The Press. — London, England, 1855-07-14 00:00:00

654 after the past who can trust his words, or say what mental reservation lurks behind them ? And why should he be all for war now ? What has happened to stimulate his wrath against Russia since the first days of 'Nay ? Why should not terms whit* " ought to be, 04 might be," accepted then, be accepted now ? No change has been wrought in his opinion*, He is convinced of no error in judgment. He yielded only in Oferenec to the mahogity against him. But are principles to be ever deter mined by a casting vote ? Because the Government erred in rejecting a satis factory proposal two months ago is it always to err in like manner ? Not even from Lord JOHN'S lips will we believe he is so mean a creature as to permanently place his convictions under control of a Cabinet, and assist to wage a war which he must believe in his conscience to be unnecessary. No. A majority in his favour will sanction that calamitous anomaly—a divided Cabinet ; and prove that faction in its meanest subterfuges And most disgraceful plots is safe, by as suring it of impunity. MR. ROEBUCK. TUE motion of Mr. ROEBUCK is necessarily postponed, but it must depend on the result of Sir EDWARD LYTTON'S motion whether it will still be brought forward this session. The apprehension with which the Ministry regard the notice placed on the paper of the House by Mr. ROEBUCK sufficiently accounts fur the cola tutnelious language poured forth upon him in act, " Old Whig " own. As an independent Liberal, the Member for Sheffield is honourably distinguished from those timeservers who bawl on the hustings against " aristocracy," . but whose votes are ever at the service of the Whipper-in. Besides, it is most absurd for the supporters of the present Cabinet to asperse Mr. ROEBUCK. Did not Lord Tom; RussELL attach so much importance to the proceedings of the Honourable Gentleman that he fled from office without consulting his colleagues at even the whisper of Mr. ROE. Bucat's intention to move for inquiry into the causes by which fourteen thousand English soldiers perished from neglect ? But was not our present Premier also • indebted in the Pacifico affair to the services of Mr. ROEBUCK in a most remarkable manner? As far as Ilil ROEBUCK IS concerned in the motion for censure, it was pertinently re marked some time since by a political ob server that important consequences have in a great variety of instances resulted from the Parliamentary proceedings of Mr. ROEBUCK. Tho cases of compromised election petitions, colonial affairs, Irish landlordisms, and other subjects, have all been made to feel the in fluence of the bold courses taken by the Member for Sheffield. But after the im portance attached to his motives by Lord J. Bussuu. it ought to be surperliuous to discuss the degree of weight of the Member for Sheffield. With respect to the vote of censure itself, its consideration lies in a very narrow coin pass. The Peelites have been destroyed, and the Whigs treacherously rose upon the ruin pf the colleagues with whom they had first coalesced, and against whom they afterwards conspired. They accepted the nomination of the Duke of NEWCASTLE as Minister of War. They travelled about the country while the andy was perishing in the Crimea. Then, whet the clamour of the outraged public became loud, they called for inquiry at the eleventh hour, though it was their business themselves to have made it during the autumn •----- The Peelite- have been censured of influence, office, stion now remains be pardoned for dleagues by whom !ed SAISI and Winter. The Peelites hE 4Lnd punished with the loss c 'T rqlSquet whet. er i 5,.-ar to Old .4h co] gm , .r 41, ?s . ere t c. ...e,t; • '44 THE PRESS. It is possible, however, that before the vqe of censure be taken' the fate of the present Ministers will be; more decisively settled. But in caw*. 14,11JUCK is able to bring his motion to • divigionswe need scarcely ;iv thst the conduct of Members of Parliaiwow% will be anxiously woched by their collat.', tuents. If tlig Peollifs were to blame, 1t Wl4 l igg gro more worthy of censure for the hol gnd houtilosa manner in whicliAliws have made the mismanagement of the war auxiliary to their designs, LORD PALMERSTON AND HIS MINISTRY. A FORTNIGHT ago we offered some remarks upon the then position of Lord PALMERSTON and his Cabinet. We reminded our readers that the mere suspicion of a leaning towards Russia on the part of Lord ABERDEEN and his Cabinet had been sufficient to seal their doom with 'the intelligent and straightforward people of England. And we then proved, by the evidence furnished in the speeches of Sir JAMES GRAHAM and Mr. GLADSTONE, that the present Cabinet, and ita leader, Lord PAL MERSTON, are justly obnoxious to the same charge. Lord PALMEBSTON readily and un equivocally pledged himself to Sir JAMES GRAHAM that there should be no change in the foreign policy adopted by Lord ABERDEEN'S Administration, and no alteration with respect to the terms of peace then under negotiation at Vienna. In February, therefore, Lord PAL. UNRSTON and his Ministry were distinctly pledged as honest men, pledged to the country, and pledged to their then colleagues, to adopt the pacific policy adopted by Lord ABERDEEN, and enunciated by Mr. GLADSTONE on the 24th of May. There can he no doubt upon that point. The statement was made in the face of the Briftifonse of commons, in the presence of t#Wrcrible Lord and his colleagues, and nut denied. Lord