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

THE

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TUESDAY, JANUARY 29, 1856

FROM OUR LONDON CORRESPONDENT.

MONDAY MORNING.
Tits Court continues at Windsor, where HER MAJESTY has,
daring the past week, been receiving a series of distinguished
visitors, among whom has been her illustrious kinsman, the
Duke- of CAMBRIDGE, on his return from assisting at the
War Council at Paris. The COUNT of FLANDERS has taken
his departure from this country, having embarked at Dover
for Ostend on Monday evening. The visit of this young
Prince to the British Court still furnishes food for the gossip-
mongers; and many profess, by the process of putting this
and that together, to make out a fair and conclusive matri-
monial issue to the recent visit. Another priceless piece of
twaddle has formed the staple of another Court story: it has
been to the effect " that in the exercise of her Royal Prero-
gative HER MAJESTY has likewise assumed the office of censor
of the press," the story being that the Hon. Miss MURRAY,
one of HER MAJESTY'S ladies in waiting, having during her
sojourn in America collected materials to write a book de-
tailing her experiences in different portions of that land,—
that she wrote the book and requested permission to dedicate
it to the QUEEN—that her Royal Mistress, like a prudent
woman, requested to be furnished with a perusal of the proof
sheets, in order to satisfy herself that everything was comme
it faut before granting the desired favour—and that on
reading the unhappy lady's proof sheets HER MAJESTY'S
sharp eye detected the expression of sentiments on the subject
of negro slavery at variance with the canons issued in respect
to this social blot from Stafford House. This silly rumour,
which has been extensively printed and circulated, adds, that
Hsa MAJESTY expressed dissatisfaction with Miss MURRAY'S
declared opinion that slavery may be "a means designed by
Providence for the making of some good Christian men and
women ;" and signified that, if she persisted in the publication
of such an opinion, not only must she dedicate her book to
some less scrupulous patron, but that she must also dedicate
her personal services to some other duty than directing them
to her Royal Mistress ! This singular rumour could be
traced so far as the New York Inquirer, but there inves-
tigation, for a time at least, ended, or ceased to be attended
with any result if pushed further. The book has been pub-
lished without any dedication to the QUEEN, and its accom-
plished authoress has ceased to be a lady-in-waiting on HER
MAJESTY. It turns out, however, that the dedication and
the proof-sheet reading are entirely matters of romance. In
the course of her travels, Miss MURRAY discovered that, as
has been said of a certain unnameable personage, slavery 'in
the United States may be " painted blacker" than the truth
would warrant ; and farther, that the Stafford-house mani-
festoes had been drawn up on the inspection of only one side
of the subject. The change in her views, caused by personal
observation, Miss MURRAY communicated to her august
mistress in a letter, to which the QUEEN replied, communi-
cating in turn some wholesome advice as to the unsuitable-
ness of such themes for female discussion under most circum-
stances; still further pointing out the impropriety of one of
the royal household interfering with a subject which was of
so grave a nature, and which formed so formidable an element
of discord among the Americans themselves. Unluckily, the
letter from the QUEEN missed its object till it was too late
for Miis 'MURRAY to profit by the suggestions it contained.
As already stated, the book has been published, and Miss
MURRAY has been superseded in the arrangement of the
royal household, but under circumstances very different from
those stated by the Inquirer.
On Friday evening another dramatic entertainment took
place at Windsor Castle, on which occasion SEA KSPERE'S five-
act play, " The Merchant of Venice," was performed ; the
arduous character of Portia being sustained by Mrs. CHARLES
KEAN with her customary tact and delicacy of perception.
HER MAJESTY is confidently expected to open Parliament in
person on Thursday; and already the metropolis begins to fill
with members of the aristocracy, several of whom have arrived
in town for the season, and many more are expected in the
course of this day and to-morrow.

Apropos of the meeting of Parliament, preparations are on
foot for a vigorous parliamentary campaign, both sides pro-
fessing confidence in carrying out their respective arrange-
ments. Disguise the matter as they may, however, both sec-
tions of the opposition seem tacitly to admit that Lord PAL-
MERSTON will open the session under an unusually high pres-
tige. The rumoured willingness of the Russian autocrat to
concede terms which he previously treated with scorn, is,
doubtless, something of a very different complexion to place
before the country, compared with the miserable and heart-
rending narratives of sorrow and suffering with which Minis-
ters had to meet Parliament at the opening of last session.

