The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1855-12-11 00:00:00

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THE

TUESDAY, DECEMBER 11, 1855.

FROM OUR LONDON CORRESPONDENT.

MONDAY MORNING.
HER MAJESTY the QUEEN has long been noted for an
early riser, but never, probably, since the memorable morning
on which, with her royal presence, in the northern metropolis,
she surprised the denizens of " Auld Reekie" and awoke the
slumbers of "JAMIE FORREST" and his somnolent Bailies,
has she displayed so marked an inclination for beginning the
labours of the day betimes, as on Thursday last, when taking
leave of her royal guest the King of SARDINIA. At half-
past four o'clock on the last-mentioned morning, the QUEEN,
the King of SARDINIA, Prince ALBERT, and the Duke of
CAMBRIDGE sat down to breakfast; and at five HER MAJESTY
took leave of the Sardinian Sovereign at the grand entrance
of the Castle. This was ek feat of no ordinary kind. One
often hears of a farmer's wife starting by four of a summer's
morn to prepare for market—occasionally a tradition may
reach the ear of the inquisitive to the effect that Mrs.
BROWN prepared breakfast for her beloved spouse, as he was
about to start- on his northern journey by the 5.30 a.m. train
—or-that Mrs. SMITH kissed the rosy tips of her lily-white
fingers as a parting token to " dear old Uncle ROBERT" from
whom she has large expectancies, as he hurries past the
boudoir window at six to catch the steamer that will start in
half an hour, while he has a forty minutes' drive before him
to reach it ; but, who ever before heard of a royal breakfast
completed before five o'clock in the morning, a few days
before_ Christmas Verily, the court chronicles of many a
dreary year gone by will be searched in vain for precedents of
such an event ! On this, as on all occasions, HER MAJESTY
wore her state with dignity and ease, and iu the sweet com-
posure of her matin smile set an example which many, if not
all ladies would do well to follow.
Now that the head of the royal House of Savoy has left our
shores, as was the case before he reached them, and will be for
many long years to come, the object of his visit is a suggestive
theme for conversation and conjecture. Whatever purpose
maybe assigned to it among those who claim pre-eminence in
the spinning and weaving of political cobwebs, its significance,
like that of the Emperor of the FRENCH, is pregnant with
matters of important consideration. Leaving the fertile vales
and sunny skies which surrounded him in his southern home,
the period of his visit here, alone, is sufficient to mark it as
other than an empty ceremony ; while the reception he has
met with from all classes and parties has been such as could
not fail to mark the national sense of his spirited and
chivalrous conduct. Among the emphatic answers to the
numerous addresses presented to him, or orally delivered in
his presence, that portion of his reply to the address of the
city of. London, in which he spoke of his reasons for joining
the Western Alliance, was most calculated to win the affections
of the British people. He joined it, he said, because "it had
ever been the custom of the House of Savoy to
_draw the
sword where justice and independence were at stake among
nations." The belief that such a feeling animated him in the
choice of his position, bad already procured for him a hearty
welcome among all ranks of British subjects, and with no
trivial amount of gratitude do they thank the corporation of
the city for the welcome bestowed on him on Tuesday last .
True, on that day, he found the " dim spot " enveloped in a
gloom deeper than is imparted by its usual sombreness, it
being wrapped in obscurity by a dense though only topical fog;
but to those who could look beyond the mere surface, it was
-easy to see the " sunshine of the mind " gilding with fervid
glow the numerous preparations indicative of welcome. If
the air without was thick and raw, drowning the plaudits,
and dimming the lustre of the regal pageant, the contrast
afforded by the splendours of the interior of Guildhall added
much to the enhancement of the latter. The decorations were,
in many respects, magnificent ; and the arrangements fitted to
afford a princely welcome to the royal guest. -The presenta-
tions and the oratory were gone through in the grand ball,
which cynical critics might say was decorated with more gor-
geousness than good taste. The hall was a
_perfect blaze of
light. It was provided with a richly ornamented throne,
overshadowed by a canopy supported on gilt caryatides.
Above the west-end gallery were suspended portraits of the
Allied Sovereigns ; above these w ere representations of the
-soldiers of each nation. If His MAJESTY was not before
acquainted with the " English School of Painting," he
was not likely to receive much information, nor a favourable
impression of its merits, from these " wonders of pictorial
art." They were palpably improvised for the occasion, and
participated more in the characteristics so araollically, as well
as quaintly, attributed by the " author of Waverley " to the
school of which "DICK TINTO" was the head, than of that
which REYNOLDS founded and ETTY brought to perfection. If
the decorations were to some extent defective in design and
execution, the preparations for the, banquet were carried out
in a style of great artistic beauty. It was served with taste
and splendour, and the banquet itself was worthy of the renown
accorded to civic gastronomy. The wines were truly choice
besides those of generally admitted reputation, there were
hosts of others, whose fame and virtues are only known among
the Royal Arch brotherhood of Bacchanalian epicures; the
famous Nelson Sherry, eighty years old; Champagne of 1834;
Hock from the Steinburgh Cabinet ; Falernum Cucubum,
the delight of ancient wine-bibbers, and now a wine almost
unknown ; the celebrated Est, Est, Est ; and many more of
first renown among erudite philo-vinists. Only three toasts
were drunk, notwithstanding the great array of wines : the
first, the health of " TILE QUEEN," the second that of the KING
of SARDINIA, "our august visitor and welcome guest," by the
LORD MAYOR, and "Prosperity to the City of London" was
proposed by His MAJESTY.

