The Press.
London, England, 1854-05-27 00:00:00

THE PRESS.

492

THE ADHERENTS OF DEAR MUSCOVIE.

Aia—" The Bonnets o' Bonnie Dundee."

To the Lords of the Council 'twas ABERDEEN spoke
" If the war maun gae on it is mair than a joke ;
So, lads, if ye're wise, and be guided by me,
Yell mak' up the quarrel wi' wild Muscovie.
So throw down the sabre, and tak' up the pen,
Dismantle the shipping, and ca back the men ;
My part in the matter I ne'er shall forgie,
If aught evil happens my dear Muscovie.
" Wha' kens what NAPIER may already hae done
And DIINDAS in a fatal' direction' * has gone."
But PAM, the douce man, said, " E'en just let them be,
The mob has no stomach for wild Muscovie.
So stick to the soldiers. and put by the pen,
We won't have a year of such humbug again ;
For the place where we sit we may never more see
If we dawdle much longer with wild Muscovie."
Turned the Premier to HERBERT, despair in his eye,
And begged him his gift of persuasion to try—
" To these wilfu' people speak twa words or three,
Or we'll ne'er get to friendship wi wild Muscovie.
Just tell them the danger that threatens, ye ken ;
That GLADSTONE can't pay, or in four years, or ten ;
That railing Freetraders are charging to me ;
That war ever happened wi dear Muscovie."

And HERBERT regards him with countenance queer,
And whispers " impeachment " with some little fear—
" Lords, Commons, and people, you clearly must see,
Will force us to hard knocks with wild Muscovie.
I'd throw down the sabre, and take up the pen,
Dismantle the shipping, and call back the men.
But the people won't leave it to you or to me,
They'll make us give battle to dear Muscovie."
He answered, " There's spinners, like COBDEN and BRuaux,
Who care for no country and favour no fight ;
Peace Society pedlars, ' one hundred and three,'
Who'd give up old England for rich Muscovie.
There's gold where the League all their subsidies drew,
And votes for the foe we can count 'on a few ;

And printers of cotton no doubt will bleed free
For the markets of Greece and of dear Muscovie."

As he pleaded with HERBERT—the gloom on his brow—
Lord JOHN he was flyting and shaking his pow ;
But GRANVILLE, well pleased, looked both couthie and slee,
Thinking luck to the friendship with wild Muscovie.
Quoth he, " If we're drifting toe near to the rocks,
We can raise the old cry of the tactics of Fox ;
We, coolly, can quote Eighteen hundred and three,
And swear he'd have treated with wild Muscovie."

And thus would this patriot Council go on
Till our patience, and money, and credit were gone,
And the youngest among us the end might not see
Of the gentle remonstrance with wild Muscovie.
But the flash of our flag and the tramp of our men
The mem'ry of NELSON will wake up again ;
And the dullest in Europe in noonlight will see
That placemen—not Britons—fear black Muscovie.

• " The fleet sailed in the direction of Sevastopol."—Daily Papers.

MEETING OF THE DEFEATED MINISTERS.
YESTERDAY.

A MEETING of the Ministers took place at the Premier's yesterday
(Friday afternoon, in consequence of the defeat on the preceding
night. There were no regular minutes taken down, but the following
has been handed us as a tolerably accurate report of what took place.

Lord ABERDEEN: We have met, my lords and gentlemen, at Lord
John Russell's especial desire. I conclude, therefore, that he has
some proposition to lay before us. We shall be happy to hear him.
They take seats.)
Sir JAMES GRAHAM : Ten thousand pardons ! but, before we begin,
I would just venture to mention something that will give pleasure to
everybody, especially to my good friend the Premier. I have reason
to believe, from certain despatches, that we shall soon hear of a signal
disaster having happened to the Russians in the north.

Lord ABERDEEN (tartly): I would be sure which way the disaster
had fallen before I talked about it, Sir James. Of course, I desire all
prosperity to the arms of England, but if the inscrutable wisdom of
—fortune—should decide that the cause of humanity can best be served
by a successful resistance on the part of Russia, we should look very
foolish.
Lord PALMERSTON : Napier would say that fortune had made a mis•
take, and would insist on a rehearing of the cause.

