The Press.
London, England, 1855-02-10 00:00:00

139

part of the Minister to have disarmed adverse criti•
cism by exalting success and mollifying misfortune.
Not so. With a bold indifference and affected con-
tumely of all opposition, the Duke of Newcastle first
denied, secondly admitted, and thirdly attempted to
excuse his damning acts of incompetent administra-
tion. In eulogising the deeds of English valour, the
several actions were severally and properly men-
tioned, but in apportioning the rewards of merit the
battle of Balaklava was omitted from the official
record of desert. Did this arise from forgetfulness,
from the unjust trammel of an effete and Germanic
routine, from sycophancy to high estate, or from the
pruriency of a temper anxious to revenge itself on
something, and smarting from parliamentary casti-
gation! Whatever the cause, the effect was direct.
The battle of Balaklava was judged not to be de-
serving of a mark of military honour and merit.
The indignation of the French army was
loudly made known. " Had they been our men,"
said the gallant and warmhearted fellows, " each
would have had his cross of honour;" and the
" plusque brave Cardigan," would have been " eerase."
It is well known, and a matter of notoriety,
that the Emperor of the French expressed a
strong opinion upon this act of injustice. Even
the peacemakers and cottoncrats exclaimed against
the cold neglect. England signified her dark anger
in severe terms, and the soldiers' friend, the Duke of
Richmond, ever at his post of devotion to the army,
firmly demanded of the Duke of Newcastle, in his
place in the House of Peers, the reason of this cruel
and studied wrong.
For the Ministry to assert that its generous wis-
dom had anticipated this remonstrance, is adding
prevarication to injustice. They yielded to the
pressure of general indignation, and the Emperor of
the French triumphed in his defence of English
soldiers over the Duke of Newcastle and the power
behind him. The clasp for Balaklava comes not
from the Ministry of England. It has been wrung
from them through the fear of popular displeasure,
vociferated throughout the length and breadth, not
only of England, but of entire Europe, and it is the
Emperor Napoleon and his gallant army that now
wreath round the escutcheon of the brave earl the
device which he may well bear in all honour and
justice, "nec male notus eques."

Surrosuso that a gentleman named Mr. Sidney
Herbert were to get up in the House of Commons to
make the best case he could of a system of mis-
management that had filled all England with grief
and shame. And supposing that this gentleman
were to expatiate to the House of Commons on the
natural helplessness of our English soldiers, conse-
quent on their boots being made by one man, their
clothes by another, their houses by another, and so
forth, blending a sentimental political economy with
red tape in a very singular manner. I wonder in
such case whether it would be out of order to
suggest the homely fact that, indeed, it is not the
custom to enlist the English soldier in his cradle;
that there really are instances of his having been
something else before becoming a soldier ; and that,
perhaps, there is not a regiment in the service but
includes within its ranks number of men more or
less expert in every handicraft trade under the
sun.—Household Words.
IN THE EXCHEQUER COURT OR Monday the rule
was made absolute for a new trial in the case of Evans
v. Robinson, in which the plaintiff, a gentleman of
fortune, residing at Cheltenham, brought his action
against the defendant for criminal conversation with
his wife. On the former hearing a verdict was re-
turned for the defendant, but the case will now be
reopened at the next Liverpool assizes.
A NOTIFICATION was on Wednesday made in the
Bankruptcy Court that the attempt to wind up the
affairs of Messrs. John Andrew Clarke and Joseph
Davison, warehousemen, of Cheapside, having failed
under arrangement, recourse would be had to bank-
ruptcy. The debts and liabilities of the firm are said
to be about 40,0001. The assets at present could not
be stated.
THE NUMBER OF MILER OF RAILWAY now in ope-
ration in the world are 40,344, of which 21,528 miles
are in the United States ; 7,744 in Great Britain;
5,340 in Germany ; 2,480 in France ; 532 in Belgium ;
422 in Russia; 179 in Italy; 75 in Sweden ; 42 in
Norway ; 90 in Spain ; 25 in Africa ; 100 in India ;
1,327 in British North America ; 359 in Cuba ; 60 in
Panama; and 90 in South America.
THE Messaggere of Modena announces officially
that the telegraphic lines just completed between
Massa and Sarzana, and which form a link of com-
munication between Tuscany and I'iedmont, are now
open to the public.
THE inhabitants of Kronstadt, in Transylvania,
were alarmed by an earthquake on the 23rd ult., at
half-past twelve at night. The shock was followed
by two very perceptible motions of the earth, in the
direction from east to west. The al
wls of some of
the houses were heard to crack, but no accident of
any kind occurred.