The Press.
London, England, 1857-05-02 00:00:00

THE WEEK.

THE proceedings on Thursday in the House of Commons were more
tame than is customary on the first assembling of a new Parliament.
The ceremonial of electing a Speaker did not evoke those warm cheers
which were heard on former occasions. The crowd of new members
could not be expected to feel particularly interested in the elevation
of a gentleman with whom they were not personally acquainted, and
whose merits they had to take on trust. The oratory of Lord HARRY
VANE was not calculated to awaken the feelings of the House, though
politicians keenly discussed the reasons which induced the Premier
to choose so narrow an " Old Whig "' to act as proposer of Speaker
DENISON. Such a choice does not smack strongly of any new-born zeal
for more Reform Bills. The Premier too was less happy than usual.
In referring to predecessors, it would have been as well to have con-
fined his retrospective eulogy to Speaker SIIAW LEFEVRE, or, as he
mentioned Speaker ABERCROMBY, the Noble Lord ought to have men-
tioned Speaker MANNERS SUTTON, who was excellent in preserving
order. One remark was awkward. In congratulating the Speaker
elect, Lord PALMERSTON said :

While you are yourself a new Speaker, there are a great number of the Members o
this Parliament who are new to its walls ; and consequently the task you will have to,
fulfil will be more difficult to discharge than that of your predecessors.
- - - -

It was for that reason, even in a Reformed Parliament, Mr. MANNERS
SUTTON was chosen Speaker ; and we still think that the present emi-
nent occupant of the chair may want special fitness. Now, however,
that ho is elected, we sincerely desire that Speaker DENISON may
realise the expectations of his friends.

But how will the new Parliament work? Are its elements more
placed above the popular passions, or more democratic than the
last? Are the new Members men who will bring to the work of the
session the fresh ardour of newly-born responsibility; or are they dis•
posed to fall into the beaten path of the House? Such are among the
questions we hear on every side. There probably never wits a time
when the conduct of our public men was so likely to influence the
destiny of the nation. The want of confidence in the professions of
Ministers, especially the shifting, evasive expedients by which
dangers are averted and difficulties met, have latterly impaired to a
great extent the weight of that influence which the House
of Commons ought rightfully to exercise over the nation, and
this, too, at a time when the House has virtually assumed the chief
agency of Government. The terrible shock to public credit we have
seen of late; the social stains from the fraudulent bankruptcies; the
iniquitous speculations ; the swindling associations, involving names
we were used to think among the highest in the trading world, must
be effaced by the spectacle of character and propriety in Parliament.
It is there must be seen the denial that exceptional crimes are the
characteristics of our time. If we cannot refute the opinion that
there are signs of an inevitable degeneracy—the marks of impending
decay—our prospect will be indeed a dreary one. The downfall of the
late monarchy in France was believed by many to be accelerated by
the rottenness and corruption of Parisian society ; crimes the most
appalling were rife among classes where such were once utterly
unknown, and men saw in their portents the evidences of that infi-
delity and untrustfulness which sooner than all else saps the moral
sense of a people. It is therefore essentially by the influence of Par-
liament that we hope to see the country brought back to its national
self respect. Feelings like these are irrespective of party. We desire,
RR Conservatives, to see a House of Commons composed of men
strenuously devoted to discharge their high trust, faithful to their oath
as statesmen, true to their duties as citizens. There are many
names in the list of new Members which strengthen us in these
hopes. We sincerely hope that the House will merit the confidence
of the country.

There was something more than a burst of passionate warmth in
that declaration of the old King, that he would take the first sixteen
men of honest character he could meet with to govern his realm.
There was the innate consciousness that good faith and principle were
the greatest requirements of State-craft; and if these were deemed such
in days when to the almost despotic will of a few was committed the
whole fate of a people, how much more so are they now, when society
boasts so loudly of its " progress"?

The death of her Royal Highness the Duchess of GLOUCESTER,
though it will naturally be the source of deep regret far and wide, is
not an event that is in itself melancholy. The Royal Lady had passed
a long and honoured life. She had reflected the lustre of private
worth and profuse charity upon the race to which she beonged,
and had contributed to endear the name of royalty to the
English people. She has died full of years and honours, and
surrounded by respect and love, and has left not a bitter memory
behind her It is pleasant to reflect upon the character which the
numerous children of GEORGE 111. won for themselves among the Eng-
lish of that hearty generation which witnessed their adolescence, and
to remember that the genial admiration with which they were regarded
in youth was exchanged for respect and esteem in their maturer
years. Her Majesty can desire nothing better for her own daughters,
than that they may live and di. like the Duchess MARY of Gloucester.

