The Press. — London, England, 1855-02-10 00:00:00

• FEBRUARY 10, 1855. lortign 6orrtspoithurt. FRANKFORT, Feb. 0. THE letters of M. Manteuffel and M. Drouyn de Lhuys, and the condemnation of the Orleans Ministry of England, with an inevitable change in its policy towards Germany, have quickened the pulse of the "Deutscher," and the discussions at the Casino are far more vivacious than those of the Diet in the old palace of Thurn and Taxis. The expressions of M. Manteuffel are construed into an excuse for a forthcoming declaration on the part of Prussia of being forced by the three powers to side with Russia. Prussia insists on her right to take part in any con ference at Vienna without signing the treaty of December 2; and were she to be admitted on these terms it would be merely a consent for Russia to be doubly represented. Her isolation at the moment is complete, and even her partisans in the Diet are beginning to recognise Russia as the real though indirect combatant for Germanic ascendancy. M. de Bismarck Shiinhausen has for some time, in pri vate, menaced the Austrian party, and has threatened a war for "Hegemony "—a coined word for the guidance of Germany under one head. He insists on the non-interference of other nations in such con flict exclusively German. It would have been wiser for him to have moderated his tone, for precisely on this point., and in answer to that remark, M. Drouyn de Lhuys has intimated that France will not view an international struggle in Germany and on her con fines without guarding French interests which must be directly affected, and that France will act " motu proprio." This, in simple English, means the occu pation of the Rhine lands by a French army. When the Congress of Vienna sanctioned the territorial passage of the Rhine by the Confederation of Ger many, for the object of keeping France in check, it committed a mistake, and furnished that country, whenever it broke the fetters of subjection, with a pretext to raise the question of the balance of power at a moment's notice. The German princes, with their adherents and dependents, correctly interpret the letter of M. Drouyn de Lhuys as a reply to the equivocal circular of M. ManteuffeL Prussia and Bavaria are the parties mainly interested ; then Oldenburgb, with its diminutive principality of Birkenfeld ; and Hesse Homburg, with an allotment of about the same size, but of less importance than Eton and its playing-fields. In September last the subject of the Rhine lands had been disposed of, and, in anticipation of a possible German war, they have been already apportioned in petto. This was well known at Brussels. A French army occupies the Rhine lands, if ever it may, once and for ever, and Aix is Chapelle will fall to the lot of a wise man who sees farther than his neighbours. The dismissal of Lord Aberdeen by the people of England is one of those peremptory acts that tend to elevate the character of constitutional power with the agents of despotism, who inveigh against the cumbrous machinery of representative government and its essential deficiency of immediate action. No Government of nicely-balanced parties can be strong within or without unless there be a concentration of common energy upon one single point. Even with this given property, the Casino politicians can be overruled by the press, and they hold up the Times as the vanquisher of Lord Aberdeen. The conduct of Lord John Russell is severely censured from the especial want of fair dealing. Take it in any way, no party can ever have confidence in him personally. His only chance now is to reiterate the Chesham place compact, and bid democratically high for his old recruits. M. de Bismarck, in his German character, pro pounds as a diplomatic axiom that confederated Germany can never be in strict amity with England whilst the " entente cordiale " with France is perfect and substantial. With a Russian and Orleans party the German connection might still have been pre served. Until very lately, and even now with the Fiquelmont clique, such is the opinion at Vienna. The combination that causes the most care is that of Lord Derby and Mr. Disraeli with Lord Palmerston, and the joy was evident when the news arrived that the great chief of the Conservative party had failed to form an Administration. The defeat of the Rus sian adherents for the present is acknowledged, as the majority of 157 in condemnation of Germanic policy (which is one of the gravest errors of the late Ministry) is conclusive. It is said that, if the Roe buck committee of the House of Commons be sin cere and strict in its examination, and more espe. cially searching amongst the private records of the Foreign-office matter of surprise and much mischief will be forthcoming, and a clue shall not be wanting. THE PRESS. The elders of the " Juden Strasse " flatly declare that the peculation of parties indirectly through officials at Constantinople and Balaklava