Whatever may heve been the object of this the third royal
visit of the year, VICTOR EMMANUEL has " won golden
opinions from all sorts of men." In the free-speaking circles
of the city—in the reserved and frigid coteries of Belgravia—
and in the languidly refined cliques of the West End Clubs
not less than in the noisy fervour of the populace, his praise is
heard from every tongue.

While regal pomps and civic festivities have been thus com-
bined in honour of the nation's guest, the public business has
not been permitted to stand st ill. On Friday, a Privy Council
was held at Windsor, which ordered the further prorogation
of Parliament from the 11th of the present month to the 31st
of January next, then to meet for the despatch of business.
As next Easter-day falls on the 23rd of March, there will not
be more than six weeks applicable to the transaction of busi-
ness during the early part of the session. This fact is vari-
ously interpreted by various parties. Some see in it an indica-
tion that Lord PALMERSTON intends to renew the Ministerial
policy of last spring, and carry on the business of the country
without the aid or intervention of Parliament. Others declare
their belief to be, that the PREM lER, knowing the small extent
of his Parliamentary_ strength, calls the Legislature together
merely that he may submit to it some leading point of policy,
popular in the general bearings of its aspect, yet so framed as
to insure its rejection, that he may then appeal to the nation
on an ad captandum plea of factious opposition, in the very
vain.hope that he will thus be able so to remodel the political
aspect of the House of Commons as to give him a working
majority. While not a few, and those generally well-informed
on such topics, maintain that Lord PALMERSTON is personally
sick of the matter, and will be only too glad to avail himself of
any feasible pretext to rid himself at once of a set of insubor-
dinate and mutinous colleagues, who are disunited on nearly
every principle of foreign and domestic policy, and, in quitting
them, to quit also the
.responsibilities of a position the duties
of which he is inadequate to the performance of. No rumour,
indeed, is more current in the political clubs of the metropolis,
than that it is Lord PALMERSTON'S wish and intention to
resign. Numerous are the conjectures as to his probable suc-
cessor. The rampant portion of the Whig-Radical section
assert, confidently, that Lord JOIIN RUSSELL, although .not
likely to be appointed, will be consulted on the new arrange-
ments ; and these parties, knowing well their man, assert that
he will so play his game, that, while nominally excluding him-
self, he will pull the wires of the puppets whose installation
into office he will secure, and so dexterously arrange the pack,
that, at the next deal, to "be made at no diStant day, he will
himself turn up as the leading trump! His followers have
strange confidence in his winning by odd tricks; and those
who know him best seem to prize his dexterity at a much
higher figure than his probity. In the meantime, the watchful
Peelites—t hough still as dormice, are known to be as alert as
owls in twilight—make no scruple in hinting that they have a
statesman equal to the occasion, who is willing, and able, (?) to
combine the views of all Parties, and form a strong administra-
tion.- Where he is to come from, they do not hint, and no one
can guess who he is. What are the Conservatives doing in so
important a conjuncture ? is the question asked by all ; but,
like numerous other questions of vital interest, for the present,
at all events, it is asked in vain.
If conjecture finds numerous grou
n dsfor
secretsn
exercisingad successions,
its in-
genuity upon in reference to Ministerial
it has double scope when it turns its boding vision "redovueerctehseons,
fields of fight." There it finds every variety of material out of
which to manufacture every kind of mental structure that can
apply to " war's vast art;" the favountetissueonate the
fparmesneinar
Every
t
moment being the mantle of peace.
with SWIFT'S celebrated narrative of " The Battle of the
Books," and all must be aware of-the important nature of the
conflict therein described. Animated and stern as was that
frightful combat, it was but child's play to the every-day
" Battle of the Newspapers," on the Peace or War question.
The diurnal combat is commenced by the morning journals,
whose heavy ordnance being discharged by mid-day, the

