The Press.
London, England, 1855-06-16 00:00:00

HINTS TO CONSERVATIVES.

PARLIAMENT was dissolved in the summer
of 1832, and since the Reform Bill the average
duration of Parliament has been only three
years and a half it would not, therefore, be
surprising if in the present state of parties
some coup d'etat was shortly ventured upon,
in the hope that it might give the Premier the
personal following he desires.
Now, this is the season of the year iu which
country Conservatives will find it easier to
look after their registration societies, and see
generally what is the state of the registries
in their vicinity. The business of the harvest
interferes with politics, and there could be
no better time than now for taking counsel
about their local resources. Even as an
exercise in the discipline of union, it would
be desirable that the Conservatives should
see after their affairs, and be prepared
for the next election struggle. It is more
than ever of importance to the public weal
that the members of the Conservative party
should be swelled in Parliament. The Liberals
are fast driving upon anarchy. They are
breaking up into cliques and coteries. Be-
tween the commercial classes of the north of
England and th 9 Whigs the gulf is widening
every day, and a total reconstitution of the
Liberal party will be necessary. But at pre-
sent it has not the " devising heads' or
willing minds to undertake such a work, and
we are convinced that an admirable opportu-
nity is now presented for the consolidation of
the Conservative strength
We press, also, upon our friends in the
country, that if the Conservatives will not
come forward to support their flag, their party,
and their cause, no other option is pre-
sented than to allow England to drift down
the tide of revolution. The Whig aristocrats
will concede any thing to the strongest demo-
cratic cry, on condition that they are allowed
a monopoly of Ministerial honours. Whether
it be the Church, or the Constitution, or the
landed interest, is all the same to them.
But will Conservatives suffer that? Assu•
redly not ; and even if the Conservatives be
not strong enough to form a Ministerial party,
they will act so as to compel the Liberals to
desist from revolutionary designs. For doing
so effectually, all hands will bq required.
The registries must be watched, with care.
The local spirit of the party Must be gal-
lantly maintained throughout the land. Cor-
dial and cheering words must be passed from
rank to rank. A resolution to stand firmly
together must be zealously inculcated, and
all feelings of despondency- about the even-

THE PRESS.

tual fortunes of the party must be shunned
as cowardice. The day must come, and that
before long, when England will owe its safety
to the steansgs amt eplightened patriotism
of the Cpnseryittive Dirty ; and, in order to do
our 40F {is citipus mid free subjects of W 4
Crown, *e ingst see got (41.1 r great cause is ;,:k
lost by peglecl cafgessness on those points
upon isinich dsfelq g victory results at ad
ele.c

WANTjill) A PLAN.
WE turned with interest to the new pamphlet
published by the "Administrative Reform
Society." After hearing Mr. MORLEY refer to
it as a cut and-dry plan on Wednesday, we
expected to find in its pages some scheme of
a comprehensive measure. Never were we
more disappointed. The Society has given
us only an abbreviated Blue-book. It has
culled evidence to prove what no one doubts,
and republished excerpts from tracts and
familiar Parliamentary papers. It commences
ominously with a sounding aphorism from
" Mr. Burke," and then quotes, seriatim, the
opinions of Sir ROBERT PEEL, Lord JOHN
RUSSELL, Sir JAMES STEPHEDI, Mr. EDWIN
CHADWICK, Mr. JOHN WOOD, Mr. HENRY TAY-
LOR, and several others. But where is the
" cut-and-dry plan ? " Where is the mode for
oaring the evils complained of, or for meeting
the high aims indicated in Sir EDWARD
LirrroN's amendment on Mr. LAYARD'S mo-
tion? We did not want a collection of
extracts to prove what everyone knows. It
will be said in derision by the Premier and
his friends, Has the Administrative Reform
" Society itself the ' devising heads' for early-
" ing out an improved system ?"
We are sorry for the weakness of the pam-
phlet of the Society. In literary ability its
composition is of the sort known as " scissors
and paste." Diffuse, not eloquent; general in
its aims, not original in its ideas, it exhibits
no fertility of design. We fear that the ruling
powers of the new "Society" will be jeered at
as mere novices, if they do not put forward
some more masterly documents than this
compilation, to which they have given so
ambitious a title. Mr. MORLEY said in his
speech on Wednesday, " that neither the inde-
" pendence, wealth, nor intelligence of this
" country were represented in this House of
" Commons," but even the second class Par-
liamentary reports are more ably executed,
and are more suggestive, than the " Pamphlet
No. 2 " of the new Society.
If Mr. MORLEY and his friends are to prosper
as " Reformers," they must become more defi-
nite. They must confer together on the basis
of a large plan for Official Reform, and direct
the attention of the country towards it. A
few more waste pamphlets from them, and
people would think of starting a rival society,
and not allowing the tide of indignation to
flow by without profit. As mere literary or
talking agitators it would not, however, be
fair to expect much at first from Mr MORLEY
and his associates. In the eyes of many,
indeed, a great part of their merits consists
in their not being hacknied caterers to vulgar
clamour. But we certainly have a fair right
to expect from them some able and vigor
ously designed scheme which would attract
the attention of thinking men, and rally the
country to its support.
It should also be recollected that " Ad-
ministrative Reform" is not entirely a new
idea to the country. Mr. DISRAELI was the
first who used the phrase, and by the context
in his speech it would appear that the Right
Honourable Gentleman was referring to the
service of the Executive. We have still in
existence a Law Reform Society, taking cogni-
sance of both the philosophy and practice of
legislation, and we have heard of the " Finan-
cial Reform Society of Liverpool." The
Peace Society contemplated an " Administra
tive Reform " of a peculiar kind, not worth
noticing here. But we allude to those matters
as showing to Mr. MORLEY and his associates
teat they must take more distinct aims than
they have yet done. There are some practical