Lord PALM] RSTQN has issued the usual ministerial circular,
calling on his supporters to meet him on the 31st, when Par-
liament assembles, as business of importance will be brought
under their consideration. The address in answer to the
Royal Speech will be moved in the House of Peers by the Earl
of GOSFORD, and seconded by the Earl of ABINGDON ; in the
Commons, the Hon. G. H C. Brica,M.P. for Tavistock, willmove,
and Mr. E.BAXTER, M.P. for Montrose, will second the address.
Of course, the success of the Allied arms in the Crimea, and
the consequent agreement of Russia to the terms on which to
negotiate a peace, will form the leading topics of the Royal
communication, and, pleasing though both are in contempla-
tion, it is more than probable that they will form prolific
sources of adverse comment. The people of Great Britain are
not by any means settled in their minds as to the propriety of
our vaunting those successes,and they are a good deal mystified
as to the benefits which will arise from the other operation.
Sagec on s titutional authorities maintain th at, wh atev er honours
have been reaped in the Crimea, the British have but a sorry
share of those reaped in the last campaign. The disastrous and
ill-supported assault upon the Redan, in that great conflict
which led to the immediate evacuation of Sebastopol, these
parties insist have thrown a tarnish over the lustre of our
other achievements, and they maintain that in active warfare
the glory of the combatants dates only from the latest victory.
Some such feeling appears unhappily to pervade the French
people as well as the British ; and, to render matters still more
dangerously unpleasant, feelings of estrangement, if not of
jealousy and dislike, have made unmistakeable appearance in
both the armies. In the camps before Sebastopol contentions
more serious than snowballing, and an interchange of some-
thing different from the hospitalities which served to mitigate
the severities of last winter's storms and privations, is to be
met with now in the intercourse between the two armies.
The inimical feeling, it is said, is by no means confined to
the rank and file of either army, but to be largely parti-
cipated in by the regimental officers on both sides. This
tendency to dispute is said to test severely the authority of
those in higher command, and to be a subject of anxious
consideration to the authorities on both sides. Unfoitn-
nately, also, the Crimea is not the only ground on which
this reciprocity of bad feeling seems to have taken root.
At Constantinople, where there is greater laxity of discipline
than in the camp, an arm of the sea interposed hardly suffices

to maintain the peace. A letter from that city, dated the 9th
instant, communicates the unwelcome news in reference to the

performances at a French theatre, that " a slight disturbance

in Pera threatens unpleasantness between the French and
English officers; and that the commandant at Scutari has

issued an order for no officers to quit that place for Pera with-
out:permission." _ An unaccountable rumour is likewise preva-

lent that, at the late war-council, high words were exchanged

between the Duke of CAMBRIDGE and Prince NAPOLEON,

relative to the " Restoration of Poland ;" while, worse than
all, a whisper is current that the French plenipotentiary in
the approaching Peace Congress is to be M. DE MoRNY,
whose anti-British feelings are notorious. Such rumours and

scraps of gossip are in themselves of little moment ; yet few
will deny that so numerous a list of unfriendly indications
constitutes no unreasonable cause for uneasiness.

The uneasiness so occasioned becomes doubly disagreeable
when comparison. n made as to the losses and gains which each
of the contending parties has come by in the struggle. Viewed
in this light, it must at once appear that the French have
gained greatly, and in many ways. Before the outbreak of
the war, they, from whatever cause, were held in small esteem
among the Orientals. Since then they have made themselves
seen and felt powerfully in the East ; their legions and their
prowess are now themes of conversation and applause in courts
and among people where heretofore they were but little known
and less respected. They have gained immensely in prestige.
They have appeared to grapple with and crush the power of
Russia, which was previously thought by those semi-barbarians
to be invincible. How, on the other hand, has Britain ap-
peared in the eyes of the same scrutineers ? They seem
responsible for many reverses of fortune which they did not

and must, be held accountable for several which they

could have prevented. They have neither courted nor received
sympathy from the Circassians, whose aid would have been

invaluable in preventing the successes of the Russian cam-
paign in Asia. The British are widely charged with having
permitted the fall of Kars, which they might have prevented.

The Russian successes in Asia have enabled that Cabinet to
back up its intrigues in Persia, which has taken possession of
Herat, and so contumeliously treated the British envoy at
Teheran, as to cause his departure from that country.
Consideration of these important facts leads to another and
scarcely less uncomfortable view of the present aspect of
affairs. Grave reasons exist for believing that, in the event of
Russia actually accepting such terms of peace as may be at
present imposed on her, she will use her utmost endeavours,
aided by her neutral allies, to cause a rupture of the present