The Press.
London, England, 1855-11-03 00:00:00

THE WEEK.

A paragraph in the Times of yesterday, transcribing a letter from
Lord STANLEY to Sir W. JONES, Bart., and with an appended note
stating that the "editor believed it not impossible that Lord STANLEY
" might become a member of the present Government," has excited
considerable sensation. Of the actual facts we pretend to no know-
ledge. We imagine, however, there can be no doubt that Lord
STANLEY was offered the post of Colonial Minister, and that he
declined it. Of one thing we are well assured, that, with his clear
views, definite purposes, and high notions of Ministerial duty, he
would accept no post in the present Cabinet save from a conviction
that by doing so he could carry out his political principles, more es-
pecially as regards the policy of the war. The mortification of Mr.
FREDERICK PEEL, who is acquainted with the duties of the Colonial-
office, having filled the post of Under-Secretary, at being unani-
mously passed over, will be thoroughly enjoyed by "his friends.'i
It may, perhaps, teach him that his own estimate of his self importance
is a little too high.

Tux anticipated retreat, destruction, or possible capture of Prince
GORTSCHAKOFF and his hundred and twenty thousand men this
autumn, does not seem about to be realised. The bad state of the
roads is the ostensible cause of this failure on the part of the Allies,
but the strcng central position of the Russians must be honestly
acknowledged as the sole serious objection to such a gigantic success.
THE PRESS has always held that the powerful force which the Russian
General had at his command in a strong central position, would, in all
probability, prove more than a match this year for any effort the Allies
could make to eject, him, vi et armis, from the Crimea, and so far this
view appears to be correct. The advance of PELISSIER beyond the
Belbeck has proved to be but a reconnaissance in force, and the
advance from Eupatoria nothing more. From this we may infer that
the allied army is not sufficiently powerful to be enabled to advance
in safety upon so many points at once ; and by the latest Russian
despatches—for neither the London nor Paris War offices conde-
scend to enlighten us upon such points oftener than once a
month—we learn that PELISSIER had fallen back to the valley
of Baidar, and General D'ALLoNviLLE had returned to Eupatoria. At
the same time Prince GORTSCHAKOFF states that the Allies are rein
forcing their army at Eupatoria, and it may be possible that the
attempt to cut off the supplies of the Russians will yet be made iu such
force as to insure succesA. The 40,000 men at present at Eupatoria
are insufficient to effect this object. The Russian reserve at Perekop
40,000 strong, and the 15,000 cavalry on the steppes, hold our Eupatorian
army in check; and until we can concentrate at Eupatoria some 60,000
or 70,000 men we shall not be able to intercept the Russian supplies
to any very serious extent. From every appearance, the campaign, as
far as the Allies are concerned, appears to be over. Whether it is to
be so on the part of the Russians remains to be proved. The move•
ment of large bodies of troops over the Mackenzie Heights, the
burning the furze, the clearing the roads, and the constant reports
from spies that a serious attack upon the Tschernaya camp was
meditated, indicates some intention of the sort on the part of the
Russians, though such an attack, thoroughly prepared as the Allies
now are, could only meet with one result. That some such intention
exist-3 would appear from the telegraphic message sent by Lord
PANMIIRE to General SIMPSON. His Lordship received a message
direct from Lord BLOMFIELD at Berlin, intimating that the Russians
meditated a grand attack upon the whole of the allied line. General
SIMPSON, upon the receipt of this message, immediately stopped the
embarkation of Sir Corm; CAMPBELL'S division for Eupatoria. The
whole army was on the alert; and, by the letters from the camp, we
learn that every possible precaution was being taken to prevent a
surprise.

The appointment of Sir HAMILTON SEYMOUR as Envoy at the
Court of Vienna, in the room of Lord WESTMORLAND, may be accepted
as a fait accompli. Sir HAMILTON—(from the publication of his secret
despatches, recapitulating the private conversations with the late
Emperor NienorAs)— possesses at present rather an unenviable
reputation at foreign Courts. The extent of his friendly relationship
with the Emperor of AUSTRIA will probably be somewhat limited by
those recollections. It is not more pleasant for Sovereigns than for
less exalted personages to feel that their private and confidential
conversations Hill be printed in a Blue-book, and placed upon the
table of the English Legislature. At St. Petersburg, Sir HAMILTON
SEYMOUR displayed the unerring acuteness of a practised detective.
By him the cunning intrigues of the CZAR were penetrated in a moment.
But at Vienna his duty will be widely different : he will have to
initiate a policy—not unravel a plot ; and here his unfortunate repu
tation for an excellent memory and short-hand notes will, we fear, be
against him.

Some anxiety will be felt to hear how our Transatlantic cousins
will receive the diatribes against them by the Government journals
here, and what they think of the hint given them, that they had better
be on the best behaviour, by the despatch of our disposable ships to their
neighbourhood. When this " vigorous measure" was adopted the diplo-
matic correspondence was proceeding; and it is palpable that nothing
would be more likely to turn a mero squabble into a deadly quarrel
than this piece of empty brHggadoeio, or harsh and insulting menace