The Press. — London, England, 1855-05-19 00:00:00

THE WEEK. Rumoun has been busy this week with reports of dissensions in the Cabinet. Lord JOHN RUSSELL, with the Grey cousinhood, is stated to be favorable to renewing negotiations on the Russian proposals ; and there are some persons who imagine that Mr. MILNER GIBSON'S motion, on Monday, may have the effect of drawing forth some open expressions of that difference of sentiment which is known to prevail in the Cabinet. The mistake of Lord PALMERSTON in consenting to take o►fice as the creature of a Whig clique must by this time be painfully forced on his mind. His weakness as a political leader was shown on Wednesday, when the bulk of his party voted against him on the question of Church rates, and he was left in a minority, after declaring that he opposed the bill before the House, but had no plan of his own for the settlement of this much-vexed question. Under any circumstances tha Parliamentary weakness of the Govern ment would be an evil, but the evil is infinitely aggravated by the circumstances of our present state, as it is impossible that our Admin istration, destitute of strength at home, can be respected. abroad. The motions in the Commons fixed for next week, if they have no other effect, will at least tend to show the numerical strength of the peace party on Mr. M. GIBSON'S motion, and of the Administrative Reform party on the motion of Mr. LAYARD. The latter Gentleman's very wide and sweeping assertion that the disasters of the war are due to a blind adherence to routine, and to party and family influences in public ap pointments, will require very special and numerous instances to sup port it. That such influences prevail may be conceded • but it would be extremely difficult to trace to them in any appreciable degree the disasters of the Crimean expedition. Lord DERBY with great truth com pared the round of routine in any public department to the fly wheel of a machine. It moves in the same plane, because it thus best fulfils its part in the work to be done, but it was never intended to supersede the necessity of intelligent supervision. Those eminent commercial gentlemen who inveigh so loudly against routine, must know that the most perfect establishments are organised as a system of routine, and that it is the head in every case which keeps all the parts of the system in healthy and har monious action. Commercial magnates, in the meetings which have recently taken place, seem to assume that the manage ment of all large trading establishments is perfect, and that all commercial enterprise is successful. Yet a reference to the failures in 1847 will show how hollow may be the apparent prosperity of emi nent firme, and how reckless and improvident the system on which their business is conducted , while the mere mention of the rail way mania of 1846 must shake our confidence in that sagacity which the trading classes somewhat too boastingly claim for themselves. Indeed, the state of the whole railway interest at this time is sufficient to raise a doubt whether the powers of Government might not, after all, be subject to as great abuse if thrown into the hands of the commercial classes, with all their capacity for business, as under that system of party rivalry so loudly condemned. The accounts from the camp are of the usual kind—nrepara tion, indecision, and little result. Turks from Eupatoria are hurried off to Kamiesch ; French from Kamiesch, and English from Balaklava, are hurried off to Kertch—all to return without accomplishing the apparent object of their mission, and to content themselves with looking at the respective Russian earthworks—that magnificent view of " over the way"—and picking off a stray rifleman, or being picked off in return. Meanwhile, the hot weather is coming on, and a few cases of cholera have already appeared, precursors, we fear, without being alarmists, of a repetition of Varna last autumn. The question certainly seems to be—what next? The first and second bombard ment have undeniably failed, and so we are preparing for a third. But will the third be one whit more successful? Shall we not do as we have done—open a tremendous fire for ten or fifteen days,and then relapse into one gun an hour " as before "? We have neither the guns nor the ammunition to keep up such a fire—such a continued fire—against the defences of Sebastopol as would produce those results which in similar cases justify an assault. Every day adds to the difficulties of our position. The honour of the nation and of the army lies in Sebastopol; and, in spite of General CANROBERT'S assertion, " that if we cannot get in by the door we will by " the window," it is well known that this back window has not yet been discovered. The spring has already past, and we are yet estab lishing new batteries, "progressing favorably," and hoping against hope, and, what is more to the point, against experience, that the third bom bardment will be effective. Sebastopol, with its triple lines of earthworks 20 and 30 feet thick, will no more be conquered by the fire of artillery this time than it has been previously. If anything can take the place, it is the bayonet or starvation, and the allied Generals hesitate about using the one, and have not power to compel the other. Meanwhile, we may look forward to a pleasant winter, enlivened with daily reports from the camp, and rest assured that at least our soldiers will not want warm clothing next November, for the sheepskin cats and long boots are being cleaned and stored at Constantinople ready for re issue—a piece of cautious foresight we should scarcely have given the authorities credit for. As an instance of the way in which our War Departments carry out their measures with energy and activity, we may observe that at this moment Lord RAGLAN is hampered in his operations mainly, if not entirely, by want of ammunition and guns. Everything yet goes on in the good old style , of the Newcastle and Herbert times. The SATURDAY ) fifty-six-pounder guns are sent out with thirty-two-pounder shot as an accompaniment, while thirteen-inch shells are provided with ten-inch fuses, and the ten-inch fuses refuse to fit the ten-inch shells to which they ought to belong. The resignation of the command in chief of the French army before Sebastopol by General CANROBERT is announced in the Moniteur of yesterday. 