The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1856-01-29 00:00:00

good understanding between the French and British govern-
ments ; and although for the present relinquishing her hold
on the south-eastern portions of Europe, she will follow up
her insidious aggressions in Asia, rendering each new acqui.
sition a stepping-stone in her advance upon our Indian Em-
pire. These are matters which are deeply involved in the
negotiations now pending ; and without doubt they will also
engage the early and earnest attention of the legislature.
Upon them the fate, not only of the ministry, but a large
share of the national interest will inevitably turn. If
Lord PALMERSTON will adopt a policy at once vigorous and
wise, and pursue it steadily and with prudence, he will
secure, as he will deserve, the support of all real states-
men and true patriots. If not, his tenure of 3ffice will
be brief, and beset with thorns. The policy of peace,
under present circumstances, is encumbered with more
difficulties to a British minister than he would encounter in
pursuing the war. With the immense preparations for
another campaign, which we have now all but matured, a
man of tact and prudence, combined with a clear mental
vision and firmness of purpose, is in a condition to negociate
successfully ; but to do so he must be watchful of every form
in which Russian intrigue can present itself or operate. The
wisdom of France and Britain must be employed to cement
their hearty and unalterable union. The two nations united
can secure the peace of Europe ; if they are disunited, the
power of Russia will dominate the world. The danger to this
union arises chiefly through another combination. An un-
grateful Orleanist faction in France, upon whom so much
court favour has been and still is lavished by Britain, com-
bines with Russia, and seconds her endeavours to sow dis-
sensions between the two countries. " The peace of 1856,"
says the Debate, "in order that it may not falsify our expecta-
tion, must have its basis on the alliance between France and
England. It is that alliance which led the war to a success-
ful issue. In that alliance, also, must peace find its force and
efficiency. Weaken the union between these powers, and
the peace of 1856 becomes nothing but a skilful calculation
of Russia for subverting, by peace, the harmony which she
could not disturb by war." These are the manly sentiments
which ought to actuate and cement the union between two
great and gallant nations. To uphold them as the measure
of general feeling ought to be the business of those who
rule in each of them.
Imminent as the meeting of Parliament is, it would appear
that the plans of that heterogenous body which boasts Mr.
GLADSTONE as a head ; Messrs. BRIGHT and COBDEN as the
right and left hands; Sir JAMES GRAHAM, Mr. SIDNEY
HERBERT, and the remainder of the Peelite faction as a body ;
and the general parings and scrapings of the Whig rump as
lower limbs, aided by Lord JOHN RUSSELL, as a crutch, has
not as yet settled upon any definite plan of policy by which to
assail the Government, and distract the attention of the
country. The rumoured willingness of Russia to concede
the demands of the Allies, if it prove correct, and peace fol-
low the pending conference, the ground on which these gentle-
men meant to construct their opposition and their demand for
"peace at any price," is cut from under their feet ; and they
are greatly disconcerted. In the meantime, Lord JOHN
RUSSELL, entirely powerless for good, is nevertheless gifted
with many elements of mischief, any or all of which he is
willing to use. He is standing somewhat aloof from, and no
little at enmity with the opposition which he props, but is busy
hatching schemes for the dismemberment of all parties, to af-
ford himself the chance of once more becoming a leader in that
career in which he has committed political suicide. He is, it
is affirmed, deep in the construction of a new reform bill,
which missile, when fired off, will unquestionably create dis-
sension and scatter dismay among the ministerial ranks, em-
bracing, as it is said to do, a project for the social and political
revolution of Tiverton itself. Whether he will explode this
" infernal machine" during the coming session or not, will de-
pend on circumstances. Several alterations in the composition
of the House of Commons must take place immediately on its
re-assembling, as several have already occurred, and on the re-
sult of these his Lordship's tactics will, no doubt, in a great
degree be formed. The retirement of Mr. MACAULAY from
the House places the chance of one card in his Lordship's
hands. MACAULAY has been an idle Whig, one on whom, if
active, Lord Jonx RUSSELL could have calculated as a coad-
jutor; as it was, he has been a mere stop-gap. The Whig-
ridden capital of Scotland has now the opportunity of choice
as to whether it will play into Lord JOHN'S hands, support the
present administration, or, by returning to the exercise of sober
judgment, elect an independent representative who will look to
the constitutional safety of the state. Two candidates are already
named for "auld Reekie," the one, Mr.ADAM BLACK, publisher
of the Encyclopaedia Britannica, a respectable tradesman, and
an uncompromising Whig. He, it is expected, will have the
aid of the Whig clique, and of the Dissenters generally ;
and he, in return will, it is understood, support the anything-
arian educational projects, and the infallibility of Whiggism
with the supremacy of Little Join/. The other is Sir
WILLIAM JOHNSTON, of Kirkhill, a demi-lune among the
Freekirk batteries, who, from his sectarian affinities with the
head of the war department ; his fraternization with the
church polity of the Postmaster-General, and on these points
following zealously in the lead of the Lord Advocate, may be
safely presumed as favourable to the existing occupants of
Downing-street. Both these gentlemen occupy the position
of second-class publishers in the Scottish metropolis; both
are understood to have been attentive to their private busi-
ness, and each has been chief magistrate of the city of which
both of them are natives. Each of them, of course, has a
host of friends, and one of them at least, if not both, has un-
bounded confidence in himself; but among the better edu-
cated classes of that intellectual city, neither of them is looked
on as in any degree entitled to the honour of being its repre-
sentative ; and but for the energetic and untiring pragma-
ticism of a few busy-body underlings, and the apathy of those
who know better, and who ought to lead, neither of them
would have been thought of as candidates. If both stand, the
opportunity for a Conservative will be a rare and tempting
one.

