The Press. — London, England, 1855-04-14 00:00:00

JL Vb. ° • , • r (I •L 1 //17 • • • r • • .. • . t No. 102.—VoL. 111. LONDON, SATURDAY, APRIL 14, 1855. PRICE SIXPENCE. Ot rtss. which overthrew Lord DERBY'S Ministry, and has been followed by two of the most dis astrous years in our history, still subsisted, and rendered the party too weak in numbers to face the combination which would have been arrayed against it; and while this cause remains one weak Administration will succeed another, and the country will be continually disappointed in its desirc•of a Government to represent its necessities and its strength. For twenty out of the last, twenty-five years the Whigs have remained in power less, during a considerable portion of that period, from its native strength than from the indolence of its opponents. Since 1830 the power of the Conservative party has never been fairly put forth but once, and then it was able to return a triumphant majority to the Commons. What was done in 1841 may be done in 1855 if the same means be adopted. But the organisation of that time, with its public spirit and high feeling, must be restored. There never was a more urgent call for political union than is supplied by the cir cumstances which surround us. The reputa tion of England and her place in the rank of nations are in question ; and it is for those who feel the strongest intet est in herprosperity, and regard it with most intelligent eyes, to make a vigorous effort to uphold her essential great ness by strengthening that party which alone is capable of giving stability to her Govern ment, and of saving her from that democratic agitation, already gathering, which a continu ance of misrule would surely strengthen and partly justify. ber Lord PALMERSTON embodied thirty-seven regiments, and 20,000 meu. On the 28th of March Lord PANMURE ordered their liberation. The men who had been embodied the shortest time were obliged to serve three mouths, or ninety days ; those who were embodied the longest had been kept up for four months, or 120 days. From the 13th of May to the 31st of September Lord PALMERSTON em bodied eighteen regiments, with 13,500 men. Of these the latest embodied have been com pelled to serve six months, or 180 days, and the six first embodied regiments have been forced to serve ten months, or 300 days? Although the English and Welsh Militia was only liable to servo for fifty-six days, yet during the year 1854 Lord PALMERSTON called out fifty-five regiments, and 33,500 men, and compelled them to serve for periods varying front ninety to 300 days. Is this keeping faith with the Militia ? LONDON, SATURDAY, APRIL 14, 1855. ON a calm review of the events of the last two years, it is impossible to avoid the conclusion that England has within that period declined in a very marked degree in material power and moral force. She no longer holds that proud place in the estimation of Europe which was universally conceded to her previous to the Ministry of Lord ABERDEEN. Her policy has been timid and her government uncertain. The mind of her people has been distracted by continual contradiction... If animated to war one day, it has been soothed to peace the next. The vast resources of the country have in the same year been hoarded with a niggard hand, and lavished with scandalous profusion; our finance has been a system of make-shifts ; and our attempts at military organisation a series of blunders. In every department of our Administration there has been sloth, error, or corruption. We are now in the second, if it may not be called the third year of the war, with the remnant of our fine army before Se bastopol, confessedly unequal to the work it has to perform, and with no reserve to strengthen it. Even our Legislature has ex posed itself to contempt by acquiescing in a series of intrigues which restored to office men whom it had previously declared to be unworthy its confidence. Are we at the commencement of a period of national degradation, or are we merely suf fering from one of those political derange ments to which every State is occasionally liable ? If the latter is the case, the remedy is in our own hands. But if our people be wanting in public spirit—if they have neither the sagacity to perceive, nor energy to escape from the false position in which they are placed by that anomalous state of parties which has lately prevailed—we must regard the past as an indication of the future, and expect further weakness and failure in the Executive, till a storm arises to overthrow or purify our political system. We are not surprised that the Whig party, however weak in real support. and contempti ble in abilities, should cling to power