The Press. — London, England, 1855-05-19 00:00:00

No. 107.—VoL. 111. LONDON, SATURDAY, MAY 19, 1855. PRICE SIXPENCE. Elt Vrtss. with Lord PANMORE There is nothing wrong at the Horse Guards ; all goes on well in the Crimea. The Government team are steady. Their pace is slow, but it may be sure. At all events, while they are able to keep the road they must be left to themselves. When they stick fast, or upset the coach, it will be time enough to think about what should be done. Will the Commons be equally compliant? Two motions by "independent" members are set down for next week. That of Mr. MILNER GIBBON affirms that the last Russian proposals offer a fair basis for pacific negotia tions ; and that of Mr. LAYARD declares that the " grave misfortunes " and " disasters" which have befallen the country are traceable to the general system of promotion in the public service. In both of these motions there is something with which we can sympa thise, but they are much too limited in their scope, and joo impractical in their object, to command our support. less in the Black Sea, is a conception mor worthy the statesmen of Laputa than of prac tical England. The negotiation should never have been opened on the basis adopted, or should never have broken off on so trivial a difference. We doubt if there is on record any instance of a great war resting on such narrow ground of quarrel. But the motion of Mr. GIBsoN cannot meet with the support of the Tory party, for this, among other reasons—that the country is in an especial manner committed by the acts of its Government in all matters of foreign negotiation. To fix upon a single point in the long and complicated transactions com menced by the late Cabinet, and continued by its successor, would be vain. If now we drift from peace as before we drifted into war, we can only accuse our own folly in trusting the management of our affairs to incompetent hands. With the Legislature the question is simply one of confidence or no confidence. It cannot take into its own hands the task of negotiation with foreign Powers. The whole policy of the Government is open to review and censure, but it is not open to reversal. Still less will it be possible for the Conserva tives, as a party, to support the motion of Mr. LAYARD. Party influences may undoubtedly operate to the serious detriment of the public service. But is Mr. LAYARD in a position to unreservedly condemn them ? He was offered —he has himself told us—an appointment by Lord DERBY in 1852, for which his pursuits 'and tastes well qualified him. Did he then consult what was best for the public service ? No. He took counsel with Lord Joan RUSSELL, and refused the appointment purely from party motives. In the opinion of some eminent statesmen of the Continent, the proposals of Russia are more essentially conservative and more durably pacific than those which have been made by the Governments of France and England. Large concessions are made by Russia. She abandons her protectorate over the Principa lities (one main cause of the war), and she concedes the free navigation of the Danube. She is ready to admit Turkey into the family of European nations, and she will be a party to guarantee the integrity of the Turkish ter ritory. To restrict her naval preponderance in the Euxine, she is willing that the straits of the Dardanelles and the Bosphorus should be open to the ships of war of all nations, or that they should be closed as at present as a ge neral principle, but that the Sultan should have the power of opening them to the navy of any nation at any time—a material conces sion, as under the previous treaty the Straits could only be opened by the Porte in case of war. The conditions would probably afford a surer guarantee against the preponderance of the Russian flag in the Black SUa than could he obtained by any limitation of the Russian fleet, while free from the vexatious super vision and probability of quarrel which would attend the latter stipulation. A fort night back we announced, exclusively, the modification of the Russian terms pro posed by Austria. It is now known that that M. DROUYN DE Lifters, certainly ono of the most sagacious and experienced of Euro pean statesmen, received the joint proposal of Russia and Austria favorably, and undertook to recommend it to the favorable consideration of his Government. Lord JOHN RUSSELL enter tained a similar view, and, we believe, holds it still—many members of the Cabinet siding with him. Mr. MILNER GIBSON'S resolution there fore must receive the secret sympathy of a part of the Government, even though Lord JOHN RUSSELL should be deterred from supporting it, by dread of the consequences which might attend another Cabinet overthrow by his agency. On the policy of laying down, at the very commencement of the war, the four points contained in the Vienna note, as a satisfactory solution of the