combatants retire to rest unkier cover of a vesper fusilade
from the evening papers ; at dawn the batteries are again
manned, and a crushing fire of shot and shell is poured from
the guns which have been once more placed in position ; the
gunners being again relieved by the sharp-shooters of the
vesper squadrons. Thus rages the battle from Monday morning
till Saturday night. The matin echoes of Saturday are awakened
by a multitudinous roar of explosions from the weapons of sol-
diers of all arms, the daily round shot and shell being mingled
with a chaotic rattle from the hebdomadal howitzers pouring in
adestructiveshower ofgrape and rockets, strangely commingled
with fragments gathered from the exploded missiles of the
preceding week's combat. The hurly-burly of this battle has
been marked by several peculiarities. The most remarkable
being the falsity of aim with which the missiles have been
projected—the next in singularity, the extraordinary want of
courtesy displayed by the respective gladiators. Mercy to-
wards each other :they have shown none, The sharp Minie
balls of the Press, fired off in favour of peace, have been
picked up and fired with a double-charge of powder by the
Observer, against its vivacious and dashing, but "rather" in-"
discreet Saturday antagonist. The daily batteries were
opened by the discharge of some heavy experimental shot from
the embrasure of the Morning Post, with in this instance
the same leaning as the Press, the chief value of which is de-
rived from a belief that the gunner had his range given him
from Lord PALMERSTON'S head-quarters. The return salute
to this came from the well-directed ordnance of the Morning
Herald, which contenting itself with having ascertained the
exact range and elevation necessary to sweep the defences of
its adversary, expended no further amunition than was indis-
pensable for that purpose. The random gun of the Post,
however, roused the vigilance as it excited the ire of the
bombardier in charge of the Daily News, and your radical
gunner being at all times bent on mischief, he loaded his
piece to the muzzle with all sorts of material calculated to do
damage, to make a display, and above all things to create a
loud report. The discharge in this instance rattled over a
great space, embracing the crown and the court, and all in
the Ministry and all out of it—its voice, like that of SEMPRO-
NUM being, "still for war." A round shot meant for Austria by
some awkwardness in gunnery took effect on the French, the
Austrians receiving a dose which probably was meant for
Prussia; and singular though it may appear, this loose prac-
titioner of the artillery art found his chief defence under the
wing of Russia ; which, on the assurance of some private
information, probably, it held up as at once a shield
and a menace—a shelter for the safety of its own
views, a very tinnusA's head when confronted with
the peace-makers. While the battle raged thus
loud and long, the wary engineer of the Times took
up a position, as usual, so situated that he could pitch his
missiles into either camp ; and, as intimation that he was an
interested spectator of the fray, fired a blank gun to show
that he was in a situation which would enable him to enter
the melee as a combatant on either side. All parties being
thus on the alert, the Globe skirmisher, on the part of the
Cabinet, took up a post under the flank of the Times, and
fired a small round shot somewhat in the direction at first
assumed by the Press and the Morning Post. The leaders
in this war being so placed, the out-posts and skirmishers on
both sides have taken up positions in support of their res-
pective leaders, and among these the combat has for some
time been maintained with considerable virulence and varying
sagacity and success.

Stripped of their columns of verbiage on both sides, it
• appears some overtures for bringing about a cessation of
hostilities with a view to the negociation of a permanent
peace haVe been made by Austria, and have been, or still are,
under consideration by the British and French governments.
What the terms of the intended peace are, have not been
made public; but judging from the quasi ministerial state-
ments contained in the Morning Post and Globe, three
important points are included in them, viz. :—The freedom of
the Black Sea—the re-opening of the •Danube—and theabo-
lition of the protectorate, religious or political, of the subjects
of the SULTAN. If such terms are in reality acceded to by
Russia, it matters little at whose instance they are proposed.
They will be the virtual relinquishment of the policy which
has governed Russia for the last hundred years, and which
seems engrafted as a condition into her political existence.
The quarter whence the negotiation originates is one on which
little reliance can be placed. Austrian diplomacy has already
cost the Allies dear ; it will be their own faults if they are
a second time the victims of such systematised duplicity.
The case is one involving serious consequences, how favour-
ably soever it may be looked on by those who place implicit
reliance on the omnipotence of diplomacy, and see no evil
in anything except campaigns and battles—sieges and warlike
expeditions. One consolation, and one only can be derived
from the rumours which are so prevalent in reference to the
nr Deacc policy which is to guise our operations in the
spring, and that is, that, pending the performance of the
diplomatic necromancy, no cessation is to take place in the
preparations for a vigorous prosecution of the war.

