The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1855-08-28 00:00:00

N ''%,

THE

iLiberpoot :.--)tailbarb+

TUESDAY, AUGUST 28, 1855.

FROM OUR LONDON CORRESPONDENT.

MONDAY MORNING.
To use a figure borrowed from the martial spirit of the
time, the legislative campaign having been brought to a close,
and the various divisions of the Parliamentary army having
gone into cantonments, the diurnal or hebdomadary chronicler
of their achievements is necessarily put to his shifts for ma-
terial wherewith to garnish his tale. g however, abandoning
the often unwelcome, and more frequently unprofitable task
of recording their performances, or censuring their non-per-
formances, he casts his eyes abroad upon the everyday world,
he will find no lack of themes to exercise his talent—no want
of objects solicitous of observation. True, the Court, and
with the Court the gaiety of fashionable life, have conjointly,
for the time being, deserted the English, and taken up their
temporary residence in the French metropolis. But are
courts and pompous pageantry the only objects worthy of
consideration among a great and enlightened people, as the
English profess to consider themselves? Assuredly they are not.
Unquestionably, every loyal subject of QUEEN VICTORIA—
that is, every breathing Briton—must feel proud and grateful
to learn, that in the person of his Sovereign the national vir-
tues and the national graces have met with appreciation, and
commanded esteem and admiration from our noble-hearted
allies. The visit of the QUEEN of BRITAIN to the capital of
France, and the welcome accorded to her—not merely by her
Imperial hosts, but by the myriads of that people who were
taught from lisping infancy to regard the subjects whom she
sways as enemies, and who were taught to tune the first
accents of their tongues to reproaches of her people, and to
designate the island-home in which her throne is placed, as
perfidious and deceitful, must stand recorded in the pagerof
history as a memorable event. If regarded only as indicative
of that cordial fellowship which exists between the rulers of
two great and powerful kingdoms, the visit is one fraught
with no ordinary or ephemeral interest. Viewed as the
symbol of that harmonious unity of feeling which better
knowledge of each other has ripened into ties of friendship
and affection between the people of the two most powerful
and enlightened nations of the earth, the interchange of visits
and reception acquires a significance rarely accorded to the
acts of individuals, and confers a new aspect on the destinies
of Europe. A brief space of time only has elapsed since the
world, almost for the first time, saw the armies of England
and France contending in the same field for the same object

Brethren iu arms, though rivals in renown;

but the past week has witnessed the generous strife of the
people and the sovereigns—the rulers and the ruled—in giv-
ing assurance to the world of their cordial union in defence of
enfeebled right against aggressive might. The political im-
portance of the friendly intercourse between the monarchs far
exceeds, as it will long outlive, the gorgeous splendours of the
numerous spectacles—the balls, illuminations, banquets, and
other social glories, with all their fascinations and delights,
will speedily recede into the dim oblivion of the past, and be
thought of only as a gorgeous dream—not so the grandeur of
those moral results which must flow from the union of two
mighty nations leagued together as the active foes to oppres-
sion. This night our beloved SOVEREIGN takes leave of her
august ally, and ere to-morrow's dawn she will be speeding
her homeward way, followed by the vivas and the blessings of
the French people, as she will be welcomed by the joyous ac-
claim of her own true-hearted subjects.
While gala, rout, and roundelay have lent their combined
charms to enliven the royal progress, performances of another
-* order have contributed to keep attention awake at home.
.--,- _
- , Further communication from the Baltic has enabled, or rather
`,., constriined, us to class Admiral DIINDAS' talismanic an-
nouncement, " Sweaborg is no more," with the memorable
• `! Sebastopol est prit" of the French EMPEROR, uttered about
ten months ago. Sebastopol is not taken, and Sweaborg still
exists. The completeness of the work done at the latter for-
tresi is much less than the language of the first despatch had
led to the belief of. The guns and fortifications of the place
remain almost uninjured, although the destruction of naval
and mil stores stores has lyvm ,Treater than was at first sup-
posed. Tfolt,eper:s I received a severe blow, under
\ - the effects re ' reel and stagger, but without
Pr:vieersive influc—ce 0 ury, or such as can exercise a
_.....ediate progress of the war. The
success, such as it is, however, has had the effect of igniting

