The Press.
London, England, 1855-06-30 00:00:00

THE WEEK.

The startling announcement made yesterday morning that Lord
RAGLAN had tendered his resignation as Commander-in-Chief, on the
ground of ill-health, was contradicted in both Houses of Parliament
last night. For the present Lord RAGLAN is invalided, and, though his
retirement may not be immediate, it is not likely, we imagine, to
be long delayed. Opinion is much divided on the choice which should
be made of his successor. The name of General SimrsoN has not been
very favorably received. He entered the army in 1811, and received
his commission as captain in 1813. He has, therefore, seen forty-four
years of service, though he has not been often employed in actual
warfare. Should Lord RAGLAN have to return at last without succeed-
ing against Sebastopol, his case will be a hard one, as he will have to
incur the reproach of failure in an enterprise which he undertook
against his own judgment by the express orders of his Government.

We have repeatedly drawn attention to the necessity for increas-
ing the rewards to our soldiers. The War-office has at last made a
move in the right direction, though the details of the new system
relative to pay and pensions are not so clear as could be wished.
The scheme is radically defective in one respect. It indicates distrust
of the soldier. It supposes that he is not to be trusted with his own
money. He is to be regarded as a kind of infant of the State, and his
money locked up for him in the chancery of the War-office till he comes
to years of discretion. His pay while in the field is to be doubled,
but he is to be none the better for its accumulation until—
(to use a bull)—he is shot, or until he is superannuated.
This is a part of the absurd routine system which the
common sense of England has resolutely set its face against.
If you wish the soldier to become a rational being, treat him as one.
Trust him with his pay as a labourer is trusted with his hire. In some
cases it may be squandered, but, on the whole, it is much better that
he should feel himself at liberty to dispose of the rewards of his
service as he pleases, than that the State should persist in keeping
him in leading-strings in matters relating purely to his personal
interests. As regards the State the question has another aspect.
The great object is to quicken the recruiting service. Is that object
likely to be best promoted by giving the soldier on active service
double pay at once, or by hoarding up the amount for him,
or his survivors, for an unknown period? The chief point with
the Government should be to get the men, and, in our opinion,
it would be good policy to let recruits hear the jingle of a few sove-
reigns in their jacket pockets. The bounty money was as high as
231. in the last war, and now it should be as high, or even higher, if
the men of thew and sinew required for the ranks can be got on no
easier terms. Fifty thousand prime fellows would be cheaply pur-
chased at this moment for 50/. a piece ; arid why hesitate if they can
he tempted with no less offer? How tardy is the pace of the Govern-
ment ! It raises its terms for recruits only just to the point necessary
to attract numbers to repair the waste of the war (and barely that),
but never takes efficient steps to raise our army to the strength Par-
liament has sanctioned, and thus its reinforcements are always
" too late."

From the Crimea the week has brought little else but despatehes
in confirmation of the news which we had previously received by
telegraph up to the date of the 18th, but the details relative to the
attack upon the Redan and Malakoff have not yet arrived either in
Paris or London. The rumours which are abroad are very contra-
dictory as to the real cause of the failure of the attack on the 18th.
But as authentic accounts are now hourly expected we forbear to
state the rumours which are current. The numbers of killed and
wounded which have been returned are not so severe as were antici•
pated. The French losses are naturally greater than our own, and the
immense disproportion between their totals returned as killed and
missing (1,544), and as wounded (1,644), leads us to believe that
the assertion of the Russians that they had captured 600 French
prisoners is substantially correct. The French journals explain the
disproportion by stating that while the English returns give the
total number of soldiers wounded, however slight their hurts, the
French returns give as wounded those only sent to the ambulances,
the men with slight flesh wounds retiring to their tents. Still, making
every allowance on this se)re, it is to be hoped that a considerable
number of the 1,544 missing from their colours were not among the slain.
The health of the army is, we regret to say, far from satisfactory
Cholera has already carried off many victims. Generals ESTCOURT and
Ataxy, DE LA MARMORA the younger, and Admiral BOXER, have rapidly
followed one another to the grave, and the pestilence is far from
abating. The French and Sardinian troops have suffered severely, as
well as the division of the Guards at Balaklava, and the latest tele-
graphi reports affirm that both Sir GEORGE BROWN and Lord RAGLAN
are suffering from a severe form of dysentery, and though Lord PANMURE
in the House of Lords last night stated that there was every reason to
hope that they would speedily return to their duties, yet we have
every reason to believe that the health of Lord RAGLAN, at least, is
very seriously impaired.
The despatches of Sir EDMUND Liam which have arrived give full
accounts of the late operations in the Sea of Azoff under the direction
of his gallant son, and the only loss which we are called upon to mourn
is that of this young and brave officer, who has fallen a victim to a too
zealous attention to his duties and neglect of his own health. It is
reported that, wounded by a rifle ball, he refused, in the spirit of a
hero, to submit to the retirement necessary for his recovery. The
country will condole with Sir EDMUND LYONS upon the loss of his
brave and distinguished son, The extreme shallowness of the waters

