The Press.
London, England, 1854-12-30 00:00:00

THE PRESS.

was limited to commanding a brigade and a
division at Poona, where he had no better
opportunity of judging of the matter than if he
had been living all the time in England. Ac•
cording to this officer, native troops would be
physically incapable of standing the fatigues
of a Turkish campaign. If he means by this
that native troops would be unab'e to stand
the hardships which under the Duke of NEW•
CASTLE'S War Ministry are inflicted on our Eng-
lish troops in the Crimea, we must at once
admit the statement to be true, for English
troops themselves cannot stand them, and
when men are sent to rot away, as our army
appears to be rotting, the least robust will rot off
first of course. But by that rule English troops
would not be fit for service in England either,
for we defy any human being to survive if,
similarly half starved and houseless, and tent
less, and fireless, and shoeless, and nearly
naked, they are made to go through the work
our men have to go through daily in the Crimea.
But to say that Indian troops could not stand
campaigning, whether in Turkey or the
Crimea, if only fairly dealt with, is to state what
all experience disproves. There were many
natives of India among the irregulars of the
Turkish army on the Danube ; the French
have an African Sepoy corps in the Crimea at
present ; and Indian troops have done their
duty excellently in kffghanistan, which in
winter has a climate very much colder than that
of the Crimea.
NEGLECTS IN DOMESTIC
LEGISLATION.
Tun silence of Ministers on their intentions
in domestic legislation would seem to intimate
that we are to have no measures from the
Cabinet. Government will try and escape
from the difficulty of preparing well-consi-
dered bills, by casting upon the war the cen-
sure due to their own internal discord and

infirmity of purpose. Several practical ques-
tions, however, of great importance are ripe
for an early solution, if the powers of perform.
ance were only equal to ;he extravagant pre-
tensions of our Ministers.
It cannot be said that all the Cabinet are
necessarily engaged upon military affairs, As
the Peelites have undertaken the entire manage-
ment of the War Department, the Whig por-
tion of the Cabinet might attempt to originate
and carry some measures on the general prin-
ciples of which the country has long made up
its mind. Never was there a time with less
acerbity between Churchmen and Dissenters,
and after all that has been said and written
it is evident that the church-rates question
could easily be settled Nor need measures
on popular education be at a stand-still be•
cause the country is at war. During the
Ministries of Mr. Prrr and Lord LIVERPOOL a
variety of social questions, including poor
laws, criminal law, Indian and colonial
subjects, and Roman Catholic affairs, obtained
the immediate and vigorous attention of the
Legislature. To be sure, such giant natures
as those of the Duke of ARGYLL and Sir WIL-
LIAM MOLESWORTH did not then rule the public
counsels, yet people managed to get on with-
out them, and to conduct the 'mightiest war of
ages without relinquishing attention to the
domestic wants of the time.
In the Queen's Speech a few days since
there was no social measure of any kind men-
tioned, and the Cabinet thought it said enough
in alluding to " other matters of great interest
" and importance, which will not be neglected ;"
but we know what the promises of the Coali-
tion are worth, and we cannot accept such
mere verbiage in place of a satisfactory enu
meration of what bills (if any) will be brought
before Parliament in the adjourned session.
Of course it would be too ridiculous to suppose
that the illustrious BENJAMIN HALL'S pro-
mised sanitary schemes are intended by what
his Ministerial patrons call " other matters "
in their slip-slop style. We distrust Sir
BENJAMIN'S capacity as a sanitary reformer,
though there are certain phases of the Mary-
lebone mind which he may faithfully represent.
On providing mopsticks for pew-openers, orga-
nising the beadles, supervising street crossings,
and painting the lamp-posts with a fresh coat
of Coalition whitey-brown—on such vast affairs

1235

Sir BENJAMIN may shine as a Lycurgus. He
has yet to learn that a place amongst legislators
is very different from one in the Government,
and that to flaunt as au official is not exactly
the same as to figure as an authority. Ten
years of mediocrity may make a parochial
notoriety ; but after half a century of little-
ness a small man's career may be as distant as
ever from Parliamentary power.
The country, also, will not be satisfied until
it decisively learns what Mr. GLADSTONE is
thinking about. What are the "other matters "
which engage the Right Honourable Gentle•
inan's attention? The whole subject of war
taxation, in all its varieties, must necessarily
be forced on the consideration of Parliament,
and the legislative changes of recent years,
along with their operations on the Money
Market, cannot be overlooked by the Minister,
who is to find finances for the campaign.
Nor must it be forgotten that the landlord
and tenant question in Ireland has hitherto
been uncared for by the Cabinet, though if
Lord DERBY'S Ministry had remained in power
it would have been settled. The whole Minis.
terial staff at Dublin Castle is Peelite, but
neither Lord Sr. GERMANS, nor Sir JOHN YOUNG,
nor the Irish law officers appear to care about
the tenur3 of land, which has been so long
debated. And of law reform what hopes? Of
tho legal changes, eagerly demanded by influ-
ential portions of the commercial classes, we
are to hear nothing from Downing-street but
the stereotyped reply, "at this important
" crisis, when all eyes aro turned towards &c.,
" &c." But people can look to tho Cabinet as
well as to the Crimea, and they have sufficient
clearness of vision to perceive that "more
head" is certainly wanted amongst red-tapists
at home, whatever be the case amongst our
red coats abroad.
The only practical measure which we 11l
mentioned as yet is one in reference to
newspaper stamp, which it is supposed Mr.
GrtAnsroxx will so far abolish as to render its
adoption for postage purposes purely optional.

THE PRESIDENT OF THE COUNCIL.
LORD Jost; RUSSELL'S rashness has become
proverbial, but certainly it was never more
conspicuous than during the late debates.
His colleagues' laudation of the Militia Bill
of Lord DERRY'S Government must have
painfully brought to his remembrance his
factious attempts to defeat that wise mea•
sure by raising a democratic clamour against
it ; yet he ventured to taunt the leaders
of the Opposition with factiousness of pur-
pose, and to insinuate in ambiguous lan-
guage that they were wanting in patriotism.
In recklessly taking that line, he exposed
himself to a crushing reply, and he must
surely still remember the overwhelming force
of Mr. DISRAELI'S rejoinder to him on a memo-
rable occasion last session. " The Noble Lord
" seams to think that no one can feel for the
" glory of England unless he mouthes a 'Asti-
" tnde on Magna Charta, speaks an epitaph
"on Lord SOMERS, and steal 3 an aphorism
" from the eternal 'Mr. Burke.'" If such a
delusion were merely an amiable weakness on
the part of the Noble Lord, we should laugh at
it, and forget it as fast as his speeches, but
at times it assumes the form of invidious
acerbity, and taunting disparagement of
others. Since he has succumbed to the
Peelites, and destroyed " the Whig party," of
which he fancied himself the incarnation, his
Lordship's tone has gradually become more sour.
After having, as Mr. D ISRAELI told him last ses-
sion, " long kept his party in power by putting
"big country into difficulties,' he has now lost
authority, and placed himself and his party in
a difficulty which becomes more serious every
day. The oracle of Brookes's derives its in-
spiration from Argyll-house. The follower of
CHARLES JAMES Fox, and hereditary leader of
the Bedford Whigs, consents to be the ally of
the lifelong apologist for the Absolutists of
Europe ! No wonder, truly, that his temper is
not serene.