The Press.
London, England, 1855-05-19 00:00:00

THE WEEK.

Rumoun has been busy this week with reports of dissensions in the
Cabinet. Lord JOHN RUSSELL, with the Grey cousinhood, is stated
to be favorable to renewing negotiations on the Russian proposals ;
and there are some persons who imagine that Mr. MILNER GIBSON'S
motion, on Monday, may have the effect of drawing forth some open
expressions of that difference of sentiment which is known to prevail
in the Cabinet. The mistake of Lord PALMERSTON in consenting to
take o►fice as the creature of a Whig clique must by this time be
painfully forced on his mind. His weakness as a political leader was
shown on Wednesday, when the bulk of his party voted against him
on the question of Church rates, and he was left in a minority,
after declaring that he opposed the bill before the House, but had no
plan of his own for the settlement of this much-vexed question.
Under any circumstances tha Parliamentary weakness of the Govern-
ment would be an evil, but the evil is infinitely aggravated by the
circumstances of our present state, as it is impossible that our Admin-
istration, destitute of strength at home, can be respected. abroad.

The motions in the Commons fixed for next week, if they have no
other effect, will at least tend to show the numerical strength of the peace
party on Mr. M. GIBSON'S motion, and of the Administrative Reform
party on the motion of Mr. LAYARD. The latter Gentleman's very wide
and sweeping assertion that the disasters of the war are due to a blind
adherence to routine, and to party and family influences in public ap
pointments, will require very special and numerous instances to sup-
port it. That such influences prevail may be conceded • but it would
be extremely difficult to trace to them in any appreciable degree the
disasters of the Crimean expedition. Lord DERBY with great truth com-
pared the round of routine in any public department to the fly-
wheel of a machine. It moves in the same plane, because it thus
best fulfils its part in the work to be done, but it was never intended
to supersede the necessity of intelligent supervision. Those eminent
commercial gentlemen who inveigh so loudly against routine,
must know that the most perfect establishments are organised
as a system of routine, and that it is the head in every case
which keeps all the parts of the system in healthy and har-
monious action. Commercial magnates, in the meetings which
have recently taken place, seem to assume that the manage-
ment of all large trading establishments is perfect, and that all
commercial enterprise is successful. Yet a reference to the failures
in 1847 will show how hollow may be the apparent prosperity of emi-
nent firme, and how reckless and improvident the system on which
their business is conducted , while the mere mention of the rail-
way mania of 1846 must shake our confidence in that sagacity
which the trading classes somewhat too boastingly claim for
themselves. Indeed, the state of the whole railway interest at this
time is sufficient to raise a doubt whether the powers of Government
might not, after all, be subject to as great abuse if thrown into the
hands of the commercial classes, with all their capacity for business,
as under that system of party rivalry so loudly condemned.

The accounts from the camp are of the usual kind—nrepara-
tion, indecision, and little result. Turks from Eupatoria are hurried
off to Kamiesch ; French from Kamiesch, and English from Balaklava,
are hurried off to Kertch—all to return without accomplishing the
apparent object of their mission, and to content themselves with
looking at the respective Russian earthworks—that magnificent view of
" over the way"—and picking off a stray rifleman, or being picked off in
return. Meanwhile, the hot weather is coming on, and a few cases of
cholera have already appeared, precursors, we fear, without being
alarmists, of a repetition of Varna last autumn. The question
certainly seems to be—what next? The first and second bombard-
ment have undeniably failed, and so we are preparing for a third.
But will the third be one whit more successful? Shall we not do as
we have done—open a tremendous fire for ten or fifteen days,and then
relapse into one gun an hour " as before "?
We have neither the guns nor the ammunition to keep up such a
fire—such a continued fire—against the defences of Sebastopol as
would produce those results which in similar cases justify an assault.
Every day adds to the difficulties of our position. The honour of the
nation and of the army lies in Sebastopol; and, in spite of General
CANROBERT'S assertion, " that if we cannot get in by the door we will by
" the window," it is well known that this back window has not yet
been discovered. The spring has already past, and we are yet estab-
lishing new batteries, "progressing favorably," and hoping against hope,
and, what is more to the point, against experience, that the third bom-
bardment will be effective. Sebastopol, with its triple lines of earthworks
20 and 30 feet thick, will no more be conquered by the fire of artillery
this time than it has been previously. If anything can take the place,
it is the bayonet or starvation, and the allied Generals hesitate about
using the one, and have not power to compel the other. Meanwhile,
we may look forward to a pleasant winter, enlivened with daily reports
from the camp, and rest assured that at least our soldiers will not
want warm clothing next November, for the sheepskin cats and long
boots are being cleaned and stored at Constantinople ready for
re issue—a piece of cautious foresight we should scarcely have given
the authorities credit for.
As an instance of the way in which our War Departments carry
out their measures with energy and activity, we may observe that at
this moment Lord RAGLAN is hampered in his operations mainly, if
not entirely, by want of ammunition and guns. Everything yet goes
on in the good old style, of the Newcastle and Herbert times. The

