The Press.
London, England, 1857-02-28 00:00:00

THE PRESS.

" Fire," in December, because in order of time
one command preceded the other.
So systematic has the practice of deceit
become, that not even the simple Secretary of
the Colonies can be brought to answer a plain
question in a straightforward manner. On the
same evening that the President of the Board
of Control was brought to bay, Mr. LABOU-
CEIERE, in reply to Lord CLAUD HAMILTON,
stated that no instructions superseding those
of Earl GREY in Nov., 1847, expressly for-
bidding hostilities against China without pre-
vious communication with the Home Govern-
ment, had been sent to the Governer of Hong
Kong. Many who heard the denial of the
Colonial Secretary knew that it was incorrect,
and the following day Mr. Lawn:Timm was
compelled to acknowledge the error of his
statement. Fresh instructions had been sent
out to Sir JOHN BOWRING, "and therefore,"
said the Secretary of State, " the answer I gave
"was not completely and literally accurate."
The Admiralty is not behind other depart-
ments of the Government in attempting to
conceal facts of public importance. The First
Lord, when questioned as to the condition in
which the Meyara troop-ship was sent to
sea, first prevaricated, and then, finding that
his statements were confuted by facts, endea-
voured by ribald nonsense, and double en-
tendres, to distract the attention of the House
from the case before it.

Like master, like man. The colleagues of
the Premier aspire to follow his bright exam-
ple, and seem to think they admirably cover
his retreat by emulating his discomfiture.
After his exposure in the House of Commons,
the last nail has been driven into his coffin
by the friendly Constitutionnel, which, admit-
ting all the main facts alleged by Mr. DISRAELI
vainly attempts to cast discredit on his un-
impeachable statements by drawing from them
erroneous conclusions. Our Paris contem-
porary must be grossly misinformed if it does
not know that the secret treaty was not con-
tingent on Austria engaging in hostilities
against Russia. That treaty was intended to
secure the Italian possessions of Austria from
disturbance so long as the prospect of danger
existed. Effect was given to its provisions;
they answered their end ; they relieved the
Governments of the Italian peninsula from all
fear of insurrectionary movements; and they
secured to Austria that ascendancy in Italy
which the Court of Piedmont fondly hoped it
had taken effect ml means to destroy when
it engaged in alliance with the Western
Powers.

How shall we account for this duplicity—so
discreditable to the Government, and so dis-
honouring to the national character—per-
vading every department of the Administra-
tion? Was it ever known before that the
Ministers of the Crown systematically replied
to every demand for information by false or
evasive answers ? NAPOLEON, when he de-
signed to paint one of his great adversaries in
the most odious colours as a compound of
treachery and weakness, stigmatised him as a
Greek of the Lower Empire. In the Admi-
nistration of Lord PALMERSTON there is a com-
pound of the qualities which marked the de-
generate statesmen of the Byzantine Court.
Falsehood is invariably a mark of weakness,
and by the present Ministers it appears to be
employed about equally to hide designs that
will not bear the light of day, and to conceal
acts they dare not justify.

LORD PALMERSTON IN A NEW PART.
THE world has seen Lord PALMERSTON in many
characters—Tory, Whig, Liberal, Coalitionist,
and now Whig again. Whoever else might
come uppermost, he has contrived to float on
the surface of affairs so long as almost to
have gained the sanctity of a venerable abuse.
It would appear, however, that even the
Protean Viscount must feel himself near the
end of his stock of tricks when he is driven to
assume the shape and title of the Protestant
Premier. We do not for a moment nraan
that he has not just as good a claim to the
character of a Protestant as to the character of
a Liberal—that his religion is not every bit

SATURDAY,

as genuine as his polities ; but we think it
betokens something like desperation in so
wary a strategist as his Lordship to assume
pretensions which are contradicted by his
words and actions of but yesterday—which it
requires no ransacking of past debates, no
adroit revival of some unlucky phrase, no
laborious collection of evidence, to expose—
which carry their absurdity on their face, and
to be believed necessitate the belief of
something harder still—that PALMERSTON has
been converted by the "Saints," instead of the
"Saints" being duped by PALMERSTON.
Setting aside just now the possibility of his
Lordship's conversion to anything whatever as
being a vague speculation and beyond the scope
of practical arguments, let us glance at his re-
cent conduct, in return for which acertain sec-
tion of politicians have lately bestowed on him
so touching a mark of their confidence. We
have not far to go. No longer back than last
Thursday week his Lordship declared his sen-
timents on the repeal of the Maynooth Grant
in the following terms :
.

We were told, and I had hoped, that when the Catholic
Emancipation Act was carried we should hear no more of
these theological and religious debates, and that we should
know nothing of the religion of any member unless we fol-
lowed him to his place of worship on a Sunday.

