The Press.
London, England, 1856-05-17 00:00:00

THE PRESS.

spirit of a gentleman" should, as a matter
of course, regulate the conduct of all. We
cannot, however, offer any decided opinion on
the special subject of Lord RANELAGH'S letter,
which exclusively belongs to the decision of
the members of the Carlton Club.

EAST COAST OF THE BLACK SEA.
ON previous occasions we have alluded to the
probability of an entire change in the policy
of the Russian Government. We said that we
saw many indications that the traditional
system of aggression which had endured for
two centuries would be abandoned, and that
the present Emperor would concentrate the
energies of his people on the development of
their industrial resources. The vast import-
ance to the whole civilised world of such a
change cannot be questioned by any one, how-
ever much disposed to doubt its realisation.
Russia is one of the three great countries on
which, at the present day, the peace of the
world depends ; and she also contains within
herself elements of growth which, nurtured by
a few years of steady industry, may prodi-
giously increase her foreign trade. Commer-
cial transactions with this country were, before
the late war, upwards of three times as exten-
sive as with any other nation, and, if we leave
out Prussia, not far short of those with the
whole of continental Europe and America put
together. It would be impossible to exagge-
rate the importance which the growth of a
wealthy middle class in that vast country, with
the consequent birth of new wants, and
demand for new luxuries, is calculated to exer-
cise on the industry of the British people.
Those who wish to investigate this subject for
themselves would do well to consult the work
of TEOOBORSKI on " The Productive Forces of
Russia," the second volume of which has been
recently published.
Manifestly, it was the interest of this coun-
try to encourage all pacific dispositions in the
Russian Government, and to repress those of
an opposite tendency. We fear we have done
the reverse When the roar of cannon and
the blaze of fireworks shall be exciting a fic-
titious and temporary enthusiasm in this
country for the peace which has been con-
cluded, more genuine enthusiasm will doubt-
less be prevailing in St. Petersburg for the
war which is just going to commence. At
last the Caucasian provinces seem within the
grasp of the Czar, and a fortunate combina-
tion of circumstances has enabled him to
consummate the long-cherished designs of his
family. Russia has never yet had such large
masses of troops concentrated on her southern
frontier, and never seems, apparently, to have
thought it worth while to bring them down
merely for the sake of the Caucasian war.
Now, however, that they are on the spot, she
appears determined to lose no time in turning
them to good account.
There are three distinct grounds upon which
the warlike preparations now going on at St.
Petersburg must excite regret. In the first
place, the existence of war in any part of the
Russian empire after the late Treaty, is some-
thing like turning a patient out of hospital
only half cured—he is soon as bad again as
ever. By the contest in the Caucasus the old
military spirit of aggression will be kept alive,
and the hoped-for devotion of Russia to indus-
trial pursuits materially checked. In the
second place, the certain, if possibly remote,
danger to our Indian empire by the advance
of Russian power in Asia, has been more than
once pointed out in our columns. As long as
we maintain our naval supremacy, the posses-
sion of Constantinople by Russia would be
less dangerous to our power than her approxi
mation to our Indian frontier. We could
bridle up her fleets within the Bosphorus, but
who could look forward with equal confidence
to a meeting between her infantry and our
sekoys on the banks of the Indus ? '1 hi .dly, the
occupation by Russia of this 230 miles of Cir-
cassian coast at once renders the neutralisa-
tion of the Black Sea a mockery. Nor can it
be simply admitted and deplored as an in-
evitable result over which we had no control.
To have insisted on the independence of this

coast would ha

the most legitimate
The fact is, that
_

these countries has never been recognised
either by Turkey or the Western Powers : in
1836 it was expressly denied by Great Britain,
while the erection of forts along the coast,
which gave Russia possession of no land in
the interior, cannot be regarded in any light
but as a mere temporary occupation for the
purposes of war. There are reasons, there-
fore, both positive and negative, why the
neutralisation of the Circassian coast, and the
destruction of the forts, should have been
strenuously insisted on Such demand was
not a violation of the status quo ante, it foal not
introducing a foreign element into the discus-
sion, and it was required in order to give effect
to a leading conditionla the Treaty, and to
prevent the Plenipotentiaries from stultifying
their own work.

