The Press.
London, England, 1855-12-01 00:00:00

DECEMBER 1, 1855.

next place, to inform the minds of the people of this
country on the subject, and to convince them that
there are practical, sound, and solid means by which
the great problem in modern politics can be solved.

MISTAKES OF SIR CHARLES WOOD.
Tnis present Board of Admiralty is certainly unfor-
tunate in its officers. Mr. OPDORNE, with his forced
taciturnity, is an object of universal ridicule, though
the Honourable Gentleman may be comforted in
thinking that silence is better than to expose him-
self, like some of his colleagues. Sir CHARLES Woon,
also, has come into the most disagreeable collision
with the citizens of Cork, and even already the
First Lord has got the worst of it.
There is something most grating in the curt super-
cilious way in which Sir CHARLES WOOD tries to
deal with men and things. He is not a Whig aris-
tocrat by birth, being only a new Baronet., and con
nected with the families by having (like Mr. L4ROU-
ciiEuE) married a "Lady Mary." Yet we never hear
or see him without thinking of My Lord Duke
in GARRICK'S farce of High Life below Stairs. He is
not without some favorable points as a man of busi-
ness. When he gets his cue, Sir CHARLES can work
industriously, and is really a smart man, though not
at all a sharp one, except in his manner. His
talents appear to great disadvantage when contrasted
with those of his immediate predecessor, and never
more so than in his method of treating the claims of
the Cork memorialists.
It seems that for nearly thirty years there has been
a standing grievance with the people of the south of
Ireland, on the alleged "neglect" of Cork harbour
by the successive Governments. The subject has
been a sore one with both Whigs and Tories ; the
complaint has been troublesome and chronic. Sir
JAMES GRAHAM, two years since, dealt with the
matter most skilfully, and soothed the ruffled feel.
ings of the Cork people with tact, temper, and some
show of good natured interest in their welfare. He
took care, also, to pay some well-sugared compli-
ments to their local pride; and the clever Sir JMeus
made the people of Cork pleased with the Admiralty
for the time.
Sir CHARLES WOOD has managed matters in a dif-
ferent style. In his most laconic, curt, manner, he
snubbed the Mayor of Cork, when that functionary
forwarded him a memorial that part of the Baltic
fleet might be permitted to winter in Cork harbour.
It would seem that one of the Cork Members of Par.
'lament had an assurance from Dublin Castle that
the point would be conceded. Knowing that there
was so much irritation on the subject, the First Lord
should have been cautious how he refused a respect-
ful memorial, supported by the local aristocracy and
gentry. Sir CHARLES, in his self-sufficient way,
desired the Cork people to go to Bath, and was good
enough to point out the road that way in the follow-
ing words :

Admiralty, Nov. 10, 1855.
Sir,-1 have received your letter of the 1-Ith inst., and
you must see, upon reflection, that the stations of her
Majesty's ships mast be determined by the dernanis of the
service, and that it would not be consistent with my duty
to give any assurance that vessels would be stationed at
any port merely on the request of the inhabitants of the
neighbourhood.-1 am, sir, your obedient servant,
CIIALUSS WOOD.

The Mayor of Cork.
That is a bad specimen of an official style. Its air
of disdain was provocative, and accordingly no small
anger was felt at Cork, and a resolution was come to
that the subject of Cork harbour "neglect" should
b i brought before Parliament, and we were
threatened with the infliction of countless speeches
on the subject in the next session.
But things have taken another turn. The Dublin
correspondence of the journals inform us that., after
all, some of the fleet are to winter in Cork harbour,
obstante Sir CHARLES WOOD. The process of
taking back a budget has long been familiar to the
ex• Chancellor of the Exchequer, and he has now to
take back his letter. The Chief Secretary for Ire-
la id has given him what Mr. OSBORNE, in his pun-
ning style, would call a lesson in horsemanship.
Swallowing his words seems to be a favorite accom-
plishmentswith Sir Cusatts Wool). He was once
wit ily compared to the Indian juggler drawing rolls
of red tape out of his mouth. He spoke an invective
aßaitist the Emperor of the FRENCH, but he swallowed
it; a,d after sniihhing the Mayor of Cork, he is
Obliged to unsay his words.
That is not the mode in which Sir JAMES GRAFI/ M
WOD his reputation at the Ad niralty. It is only a
poor imitation of the old Whig style of first sneerirg,
aof then truckling, assuming a Hotspur fierceness,
and then patiently swallowing the leek.