The Press. — London, England, 1857-04-25 00:00:00

THE WEEK. Wz are now on the eve of the coining session, and there is a brief pre liminary pause before the business of the nation is commenced. The circumstances under which the Prime Minister meets Parliament aro peculiar. He has a great nominal majority, but he has ambitious rivals in his own connection, and he has no Ministerial debaters capable of contending with the leading speakers of Parliament, who are either avowedly hostile to his rule, or who regard him with the caustic cynicism of a cordial friendship. A quarter of a century since a far greater Ministerial party broke up before the difficulties of divided Reformers. Lord PALMERSTON is now like a traveller at a junction of four cross-roads. He is evidently uncertain which to take himself, and he hesitates about the contradictory advises which are obtruded on him. Let him advance, and he does not know whether he will find himself amongst friends or foes. Let him tarry where he stands, and he runs the risk of being " too late." The three great domestic departments of the State—the ecclesias tical, the political, and the social—are those which principally mark the action of the Legislature. It is a mistake to suppose that by his clinical promotions the Minister has escaped from religious difficulties. He has evoked a spirit in the land which will not disappear at his bidding. His Cabinet was defeated last year on an important educa tional question brought forward by Mr. WALPOLE ; and the strange rumours circulated by some non-political followers of Lord PALMERS TON show that uneasiness exists in Ministerial quarters. The claims of the Prime Minister as a " Protestant" Premier may be tested by some of the " Palmerstonians" more frequently and more forcibly than will be pleasing in official circles. There is reason to think that the elected Parliament is more Protestant than its predecessor. In the political department it will probably be attempted " to " waste a year," ard do nothing. The brevity of the session, so adroitly interrupted, will he pleaded as an excuse for offering nothing large; and the Minister will fall back on that reserve which he has often relied upon, " the chapter of accidents." Already the cue has been given to the supporters of Government. "Eschewing organic " changes, the Government of Lord PALMERSTON would endeavour "to meet the necessities of existing circumstances without " disturbing the fundamental principles of order and society." This, then, according to Sir G. LEwis, is the Liberal programme ! This is the great Reform Minister. Oh! On social questions this plea cannot be accepted ; and the opinion of Parliament will, probably, be heard in tones of imperative energy. If Lord PALMERSTON be a great statesman, will he content himself by trying to rule England with a Cabinet of his " appendages" ? Will he strive to hide the faults of the mediocre administrators, who occupy rather than fill the chief places in the Cabinet? A Minister with a majority has no excuse for deference to cliques, or submission to coteries. There has been a great jubilee of Liberals this week—from the brief and complacent cackle of Lord JOHN RUSSELL to the ponderous fictions of Sir GEORGE LEWIS, and the obstreperous gratulations of Mr. HUTT, Mr. PEASE, and Lord HARRY VANE. Lord JOHN RUSSELL is very severe on the gloomy and unfulfilled predictions of Conserva tives. The intellectual Mr. Hurr is equally unkind to them upon their " purposeless obstruction." A casual observer might, perhaps, be led to consider whether it was not precisely because the obstruction had not been purposeless that their worst anticipations had not been realised. The Conservatives fore saw that after the Reform Bill, a number of enemies to the institutions of the country would inevitably gain seats in the House. Hence their gloomy predictions. That at that moment they over rated the strength of the Radicals, and proportionably underrated their own, is exceedingly probable. Hence the successful resistance offered to organic changes, and the non-realisation of their original fears. The extraordinary manner in which the Conservative party rallied after the event of 1832, is one of tho most remarkable facts in our political history. Had it not been for that, scant grace would have been shown to the Church of England and Ireland. Even Liberals admit that it is interesting to compare the tone in which the Church and the Peerage are spoken of now, and twenty years ago. To what is this change owing? To the "purposeless obstruction " of the Conservatives! says Mr. Hu•ST. Mr. HUTY should learn to look before he leaps, and weigh the value of words before he uses them, especially upon topies with which he seems so ill acquainted as the Pailiamentary history of the last quarter of a century. So long as deliberate attacks continue to be made on the Church, the Peerage, and the succession to landed estates, the opposi tion of the Conservatives will not be purposeless. The recent decision of Sir JOHN DODSON in the case of Archdeacon DENISON is so far satistactory as being the termination of another stage in this extremely painful proceeding. Mr. DITCHER has given notice of an appeal ; and the case has still to be heard before the highest tribunal of all. The determination to fight these matters out is indicative of that kind of earnestness which just now Lord PALMERSTON'S organs find it convenient to admire. But we cannot Viink any good will result to the Church from these unseemly con tests We most sincerely desire that everything should be done to di4o.litrage the foolish vanity of individual clergymen or laymen who 'Peek to gain a spurious popularity by advocating popular prejudices. Should the ultimate decision of this case be against Mr. DITCHER, we hope it will act as a warning to litigous and presumptuous clergy not to question their ecclesiastical superiors in the light and easy way 1.,.. THE PRESS. SATU RDAY, they are now so fond of adopting. In the Church of England there is room for many parties ; violent and narrow, indeed, must be the prejudices of that