The Press. — London, England, 1855-02-03 00:00:00

~' 108 THE WEEK. SATURDAY, THE PRESS. THE public mind has been occupied almost exclusively with political considerations this week. Tho Aberdeen Ministry resigned on Tues _ day. Lord DERBY was sent for, and found it impracticable to form a strong Government, in the parliamentary sense, and Lord LANSDOWNE has been called in, and yesterday afternoon had a conference with Lord PALMERSTON; and the town is now placarded with bills " PAL MERSTON for Premier." Some of his most attached adherents, however, considering that his Lordship is only now in his 71st year, intimate that his time has not yet come. A remarkable change took place in the political world, between the commencement of the debate on Mr. ROEBUCK'S motion on Friday evening, and its close on Monday night. When Mr. ROEBUCK rose there were many who doubted whether his motion would be carried. The retirement of Lord JOHN RUSSELL alone hardly seemed sufficient to break up the Ministry. But an impression of the mismanagement of the war had become so strong and general, that the bulk of the Liberal party were really glad to sever the connection between themselves and the Ministry, and hence upon the division, on Monday, the Govern ment were beaten, on what they themselves insisted was a vote of want of confidence, by a majority of more than two to one. In fact, deduct ing placemen, and the immediate connections of the Ministers, they found themselves completely destitute of a party—and thus the much vaunted Coalition, which, by its talents and parliamentary influence, was to form the strongest Government of modern times, came to the most ignominious end of any Ministry recorded in our political annals. Elsewhere the events which followed this memorable division are cor rectly stated. The debate of Monday was chiefly remarkable for the brilliant speech of Sir BULwER Lrrrox. Many passages of it flashed with the rarest wit. That part of it was peculiarly happy in which, alluding to Lord Joint RossELL's reference to his joining the Coalition with his party as an answer to the charge that the Whigs required all power for themselves, the Honourable Baronet observed that the vindication of the Noble Lord amounted to this—" that his party not being able to " get exclusive possession of all power, they reluctantly consented to " accept half." The desperate condition of the Ministry was at once evident, when Mr:PERNAL OSBORNE raised his hoofs to give it a parting kick; and the expiring Ministers, as they heard him declaiming on the lamentable and disgraceful way in which the war had been conducted, must have been reminded of the reading of their boyish days : " Te nature) dedecus Quod ferre oogor, certe bis videor mori." With the prospect of being restored to the Opposition benches, all the Hon. Member's audacity was restored, and his tongue wagged against the official superiors before whom he had been accustomed to prostrate himself, with all its native insolence. " I have been told that it is not " proper for a person in my position to speak," he said, " but in my " mind the safety of our whole army is at stake." What a pity he never thought of this before. " A bad workman always finds fault " with his tools," says the proverb ; and the only defence set up by the Government was that our system was in fault, as if the system had never been known or never been tried before. When the result of the division was announced, there was first dead silence, and then a derisive laugh, and in that laugh the Coalition expired. On the same evening there was a debate in the Peers, and Lord GREY endeavoured to exalt himself into importance by a speech on the evils of the existing War Administration. He had crammed himself for the effort, but it was feeble and out of place, and the lengthy harangue was extinguished by the few weiglity words in which Lord ELLENBOROIIGH drew attention to the present state of affairs, and the impolicy of passing such a resolution at the present time. The House of Peers was crowded on Thursday to hear the Minis terial explanations. It was known, also, that the Duke of NEWCASTLE intended to reply to Lord Jens Russxu.'s statement of the previous Friday, for his Grace gave his friends due notice of his valorous inten tion. Lord ABERDEEN, faithful to his character, could in his "last " dying speech " profess reliance only on the negotiations at Vienna. He warned the country against expecting that it could ever gain any decided success over Russia, and intimated that the only wise course would be to patch up the quarrel as quickly as we could. In fact, ac cording to his Lordship, the fighting in the Crimea meant nothing ; the terms of peace were arranged, and our army was warring and wasting only that the negotiators might have time to arrange the etiquette to be established at their meeting. This we know has been the view of his Lordship throughout—on this view he has acted; but the people think differently; and the question is whether they will permit the author of this mischief to escape with impunity. The Ministerial question continues to occupy all minds to the exclusion of every other. The Queen, feeling deeply the evils of the present unsettled state, is most anxious that a