The Press. — London, England, 1855-08-25 00:00:00

„ f2&iAa 44( t 111 rt,6,6 ( ... + No. 121.—V0r.. 111. LONDON, SATURDAY, AUGUST 25, 1855. STAMPED .... SIXPENCE. UNS TAMPED.. FIVEPENCIL E . t Vrtss. " they were to follow in the House." Our " Liberals " have not now any " tall " men in their ranks. The optical delusion under which Lord JOHN and the GREYS, and some others, were looked upon as great in stature has passed away; and a month of his Ministry showed that Lord PALMERSTON had not the least pretensions to pass for a political son of ANAL He is now recognised as a man of ordi nary height, weakly in his joints, and found out to have put false heels to his boots.' The bewilderment of the Liberals is in creased by the conviction that it is reserved for the Conservative party to extricate England, and to sustain the national character. They know that under the dispensation of a long war the Conservatives could alone carry the country through. Its motley sentiments, discordant ob jects, and subserviency to the platform, render the Liberal connection too unstable for the exigencies of war. On the other hand, the " Liberals " know that it is not likely after a short war to obtain an honourable peace. Either conjuncture is unfavorable to their prospects. They know, too, that their party has been ccmpromised by its privity to the Coalition, and they are only right in believing that the country will hold them responsible as well for the pusillanimity of Lord ABERDEEN as for the precipitation of Lord PALMERSTON. The " leaderless " condition of the Liberal party is not likely to pass away. No one sees symptoms of new chiefs arising among its ranks. It has dethroned Lord JOHN RUSSELL and discarded Earl GREY. It detests Mr. COBDEN as much as it dreads Mr. BRIGHT. It makes no secret of being bored by the puzzles of Mr. GLADSTONE ; and, after desiring Sir JAMES GRAHAM to go to Netherby and stay there, it staggers after the Premier. The subordinates and the anonymous are now the sole hopes of the subsidised Liberals. What a lamentable decline for a once proud party ! The prediction of SYDNEY SMITH seems almost come to pass :—" If aught should happen to " Lord JOHN RUSSELL the whole Reform party " would break up into sparks of Liberality and " splinters of Reform." There is no common creed amongst the jobbing Ministerialists, and formularies of opinion are just as necessary in polities as in religion. 'Without the Church human society would break up into " the dust " and powder of individualism," and in the same way, without leaders or principles, Libe ralism is now in rapid decomposition. Thus, when the question of the time is " How to fight Russia ? " the Liberals show the world how they fight amongst themselves. They fall foul of one another like a party of frolicsome Etonians playing blind man'* buff in the dark. But they cuff each other so soundly that pure fun is out of the question. Their oldest friends are in most request for their hard hitting, and the number of their broken " heads" shows that no mimic skirmish is taking place. But Liberalism has always been prone to found its party, and to break it, in civil discord. . sown for them a crop of thistles. Living on the " British Lion " they find a very dear and stimulating diet. They wince when they think that in pannier-fashion they have carried Lord PAI4ERSTON up to the height of the Premier ship;and that he only laughs at them for their pains. " What a goodnatured thing the Liberal " party is," says its rider, as he again galls its flanks. And then he chuckles over that smart thing at the Whitebait Dinner the other day, about the difference between a past and present Prime Minister—" Pm was a boy " Premier, and PAM IS a playboy one." The inconsistency of some Liberals also, and their inconstancy to their old creed, add considerably to the absurdity of other sections of their party. Mon who utter warlike senti ments ought not to preach the cowardly morals of " Vote by Ballot," and ardent advo cates of a secret suffrage ought not to support a Cabinet which calls it " nonsense." But it is the Constitution according to COPPOCE, which is the sole faith of the thorough-going Ministerialists. Place—place—place—is the master-spring of their faction. They succumb tamely to the rule of the great families, on condition that offices are showered on themselves. They acquiesce in the hopeless exclusion of Liberal gentlemen from the Cabi net, provided that as salaried subordinates they can quarter their kindred upon the publio purse. It was, doubtless, to symbolise the showy but brittle nature of their system that they presented