SATURDAY,

points, besides, on which we could wish to
hear their judgment pronounced.
For example, what clo they think of Lord
GODERIC6 rectiut speech, and his declara-
tion tilat Up would tot " 4arken the doors of
"Mr.. I.44yrEa's oftlee again ?" Would the
" Oflioial Iteforruerg 'I (V@ call them so for
breqty) bo ready to gpforgg such views on the
til
ten- Ound@rs of Marylebope, and the repre-
sen fora f ()that " Ugaral " boroughs ? Or
do t Qfficial Reformers think it feasible to
look or M.P.s acting on the Goderichian
plan ? Sympathising with their convictions
as to the necessity of an Official Reform, we
should like them to elucidate their views on
these points more closely and distinctly.
But we are afraid that they have not
studied their subject in all its relations. Thus,
one of the great difficulties about Official
Reform is to secure a flow of great talent and
aptitude into the service of the State. Com-
merce pays its votaries munificently. Peerages
have been gained by merchant princes ; the
stories of RICARDO and JONES LLOYD and others
are familiar to every intelligent apprentice in
London. The Law has magnificent prizes;
and a career for talent, combined with power-
ful frame, is open to the humblest law student.
The Cabinet is always in want of the ablest
legal assistance to defend its measures and
see its Acts of Parliament safe through the
breakers of Opposition. But in the routine
departments of the State it unfortunately
happens that there is much that even medico
crity can decently perform.
It deserves to be specially recollected by all
Official Reformers that in England there is
already too great a tendency for enterprising
talent to abandon professional for mercantile
life. The prizes are nearly equally large, and
far surer in the latter mode of exertion. We
have heard successful members of the profes-
sions of law and medicine declare that they
have not been paid for their toils ; and they
have said that, if commencing life again, they
would embark in trade. Nor was this said in
spleen or from levity. Similar statements we
have no doubt have been heard by many of
our readers. The fact of the over•tendenoy
of talent and of high intellectual power to
engage in commerce admits of no question.
On the whole, we have no doubt that the
cry for Official Reform will result in benefit.
" Administrative " statesmen will be de-
manded, and personal ability required in high
officials. Politicians of eminence will seek to
distinguish themselves by promoting talent.
Thus, the Marquis WELLESLEY owes a great
part of his fame in India to having acted on
the maxim of encouraging talent. "Lord
WELLESLEY'S school" was a phrase in the
Indian service to designate several persons
promoted by him for merit. Few greater re-
forms could be achieved than to make it
fashionable for statesmen to try and win a
name for themselves as encouragers of merit
and discoverers of ability. The fact that Lord
CASTLEREAGH forced Sir ARTHUR WELLESLEY OR
the Court and Cabinet, and kept him at the
head of the Peninsular army in defiance of all
opposition, redounds to that statesman's last-
ing credit, and teaches a lesson to living poli-
ticians of all parties of the paramount neces-
sity of fostering ability.

17

JUNE 16, 1855.

income tax, and less pleasures, people are in
no mood for lively satire on painful subjects ;
and a vast portion of the public, without any
party views, turns with interest to see what
will come of the movement.

