The Press.
London, England, 1853-08-06 00:00:00

No. 14.—VoL. I.

itte rtss.

LONDON, SATURDAY, AUGUST 0, lEi53.

THE funds continue falling—the journals,

especially those under the influence of Lord
ABERDEEN, keep scattering doubtful or despair-
ing voices—every day the news from the seat
of war is more alarming, and every night the
speeches of her Majesty's Government more

bellicose. Our commerce is disturbed, and

our finance is paralysed. And yet we are in-
formed that, in their private and confidential
eheles, the Ministers declare that there is not

only now no danger of war, but that the peril, ii

it ever existed, has been long averted. It seems
that the propositions formally forwarded to St.
Petersburg, and the return of which is awaited
by the nation with so much anxiety, have
been previously approved by the Emperor;
and while the British. Government, in public.
countenance a tone which is exercising a
deleterious influence on the trade of the
country, in private they treat the panic as at
hoax, scoff at any idea of war having ever been
seriously contemplated by any power, and
speak of the misunderstanding in question as
" a thing that has 'been settled these three
" weeks."
What does all this mean? What is the
mystery of all this conduct, apparently at once
both profligate and inept?
The propositions now at St. Petersburg, and
which were approved by the Emperor before
they were transmitted to St. Petersburg, in-
volve a complete concession by Turkey to
Russia of all those demands, a resistance to
which brought about the present war between
these two countries. Those demands were
resisted by the Porte under the counsel, and
at the special instigation, of England and
France. By the advice, and at the special in-
stigation, of England and France, those de-
mands, according to this project, are now to
be complied with. True, there is some change
of form by which the dangerous and humi-
liating surrender is to be accomplished. But
there is nothing material in that change, and
the Russian Government, as was afterwards
shown, would have cheerfully acceded to the
alteration without the interference of the
allies of Turkey. The Emperor of RUSSIA, in
virtually establishing his protectorate over
the great bulk of the population of European
Turkey, is to declare that, in so doing, he has
no wish to impugn the sovereign rights of the
Sultan. Magnanimous admission !
It is about a month ago since we ourselves
became acquainted with this project. Our
readers will find it referred to in the number
of our journal of the 9th July, when we stated
that "something ignominious was impending."
It is in itself a surrender at discretion ; and
the question naturally arises why, if Lord
ABERDEEN and his confederates were prepared
for such a conclusion, they should have en-
couraged the Porte to a course which has cx
hausted the resources of the power they
wished to preserve, has inflicted incalculable
injury on the commercial interests of Europe,
and dangerously agitated the political passions
of every state ?

LONDON, SATURDAY, AUGUST 6, 1853.

But then it is said that we are to be com-
pensated for this humiliating concession by
obtaining the evacuation of the invaded prin-
cipalities. Let us see how this is. if the
concession of the Russian demands was
deemed by us injurious, if not fatal, to the in-
tegrity and independence of Turkey kfore the
invasion of the principalities, the withdrawal
of the Russian armies from those countries
will only restore us to our original position.
Turkey will be in the same state as she was
when Prince MEssenixoys thundered at the
Divan; and we thought that a condition of
peril, not to say of contingent ruin. But ad
nut that after so many complications, after
the revelation of so many designs-, so many
dangers. and so many weaknesses, the retreat
of Russia, however partial or voluntary, from
any object, may bring some degree of tran-
quillity, if not of triumph, to the " great
powers," what reason have we to believe that
that retreat is about to be aeeomplished ?
It is understood that when the" ignominious"
project was first planned, the evacuation
was not made a condition peremptory, but
was left to be a spontaneous suggestion of the
invader. France, whose Minister is the only
statesman throughout the affitirwho has shown.
a becoming spirit, would not listen to this
cringing scheme, and insisted on the evaeua-
tion being a condition not only peremptory,
but precedent. The pulse of the Emperor was
felt on this point, and his Imperial Majesty
with a smile made no difficulty of the evaeua
tion becoming a condition, and even a condi-
tion precedent, of the solution. And it. is
upon this incident that the gifted body of
individuals who fill the council chamber of our
Queen, and monopolise all the abilities and
discrimination of our country, have built their
conviction that the " atlair is settled, and has
been settled for weeks."
The formal answer of the Emperor of RUSSIA
to the propositions cannot be long delayed.
What if, while it admits their principles and
apparently embraces their spirit, its adroit
and ambidextrous phniseology renders time
chief condition impossible ? The resources of
Russian diplomacy are not easily exhausted.
It has never yet deigned to anything so
obvious as a straightforward answer. What
if, while it accepts concessions, it accompanies
its expiatory act with impracticable details ?
Where will Loud A BEUDE EN be then? What
will he do? Will he still wish to negotiate?
There is reason to believe that France, under
such circumstances, will defer no longer to
" antiquated imbecility." There is reason to
believe that she will act, and instantly. Are
the Ministers, who hold that " all is settled."
prepared to eo-opi.rate with her ? is the
French fleet to be in the Black Sea, and the
British fleet to remain in Besika Bay? It is
to be hoped that the news may arrive during
a naval review at Spithead. What a salute
will greet and honour the Minister of England!

