The Press. — London, England, 1855-10-20 00:00:00

OCTOBER 20, 1855. Numerous deserters continue to arrive from the neighbourhood of Sweaborg, where we have a vessel or two always ready to receive them. It appears that all the gun-boats which were laying in the arsenal were burnt during the bombardment. 1 am glad to have to conclude this note by saying that no more vessels have been on shore in these dangerous waters, and that the squadron is perfectly free from all epidemic diseases. Bulldog is just off with the mails. OPINIONS OF THE PRESS. An article in THE Plass, which argues that the fall of Sebastopol ought to furnish a basis for negotia tions, which in the ensuing winter may ripen into a peace, is ma le by the Radical and Government organs the foundation of an absurd rumour that Mr. Disraeli, as the leader of the Conservative party, has effected a coalition with Gladstone and the Peelites and Bright and the peace at-any-price•ites. We wonder that respectable journals like the Spectator should favour a conclusion so utterly inconsistent with the antecedents both of Mr. Gladstone and Mr. Disraeli.—Maidstene Journal, Oct. 16. The opponents of Russia are of two classes : those who deem to maintain and consolidate the existing territorial divisions of Europe, and for that purpose, effectually to restrain the aggressive policy of Russia, but to leave her legltimato power untouched, as a part of the existing balance of power. But there is another party which, from the beginning, has desired to make this a war of nationalities, whole object is to dismember Russia and Austria, and to revolutionise half the other States of Europe. It Bas been sufficiently evident, ever since the be. ginning of the war, that the time would come when the first of these parties would declare that enough had been done for the objects they had in view; w silo the revolutionary party would strive, hard and fiercely, to prolong the war, and to give it the cha racter favorable to their objects. In other words, ithas been evident, from the beginning, that ultimately the Conservative party, not only in England, but in all Europe, would become a peace party. Whether that time has now arrived depends very much upon the disposition of Russia. If she be wise she will now make such concessions as will satisfy the allies of her abandonment of her aggressive policy ; and if she do that, it is very probable that the Conservative party will "become the advocates for peace.—North Essex Gazette, Oct. 12. There can be no doubt but that there is much truth in the case as put by THE PRESS; one of the great objects for which we went to war is accom plished, and if we wantonly continue the struggle, when all we demanded is attained, it is to pursue a " purposeless and aggressive policy," and we shall become, adopting the distinguished baronet's words just quoted, "the scourge of humanity instead of its shield and defence." But then does it depend with England and France to say there shall be peace be cause we have attained a portion of what we were entitled to ask? We are under obligations, not only temporarily to abate Russian ascendancy in the Black Sea, but permanently to maintain it ; and Russia may assume another and equally coercive position, by building a new fleet, and, by strengthen ing her already strong fortifications, transform Nico laieff into a second Sebastopol. Are we to sleep on the comforting assurance that we have done for Turkey all we promised—that we have secured her against aggression, and preserved the equilibrium of European nations from violation—and then wake up to find ourselves in a state of unpreparedness, at the same time peremptorily called upon to commence a new war o the faith of treaties which, not being Russians, we are unable to forget or to violate at our conveniencd ? We must be careful that we do not mistake two things most opposite in character and effects, though often, in outside appearances, alike— we must not confound a truce with a peace.—Norfolk Chronicle, Oct. 13. The people of Great Britain accepted the war on the understanding that it was to be a war for liberty against despotism—for the weak against the strong. On this principle they looked forward with an earnest confidence, not only to the establishment of liberty, civil and religion?, in Turkey, and the dominions of the Czar, but to what far more intimately concerns them, the overthrow of civil and spiritual bondage in Hungary, Poland, and Italy. These were the prospects which were entertained by the free in habitants of this land, and in consideration of which they submitted without murmur to the burdens and commercial distress which war inevitably brings. nut the people are now beginning to see that they have been perfectly deluded, and that the assertions clf Ministers, whether of the late or the present Government, were ambiguities which, after all, mean no.hing. The result is that in every free and public meeting which takes place their disappointment vents itself in unmistakeable terms. At meetings held re el/31417 i l ondon o res9intipng were carried 1).7 large , THE PRESS. majorities in affirmation of the sentiment that the war, so long as it overlooks the cause of the oppressed in Western Europe, is a mere delusion and a snare ; and we have no hesitation in saying that, if Lord Palmerston pursues his present policy a little longer, there will be such an outburst of public indignation as will make the ears of that incon sistent nobleman to tingle, and lead to conse quences of a serious character.