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

THE PRESS.

called in question by this statement, for it was
voluntarily testified by several of the sick,
whose beds adjoined the man referred to, that
the nuns had been incessant and untiring in
their attentions upon him in particular. The
evidence tendered on this point places the fact
beyond the shadow of a doubt—while the
pnest flatters himself he is offering a compete
denial of the charge of proselytism, by declar-
ing that it was through the wonderful Grace
of GOD working in the man that he became a
member of the true Church !
Our readers will learn from this narrative,
though concise in form, and scanty in detail,
that the very evil we dreaded has happened.
The nuns have usurped the duties of instruc-
tors in religious things. They are at the dis-
posal of the priest whenever he may wish to
bring their insidious influences to bear upon
minds enfeebled and unnerved by suffering.
We are given to understand that at Kulleli,
where the Protestants outnumber the Roman
Catholics by four to one, there is only one
Church of England chaplain, while there are
eight nuns at work as nurses, with not a sin-
gle hospital orderly who is not a Papist. These
are facts which demand and deserve attention.
They point to a state of things lamentable
beyond expression, and we trust that the Go-
vernment will fairly meet the emergency with
which they are called upon to deal.
As regards the Hospital at Scutari, we are
happy to be able to state that Lord WILLIAM
PAutErr has taken up the matter with becom-
ing spirit and determination, and that Miss
NIOWILINOALE is strongly opposed to allowing
the nuns to teach, and that. being in a position
to dispose of the question officially, she is re-
solved to communicate to the authorities at
home a full statement of the circumstances of
the case we hays cited, with the view of justi-
fying the severe remonstrance she has made
against the conduct of the priest and the
nuns concerned.

199

must resign in favour of the superior claims of
Sir THOMAS REDINOTON. OUT readers may re-

- 2
quire to be told that Sir THOMAS REDINGTON 18

an Irish Roman Catholic Squire, whose great
merit consisted in retaining the office of un-
der-Secretary at Dublin at the period when
Lord JOHN RUSSELL denounced the Roman-
_ ..

Catholics. People thought when Squire Ra-
DINOTON was made a '• K. C. B." that they
should hear no more of him, but _ the

Irish Knight of the Bath was deemed a fitter
person than Mn. LAYARD for an Indian ap-
pointment. Then the member for Aylesbury
was offered the Clerkship of the Ordnance,
which had just been contemptuously resigned
by another Irish Roman Catholic Squire, Ma.
MONSELL. MR LAYARD very properly declined
that post, which stands lowest on the list of
the Ministerial parliamentary offices.

At last, however, something like justice was
done him He had accepted the Under Secre-
taryship for War, but he had only just accepted
it when he was told that the claims of Mr. FRE..
DERICK PEEL must be attended to, and, by
way of compensating him, the Under. Secret-
aryship of the Colonies was offered, a post en-
tirely unsuited to his taste, and we may add
completely out of his line of abilities. He had
consequently to decline the offers, and he is
now a diplomatist "unattached." _ _

Such is the characteristic manner in which
the Whigs have acted towards one who
through life was always attached to the
Liberal side. It is now sixteen or seventeen
years since the remarkable abilities of Mr.
LAYARD first came under our own personal
observation. Mr. LAYARD was then studying
at the Temple, and even in those days his
knowledge of foreign countries, and his
acquaintance with European literature,
attracted the attention of all who knew him.
We recollect Mr. LAYARD having then made
in public one of the most masterly statements
of the • whole Russian subject that we ever
heard. Every event that has since occurred
has verified the views which he then put for-
ward upon the Eastern question. The Time:
is perfectly correct when it says that Mr.
LAYARD'S " knowledge of the languages, man-
" ners, and habits of thought of the natives
" about the Black Sea and the Mediterranean"
is derived from "an experience far more varied
" and singular than appears in his published
" works." He spent many of his early years in
Italy, and was deeply interested in the social
and political aspects of the South and East of
Europe. His energy of character, and vigorous
practical ability, together with his skill in
tongues, amply qualified him for some post
connected with diplomacy.
But in the treatment of Mr. LAYARD by the
Whigs something else, also, is apparent than
indifference to personal merits. Vacillation
has marked every act of Lord PALMERSTON
since his entrance to the Premiership. There
is shown singular infirmity of purpose in first
nominating Mr. LAYARD to an Indian appoint-
Ment, then compelling him to resign for Sir
THOMAS REDINOTON, next making him Under-
Secretary for War, and forcing him to give way
for Mr. FREDERICK PEEL, then piquing him
with the absurd offer of the Clerkship of the
Ordnance, and afterwards trying to trap him
into the acceptance of a post in the Colonial-
office, where he certainly could not have done
justice to his special aptitude. In all this
conduct on the part of Government there
is a discreditable mixture of artifice and
wavering.
But the Whigs have always had an evil
'station for their treatment of literary men.