By the blockade of the Circassian coa st, the
tribes of the Caucasus will be completely sur-
rounded. The Euxine was their only outlet
by which to obtain arms, ammunition, and
supplies. That is now sealed against them,
and, with the overwhelming masses of Russian
troops that may be launched against them,
their fate cannot long be doubtful.
A well known correspondent of the " leading
journal" has called the Circassians barbarians,
and has likened them to the Hebrews in the
Book of Judges, and the Swiss before their
Confederation. But his parallel tells woefully
against himself. Did not the Hebrews main-
tain themselves against their enemies, and
drive back the tide of Assyrian and Egyptian
conquest for many generations? What would
have become of revealed religion but for the
valour of the Hebrews? And what would
have become of the liberties of Europe had
these same Swiss barbarians been conquered
by Austria, and become, centuries ago, an
integral part of her dominions? The thirty
years' war would have had another ending, and
Protestantism been trampled under foot from
Copenhagen to Trieste. We willingly, there-
fore, accept the parallel. Let us look on the
Circassians as we have been taught to look
on the heroes who resisted the feudal array of
Austria, and we shall not yet think it too late
to take some steps for insuring the freedom of
the eastern coast of the Black Sea.

UNDETECTED CRIME.
IT is a curious and startling speculation what
the proportion of undetected and unsuspected
crime may be to the crime which is known
and published, and what the number of crimi-
nals moving freely in society may be com-
pared to the number brought to justice. This
is a subject which has never yet engaged
statistical inquiry, though very worthy of con-
sideration.

Undetected criminals are of two classes--the
perpetrators of crimes which have never been
suspected or discovered, and the perpetrators
of crimes which have come to light, while
the perpetrators themselves have remained
hidden. It is from the first of these classes
that society has most to dread. How many
persons may at this moment be occupying a
respectable position, and perhaps wearing a
sanctified appearance, who bear about with
them a brain capable of plotting intricate
crime, and a heart capable of the most fiendish
cruelty. How many John Dean Pauls may there
be in the mercantile world, some at this moment
struggling with embarrassment, some just
emerging from difficulty, but ready for despe-
rate expedients should temptation present
itself. The murder by Tawell was discovered
by accident. How sleekly would he have
walked the earth in drab and broadbrim had
it been decided that his victim died in a fit !
Was that murder his first ? Who can tell ? The
probabilities, perhaps, are, on the whole,
against a first case of poisoning ever being
suspected. Taking that dark and deliberate
species of murder which compels into its ser-
vice the secret agencies of nature and the latest
discoveries of science, what a painful train of
thought is roused by the occurrences of the
last few months 1 Deaths have occurred inAde

inimmompmeoppinme
459
ive been oiily to insist on one of
.mate objects of the war.
that the Russian possession of
es has never been reenonised

pendent of those connected with the name of
Palmer, leaving no substantial doubt on the
mind that poison and not disease was the
primary agent of destruction, without detec-
tion of the poisoner. It is a shocking reflec-
tion that in all societies—at dinners and balls,
at concerts and theatres, at church or at
ohaoel, in town or in the country, wherever
and in whatever society we may be—it is pos-
sible a murderer may be present. Not only
does not one half the world know how the
other half lives, it knows not how the other
half dies.