SATURDAY)

fifty-six-pounder guns are sent out with thirty-two-pounder shot as an
accompaniment, while thirteen-inch shells are provided with ten-inch
fuses, and the ten-inch fuses refuse to fit the ten-inch shells to which
they ought to belong.

The resignation of the command in chief of the French army
before Sebastopol by General CANROBERT is announced in the Moniteur
of yesterday. 111-health is stated as the cause. It had been known
for some time that General CAN/WHEAT was suffering from opthalmia,
but his resignation of the command and his acceptation of a division
under his successor looks slightly inconsistent. Either General CAN-
ROBERT is ill and unfitted from that cause to hold a position which
demands perfect activity of mind and body, or he is not. If he is ill he
must be equally unfitted to discharge the minor but not less important
duties of a divisional command. He will most probably return home
very shortly. General PELIBSIER, who has been nominated by the Em-
peror to succeed in command of the French army, is spoken of as one
of France's best generals, of the Lamoriciere school. He is daring,
skilful, and full of resource. Under his hands perhaps the little
window may be found by which we are to steal an entrance into
Sebastopol.

The bestowal of the Crimean medals yesterday by the hands of
the Queen was one of the moat painfully interesting spectacles ever
witnessed in the metropolis. As a military spectacle, it was a failure,
from the very few troops on the ground, but it was impossible to look
on the little bands of soldiers who went up to receive their deco.
ration from the hands of their Sovereign, without deeply sympathising
with the sufferings they must have undergone. The men, in their
features, persons, and gait, exhibited almost every variety of injury it
is possible to conceive. A group of Lancers who had escaped the ever
memorable charge of Balaklava were viewed with peculiar interest,
and the Duke of CAMBRIDGE and Lord CARDIGAN were loudly cheered.
But the most touching figure in the spectacle was Sir THOMAS
TROUBRIDOE, who had lost both his legs. In the galleries round the arena,
and on the parade ground itself, were collected a brilliant assemblage
of rank and beauty ; and when the hero was wheeled in a chair to the
ect of his Sovereign, and took the medal from her hand, the specta-
ors were thrilled with an emotion too profound for applause.

The LORD ADVOCATE'S Scotch Education Bill was last night carried
into committee, after a brisk debate, by a narrow majority of 7.
Recognising the unsubstantiality of his triumph, the Learned Lord
afterwards sought to disarm opposition by inviting objectors to con-
sult with him how the measure could be adapted to suit their several
views. We may safely presage that if the Bill passes the Legislature
at all it will have first become little short of a new one. The educa-
tional system in connection with the Church, which has worked so
admirably for two hundred years in Scotland, is not to be sacrificed
off• hand for the sake of a crotchet, or to flatter the partisans of
secularism.