man who conceives that either the sacerdotal or the antagonistic theory is sufficient to exclude anyone from her pale. The conferences on the Prusso-Neufehatel differences are not satisfactory. They are an apt specimen of what may be expected. from the adjudication of European Powers in congress on " lea affaires d'autrui." As a matter of course, the litigants will be dissatisfied with a just decision, and a partial one will be repudiated indignantly by the injured State. Obedience would be conditional; that is to say, a reluctant assent would be accompanied by a mental reservation to seize the first opportunity to reverse the judgment, or a protest might be boldly put forth at once with the plea of coercion. It requires but a slight reflection to trace this evil, among many others of a graver nature, to the incongruous policies adopted by Lord CLARENDON. We have entered at greater length elsewhere upon this point. The foreign journals maintain that the question is on the verge of being " settled." We doubt it. The issue of the affair is still pending, and may occasion further discussion on the part of the allied Powers. Count WALEWSKI has submitted a proposition, the tenor of which is to reverse the policy Dr. KERN declared himself disposed. only to adopt. It remains to be seen whether the Federal Council will not meet the proposition by a " contre-projet " for the discussion and decision of the Congress. The consideration that Count WaLwEsxes proposal involves a total reversal of the declared policy of the Federal Council, can never escape the penetration of the Govern ment of Berne; and although the terms now laid before the Council by Dr. KERN may not experience rejection, or be met with censure, it is quite certain that they will not be received with approbation. There is already a notable gathering at Rome of peripatetic Royalists The Grand Duchess OLGA, with her consort the Prince Royal of Wurtemburg, has been sedulously attentive to the pontifical ceremonies of the Holy Week; neither has Queen CHRISTINA failed in the Catholic observances.—Roman railroads and Paschal devotion equally dividing her Majesty's anxious care. The Dowager Empre3s of Rus3lA is daily expected, and the illuminations that are put off, await her arrival. Not among the least conspicuous, is the King of BAVARIA, the pupil of SCHELLING. There may be nothing extraordinary in this accidental assemblage of royal personages. Their accompaniments, however, are not idle, either in acquiring local in formation, or in putting forward liberal opinions with the intent of conciliating the more active politicians of southern Europe. A high authority has expressed himself by no means favourably on the Go vernment of Cardinal ANTONELLI. In the Principalities the unionists and anti-unionists continue an incessant warfare. Prince NICHOLAS VOGORIDES, having rigidly sup pressed journalism of any kind, the Liberal Boyards held a meeting, and drew up statements that were embodied in a pamphlet, and disseminated amongst the electors for their information and guidance. Prince ALEXANDER GHIKA, in Wallachia, has shown a more liberal con duct. He has permitted the publication of La Concordia, and has allowed the formation of committees to discuss the principles of elec tion, and to draw up the electoral lists. Many of the Boyards, under the influence of certain European Governments, urge on the unwary by bribes and threats to commit acts of violent insubordination that may be quoted in order to nullify the result of the elections. At Con stantinople matters are not more tranquil. M. DE PROKESCH has per suaded REDSCHID PACHA to take up a resolute position, and to protest against a Moldo-Wallachiam union, as incompatible with the integrity of the Turkish empire. M. DE THOUVENEL is not less determined in per sisting that the clauses of the Parisian Congress shall be strictly observed. Against him is opposed the unflinching antagonism of Lord STRATFORD DE REDCLIFFE. The speech of Sir H. BULWER, in reply to the Bucharest deputation, can hardly he said to coincide with the Con stantinopolitau policy of the English Embassy; neither is the assurance " that the Sublime Porte desires with sincerity what it has " declared without hesitation " exactly consistent with the dissatis faction of the Porte at the question of the union being submitted to the Principalities. In fact there is no getting at the intentions or the policy of the English Government. They do not seem to possess a policy. It is quite evident that Sir HENRY BULWER and Lord STRATFORD DE REDCLIFFE differ totally in their views of every Eastern question. What is now most to be feared is some compromise that will really content no party, and will most certainly discontent the Principalities. From the flattering terms in which Sir HENRY BULWER speaks of ALEXANDER ERIKA, it is not possible that he can contemplate setting him aside. It would be a strange upshot of all things, if the old family of STIR BEY or BIBESCO should resume under the Anglo-French alliance that power which the Austro-Russian alliance had first procured for them. But every absurdity is possible in the midst of the eternal conflict of persons and confusion of ideas which the British Government is at present exciting in the East. The Persian account of the famous battle of Kooshab, allowing fur the usual exaggeration of numbers, is, on the whole, too near the truth to be pleasant or palatable. Private accounts from the came hive confirmed the unfavourable impression produced by General OUTRAM'S despatch. The fact is, the whole affair was a blunder. General OUTRAM was not only deceived by false information, 'but he wai very nearly beaten by superior strategy, and it was the most Intunate thing for that " prestige" of which we are so proud, that the Persians committed one blunder the more, and let us get buck to Bushire with the credit of a gallant cava!ry charge to uphold our fame. Failure and success in war rests upon an "if." The Persians probably know the value of the conjunction by this time ; for " if " they had continued their fire upon our wearied squares