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

LONDON, SATURDAY, JULY 7, 1855.

WHEN the Emperor NAPOLEON heard of the
death of the Czar NICHOLAS, it is said that he
exclaimed with instinctive sagacity, " Rien
n'est change !" The same observation must
have occurred to the mind of Continental
ourts when it was announced that Lord
PALMERSTON had replaced Lord ABERDEEN as
head of the English Government—" Rien n'est
change !" The system in each case remained
the same. The change was one of persons,
not of policy. Russia continued to exert all
her energies to increase her vast armaments,
and England continued to trifle with her
strength, and look mainly to her hospitals for
reinforcing her army.
No other result could have been anticipated.
The present Premier was, up to the very mo-
ment of the Cabinet being broken up, the
devoted adherent of his predecessor. He was
bred in the same school—he was of the same
standing—he had been used to the same habits
of official life. As far as practicable, he
formed his Government of his late colleagues,
and he gave them an assurance that Lord
ABERDEEN'S policy would be faithfully ob-
served. He kept his word in all but one
respect. He missed the opportunity of peace
which Lord ABERDEEN had been so careful to
promote, and confirmed the war while neg
lecting measures for its successful prose-
cution.

In January last a vigorous Administration
might have hurried forward preparations for
increasing our naval and military forces, and
for giving a new character to our operations
by land and sea, in the coming season. Lord
PALMERSTON did nothing but follow up the
routine of his predecessor. In deference to
popular clamour some changes were promised
in the War Department; but it would be as
rational to expect that puppets could be
endued with vitality by being moved from one
box to another, as that a mere transference of
offices and change of names could repair a
worn-out system, and impart to the whole
machinery of Government the superior energy
and activity required by the emergencies of
the time.
The period of preparation is now past. No
more can be done to forward the success of
our arms this year than has been done
already. The Government, if it would not repeat
the fatal blunder of last year, must now be col-
lecting winter stores for the supply of the Sebas-
topol army. That army has never been raised
to the strength with which it commenced the
campaign last year. The reinforcements have
failed to repair the waste it has sustained, and
is sustaining The French and British forces
on their first lauding in the Crimea were
nearly equal in strength. Tho French to our
30,000 men, can now show an army of four
times than number. The enormous dispro-
portion is a proof or our weakness or our in-
difference, and in a contest of this magnitude
it cannot continue to exist without seriously

compromising our reputation and endanger-
ing our alliance with France.
Lord ABERDEEN, in answer to the charges
brought against his Government, can point to
the events of the period since he quitted office.
He could not have done less than has been
done by Lord PALMERSTON. He could not have
maintained a weaker force in the Crimea; he
could not have sent fewer gun boats to tho
Baltic ; he could not have permitted the re-
cruiting service to proceed more languidly.
The Report of the Committee of Inquiry is
practically nullified by the continuance of tho
system it condemns.
Clouds are thickening about us. Our army
is not only reduced by sickness and warfare,
but our most experienced officers are vanishing
from the field. Our force is too plainly insuffi
cient for the work it has to perform. No steps
have ever been taken to remedy the one
radical defect dating from the commence-
ment of the expedition of our army, being
inadequate to the enterprise it was com-
manded to undertake. Our only hope is
now in the valour and perseverance of our
allies ; and in Lord RAGLAN we have unques-
tionably lost the Commander whose eminent
prudence and conciliatory manners compen-
sated in some degree for the smallness of our
force. We cannot expect that the same respect
will be paid to General SIMPSON which was
accorded to the captain of European fame, who
had for forty years shared the councils and
been honoured with the confidence of
WELLINGTON.
No one who looks abroad and contemplates
all the circumstances of our position can doubt
—as it has been asserted—that our system of
Constitutional Government is on trial. But it
is not by concealing perils that we can hope to
evade them. In a free country the weakness
of the Executive is the reproach of the people.
The remedy is in their own hands. If they
sink, the fault is their own. Of all junctures
adverse to the safety of great States, the most
menacing is when the Administration is noto-
riously incapable and the people contented.
If, as the friends of tho Government allege,
its action for the last six months has been
satisfactory, and it has effected all that could
be done for the vigorous prosecution of the
war, then the Cabinet of Lord ABERDEEN has
been most unjustly blamed, and the resources
and strength of England have been prodi-
giously overrated. This conclusion at least
stands clearly forth from a review of the past
and present, that since Lord PALMERsTON'S
accession to power there has been no change
in the general management of our affairs, and
I no increase of strength in our armaments.