Nothing could more injure the effect of the " Administrative
Reform" Society, than that professional agitators should obtain the
leadership of its proceedings. An undue number of Irish M.P.'s have
indorsed the undertaking with their damaging approval. A most
personal and offensive speech was made at Norwich by Mr. ToaaEss
McCuLf.Aox as a representative of this society. Mr. McCuLLAGH is well
known in the annals of Irish agitation, and he is the biographer of the
professional agitator Mr. SHELL. He was formerly M.P. for Dundalk,
and private secretary at Dublin Castle. He said that he could not
attack the Duke of NEWCASTLE, " because it was cowardly to strike a
" man who was down ;" and in the worst taste he alluded to the present
Duke of BUCKINGHAM, the Marquis of CLANRICARDE, and some others.
Mr. McCuLtAort in the House of Commons was the advocate of the
Wiseman members, and failed egregiously in debate. What he wants
in energy and eloquence in the House, he makes up for by virulence
out of it Such is not the sample of "reformers" wanted by the
people of England.

After-dinner speeches possess an unenviable notoriety when
remembered in conjunction with reform cutlets and some leading
members of the present Administration ; but the speeches which were
delivered the other night at the Lord Mayor's banquet may be fairly
considered as atoning by their rapid stupidity for any rashness upon
a previous occasion. There must have been something wrong in Lord
Mayor Moores dinners; the chef must have been suffering from tooth-
ache ; the soup must have been cold, or the wine hot. No one can
read Lord PALMERSTON'S ponderous platitudes without feeling how
completely he had put on his character for the occasion. At a period
like the present, and upon an occasion like that of Wednesday
evening, we might reasonably look for some explanations of policy
from the First Minister of the Crown ; but the fact appears to be,
that Loid PALMERSTON makes up his policy for the day in the same
manner as he prepares himself for the night.

RIGHT, ALL BUT A " T."
" It is with pleasure that I announce to your Majesty that the English army, always so
solid," &c. &c.
Our Rulers at home
Are, to all but a " T,"
What Canrobert states
Our brave army to be.
For I've got an idea,
If in the Crimea
Our troops have display'd such Solidity,
We might chance in the street
They call Downing to meet
With an equal amount of Stolidity.

MAY 19, 1855.

473
ch has just been
: My Lord Mayor,
a a traveller, and
ut having gone out
tate them. This I
pital of Austria, I
nunicipal authority
r of baronetcy was
ands. There have
you will find men-
e, my Lord, though
i a duck—(shouts of
3ich it may be con-
Ldmiral under one
mes under another.
and of your dinner
ything was " ship-
s board," except a
and which I have
uns, I will only say
at so long as it per-
luty. (Cheers.) As
dimly acceptable to
the composition of
st have contributed.
rom Malta, canvas-
n Isles, and a hull-
ponsibilities ; and I
t to my Lord Mayor
o such a dinner as
ny palate refreshed.
i
avy. He said : My
ladies and gentle-
arse ; not, of course,
at, that is the gen-
[ hope it is all right.
)st possible terms—
p halfpence, whose
done ; and I think
ith and I tossed up
manages India just
I to toss Lewis for
ver tried a Budget.
But, really, I am
: " Shut up.") My
Ly on board ship, to
—port-holes I mean.
iples on board my •
e Staples who pro-
s Breach, I may say
rid the observance.
nute; I've got ,one
her night, and saw
tded me of my Lord
lot there was a Tory
ry, the more distinguished - i
[J S. I
insists that the dis- i
;23 attention to the V
ion of distinguished i
this suggestion so
on that an Order of f
wing eminent indi-
it
) reign of Louis the
;arings of the Treaty
a
unknown agencies,
of a quarter of a
1
is views on the con- 7
:ertain the bore of a
tain the bore of tho
brought up and pro-
; of Mr. Blair, the
3 w gun-boats upon
s of those who navi-
owth of bombshells
t them.
tement by refusing
!ommunicate by the
given to the first ;
Reform Bill has not
The Editor of the i
X. ;..
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.t.
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