The Press.
London, England, 1853-06-11 00:00:00

LONDON, SATURDAY, JUNE 11, 1853.

No. 6.—VoL. I,

Virtss.

VONDON, SATURDAY, JUNF: 111, 'Pea

WE have endeavoured from the first to guard
our readers front falling into the convenient
toils of the Stock Exchange and of the ABER
DERN prints, and of believing their represen-
tations that the present state of affairs in Tur-
key Is a mere diplomatic imbroglio. Accord-
ing to the representations of the Ministers, the
assertions of their journals, and the rumour
of the Bourse, all ought by this time to have
been satisfactorily arranged On the con-
trary, the situation becomes daily more dan-

gerous.
Prince MENSCIIIKOFF travelled night and day
from Constantinople to St. Petersburg. His
announcement that the ultimatum had not
been accepted excited the liveliest anger of
the Emperor, who ordered a common courier
to depart immediately for Constantinople, and
41frer again the propositions of the sth of May,
with a declaration of immediate hostilities in
case of their renewed rejection. This mode
of communicating between two great powers,
by an ordinary messenger, was of course only
intended as an insult to the Porte ; and it is
understood that despatches were sent on the
same day to Sebastopol. We are informed,
also, that the English Minister at St. Peters-
burg, Sir HAMILTON SEYMOUR, has had an au-
dience of the Emperor, in which his Majesty
expressed, without circumlocution, his deter-
mination not to spare the Turk. and the in
dignation with which the eonduct of Great
Britain had filled him. We shall see in a
moment that his Imperial Majesty may have
good ground for this latter sentiment. We
are assured that this audience assumed in its
;The
a painful and alarming character.
The Emperor stated that Russia would spend
her last rouble alike against detested enemies
and treacherous friends
If the Russian fleet sailed from Sebastopol
—the possibility of which was intimated a '
week ago by Lord HARDWICKE and Mr. Dm-
RAELI—it might anchor in the Golden Horn on
the 13th inst., while the English fleet, if it
have received instructions to repair to Tene-
dos, which is in the vicinity of the Darda-
nelles, could not arrive at that station before
the lath inst. Supposing the Emperor of
RUSSIA chooses not to act immediately from
the Krimea, he has at this moment two corps
dartaie in Bessarabia; one may enter Mol-
davia by Kapriana, in which ease there would
be time. and perhaps inclination, to negotiate;
the other would enter Bulgaria by Ismail,
which would be a direct violation of the treaty
of IS4I, and an absolute invasion. In this
latter case, the Russians would follow the
same line of advance as they pursued in 182$,
when the interests of this country and of
Europe were before betrayed by Lord ABER-
DEEN. They would follow the sea-road to
Varna, their army provisioned from Sebas-
topol and their other stations on the Black
Sea. and from Varna they would move in the
direction Of Sehumlat, cross the Balkan, and
descend, as they did before, into the plains of
Adrianople. Anticipating this last project of
war by the Russians, the Freneh—baffled by
our vacillation in their plan of arresting, by

