The Press.
London, England, 1855-11-24 00:00:00

THE PRESS.

idea of a metropolitan insurrection? A riot is a riot, and a mob is a
mob. Let them be treated as such, and not magnified, nolens, vo!ens, '
into something far different, and far worse. Many persons, they tell
us, were induced to go to the park "to assert a right which they
" imagined to be impugned by the notice of the Police Commissioners."
What right? The Commissioners certainly steer clear of any incon-
venient admissions either way. But why not openly declare that such
rights as these are all nonsense. No one has any such right as this
against the conservators of the peace. We might just as well remon-
strate against the closing of certain streets at the time of a procession.
Sir GEORGE GREY comes out of this matter very little better. He
was in communication with Sir RICHARD MAYNE, but he does not
vouchsafe to tell us in his letter what his own recommendations were.
The strongest ground of complaint was the crowding of so many
persons into a small, dirty, and ill-ventilated cell. This is an abuse
demanding prompt remedy. There is no reason why the police cells
should not be kept as clean and wholesome as the wards of a goal, and
the number be certified which each is calculated to hold. Confine-
ment through the night in a Vine-street "black hole" is too severe a
punishment for thoughtlessly mingling with a mob in defiance of the
warning of police commissioners.

A military critical correspondent of the Times, signing himself
" Palruam qui meruit ferat," expatiated last Monday on the import-
ance of the office of Quartermaster-General, and deprecated the
appointment of Colonel HERBERT to that post in the army of the
East. "On the Quartermaster-General," said the writer, " the safety
"of an army has often depended. Sir JOHN IslooßE's Quartermaster-
" General separated his cavalry and artillery, endangered the entire
" army, and actually occasioned considerable loss. The Duke's, on the
" contrary, made such admirable arrangements at Vittoria, that the vie-
" tory is in a great measure to be attributed to his exertions." Well, there
is nothing like a well-informed man who has studied history, says the
reader. Unfortunately however, for our pseudo-military critic, it
turns out that the Quartermaster-General was the same man in each
case—i.e., the late Sir GEORGE MuRRAY. The well-informed gentleman
preserves a dignified silence, and Colonel HERBERT his new position.

THE COLONIES AGAIN.
BY THE PREMIER.
Who'll have the Colonies ?
" Not I," said Lord Stanley,
So honest and manly,
" I'll not have your Colonies."

Then, hang it ! who'll have them?
There's none of my Whigs,
Poor doctrinaire prigs,
Who's worthy to have them.

Will you have the Colonies?
" Not I," said stout Sidney—

" I'm not of a kidney
To bo bribed by your Colonies."

Will you have my Colonies ?
" Not I," said Newcastle—
" 1.11 not be your vassal
For even the Colonies."

At last to poor Labouchere
" Will you have them ?" said I.
He answered so ready—
" Oh, won't I!" says Labouchere.

Then the whole of the Colonies sigh'd in chorus,
" What a stick he has chosen to come and rule o'er us."

LABOUCHERIAN ORATORY.

WITH what kind of a Colonial Minister it has pleased the Viscount
Palmerston to bless her Majesty's outlying possessions, may be
gathered from the following report of a brief discussion, in which the
Right Honourable Secretary distinguished himself when Under-
Secretary for the Colonies in the year 1839 (Tuesday, May 11).
Sir ROBERT PEEL: Sir, in the absence of her Majesty's Secretary
of State for the Colonies, I may be allowed to ask the Honourable
Gentleman opposite (Mr. Laboucherej whether the delayed West
Indian mails have yet arrived.
Mr. LABOUCHERE : Sir, the question which the Right Honourable
Baronet has done me the honour to ask me (an honour which I am
conscious would not have devolved upon me but for the absence—
I inay say the regrettable absence—of my Right Honourable friend,
our youthful and beloved Sovereign's principal Secretary of State for
the Colonies) is one which, though apparently it demands the simplest
reply, is, in truth, an inquiry of no ordinary magnitude. Sir, when we
reflect upon the vast importance of our Sovereign's colonial posses.
,ions,, when we revolve in our minds the vast waste of ocean that rolls
its waters between this island—may I say this "tight little island"?—
(laughter)—and the nearest and smallest of those possessions, we may
well be struck with the extent of both themes. But, Sir, how is this
importance, how is this extent magnified, when we consider that the
West India islands are not only among the most remarkable of our
Sovereign's possessions, but that they are separated from us by a
world of' water, in some places, as recent investigations by scientific

men have apprised us, of the depth of five miles, while in others, the
sea, like the dream of one of the inimitable creations of the great poet
of whom Britain is so justly proud, may be called Bottoms dream,
" because it hath no bottom!" Under these circumstances, Sir, lam
free to confess that I approach the Right Honourable Baronet's
inquiry with a feeling akin to solemnity and to awe. If I am wrong,
Sir, in permitting myself to entertain such a sentiment, I throw
myself upon the indulgence of this House—(Hear, hear)—which is ever
foremost to display the forbearance of Englishmen—l would say of
Britons (without forgetting members of the noble sister country),
towards one who at least speaks with sincerity, and without an
attempt at pomposity and effect. (ironical cheers.) And now, Sir,
to reply to the question of the Right Honourable Baronet, which I do
without presuming to remind one who is far better verse in the pro-
ceedings and etiquette of this House than I can pretend to be, that
notice of an important question (notice which he omitted to give) is
sometimes the most direct means towards obtaining a satisfavtory
answer. Sir, at the moment when I left the office in which it is my
pride and honour to administer, in however subordinate a degree, the
affairs of her Majesty's colonial possessions, I summoned, by the
ordinary mechanical means, the official whose duty it is to be in
constant attendance in the vestibule of that building. (Cries of
"Name.") In answer to honourable members, I may say that, speak-
ing only from recollection, and reserving to myself the right to comet
my statement, should the interest, of the Colonies appear to demand
it, I believe that the individual's name is Pott. (Roars of laughter.)
Yes, Sir, honourable members may laugh, but, as another English poet
admirably remarks—