If from murders we pass to fires, we arrive
at a species of offence, perhaps, the most diffi-
cult of all to bring home to a man. Arson is a
crime by which money may so readily be made,
and which so few persons are usually in-
terested in investigating, that it is probably
the one which, of all others, is most frequently
committed without detection. Insurance com-
panies are loth to prosecute, for it gets them
a bad name ; and private individuals are afraid
to utter suspicion so difficult to verify, and so
likely to entail heavy penalties. It is proba-
ble that a much larger proportion of fires are
intentional than we are in the habit of suppos-
ing. how seldom do we hear of a fire
being satisfactorily accounted for? " The
" origin of the fire still remains a mys-
" tery," are words with which all readers
of newspaper paragraphs must be familiar.
The two passions of revenge and covetousness
might very frequently be called in to fill up
the hiatus in question.
With commercial climes we have lately been
surfeited. How flourishing was the Tippe-
rary Bank, with its profits and dividends, till
the suicide SADLEIR was found on Hampstead-
heath ! The readiness with which forged bills
have been discounted is an appalling fact. It
is even asserted that forged bills, if presented
by men of any station, find readier acceptance
with a certain class of bill discounters than
genuine ones, for the simple reason that they
arc more certain to be met. If this practice is
proved to prevail to even a limited extent,
what a vista of crime it opens to us ! Who
knows how many forged warrants may at this
moment be passing between Bankside and
Lombard-a treet—how many bankers may at
this moment be negotiating securities which
do not belong to them—how many adven-
turers may be raising large sums of money on
the counterfeited names of friends and
patrons !
The amount of undetected crime which goes
on festering and generating by its own cop•
ruption we cannot pretend to estimate, nor
hope to guard against. As good and evil in
this world go hand in hand, as the wheat
and the tares spring up together, so we feel
we must attribute this canker of crime in
great measure to the increase of education and
the spread of science, enabling the arts of the
criminal to keep pace with increased facili-
ties of detection, and supplying at the same
time additional motives for the perpetration
of offences. Increased vigilance in the officers
of the law from the highest to the lowest—in-
creased vigilance iu all publie men and public
bodies, insurance companies, and trading
firms—above all, we should add, in all mem-
bers of the medical profession, is all that we
can at present point to as likely to impose
restraints on that wide range of moral lawless-
ness which must be classed under the head of
Undetected Crime.

RUSSIA AND THE CAUCASUS.

MR. LAURENCE OLIPHANT, the accomplished author
of the "Shores of the Black Sea," delivered last
Saturday a lecture at the United Service Museum,
Whitehall, descriptive of the campaign he made with
Omer Pacha last autumn. We extract a portion of
lecture having reference to the importance of
'ssia as the Asiatic barrier against Russia:—
'q as Russia persists in her determination to con•
esia, she asserts her intention of adhering to her
-olicy, and every blow levelled at Cireassian
's a menace to Turkey and to Persia. We
tted that we are interested in the Asiatic
rmer, and, therefore, we are interested
-ee of the Caucasus. The experien,,e
Russia has maintained in these
he only way by which she can
by the establishment of a
re, established a line of
'oast of the Black Sea,
h other nations, they
undeveloped re•

THE PRESS.

sources, which must sooner or later be exhausted. We have
seen how fruitless is the most indomitable fortitude when
the brave men who exercise it are left to themselves.
There is no reason to suppose that the siege of Circassia
will terminate differently from that of Kars, nor will the
results be so widely dissimilar. Every gun that rever-
berates through these rocky defiles will find a warning echo
in the mountains of Armenia,—every flag that floats from
these blockading forts is a signal of defiance to Constanti-
nople. The ruins of these forts still remain, and Circas-
sians have rebuilt their cottages within gunshot of their
loopholed walls, little thinking that the day would again come
when a hated foe would once more invade the soil of their
fathers, to establish, against every principle of right and
justice, a barrier which should cut them from the rest of
the world ; for Russia has no right whatever to this country,
even admitting that, in the vague language of the treaty of
Adrianople, it is included. It never belonged to Turkey;
she cannot prove a single act of ownership, and, therefore,
she had no right to cede it. The clause of the treaty
opening the coasts of the Black Sea to the commerce of all
nations will here become notably restricted, for one-fourth
of them will thus be hermetically sealed against the com-
merce of all nations. The Russian troops garrisoned along
the coast will no more allow a bale of Manchester calicoes
to be carried into Circassia than they would have allowed
a bug of biscuits to be taken into Kurs, and will fulfil to the
letter that clause of the treaty which says, "a blockade in
order to be binding must be effective."

MR. BUCHANAN UPON THE AMERICAN
QUESTION.

