The Press.
London, England, 1855-04-07 00:00:00

THE PRESS.

judged of by the results, which are that
up to the present hour not one single foreign
soldier has been introduced into England, nor,
so far as appears, has any foreign enlistment
whatever taken place under this valuable mea
sure of " pressing necessity." It is, in fad,
as if it had never been. So much for the
result of our parliamentary session in Decem-
ber last. What occurs in that of January ?
A brilliant programme, indeed, was flashed
before our eyes, but it never came to anything ;
for, first of all, Lord JOHN RussELL, in terror of
Mr. ROEBUCK, runs away; then Lord ABER-
DEEN is turned out; then the Duke of NEW-
CASTLE ; then, after having played fast and
loose alternately, promising one thing to Lord
DERBY verbally and another to Mr. GLAD-
STONE in writing, Lord PALMERSTON, forms
his Ministry—a rechauffee, and a bad one,
of Lord ABERDEEN'S. Scarcely are they all
in, however, before they are all out again.
Lord PALMERSTON, who to become Premier
broke his word with Lord DERBY and kept it
with Mr. GLADSTONE, now that he is Premier
breaks it with both, and agrees to that which
he had pledged himself to oppose. Peachum
and Lockit are again enacted by Lord JOHN and
Lord PALMERSTON, and the vacant places of the
indignant Peelites are filled by three of the
most incapable gentlemen in the House.
Then it is that legislation begins in real earnest,
and the Government take counsel together
what course they should pursue on other
people's bills, but wisely abstain from bringing
in any of their own. Mr. Cons Err brings in
an improved Ten Hours Bill, and they oppose
that; Mr. HEYWOOD his Marriages Bill, and
they support it ; Mr. WILLIAMS a probate duty,
Mr. LOCKE KING a Real Property Succession
Bill—both are rejected ; Sir JOHN PAKINGTON'S
admirable Education Bill meets with universal
approbation, Sir J. WALMSLEY'S Sunday-open-
ing scheme with universal condemnation ; and
at last comes Sir WILLIAM CLAY'S favorite anti-
church-rate measure, to which the Govern-
ment " lend their support," as they term it—a
very happy phrase, implying, probably, that
they mean to withdraw it at some future
period. Excepting a long discussion upon the
newspaper stamp scheme, not a measure has
been originated on the part of Ministers
to the present hour. Even the old stereo-
typed reply to any inconvenient question
touching some subject to which the Go-
vernment had never given athought, that
it was " engaging the anxious attention
"of her Majesty's Ministers " even this
seems to have fallen into disuse. Nothing
engages the anxious attention of that active
and intelligent body but how to preserve
themselves in office. We can only say we are
much mistaken in the feelings of the country,
in the spirit of our people, if they will long
tolerate in office a body of men who use as
their stock in trade that fearful war in which
their culpability has plunged us—those hor-
rible disasters which their incapacity has
brought upon us.

LORD HARDWICKE AND SARDINIA.
WHEN the Earl of CLARENDON moved last
week an address to the Crown, in reply to the
message from her Majesty respecting the con-
vention lately concluded with Sardinia, he
stated, in the course of his speech, that Sar-
dinia, in the marked advance she had made of
late years towards representative institutions
and constitutional government, had herself
alone matured and carried out those plans to
secure the civil liberty of the subject, without
any assistance whatever from England. Lord
HARDWTCRE, in seconding the motion, modestly
avoiding any allusion to his own great and
successful services to Sardinia, paid a willing
and graceful tribute to the Sardinian army,
and acknowledged the wise and liberal policy
of that Government which had preserved, at
least to one portion of Italy, freedom and
independence. That it is to her own energies,
to the careful piloting of the Constitutional
Government by CAVOUR and D'AzEouo, and
to the consistency and moderation of her
Sovereign, that Sardinia owes her successful
career of late years, no one can deny; but

SATURDAY,

few will fail to allow that, in 1849,
after the fatal battle of Novara, with fo-
reign invasion staring her in the face,
republican intrigues distracting her at home,
and with Genoa in open revolt, Sardinia stood
upon the brink df ruin. The assistance of
the flag of England In the port of Genoa at
this critical moment, and the energy, reso-
lution, and regardlesauess of self that actuated
the captain of a ritish luau-of-war in tho
roadstead turned the tide of her fortunes.
He took upon himself the sole responsi-
bility of direct interference with the in-
vested city of Genoa, and with the besieging
army under General MARMORA ; and, fortu-
nately for the Sardinian monarchy and for the
best interests of the Piedmontese people, de-
feated the intrigues of the republican party,
and speedily brought about the surrender of
the city into the hands of the King's General.
Very little is known by the public of the
details of this event, or of the success of Lord
HARDWICKE in obtaining the surrender of the
town on the one hand, and the acceptance by
General MARMORA of the terms which Lord
HARDWICKE had himself drawn up on the other.
In those terms he secured that no blood should
be shed upon the scaffold, though the leaders
of the revolt were excluded from the general
amnesty ; and we speak from good authority,
when we state that for two days and three
nights Lord HARDWICKE laboured incessantly
to bring affairs to a happy conclusion. The
bombardment had continued for two days,
a general assault was anticipated, and
probably the beautiful town of Genoa might
have become a heap of ruins, but for Lord
HARDWICKE'S successful interference. While
saving the town from destruction, he freed the
Government from a position of no ordinary
difficulty, and mainly contributed to secure
those civil liberties and that Constitutional Go-
vernment for Sardinia which have insured
her steady and progressive advancement.
The King of SARDINIA felt and acknowledged
the importance of the service rendered to his
Crown, but the Government of England, which
now so eagerly seeks the assistance of Sar-
dinia, would not permit Lord HARDWICKE to
wear the honour he had so deservedly won.
We can only hope that the Sardinian General
will be able by the services of his troops in
the Crimea to repay that assistance which
Lord HARDWICKE generously afforded to Sar-
dinia iu the hour of her greatest need.