The mere fact of this new agitation being
started is a remarkable thing in itself. It can-
not be said that the persons who got it up are
professional frequenters of the platform. In
their proceedings at the first City meeting
and elsewhere, we noticed that there was too
large an influx of Irish agitators " M.P.s."
Veteran dealers in Irish " nationality" would
soon give a bad name to the movement. It
would soon fail in England, if it was believed
to be a combination of noisy place-hunters,
trying to make themselves formidable by
vituperative vehemence and insulting per-
sonalities upon unpopular members of the
nobility. But the organisers of the movement
seem to have put themselves on their guard.
They appear desirous of making the movement
a bona fide expression of the feelings generally
prevalent amongst the middle classes, and
apparently they do not intend to allow itine-
rant chapmen and rhetorical pedlars to find
in their society an advertising-van for bringing
their flashy declamation into a good market.
The tone of the meeting on Wednesday was
upon the whole cautious, and regulated with a
desire not to be brought into scrapes. Men
accustomed to business—Mr. MORLEY, Mr. W.
S. LINDSAY, Mr. TrrE—delivered plain, com-
mon-sense exposures of the various flagrant
blunders committed, and it cannot be denied
that these speeches will be read far and wide,
though neither eloquent nor brilliant. The
reception accorded to Mr. LAYARD appeared to
show that the great concourse of persons for-
gave him his inaccuracies for having spoken
mt " against the imbecility and wrong-doings
"of the Ministry." They recollected how,
during the perpetration of flagrant jobs, and
the reckless sacrifices of hecatombs in the
Crimea, Sir BENJAMIN 'HALL thought of his
place and the " Coalition." They recollected
how vehement this Cato of Marylebone hal
been about Irish landlords and official
scandals in other days, and how silent he was
during the Duke of NEWCASTLE'S rule at the
War-office. When they cheered Mr. LAYARD
they thought also of the pertinacity with
which Sir WILLIAM MOLESWORTH harped upon
Colonial Reform, and how enthusiastic had
been his speculative philanthrophy. But they
remembered that the Solon of Southwark was
silent while thirteen thousand British troops
were dying for want of food and clothes; and
they thought alno how Mr. BERNAL OSBORNE
was reduced to taciturnity ; and it was there-
fore no wonder that they cheered Mr. LAYARD,
who has kept his constituency without
flagrantly violating the promises which he
made to it.

But, without regarding the dramatis persona
of the " Administrative Reform Society," we
readily admit that there is much significance
in the new movement. The object of the
society is more abstract than is the case with
democratic asbociations. It does not come
home to the pocket like a " cheap-loaf" cry,
nor does it excite the passions like a purely
polemical principle. An agitation made on
such a subject, and in such a style, implies
that the powers of government are in danger
of passing into the hands of the people out of
doors. Nor can we wonder at such a revolu-
tion taking place. The Liberals and Re-
formers decide on supporting a Government
which they declare to be incompetent and
effete. In private they express themselves
contemptuously to the Cabinet, but they vote
for it in the House of Commons. They cry
" Hush" to every exposer of a wrong, and
cheer the Treasury speakers. The Govern-
ment has found the art of silencing them, but
they have not found the means of silencing
the people. For, after all, there is such a
thing as " a public " in England. A faction
may be cajoled, but the people are not to be
bribed. Clamorous place•hunters may be
subsidised, but a nation cannot be rendered
mute by Mr. Herres. Jobs in public offices
cannot atone for less profits, more taxes, and
little laurels. Popular discontent will burst
forth, though the voracious maw of the Whig
oligarchy be satisfied. In this way, by giving
free vent to the popular indignation, the Ad-

THE PRESS.

ministrative Reform Society can effect much,
but it is evident that its leaders have some-
thing to learn themselves. Their speaking
wunts electricity, and agitators must be
attractive. Newspapers with their variety
and sharp comments are formidable rivals to
ineffective public performers. We could wish
for more viridu vie in the eloquence of the new
society; but, doubtless, it will improve when
it has got decisively into action.

DESIGNS OF RUSSIA UPON INDIA.
IN Lord WELLESLEY'S time nothing was
thought more possible than an invasion of
our Indian empire by a European power
operating from the north-west frontier, and
no precautions were overlooked accordingly
which tended to guard against the danger in
the remotest degree. It is not too much to
say that under Mr. Pirr's Government au
invasion of India was scarcely less dreaded
than an invasion of England itself. The
reason of this was obvious. In the case of an
invasion of England the danger might be
nearer home, but it was far less difficult to
cope with. To resist an invasion of England
the whole male population of the three
kingdoms would have turned out to a man ;
but we had nothing to rely on in India
but a handful of Europeans and a merce-
nary army drawn from the natives them-
selves. It is almost needless to observe that
in the view which Lord WELLESLEY and Mr.
PITT took of our position there they showed
their usual sagacity; but with other times
have come other counsels, and the modern
school of politicians are apt to view the idea
of an invasion of India as a visionary one.
We do not ourselves share in this opinion.
We think that the prevalence of it is calculated
to beget a false security, fraught with great
future danger to the empire, and we shall en-
deavour, therefore, as far as lies in our power,
to correct it.