the explosive mixture which forms so conspicuous an ele-
ment in the composition of Sir CHARLES NAPIER, and the
result has been the discharge of a long and angry letter, in
which; with great unction of ascerbity, he renews his quarrel
with, and his denunciation of, Sir JAMES GRAHAM. He main-
tains that the bombardment of Sweaborg has effected nothing
which he did not foresee and foretel last year, and which will
not require to be done over again next year: Much and severe
animadversion has been spoken, written, and printed in con-
demnation of the brave old admiral's somewhat spicy letter ;
and " natheless," as DOMINIE SA_MPSON would say, it is greatly
open to sharp criticism. To find fault with even the partial
success of another, in a sphere of action in which he himself
did nothing, seems, at the first blush of the business, to look
invidious. To repeat a series of accusations against the late
First Lord of the Admiralty, which he had previously fulmi-
nated, and on various occasions, is certainly open to the charge
of egotistic indiscretion. For an officer who has held a high
command to turn round and assail his superiors because he has
not been able to carry their instructions into effect, does savour
of insubordination, and assumes the aspect of querulous incon-
sistency; but when the matter is examined a little deeper than
the surface, many of the seeming improprieties disappear ;
while further inquiry leads to the conviction that the veteran
has not only considerable ground of complaint, but that the
very success of Admiral Dusrra s is corroborative of the
injustice to which Sir CHARLES NAPIER complains
he has been subjected. From Admiral DUNDA.S'S state-
ment it is perfectly clear that such destruction as has
been hurled upon Sweaborg has been by means of mortars
and that the large ships of the line took no share in
the affray beyond that of distant spectatorship. Sir
CHARLES NAPIER had no gun-boats or mortar-boats, nor, as
he himself says, a*single mortar in his fleet. He urged on Sir
JAMES GRAHAM and the Admiralty the expediency, indeed
the necessity, of being furnished with these, to enable him
effectually to attack Sweaborg, and even Cronstadt, and
pointed out how, with the assistance of these, he would have
been able completely to destroy the fortifications of Sweaborg,
and even to reach the shipping sheltered under them. Instead
of furoishing_him with those instruments which he declared
indispensable to success, their lordships ordered him to attack
with the ships he had, and, because he would not do so, they
deprived him of his command. This, coupled with Admiral
DIINDIS'S success, gives Sir CHARLES the opportunity of
making a strong hit, with which he concludes his peppery
epistle., "Sir YAntzB CritAlTAx," he says, "was one of the
ministers who sent a British army to Sebastopol in the middle
of last September, without the means of moving, without food,
proper tents or clothing, and without hospitals, to pass a
dreary winter and perish ; and he was the minister who
wanted me to take a British fleet, in the end of October,
to perish among the rocks of Sweaborg, and, to their shame,
got two naval officers to pat their names to the insulting
letter he wrote me : and these men still remain in the
Admiralty—and that is the way the navy of this country is
managed." Strong language this from an officer in accusa-
tion of a public servant ; but not stronger than the circum-
stances seem to warrant ; the glorious triumph achieved against
Sweaborg forming the chief evidence of its propriety, and
conclusive justification of his conduct in refusing to obey the
orders of Sir JAMES GRAHAM. Admiral DUNDAS was the
officer chosen to repair the alleged errors committed by Sir
CHARLES NAPIER, yet he delayed making any attempt upon
it until late in the summer, and would not undertake it till
he was furnished with that particular arm of strength which
Ne.rins said was indipensable, and which was denied to him.
In point of fact, Sir JAMES GRAHAM'S conduct was a natural
corollary to the sentiments connected with the war indulged
in by the Cabinet of which he was a member. The object of
that Cabinet was evidently to carry on war on negative prin-
ciples. The whole was expected to be managed by demon-
stration, and the rude contest of war was by them intended
'to be carried on on the same bloodless principles which regu-
late a...game of chess. The pawns, knights, and bishops ; the
kings, queens, and castles being placed in particular array,
it was supposed that the antagonist force, perceiving the hope-
less condition in which, according to the regulation, they
'were placed, would gracefully bow acquiescence to the conven-
tiongstrategy, confess beaten, and there an end. In pursuance
of this demonstrative mode of waging war, an army was
landed at Gallipoli for the protection of Constantinople from a
coup:de main, but there running the smallest possible risk of
conflict with the enemy ; a fleet was equipped for the Baltic,
SO arranged that it would prevent the Russians from coming
out of harbour, but utterly incapable of approaching them
if they chose to remain there. Under such circumstances,
was there anything unnatural in finding that, when forced to
assume the offensive, the army was found unfurnished with
the means of prosecuting a vigorous campaign ; and that
the fleet was discovered incapable of doing what it was never
meant to perform ? In connexion with this aubject,
flagrant, if not unpardonable, matter forces itself upon obser-
vation. If the commanders knew that they were expected to
perform real warlike services, insteAd of the chess-board style
of combat, why did they not seo that their respective arma-
ments were suited to the service expected from them P If