SATURDAY,

With some earnestness the French journals describe the visit of
the Grand Duke CONSTANTINE to be non-political, and abjure any idea
of its being other than an excursion purely pleasurable. This is
simply absurd. No one has a right to question the motives which
have induced the Grand Duke to travel. In Russia, his brother, the
Emperor, has invested him with a high and important command ; and
if, in examining the arsenals and studying the improvements of naval
gunnery in which the Western Powers have shown their marvellous
superiority, he should be able to acquire scientific information that
he may practically avail himself of on his return to Russia, no one can
question the right or the prudence of such a step. In the meantime
au occasion will be afforded to the Grand Duke to judge of the friendly
disposition that exists towards his country, and of the perfect good
faith with which the memory of the past has been effaced from the
minds of his former foes. Ho has been received everywhere in France
with the most marked attention—a fact that must be gratifying to all
who are sincere in their desire for the general peace of Europe. It is
not anticipated that the Imperial Duke will extend his visit to Eng-
land.

It is not correct that the differences between Austria and Sardinia
are in a fair way of termination. Both Governments have relinquished
their projects of a camp for this season; but the interference of
Austria by local and Italian agents in the question of the removal of
the naval arsenal from Genoa to Spezia is not likely to diminish the
mistrust of M. DE CAVOUR towards the Court of Vienna. The priest
party are also particularly active in their opposition to the Speziaii
project. They declare that it is proposed with a view to consolidate
the growing disaffection of Italy, and to render that place the great
harbour for Italian commerce. Why the general eligibility of Spezia
as a naval arsenal should be quoted as a reason in disfavour of a
removal from Genoa does not appear.
At Milan the entry of the Archduke MAXIMILIAN was more favour-
able than had been anticipated.

Tuscany at present interests itself in the Modena succession, and
sets up a claim for the Archduke CHARLES, the second son of the
Grand Duke, to be ultimately invested with that honour. Without
entering into any discussion upon the subject, it may be affirmed that
the absorption of the petty Duchies into the larger States would be of
benefit to Italy.

That lethargy in Neapolitan affairs which had induced a hope of
either the King or the Western Powers becoming more accessible to
negotiation has been dispelled. The late activity of MM. ANTONELLI
and CARINI has been in vain.

With respect to the Danubian principalities, there is little to be
said at present. The elections are postponed, in consequence of
certain difficulties which have arisen from the arbitrary conduct at
Jassy of the Kaimakan Vogorides in suppressing by force all public
expression favourable to the Moldo•Wallschian union. Against this
official violence a formal protest has been published, bearing the
signatures of E. CATEROIO, P. MAUROJENT, C HORMOURSAKI, J. A.
CANTACUZENA, D. COSADINI, GIORGIO STOURDZA, C. ROLLA, A. PANO, and
B. MALmEsco. They claim the right of deliberation as well as elec-
tion, accorded to them by the Treaty of Paris, and deny the right of
official interference to influence the decision. Conferences are now
sitting at Constantinople upon the questions raised.

The last China mail has brought us important intelligence. We
find the effects of the Canton bombardment spreading throughout
the China seas, and the cunning Asiatic spirit kindled into " detestable
acts" of retaliation. Among a race of people so situated, so com-
bined, and so provoked, we must not regard this fact as a matter of
light consideration. Assuming that the bombardment of Canton was
an act of justice, it must at least be acknowledged that it was neither
one of sound sense nor politic. From the last day of the
bombardment to the latest date, Sir MICHAEL SEYMOUR has
been barely able to maintain open the passage of the river. He can
afford no support to distant points, and on the first insurrection we
find Sir JAMES BROOKE, in defence of his very existence, driven to turn
loose those wild and inhuman savages the llyaks, revelling in murder,
robbery, and rapine. The Chinese of Sarawak doubtless deserved
their terrible chastisement, but it is painful to contemplate such
scenes of savage cruelty, and to observe howsoon the national character
becomes infected with the merciless spirit of our antagonists.
Sir JOHN BOWRING'S position is not one to be envied. Upon his
head lies the blood of every murdered man and woman, English and
Chinese, at Sarawak. He has aroused a spirit of revenge among the
Chinese colonists that he had neither the sagacity to foresee nor the
power to restrain. The inhumanity of his conduct has only been
equalled by its impolicy. As there can be no longer any doubt that
the war will be a great war, it is legitimate to assume that it will
embrace great objects,—the extension of our trade to the north, the
opening of fresh ports, possibly a resident ambassador at Pekin.
From the recent republication of the old China Parliamentary papers,
it would seem that the occupation of Chusan or Formosa is intended.
Now. we want trade, not territory, in China. If we wish to preserve
our friendly relations with the other great Powers of the world, we