is extreme. There are some who will return with large fortunes, wrung from the necessities of our officers and soldiers. The whole pay and emoluments of the army, according to "the people," are passing through a few hands ; some of them no doubt have their share through London channels ; and the outsiders, not belonging to the subscription-list, uplift their voices as honourable men against anything irregular. The Austrian and Prussian offices do justice to the suffering position of our troops, and, as gallant and brave soldiers, decline to join in the cry against our not being a military nation. The Austrians, in particular, are alive to the vices of our system. But the speech of Bernal Osborne, in disparagement of our rank and file, as well as the Horse Guards, together with the strictures of Mr. Sidney Herbert in the same spirit, have drawn forth their heartfelt anathemas. The speech of Mr. Bernal Osborne was partially reported in the Times, which omitted the derisive cheers from all parts of the house ; there fore I translated it from the Morning Herald with all its honours, and adding a few comments upon the antecedents of the honourable member. A Magyar officer, on the " saal " of the Rheinischer Hof at Mayence, on reading it with my annotations, started up abruptly, rattled his sword on the ground, uttered " Schwab," and spat in the fire. Those who are aware of the value of that word, spoken by an Hun garian, will be enabled to estimate the value of the compliment. As an antithesis to the Bernal Os borne calumny upon the soldier was appended the reply of the Duke of Cambridge to the Mayor of Dover. " Hah ! hah!" said a Hesse Cassel Gruf, "he belongs to us as well." These same Austrian soldiers read with delight the words of Lord Derby, ever noble and chivalrous, in honour of the personal graciousness that emi nently distinguishes our Queen. They perceive and own that, with less official power than the monarchs of despotism, the Royal lady possesses an all-absorb ing might of affectionate loyalty that, in her favour, makes England move as one man. J. E. BALAKLAVA.—THE EARL OF CARDIGAN. (From a Correspondent.) ENGLAND 18 jealously proud of her heroes—she is implacable iu her contempt• of an impotent. The Earl of Cardigan and the Duke of Newcastle have separate accounts to settle with the public. The first has to receive, and he has received, together with the valiant meu whom he led to the onslaught, the thanks of England and France for a display of the most cool and determined bravery. The other is about to receive publicly in Parliament the reproba tion of every man whose heart beats in the right place. The peculiar bravery of the light division charge at Balaklava resulted from the certainty of annihila tion and the known impossibility of effecting the wild object contained in the written order. For the chances of battle, in the heat cf action, all soldiers are prepared even in the most desperate emergen cies ; but when a perilous order is coolly given, and a " quasi" sentence of death is passed, impossible to be productive of benefit from the very nature of war, it is then that the qualities of true courage are made patent in all the heroism of transcendent merit. " C'est magnifique," remarked the admiring French. man at Balaklava, " mais ce n'est pas la guerre." Here was the apt distinction by a competent judge betwixt the relative duties of soldier and general. The peculiarities relating to the untoward order will have to be explained elsewhere ; but the more glaring the impropriety of that order may be proved to have been, so in an ascending scale will become more evident the virtue of an obedience prompt and energetic, and accompanied by the unhappy doom of a waste of life. It has been argued whether Lord Cardigan would not have been justified in requiring a further direction from the manifest futility of the movement. When, however, the written direction, misconceived or not, was distinctly made known, his lordship, as a gallant soldier, together with the brave fellows he led, took the open path of honour and of death. Those who did not fall in that fearful and over-matched struggle owed their preservation to a happy star, and to acts of a personal bravery almost superhuman. The measure of merit appertaining to Lord Cardigan and his brigade has already been meted out by the French allies, and particularly and openly, and without disguise, by the Emperor of the French himself. The Duke of Newcastle is the Minister of War. His ministry has been marked by the unnecessary death of thousands of soldiers, proceeding from ministerial improvidence, self-sufficiency, obstinacy, obliquity of intellect, and official incapacity. With a damaged and tattered reputation, grievously soiled by Crimean disaster and the animadversion of the journals of France and England, it might have been conjectured that a desire would have existed on the 139 part of the Minister to