—Wiltshire County Mirror, Oct. 17. From the thundering Times down to the squeaking Penny Whistles we are dozed with remarks on a prospective coalition, of which there is as great a likelihood as of the Clyde joining the Forth, and for which there is just as much authority as if any one asserted that these opposite running streams were about to coalesce and run into the same estuary. The idea of a hodge-podge—of which the ingredients are to be Bright, Gladstone, Graham, Disraeli— could only have been cooked during the parliamen tary recess, when, prompted by the same laudable desire to cater for the public appetite, provincial papers chronicle overgrown pippens, obese turnips, kittens with siz legs, and other lusi wawa, which either do not occur or will not stand observation during session time and when news is stirring.— Scottish Press, Oct. 16. The "leading journal," which often merits that seemingly imposing title in virtue of its power as " a blind leader of the blind," announced on Wednesday that a new Coalition Opposition is on the point of being formed, on the basis of the peace cry, by the conjunction of Messrs. Disraeli, Bright, and Glad stone. It is stated that " they have long been ap proaching each other, and by the end of January next, or perhaps sooner, if there is to be an autumn session, will be brought so near that their mutual attraction will carry them forward in one track." We did not for a moment suppose that there was any truth in this announcement, or that its promul- gators believe there was ; and are, therefore, glad to see that THE PRESS, the organ best entitled to speak with authority on this point, contradicts the state ments of the Times.—Derby Mercury, Oct. 17. The Conservative party will not permit the war to be made either the plaything for Lord Palmerston, or the mere instrument of retaining him in that power be got so ill and has :used much worse. Lord Palmerston was a leading member of a Cabinet that, by its negligence, ignorance, or complicity, caused the war. He has made out of the exigencies of the war political capital, and has taken care it should be re corded how he watched, "ticker in hand," the casting a segment of a traversing platform, and how he has inspected Sheerness Dockyard, and viewed the pre paration of rhubarb and colocynth for military bowels in order the people should be deluded. But this will not pass—though the medicine may. Lord Palmerston was a party to that " civility " which brought the Czar across the Pruth—that hesitation which detained the ships so long below the Darda nelles, and our men first at Malta, then at Scutari and Gallipoli, then at Varna. For all faults, military and diplomatic, Lord Palmerston was clearly answerable. He was as little sincere in the war as Lord Aberdeen's self. But, at last, he found the war popular, and trimmed his sails to the wind, and is now ready to carry on the war or drop it, exactly as suits the popular taste. This is just that he ought not to be permitted to do.—Plymouth Mail, Oct. JO. The editor of the Times assumes that the triumvi rate, whose existence he has fabricated, will urge that, now that Sebastopol, the great object of the war, is destroyed, the war is unnecessary. Mr. Gladstone and Mr. Bright will, doubtless, hold that language; but Mr. Disraeli has too much discern• ment to take up such an irrational position. Though Sebastopol and the Russian fleet have been destroyed, in a few years they may both of them be restored, and rendered more formidable than ever. Mr. Disraeli wia not consider any peace as satisfactory which will provide for the safety of Turkey during the brief space of five or six years. But many politicians, besides Mr. Disraeli, may condemn the conduct of the British Government, it it has enlarged the nature of its demands, and prolonged the war by insisting upon a curtailment of the Russian empire. After the capture of Sebastopol we hold that it was incumbent upon the allied Governments to intimate to Russia their willingness to accept the same terms which they offered at the Congress of Vienna, and to be satisfied with a limitation of the Russian fleet in the Black Sea. If, instead of doing this, they made known to Austria their desire to compel Russia to cede permanently the Crimea or Bessarabia, the responsibility of having needlessly continued the war will devolve upon them. If, on the contrary, they can show that the Czar might have obtained the conditions which were presented to him at the Con gress of Vienna, the criminality of perpetuating the war will rest with him.