The Press.
London, England, 1855-12-15 00:00:00

THE PRESS.

to a Premier without a principle. The " one-
campaign•more " men are the only party which
support Lord PALMERSTON. Their war interests
are of a sordid kind. Their fortunes must be
made at any price, though their country's future
may be darkened by succumbing to the
ephemeral folly of the hour. These sutlers of
the Stock Exchange calculate on a regular
glut of marketable Scrip, while there is a
Premier in Downing-street whose policy it
would be to nurse a street riot into a national
revolution, in hopes of finding political Stock
in the commotion.

It is well to know that the Whig party are
now beginning to feel most anxious about the
wild work likely to follow from a reign of Lord
PALMERSTON. We do its members simple
justice in saying that selfish passions alone
do not excite their instincts against the twenty
years' apprentice of old Toryism, now placed
at the helm of the Whig vessel. They have
enough of honest feeling to be apprehensive
of the results of sustaining a Premier in
England who seems likely, even if the Russian
war were closed, to commence one with
America, in his capacity of storm-raiser.
We are not surprised, therefore, at the
symptoms of internal anxiety which have in
certain social circles of the Whigs been dis-
closed within the last few days. Journalism
cannot do full justice to such mysterious, and
it may be momentous, movements of the great
magnates of party, while their precursory
intrigues are still kept "private." The Nestor
of Whiggery may migrate from his palace in
Wilts to the Abbey of another grand oligarch
in Bedfordshire, but in the absence of open
manifestations the journalist must still be
reticent. Spleen, however, is rarely silently
digested by the true-born Whig. The vanity
of a patrician family, baulked at once of popu-
larity and power, must explode before long.
Think of the mouthings that must result from
the fact that the Palmerston Ministry is the
first case on record of a Whig Cabinet without
any connection with Woburn!
But there are other domestic difficulties
resulting from such a Premier. The Whigs
are accustomed to talk and trade upon
"Reform." They know perfectly well that
Lord PALMERSTON is not a friend to " Reform
Bills." His politics are a vicious mixture of
canting Liberalism and corrupt Toryism.
The shibboleth of the Reform Club, "Ballot,"
his Lordship branded as " nonsense." He
likes Liberalism only in the shape of Deputa-
tions with addresses. But he does not want
their views carried farther than that he should
swallow their adulation, and then that his
Secretary should bow his flatterers, where
their idol has seldom been—" out." Modera-
tion has been finely called a " forlorn political
virtue," hut resignation is not a Palmerstonian
habit. He would carry on a per fas aut nefas.
If he could run his contraband cargo into
Downing-street, he would not care if the Con-
stitution foundered.
Besides, whatever may become of the war,
it is certain that one more Parliamentary
campaign under Palmerstonian auspices must
explode all the traditions of Whig leadership.
The Liberal party gave the old Tories an
" Oliver " when they accepted Mr. CANNING as
a leader, but the Tories have returned a
" Roland " in the fatal present of Lord
PALMERSTON. As the advent of Mr. CANNING
without a party to the Premiership first
broke down the old Tory connection, so the
rule of Viscount PALMERSTON, the nominee
of Mr. PERCEVAL, and the follower of Lord
CASTLEREAGH, is gradually dissolving the Whig
system. In this particular point of view, the
Conservatives will have grounds for rejoicing
that Whiggery must date its decline in our
age from the moment that Lord PALMERSTON,
a great anomaly in politics, was accepted as a
chief of the party which rallied to the Foxes,
the Russells, the Greys of other times.
But on public grounds, the continuance of
Lord PALMERSTON as First Minister is a fatal
dispensation. If we want to get up a war with
the United States, we have no more certain
means of doing so than supporting Lord
P►LMERSTON. The United States journals
teem with allusions to him. His tierce invec-

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tives, written and spoken, against Lord
ASHBURTON are not forgotten. His strong
anti-American prejudices are talked of from
Boston to New Orleans—from Niagara to the
Alleghany mountains. There is not now, nor
has there been since the days of Lord NORTH,
any English statesman so disliked and dis-
trusted in America as Lord PALMERSTON.