A great extent of grave and interesting conversation has
been set in operation among fashionable and military circles,
by the appointment of the Earl of LUcAN to the colonelcy of the
Bth Hussars, a fact which has been officially announced.
About a year ago Lord Lucerr was recalled from his command
of the cavalry in the Crimea. The recal, it was not concealed
was consequent on his connexion with the celebrated light
cavalry charge at Balaklava. The order issued, and which
resulted in that fatal charge, had been " blundered " by some
one, and Lord LUCAN was deprived of his command and re-
called from his post. No man enjoys an immunity from
error, and, under the circumstances, the presumption in the
public mind was, that his lordship was known to be the
"blunderer," for which he was accorded what was generally
considered a very mild punishment. Stung by the condemna-
tion and implied censure, he demanded a court of inquiry,
which was denied to him on the pretence that he was not
accused. So the stigma was fixed. Now he has had honour
and preferment conferred on him—more than this, he has
been honoured by an invitation to the royal table, from which
he had been practically excluded while undergoing this military
eclipse. His exoneration from any impeachment of his judg.
ment or stain upon his honour has been completed; but still
the fact that some one " blundered " the order with tragic
fatality remains. It is now virtually admitted that Lord
LIICAN was not the man, who then was it ?- This is much of
a piece with the implied censure of Sir W, CODRINGTON, who
received no compliment for directing the attack upon the.
Redan on the Bth of September, while his second in command
was promoted. Public indignation, in no very moderate
torrent, was directed against the gallant general, pointed
almost entirely on account of this presumed condemnation,
when suddenly the public were aroused by the notification
that he had been promoted to the command in chief of the
British army in the Crimea. In this case, as in that of Lord
LIICA.N, either the reward or the punishment has been wrong,
as no man can deserve both for the same action. By such a
mode of proceeding, Ministers wound the feelings of deserving
men, and stultify themselves. Every one must rejoice that
tardy justice has at last been done to both the gallant officers,
but that satisfaction must be greatly impaired by regret for
the injustice to which they were first exposed.
The close and friendly alliance between Great Britain and
France is a potent fact—a source of justifiable delight to our
neighbours, as well as to ourselves. Its benefits are all bat
inestimable ; yet, like all other affairs of human guidance, the
picture, however pleasing as a whole, has likewise its dark
side. The intercourse with our now friendly, though once
hostile, neighbours, has a tendency, like other friendships, to
bring us into familiarity with the less amiable, as well as with
the more virtuous, peculiarities of each other. Instruction of
this description is highly valuable, leading, as it frequently
does, the way to self-knowledge: It is not unapt occasionally
to do more than this. In certain ill-regulated natures it is
apt to engender a tendency to adulation and self-abasement,
instead of contenting ourselves with due appreciation of the
merits, and a desire to emulate the better portion of our
neighbours' spirit. The display of fulsome adulation towards
our allies, and of depreciatory observations on ourselves, has,
of late, taken deep hold.upon the sensitive organisation of the
Times. This, probably, is no more than was to be expected.
Your " swash-buckler" and pot-valiant bravo is ever your
loudest-tongued and foulest-mouthed reviler when the fit is on
him ; and it is not greatly to be wondered at that, in the
arrogance of its self-conceit, the clay-and-brass Jupiter of
Printing-house-square should set about exalting the French
at the expense of the worshippers, of his own country, the chief•
cause of wonder being that he should do so with so little cun-
ning or discrimination. The recent great Exhibition in Paris
has afforded the Times every element, save one, for exhibiting'
this peculiarity of a little. mind—that wanting element has
been knowledge. To • our French neighbours all the
world, and none more practically or more lavishly
than the British people, have long accorded the palm
of excellence in all that depends upon a lively inven-
tion, guided by an exqusisite sense of the- delicate and the
beautiful. This award is no new thing, although for the
practice of his strange conceits it suits the oracle referred to
to trace the comparison no further than the Exhibition of
1851. This may be the full extent of the means of comparison
afforded by his knowledge; if so, he may be excusable to some
extent ; but even that triple shield of ignorance will not justify
him in parading his rush-light before the world and swearing
it is the veritable sun. •All the world knows that the French
were masters in bijouteke, and infinitely ahead not of Britain
alone but of all the World in ornamentation of every kind—in
porcelain, in paper-hangings and jewellery—in optical and
mathematical instruments, and in a hundred other things
besides, long before Prince ALBERT was born or an idea of an
Exhibition in Hyde Park had entered the brain of any man
alive or dead. By so much as the French excelled in elegance,

