The Press.
London, England, 1854-09-02 00:00:00

THE PRESS.

828

THE

W E E K.

THE gallant spirit of the nation will be severely wounded by the in-
telligence of the abandonment of the Crimea expedition. On this
point there can no longer be room for doubt. Marshal ST. ARNAUD
was about to summon a council of war, and councils of war we know
do not fight. The Emperor NICHOLAS has gained a mighty victory
without striking a blow. Action was delayed till the sickly season
came on, and pestilence had wofully thinned the ranks and broken
down the spirits of the allied army. The campaign is over—the year
is lost. Who is to blame? That is the question which now will ring
through the country. It will be asked too—Was not this boasted ex-
pedition a mere sham ? Was not its abandonment foreknown ? Three
weeks ago—on the 12th of August—there appeared in our leading
columns words which now seem prophetic :
" General officers will not forfeit their military reputation nor entail
disasters on their country to help the gambling chances of a desperate
Ministry. The grand expedition authoritatively announced as des-
tined for the capture of Sebastopol will prove as delusive as other
announcements of a like kind put forth to amuse the public for some
months past."
The secret of our prescience is soon told—we knew Lord
ABERDEEN.

The stress and pain of war, though hitherto there has been no
fighting, are beginning to be painfully felt in many a home. Sickness
has carried off numbers of our brave fellows in the East, both ashore
and afloat. Each division seems to have lost from 100 to 150 men,
and, among those unvisited, health was but comparative, all the troops
being much enfeebled. The French army, however, has sustained losses
which must be counted by thousands. On some of the ships the
pestilence fell like the sweep of a destroying angel's wing. The disease
broke out simultaneously in several ships : the Britannia lost fifty men
in the first twenty hours, and thirty more in the next twenty hours.
The sailmakers were exhausted by their labours in sewing up
hammocks—the seaman's shroud and coffin—and, minding their duty
too strictly, were sometimes seized at their work. The last accounts say
that the health both of the troops and ships was much improving: often
the pestilence departed as suddenly as it came, silent, inscrutable, tra-
versing the ship like a living thing, then floating away on the air when
its deadly mission was done. The officers aboard suffered little, though,
as regarded midshipmen and others, they fared to all appearance no
better than the men in either diet or berths. Those, however, who
escaped free seem to have been much enfeebled, not in spirit only,
but in physical condition.
No movement from Varna had been made on the 19th, and the
troops, the French in particular, were incensed at their long inaai-
vity, suffering as they had done. The fact cannot be concealed that
there has been fearful mismanagement somewhere.
The cause of the fire does not seem to have been discovered.
Some innocent Greeks, we fear, fell victims to the exasperation of the
soldiery. In an Eastern town, when- the weather is dry, and an im-
mense number of careless strangers are assembled, smoking and
drinking, it is easy to understand how a fire may occur without attri-
buting it to incendiarism. Some army stores were lost, but the
most important escaped uninjured.
In Asia the report of the battle between the Russian army
under Prince BEBOUTOFF, and the Turkish army of Kars, on the Oth
ult , turns out to be correct. The fight was obstinate and not deci-
sive: " the Turks," says BEBOUTOFF in his despatch, " displayed a
" resistance such as the oldest of our soldiers had never witnessed
" before." The loss in killed and wounded on each side seems to
have been about equal, from 2,000 to 3,000, but the Russians took 2,000
prisoners and fifteen guns. The Turks retreated much discouraged,
At present, therefore, the Russians are masters of the country.
From the Baltic- we hear that the allied fleets had appeared off
Hango on the 16th. The Russians blew up their fortifications and
retreated to Abo, where a large body of troops was collected. The
Aland Islands are to be evacuated,—a proof, it is supposed, that
Sweden will not join the allies, or provision would have been made
for their occupation.

Vienna, the seat of diplomacy, where Austria fights all her battles,
and gains continual victories, has been busy of late. Last week diplo-
matic notes told how bases of peace had been arranged ; now we have
a note from Count Bum, of prior date, tending to throw some light on
the policy of the Austrian Cabinet. It is addressed to the Austrian
Ministers in Paris and London, and is written as a commentary on
that Russian answer to the Austrian summons to evacuate the Princi-
palities, which was dated the 29th of last June. It is only important
as showing that, upon this very indecisive and unsatisfactory reply;
Count Buot. inferred that negotiations for peace might be built.
" What aim," he asks, "have the endeavours of the Powers constantly
" had other than the return of a firm and lasting peace ?" And, again,
" The belligerent Powers will doubtless, therefore, feel it their duty
" maturely and conscientiously to consider whether the tenor of the
" answer of the Cabinet of St. Petersburg does not contain such germs
" of arrangement as might pave the way for a definitive pacification."
And this when the Russian .Cabinet had declared that it could not, for
strategical considerations, abandon the military positions it had

SATURDAY,

taken up in the Principalities. The latest intelligence from Vienna
intimates that the Russian and Austrian Courts seem likely to come
to an agreement, and that orders had been despatched to check the
advance of the Austrian forces.

