The Press. — London, England, 1856-11-15 00:00:00

1092 THE WEEK. JT unfortunately appears that there is no approach to a settlement of the disputed execution of the Treaty of Paris. As in all such differ ences of opinion between nations there exists a strong sense of right upon the part of each, it is but just that the English public should fairly understand the position assumed by Russia, since it is so well informed (of the attitude held by Lord PALMERSTON'S Government. The two special points in dispute are, the retention or resignation by Russia of Bolgrad and the Isle of Serpents. It is upon the interpretation put by Russia upon those articles of the Treaty of Paris which refer to the rectification of the frontier that the English Ministerial prints found all their charges of perfidy, bad faith, and arriere-pensee against the Court of St. Petersburg. Le Nord this week, in a series of able and statesmanlike articles, discusses the questions in dispute, and defends the conduct of the Court of St. Petersburg. Le Nord meets with a flat denial the assertion of the Times that Russia wishes " to substitute for the town of Bolgrad a " small hamlet, which will give her ready access to the mouths of the " Danube." Le Nord declares that Russia claims the town of Bolgrad upon the faith of Art. 20 of the Treaty of Paris, which recites in formal terms that the new frontier line shall pass to the south of Bolgrad. " If," maintains Le Nord, " the Congress committed a blunder in writing south instead of north, the Congress only can rectify the error." Russia desires that the Congress of Paris should decide whether, in order to conform to the spirit, if not to the text, of the Treaty of the 30th of March, she must make the sacrifice of Bolgrad Upon the question of the Isle of Serpents Le Nord maintains that Russia occupied the rock before the war, and desires to reoccupy it for the sake of general commerce ; and that, even if the island forms part of the territory at the mouth of the Danube to be aban doned by Russia, the frontier commission must first settle the limits and boundary of the frontier. This is the substance of Le Nord's arguments on those two points ; and, without pretending to say how far it is correct, it is clear that a primci facie ease is made out for fair and impartial consideration. As fcr the bluster of our Ministerial party, there never was the slightest occasion for it, since there never existed the least probability that arms would again be taken up. All the matters to be adjusted are trivial in themselves, and with a little of that " round and fair dealing " which BACON eulogises, might be speedily accommodated. From the coolness between the French and English Governments, however, a great advantage is given to Russia, as it is no longer possible to conceal the fact of the estrangement from the eyes of the world. England has reason to be proud. His Majesty the King of the Two SICILIES bas placed all British subjects in his dominions under •orotection of his police. This is for the present the end of the imbroglio which the Ministerialists confidently assured us would result is a grand display of British bunting in the Bay of Naples. Now we are told not to mind a course of action, which thus far—our boasting b ing taken into account—has made us look uncommonly small. " Something will turn up." Very likely. Encouragement will not be wanting to get up a grievance. There must be Jews in Naples as well as in Greece. We must live in hope that some disturbance will occur to justify our Government in making representations. To our view, this is about the worst thing that could happen. The best would be the assemblage of a Congress to dispose of this embarrassing question, together with all those other topics of irritation which at present prevent Europe from reaping the full fruits of peace. To this course, however, our Premier and our Foreign Secretary arc for obvious reasons opposed. The first would find his trade gone with the restoration of tranquillity, and the second has no inclination to again exhibit his weakness at a council table of European Representatives. There is one point in the speech of the Emperor of the FRENCH in receiving the Russian Ambassador, M. DE KISSELEFF, on Wednesday, specially deserving notice. His Majesty said he had learnt with plea sure that his Ambassador, M. DE MORNY, at the Court of St. Peters burg, had known how to win the esteem of the Emperor ALEXANDER 11. What does Sir ROBERT PEEL say to this? Very lately lie said that Lord GRANVILLE had disdained to have recourse to those acts by which the French Ambassador had gained favour at the Court of the Czar. The reflection, it now appears, was levelled at the Emperor NAPOLEON. Nor are the Honourable Baronet's boisterous declarations without a degree of significance. His antics are not his own. Like a monkey under the tutelage of a showman, he only plays off the pranks he has learned. He is notoriously prompted by Lord PALMERSTON, who is thus enabled to scatter a little fire about without any other kind of responsibility than that of keeping this hair-brained inheritor of a great name in his service. It is worthy of note that at the recent investiture of the SULTAN With the Order of the Garter, by Lord STRATFORD DE REDCLIFFE, at Constantinople, the oaths of this "Most Christian Order" were, for the first time since its institution, dispensed with. Neither was the Sultan literally invested with the Order. The insignia were presented to his Imperial Highness, who himself put on the collar. The mantle and hat were placed on a table at his side. With the greatest respect for the" Padishah," w e w i s h some means had been found of ma r ki ng the estimation in which he is held in this country, without stripping of its Chribtian character this ancient and brilliant order of chivalry. SATURDAY, The Whigs always contrive to make a mess in their legal appoint. ments. Their selection of Insolvent Commissioners, Colonial Judges and Police Magistrates, seems to have been with a view to patronising " Odd Fellows." The situation filled by the lamented Mr. GILBERT A BECKETT