JOHN Rua- SELL was selected as the Plenipotentiary, and at the same time placed in the Cabinet of Lord PALMERSTON, as if to give the strongest assu rance of this being the case. As a Member of Lord ABERDEEN'S Cabinet, he, as well as Lord PALMERSTON, was fully aware, and manifestly approved, of that pacific policy, and he went to Vienna in order to carry it out, as the Plenipotentiary of Great Britain. He had, it is true, quarrelled with the Peelite section of the Cabinet, but the ground of the quarrel was not a question of policy, but a question of administration. He objected to the administration of the war by the Duke of NEWCASTLE, and the motion of Mr. Rontures gave him the opportunity, probably with ulterior views, of breaking up Lord ABERDEEN'S Government. But, as far as can be traced, there seems to have been no disagreement between Lord JOHN RUSSELL and any of his colleagues in the Aberdeen Cabinet on the policy of terminating the war. There were jealousies, and dissensions, and intrigues in that Cabinet on other subjects ; the Peelites hated the Radicals, and the Radicals the Whigs, and the Whige both. Lord PALMERSTON probably was viewed with suspicion by all—his eszapades in 1851 and 1852 could not have been forgotten—but what ever were the suspicions and dislikes towards each other on the part of the members or sec tions of that memorable Administration, they were united in not being in earnest in carry ing on the war—they were a reluctant War Ministry—their hearts were with Russia in the contest rather than with England—their policy and object was to make a demonstra tion of war, but not actually to wage war; and when war was forced upon them by the in dignant voice of England, then it was their object and their policy to make peace as soon SATURDAY, as possible, and to do as little as possible meantime in the operations of war. Our Admirtils were warned of the dangers of granite fortille4re wall of the shoals of the Sea of Azo cur Cfenerals found them without stippliee or a reserve, and the revolt—ths w&essorr result—was in actioo avi disaster, W 147 Jo we now notice this! TO Ministry of t i ord ABERDEEN is now a natter of hieto,rb wri tten unhappily in let ters of blood, and it the business rather of the Igatarian than of the journalist to com ment upon it. But Lord PALMERSTON and Lord JOHN RUSSELL are at present conducting the affairs of this great eountry at a period even more momentous than the period when they aided in the fatal policy of Lord ABER DEEN.; and their policy now is the same. There is the same want of earnestness as regards the war, the same desire to put an end to it, and the same hesitation and weakness which of necessity belong to a want of earnest ness in any undertaking, and which in war inevitably result in disaster. The revelations of Lord Jount RUSSELL have afforded conclusive confirmation of this. His mission and object were manifestly to make peace on any terms. The voice of England, when he returned from his mission, had left Lord PALMERSTON and his Cabinet no alternative but to assume a spirit they do not feel, and to reject a proposition which it would have been consistent with their policy to adopt. On Monday it will be for the House of Commons to decide whether this state of things is to continue. Is a want of earnest ness—are divided, timid, vacillating councils still to be tolerated in a Cabinet intrusted with the conduct of this gigantic war ? Or will the House of Commons truly represent the feeling and the spirit which, we believe, are the oharacteristics still of the British people ? If the overthrow of Lord Dizativ's Government has already cost the country one hundred millions of money, and 30,000 of her best troops, who can estimate the loss that will be involved in the continuance in aloe of a Ministry, weak, hesitating, audincompetent? NAGPORE AND TEHREE. Sonic seventeen years ago the present Premier, and then Secretary for Foreign Affairs, Lord PALMERSTON, told the electors of Tiverton that they had probably never heard of such a place as Affganistan, but that the Whigs were reaping a great harvest of glory there, Sir Join; KEANE having triumphantly entered Cabul. Regard ing the exit of our troops from Cabul his Lordship was afterwards silent; and, as there was no Roebuck Committee on the Affgan war, this most disgraceful chapter in Whig history was consigned as far as could be to oblivion. As the electors of Tiverton had never heard of Affganistan, so many of our readers will perhaps be equally unfamiliar with the names of Nagpore and Tehree ; but some important events have taken place there latterly, and these we now propose to not ice. Nagpore is the capital of the kingdom of Berar, one of the most healthy and fertile thrc ughout the whole of India. It is ad mirably adapted to the European constitution, and it is almost the finest cotton land in the world. Its agriculture is most flourishing— its population has, under native rule, been largely increasing —it is filled with rich bankers—it contains an area of nearly eighty thousand square miles, a population of be tween four and five millions, and a revenue of half a million sterling. At the time of the late Rajah's death, moreover, which happened about a year ago, there were accumulations, not in the State Treasury, but in the Queen's private coffers, of more than nine millions of rupees. It is the custom of sensible Eastern Sovereigns thus to save money, as it has always been the custom of sensible English