they could not estimate the requirements, they were them-
selves but indifferently qualified as leaders in the enterprise ;
if they knew what was expected and could estimate what was
needed, but did not insist on having it, their qualifications as
commanders do not rise in estimation. In either case, or both,
what has been said a hundred times, and a hundred times over,
comes back with double force,—the Ministry, collectively and
individually, were greatly to blame for the gross waste of
public means, the discredit brought upon the country, and
the misery and suffering endured through their mismanage-
ment.

While indulging in so unpleasing a retrospect, the mind is
involuntarily led to inquire, what of the future? For deon-
siderable period past, the public have been made bitterly
familiar with that " hope deferred which maketh the heart
sick." The summer has run its round, and is waning into the
"sere and yellow leaf" of autumn, and still our brave country-
men and our gallant allies continue in the trenches on the
south side of Sebastopol. The actual condition of the fortress,
of its defenders, and resources, are little if at all better known
to us now than they were twelve months ago, unless indeed
we reckon the uncheering knowledge that its defences have
been greatly augmented within the period referred to,, and
that everything seems at present to indicate the probability
of our armies spending another winter in those trenches which
last year proved so fatal. The battle recently fought
in the line of the Tchernaya is differently looked on,

and conflicting conclusions are drawn from it by dif-
ferent parties. One set deduce from it as an inevitable
conclusion that nothing but starvation in the garrison
could have induced the Russian commander to hazard
an engagement under the circumstances. These parties

argue, but do not state their ground of argument, that dissa-
tisfaction, engendered by suffering, and misery occasioned by
starvation, prevail to such an extent in the garrison as to
make death itself preferable to longer continuing within the
walls ; and the advocates of this theory assert that the battle
was occasioned by an exodus of the discontented from the city
of Sebastopol—a theory requiring no small amount of credu-
lity to secure acquiescence in. Another party, with much
more show of probability, say the battle was fought by, or