has been recently conferred on Mr. BURCHAM. What his Particular claims for that office are we really do not know. He is a barrister, but we are not familiar with his name in the reports before the C. J. of the Queen's Bench, or any other judge. But the learned gentleman is well known to the J. C. of the Reform Club. He is, also, Examiner in Classics to the University of L9ndon, and he enjoys the reputation of being able to set the tables in a roar. The Reform Club has long been peculiarly noted for its " funny members," and the Broadgrin Interest has, we suppose, laughed itself into the good regard of the patrons of politicians like Mr. JOSEPH PARKES, and of vita like the late Mr. JOSEPH MILLER, or the formidably facetious Mr. BURCHAM. At first it was thought tout this nomination was one of the Garrick Club jokes; but, unfortunately, it is not so good a thing as one of them, except for the gentleman himself, who relishes Lord PALMERSTON'S capital jest in setting him to administer justice, as Mr. DOUGLAS JERROLD might say, "indi&rently." The mission of England, according to Mr. ROEBUCK, would ap pear to be to propagate Liberal opinions at the head of 100,000 men, and to convert the world, like M A HOM ET, by the edge of the sword. This is to be done, at the same time, from the most disinterested motives, and on the purest principles of non-intervention. We are to drive King FERDINAND from his throne, but are to leave his dominions to others. We are to abstain from meddling with the affairs of other nations, but we are to force them to be Liberal at the point of the bayonet. For such, if any meaning whatever is to be placed upon words, must be the theory which floats before the imagination of the Hon. Member for Sheffield—Europe in one glorious conflagration from the Bay of Biscay to the Black Sea ; England and Austria fighting about Naples ; England and Russia fighting about Hungary ; England and other countries fighting just to keep themselves warm—seems to he this Honourable Member's idea of a healthy state of things. But, to pass from politics to religion. Mr. ROEBUCK fore. sees the time whea all creeds shall be placed upon an equal footing. Deprive them of their endowments, says he, and truth will prevail. The State did not endow either the Church of England or of Ireland, Lit private individuals. And is not that the very system of voluntaryism which Mr. ROEBUCK recommends? We should be anxious to know how Mr. ROEBUCK proposes to prevent religious corporations from acquiring property as long as there are laymen disposed to give it. These are some of the ecclesiastical " hard facts ' which nevertheless seem to melt away from Mr. ROEBUCK'S eye as he contem plates the coming Utopia. Politics penetrate everywhere, and even the turtle and venison and champagne of the Lord Mayor's banquet cannot be exempted from the common lot. Dinners, moreover, in England have a recognised political aspect, and we cannot, therefore, help commenting on one unparalleled feature in the late Mansion•house Lanquet—the fact, namely, that not a single European Ambassador was present on the occasion. The United States Minister was absent as well, and it seems to have been a doubtful point whether the black Ambassador of Hayti was not entitled to the honour of returning thanks for the entire corps diploinatique. This duty, however, was passed on by some dextrous management to the Minister of Brazil. Whether this general absence was concerted or not we do not inquire, we only say it is remarkable. At the least, it looks as if foreign States did not care much about showing us any marked cordiality ; and at such a moment as this the absence of cordiality is more than usually indica tive of the presence of a worse feeling. The extraordinary increase in crimes of audacious violence, even within the last few months, we persist in attributing to any cause but the right one. It is the fault of the police, the fault of our servants, the fault of ourselves, the fault of insufficient street-lighting—any thing, no matter how unlikely or absurd, is alleged to prevent an expo sure of the real truth, that the great experiments of the nineteenth century—the discountenance of transportation and the invention of tickets of leave—have been an egregious failure. We could reckon up some ten or a dozen cases within little more than as many days of a cha racter which three or four years ago did not occur once in a month. On the 20th of October we had the Parliament-street murder. A tradesman is preparing to leave his shop for the night ; a man coolly walks in, and hits him about the head till he is senseless. A little knot of loungers surround the door, who tell the passing policeman, " Oh ! it is nothing —a man beating his wife ;" and the callous functionary calmly goes on his way. Marley, the prisoner, was a ticket-of-leave man. On the sth of November, a man named Charles Hunter was charged at the South wark Police Court with having garotted and robbed a Mr. Mason at Clapham a few nights previously. lie, too, was a ticket-of-leave man. Only the other day, a poor man, sitting down to rest himself in St. James's-park, was daringly knocked off his seat, and plundered of his watch and purse with the utmost publicity. On Monday last a Mr. BISLEY, of Bermondsey, was found lying at Wandsworth with his throat cut; and on the same night the son of a market.gardener at Erith was found on the river-bank stabbed in sixteen places. Where this sort of work was going on the Italian and German le.rionaries were sure not to be backward, and the names of VoighCuletti, Manosi, Bossee, and Theiss, all represent scparatecases of more or less brutality. Now, where is all this to end ? If the ticket-of-leave system is carried on ticket-of-leave men will of course increase. It' they in crease they are likely to band together till one almost shudders to con template the pitch of atrocity and impunity at which they may ulti• mately arrive. All these facts and possibilities point to the one remedy, the urgent necessity of which we have so often insisted ()n— -amely, a general recurrence to transportation. THE PRESS.