The Press.
London, England, 1855-03-17 00:00:00

THE PRESS.

about the men's clothing. They were left
almost to the very last without clothes.
" Often," says Mr. MACDONALD of the Times,
" the men had thrown away their shirts from
4 4

disgust at their filth and being swarming
with vermin; their trousers were tom in
every direction, and their coats, when they
' retained them, were ragged."
Surely, if ever there was a case when
reasonable foresight might have been anti-
cipated, it would be that of clothing the
troops in a campaign ; and his remissness in
that instance is alone enough to damage
seriously the character of the Duke of NEW-
CASTLE. For what can be more discreditable
to the War-office than the now undoubted fact
that English soldiers were left to the aid of a
Times' almoner? " Just before this time,"
says Mr. MACDONALD, "accounts had reached
" England of want of supplies of all kind.
" These statements were denied by the Duke of
" Newcastle and Dr. Smith. At least they ques-
" tioned the accuracy of the statements. But
" even admitting that wants of the kind had
" existed, they said that such wants would
" have ceased, and that by the time I arrived
" there would be no necessity for the adminis-
" tration of the fund."
Well, here is a precise and definite charge
against both the Duke and the Doctor. Ob-
serve that the Duke of NEWCASTLE, if we are to
believe Mr. MACDONALD, was quite tranquil as
to the provisions made for the health and
comfort of the troops. What was his Grace
then thinking of about their clothes? Where
are the proofs that he anticipated the certain
wants of a winter campaign ? What orders
did his Grace give upon the subject? What
did his colleagues think upon the subject, or
did they think at all upon it?
These are questions on which we should
like that the truth, the whole truth, and
nothing but the truth, was extracted from the
ex-Minister, whose nomination to the War-
office was sanctioned by the leaders of the
Whigs. For it is evident that if there was
" credulity " in his talents by some of his col-
leagues, there was " connivance" at his blun-
ders by others, until one of them in a panic
fled from the Ministry.

THE NEW CHANCELLOR OF THE
EXCHEQUER.
WE shall look with curiosity to the career of
the new Chancellor of the Exchequer. All
through life Sir CORNEWALL LEWIS has been
considered as " a man of the closet." He as-
sisted in one of the earliest translations of
Niebuhr's " History of Rome ;" he analysed
the evidence before a committee on " Irish
Disturbances," and wrote a tame treatise on
that exciting theme. He published a work on
the " Government of Dependencies," and left
the subject where he found it, while he omit-
ted to enumerate the Radicals of England as
amongst the " dependencies" of the Whigs.
A theorist in his mode of looking at mankind,
he has always been a partisan in politics, and,
though he was a laborious Financial Secretary
to the Treasury, he never exhibited practical
capacity for dealing with complicated affairs of
life.
Such is the man selected for the office of
financier of England. His attainments are
those of a classical scholar, versed in lexicons,
and familiar with "crack" passages in ancient
authors. If Sir CORNEWALL LEWIS be a man
of commanding energy, he may rise superior
to his antecedents, and prove himself equal to
first rate parliamentary office. But we must
be excused for doubting the ♦ersatility of the
new CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER. His
energy is more mental than personal, and he
is better adapted for routine than for a depart-
ment which now requires an originative mind
and a bold genius. Hitherto he has never
signalised himself in Parliament, though he
has sat in the House of Commons for several
years. When the " Birch " scandal was
brought forward, he was unable to defend his
brother-in-law, Lord CLARENDON, and left the
case in the hands of abler debators. Yet this
is the man whom the official Whigs rely upon
as " a trump."

SATURDAY,

We have no doubt that Sir CORNEWALL
Law's would make an excellent professor in a
Germanised University. He might fathom
" Transcendentalism," but we surmise that

" the City" will be too deep for him, and that
the House of Commons will demand more
facility in debate than he is likely to exhibit.
His mind is not of that order which can
grapple with sudden difficulties, and we ques-
tion whether his health is equal to the in-
creased strain upon his physical powers.
It is to be remarked, also, that from his col-
leagues Sir CORNEWALL LEWIS can expect little
assistance. The Whigs have always failed in
finance, and their present race of statesmen
have a marked aversion to political economy,
as its teaching on the subject of " monopoly"
is opposed to their own exclusive system of
rule. Lord Jonx RUSSELL confessed, some
years since, that he " was not very familiar
" with those topics" (finance), and our present
Prime Minister would make a joke of arith-
metic. Sir CHARLES WOOD is the only one
amongst them who would even pretend to be
able to assist with hints for a budget, derived
from the recollection of his former failures.
But Sir CORNEWALL LEWIS will leave Sir
CHARLES to flounder in the Admiralty, and
attempt a budget of his own, which we hope,
for the benefit of the empire, will be better re-
ceived by the public than some of his profound
hut non-appreciated treatises on political
metaphysics, addressed to drowsy readers,
who nod their approbation of one of " The
Great Unreadables ' of our age.