APRIL 7, 1855.

complicated question, have often won our ad-
miration. His gladiatorial feats of intellect
could not fail to gratify those fond of follow-
ing acute argumentation, supported by aca-
demic eloquence; but an attentive view of his
career enables us to see how grave are the
defects in a man whose character wants
stamina _ _

Ingenious, versatile, and eloquent, Mr.
GLADSTONE has never shown the capacities of
a political leader. The fact is more remark-
able when we recollect how high is his pri-
vate reputation. Unlike Sir JAMES GRAHAM,
the member for Oxford University is not
obnoxious to charges which more or less
compromise a man's personal dignity in the
Senate. And yet, if not so sinister, the course
of Mr. GLADSTONE is almost as oblique as if he
had taken the member for Carlisle as his
model. It has been our privilege to have
heard Mr. GLADSTONE speak with all his power
on the opposite side of several questions, and
on no side at all on some topics. Constantly
setting difficulties for his adversaries to solve,
he has not unfrequently placed himself in the
ridiculous posture of being tortured in his own
mantraps. _ . _

The frequency of his falling into pitfalls exca-
vated by himself is enough to caution any sen-
sible person against choosing Mr. GLADSTONE
for his guide. On the greatest political
questions of his time, Mr. GLADSTONE'S former
self has always been his most formidable
adversary. He deliberately applied his in-
tellect to the subject of Church and State, and
he has passed through a series of develop-
ments. We have seen him leaving the Cabinet
of Sir ROBERT PEEL rather than increase the
Maynooth endowment, and we have heard
him justifying the aggression of Cardinal
WISEMAN. He has been anti-Whig, and anti-
Conservative ; he has been both at the same
time, the first to advocate a Coalition, and one
of the first to destroy it. A career of such
instability would cover him with ridicule, but
that the ingenuity of his intellect extorts
admiration, even while his perpetual process
of transition leaves him without confidence.
A mind so forcible in its faculties, and so
facile in conversion, is an object worthy of
study.
His personal antecedents partly explain the
contrarieties of Mr. GLADSTONE. Close in-
spection reveals the strata in which his
opinions lie in layers together. Scotch by
descent, he is of Liverpool by birth, and of
Oxford by sentiment. With the new aria
tocracy (the " plutocracy" of COLERIDGE), and
with the old Church, his personal sympathies
are equally strong. A prEe-Lutheran in his
theology, he is a post-Cobdenite in his political
economy, and while his contemporaries believe
in the Constitution, or in utilitarianism, or in
Church and State, Mr.GLAnsTorix's sole trust is
in his own logic. Yet, often trying to split him-
self into metaphysical hairs,he remains as great
a riddle to himself as to hisneighbours. Nature
has not given passion sufficient to assimilate
his antagonisms, and thus greatly gifted, but
not great, he remains an incarnate political
conundrum, always puzzling to his friends,
and often most amusing to his foes, in spite of
his abilities.

But a man who perplexes his followers can
never become powerful. He who is always
making his mind up, and setting the senti-
ments of to-day against those of yesterday,
cannot be a lord of thought. Opinion spurns
the control of tremulous volition, and seeks
the sway of intellects that can wield free minds
with the sovereignty of will. In our age a
mere dialectician could never dominate, for
the time is past when the rulers of Christen-
dom were selected from the serfs of ARISTOTLE.
A statesman like Mr. GLADSTONE-90 subtle,
so sharp, and so indecisive—can only realise
the unsatisfactory mission of a Parliamentary
Erasmus. He can sap one side more easily
than he can strengthen the other. Admired
and dreaded by both, he can never enshrine
himself in the affections of either.

To be incapable of strong sensations is for
a man of mere intellect to be doomed to
remain a nonentity. Without the emotions
that soar, and thrill, and enkindle, it is impos-
sible to attain to a grand moral vision. When
Mr. GLADSTONE aims at philosophy he attains
rnly to casuistry. His synthesis is not large ; a