The Noble Viscount has taken to theology
rather late in life, or he would have known
that such is by no means the essence of that
Protestantism of which he is now hailed as the
champion. In another place he defiantly
avows that "he cares not what people's reli-
" gious opinions may be ;" and, to crown all, we
find that he has " that confidence in the
" people and PRIESTHOOD of Ireland that
" he does not fear their loyalty will be impaired
"by their errors." This is strong language for
an enthusiastic Protestant, and is unquestion-
ably the most truly liberal sentiment which
his Lordship has lately uttered. It appears
that a long course of saying one thing and
meaning another has by this time relieved the
Chief of the Liberals from all responsibility
for his language, and that hon. members attach
no value whatever to his mere verbal declara-
tions. It seems strange, however, that tile
religious party which especially abhors
"mental reservations," and the use of words in
" a non-natural sense," should select for their
champion one who is such an adept at both.
Perhaps, however, the Protestant party would
tell us that. we must interpret his words by his
actions, and that, though the former sound in
one place Erastian and in another Papistical,
yet there was in reality no deception, because
Lord PALMERSTON had already published his
Protestantism to the world in an unmistakeable
manner by the appointment of four Evangelical
bishops. Unfortunately, however, it so
happens that each one of these gentlemen,
though we are far from depreciating the purity
of his religious convictions, is also eminently
distinguished for the propagation of Whig in-
fluence and the possession of powerful Whig
connections. The Bishop of CARLISLE is the
close relative of the Secretary for Foreign
Affairs. The Bishop of GLOUCESTER is the
brother of an hon. baronet, one of the staunchest
supporters of the old Whin. connection. Of
the Bishop of RIPON'S antecedents it is need-
less to speak,—the family of Lord LANGDALE
is well known for its Whiggism ; while the
activity of the Metropolitan in spreading his
political creed is notorious to all the world.
Still more unfortunate for such disputants is
the fact that there are in the Church of Eng-
land at this moment divines not less conspi-
cuous for their Evangelical principles than
Drs. TAIT, BICHERSTETH, BARING, and VILLIERS,
while thty are as much superior to these in
ability and learning as they are inferior in poli-
tical zeal. These, however, Lord PALNIERSTON
did not make bishops. We must leave our
readers to draw the conclusion and determine
whether, in these appointments, it was the
learning or the Whiggery of the candidates by
which the Premier was most actuated—
whether he was most desirous to strengthen
Protestantism by the elevation of its ablest
champions, or to encourage his party by the
reward of political adheres t
Were these facts all the data we had upon
the subject, we should still doubt whether the
Evangelical party was right in deeming them so
significant as to give Lord PALMERSTON a claim
to their support. But road in the light of

FEBRUARY 28,1857.

certain other portions of Lord PALMERSTON'S
policy, their import, or rather their non import,
in a religious sense becomes manifest indeed.
If we glance at the employment of the Govern-
ment patronage in Ireland, the Premier's
Protestantism will appear in a still stronger
light.
The appointments made by Lord CARLISLE
are :

ROMAN CATBOLICS.
1. Judge of Common Pleas
3. Attorney.G.meral
3. Chief Justice, Bombay
4 and 5. Two Assistant Bar.

risters
e. Austialian Judge
7 and 8. Two Dublin Police

PROTESTANTS.
1. Solicitor•Geueral
2. Clerk of Affidavits in the

Magistrates
0. Secretary to Commission of
Charitable Bequests
10. Crown Prosecutor, at

Court of Chancery
3. Commissioner ti inquire re-
lative to Lunatics

Green-street, Dublin
11 to 30. Twenty Circuit Crowu

4to 8. Four Circuit Crown
Prosecutors

Prosecutors
$l. Secretary to Lunatic
Asylum Commission
32. Superintendent of Educa-
tion in the Mauritius

Among attorneys the Romanists have had five
appointments as Crown Solicitors and Clerks of
the Crown, and the Protestants two,—that
is to say, in all a proportion of thirty-seven
Roman Catholics to ten Protestants. As to
the recent appointment of Mr. MARTLEY, we
believe that the position was previously
offer€d to Mr. Sergeant O'BRIEN, a Roman
Catholic, who, not finding it suitable to his
views, suffered it to descend to Mr. MARTLEY.
All these things taken in conjunction lead us
to think it just possible that the ultra-Evan-
gelicals may have blundered in assuming Lord
PALmEasToN to be one of themselves ; and that
that Noble Lord has not undertaken the very
desperate attempt above alluded to of per-
suading the world that he is a bigoted reli-
gionist. Is there not, indeed, something in
the evidence which tends rather to the oppo-
site conclusion? If his Lordship thinks it
right to promote Roman Catholics in Dublin,
he can scarcely think it a matter of profound
religious importance to promote ultra Protes-
tants at home. 111-disposed persons would be
apt to say that he (lid not care much about
either kind of creed—that he was influenced
wholly by political considerations—that his
object was to win supporters on both sides of
the Channel ; to confirm the courage and ex-
tend the influence of his own party, and at
the same time to steal some sympathy from
the opposite side by the process now familiarly
known as " gammoning the chaplain."