The Press. — London, England, 1856-05-17 00:00:00

THE WEEK. TOPICS have been abundant this holiday Whitsun week. PALMER'S trial and PANMURE'S abominable ill-usage of the army—Pain's sudden recollection of the Fourth Commandment, after his interview with a deputation of Scotch members—the proposed pension of 5,000/. per annum to Lord DALHOUSIE, after his enjoyment for eight years of a salary, with allowances, amounting to some eighty thousand a year— the discovery that Austria is closely and secretly leagued to France and England, to the infinite chagrin of poor Sardinia—the letter of Lord RANELAOH to the members of the Carlton Club—the pros and eons. as to illumination of private houses on the 20th—the wonder whether Sir BENJAMIN HALL will resign, now that his grand measure of " Sabbath Reform " has been so unceremoniously snuffel out by the Premier ;—these have been common subjects of conversation in all circles. Among politicians, the division on Mr. WurrEsinE's motion is not yet forgotten. While Ministerial hacks and jobbers of every degree are still applauding Pam's luck and glorifying HATTER'S zeal, a small attempt is making to throw blame on Mr. WHlTmine for having brought forward a motion sure to be decided in favour of the Govern ment by a very large majority. It is quite true that there was a differ ence of opinion among Conservative Members as to the prudence of raising the question, but the difference was no greater than will always exist on such points in every independent party. By his splendid speech, Mr. WHITES= showed that he had not exaggerated the strength of his case. The motion was made, not to obtain a majority in the House of Commons, not to have a great party•fight, but to place the whole case fairly before the country ; and, regard being had to this object, the motion was eminently successful. To suppose that the division has in any manner affected the political situation, or strengthened the Government, is ridiculous. Lord PALMERSTON is notoriously indifferent to defeats in the Legisla ture so long as he can obtain a majority on any question of confidence ; and whether the majority be more or less, is to him a matter of supreme indifference. " One's enough." When the Government of the country is at stake, parties do not " crumble away " so easily as some persons seem to suppose. The truth is, that the Kars motion was never meant as a trial of strength, and the division has, therefore, decided nothing. It was known beforehand that many Conservatives would vote against it, while the whole Liberal strength would be arrayed on the Government side. But it has had this good effect—it has shown the public that the boasted freedom of the " Independent Liberals" is a mere sham, and it has made the bulk of the "popular members" quake for their seats at the next general election. We should not have made these remarks but for the unfair attempt to disparage Mr. WHITESIDE, who, we are well assured, has by his eloquent and masterly address greatly raised himself in the estimation of the Conservative party, and fairly established his reputation as one of the few distinguished orators of his day. It is rumoured that he will be invited to stand for Middlesex at the next general election. The county would certainly do itself honour by the choice. It is not doubted that, besides the published treaty between England, France, and Austria, guaranteeing the integrity of the Ottoman empire, there is a secret treaty between the same Powers. Various speculations are hazarded as to its purport ; it may not improbably guarantee the defence of the Austrian empire in case of an attack from Russia. The published treaty is felt by Russia to be " a smack in the face," coming as it does immediately after the signa ture of the treaty of the 30th of March. The Court of St. Petersburg conceives, as it well may, that it has been treated with great indignity. A sudden change has come over our Ministerial press. Austria is now lauded to the skies. A small print of yesterday evening goes so far as to remind its readers " that from the reigning family of Austria some " of the most beneficial reforms which Europe ever witnessed, have " emanated " " What next " from the Liberal journals ? Perhaps a panegyric on the enlightened Government of the Kiag of Naples in the Daily News! Lord PANMIIRE'I3 last act of War-Administration has excited in our brave and meritorious army the warmest and most justifiable indigna tion. It is absolutely inconceivable by what mental process an English Minister can have brought himself to believe in the propriety of treating our soldiers as Whitechapel tailors treat their workmen. Yet such, without the slightest exaggeration, is the case. The private soldiers were granted sixpence a day extra during the war. The instant the peace is proclaimed that sixpence is stopped. We speak literally. Not a single day's grace was given. Yet, surely it would have been merely equitable, to say nothing of liberality, to have continued this extra war pay until the soldiers felt some of the benefits of peace ; until, at least, they had left the Crimea, and the war was fully and formally, as well as virtually, concluded. The ~fficers have even more cause to complain that the privates. They lave been compelled by Government to purchase horses, varying in price from fifteen to fifty pounds or more, for which they are now refused a passage home, and consequently compelled to part with them at prices varying from one pound to five. The