The Press.
London, England, 1855-07-14 00:00:00

THE PRESS.

It is possible, however, that before the vqe
of censure be taken' the fate of the present
Ministers will be; more decisively settled.
But in caw*. 14,11JUCK is able to bring
his motion to • divigionswe need scarcely ;iv
thst the conduct of Members of Parliaiwow%
will be anxiously woched by their collat.',
tuents. If tlig Peollifs were to blame, 1t
Wl4ligg gro more worthy of censure for the
hol gnd houtilosa manner in whicliAliws
have made the mismanagement of the war
auxiliary to their designs,

LORD PALMERSTON AND HIS
MINISTRY.
A FORTNIGHT ago we offered some remarks
upon the then position of Lord PALMERSTON
and his Cabinet. We reminded our readers
that the mere suspicion of a leaning towards
Russia on the part of Lord ABERDEEN and his
Cabinet had been sufficient to seal their doom
with 'the intelligent and straightforward
people of England. And we then proved, by
the evidence furnished in the speeches of Sir
JAMES GRAHAM and Mr. GLADSTONE, that the
present Cabinet, and ita leader, Lord PAL-
MERSTON, are justly obnoxious to the same
charge. Lord PALMEBSTON readily and un-
equivocally pledged himself to Sir JAMES
GRAHAM that there should be no change in the
foreign policy adopted by Lord ABERDEEN'S
Administration, and no alteration with respect
to the terms of peace then under negotiation
at Vienna. In February, therefore, Lord PAL.
UNRSTON and his Ministry were distinctly
pledged as honest men, pledged to the
country, and pledged to their then colleagues,
to adopt the pacific policy adopted by Lord
ABERDEEN, and enunciated by Mr. GLADSTONE
on the 24th of May. There can he no doubt
upon that point. The statement was made in
the face of the Briftifonse of commons,
in the presence of t#Wrcrible Lord and his
colleagues, and nut denied. Lord JOHN Rua-
SELL was selected as the Plenipotentiary, and
at the same time placed in the Cabinet of Lord
PALMERSTON, as if to give the strongest assu-
rance of this being the case. As a Member
of Lord ABERDEEN'S Cabinet, he, as well
as Lord PALMERSTON, was fully aware,
and manifestly approved, of that pacific
policy, and he went to Vienna in order to
carry it out, as the Plenipotentiary of Great
Britain. He had, it is true, quarrelled with
the Peelite section of the Cabinet, but the
ground of the quarrel was not a question of
policy, but a question of administration. He
objected to the administration of the war by
the Duke of NEWCASTLE, and the motion
of Mr. Rontures gave him the opportunity,
probably with ulterior views, of breaking up
Lord ABERDEEN'S Government. But, as far as
can be traced, there seems to have been no
disagreement between Lord JOHN RUSSELL
and any of his colleagues in the Aberdeen
Cabinet on the policy of terminating the war.
There were jealousies, and dissensions, and
intrigues in that Cabinet on other subjects ;
the Peelites hated the Radicals, and the
Radicals the Whigs, and the Whige both.
Lord PALMERSTON probably was viewed with
suspicion by all—his eszapades in 1851 and
1852 could not have been forgotten—but what-
ever were the suspicions and dislikes towards
each other on the part of the members or sec-
tions of that memorable Administration, they
were united in not being in earnest in carry-
ing on the war—they were a reluctant War
Ministry—their hearts were with Russia in
the contest rather than with England—their
policy and object was to make a demonstra-
tion of war, but not actually to wage war; and
when war was forced upon them by the in-
dignant voice of England, then it was their
object and their policy to make peace as soon

SATURDAY,

as possible, and to do as little as possible
meantime in the operations of war. Our
Admirtils were warned of the dangers of
granite fortille4re wall of the shoals of
the Sea of Azo cur Cfenerals found them-
without stippliee or a reserve, and
the revolt—ths w&essorr result—was in-
actioo avi disaster, W 147 Jo we now notice
this! TO Ministry of tiord ABERDEEN is now
a natter of hieto,rb written unhappily in let-
ters of blood, and it the business rather
of the Igatarian than of the journalist to com-
ment upon it. But Lord PALMERSTON and
Lord JOHN RUSSELL are at present conducting
the affairs of this great eountry at a period
even more momentous than the period when
they aided in the fatal policy of Lord ABER-
DEEN.; and their policy now is the same.
There is the same want of earnestness as
regards the war, the same desire to put an end
to it, and the same hesitation and weakness
which of necessity belong to a want of earnest-
ness in any undertaking, and which in war
inevitably result in disaster. The revelations
of Lord Jount RUSSELL have afforded conclusive
confirmation of this. His mission and object
were manifestly to make peace on any terms.
The voice of England, when he returned from
his mission, had left Lord PALMERSTON and his
Cabinet no alternative but to assume a spirit
they do not feel, and to reject a proposition
which it would have been consistent with their
policy to adopt.
On Monday it will be for the House of
Commons to decide whether this state of
things is to continue. Is a want of earnest-
ness—are divided, timid, vacillating councils
still to be tolerated in a Cabinet intrusted
with the conduct of this gigantic war ? Or
will the House of Commons truly represent
the feeling and the spirit which, we believe,
are the oharacteristics still of the British
people ? If the overthrow of Lord Dizativ's
Government has already cost the country one
hundred millions of money, and 30,000 of her
best troops, who can estimate the loss that
will be involved in the continuance in aloe of
a Ministry, weak, hesitating, audincompetent?