The late Times correspondence from the
Crimea has shown that at the outset of the
present war Russia had already told off some
regiments for service against us in India.
This correspondence, however, contained no
news for us, because we were aware that as far
back as the autumn of 1853 the Emperor
NICHOLAS had been putting into a state of the
greatest activity the departments through
which both military and diplomatic operations
were to be organised against us ia that
quarter. Indeed, those who have lived hitherto
in a happy confidence in the honourable and
pacific intentions of Russia would be sur
prised to know the extent to which prepara-
tions have been continuously made by her for
an eventual attack on our Eastern empire.
Detailed plans for the invasion of India have
been for a considerable time past lodged in
the military archives of St. Petersburg; and
the history of India, and the social and politi-
cal position of every native State, whether
actual or absorbed, have long been the subject
of peculiar attention and study there, as have
been the feelings of the people throughout that
empire. The Persian language has been
sedulously cultivated, as also has the Hindos-
tanee, the root of which, the Sanscrit, bears a
great affinity to Russian, and makes the
acquisition of it by Russians comparatively
easy. Everything worthy of note that trans•
pires in India is habitually reported to the
Russian Government by its employes, whose
precis of the Indian intelligence that comes by
each mail is of the exactest kind, going into
the minutest possible details. We have con-
versed with a Russian holding a very subor-
dinate position in the diplomatic line whose
knowledge of Indian matters was much more
intimate than that of most of our officers who
have spent their lives there, though ho had
never even set foot in the country. Not a
change of station in a regiment, battery, or
detachment takes place in India without its
being remarked. We have known another
Russian, a consulate attaché, correct art Indian
officer as to the troops at a station the latter
had but lately come from. A battery of
artillery had since been relieved which the
Englishman was not aware of, but which the
Russian had carefully noted down. It is need-

less to add, to those who know the Russian
system, that every Russian subject who
travels iu India keeps a journal of his observa-
tions, which is transmitted at the conclusion
of his tour to the Foreign-office at St. Peters-
burg for that Government's information.
Russians appear to have a peculiar talent for
this species of espionage, a talent which the
Emperor NICHOLAS particularly encouraged ;
and in respect to no country has it been more
freely exercised than in respect to British
India.

While such have been Russia's intellectual
preparations, if we may so call them, fur an
eventual invasion of India, her material pre-
parations have not been less active. The
Caspian has been made Oussian lake, and has
been admirably selected as a basis for her
operations against us. The state of Sebastopol
shows the amount of military stores which
Russia can collect together to further• any ob-
ject she has in view ; and we believe that not
less extensive stores are collected on the
Caspian to be brought eventually against
British India. The Caspian is said by some
to he too fur off us to be dangerous, but it is
nearer our frontier station than is Calcutta.
Kokan, indeed, the province to which Russia
has now advanced her arms. is not farther
from Peshawur than is Allahabad, our central
Indian station : it happens ominously to be the
country from which BASER started when he
invaded and conquered India. There is no-
thing between it and India but the outlying
provinces of Persia, and Herat, and Candahar,
none of which are friendly to us, if indeed
they be not actually hostile.
We do think under these circumstances that
the time has now arrived when we must bring
this constant aggression of Russia on the
States intervening between it and cur Indian
empire to a termination. While Russia is
pressed as she is now at home, she is powerless
to carry out her designs on India, and the ob•
ject of this country must be to make her
innocuous to us after peace shall have been
made. It would he a very false policy to place
limits on her power of aggression on Turkey
without at the same time placing limits on
her power of aggression on States there her
conquests would be quite as dangerous to us.
The curbing her in Europe is not more neces-
sary to our existence as a European power
than the curbing her in Asia to our existence
as an Asiatic power. Conditions of peace which
shall effectually restrain her within her rightful
limits in Asia as well as in Europe are essential
to any satisfactory settlement of the present
Eastern question. They are, moreover, condi•
tions entirely within the right of one sovereign
State to demand from another; they are con-
ditions to which Russia could not refuse
to accede without showing that her pretended
pacific intentions were a sham ; they are
conditions of which the enforcement would
raise our military prestige to the highest point
throughout all the warlike States of Asia ; and,
finally, they are conditions which would afford
a permanent security to our Eastern empire,
and relieve our Indian exchequer of the heavy
charges which the dubious conduct of Russia
has for so many years past been the principal
cause of our incurring.

