The Press.
London, England, 1857-02-21 00:00:00

THE PRESS.

SATURDAY,

party, has found it necessary to resort to every species of unworthy
stratagem to procure votes He has circulated all sorts of false stories
about his influence with the Government and his good deeds towards
Colchester. It is strange to find a man in such a position who has
always and justly been regarded as a gentleman. What a pernicious
bias Whiggery must give to the mind which has imbibed it, when we
find men of station and character descending to ouch low devices and
intrigues as we are sorry to hear Mr. REBOW has adopted in his candi-
dature for Colchester !

Mr. LOCKE KING, on Thursday, was the cause of an interesting
debate, with his proposition to assimilate the Franchise in Counties
and Boroughs. Viscount PALMERSTON, " who hates Reform like a
Bourbon," was the first to oppose the proposition. The House had
too much business before it for attention to the measure; and " in
" these matters, it is much safer to see one's way, and to take one step
"at a time. To be sure, large measures were necessary in 1831 and
" 1832, but the same state of things does not now exist." In short,
the Premier very wisely applied the " cold-water cure" to the hot and
hasty zeal of the fiery Reformer, Mr. LOCKE KING. Lord JoHN RUSSELL
next rose, and his tone was highly significant. In trenchant style
the Noble Lord made light of the excuses about Government being
too busy, and the House not having time enough. Neither on Church
Rates, nor on National Education, nor on Agricultural Statistics, had
the Government any measures, so that the plea of time was not avail•
able. The Noble Lord then made the following most important
statement :

I think it may be said, that there is no great pressure in the public mind, no
national urgency for the adoption of a comprehensive measure of Reform. For my own
part, I should think it was very imprudent in my noble friend (Lord Palmerston) if he
were now to say that it was the intention of the Government to disturb the Legislature
and the mind of the country by such a comprehensive measure.

These are important words from Lord Joey RUSiELL. Mr. RENTINCIL
(Member for West Norfolk) pithily inquired of Lord JOHN RUSSELL
what were the practical measures brought forward by his own Cabinet
from 1810 to 1852 ; and we must say that the question was well put.
Sir JAMES GRAHAM attempted to defend Lord JOHN RUSSELL:—" To
" the Noble Lord is mainly due (! ) the Reform Bill of 1832." It
would seem that Sir JAMES GRAHAM is anxious to renew his old ties
with the Noble Member for London. The reference to " finality" by
the Right Hon. Baronet was rather maladroit. In his own language
he again " did penance on the floor," by admitting that once he had
been in favour of " finality ;" but it " had been his fortune to
" live long enough to know that that ground was wholly untenable.
Mr. SIDNEY lIERBERT made a very clever speech, which was loudly
cheered by the Opposition. " If," said the Right Hon. Gentleman,
" 10/. is to be the only franchise, how can you defend the existence of
" boroughs at all ?" and he drew the attention of the House to the
opinion entertained by the promoters of the original Reform Bill,
" that time great error of that Bill was the uniformity of its franchise."
The antagonism of Lord Joni.; RUSSELL to the Prime Minister, and
the divergence of opinion manifested between Sir JAMES GRAHAM and
Mr. SIDNEY HERBERT, are Parliamentary• incidents that cannot be
overlooked at the present time.

We beg to call the attention of our readers to the very important
despatch of Prince GORTSCHAKOFF in answer to the despatch of Lord
CLARENDON, of the 12th of November last, published in THE PRESS of
last week. We will at present say no more of the important document
we print than that, after reading its arguments, couched in the most
temperate and conciliatory language, we can well understand Lord
CLARENDON'S reasons for declining to publish the correspondence.

The debate last week upon the motion brought forward by Cap-
tain LEICESTER VERNON, relative to the removal of General Pou-ocK
from the direction of the Last, India Company, has caused a good deal
of discussion. It is said, and we have reason to believe with much
truth, that the removal of the gallant officer has some significant
relation to the perpetration of a certain job. When the matter was
first broached, Sir GEORGE POLLOCK resisted, and though by no means
the sole objecting individual in the Court, yet he was about the only
one competent to give an opinion upon the subject. Those who know
Sir GEORGE POLLOCK will readily believe that his opinion upon the
matter was as manly and straightforward as it was sound and honest.
In short, his high, independent, and conscientious feelings of what
was just and honourable, gave, it is said, so much weight to that
opinion, that the gallant general's removal was considered by the head
of the department as a sine qud non to the success of the little job.
Some hints thrown out by Mr. VERNON SMITH, as to his own conve-
nience leading him " to prefer gentlemen who never interfered with
" him," tend to the belief that these rumours are not entirely destitute
of foundation ; and, indeed, those hints themselves may opportunely
be intended as cautions to others. Where a packed jury is a thing of
necessity, the right of peremptory challenge must be insisted on.
Should these surmises be correct, the public may shortly expect the
true reason of this apparently capricious proscription to be fully
exposed.

We cheerfully admit that the appointment of Mr. HENRY MARTLEY
to be Chief Commissioner of the " Court of Encumbered Estates in
Ireland is an excellent choice. Mr. MARTLEY is a Conservative
barrister of great eminence, whose name has occasionally been cited in
our columns amongst the leading notabilities of the professior. in
Ireland. He is the near relative of Lord Justice BLACIBURNE, ar.d
enjoys much personal popularity. His rank at the Bar, both as an
advocate and lawyer, gives strong ground for hoping that he will be on
effective Chief Commissioner. Mr. WHITESIDE mentioned in the
House of Commons that there were 700 petitions for sale, and 500
abstracts of title, left as arrears by Baron RICHARDS, and we have heard
ourselves many things about this " Encumbered Court," to which we
may advert at a future time.

FEBRUARY 21, 1857.

MATERIALS FOR A " ROMANCE."