chiefly by, reinforcements newly arrived in the Crimea, now

liberated from the Galician frontier by the defection of
Austria from the Western Alliance. This latter conjecture
appears the more entitled to credit, when it is considered that
little less than absolute madness, or positive despair, could
have induced Prince GORTSCHAICOFF, without reinforcements,
to attack the greatly-augmented army of the allies, posted,
too, in a strong position, like that which they at present
occupy, and which they are engaged in still further for-
tifying. Estimated by the number of Russians slain,
the victory is far from unimportant ; yet, like other
victories achieved in the Crimea, it has, so far as
can at present be seen, produced no permanent result,
and, like the destruction of the arsenals at Sweaborg,
the victory produces only barren laurels. With such facts
and prospects full in view, the inquiry forces itself strongly on
the public mind, are adequate measures afoot to secure the
army against a recurrence of the dreadful calamities under
which it suffered last winter ? If they are not already organ-
ized, no time is to be lost. Surely our rulers will not again
plead ignorance of the rigours of a Crimean winter in extenu-
ation of official negligence. Let it not be forgotten that the
French, last winter, had a road from their harbour to their
camp, sufficiently hard at bottom to be practicable at all
weathers, while that which should have been the road from
Balacklava to the British camp, was represented byan irregular
trench of sludge and semi-liquid mud. The Sardinians, on
the Tchernaya, have already begun to experiment on the con-
struction of winter huts ; it is to be hoped the British army
will not again exhibit the only departure from the rules of
prudence iu such matters.
Among the celebrities which have arisen out of the
calamities of the last winter's campaign, and the shameful
ignorance and negligence which characterised all the public
departments in connexion with it, no one has shone with a
purer lustre, or been marked by a more disinterested zeal, than
that which hallows the name and exertions of Miss NlGur-
INGALE. This lady has now, it is understood, succeeded so
far in arranging the chaos in which our hospital provision and
management in the East were involved, that her onerous and
dangerous labours can be spared, and, accompanied by her
noble-hearted sisters in humanity, she is about to return to-
England. As was to have been looked for in a case of heroism
so great, self-devotion so unhesitating, many of the most
benevolent and humane who adorn our land have set about
preparing the way for a public acknowledgment and enduring
memorial of those services she has rendered to her country
ana humanity. This, in compliance with the desire of Miss,
NIGHTINGALE herself, has taken the form of a subscription,
to found in London an hospital to be worked on her own
system of unpaid nursing. This is to be called the " NIGgIT-
INGALE Hospital," and a subscription list is about to be opened
at Messrs. COUTTS' bank, for collection of a fund to be plaoed-
at her disposal when she returns to England. The proposal-
has been met with general approbation, and without doubt' it
will call forth a bounteous flow of liberality. If, through the.
Divine blessing, Miss NIGHTINGALE is thus enabled to carry
into operation her benevolent desire, we shall be indebted.to
the ruthless hand and dire calamities of war for the introduc-
tion of personal devotion in the administration of our public
charities —thus further illustrating the wisdom and benevo-
lence of that Providence which is continually

From seeming evil still educing good.
Such members of the political clubs as have not yet departed
on their autumnal migration,or,having made but a short light
have returned, and like ghosts "revisiting the glimpses of the
moon," are still to be seen flitting about the coffee-rooms-and
corridors of their favourite haunts, are at present considerably.
beset for topics of convenient gossip. By these members .of
the necessitous classes anything is eagerly swallowed as matter-
for rumination in'the bovine sense, and odd affairs they.some—
times do contrive to "bag." Among the most recent of these
fancy flights is that which transfers the present Speaker of
the House of Commons to the peerage by the title of Munn
HECKFIELD. Long before the end of the last session, it was
hinted that the Right Hon. J. SHAW LEFEVRE, Ural .of his
onerous task of sitting and trying not to yield to the influence
of those soporific strains by which his ear has been nlghtly in- -
veded, was desirous to escape from the involuntary: penance, .
and hence the proposed promotion. Of course, in providing
retirement and a peerage for the right hon. gentleman, it is-
also necessary tofurnish the collective wisdom with r-substitute,
and for the last few days a report has gained considerable cur- -
rency that Sir GEORGE GREY or Mr. BAINES wiTh be put. in
nomination for the vacated office. 'Whether ti.p election of
either of those right hon. gentlemen to the post would be fol-
lowing out the principle of "putting the right man in the right
place" may well admit of doubt; but in the presentwncertain state
of parliamentary parties, to calculate securely on the success-
of either, would be a labour much akin to that of " counting
chickens before they are hatched." Among:other matters.
which have occupied the attention of the useful class of idlers..
referred to, the Herts Guardian has afforded them a delectable,
bit of political sweetmeat. According to Carat-authority, Mr.
HAYTEB, who sits for the borough of W,ells, and plies Use.
" parliamentary whip" for the immaculate Whig party now,
in power, has in the most disinterestedAmauner imaginable-
unfolded to the wondering eyes of his .constituents and, his
country, the astonishing aptitude for public service whieh has
hitherto lain buried and unsuspected in the borough of Wells.
The registered electors of this boron& number 325, of
at the last election, 175 recorded votes. in favour- of Mr.
HATTER. Among this limited number of claimants on his
political bounty, the right hon. gentleman has discovered that
they or their children, or their children's childrenv have capa-
city for government service to the number of fifty-one, and
these, profiting by the spirit of the time, he has had placed in.
"the right places." Of the public adininistrators hatched is
Wells-20 have been suitable- for appointments in the cuss-
toms, 18 have found thelr proper nc-staing-places in the
excise, 6 have been born, to,do.duty inn Somerset-House-and
the Stamp-office, 3 have had, capacity for-the Post-office,l, has
been fitted for the Ror..X.Dock-yard„ I for a position (which is.
not mentioned) in the• convict establishment, 1 haa alighted
in the London polices and 3, in the- packet service !, HOW can
this country ever ran, short of public servants, so- long as wo
have warrens for their production as fruitful as. Wells, with a
ferret as active inqueartlaing them as Mr. liakyTuu!
Scarcely has the hum of wonder been hushed on this mi.