officers in the first instance voluntarily gave up their own horses for the Land Transport Service. They were then forced by Government to procure others at their own expense, and are now, by the same parsimony, driven to offer them for sale to the Russians (the only buyers) at a loss of between eighty and ninety per cent. On the question of pro 111111 THE PRESS. SATURDAY, motion the grievance, if less general, is more serious. The lieutenant. colonels of regiments who have been appointed to the command of brigades, are, without a day's notice, sent back to thei r reg i ments in the rank they formerly occupied, so that the gentlemen who had, in the absence of these officers, been appointed to their command, are forced out of the service upon half-pay. They cannot go back to the rank of major, and they are superseded as lieutenant-colonels, a n d all this without the slightest compensation. It has often b een said that we do not reward our brave defenders in the same degree as other nations. But it has been reserved for the present Govern. ment to positively punish them. We are happy to see that the views which were expressed in TEE PRESS a fortnight back on this important subject are receiving very general confirmation. In both Houses of Parliament the Militia has been spoken of as the arm on which we should rely, during pe ace , for the efficacy of our military force ; and we have noticed with satisfaction an article in the Times of much the same tendency. I n the speech of Lord STANLEY to his constituents, at King's Lynn, the whole question is treated with the breadth of view and candid argument which distinguish the oratory of that promising statesman. The fact is, a large army will never do in a country which has outgrown the lust of conquest, and is devoted to in dustrial pursuits. A Manchester trader looks on a captain of dragoons as an unproductive gewgaw. We may deplore his sordid taste, but there the fact remains. Under proper manage ment the Militia would constitute an effective but invisible army. Men well drilled twice a year, with a company of each regiment kept on foot, as a nucleus and:a model, could afterwards be taken from the barn and the plough, and made into soldiers in a month. But we look upon the permanent maintenance of some small number of men in each county—whether a whole company or less is a matter for official con sideration—as an indispensable condition of success. There must be a fixed and abiding centre of action for each regiment. There ought to be a recruiting captain to keep the system in vigour, and such other officers as are necessary to give unity and consistency to the corps . Unless we are willing to do this it is useles to try the experiment. We see that the noblemen and gentlemen who assembled last week at the Thatched Tavern to consider the disarmament of the Irish Militia are of muck} the same opinion as ourselves. They expressed themcelves greatly dissatisfied with Lord PANNIIIRE'S proposition. They recommend that the disem bodied staff—meaning thereby, we suppose, the staff of the disem bodied regiment—should be kept up on a much larger scale than hitherto, and that a surgeon should be added to the number of officers so retained. All this is of course a matter of detail, upon which it would as yet be premature to enter. But what we do maintain is the broad principle that the Militia must be made the nursery of the army not less in peace than in war; and that, to make it so effectively, a cer tain proportion both of officers and men must be kept together in their respective counties, in order that the advantages of organisation and discipline which regiments now possess may be turned to their proper account, and the money spent on them for the last two years be made productive of future as well as of present benefit. THE BARONET'S WAIL. Ala—" Farewell to thee, Arabra daughter. Farewell to my dreams of a musical Sunday (Thus warbled a Baronet 'neath a beech tree) : All the week I'm content to be nil, but this one day Folks couldn't well name without thinking of me. Lord John never loved a pet bill for reforming The Parliament Houses more fondly or well Than I loved my scheme for the Sunday performing Of polkas and waltzes—and now 'tis a sell. Farewell! ob, farewell ! to those dear Sunday rambles — When I think of the past, oh my very heart bleeds; How smiling I watched my constituents' gambols, And inhaled with delight each sweet whiff of their weeds. Farewell, lib'ral Dean, who disdained not to wander With arm linked in mine through the musical throng ; Oh, Premier, Archbishop, Saints, all of you, ponder— Would a Dean have done this if the thing had been wrong? Oh, Palmerston ! fickle in friendship, oh, cruel! And falser than cruel that weak heart of thine! You care for Archbishops ! you run from a duel With Exeter-hall !—oh ! I'd almost resign. But the Peerage I long for I'd thus be foregoing, So I'll stay where I am. and discourse music still; For, my own brazen trumpet I'll never cease blowing, Let them silence all other sweet sounds if they will. A HINT FOR THE TWENTY-NINTH. " A Temple of Janus," cried Lewis, awaking (Disturbed from the dreams of a clasQical doze), " In Kensington-gardens I'm sure 'twould be taking, If 'mid fountains of fireworks its portals might close. 'Twas thus in old Rome "—Here, in prescient terror, " For pity and Pam's sake," said Osborne. " oh, cease ! For you'll find, as the end of each vaunt and each errur, One Temple, at least, is shut up by the Peace." •