so long as they find that there is no stronger party to dispute their sway. The Government of England is a rich prize for the few families which now possess it. They can afford to cast some crumbs from their table to the humble waiters on their bounty. It is to• much to expect that they will acknowledge their own incapacity, and refuse offices and emoluments which are actually thrust upon them. It is the result of the apathy or disunion of the Conservatives that the painful spectacle is presented of a Ministry without capacity or confidence, and of the continuance of a system of misgovernment which irritates the people, weakens the foundations of the State, and ex poses our aristocracy to a storm of undeserved reproach. By the theory of our Constitution the Con servative party should have succeeded to power on the fall of the Coalition, but that unhappy division of Conservative interests DISBANDMENT OF THE MILITIA. A GREAT disaster has occurred. The whole of the embodied Militia of England and Wales, consisting of seventy-two regiments and forty thousand men, has suddenly become disor ganised. The men are returning home in crowds, and the regiments are reduced to skeletons. The force which is thus disbanding has been two years in formation, and was beginning to be of the greatest use in perform ing home duties and in supplying volunteers to the army in the Crimea. It was the only part of the Militia that has had any previous training, as the Scotch and Irish quotas are only just in course of organisation. The regi ments that have been reduced most are the flower of the force, the strongest in numbers, and the most highly disciplined. The dis bandment occurs at a time when the weakness of our army and the losses before Sebastopol render every man of the utmost value. At such a moment the misfortune is irreparable. By this time every one understands the blunder which has rendered it necessary to reattest the men who were enlisted previous to the 12th of May, 1854. The act under which they enlisted made them only liable to fifty-six days' training, and public faith re quired that they should be allowed to return home at the end of that period, unless they entered into a new engagement and accepted the altered service. Has public faith been kept? At first sight people think that it has. The men have all been sent home what more can be asked? But have they all been sent home at the end of the fifty-six days ? Have not many of them been kept up one, two, three, and four months beyond ? If so, faith has been broken. During November and Decem- West Norfolk Northumberland Ist Somerset 2nd Stafford. Suffolk Sussex Wn -Ist 2nd em only liable to r.aat Dior:out West Norfolk public faith re- Northumberland tllowed to return Ist Somerset riod, unless they 2nd Stafford 2OO .. Lent and accepted 3rd Stafford 2OO .. 450 public faith been west Suffolk think that it. has. Suffolk Artillery Sussex tome ; what more W orces t er 3OO .. 400 to all been sent Ist West York 4OO .. 150 six days? Have 2nd Warwick tp one, two, three, EMBODIED IN 1855. .. II If so, faith has Berkshire — .. 100 tuber and Decem- Ist Cheshire l4O .. 818 What is the consequence? Are the men likely to go home contented, satisfied that they have been treated with justice ? The nation is deluding itself with the idea that they will. It imagines that the national faith has been signally vindicated, and that the Militia will be more popular than ever. But is this probable ? Of these 33,500 is there a man who will not go home persuaded that he has been kept out longer than he ought ; that he has been detained wrongfully ; and that public faith has been broken ? Will ho not warn his friends against exposing themselves to similar treatment? These men do not view their release as a boon or a favour, but as an extorted right. There had been a great deal of discontent; now it is justified. The result is, a victory over their officers and the Go vernment. But it is a great blow to the militia service, and will long be remembered in the country. What is the numerical loss? In the absence of a Parliamentary return our information is imperfect. We have collected the following particulars from the public journals, and nearly the whole of them from the Times and tho Morning Poxt. Blanks are left where informa tion is deficient : EMBODIED FROM MAY TO SEPTEMBER• Name of Regiment. Reattested. Returned Homo Essex Rides l9l .. 399 Third West Yoik Monmouthshire South Devonshire let Somerset Hampshire Cambridgeshire 4th Middlesex — 61) 2nd Somerset EMBODIED IN NOVEMBER AND DECEMBER. let Devonshire South Durham West Essex North Gloucester Hampshire Artillery West Kent 2nd Lancashire East Norfolk