Nearer home, and more immediately connected with our-
selves, the present vacancy for the University of Cambridge,
occasioned by the death of the Right Hon. HENRYGOITLBOURN,
(Sir ROBERT PEEL'S Chancellor of the Exchequer), occasions
much speculation among political and literary circles. Ani-
-1 mated by sincere admiration for his sound political principles,
I his eminent legal qualifications, and his eminence as a dis-
tinguished alumnui of the University ofCambridge, a large body
of the electors have joined in soliciting Mr. WALPOLE to become
a candidate, which he has consented to do. In reference to his
senatorial and statesman-like qualifications, it may be enough
to state that, as Secretary of State for the Home Department
under the Earl of DERBY'S Administration, he was mainly
instrumental in passing that Militia Bill which, with slight
modifications, has since proved so valuable'a means of recruit-
ing our army under the pressure of late difficulties, and with-
out which the honour of the country, as well as the prestige
of its military character, must have suffered severely, if they
had not been entirely ruined. As an attentive Member of
Parliament, an able lawyer, and an accomplished gentleman,
Mr. WALPOLE is well known ; and all these circumstances
combine, in an eminent degree, to fit him for the
high honour of representing the University of Cambridge;
and every lover of his country, and all who venerate her
educational institutions, must rejoice to learn that the
probabilities of his success are great. His election for
Cambridge would occasion a vacancy for Midhurst, which
he at present represents, and for this Borough every
Conservative must rejoice to know that Mr. SAMUEL WARREN,
Q.C., Recorder for Hull, has come forward as a candidate, with
very cheering prospects of succeeding. The election of Mr.
WARREN would be an especial benefit to the country and an
honour to the electors of Midhurst. He is well known as a
sound practical lawyer—as deeply read and familiar with the
constitutional law—as a consistent Christian politician—and
as one whose literary renown is spread abroad the world.
High as is his reputation in the general walks of literature,
and deservedly as his works in that department are admired,
it is not on them alone, or even chiefly, that his claims to
senatorial honours rest. These, in addition to his forensic
attainments, will be found, in a great degree, built on the able
elementary and other works which he has written on the
theory and practice of. British law; and in a particular man•
ner, on the valuable abridgment which he has recently given
to the world of " Blackstone's Commentaries," concerning
which an able and eminent critic says—" Like every work
that has proceeded from the pen of its accomplished author,
the basis of its teaching is Christianity, which Mr. WARREN
ever treats in the spirit of the dictum of Sir MATTHEW HALE,
as part and parcel of the law of the land." At a period like
the present, when latitudinarianism is so virulent in its
attacks upon all the Christian institutions of the state, the
presence of such men as Mr. WARREN in Parliament must be
pre-eminently useful, and the probabilities of his election are,
therefore, looked forward to with much interest and anxiety
by a large portion of his countrymen.

THE Crystal Palace Company have entered into an engage-
ment with the Canadian Commissioners at the Paris Exhibi-
tion, by which one of the departments in the palace has been
this pur-
given for the purpose of an exhibition of the produce and ma-
nufactures of Canada. It is understood that the Canadian
Parliament will vote a sum of about £5,000 to carry
pose into effect, as also an annual grant for keeping it in order,
and supplying it with new objects of interest and attraction.
THE TWEED.—Perhaps never in the memory of man has
there been a greater show of salmon iu the streams than there
has been in the Tweed and her principal tributaries during
the last ten days. Every stream between Coldstream and
Tweedsmuir has been swarming with spawning fish. At
New Mills, on the Whitadder, immense number of sea-trouts
have congregated there, in consequence .of the high cold
obstructing their progress up the stream. They have literally
not bad room to deposit their spawn, which will in a great
measure be lost in the river, in consequence a the redds being
repeatedly turned over by other ash,