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

CABINET CLAPTRAPS.

THE Parliamentary showman at the head of
the Cabinet has moved on another slide in his
magic lantern. Convulsions of laughter have
followed in witnessing the impish figure of
the Duke of ARGYLL succeeded by Lord
HARROWBY ; and poor Mr. BAINES has looked
very ludicrous while clambering after the
sprawling President of the Board of Trade.
The new appointments have all the grotesque
of Dutch caricature, and this time Lord PAL:
NIERSTON has really succeeded in making
every one laugh. He wanted to strengthen
his Ministry, and accordingly the Premier made
Mr. M'CULLIIM MORE a Postmaster-General ;
and then, to gain additional political sinew, he

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gave the sinecure of the Privy_ Seal to
" hereditary waverer," Lord fiaattowey.
The Premier paves his road with egg shells
Taking this comical slide from before our eyes,
we can see neither strength nor grace in such ap
pointments. Mr. RALPH OSBORNE Would remind
us that there is " his Grace the Duke," and
that our remark should, therefore, like Mr.
OSBORNE'S public speeches, be withdrawn.
But we shall allow it to stand ; for, of all the
elaborate failures in our modern public life
(and they are numerous), the little Duke with
the mighty airs is the greatest. From his
nineteenth year the Duke of ARGYLL has been
always putting himself forward; and with
pamphlets, speeches, lectn.ies, soirees, his
Grace has disputed the precedence with the
advertising vans. The Earl of DERBY at a
single stroke settled him. His Grace was
conceited enough to think that, because on
one occasion Lord DERBY did not reply to his
speeches, therefrom the palm of victory
rested with the Duke, who crowed lustily.
" My Lords," said the Earl of DERBY, " a short
" time since there was one of those persons
" called navvies,' who was in the habit of
" allowing his wife to beat him. He was a
" very large man, and she was only a small
" woman. The neighbours asked him why he
" permitted her, 'Oh ! never mind,' said he,
"' it amuses her, and it don't hurt me.' " The
shouts of laughter which greeted this al-
lusion, told in Lord DERBY'S brilliant style,
were almost loud enough to have been heard
at St. Martin's-le-Grand.
How Lord PALMERSTON hopes to get strength
by Lord HARROWBY is a mystery. The new
Lord Privy Seal has a prodigious stock of
81-assimilated knowledge. Ho has nearly as
many general ideas about everything in par-
ticular as Lord Been:mum& himself: he only
wants genius, eloquence, practical capacity,
and clear purposes, in order to be a distin-
guished leader. Like many other walking
encyclopfedias, Lord HARROWBY confounds his
attainments, which are great, with his abilities,
which are small—hie familiarity with past
facts for comprehension of present emergen.
cies. He might appropriately be addressed in
the very words employed by the Duke of WEL-
LTNOTON to a nobleman whose questions, leading
to nothing, had occupied the time of a com-
mittee—" My Lord, you have had too much
" education for your abilities."
" But then there is Mr. BAINES." Ah ! that
appointment is the primest piece of claptrap.
It was intended as a bait to catch those who
talk about men sprung from " the people."
Unfortunately, Mr. BaiNes did sot rise by his
own energy. His father was, indeed, a man
of really remarkable qualities, and stamped a
distinction on the name which the son can
never equal. With the cry of " the right man,
Ic ," we could understand how a Cabinet
would like to have accepted such a public
character as the late eminent Mr. BAINES ; but
the new Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancas-
ter is a case of mere conventional rise, such as
is every day seen. It is really too ridiculous
to talk of " strength" being acquired by giving
another sinecure post to a gentleman who, on
the ground of physical exhaustion, resigned
his place at the Poor-Law Board. Mr. BAINES
never made a telling speech in Parliament, or
at the bar. Nature never intended him for an
orator, and art has not amended original defi-
ciencies.
" But it is meant for the Dissenters. It is a
" capital bait for them." That is a good joke,
indeed. By way of helping a discordant
Cabinet, the Dissenting element is introduced.
We do not believe that the Dissenters are
such dupes as to be flattered with a member
of their body being made a Chancellor of the
Duchy of Lancaster. They are not quite so
foolish as electioneering partisans suppose.
They can distinguish between the late and the
present Mr. BAINES. They know that Mr.
BAINES had a father before him, who started
his son in the world with wealth, influence,
and connection. Even the President of the
Board of Control knows that, to aristocratic
ears, the name of " Talbot Baines " sounds just
as well no " Vernon Smith."
But it is said that Lord STANLEY OF ALDER-
LEY will strengthen the Ministry. If so, it is
singular that, during six years of his weak
Cabinet, Lord JOHN RUSSELL 340Ver asked husi