have disarmed adverse criti• cism by exalting success and mollifying misfortune. Not so. With a bold indifference and affected con tumely of all opposition, the Duke of Newcastle first denied, secondly admitted, and thirdly attempted to excuse his damning acts of incompetent administra tion. In eulogising the deeds of English valour, the several actions were severally and properly men tioned, but in apportioning the rewards of merit the battle of Balaklava was omitted from the official record of desert. Did this arise from forgetfulness, from the unjust trammel of an effete and Germanic routine, from sycophancy to high estate, or from the pruriency of a temper anxious to revenge itself on something, and smarting from parliamentary casti gation! Whatever the cause, the effect was direct. The battle of Balaklava was judged not to be de serving of a mark of military honour and merit. The indignation of the French army was loudly made known. " Had they been our men," said the gallant and warmhearted fellows, " each would have had his cross of honour;" and the " plusque brave Cardigan," would have been " eerase." It is well known, and a matter of notoriety, that the Emperor of the French expressed a strong opinion upon this act of injustice. Even the peacemakers and cottoncrats exclaimed against the cold neglect. England signified her dark anger in severe terms, and the soldiers' friend, the Duke of Richmond, ever at his post of devotion to the army, firmly demanded of the Duke of Newcastle, in his place in the House of Peers, the reason of this cruel and studied wrong. For the Ministry to assert that its generous wis dom had anticipated this remonstrance, is adding prevarication to injustice. They yielded to the pressure of general indignation, and the Emperor of the French triumphed in his defence of English soldiers over the Duke of Newcastle and the power behind him. The clasp for Balaklava comes not from the Ministry of England. It has been wrung from them through the fear of popular displeasure, vociferated throughout the length and breadth, not only of England, but of entire Europe, and it is the Emperor Napoleon and his gallant army that now wreath round the escutcheon of the brave earl the device which he may well bear in all honour and justice, "nec male notus eques." Surrosuso that a gentleman named Mr. Sidney Herbert were to get up in the House of Commons to make the best case he could of a system of mis management that had filled all England with grief and shame. And supposing that this gentleman were to expatiate to the House of Commons on the natural helplessness of our English soldiers, conse quent on their boots being made by one man, their clothes by another, their houses by another, and so forth, blending a sentimental political economy with red tape in a very singular manner. I wonder in such case whether it would be out of order to suggest the homely fact that, indeed, it is not the custom to enlist the English soldier in his cradle; that there really are instances of his having been something else before becoming a soldier ; and that, perhaps, there is not a regiment in the service but includes within its ranks number of men more or less expert in every handicraft trade under the sun.—Household Words. IN THE EXCHEQUER COURT OR Monday the rule was made absolute for a new trial in the case of Evans v. Robinson, in which the plaintiff, a gentleman of fortune, residing at Cheltenham, brought his action against the defendant for criminal conversation with his wife. On the former hearing a verdict was re turned for the defendant, but the case will now be reopened at the next Liverpool assizes. A NOTIFICATION was on Wednesday made in the Bankruptcy Court that the attempt to wind up the affairs of Messrs. John Andrew Clarke and Joseph Davison, warehousemen, of Cheapside, having failed under arrangement, recourse would be had to bank ruptcy. The debts and liabilities of the firm are said to be about 40,0001. The assets at present could not be stated. THE NUMBER OF MILER OF RAILWAY now in ope ration in the world are 40,344, of which 21,528 miles are in the United States ; 7,744 in Great Britain; 5,340 in Germany ; 2,480 in France ; 532 in Belgium ; 422 in Russia; 179 in Italy; 75 in Sweden ; 42 in Norway ; 90 in Spain ; 25 in Africa ; 100 in India ; 1,327 in British North America ; 359 in Cuba ; 60 in Panama; and 90 in South America. THE Messaggere of Modena announces officially that the telegraphic lines just completed between Massa and Sarzana, and which form a link of com munication between Tuscany and I'iedmont, are now open to the public. THE inhabitants of Kronstadt, in Transylvania, were alarmed by an earthquake on the 23rd ult., at half-past twelve at night. The shock was followed by two very perceptible motions of the earth, in the direction from east to west. The al wls of some of the houses were heard to crack, but no accident of a ny kind occurred.