Yet this is the man to whom the leadership
of the Liberals of England is intrusted in
such grave times. The characters of the
statesmen of the reign of I ()els XVI. had a
portentous influence in precipitating the
French Revolution. In the same way, Lord
PALMERSTON'S line of catching at ephemeral
popularity, and his propensity to carry things
by bluster, may yet be attended with fearful
effects. A long war is the Premier's only
chance of retaining power. Let peace be
made, and he falls ; for he is unequal to deal-
ing with the class of domestic measures now
demanded by the modern English public.
He broke down in the Home-office; and we
have Lord ABERDEEN'S revelation to Lord
JOHN RUSSELL—that " PALMERSTON admitted
" that the Foreign office was too much for
"him." He never could enter upon the
course of useful change and energetic prac-
tical reforms which both Conservatives and
Liberals will ask for on the proclamation of
peace ; and besides, on the cessation of war,
Parliament would at once be subjected to the
rule of " party ;" and the Whigs will never
tolerate a Premier like the present for an hour

longer than they can help.
War, therefore, is the interest of the Prime
Minister. All factious opposition is disarmed
at such a time, and even a feeble Cabinet is
endured out of deference to the Crown.
" Any Ministry may float now," was the remark
in private, last year, of one of the shrewdest
and most experienced statesmen of the age.
But this feeling may be carried too far, and
the Whig aristocracy are beginning to think
so. It is now no secret that vast efforts are
being made to bring Lord JOHN RUSSELL back
to the Cabinet. The mortification of the
Bedford Whigs has long been notorious, and
the arrogance of the Premier in dealing with
some of their followers is too galling for Whig
nerves.
It is about this time of the year that Lord
PALMERSTON and his foes generally commence
their fights. The winter solstice seems to
affect his political condition. Every Christ-
mas, for the last four or five years, has wit-
nessed some overt acts on his part. Some of
his Whig friends, it is believed, are now pre-
paring to have a seasonable round game with
him. A long war, in their opinion, is too
heavy a forfeit to pay for having so " jolly" a
Premier, and rather than do so the Whigs will
demand, either that the Bedford clique should
come " in," or Lord PALMERSTON go " out."
The gentle wisdom of the venerable Lord
LANSDOWNE will scarcely smooth down the
asperities of their rival leadership.

THE QUEEN OF SPAIN has conferred the Grand
Cross of the Order of St. Ferdinand upon Marshal
Pelissier. Marshal O'Donnel, in announcing this
fact to the French Minister at Madrid, conveyed the
desire of her Majesty to place a number of decora-
tions of the same Order at the disposal of the French
Government for distribution to meritorious officers in
the French army of the East.
COUNT DE SERRES, the First Secretary to the French
Embassy at Vienna, arrived there on the 7th instant
from Paris. He was believed to be the bearer of a
" favorable reply " to recent despatches of M. de
Bourqueney.
SIR HAMILTON SEIM:MR on Thursday last, in Com-
pany with the Hon. Mr. Elliott, paid his first visit to
Count Buol. Their interview lasted about an hour.
Sir Hamilton was said to have presented his creden-
tials to the Emperor of Austria on Tuesday last,.
GF.NERAL CANROBF.RT on his arrival at Kiel is said
to have held a serious consultation on board the
French flagship with Admirals Penaud and Dundas,
with reference to the combined operations or the
fleet and land forces in the Baltic next year. So
certain do the merchants of Stockholm and Copen-
hagen consider this movement, that they have already
tendered for the victualling of the land force.
M. YALDES, Chargé d'Affaires of Portugal at Co.
penhagen, suddenly disappeared on the very day he
had been a guest at the dinner given by the Court
in honour of General Canrobert's arrival. His body
ha.s been found in one of the canals of the city, and
it is believed that he committed suicide in a fit of
• mental aberration.