MR. BUCITANAN, who so lately left us, has met with a
very warm reception in the United States. Upon a
recent visit to Philadelphia, he was presented with
a congratulatory address, and in his reply alluded to
the state of affairs between England and America :
Gentlemen, it is hardly proper for me to speak of the
diplomatic business in which I have been engaged on the
other side of the Atlantic ; but I have been asked, re-
peatedly—is there danger of war? I think not. But it is
simply because I believe our country to be so clearly and
decidedly in the right on the questions involved between
the two countries, that the British people never will con-
sent to irritate them into a dangerous condition for both
parties. Our commerce now covers every ocean ; our mer-
cantile marine is the largest in the world. We have the
greatest interest of any nation on earth in preserving
peace. We ought to cultivate peace with all nations. But
there is an interest superior to all these considerations,
and that is our national honour. If war should ensue—l
feel, however, no apprehension of danger at the present
moment—if the national honour of this people should
ever be insulted by any Government upon the face of the
earth-1 know that the merchants themselves, who would
have the greatest sacrifices to make, would stand by the
country at the expense of e%orything human. I can per
no danger. I ought to say, gentlemen, that I have
honestly maintained the instruction received from my
country in the negotiation which 1 have had with Eng-
land, and while I have never hesitated boldly, but
courteously, to express my opinions, I have never found
anything but personal kindness in my intercourse with the
British people. Ido not believe that any American can
ingratiate himself into the good opinions of any people in
Europe by concealing his honest sentiments upuu all
proper occasions. I have acted upon that principle, and I
have no reason to repent it.

LORD DALHOUSIE'S PENSION.
(From the Standard of Thursday.)
AT the special Court of Propr;etors at the East India
House, the proposed pension of 5,(K)01. per annum to
the late Governor-General, was agreed to by a very
great majority. We do not pretend to be qualified to
offer any confident opinion upon any question of
Indian policy, but there are some general principles
of national progress which apply to all Governments,
and which must apply to Indian Government, unless
the case of India be exceptional, of which no proof
has been offered. High among these general prin-
ciples stands the truth, that extent of territory is not
necessarily either strength or prosperity, but on
the other hand a very alarming element of weak
ness, if it be not accompanied by a correspond-
ing increase of wealth and civilisation. A ra-
pidly extending territory, therefore, by whatever
process extended, is no occasion of congratulation,
unless it be accompanied by a proportional increase
of wealth and commerce, the offspring of civilisa-
tion. Now, there can be no doubt that under Lord
Dalhousie's Government our Indian territory has
been enormously extended by annexation ; but, un-
fortunately, that extension of territory has been ac-
companied by a very great decline of revenue. To
this it may, and rrobsbly will, be answered, that the
decline of revenue is the necessary price of the
acquisition of additions to the British Indian empire.
To us, however, taught as we hsve been by history
and by the late—we may say the actually present—
experience of our own country, this answer is not
satisfactory. Every empire, as far as our records
reach backward, that has sought greatness by exten-
sion of territory, to the neglect of internal resonriks,
has failed—almost always failed miserably. "No
one," says the Greek proverb, "is so thirsty as a
dropsical man ;" and, doubtless, East Indian pro-
prietors may swallow with delight every accession of
territory, but it is the' duty of all who love truth and
love their country to warn the patient of the neoes-
sary effect of the too liberal indulgence.

SATURDAY,

LORD RANELAGH'S LETTER.
TO THE MEMBERS OF THE CiRLTON CLUB.
My Lords and Gentlemen,—l have placed the following
three resolutions on the board for the next annul
meeting :