so also did the British in the more ponderous manufactures.
Their pre-eminence was admitted, and mokt, of our
countrymen learned with astonishment, through the
columns of the Times, that, since 1851, our prestige in
these particulars, has failed. Through the instrumentality
of this Briarian jack-of-all-trades, the British were
astounded with the information that in machinery,
in the application of iron to such purposes, for instance, as
building, we are "lamentably behind both the French and the
Prussians." In reference to such matters the reports of the
jurors show a conclusion different; for they say that the iron
from the west of Scotland was superior to that of all foreign
exhibitors, whether French or German. What does all that
signify, however? Has not the Times got a friend, conve-
niently named " Amrctrs," who tells a different tale? And
does not the Times vouch for " Amicus," as " Anfrous"
kindly vouches for the Times? As for machinery, what, it
may be asked, was ROBERT NAPIBR decorated with the
cordon of the Legion of Honour for, if it were not for
the glorious machinery which he there exhibited ? Are we
to suppose that inferiority in the application of iron-work to
ship-building, to steam-engines, and to other machinery, pro-
cured the award of medals to Messrs. CAIRD and BOURNE, of
Greenock, to SIMPSON, and to Messrs, riARVEY, of Glasgow ?
If so, the jurors must have been as cunning as the French
government and people were stupid ; for the " slotting ma-
chine" exhibited by the last-named gentlemen was coveted for
purchase by more than one house in Marseilles, and is now the

property of the French Government, who purchased it for use in
one of their national workshops ; but in all probability neither
the jurors nor the government, nor the intending purchasers of
HARVEY'S "slotting machine" consulted with the Times nor
its chere "Anions," and hence the snares into which they
were deluded ! Is it a friendly spirit which thus induces the
Times to decry the manufactures for which its country and
its countrymen are alike proverbially famous ? One is almost
tempted to think that such a question and its answer were
*contemplated in the annexed passage from an essay on the
political future of England, just published by M. DE MONTA-
LEMBERT. "The insupportable arrogance," says he, "of
English diplomacy (query journalism) towards the weak, and
of the English press against all the,world, has excited the in-
dignation of every honest man. Whilst all the time England
has not cared continually to vary its own attitude, passing
from the excess of invective to the extreme of adulation. It

has forgotten so much, dissembled so much, has sacrificed so
much of the cause of freedom, to its ambition, its interests, or
its favour." Revenons a nos moutons, our manufacturers of
every grade must feel infinitely obliged to the Times and its
ingenuous friend "Amiens" for the flattering terms in which
their want of enterprise and disregard of improvement are
chronicled. As wise men, however, and as they are believed
to liaie done before, they will not rest satisfied with past suc-
cess, but go on daring opposition, aiming at perfection, and in
its pursuit, nothing daunted by difficulty, will continue their
successful career along the path of improvement.

THE REV. W. W. EWBANK'S LECTURE.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE LIVERPOOL STANDARD.

Sur,—Allow me, through the medium of your columns, to
inform your correspondent, " One of the Publie," that he is in
error when he says "It is a pity that the Rev. W. W.
Ewbank's lecture on `Common Sense' has not been published."
It is published; and an admirable lecture it is, well worth
any one's reading.
lam not sure whether copies of it can now be purchased
from any of the booksellers in town, but if your correspondent
will apply to Mr. Richard Wright, master of the Everton and
Kirkdale Boys' School, at bis residence adjoining the school
in Everton Valley, he can be supplied with copies of the lecture
sufficient in number for his purpose.—l am, Sir, yours truly,.
AN ADMIRER OF COMMON SENSE..
Liverpool, December 4th, 1855.