THE PRESS.

in. Is it hoped that constituencies of dim
perceptions would confound him with the
" Lord STANLEY," who would, indeed, be a
source of strength to any Cabinet ? Lord
STANLEY OF ALDEHLEY has been for nearly
thirty years in public life, and he has never
brilliantly distinguished himself. He is
neither an orator nor au administrator ; and
his connection, though what is popularly
known as " long-tailed," is not first-rate. To
be sure his Lordship is a great hand at elec-
tioneering, and it was probably in contempla-
tion of a desperate and hazardous throw of
political dice that his Lordship was invited to
help in rattling the boxes.
The most comical part of the recent changes
is that they were made simultaneously with
the Ministerial organ's confession of the
Cabinet's want of orators in the House of
Commons. Out of the four new appointments
three are members of the Upper House, and
Mr BANES is the reserve of eloquence relied
upon by the Premier for the sessional wars.
Caricatures which do not make people laugh
are us useless as skates in Jamaica, and clap-
traps which will not go down with the most
gullible are sure to reooii on the charlatans
who concoct them.
Our Premier is a wag, and is chief grinner
at his own performances. His parasites com-
pare hint with CHATHAM, but his deeds recal
the imitators of GRIMALDI. The last appoint
ments were surely gazetted by " Mr. Merry-
man," who prepares his broad laughs down at
" Broadlands."

MR. DISRAELI ON SATISFACTORY
TERMS OF PEACE.
ON reference to the 138th volume of " Han-
sard's Parliamentary Debates," we find an
authentic report of Mr. Disraeli's speech
on the Bth of June, 1855, delivered in the
debate on the Prosecution of the War. From
that speech we make an extract, which is of the
highest importance at the present time as
containing the conditions upon which, in Mr.
Disraeli's opinion, a just, permanent, and
honourable Peace might be concluded. Mr.
Disraeli said :

I now oome to the question of the preponderance of
Russia as regards Turkey ; and I think that the noble
lord [ J. Russell ] and his colleagues, and I am afraid,
too, that many of us, are apt to consider this question
of preponderance as something novel iu politics, as a
new phenomenon in our political experienoe, and as
a problem to which it affords no solution. Now,
what is the preponderance of a great power as regards
a weaker State, in the independence and integrity of
which Europe has an interest? Is there anything
strange in such a conjuncture? Why, the history of
modern Europe is the history of attempts to check
and control the preponderance of great States over
contiguous weaker ones in the independence of which
Europe has had an interest.. We have heard a great
deal of the designs of Russia, and we have had a
picture drawn of those designs by a law officer of the
Crown, which is enough to make us tremble. Ido
not suppose that Russia is freer from ambitious
designs than any other great power ; but is Russia
the only country that has ever exhibited designs
upon the independence of weaker neighbours ? Why,
in the case of the designs entertained by that vast
military empire, France, upon the Low Countries,
there was the precise parallel of a powerful State
attempting to encroach upon the independence of a
weaker State, in the preservation of whose integrity
Europe had an interest. Were not the designs of
France as well matured, and as continuously carried
on by individuals possessed of as great ingenuity, as
great ability, and as great energy as any of the
sovereigns or statesmen ef Russia of whom we have
• heard so much? Why, Cardinal Richelieu was the
' first man who conceived the plan of subduing the
Netherlands. Louis XIV. invaded the Nether-
, lands, and Napoleon the Great conquered the Nether-
lands. And yet. at the present day, the Netherlands
are independent, and the preponderance of France,
which for a century and a half was exerted upon that
battle-field, has been baffled, and at no period perhaps
in the history of France has the conquest of the
Netherlands been less a feature in the political
system of that country than it is at the present
moment. Thus we see that there are means by
which the preponderance of a great power over a
weaker may be controlled ; and the question to
consider is, whether the project of the Government
is the best means of controlling the preponderasoe

SATURDAY, .

