The Press.
London, England, 1854-01-07 00:00:00

THE PRESS.

having some months back reduced the dispute
to a question of form.
The immediate impulsion to a Cabinet con-
troversy here W 9.6 afforded by the Grand
Council of the Porte, which united in recom-
mending the Sultan to declare war. Thus a
climax had been attained by a strained
anxiety for peace, suspicious sarcasms at our
allies, and a general conduct of affairs which
neither deterred the Czar from advancing, nor
permitted him to recede with honour. This
climax was realised by the public on Novem-
ber the Ist, when, in the morning, the Times
proclaimed " a collision between the two
" armies an unlikely event," and notified in its
afternoon edition the passage of the Danube
at Kalafat. It was realised by Lord ABERDEEN
on the 9th of the same month when he was upon
his legs at the Mansion-house dinner, but de-
frauded of the self-gratulatory opportunity
he had anticipated. It was realised at Olte-
nitza on the 4th, and at Sinope on the 30th,
by both Russians and Turks, neither of whom
had occasion to be peculiarly grateful to the
negotiators who had reduced the dispute to a
question of form.
On December the 3rd we ourselves realised
it to the further extent of a formal and abso-
lute conclusion of negotiations by Russia,
which, in so far as we assumed it had been
communicated by note, the Times ostenta-
tiously denied on the Monday following. If
the Organ was right as to the note (we " con
" fees the cape "), we were so right as to the
determination, that five days before it had
been evinced by acts at Sinope. But before
this could be known the funds were again
buoyed up by another gratuitous assertion of
the same week, that "positive and definite en-
" gagements" had been entered into by the
four Powers " to maintain the existing territo-
" rial arrangements of Europe." No such en-
gagement, as we stated on December 17th, had
taken place ; but the Conference of Vienna was
revived for the benefit of Russia, to enhance
the value of its ally—Time, in severing the
cordial union between England and France,
and developing the great conspiracy which is
fomenting throughout Europe.
A glimpse of that conspiracy was obtained
through the opening made by the resignation
of Lords PALMERSTON and LANSDOWNE, Which
we recorded the following Saturday. A fort-
night later the " Palmerston Lost " was suc-
ceeded by the " Palmerston Regained." The
" Firebrand" whom the Ministerial journals
had begun to revile was again cherished for its
convenient warmth. " That person" against
whom Lord ABERDEEN had intrigued and
sneered was also again treated as a necessary
ally in the conflict. But the year had no sooner
closed with a show of unanimity and resolu-
tion than the Organ had occasion to remark
that probably by this time the Euxine had
become as inaccessible as the Baltic.
By these stages we have been conducted to
the threshold of war in the name of peace. To
this end the dispute was reduced to a question
of form ; so that, come peace or war, Russia
has gained its greatest ally—Time ; while we
meet it, and any other allies it has gained in
addition, with our hands tied, our chances
weakened, our confidence shaken, and the
conspiracy now on foot neither anticipated nor
exploded.

THE QUARTER'S REVENUE—
COOKERY OF THE ACCOUNTS.
Oun contemporary the Times was yesterday
inflated for a moment with the spirit of true
prophecy. it correctly anticipated that we
should comment on the returns of the
quarter's revenue. Certainly at this moment
the interest felt in domestic affairs is not very
profound. People are indeed aware that the
clerks of Sir ROBERT PEEL undertaking to carry
on their late master's business promised all
sorts of comforts—the especial retail benefits
for which the establishment to which they
belong was always self-celebrated ; and people
are also aware that after all their labours—
eustoms repealed, taxes remitted, monopolies
abolished, tariffs re-edited--only yesterday they
had to put out the national quarterly account,
showing a general falling off in the returns.
Well, it was not entirely their fault : the