Eastern question, we offer no opinion. But obviously, if it was intended to treat on them honestly and fairly, there is no just ground for that rupture of the negotiation which. has taken place. To make European peace or war depend on the point of whether Russia is to maintain a few ships more or It is a fatal objection to the motion at the present time that it is not practical. Suppose it carried, and what then? How long would it take to effect that kind of Administrative Reform which it meditates ? We recently heard Mr Lowu himself, in his place in the House, deliver an emphatic warning on the danger of hasty reforms in the departments. He instanced the confusion in which the War office was plunged by first throwing upon it the business of the Secretary-at• War's office, and then tumbling upon that all the work of the Commissariat. If it be admitted that our departments, through some cause or other, fall far behind the requirements of the public service, that corrupt influences prevail, that mismanage ment is impairing the resources and breaking down the strength of the nation—we say there is one practical remedy for the evil—the remedy which the Constitution prescribes, a total change in the whole command and staff of Administration. It is to pmvide this remedy that representative assemblies exist, and that parties.are formed within them. When one set of men—sated with long posses sion of power, and bound hand and foot by all those innumerable links which are insensibly contract ed with official habitudes—are found unequal to the vigorousduties ofAdministration, constitutional government must break down but for the vigilance of a party in Opposition, eager to obtain office, and tosignalise itself by infusing fresh vigour into every department of the State. The House of Commons will play the hypocrite if, affecting dissatisfaction with the existing system of government, it avoids the only course by which that system can be radically changed. A rt 5 LONDON, SATURDAY, MAY 19, 1855. WHEN the petty motives and selfish intrigues which in our day have so grievously weakened the force of our Executive are forgotten, and only the broad facts of mismanagement, inca pacity, and disaster stand forth, it will be asked what the Legislature, the representa tives and rightful guardians of the nation's in terests, did to arrest evils which were clearly seen, and to change a governmental system universally condemned. The Ministry is but the creature of Parliament. While upheld by Peers and Commons, it stands for good or ill ; when condemned by them it falls. if weak or corrupt, Parliament alone is answerable for its continuance in office, as practically there is no other power to which it is responsible, or which can not shorten its existence. And there can be no greater peril for this country than the maintenance of a despised or distrusted Ministry through those influences of faction which dare not be avowed, but which operate in secret to prevent the raising of a direct issue between the interests of an Administra tion and the safety of our Empire. The decision on Lord ELLENBOROUGieS motion has shown that the efforts of the Whigs for the last twenty•five years to ren d er the House of Lords as close as a rotten borough have not been wholly unsuccessful. The trick by which the proxies of the Opposi tion were lost might have been spared. The majority was large enough without it. The best friends of the House must mark with re gret how the numerous creations of late years are swamping that independence of thought and action which is the first use and firmest safeguard of an hereditary peerage. But the effect of such debates is often very imperfectly represented by the division-list. They tend to clear opinion, and to bring forth the charac ters of public men. Lord ELLENBOROUGH is entitled to speak with authority on Adminis trative Reform. In India he resolutely set his face against any abuse of patronage. The services of the poorest and most unfriended officer in the service were a surer passport to his favour than the most powerful solicitation of the Court of Directors. He trampled their letters of recommendation beneath his feet He recognised merit alone as a title to promotion ; and it was the know ledge of this fact that gained him the devotion of the Indian army, and raised its ardour to a higher point than it had ever previously attained. He was recalled because he esteemed the highest interests of the Indian service above the mandates of Leadenhall street, or his own aggrandisement, If that kind of Administrative Reform be really required for our army which consists in looking only to its efficiency in the appointments made, Lord ELLENBOROUGH, of all men living, is the fittest for the work From the Lords, then, we have nothing like active interference to expect. They are satis fied with Lord PALMERSTON; they are satisfied s I