the united action of the French and English
fleets, the possible invasion front Sebastopol—
have proposed to our Government, in the
event of the invasion of Bulgaria, to pass the
Darthmelles.on the appeal of the Sultan, enter
the Black Sea, defend Varna, and blockade
Sebastopol. This movement would guard the
flank of Turkey, and arrest the march of
the Russian army, which, under these circum-
stanees, could obtain no supplies, and which
would not dare to leave such a force in their
rear. But Lord ABERDEEN '4001104 paralysed
with the responsibility of action, and 1401.41
C LAREN DON only whimpers and wrings his
hands.
Perhaps this latter distinguished statesman
may have suffieient cause for these significant,
though humiliating, evidences of a panic
stricken soul. Why, it. nmy be fairly asked,
is the present, conduct of Russia—in general
so cautious and so adroit in the accomplish-
ing of her designs—so contrary to all her
antecedents? Why, with apparently a weaker
cause than she usually embarks in, is she so
imperious, uncompromising, uncontrollable ?
What is the secret reason of these angry words
from the Emperor to Sir H. SEvmoun? If our
solution of this mystery be a true one, a graver
charge has seldom been made against a British
Minister. We are informed, and we believe
our informant, that, early in the spring, and
before the arrival of Prince MEssent KO FE at the
capital of Turkey. Baron BauNow eommuni-
cated to Lord CLARENDON the propositions
which the Imperial Government was about to
make to the Porte, in order that the Emperor,
before he took any step, might 'weenie ae-
quainted with the general feeling of England
on the subject. Lord Clarendon made uo oljw-
that to these propositions, awl in. noorime
raged the intended nurse if the Ilmodon blorern-
meat. We understand that Lord CtitnENDos
on this occasion only consulted Lord Anew
DE EN .
Hence the early and justifiable eonfidenee
of Baron BRU NOW changed into indignation,
disgust, and despair, when he witnessed the
vacillation of the English Secretary of State
—when Lord PAL3tFaisTos demonstrated to the
Cabinet the blunder which his Colleagues had
perpetrated—and when Lord C LAREN DON finally
relinquished, in obedience to the public voice,
a policy in which his sanction had induced the
Emperor of Reform to embark, and which the
honour of the Czar, and the ultimate interests
of Russia, are alike bound to sustain at all
hazards. Under these unpreeedented (growl-
stances, it is not impossible that it may be the
hitter portion of the English people to find
that they have alike deserted Turkey, offended
France, and outraged Russia ; that our nearest
neighbours may reap the sole glory of main
brining the balance of power, and vindicating
the independence of Europe ; and that, for
the first time for a hundred years, England
will not take the lead in a great naval ex-
ploit.
In the meantime, the curse of " antiquated
" imbecility " has fallen, in its fulness, on
Lord ABERDEEN. His temper, naturally mo-
rose, has become licentiously peevish. Crossed
in his Cabinet, he insults the House of Lords,
and plagues the most eminent of his eta
leagues with the crabbed malice of a maun-
dering witch. His inability to sustain debate,
or to endure discussion, becomes every day
more painfully apparent. It i 5 probable that
he does not possess that varied and more
re-
cent knowledge which, in these days, is requp

PRICE SIXPENCE.

site for any one who presumes to lead a house
of Parliament. But, however this may be, he
is not gifted with the faculty of narration, and
therefore etuutot make a public statement.
For a more difficult office of elotetenee—
namely, sustaining a chain of reasoning in a
publie assembly—he is utterly, anti appare forntle.
consciously, incompetent. Having, there
neither filets nor arguments at his command.
he absolutely takes refuge in seobling, and his
supporters and opponents either blush OE
titter, as he morosely intimates the insigniti•
t, twee of his own order, and gives the most
seeptival as to that tenet, anti the most eonti-
tient in the genius of our constitution, some
reason 14) credit his ill-conditioned iuuendoes,
by the fact that melt a man can, by any acci
dent of fortune, or by any contrivance of in
trigue, become the Leader of the Housg og
Loans.

THE INDIA QUESTION.
SIR CHARLES WOOD'S display of last week,
though unmercifully long, and thought the ma
teritds for it were unmistakeably picked up at.
second band, was nut destitute of a certain
kind of ability. Ho dealt with a vast variety of
subjects, showed sow knowledge of them all.
avoided gross blunders, and, on the whole,
performed his part as well as could be CX-
peeted from a broken-down tinaneier trans
funned into an Oriental Minister. That ho
should take am optimist view of his subject
was but natural ; that. he should I indicate the
Company front exaggerated aecusations was
not only natural, but right. But this optimism
was surely 411114(4 too Mr, when Ult.(' hint not.
merely to palliate, but to defend, the gravest
faults of the 1)1E4414,60 administration—the
want of roads, the want of schools, the uueer
Minty of laws, the ignorance of judges, thu
reckless extension of British territory, the ne-
potism of Directors, and the irresponsibility of
the Board of Control. Without fully con•
curving in the invective of Mr. Batton against
all these, it must 1w owned that his speech
came in as a seasonable oirreetive. The op
posito exaggenttions neutralise one another ;
and between theta something like truth may
be elicited.
But, if the Ministerial statement, eontain
some indieations of talent, the satine cannot be
said of the plan which it introduced. The
failure which we last week predicted
at
scarcely an hour's notice is now reeognised
and regretted on all hands. 'the scheme bears
on its face the marks of a compromise, hastily
decided upon and clumsily carried out. Thu
Court of Proprietors still exists, although no
human being defends it, either eta the ground
of theoret loth fitness or of practical expediency.
The Direetors are " 1/11L1'01Illge ;"
for the mere ntising of their salaries from :mot
to row. yearly (" adding V. a week to their
" wages," as Mr. Munn has it) will never in-
duce any rational being to go through a three
yearm. canvass for the office, while the head
clerks in Downing-street receive twice
as
much. The amount of patronage at their
disposal, again, is little diminished ; for.
if we mistake not, the proportion of
the civil to the military falls below one
in four, and the diminished nmnber of those
among whom these offices are shared leaves to
each almost as much as before of that which