THE PROGRESS OF THE SEIGE.
SELDOM in the annals of history has any nation
experienced so rapid and continuous a succes-
sion of triumphs as those which within the
last three weeks have attended the arms of
the allies. Scarcely a day has passed without
some success. If Sebastopol could boast no
new achievement, immense stores had been
captured in the Sea of Azoff; and if announce-
ments from Admiral LYONS were wanting,
great events had happened on the eastern
coast of the Black Sea. The latest victories
are the most important. Last week we had
accounts from the Sea of Azoff that Kertch,
Jenitchi, and Berdianski, had been taken or
destroyed, and in them the provisions which
the Russians had already conveyed thus far
for the use of their troops. This week we
learn the destruction of the large depots of

Marinupoi, Gheialt, and Taganrog. close to the
mouth of the Don, and filled with all the
tratfic which for months has been accumu
lating in their ports. Last week we had been
informed from the Caucasus of the evacuation
of Soujak Kale, and the concentration of the
Russian troops in the more important fortress
of Anapa. This week we hear of the evacua-
tion of Anapa itself, and the total abandon-
ment of the great provinse of Circassia. Last
week we had been told front Sebastopol of the
advance to the banks of the Tschernaya, and
the taking of an outwork which had been
thrown up hastily two days before. This
week we receive the tidings of the storming
of the formidable position of the Mameion,
and the capture of seventy-three guns.

The great drama is hastening to its develop-
ment, the plot thickens, the interest becomes
more intense, and we await the grander deeds
which must form the last acts of the tragedy.
Nor will they be delayed. We can hardly
expect farther operations in the Sea of Azoff,
or in the Caucasus, for the conquest is coin-
plets. The troops that were destined for
Anapa, and the army of the Circassians, will
join the struggle in the Crimea, and in all
probability will advance by Kai' to attack the
Russians in flank. But around Sebastopol
must be the great battle-field; every disposa-
ble man and gun has been concentrated there
by the Russians. On the heights above the
Tschernaya stand from eighty to a hundred
thousand troops, defended by works of enor-
mous strength, and co-operating by relays of
men to the utmost of their power in the
defence of the town. In Sebastopol itself the
garrison is numerous and determined, and
commanded by soldiers who are perfectly
acquainted with all the resources of the art of
war. It must he remembered that for the last
six months, and until the last two weeks, they
have been constantly acting on the offensive,
and that their sorties have been continual
and daring. Up to the present time their
spirit has been as high as that of our own

Yet there ate symptoms that even their
numbers and gallantry will be insufficient, and
that before long the allied standards must
float over Sebastopol. The allied army,
thanks to the immense reinforcements of the
French, the arrival of the Sardinian Contin-
gent, and the best portion of the Turks from
liupatoria, is immensely superior in strength
to the force immediately opposed to them.
Their advance has been gradual and uniform.
The bombardment, instead of dying out with
out result, has been followed by a vigorous
attack, and affords confidence that future
operations will be conducted with similar
spirit. The important position of the Ma-
melon has been taken, and its guns turned
upon the town. New batteries arc being con-
structed, whose fire will be far more destruc-
tive than before. The passage across the
harbour is said to be completely commanded
by the Allies. On the other hand the re-
sources of the Russians are diminishing.
Their fire in the second bombardment was
much weaker than in the first, and it seemed
as though their ammunition or their artillery-
men were failing In the third b)mbardinent
the deficiency was, probably, still more
marked, if we may judge by the short time
that elapsed between the commencement of
the cannonade and the assault. It may take
some time to construct the new approaches,
but as soon as they are made we may be sure
that the southern portion of Sebastopol will
soon be iu our hands.

In these glorious deeds what share will
England take ? Will she, as at Alma and In-
kermann, bear the brunt of the contest, and
shall we read that her gallant troops were first
in climbing the intrenchments, and gained
the chief honour of the day ? If they have the
Opportunity we need not fear for their prowess;
but their numbers are too small. The prin-
cipal attacks are in the hands of the French.
French troops are posted in front of the Flag-
staff, and stormed the outwork which will
form the basis of the next assault. The French
carried and hold the Mamelun, the other point
which will determine the struggle for the
town. They have acted wisely, pouring in
reinforcements, until the whole army appears