Government should be formed without delay. After all,it appears likely that a Derby Ministry will be found a necessity, from the impossibility which exists, in the present state of parties, of forming any other. Any attempt to patch up a Cabinet from the minority would be attended with great difficul ties. The name of PALMERSTON is all that a Government, of which he was the nominal or virtual head, would have to support it. Miserably weak in parliamentary power, it would be still weaker in administrative capacity. It is notorious that his Lordship is now totally unfit for business; at best he is but a parade Minister, to joke and bluster in the house. He has never had character sufficient to rally a party round him ; and the first business of his Cabinet, when he had formed one, would be to get rid of their chief. As for Lord JOHN RUSSELL, his last " dodge " has been somewhat too cunning. He is in the position of one of those Spartan youths who had not cleverness enough to conceal their roguery, and who were punished, not for their offences, but for being found out in them. In short, the divisions among that party which until lately was presumed to constitute a majority of the house, remind one of the old country song, in which maid and men servants are all at cross-purposes—" Harry loving Dolly, and Dolly James, and ." James Sally, and Sally Tom,"—though in this case there must be a correction beyond that required by the names, and for love we mast read hate. The Sardinian treaty, which figures in Lord ABERDEEN'S " last speech," is now before the public. Sardinia, with generous ardour for freedom, will send a legion of 15,000 men to the Crimea, but, as in the alliances of times past, England is to pay the piper. A sum of 1,000,0001. is to be advanced in the first instance, and a year later a second million is to be furnished. The money is to bear interest at 4 per cent., 1 per cent. being laid by to provide a sinking fund for the redemption of the capital sum. The liquidation will be a slow pro cess at this rate. The loan will then bear interest at 3 per cent., a less rate than our Ministry must now pay for money for its own use. It is only fair to say, however, that Sardinia engages to pay and sub- sist this force, and to maintain it at its full strength. The force is to he under Lord RAGLAN, and will be a welcome addition to his strength. But it strikes one that the two millions required are rather a dispro portionate sum for the contingent—as it gives about 1401 as the expense of each man. But even at this rate should the " loan " turn out unproductive, the . soldiers might be cheaper than those of the proposed Foreign Lerion. The number*of the latter intended to be raised at present is we hear 10,000, and it is stated that an agent, or agents, have been appointed who will receive fifteen guineas for every recruit landed safe and sound on our shores. The last accounts from the Crimea are gloomy enough ; but still, on the whole, rather more cheering than those which have preceded them. The snow lay deeply on the ground, and while that weather lasted an assault would be impracticable. The French commander declined to receive more soldiers into the camp at present, and the reinforcements still arriving would therefore go to form an army of reserve. Unfortunately, our force is still miserably inadequate to the labour required from it. There seems little chance of getting up the huts before winter is over, and the camp is still unsupplied with the necessaries of life. The hope of deriving any effective assistance from the Turks must be faint, if it be true that OMER PACHA has resigned his command. The preparations in the allied camps for a terrible bombardment of Sebastopol continued to progress, though slowly. When the fire opened in earnest it was conceived that it would suffice to destroy the town. The Russians continued to be actively employed in strengthening their defences and raising new batteries, and it was stated that they had received large reinforcements. Stubborn sorties continue to be made on the French and English lines, sufficient to show that the enemy are bent on fighting, and evidently desperate work must be antici, 'ted when, after this lull, the storm of battli. again breaks forth. BARNUM AT WORK AGAIN. IT may not be generally known, that Mr. Barnum is at present in this country, and is engaged by the friends of Lord Palmerston in getting up a great demonstration in his favour. The first step of this distin• guished puffer was to visit some of the offices of our principal public journals, and make " all safe " in that quarter, and the walls of the metropolis now bear testimony to his activity. His first poster was, " Palmerston for the Populace," but as some of his Lordship's friends objected to the latter word, it was omitted, and the placard is now simply " Palmerston for Premier." 111 r. Barnum, in entering on this new line of business, expresses the strongest confidence of success ; he sees no reason why a statesman should not be puffed into notoriety as well as a mermaid or a dwarf, and ho confidently believes that the result of the present experiment will enable him to add to his " rules for making a fortune," some equally simple rules for making a Premier.