nature when they subject the Member for
Aylesburai to treatment so unworthy of his
claims.

FACTS AGAINST VERNON SMITH.
THE eyes of England are turned anxiously

to the electors of Northampton. Mr. VERNON
SMITH, an old hanger-on upon the Whig
clique, is a candidate for that constituency,
which, unless all public spirit be dead in that
locality, must indignantly spurn his claims.
We can state facts against Mr. VERNON SMITH,
which, we trust, will not be forgotten by the
electors of Northampton.
The first fact is, that he voted against an
inquiry into the mismanagement of the war.
So far as depended on Mr. VERNON SMITH'S
poor abilities the people of England would be
left without any knowledge of the causes why
our soldiers have starved and shivered to
death. Can such a vote as Ur. SMITH'S be
pardoned by the men of Northampton? In
former times that town used to pride itself on
its public spirit; and let not the men of
Northampton now show that they have dege-
nerated from the days of old.

Th i‘second fact is, that Mr. VERNON SMITH
is in his own person the very incarnation of
the wretched system pursued in politics by
what is known in London as " the old Whig
rump." He may perhaps prefer claims to
popularity on the ground that he is the solitary
commoner in the present Cabinet of Lords and
grandees. But then we must disabuse the
electors of Northampton. Mr. VERNON SMITH
is accepted on account of his connection with
the Marquis of LANSDOWNE, through the late
Earl of UPPER Ossortv's family, by which Mr.
VERNON SMITH claims to be a real pure old
Whig.
The third fact is, that Mr. VERNON SMITH is
no more fit fur filling the office of President
of the Board of Control, and directing the
affairs of India, than ho is fox commanding the
army in the Crimea. Of all the little politi-
cians of the day he is one of the smallest. His
attempts at playing the part of a leading
politician have always been hailed with
" derisive cheers" in the House of Commons.
He has always taken his pretensions from
Brobdignag, while he has shown only capacity
for Lilliput, and in politics has been a walking
copy of " Every Man his own Punch," and
caricatured himself with unconscious humour
and incredible industry.
The fourth fact is, that Mr. VERNON SMITH
will be opposed by one who shed his blood for
England in the field of glory. Captain STURT
fought at the Alma, and is also the nephew of
the noble hero who led the grand charge at
Balaklava. A hero himself, and with the
blood of heroes in his veins, can the men of
Northampton want additional arguments for
supporting the cause of Captain STURT
against the imbecility of the least distin-
guished man in the present feeble Cabinet of
old Whigs?

THE AUTOCRAT OF CALCUTTA.
SIR HAMILTON SEYMOUR took some pains to
explain to the public last year that the true
cause of the difficulties into which Russia had
got herself arose from the system which com-
pelled her diplomatists to report to the Czar,
not facts, but what they thought would be
most pleasing to him, thus keeping him in a
state of perpetual delusion till the bubble
burst. At the same time he drew a favorable
contrast of the conduct of the English Govern-
ment towards its diplomatists, from whom he
said it was equally ready to receive palatable
truths. If this be true of our
home, it is certainly not so of
\t in India, as administered by
rho now rules there, and whose
conduct seem very much more in
*,th those which Sir HAMILTON
'c4 to the Czar.

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