THE oBSCURANTISTS IN IRELAND, &v.

IT is not at all improbable that events now oc
curling behind the scenes at Dublin may lead
to political consequences of importance.
The National Board of Education has never
been popular with the ultramontanists. The
system was not fr red by its founder, Lord
DERBY, as the most perfect that could be de-
vised in theory, but as the only one that the

PRICE SIXPENCE.

State could eousistently establish in Ireland
To educate the Roman Catholics through the
old Protestant schools was manifestly impos•
Bible, especially after the act of 1529. On the
other hand, for the State to found Roman
Catholie schools, and to allot public money
for their separate support, would be enacting
a rule that would, in its working, prove a lever
for overthrowing the Protestant Church. It
is obvious. however, that this is the point that
Dr. Cuti.rm and the ultramontanists are aim-
ing to reach. This is the end to which they
are desirous of arriving by circuitous ap-
proaehem. They attack Archbishop WHATELY
ostensibly in order to damage the Board ; and,
as soon as they shall have destroyed that, they
hope upon its ruins to erect an ascendancy
over educational influences in Ireland.
Nor are they without hopes of obtaining
English allies in what. Lord ions BussEL'.
would have called, three years since, " their
" insolent and insidious" schemes. On Tues-
day last a journal, notorious amongst the daily
press for its scarcely-eoneealed patronage of
their intention, exulted at the approaching
obsequies of the National Board. Its invidious
lingerie was displayed in innuendoes against
what it was pleased to " colourless Chris-
" tianity" and " negative religion," while it
went the length of asserting that the Board
was expiring of " menility." It happens, in-
deed. that, owing to deaths and official changes,
the National Board within the last five years
has reeeived a reinforcement of several new
members, amongst others Mr. Mearillf (the
Master in Chancery), Sir THOMAS ItainNoToN,
and the Roman Catholic clergyman, Dean
MErum ; while, in respect of its efficiency,
although it is no 1114)151 than twenty-three
years old, it has now half a million of children
attending its schools. ivith nearly six thousand
teachers ; and with this vast machinery it
requires for its purposes in the present session
of Parliament a grant of no less than 1,13,000/.
We tunice these imputations upon the effi-
ciency of the National Board, not, however,
for their importance, but as the symbols of a
policy yet unrevealed. For our part, we be-
lieve
the choice lies between the system
founded by Lord Maar and Obscurantism.
awe up the national system, and the °barn-
nudists must triumph. The Irish Roman
Catholics are too poor to build schools and
support teaclors. They did not do so when
their country was more prosperous than now,
and it is absurd to suppose that Parliament
would give nearly two hundred thousand
pounds yearly to en Irish educational system
presided over by the priests. At the seine
tirrae tt would be rash to under-estimate the
audaeity of the allies of Cardinal Whentss in
the Cabinet. We may, possibly, yet hear of
the appropriation clause in another shape—
viz., that of separate sectarian education in
Ireland, with the sanction and support of the
State. It is not improbable that some plan
of the kind is now bona elaborated under Cul
lenian auspices to be advocated in due count'
with tibulsbutiatti subtlety. In ISM, at the
somouncement of certain propositions, the
Whig party was rent asunder, and Sir JAMES
intunm " knows the cease,' why." He and
his colleagues may require to be refreshed
as to a similar inquisitive disposition in the
public, if they palter with proposals which
tend in the same direction.
The proceedings of Thursday in the Ho-so
of Commons furnished two more instsme..* of
the prevailing disposition on the M; isteeial