tins topic, when. it is again stirred up by the. "sough," as our
Caledonian brethren would call it, occasioned by Lord Join
Russmala purchase of Hill-house, Radborough, near Stroud,
until lately the residence of Sir J. I) PAUL. The on slit has
it that Lord Jou means to make it his future country resi-
dence;; and, the Gloucester Alcrnal says " political motives
are attributed to the noble lord in fixing his residence at
Stroud. It will be remembered that he sat in Parliament for
the borough from 1835 till 1841." Does his lordship already
feel his city throne " tottering to his fall ?" is the question put
in all the clubs r of course it is answered differently at Brookes'
and the Clarendon, although there are not wanting plenty
who say the same opinion predominates in both.
Your neighbour, Lord STANLEY,IOIO, I see, has been making
himself agreeable to the popular leaders on the subject of
Education and Mechanics' Institutes, has published a letter
advocating the earlier assembling of Parliament, as a means
of economizing the public time. The letter has occasioned
considerable remark, and its tone is generally approved -of;
but those most familiar with the subject maintain that the
true mode of economising the time of Parliament, like that of
any other assembly, is to work more and speak less.

Thea'rical and other annt3enlents are dull and uninviting
as they always are in the (10,g-days, yet some exception must
be taken to this in favour of the Haymarket, where a bur-
lesque has been get up of Vie late Administrative Reform

movement at Drury-lane. The new piece is from the pen of
Mr. BROUGH, and is called " Olympus in a Muddle." There
is not much of originality in it. Jupiter, satisfied that all is
not right in the Olympian establishment, resolves to set the
matter as it should be, and in a "thundering" rage orders
his subordinate deities to betake themselves to callings more
congenial to their respective natures, and as a result he con-
trives to leave " Olympus in a Muddle. Mars he finds un-
fitted to do the service of a maid of all work ; Mercury,
although smart and trickey, and not over-scrupulous about
truth, turns out to be a bungling Chancellor of the Exchequer.
Neptune feels out of his element when called upon to take
, the "ribbons" as coachman to the sun. Venus, though
potent in the wars of Cupid, finds her armoury unfitted,to
the work of Mars. At length, after having turned his house
completely " topsy turvy," to use a classic phrase, the " wrath-
ful Jove" is fain to acknowledge that in his anxiety for ad-
ministrative reform, he has not been successful in putting the
right Gods and Goddesses in the right place, and the drama
ends by a return to the orinigal state of affairs. The acting
was good, and the performers laboured hard to make a hit,
but the success of the piece was rather less than simply in-
different. The subject affords but little scope for anything
beyond the merest common-place " fun" of the burlesque ;
and although several decided "hits" are contained in it, and
were delivered with telling effect, as a whole the piece met
with but a poor reception, and will not do much towards
filling Mr. BIICKSTONE'S exchequer.

