL, on choosing, with the assistance of Moses's poet and Mr. James Wilson, a specimen of summer clothing and " South wark gossamers " for the army in the Crimea, and on selecting a neat paper far elephants' trunks iu the Indian army. Mr. WILLIAM KEOGH. on being appointed to the Irish Attorney- Generalship, on the principle of Henry VIII's appointment to the Viceroyalty, viz., as being most intimately acquainted with the sub jects on whom his office of prosecutor may be exercised. Mr. J. D. FITZGERALD, on being nominated second law officer in Ireland, and coming to a much more satisfactory opinion than formerly of his colleague, the Attorney-General. I