The Press.
London, England, 1855-11-10 00:00:00

THE PRESS.

NOVEMBER 10, 1855•

From the gradual return of the Baltic fleet to the home ports
we may infer that the King of SWEDEN has not yet conceded the point
of allowing a strong squadron to winter in a Swedish port. The visit
of General CANBOBERT to Stockholm may possibly influence the King
in his decision. His Majesty of Stockholm, we think, will first prefcr
a more effective " destruction of Sweaborg" than that which took
place last summer before he so irretrievably commits himself.

THE SOUTHWARK ADMIRAL.

Ata--"The Arethuea."
Come all you seamen bold and free,
Landlubbers, too, give ear to me,
I'm a rough old British Tar, d'ye see.
And my name is Charlie Napier.
I'm as good a sailor and as brave
As ever sailed on the stormy wave,
And tho' Graham sneers,
And the Public jeers,
Because I've lately shunned the fire,
I've made the Scovell fleet retire
From swaggering Charlie Napier.

'Twas last spring twelvemonth I set out
The Baltic sea to cruise about—
Lord ! how the Whigs did cheer and shout
For " Reform-Club Admiral" Napier !
I bragged, and I fumed, and I made a noise,
And signalled, " Sharpen your broadswords, boys,
For the foe when we meet
I'll almost eat; "
And the Russian laughed, for he knew 'twas stuff,
And that Ready I'm not, though I'm devilish Rough,
In spite of the motto* of the Napiers.

Cronstadt and Revel and Sweaborg all,
The English public thought must fall,
For what the deuce is a strong stone wall

Opposed to Admiral Napier ?
But, somehow or other, those towns stand still,
And I very much opine they will,
For 'twill come to pass
That dear old Dundas
Will keep his ships from the fire as far,
And be altogether as " safe" a tar,
As blustering Charlie Napier.

But to capture Southwark I'll hardly fail,
From its walls at least I'll not turn my tail,
But steer boldly in with a press of sail,
As sure as I'm Charlie Napier.
Ay, here I'll safely hoist my flag,
And boast, and storm, and swear, and brag,
And sing my own praise
In various ways,
And tell how I spurned the G.C.8.,
For these Borough Radicals love, d'ye see,
A " swell" like old Charlie Napier.

1073

procure a map, and with the assistance of one of the little Vernons
(not Smiths) he found out, in less than au hour, more than twenty of
our Colonial possessions, whose names he wrote on a card. Thus
crammed, he
i marched off to Lord Palmerston, and artfully en-
deavoured to impress that Nobleman with the extent of his knowledge,
by rattling out the names in an off-hand way, in the hope that the
Premier would say " Upon my soul, Smith, you'd better take the place
yourself—you know all about the work, eh?" But instead of that,
Lord Palmerston, in a very designing manner, asked Mr. Smith how
far it was from Van Diemen's Land to Tasmania, and the ether having
affected much consideration, and then said that he thought about a
thousand miles, the Viscount broke out into a very rude fit of laughter,
and asked his friend how far it was from Mauritius to the Isle of
France. Smith then perceived that he was sold, and went off in great
wrath. Sir George Grey wrote a sulky kind of note, saying that he
did n't want the Colonies, and would not take them if offered him, but
that it was due to his position that the offer should be made, and he
had a good mind to resign ; but up to last night he had not carried
this threat into execution. Lord John Russell also wrote, saying
that, whatever might be his views about the war, there was nothing
unconstitutional iu a Minister accepting office, leaving war an open
question, and he proposed to take the Colonies, reserving to himself
the right to surrender any of them to Russia, in the event of his
clearly seeing that such course was in accordance with the dictates of
Providence. The Duke of Somerset sent a message by his valet, to
the effect that he thought the place ought to be offered to his Grace,
but this proposition was not received with much favour, and Lord
Palmerston sent his affectionate compliments, reminding the Duke
that one of the chief towns in Canada was called Hamilton. The man,
however, was afraid to carry such a message, so Lord Palmerston
good-naturedly wrote it in a note, which the servant thought it safer
not to deliver.
These were among the more distinguished applicants ; but there
have been numerous others. Lord Torrington is understood to have
considered that his Ceylon successes entitled his talents to a larger
sphere for their development ; and Mr. Cobden offered to take the
place, if the Government would undertake to secure him a seat at the
next election. Mr. William Williams thought he could effect several
important savings if he were made Colonial Secretary, especially
instancing that he would use thinner and cheaper envelopes for the
despatches, that he would write these on both sides the paper, and
would either employ wafers instead of sealing-wax, or a coarser and
less expensive wax, instead of the dear and costly article now used.
Mr. Miall wrote to say that nothing had been done for the Dissenters
last session, and that it would please that body if he, who had been
Sir William Molesworth's antagonist, were made his successor; but
Lord Palmerston answered, that it was necessary that even a Colonial
Secretary should be able to acquit himself in the House with some-
thing like credit. Both the Phillimores applied, with long Latin
quotations, the Doctor from Aulus Gellius, and R. J. from Cornelius
Nepos, and each adding in a postscript a request that the Noble
Lord would be particular in not directing his reply to the other
Phillimore, who, indeed, was quite unfit for such an office, though well
enough in his way. Sergeant Shee sent across from Ireland, saying
that he should consider it a personal insult if the place were given to
Bob Lowe, and not to him, for that he was not a worse speaker than
Robert, and his hair was a great deal more elegant than that of the
Australian Demosthenes. Finally, the persecuted Minister was visited
by Mr. Muntz (with a thick stick), who stated his views and con-
victions in a style of acme concentration, remarking that " he would be
hanged if he cared whether they gave him the confounded place or
not; but if they did he would let some people know what o'clock it
was, and be D to them."
When the reporter came away, the Premier was in a high state of
exasperation, asserting, with some bitterness, that the party must be a
queer one that could not furnish a man to serve his Sovereign at such
a contingency. Most people will agree with the Noble Viscount.