The Press. — London, England, 1855-12-01 00:00:00

1134 eldest son and heir (to his titular rank and property) have hitherto been overlooked with too good natured contempt. People treated him as a il owder-cracker, that would go off harmless—all l noise aid no mischief. His attempts at wit were yeAfectly harmless. Hip, friends were gravest when he was most f tious, and his enemies of whom* had not a, few) smiled over his pathos. We talked for. the Ballot, and the House of Common% laughed; he assailed the Jews, alL'Patiersalia jeered. A blustering elocutionist, he lent him self as " a curiosity to Mechanics' Institutes, and recited speeches from the poets, re ealleci„Caroline WilhelraingAmelip.Skegas, and got up enthusiasm about "Shakspeare and the musical glasses." Some political gentlemen wished to hold a meeting at Tamworth. The friend of the Ballot wrote to his land steward *verbose anti swaggering epistle in the style of a Brummagem Bashaw, and called Sir. G. F. YOUNG " a miserable impostor." Upon which Mr. YOUNG, after the old English fashion, " showed fight" ; and what did Sir ROBERT then? Well; no matter what he—didn't. In his own language, applied to certain naval characters, " the country expected more after " all the money that had been expended on " him." Then, after various flounderings about, and efforts to acquire a " Corsica Boswell" style of notoriety, Lord PALMERSTON remembered the son of an old friend, and resolved to give him a chance. He was made Lord of the Admiralty, and it was hoped that he would subside into a Red-tapist, like his brother FREDERICK. The appointment was a bad one. For a variety of reasons, which we cannot state here, Sir ROBERT PEEL should not have been selected, to the exclusion of the young Whigs and Liberals of the Ministerial connection. It was the Pre mier's own act, and it was trifling with the public service to select such a peculiar kind of character for an important office. The nomi nation, however, had the effect of honour. It recalled the fifth book of Rabelais, and how " Queen Whim's" officers were employed. " Some with a couple of foxes ploughed a " sandy shore, and did not lose their seed; others sheared asses and got long fleece ,; and others pitched nets to catch the id, and caught cock lobsters in them." member for Tamworth is the Premier's 'k lobster." , of all the outrageous speeches ever de- Ted by an official person, the harangue of Amu Pzet, at the Mayor of Tamworth's dinner, is the most extraordinary that ever under our notice. A Lord of the Ad miralty assailed the Commanders of the Baltic Black Sea fleets! Holding a seat at the Admiralty, Sir ROBERT PEEL not only publicly -iticised and attacked the policy and conduct the last naval campaign, but he also as persed the talents, and almost called in question the courage of our present and ex -)mmanders of the fleets. ' , 'roin time immemorial the various fiches of the public services have, on their tncy being impugned, looked to those in to fight their battles, and defend them the impertinent censure of censorious ;tenders. Such a spectacle as an official person assailing public servants in the highest and most responsible places, and con ' -uing in the Government, has not been except on the night when Mr. OSBORNE, wther Admiralty subordinate, attacked the trdeen Ministry in its dying throes. But there was an immediate change of Mi tstry, and the subordinate remained in, while aiperiors went out. In 1829 the Attorney ;Cal (Sir CHARLES WETHERELL) attacked Wellington Cabinet, in what he called humorously " his last words and dying speech," but before next noon the speaker out of office. How long, we should like ask, is Sir ROBERT PEEL, the official im peacher of the British fleets, to be permitted to remain in the Admiralty? re observe, also, that in the chief Ministe organ only condensed versions of this dis graceful harangue have been printed. The Lord of the Admiralty makes several distinct charges against the navy What they wanted was men with energy and vigour, three thousand miles away, to carry out the policy of ule Administration at home. dee _Ape . -1 nation, recalled " Queer " Some " sand} " and " wool; " wind, Them " cock For, livered Sir Rol dinner, came u miralt3 and B 1 Admin criticis of the persed questi , comml Frot brancl efficiei office from preten person and tinuin seen anoth ' Aberd then nistry leis su Gene; the N humo " spe4 WaB 0 to as ' peach to rer We rial grace Lord chang I. VI three t MAWR 1111111111111 a, THE PRESS. He then proceeded :- 2. He thought that he was expressing the opinion of the country, when he said that the eight or nine millions spent in the Baltic had nut answered the expectations of the people. Next the char*, becomes more definite, and, aftei-filiMehk nc4 soot at the Baltic 40: miral, thp bold'rotiet cakes aim at the Block Sea Admirals :- 3. A Pun* wail •,leave man, but he had to givq way to Lye, Veto is. ,as thought would imam* more vigour into the autionkof tbe fleet. He did not here that such had turned.4lo be,The case. Again :- 4. He thought that all had not been accomplished by Mlmiral Lyaua is tlia Black Sea which might. have been done. ' • -- Not satisfied with these reckless imputa tions, this most offensive personage injuriously contrasted our present Admirals with NELSON and EXMOUTH. How would the present Sir ROBERT PEEL like to be contrasted with his own father, or with his grandfather, or with his most estimable uncle, the much respected General PEEL ? We tell the Lord of the Ad miralty that the contrast between himself and the sayings and doings of his father and grandfather, taken in connection with the name he bears, reminds us of the case of cer tain insolvent bankers, where, though the title of the firm still remained, the credit was long gone. It is a most serious question whether the official assailant of the British navy should continue in the Admiralty. Such a speech as that of Sir ROBERT PEEL'S is a flagrant scandal, and even the Premier dare not to treat it with a laugh. It received partial castigation from the clever reply of his colleague, Captain TOWNBHEND, who spoke with great ability in defence of the absent Admirals. But a more severe course must be taken with Si ROBERT PEEL than has yet been applied to him. " Hardinge" and " Graham" were the two last words heard from his distinguished father's lips, and this young man had the indecency in the same speech to assail Sir JAMES GRAHAM, and to refer to that particular speech in which the Member for Carlisle paid an affecting tribute to the character of a Sir Robert Peel of another stamp. We know of only one excuse that can be made for him. Through his maternal ances tors the present Sir ROBERT PEEL inherits some of the wildest of wild Irish blood, and what reads like mere malice might in reality have been only the outbursts of a ridiculous roysterer ; and the next account may inform us of the Lord of the Admiralty entering into rivalry with Mr. GOUGH, of temperance-lecture notoriety. But such is not the " Lord of the Admi ralty " wanted for the example of the public service, and as soon as he shall be turned " out," then we shall have the proper illustra tion of a man, though not " the right one," I being at last in his " right place." CIVILISATION versus WAR. THE history of wars is not the most uninstrue tive chapter in the history of mankind. In ancient times they were carried on from mingled motives of plunder and domination, and the triumphs of conquerors were the dis play of the booty they had won, and the captives they had enslaved. With no moral law to restrain the lust of acquisition, one war ceased only to give birth to another. The history of antiquity is a history of States which, having risen to pre-eminence by arms, sunk at last beneath the weight of their own spoils. For them there was no medium between supreme empire and utter destruc tion. When the societies of modern Europe rose from the ruins of Roman greatness, the pro spect was not much more hopeful, though the completeness of barbarian conquest on every side gave some security for the establishment of independent States. But as these assumed shape, war, as before, was entered on for plunder or conquest. The weakest nations suffered most, and the sword bore sway until powerful kingdoms were consolidated, and their Governments began to acton principles SAT LIKD. 7.4 ,Ay, of policy, and to recognise some rules of inter national law. It became then their interest to repress that system , of plunder awl those marauding ex peditionvphich, lUX ottAier stage of their career, thy had thewelikes encouraged. Their bordpexa.by land am) buccaneers by sea were foundlito be as danwous to their own subjects as tq, their neiglibows. VI piratical warfare was aupprpssed i a ikves assumed larger dimewiuba, they wok bee purely wanton in their object, and were commonly justified by some asEttnned necessities of State policy. With more light and more progress, peace was broken with greater reluctance, and wars of extremity viewed with greater aversion. It is a significant fact., that the longest European peace on record, the peace of forty years, has been broken at last by the youngest andleast. civilised of European nations. During those forty years of unparalleled progress, meditative minds have often asked, whether war when it next broke forth would be characterised by the obstinate ferocity of past contests. In irreconcileable differences. between nations, the ultimate appeal must be to the sword. But that appeal may be short. Foresight may decide, after the first struggle of the combatants, which side carries with it the public opinion of the civilised world, and must ultimately prevail ; and the weaker belligerent may make concessions which it perceives to be inevitable. A great moral question has now to be solved_ —a question than which none more important to the highest interests of humanity has ever• been raised. Shall we suffer a war com menced for just ends to become our master,. or shall we make it ow servant ? Shall we• repeat past errors, and, being once involved in hostilities, suffer the object for which the war was undertaken to be totally obscured by the national animosities and desire of conquest which unregulated warfare is certain to pro voke ; or shall we adhere to our original pur pose, and reject as equally savage and impolitic the notion that we are to continue hostilities for ends of retribution, revenge, or even the prostration of our foe ? It is from such ideas as those that wars in past ages have proved the scourges of nations, that they have spread like a conflagration it was impossible to resist, and have lasted as long as the belligerents had blood and resources to nourish it. If the war-on-any-terms party is to prevail, if the sole condition of peace is to be the total defeat and exhaustion of our enemy, the hopes. which philosophers and statesmen have nou rished for the last forty years—that war when it next broke forth would be of short duration,. from nations better comprehending their real interests, and being governed by more mode rate counsels—must at once be rejected as illusory. The present war must be charac terised by the same obstinacy, the same bitterness, the same ferocity, as in periods past. But should the belligerent Powers agree• that the war shall be confined to its first aims, and decide, now that the appeal to arms has conclusively established the superiority of the. Allies, that there shall be, in their sense, an equitable and permanent solution of the• question which gave rise to the war, we may rationally hope that a new and happier era is about to dawn upon the world. As yet there have been few precedents for short wars.- The' present occasion is favorable for the estab lishment of a decisive one. With so memo rable an example to refer to, we may expect that in any future collision the side of justice will always enlist the stronger forces on its side, and that nations will endeavour to settle hostilities in which they may be unhappily engaged, not by seeing which party can main tain them longest, but by an earnest attempt• to solve the question out of which their differences arose. From this point of view, a great principle• will be decided by the course which the pre sent contest may take. If wars cannot be avoided, it will be a benefit to mankind to place them under the control of wise, just, and moderate councils, to remove them from the influence of the senseless rage which has commonly made them so destructive, and thus contribute to shorten their duration, and mitigate their evils.