SATURDAY,

upon the bars at the mouth of the Don prevented our gun-boats from
proceeding up the river to Rostov and Azoff, where a cannon foundry
and immense stores, besides a flotilla of gun-boats, are collected.
It is worth remark, that throughout all the operations of the sea
of Azoff no stores of ammunition have yet been discovered or de-
stroyed, so that it is obvious the Russians must receive such supplies
by the main route through Perekop. Since the success of the expe-
dition against Kertch, we see no reason against an attempt being
made to destroy Nikolaieff, which is the dockyard and arsenal of the
Black Sea. With the large force the allies can now command, and the
occupation afforded to the army in the Crimea, the probability would
be in favour of a surprise. There is a safe channel for vessels of
light draught, a good anchorage, and the town lies open and
undefended.

The Baltic fleet have not yet commenced any serious operations.
On the 14th they moved down from Cronstadt to Seskar, but had
returned to their old anchorage off Cronstadt by the 29th. Forty-six
infernal machines had been discovered and taken up, and a severe
accident had happened to Admiral SEYMOUR (the second in command)
while examining one. Tho squadrqn of ten-gun and mortar-vessels,
under the convoy of Admiral BAYNES, and five liners had been passed
off Nargen Island on the 28th, en route to Croustadt. The return of
the fleet to their old anchorage, and the addition of strength which
Admiral BAYNES'S squadron will bring, lead us to hope that, at least,
some attempt will be made either against Revel, Helsingfors, or
Cronstadt, but a strong land force would appear requisite to carry out
effectively the ultimate end of a bombardment.

The Maynooth Debate has been adjourned again to the 17th of
July. The House appears to get wearied of a discussion which seems
apparently got up for the purpose of long-winded Members talking
against time. It is not business-like to be perpetually adjourning and
never coming to a definite conclusion. Mr. MAGUIRE spoke at great
length on Wednesday, and was more temperate in his language than
Her Majesty's ATTORNEY-GENERAL for Ireland. Some of his assertions
tended to show that, in spite of the greatly increased grant, the
College is not well managed. " The students had nothing better
" than a few musty text•books, when it was one of their most ardent
" wishes to see the establishment of a good library." The College
gets thirty thousand pounds annually from the public purse, and in
this age of cheap literature a single thottsaad would procure a
" good library " from Mr. WILLIS, Mr. BORN, or any of the other
great book-purveyors. Statements like that make people fancy
that giving money to improve Maynooth is like sinking capital in
reclaiming Irish bogs. It was amusing to hear Mr. PATRICK O'Baizw
quote the admirable FENELON as an authority upon the practices and
principles of the Roman Catholic Church.