A TRIP TO CHESTER.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE LIVERPOOL STANDARD.

SlR,—This is especially the season of pleasure-trips and ex-
cursion trains, and perhaps there is no kind of passenger
traffic which is more satisfactory to all parties concerned, not-
withstanding the absurd remarks made about it at the half-
yearly meeting of the London and North-Western Railway
Company. By the bye, I may remark that there is no com-
pany which has so much reason as this one to be satisfied with
excursion trains, which, under the able management of Mr.
Marcus, have become an institution of no little importance.
It is folly to pretend that they interfere with the' regular
traffic, for it is well known—indeed, it must be 'obvious to
the shallowest comprehension—that those who travel by ex-
cursion trains are not ordinary travellers, but holiday-makers,
tempted by the lowness of the fares, which are something
akin to those in America, where it is said to be cheaper to
travel than to stay at home.
I have, however, wandered from my subject, which is to
recommend to your numerous readers in the comparatively
new towns of Liverpool and Birkenhead, to make a trip
to the ancient city of Chester, so easy of access, and pre-
senting so many objects of interest, not only to the anti-
quary, but to the lover of the picturesque and beautiful. There
is something unique in these days of peaceful commerce,
when towns stretch out their streets through suburbs,
innocent of all attempts at defence, or thoughts of invasion,
to see a city completely surrounded with walls, reminding one
of days long since past, when towers and forts, the drawbridge
and the portcullis, were the accessories of almost every town,
and told the story of civil war, or the dread of invasion.
Chester is, without doubt, the finest and the most perfect
relic of antiquity, and must consequently be an object of in-
terest to every one acquainted with the history of his- own
country. The streets, also, are very curious, many or the
houses being the veritable remains of Oaf middle ages, with
their quaintly decorated fronts and curiously ornamented
gables,—one of them in particular being profusely covered-with
grotesquely designed bas-reliefs from scripture history.- Those-
who have not seen the "Rows," as they are called, will be
struck with their simplicity, being like nothing else that I
have seen elsewhere, In other towns the footpaths run along
the streets in front of the houses, but in Chester the footpaths.
are through the first floors of the houses, so that they form a*
pleasant and dry promenade, whatever the weather may be
while the shops seem so snug and comfortable in their seclu-
sion, that it is difficult to avoid- the temptation of:entering--
them, in order to see their curious arrangements.
Then there is the ancient cathedral, with its fine-old clois-
ters and antique tombs, which will well repay a visit; the old-
bridge with the weir across- the Dee, over which the river
falls in a broad cascade.; the castle, still garrisoned- with
soldiers, with its frowning battlements overlooking- the
river ; the Grosvenor-bridge with its single arch of enormous-
span, and the picturesque Rhodee forming a natural
theatre, and perhaps the oldest race-course in the kingdom:
From the walls on the northern side' may be seen the canal at
a frightful depth, hewn out of the solid rock ; while every-
street presents scenes so widely different from any thing.
which modern towns present, as- to render Chester an object of
attraction at all times. Nor is it without natural beauties, as -
-the surrounding landscape, bounded-on one side by the
tains-of Wales,.is grand and picturesque.-
The railway from Birkenhead- to- Chester is only fifteen;
miles, so that the journey from Liverpool is performed within=
the. hour-; and as many, in these days of pleasure excur.-
sions, are asking themselves• the question—" Where shall:
we go ?" lam earning their gratitude by advising them to-
spend a day- in, Chester. Such an- excursion will make no- .
great inroaden•time or purse, while it will present an almost
endless succession of novelties, interesting in-every way to all
who can appreciate an acquaintance -with- the things of the
past, and who-love-to indulge in imagination, their historical
recollections: Railway competition- in cheap trains has sent ;*
many thonsands.to Southport, both -from Liverpool and Mane:
chester. It- might not be amiss- for the- Birkenhead and
Chester Railway Company to try a • similar experiment„hefore.
the fine weather has departed.- It may-prove advantageous
both to the-public and to their own funds.—l-am, sir,
VIATOR.

THE LIVERPOOL STANDARD