111-health is stated as the cause. It had been known for some time that General CAN/WHEAT was suffering from opthalmia, but his resignation of the command and his acceptation of a division under his successor looks slightly inconsistent. Either General CAN ROBERT is ill and unfitted from that cause to hold a position which demands perfect activity of mind and body, or he is not. If he is ill he must be equally unfitted to discharge the minor but not less important duties of a divisional command. He will most probably return home very shortly. General PELIBSIER, who has been nominated by the Em peror to succeed in command of the French army, is spoken of as one of France's best generals, of the Lamoriciere school. He is daring, skilful, and full of resource. Under his hands perhaps the little window may be found by which we are to steal an entrance into Sebastopol. The bestowal of the Crimean medals yesterday by the hands of the Queen was one of the moat painfully interesting spectacles ever witnessed in the metropolis. As a military spectacle, it was a failure, from the very few troops on the ground, but it was impossible to look on the little bands of soldiers who went up to receive their deco. ration from the hands of their Sovereign, without deeply sympathising with the sufferings they must have undergone. The men, in their features, persons, and gait, exhibited almost every variety of injury it is possible to conceive. A group of Lancers who had escaped the ever memorable charge of Balaklava were viewed with peculiar interest, and the Duke of CAMBRIDGE and Lord CARDIGAN were loudly cheered. But the most touching figure in the spectacle was Sir THOMAS TROUBRIDOE, who had lost both his legs. In the galleries round the arena, and on the parade ground itself, were collected a brilliant assemblage of rank and beauty ; and when the hero was wheeled in a chair to the ect of his Sovereign, and took the medal from her hand, the specta ors were thrilled with an emotion too profound for applause. The LORD ADVOCATE'S Scotch Education Bill was last night carried into committee, after a brisk debate, by a narrow majority of 7. Recognising the unsubstantiality of his triumph, the Learned Lord afterwards sought to disarm opposition by inviting objectors to con sult with him how the measure could be adapted to suit their several views. We may safely presage that if the Bill passes the Legislature at all it will have first become little short of a new one. The educa tional system in connection with the Church, which has worked so admirably for two hundred years in Scotland, is not to be sacrificed off• hand for the sake of a crotchet, or to flatter the partisans of secularism. Nothing could more injure the effect of the " Administrative Reform" Society, than that professional agitators should obtain the leadership of its proceedings. An undue number of Irish M.P.'s have indorsed the undertaking with their damaging approval. A most personal and offensive speech was made at Norwich by Mr. ToaaEss McCuLf.Aox as a representative of this society. Mr. McCuLLAGH is well known in the annals of Irish agitation, and he is the biographer of the professional agitator Mr. SHELL. He was formerly M.P. for Dundalk, and private secretary at Dublin Castle. He said that he could not attack the Duke of NEWCASTLE, " because it was cowardly to strike a " man who was down ;" and in the worst taste he alluded to the present Duke of BUCKINGHAM, the Marquis of CLANRICARDE, and some others. Mr. McCuLtAort in the House of Commons was the advocate of the Wiseman members, and failed egregiously in debate. What he wants in energy and eloquence in the House, he makes up for by virulence out of it Such is not the sample of "reformers" wanted by the people of England. After-dinner speeches possess an unenviable notoriety when remembered in conjunction with reform cutlets and some leading members of the present Administration ; but the speeches which were delivered the other night at the Lord Mayor's banquet may be fairly considered as atoning by their rapid stupidity for any rashness upon a previous occasion. There must have been something wrong in Lord Mayor Moores dinners; the chef must have been suffering from tooth ache ; the soup must have been cold, or the wine hot. No one can read Lord PALMERSTON'S ponderous platitudes without feeling how completely he had put on his character for the occasion. At a period like the present, and upon an occasion like that of Wednesday evening, we might reasonably look for some explanations of policy from the First Minister of the Crown ; but the fact appears to be, that Loid PALMERSTON makes up his policy for the day in the same manner as he prepares himself for the night. RIGHT, ALL BUT A " T." " It is with pleasure that I announce to your Majesty that the English army, always so solid," &c. &c. Our Rulers at home Are, to all but a " T," What Canrobert states Our brave army to be. For I've got an idea, If in the Crimea Our troops have display'd such Solidity, We might chance in the street They call Downing to meet With an equal amount of Stolidity. THE PRESS. 472