The Administrative Reform Meeting at Drury-lane Theatre, on
Wednesday last, introduced Mr. CHARLES DICKENS as a political
speaker, though only, according to his own assertion, for the first and
last time. Why he should step out of the haunts of his own calling
for once, and once only, upon an occasion scarcely calling for such a
sacrifice of principle appears whimsical enough, but the society
wanted a trump card, and Mr. DICKENS played himself off. His
speech was an elaborate and carefully-prepared effort ; he never once
hesitated, but deliberately spoke it out, and though the audience con-
stantly lost the point of the sentence, from its interminable length and
frequent parentheses, yet Mr. DICKENS extricated himself cleverly and
made most of his points. Mr. LAYARD spoke very shortly, and the
proceedings terminated, without any definite plan being proposed or
any resolutions being passed.

Mr. TOULMIN SMITH has made public a correspondence ho has
held with Lord PALMERSTON on the case of the unfortunate, and as Mr.
SMITH of course insists, avi•disant Baroness DE BECK. Mr. SMITH
totally mistakes the character of the indignation expressed against
himself. It was not for unmasking imposture, but for having done
so in the very harshest manner. There was something of malignity
in the mode of her seizure and the indignity she was compelled to
suffer. This, however, is beside the point. Mr. SMITH charges Lord
PALMERSTON, and under his own handwriting, with knowing that this
woman offered her services to the Government as a spy before her
exposure, and the subsequent action against Mr. SMITH. The follow-
ing statement, on the authority of a person in the employment of the
English police, is also published by Mr. SMITH

I beg to inform you, that the person styling herself " Baroness de Beck," is the
same, who, accompanied by Dr. H-, offered personally her services as a spy and
informer to the recently established [lBM] foreign branch of the English police force.
I know likewise that fora fortnight or three weeks she has obtained for such services the sum
of 51.11i5. 81. per week.

Mr. Small adds, as a comment on this statement :
To what foreign sum si. 16s. 4d. corresponds, is a question not difficult to solve.
This sum, however, proves the complicity between the English and Foreign police.

The correspondence is chiefly important as showing that spies in the
pay of the Austrian Government were protected under Lord PALMERS-
TON'S administration of the Foreign-office for the purpose of keeping
watch over the Hungarian refugees.

The disorderly proceedings which took place in Hyde park last
Sunday are, it is announced, to be repeated to-morrow. If such is the
intentions, it will be the duty of the police to be at hand, as such
riotous assemblages arc a scandal to the metropolis and to the day.
Whatever may be the merits of Lord ROSZAT OROSVSNOIOI bill, them

JUNE 30, 1855.

can be no doubt that it emanated from the petty tradesmen and
labouring classes themselves, and that its practical object is to secure
to those classes a cessation of labour upon Sundays.

MISS NIGHTINGALE ig on her way to England, and Miss STANLEY, it
is stated, has already returned. We hope that their mission, though
perhaps not encouraging to the principls of amateur attendance,
may !have the effect of establishing in military hospitals a regular
corps of experienced and professional female nurses.

THE SOLEMN STATESMAN.
I wonder that the Honourable Member for Aylesbury does not blush with shame when he
brings such an accusation (of levity) against me.—Lord Palmerston.
Oh wad kind Heaven the giftie gie us
To see coarsens as others see us.—Burns.
My faults I've undoubtedly had
In a life of unwonted longevity,
But, 'pon honour, 'tis really too had
To accuse me of " scandalous levity."
Ri fol de rol tol de rol, &o.

The Reverend Mr. John Bright
(Roars of laughter) but lately pitched into me
For being too giddy and light,
Bringing home my " original sin" to me.
Ri fol de rol tol de rol, &c.

I didn't much marvel at that,
For we all know friend Broadbrim's pugnacity ;
And a man who won't take off his hat
Would be guilty of any audacity.
Ri fol de rol tol de rol, dm

But when Layard obligingly acts
With his very choice hand of performers,
Let him stick if he can to his facts,
Though they're things much eschewed by Reformers.
Ri fol de rol tol de rol, &c.

He says I'm too fond of a jest,
That I'm full of my " quips and my quiddities,"
And that those who once loved me the best
Have grown sick of my comic vapidities.
Ri fol de rol tol de rol, &c.