—Livoinaliire Chronicle, Oct, 19, Sortign 6orrrspeurrittt. FRANKFORT, October COUNT BISMARCK SCHUNRAUSEN, the present Presi dent of the Germanic Diet, lays down, as a basis of active policy, that it is the interest, and must be the paramount object, of the Northern Cabinets, at all coat, to dissever the alliance of France and England. With out the accomplishment of this necessary preliminary M. de Bismarck maintains there can be no utility in discussing the mode of tranquillising Europe, as there never can be permanent safety for the continental kingdoms whilst France is powerful and supported by England. The Prussian '• parti de la Croix' deduce their several systems for the present and for the future from the assumed premiss that Franco is the disturbing cause of Europe and the world—that it is the lion whose claws must be pared down to impo tency of offence, under constraint or by the adminis tration of political chloroform. But to effect this, the first move on the diplomatic board must be to separate France from land, gradually and by a malice prepense—to f dissension and jealousies among the allied twit the burly maleriali ties of the English soldiers by a comparison with the more brilliant. achievethents of the French—and to flatter the French by complimenting them on their strategic and military superiority over a nation that relies upon brute force rather than science for their position in the chronicles of warfare. All this, and more than this, has been put forth in the new Prussian Gazette and Le Nord, without any con cealment of the ultimate design. L'egoisme (says M. de Bismarck in his authorised journal) eat la base de la politique. eels s'est toujours vu. Touts lea etas poursuivent avant tout lour propres interim, et ne favorisent ceus de leurs voisins des pays strangers qu'en autant y trouvent des *vantages pour euxmemes. There is no lack of candour in this avowal, and the progressive consequence is exquisitely naive : De pareila principee conduisent our le terrain glissant de la morale pulitique. The character of M. de Bismarck can be realised by this frank admission of cause and effect, and from his advised stand upon the "terrain glissant de la morale politique." It is not pertinent for this time to make an expedition into the region of metaphy sical ethics which this confession temptingly invites— presuming, however,that he did not find the expression of the doctrine of a " glissant " morality among the " lettres inedites " of his converted friend Schelliug. To continue : L'Allemagne nest en ancune 'icon l'ennemi de Is Rua sie. L'exemple de l'Autriche est la pour le pronver. This settles the animus of the December treaty at once. L'Etat faible est bien oblige de vivre i dile et en boat% de l'Etat puissant, la puissance de ce dernier et la crainte qu'il pourrait abuser de se force ne moat pas des titres suffiisiaits pour legitnner une coalition qui se formerait dans le but d'amoindrir et de le reduire a l'imptinsaaace. That would depend upon the possible power of the desired coalition, for the reprobation of the compul sory dependence—" bien oblige "—is patent. The will is not wanting if the means are to be found. Si une semblable doctrine etait admise, les oats d'Alle magne et lours allies seraient en droit de se ruer i tout moment bur la France, par exemple, dont la puissance nest pas seulaient tin danger eventuel pour l'Allemagne, mail qui plus dune fois a fait peaer sur elle la plus odieuse domination. The covert intent and aim is clear, and the subter fuge pitiful. M. de Bismarck; Schonhausen, in the name of the " parti de is Croix," calls upon Germany to unite, not against Russia—Germany being "en aucune facon l'ennemi de la Bassi° "—but in a league of self-protection against France, in assault of whom she has a right, Bismarckly mural, "de se ruer a tout moment." In pursuance of this policy of aggression to France, M. Gerlach, a Prussian Minister, the official and intimate ally of M. de Bismarck, has published a pamphlet entitled " Les Francais en Allemagne, oui ou non ? " An appeal is therein made to hereditary prejudice, naonal antipathy, and past griefs. The common ene ry, France, is pointed out as the object of general and national enmity, and a passionate hostility is evoked in order to "se ruer" on the ancient foe. In addition to the pamphlet, M. Ger lach, within the last few days, on the occasion of his addressing the electors of Prussia, expressed himself, in words of challenge to France, that admitted not a doubtful meaning. He denounced the country of the tricolour and its emperor as enemies of humanity, foes to peace, and the curse of Europe, to extinguish whom should be the object catholic of Germany, in union with its natural and loyal ally, Russia. This speech was intended to be a set-off against that of Sir Alexander Malet at Hoinbourg, in reprobation of 421 in of 31 1. 114 4 AO t h cief9aall priippe, It •••