Mr. HArrEa with a piece of gilded crockery. The gift was, indeed, most ridiculously appropriate. In "such growing difficulties they wish that our rotatory Premier would give them some hints on the art of turning in politics, in which he is an acknowledged adept. Already their titular chief has infected them with his propensity to veer, and they are beginning to count the steps from the Reform to the Carlton Club The consciousness, however, that the people of England are awake to the mongrel system which still calls itself by the once ac credited name of " Liberal," is beginning to make many of them look gloomy. It,4s won derful how their visages lengthen at the whis per of " General Election." Let peace at any • price be patched up, and opinion shall imme diately demand the substitution of a ConseAlt alive Cabinet for a tremulous Ministry which knows neitherhow to negotiate nor how to con quer. On the other hand, let it once be scertained that we are destined to a long war, and " Hurrah for a Conservative Cabi net !" must become a national watchword. LONDON, SATURDAY, AUGUST 25, 1855. "PRESS" OFFICE, Friday Evening, August 24. INTELLIGENCE was received yesterday from the Crimea that General Snarsox is suffer ing severely from. an attack of dituThcea, which confines the Gallant Officer to his quarters. At such a critical juncture, any interrup tion of the important duties of the Com mander-in-Chief gives cause for the gravest concern. • TIIE position of General SIMPSON as Com mander-in-Chief of the British Forces before Sebastopol is so peculiar that it is very desirable some change should take place. We are credibly informed that Lord PANMURE appears to consider that the movements of our forces in the Crimea can be best directed from the War-office in London, and the result is, that General SIMPSON finds himself reduced to the level of a mere clerk, compelled to ask instructions on the most trivial points, and totally irresponsible for the promotions made in the army under his command. The announcement we made last week, that "the stirring and hitherto unexpected intel• " ligenee," anticipated by a Ministerial organ, from Sebastopol, referred to information re ceived by the Government that the Russians contemplated abandoning Sebastopol, is now admitted by the Morning Post to be the cor rect explanation of its words. That journal of Thursday last observes:— We have, more than ever, reason to believe that the Russian forces in the Crimea are suffering intensely from want of food and necessary supplies ; and that this, com bined with other causes, assures their speedy expulsion from Sebastopol and the south of the Crimea. We do not vouch for the accuracy of this statement; we can speak only as to the fact of the information having been received by the Government from sources it believes to be trustworthy. WHIG SUCCESS. NETER was the Liberal party of England in so ludicrous a dilemma as at the present period. For some time past its members have been travelling through a mist, and they have now arrived at four cross-roads, from which Lord PALMERSTON, that Statesman of mirth and mischief, has removed all the finger-posts. Some are for going back as fast as possible. A host of waverers are puzzled whether to turn to the left or right. In such a position " follow the leader " is of no avail, because there is no one fit to go first. The witty Duchess of GORDON once told a Minister never to have any but a tall man for the office of Lord Advocate, in order that the " Scotch " members may be able ,to see plainly whom AMONGST the many novels of BALZAC few are so fascinating as one wherein he develops the power, and sketches out the success of un scrupulous combinations. He shows how any society of men bound by solemn ties to mutual assistance and advancement can ensure to every member of his wishes. It is ' must override all garded as sacred. of the gang, however , are not only null, ' dignity of man. If we test this tJ ence we shall find It is, indeed, most amusing to see in what a variety of difficulties the Radicals have placed themselves. They shouted all the democratic cants of the hour, and they have placed their connection in a state of feudal vassalage to the haughtiest families in Europe. In their poli tical serfdom they have not been able to sti pulate even for baronial privileges; and in conceding the rights of a cheap-press com monage, Lord PALMERSTON thinks that ho has !mbar the accomplishment LB true that et th . bb . those tietAollenght r According p 4 Morali 1' ever, suchgroWiaerati unit 1, but dittottiloFy to the theory by Dzsafil • in it a laikle ..• • 4 4 ,,,T, vise •