I. That this club was established for political plus
p 2 . That ohsiLis
shh.eed w epoliticalwere
entirelyprinciples
o adversef t
this)
those id v
club, saest;
ta
cated by the present Government.
3. That the presence in this club of gentlemen who
have altered their political views, and are mem-
bers of the peseta Government (to which Go.
vermnent the Conservative party has been in
direct opposition ), is injurious to the interests
of the Conservative party, and is at variance
with the principles upon which the chili was
established.
I have noticed that personal feelings on subjects brought
unier the consideration of the club at the annual meetings
not unfrequently interfere with the fair expression and
temperate consideration of the views of the proposer of a
motion, and those by whom he is supported. It has,
therefore, occurred to me, that I shall not only save myself
from misapprehension, but also enable you to arrive at II
mote just conclusion, it 1 give the reasons which have im
duced me to place these resolutions on the board in a form
which admits of no mistake.
I think I may assert without contradiction that the
Carlton Club was established for the furtherance of pain-
cuter views. I think I may venture further to assert that,
either from his antecedents, or the careful inquiry of the
committee, every noblemen and gentleman who has been
elected has been deemed, and has actually admitted himself
to be, of Conservative politics.
Do 1 state too much when I maintain that without that
qualification he would have been inadmissible?
His acceptance of election, therefore, has been, on his
part, an acquiescence in the known principles of the club.
1 will not trouble you with a history familiar to your-
selves, the cause of which events, originating with Sir
Robert Peel, led to the formation of a party within the Con-
servative body which assumed, or to which was assigned,
the name of the Peelite party. That party commenced its
secession on a particular point of fiscal policy. Opinion was
divided on that subject ; audit was considered by many that
the severance of particular gentlemen from the views of
their party on one subject did not indicate an absolute and
entire departure from the common purpose of those with
whom they ordinarily acted in public affairs. I, therefore,
with others, deemed it expedient and only fair to await the
moment when the Legislature should settle that agitated
question, in the hope that those whom au individual difie-
rence had estranged might return to the common alliance.
I think that such a course was temperate on the port of
those who differed with the seceders, as well as just towards
them.
But I venture to think, considering the character of the
club, its known political purposes, and the distinctness of
their politics, that this was the fair limit of forbearance.
Even place or office under an actual Peelite Government
(for the sake of fair concession) I include in the same
category ; for the came hope might be entertained towards
the Peelite party generally as might exist towards an indi-
vidual member member of it : but the full of the Aberdeer
Government brought about practically, in the House of
Commons, the extinction of the Peelite party.
To the Peelite party, therefore, to use their own
language, two courses were open—the one to rejoin those
from whom they were severed only by one difference, or to
join those who had been and are the opponents of the CUR'
servative party.
'f here are members of this club holding office under the
present Government ; and I appeal to you if this is cons's-
tent with that which they either personally undertook, or
was undertaken for them, as the condition of their election
here. If it is, my motion is unfounded and inopportune;
if it is not, you ought to vote for it. At uny rate, it Is tne
ground upon which I have thought it my duty to place
these resolutions on the board.
I shall exceedingly regret if any word of the resolutions,
or any expression in this letter, should be supposed to ex-
tend to many excellent members of the party who, front
temporary or supposed difference, have for the moment
held aloof from the general views of the party. My
resolutions are directed against those alone who, either by
writing, voting, or stronger adhesion, have openly or in
efl'ect joined the party to which this club is opposed.
I am most unwilling to obtrude myself ou the special
notice of the club or the party ; but I do believe in the in-
ternal resources and strength of the Conservative party, if
true to itself, and retaining its original purpose of vindi-
cating the rights of property and the freedom of the
people.--I have the honour to be, my Lords and Gentle-
men. your ob dient servant, RANILICiff.
Carlton Club, May 9th, ISM.

GENERAL WILLIAMS.
TO THE EDITOR OF " THE PRESS."

Sir,—l see you consider Sir W. Williams "as a
young man in the prime of life, being born in 1810."
I hope he may still be considered as in his prime,
but he is, at least, six years older than you imagine.
I can state this from my own knowledge, having
been with him at the Royal Military Academy at
Woolwich when he was at least two years senior to
me, my year being 1806.—Your faithful servant,
ONE NOT QUITE IN HIS PRIME.
May 10, 1856.

No FOREIGN ABII3k3SADOR OR MINISTER IN PARIS
will for the future invite to his official parties any one
who has not been presented at Court.