I'm sure you'll agree this is fudge,
Mere bosh I may say (great hilarity),
For you know I'm as grave as a Judge—
Judge Maule—pray excuse jocularity.
Ri fol de rol tol de rol, &c.

REFORM YOUR PARLIAMENTARY DAYS.
Ma. DICKENS is the only orator of the Administrative Reformers who
has made any suggestion for carrying out the views of the Society. It
is the duty of the Premier, he says, to find a day for every member of
the House of Commons who has a motion to make. Now, as there
are 658 members of the House. and only 365 days in the year,
without reckoning Sundays, holidays, vacations, and recesses, it
does not clearly appear how Mr. DICKENS'S object is to
be attained without an alteration of the calendar. A clever Pope,
when petitioned by some simple rustics to give them two harvests in
the year, replied " Willingly, but into the year I must put twenty-
four months. What would our Legislators think of a Parliamentary
Session two or three years long, that the Premier might fulfil Mr.
DICKENS'S notion of his duty to find a day for every member who
desires one?

THE PREMIER'S MASSACRE SPEECH.
( Specially Reported).

LORD PALMERSTON : Sir, it may now be as well—not that it much
matters, perhaps, for very few things do matter—but the House of
Commons may like me to proceed to that little annual sacrificial cere.
mony—(a laugh)—facetiously termed the Massacre of the Innocents.
(Laughter.) But here, Sir, a difficulty occurs at the very outset. lam
" willing to wound," and by no means " afraid to strike "—(a laugh)—
but the fact is, that there is a plentiful lack of victims. What is there
for me to massacre ? There are a great many private bills before the
House, but modesty is my specialty—(Hear, hear)—and I should not
presume to dictate to the authors what should be done with these.
As for Government bills, Sir, the list is remarkably brief. Of course,
1 take no blame to Government for not having brought it more bills,
because we did not take office for the purpose of bringing in bills, but
for the purpose of taking Sebastopol.
An Hon. Member : Have you taken it? (Hear, hear).
Lord PALMERSTON : That, Sir, is not the question ; and I do most
earnestly implore hon. members to lay aside all levity, which is most
*estimable, and to address themselves only to the business before

617

the House. I say, Sir, we did not take office as legislators, and I may
remark that the Government ought to be regarded in a military, and
not a civil way. (Laughter.) And, talking of what is civil, I am
reminded of civilians, and this naturally brings mo to Doctors'
Commons. The House will not have forgotten the virtuous fury of
my honourable and learned friend the Solicitor-General against the
Ecclesiastical Courts, and how he solemnly devoted himself to their
extermination, root and branch, from the leanest surrogate to the
fattest touter. (Roars of laughter.) I fear my honourable and learned
friend must restrain his slaughtering hand for another yea►-the
Testamentary Bill we abandon. Then, Sir, we certainly did talk about
reforming the Corporation of London. Well, Sir, I think that such
reform will be a very good thing to talk about again next year.
Besides, at that time there will be a Jewish Lord Mayor, and I think
that to initiate such reform at such an interesting crisis will be to
create an era in the history of civil and religious liberty. (Cheers from
Lord John Russell.) Therefore, Sir, the Corporation shall not perish
by Moon-light—(laughter)—but shall abide the judgment of Salomons.
(Applause.) I have been asked, Sir, whtther we intend to reform the
Court of Chancery in Ireland. My answer to that is very short. Sir,
we don't. (Laughter.) Well, Sir, there are some other bills which
may just as well stand over until next year, for there are differencesiof
opinion about them, and everybody knows that it is impossible to
pass a bill unless the House of Commons is unanimous in approving
it. One of these is about the Court of Session in Scotland. I don't
pretend to know what it means, or what the special Court to which it
refers may be ; but if it is a Court of Session, I suppose one session
will do as well for it as another. (Laughter., Then there is an Irish
bill called the Grand Jurors Cess Bill. This I should have liked to
pass, because it is a bill for removing nuisances, as cesspools and tho
like, on the presentment of the Grand Jury—eh? (Sir B. Hall whis-
pered his Lordship.) Oh! ah ! I see. I was in error as to the
nature of this bill—it's another kind of thing—l believe for the aboli-
tion of a grand jury, or something of that sort, very desirable, and I
hope to see the same thing done in England, but there is no immediate
hurry on the subject. We now come, Sir, to the bills which I think
we ought to try to carry. (Hear, hear.) First, Sir, there is the
Limited Liability Bill. This is a measure designed for the benefit of
the humbler classes—for making partnerships—that is to say, abolish-
ing partnerships—l mean for making companies, everybody to be
liable—or rather—l believe, however, that 1 need not go into any
detailed explanation of the principle of the bill ; but when I say that
it is eminently calculated to promote the benefit of the humbler
classes, and am sure that the House will lend us every assistance in
trying to understand it—l mean to pass it. Then, Sir, we approach
the nuisances, and I hope that the House will hold its Noes—(roars of
laughter)—withhold them, I should say, for our bill, my friend Sir
Benjamin's rather, is a very good one, and we must endeavour to carry
it, as also his Local Management Bill, which must be a good one, for
the Bumbles abuse it. (Hear, hear.) I hope, Sir, that the metropoli-
tan members will not say that we do not legislate for London—two
out of the four important bills we shall pass being for the metropolis,
while Ireland and Scotland are thrown over. (Hear.) But, Sir, I
said that we were not a civil Government.
Mr. LINDSAY : Hear, hear.