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of Russia with respect to Turkey? To judge of that,
it may be well to consider how it was that in the case
of the Low Countries the ambitious designs of France,
which were carried on continuously for so long a
period, and by men more fertile in resources than
any three men who ever lived, Richelieu, Louis XIV.,
and Napoleon, were baffled, and the independence of
that country preserved. The united will of Europe
established the neutrality of Belgium, one of
the battle-fields of Europe, but I do not see that
the noble lord or his colleagues have at any time
ever started the idea of establishing the neutrality
of the Principalities, another battle-field of Europe.
Switzerland was one of the battle - fields of
Europe, and its independence was menaced by
the preponderance of Austria; but the Congress
of Vienna established the neutrality of Switzerland,
as the Congress of London did that of Belgium ; and
Switzerland also is independent. What I complain
of in the negotiations of the Government is, that I see
no evidence of a recurrence to those means by which
statesmen of great ability and unquestioned reputation
have attempted to deal with difficulties similar to those
with which the Government have now to grapple.
I do not ask the house to pledge itself to the prin-
ciple of establishing the neutrality of the Principali-
ties ; all that I ask them to do is to entertain the
idea, and to well consider it. Let me, in a few short
sentences, place before the house what the effect
upon Turkey would be if the Principalities were
declared neutral ground. The frontier of Turkey on
the Danube would be reduced, and it is on that fron-
tier that Turkey is exposed to the greatest danger.
In such a case, the frontier of Turkey would extend
only from Reni to the Black Sea, and let us consider
what would be the consequence it Russia attempted
to invade Turkey on that side. The Russian army
would have to pass a large river, and then to enter on
the fell and pestiferous steppes of the Dobrudscha,
to pass the fortresses of Schumla and Varna on its
left, and Silistria on its right. I see no probability
that in the course of ages the Russians would be able
to overcome such difficulties ; and am I then to be
told that there are no means of checking the prepon-
derance of Russia with regard to Turkey, except
those means which have been suggested by the
Government? I say that it is the bounden duty of
this house to consider whether the scheme proposed
by the Government appears to be the one most likely
to effect the objects which they have in view. With
regard to the Asiatic frontier, nature is not so favor-
able to diplomacy, inasmuch as there are no natural
barriers; but the noble lord will not pretend that it is
impossible to establish artificial barriers. The noble
lord is,no doubt,well acquainted with the Barrier Treaty
and is aware that on various occasions it has been stipu-
lated that fortresses should be erected, to be periodi-
cally inspeoted by a commissioner. It was not thought
derogatory to the honour of the King of Holland, or
to the princes of Germany, that Wellington, as Marl-
borough had done before, should inspect fortresses
raised as artificial barriers in those countries. Fort-
resses on that principle might be erected at Erze-
roum and Kars, and on other points of the
Asiatic frontier; and the same principle might be
extended to the Bosphorus, and a fortress erected
under the constant inspection of English commis-
sioners. We all know the crudeness and inutility of
the scheme of the Government, which has resulted
in failure, and I therefore venture to place be-
fore the house and the country these materials for
thought, and to endeavour to show that there are
practical means of controlling the preponderance of
Russia without humiliating her; that there are other
means than those proposed by the Government, by
which Turkey may be placed in a position which will,
for a long time, so far as she is concerned, secure the
peace of Europe, and which will connect her more
closely with the European family of nations. The
ideas which I have advanced have been sanctioned
and put in practice by great men, and I think them
well worthy of the attention of the house. There is one
other point which ought always to be borne in mind,
and that is—the condition of the eastern coast of the
Black Sea. The fortresses on that coast have, with
1 the exception of two which are held by the Turks,
1 been blown up, and before concluding a peace, if you
restore that coast to Russia, it might be stipulated
that those fortresses should not be rebuilt, and that
the two held by the Turks should also be blown up,
when they leave them. That is not a stipulation
which would wound the feelings or injure the pride
of any nation, however great ; but it is one which
would render imperfect the military communications
' of Russia in those waters, and which would, more
than any other condition that could be devised, con-
solidate the power of Turkey, and secure the posses-
sion of Constantinople to the Ottoman empire.
will not, however, pursue this theme, as many other
opportunities will be afforded to me for discussing it.
What I have been anxious on the present occasion
to do, when these erect schemes of the Government
are placed before us, and when we are told that
peace cannot be effected, because these inefficient
and useless methods have not been successful at the
conferences, is to show, first, that it is our duty tile
denounce such ineffectual propositions ; and, in th

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