The Express.
London, England, 1855-05-26 00:00:00

THE MEETING AT THE PREMIER'S.

As contributing towards the result witnessed in
rhii finale of last night's debate in the; House of
Commons, he meeting held on Thursday at the
official residence of the PRE3IIII is not unworthy of
Donee. We are the more induced to advert thereto
Dome of the total misrepresentation of what really,

we bel.eve, occurred on that ocemion,which appeared
in the wimps of a ministerial cetemporary. Ac-

cordiog to that soi-disant authority, all wins unani-
mity and concord among the heterogeneous elements
there and then assembled. The simple fact ie, that
span every point of essential moment or importance,
with the single exception of the resolution moved by
Mr. DISRAELI, the widest discrepancy of feelings and

ornetieieste previtiled, sod wee open lyexpreesed by the

Lading personages present.
The avowed object of the Piing MINISTER in
ceding together the various sections of the Howe
which oceopy ths right hand of the chair wee to lay

before than the intentions of the Government re•

puling the impending motion of the opposition
leader, which, u it implied a direct censure upon the
diplomatic conduct of Ministers in foreign affairs,
mold not possibly be accepted or acquiesced in by
the.. Lord PALWeRSTON told his auditors that he
addressed them ea the head of a united eabinet—a
cabinet which claimed their confidence in the con-
tiagence of negotiations for peace, and equally their
sonfidence in the zealous prosecution of the war,

- -
Should the mediation of Austria fail, he assured

them that the army in the East was now in the
highest condition, that they had plenty of ammuni-
tion and stores of every kind, and that failing to
obtain satisfactory terms of peace, we were now in a
position, by the strength of our own right arm, to
ensure success, and to bring the war to a triumphant
termination. Upon this rather boastful and over-
soefident tone a somewhat severe criticism was passed
by one of chaos who are usually regarded as amongst
the safest and most docile adherents of the Minister.
Lord ROBERT Clanevemos protested against the
senmption as irreligious, that future victories could
is any degree be considered as the result of a better
emersisteriat, superior ordnance, or an improved sani-
tary condition of our troops. In an assembly of
Christian gentlemen he grieved to hear it alleged that
the race was to the swift or the battle to the straw.
The issues of war were at the disposal of Heaven
thee, and it was the duty of rulers to lead thematic@
to look for the special interposition of Providence in
their favour. With unwonted gravity Lord PiL-
InuteroN replied that it was only because he was
sere the sentiment was at that moment uppermost in
the minds of his notoriously devout hearers that he
had deemed it superfluous to give it expression ; and he '
gently intimated that hie own character for orthodoxy
might Dave spared him the necessity of any special
sonfession of faith. The theological view of the case
tieing thus disposed of, the more worldly views enun-
ciated by his lordship elicited greater difference of
opinion.

Mr. LAYAILD and Mr. Batoter, concurring only in
their entire distrust of the Government, rated the
Pamirs roundly for the most opposite faults. Mr.
BRIGHT, in his most provoking style of peace-making,
taunted Minilters with not having agreed to the terms
offered by Russia at Vienna, adjured them to con-
sent to the proposals subsequently made by Austria,
and demanded categorically to know whether the
French Government had not signified its willingness
to acquiesce in these last-mentioned propositions. To
this interrogatory the Purim naturally gave a
contemptuous but good-humoured answer, simply
declining to enter in any way into a discussion so
obviously indefensible and improper. Mr. LATARD'S
reproaches were lees easily dealt with. pointed as
they were at past inefficiency, present want of plan,
and obvious want of future purpose. The member
for Aylesbury vied in roughness of speech with the
■ember for Manchester, but he failed to extract
from the adroit performer on the political slack-rope,
any other recognition than that of graceful and super-
cilious comprehension of his meaniog. Then MUM
Sir Ismail GRAHAM, plausible as BELLtL, with win-
slag looks and wooing phrases for the old•maiden
friends with whom he has newly takes up, and who
are horribly afraid of being left to wither on
the shelf of peace ; and with ponderous declare-
Voss addressea to those in power that he wee
all for maintaining the dignity and honour of
the country, and, " upon the whole," for leaving the
undivided responsibility span the shoulders of bee
Majesty's present advisors. The only thing clearly
to be gathered from the elaborately ambiguous speech
of the right hon. baronet was that be had no bites.
dos of voting with Mr. Duniazu ; bat for what alas
be was inclined to vote, oe with whom be was die-
'mad definitively to cast his lot, Sir James took care
by no phrase or paters to indicate.

The °Reg ',alkali en the measion added bat
little to the net result, which in a few words may be
said to have been a joint-stock confession of the un-
willingness of two hundred gentlemen of the Lower
Hones to be made nee of by Lord Deur as stepping-
stones to power; and an admission that upon all
other points whataaverthey were amongst themselves
utterly distorted. Lord Pra.musron probably be-
lieved, however, that he could suggest another point
of unity for his discordant genets; bat from the sin-
gularly obnoxious nature of the topic, he deemed it
wiser to keep ft carefully in reserve to the sad, and
even then rather to indicate its possibility
as a contingency than to thrust it bluntly
in the face of his most bully -able supporters.
Like the gentleman of doubtful intentions de.
scribed by FINLDINO, he merely permitted the
smallest possible part of tinebutt-end of his pistol to
be seen peeping out of one of his pockets. He cal-
culated probably that • glance, however brief, at the
alternative in question would quiet patriotic doubts
in many a legislative mind, and that he had but to
hint that if pushed hard he was ready to resort to a
dissolution, to win the suffrages of all who, having
given pledges or more valuable consideration in
order to obtain their seats at the last general election,
were not in a position to repeat those blandishments
just at present. The division lists sufficiently show
to what extent this sort of appeal from a Prime Mi-
nister may be considered successfnL It is unnecessary
to say that the resource is a desperate one; and that,
having mos been used with effect, it unapt with any
decency be again repeated. Reporters are not
allowed to be :present during the operation of Trea-
sury drilling ; bat the public, nevertheless, seldom
fail to learn all that has happened, and it is impossi-
ble to prevent them from comparing what takes place
on each occasions with parliamentary events follow-
ing in immediate sequence.—Daily News.