Lord PALMERSTON : Ah ! Charley Wood was down upon you, was
he ? (Roars of laughter.) Then you shouldn't throw stones. (Cheers.)
Well, Sir, I said we were a military Government, pledged to the
vigorous prosecution of the war abroad, and to all sorts of Adminis-
trative Reforms at home. Those were the terms on which we came
into office Of the mode in which we have prosecuted the war, I need
say nothing. (Laughter.) Once, in a speech I made about slavery,
I said that a certain resolution of this House would act like a " potent
spell" upon the enemies of liberty. The Times, in its irreverent
jocularity, contrived to misprint my words, and made me say a
" patent shell." But now, Sir, I may accept the misreading and say
that the resolution of the House which decided that we should suty
in office did act like a patent shell upon our enemies ; and in the very
desperation of fury with which they defended the Malakoff and the
Redan I see proof of the terror to which the firm attitude of her
Majesty's Government has reduced them. ( Hear, hear.) Had they
unluckily gained a victory over us, I should regard it only as another
proof of the wisdom of the House, which, in continuing the Govern-
ment in our hands, drives the enemy to the frenzy of despair. Look
ing at matters in this light, Sir, I think that the House ought to be
well satisfied with what we have done, but I will add that as soon as
Sebastopol is taken, nothing will give me greater pleasure than to
mention it. (Laughter.) Then, Sir, as to Reforms at home, here is
our Ordnance Bill, which I maintain, whatever may he said to the
contrary, does everything that is necessary, and to all the stricture
of the Times I reply with the Ordnance motto, Sua tela Tonenti.
(Applause.) Thus, Sir, I have massacred my innocents—(laughter)—
and if, as the young lady said of her illegal baby, they are " very
little ones," never mind that. Some things are not the worse for
being little. C' Hear, hear," from the Colonial Secretary.) It will be
may duty to ask the House to get over the public business as soon as
possible, and break up, for it is the opinion of myself, and of the
select body of gentlemen with whom I act, that the more a Govern-
ment can manage to do without troubling the House of Commons,
the better ; and lam far from sure—l hope it is not imprudent in
me to say so—that if the House were not summoned at all until this
time in 1857 (except for a week to vote the taxes), things would go
on a great deal better than they do at present. However, not to press
that point just now, and having completed my massacre, I beg to
resign my character of King Herod, and to relapse into my favorite
part (as kindly mentioned by Mr. Charles Dickens) of the " Comic old
gentleman" of this establishment. (Laughter and awes)