MAY 2, 1857.

must not in China attempt to repeat the old story of aggrandisement
in Hindostan. The immediate point for consideration is how we
shall soonest put an end to the conflict. if local prejudices and
provocations compel us to action, then let the war be pushed with
vigour and success; but as peace must come some time or the other,
let us weigh well the basis upon which we are disposed to form a solid
and durable peace, that shall preserve to us the reasonable privileges
of trade, and to the Chinese security from unjust aggression.

When TAYLOR—popularly known as the devil's chaplain—once
solicited the appointment to a certain proprietary chapel, he was met
by the objection that they desired to have a preacher of strong
Calvanistic doctrines. He replied promptly, " I know all the doctrines,
and I'll preach whichever you please." Is not Lord PALMERSTON'S
position at this moment pretty nearly that of the candid divine ?
He knows all the doctrines, from the dogmas of the Duke of WEL-
LINGTON'S time to the last latitudinarianisms of Whiggery. The
man who has changed compliments with NICHOLAS, and coquetted
with KOSSUTH, must needs have a wide range on his gamut. The
Duke's henchman, Lord JoHN's Lieutenant, SYMES' sister, PERRY'S
mother, &c., must have claims to experience at least, and may well say
that he knows all the doctrines; and of his readiness to teach the
popular one, who can doubt ? Besides, has he not declared it at
Tiverton ? Have we not heard that when Reform is agreed to without,
he is quite prepared to ratify the decision within the House? The
fact of how popular will is to he tested and ascertained, being one of the
difficulties he has not troubled himself to touch on. No ! like TAYLOR,
he regards Radicalism as only ono of the doctrines he is perfectl y
willing and ready to preach. TAYLOR, too, may have had his leanings ;
he may have liked this or that line of belief, he may have felt mere
kindly disposed to one class of argument or opinion than the other ;
and we have little doubt that the Noble Lord may have weaknesses
of the same sort. His friends, in all the indiscretion of friendship.
tell us that he really has such leanings; they hint that, though fond
of disturbance abroad, he desires peace and a strong Government at
home ; and that as to " Liberal " policy, he is quite satisfied to take it
out, " where it can do no mischief to home affairs." Now, we own we
are not of this opinion ; we think better of him than that ;
we discard the dishonesty of this suspicion, and firmly believe
that levity is the true clue to his nature. The same flippancy that
prompts him to reply in the House, assists him when he indites a
despatch to a Foreign Minister. He is very light-hearted, and of easy
conscience. Principles have no terror for him. There is no stern
obduracy in consenting to affright. In a word, he knows all the doc-
trines. and the session will show if he be not ready to preach that
demanded of him.

The Transit is doomed to be the lnite noir of the Admiralty. Her
engines turn surly in one instance, she grinds a hole in her forefoot
on another, and now she is driven into Corunna to refit after one week
at sea. But although the incapacity of a Whig Admiralty Board is
sufficiently notorious, we do not see how they are to blame for the
two last disasters to the Transit. The former was clearly the fault of
the officers in charge. It was a lulTherly act to allow the ship to foul
her own anchor in a tideway ; and the latter to some extent is simply
a result common to ships newly fitted and encountering bad weather
in the Bay. Whether it was necessary to take refuge in Corunna
must be settled between the captain and the Admiralty ; but we recog-
nise in the Times' letter this week nothing more than the ordinary
inconveniences attending a first week of foul weather. That letter is
clearly the production of a soldier unaccustomed to the pleasures of a
gale of wind ; and, in spite of all his lugubrious and foolish predic-
tions, the friends of those on board may rest assured that the Transit,
if no better, is certainly no worse than the greater number of her
Majesty's or merchant ships, and that, in spite of all her misfortunes,
she has as good a chance as the best of them of not only weathering
the Cape, but of reaching Hong Kong in perfect safety.