SATU:

Lord JOHN RUSSELL : I suppose, my lords and gentlemen, that it
is almost needless for me to state why we have assembled here ?
Sir C. Woon : Because you wished it, John. Lord Aberdeen
said so.
Lord J. RUSSELL (with a compassionate smile) : Just so. But as to
my reason for wishing it. Last night, or, to be more accurate, this
morning, another of the most important Ministerial measures of the
present session was rejected in a very full House of Commons, making
two Government defeats, on measures of principle, in three days.
Sir C. Woon : Come, we were only beaten by four this time. If
five more had been whipped in we should have carried the bill. I
really do not see anything to be much vexed about.
Lord J. RUSSELL: The House held nearly five hundred members.
I repeat that these two signal defeats in three days indicate a very
unsatisfactory state of things.
Lord ABERDEEN : It may save trouble if I express a hope that you
are not going to talk any nonsense—you know what I mean. (,Sen-
sation.)
Lord J. RUSSELL : Of course I know, and, equally of course, I was
not thinking of proposing anything of that kind. No amount of defeats,
my lords and gentlemen, would justify us in abandoning the helm of
the State at this most important conjuncture. (Cheers.) I cannot con-
ceive anything more humiliating than to shrink from our duty to
Europe, merely because a few uninformed men think differently from
ourselves on certain domestic details. (Loud cheers.) In Magna
Charts
SEVERAL VOICES : All right—we agree—never mind Magna Cbarta!
Lord J. RUSSELL : Very well, or I could have shown you, both
from that document and other authorities, including the good and
great Lord Somers, that every man owes a duty to his country. But
you admit it, and that is enough. Now, in reference to this affair last
night I wished to say this. I shall, of course, be asked in the House
by Shelley, or Sir Benjamin Hall, or some other patriot, whether I
have any further intentions in regard to the cause of Jewish emanci•
pation.
Lord PALMERSTON : Let me answer him. I'll make him wish that
he hadn't spoken. If it is Shelley, I'll ask him what the deuce he has
to do with Jews, and that I hope the farming of which he never loses
a chance of telling the House is not turning out so badly that he's
driven to discount. (Laughter.)
Mr. GLADSTONE : I do not know that I am entirely unprepared to
agree with those whose habits incline them to treat such topics with
more external decorum—not, of course, that I impute indecorum to
the noble lord, and I would scarcely, I think, recommend a jocular
reply to any such interrogatory. Some speakers are successful with
wit—res eat aliter mecum--

Sir C. Woon: Hear, hear ! Hear, hear ! Hear, hear !
Mr. GLADSTONE (smiling): Does the Board of Trade apprehend
me? May I ask him how he interprets these four Latin words?
Sir C. WOOD: 0, bother, I'm not going to be examined, but I
understand Latin as well as anybody else.
Mr. GLADSTONE : Let us leave this, if you please. I was about to
submit that the noble lord, if questioned as to the intentions of the
Government, as to Jew emancipation—
Sir J. GRAHAM : Jew emancipation ! A poor phrase, and con-
nects the affair with the idea of the Catholic struggle. Why don't
Houndsditch produce a Daniel O'Moses, and agitate?
Lord ABERDEEN : If Graham can preach disturbance, I am bound
to say he seldom loses his chance.
Mr. GLADSTONE (impatiently): Pergamus. It must be remembered
that Lord John Russell will have to answer for the whole Administra-
tion, and therefore he very properly consults us on the subject.
Now, at the outset, I beg to guard myself against being understood to
be committed, except temporarily, by any opinion I may express.
Subject to that reservation, I decidedly think that his reply should be
to the effect that the subject is still under the consideration of her
Majesty's Government.
Lord PALMERSTON: A very good answer. Ido not know one which
has done better service in its time. It is well, however, if you wish
to be civil to the man who asks, to begin that you are indebted to
your honourable friend, if he will permit you to call him so, for giving
you the opportunity of saying—and so forth. A few friendly words
stave a fellow off for a fortnight.
Lord J. RUSSELL : It will not do. I desire—and with due respect
to my colleagues—l design to give an explicit reply about these Jews.
I made it, Aberdeen remembers, a sine quti non on joining him that I
should bring in the bill every year, and I mean to do it. The question
is, in what form I am to make my next attempt.
Lord PALMERSTON : I think you should change the form, if only for
the sake of variety. What do you say to erecting Old Jewry into a
sort of Hebrew municipal corporation, with power to elect twelve
patriarchs to the House of Commons—with a clause distinctly pro-
viding that none of them are to offer any articles for sale during the
sitting ?
Lord J. RUSSELL : I feel disinclined to threaten the House with
doing the thing by resolution.
ALL : No, no ; that won't do!
Lord ABERDEEN : You see that would bring Us into the dispute,
and that must not be.
Lord CLARENDON : Just so.
Lord CRANWORTH : Exactly.
Lord GRANVILLE : Precisely.
Duke of ARGYLL : I dissent. I have spoken on the question in
way which, without vanity, I may say combined a statement of all the
arguments on both sides, with a novelty and felicity of treatment very
much applauded by my private friends.