In home politics the most remarkable event is the meeting at
Newcastle on the management of the mar. There was a large and
respectable assemblage, and decided language was used. Thus Mr.
CRAWSHAY said—" I feel it is time to break up this Coalition;" and Mr.
Arrwoon spoke of the expulsion of Ministers from office amid cheers
which checked his voice for some minutes. The meeting was furious
at every allusion to the "dark and deadly Austria" of Comm.

Matters have mended in Spain. In Madrid, as in other Euro-
pean capitals, the soldiery proved themselves the guardians of order.
After O'DossEr.t.'s troops had entered the capital the violence of the
clubs abated, and the order for their suppression was obeyed without
a murmur. Queen CHRIBTINL had taken her departure from the capital
without opposition. O'DONNELL appears to be the most energetic
member of tho Government.

BEAunret bountiful nature has this year bestowed on us her warmest
smiles. She has come with both hands full of ripe, heavy, golden
grain, scattering over tho wide surface of the country the blessings of
abundance, with Hope, and Mirth, and Plenty, and all kind deities of
household life, about her, to cheer and gladden the hearts of toiling
millions. Wherever the plough has broken up the soil, and seed been
scattered into the bosom of the earth, the cultivator is now reaping an
ample return for his care. Rarely has the earth borne a richer harvest.
The most inexperienced eye, as it glanced over the waving field of
ruddy or yellow corn, could mark how thickly the stalks grew, how tall
and straight they rose, how the heavy ear gently bent with its weight
of wealth. In some districts the oats appeared even more luxuriant
than the wheat, and sunk their plumy heads beneath light showers of
rain. From the extreme dryness of the air and the heat of the sun
the corn has remained in the fields, after reaping, a much shorter time
than usual, so the symmetrical shocks which give au aspect of order to
the labours of husbandry soon disappeared from the stubble-fields,
and the plough began its labours for another year. By this date an
immense quantity of grain must have been secured in the finest
order: the yield and weight are almost universally described as very
good, and from the high prices of the last two years a much greater
breadth of land was sown than usual. Thus from natural laws, when
price is not interfered with, abundance results from comparative
scarcity. Agricultural statistics would be useful now to determine
how far we are likely to be independent of foreign supplies. Abroad
the crops have been generally plentiful, especially in Canada, but it is
questionable whether prices will fall to the range of three or four
years back. Gold, notwithstanding Sir R. MURCHISON'S predictions to
the contrary, pours plentifully in from the Californian and Australian
mines. The world's population—its civilised portion at least—is fast
increasing in numbers and wealth, and thus rapidly absorbs the pre-
cious metal. Still the addition of so many millions of gold (certainly
not less than a hundred millions since the first discovery in the valley
of the Sacramento) is likely to have some influence in enhancing
prices. Ships from Australia with tons of gold, valued at one, two,
or three hundred thousand pounds sterling, which at one time would
have been hailed with ringing of bells, and firing of guns. and shouts
of multitudes, continually come up the Mersey and Thames, and
excite no more remark than if they were colliers. In spite of war and
its drain, the funds are high and buoyant, the rate of money easy,
and we may boast, as a nation, in being just now blessed with a most
abundant crop of both grain and gold.
Other topics of our domestic history are less cheering. The cholera
and diarrhoea last week carried off upwards of one thousand souls.
The Beard of Health, as was to, be expected, seems to have done
nothing to abate the pestilence. Sewer-gratings continue untrapped in
every street, sending up poisonous gases. From wealthy Belgravia some
persons waited on one of the police magistrates this week to know what
steps could be taken to have the drains trapped, which bred pestilence
to the neighbourhood. The magistrate could only recommend them
to the Board of Health, which would probably recommend them to
some other place, while the inhabitants were being recommended by
the "fell sergeant" to the nearest undertaker. In such cases as these
the Board of Health—if it be more than a name—should not wait to
have applications made to it. Its officers should be on the search for
nuisances, and the plain direction of " follow your nose" would
always be sufficient guidance.

NOTICES TO CORRESPONDENTS.
(At the service of the Coalition Journals.)
FREE COMPANION:-.." Sheennonsense" is a good compound word, partly derived from the
Saxon and partly the Latin. It is applied (and we think properly) by the Secretary of
State for Home Affairs to describe the arguments of the .Secretary to the Treasury.
MiC•TALLETRAND (Aberdeenshire).—l ou hare won the bet. The present Earl of Aberdeen
did not negotiate the Barrier Treaty. To your second question, we have no idea by what
process he means to restore the Orleanists, nor why his organs abused Napoleon 111. till
the .Russians had entered the Principalities. To your third queoion, the Austrians have
secured to themselves the showman's choice," anything they please."
BUCK-EYE.—Mrs. Stowe is quite. correct as relates to Mr. Macaulay—he does "seize on an
" idea, and tarn it inside out, and Jake it on all sides," so well that Andrew Marvell or
Pens trnnld hardly know hie own rt:so;o.