The Press.
London, England, 1854-07-22 00:00:00

THE PRESS.

684

THE WEEK.

ABROAD, as at home, the painful evidence of indecisive counsels is
forcing itself on public notice, and is exciting strong distrust. The
war languishes through want of an energetic will and a ruling mind to
direct it. More powerful armaments than England ever before sent
forth are condemned to inaction from want of definite instruc-
tions. Expectation, excited from time to time by the promise of
decisive movements, is continually disappointed. The Baltic fleet
advances to Cronstadt, remains long enough in view of the forts to get
some of the crews infected with cholera, and then returns to its former
anchorage. In the Black Sea our ships only exercise the vigilance of
the enemy by manceuvring in sight of Sebastopol. Nothing is done,
because no plan of operations is decided on, and, though enormous
forces have been collected, yet the main proof of Ministerial vigour
we receive is, the preparation of additional estimates, and the demand
for supplemental millions.
The telegraphic reports received last week, and repeated early in
the present, that a portion of the allied forces had advanced to
Rustchuk, turn out to be wholly unfounded. A telegraphic despatch
announced on Monday that General BROWN'S division would be at
Rustchuk on the 9th inst., and that the allies would muster there
25,000 strong, but we have now direct advices to the Rth, at which date
the division was encamped at Devna, or Dwina, some twenty miles
from Varna, on the Schumla road. The Times of yesterday anticipates
that " the regret felt at our apparent want of alacrity in marching to the
" relief of Silistria, or in joining the attack on Giurgevo, will be effec-
" tually removed by orders to the whole force to proceed against
" Sebastopol ;" but on this supposition the movement to Devna
would be unintelligible. It does not seem likely that there can be
any intention on the part of the allies to undertake operations on the
Danube this season ; the difficulty of sending supplies to that.distance;
with the imperfect commissariat arrangements would be enormous .
the marshes of the river might be fatal to the health of the troops'
and, after all, no result might be attained except the temporary
occupation of an exhausted territory.
No further operations have occurred between the Turks and the
Russians on the Danube, though preparations for a decisive blow w ere
making on both sides. Prince GoarsciimcoFF was supposed to have
concentrated 70,000 men at Frateschti, in front of Bucharest. The
action of Giurgevo must have been severe, as OMER PACHA returns his
loss at 1,700 in killed and wounded. This distinguished commander
received a warm welcome from our troops at Devna, and, as was to be
expected, the high condition of our force excited his warm commenda-
tion. The operations of the Firebrand at the Sulina mouth of the
Danube have been completely successful. The Russian batteries were
destroyed, and efforts are now making to clear the navigation of the
river from all obstruction. The Russian flotilla is thus caught, and
sails up and down the stream, despairing of safety. It will probably
be destroyed, to prevent it from falling into our hands.
Captain BUTLER has fallen a victim to his heroic exertions in defence
of Silistria. His career was short but glorious. A volunteer, he held
a naked outwork against the strenuous assaults of the enemy, and
thus mainly contributed to keep the whole Russian army at bay. It
is singular that the recognition of his noble exploits appeared in the
Gazette only the day before the intelligence of his death was received.
The successful defence of Silistria will for ever be memorable in the
annals of war. The Russian force against it amounted at one time to
60,000 men, with sixty guns in position. They threw upwards of
50,000 shot and shell, constructed upwards of three miles of ap-
proaches, sprung six mines, yet for the whole forty days the siege
lasted gained not an inch of ground. OMER PACHA is reported to have
said, with great sangfroid, that the Russians ought to have taken the
place.
The embarkation of the French destined for the Baltic is pro-
ceeding steadily: it is generally supposed to be destined for the Aland
Islands. Sir CHARLES NAPIER, with his ships, has remained inactive
since his return to Baro Sound.

The Vienna Conference has again assembled in the interests of
peace, and have addressed communications to the Courts of Paris and
London. The Prussian Envoy, Count BEUNSTORFF, has arrived here
with full powers, and had his first audience with the Queen on
Thursday. Further notes from the Ministers of Austria and Prussia
have been addressed to their respective Ambassadors at St. Peters-
burg, making new apseals to " the magnanimous sentiments of the
" Emperor NICHOLAS, and urging the evacuation of the principalities,
as their occupation has caused the failure of all attempts to arrive
"at a pacific solution." These letters are courteous and earnest in
their phraseology, and may probably meet with a favourable reply.
Meanwhile, we hear no more of the determination of Austria to enter
the principalities, or to fulfil the conditions of the convention recently
concluded with Turkey. As a measure of precaution, we learn from
St. Petersburg that 300 young men have been arrested whose senti-
ments were suspected to be adverse to the Czar's Government.

The Ministerial gathering of Monday was a humiliating confes•
sion of weakness and insecurity. Why should the meeting have
been summoned, except that a new defeat was feared ? The creation
of a Secretary of War while a Secretary at War is retained looks like
a blunder or a job, as it unnecessarily creates a new department.
The explanations of the Lord President of the Council were coldly
received, and when he ceased, some supporters of the Government

SATURDAY,

gave excellent reasons why they should support it no longer. The
real object of the meeting was to intimate that the Government could
not stand if the vote to be proposed that evening were refused. The
implied threat answered its purpose, and the Ministry on sufferance,
though condemned by the opinion of the House, is for the present
to receive its reluctant tolerance. The week, however, furnishes a new
proof of the inability of the Ministry to control the House, or guide
the course of even administrative business. A motion for a committee
to inquire into parliamentary printing, the object being to puff
a private speculation, was carried against the Government by a
majory of 24.

The insurrection in Spain has swollen to a magnitude which not
even telegraphic despatches can longer avail to conceal. ESPARTERO
has left his retirement to put himself at the head of the movement,
and Madrid has risen against the Government. The insurgents pro-
fess loyalty to the Queen and Constitution, but call for the downfal
of the Ministry. The Government has been changed, but the con-
cession may come too late. If it be true that NARVAEZ has offered his
services to the Queen, and is to be placed at the head of the army,
the insurrection may have more serious results than a change of
Administration.
The American papers, usually fertile in horrors, have lately sent
us two stories of darker character than common, and both relating to
the favourite "domestic institution of the South.' The slave population,
jealously separated from all humanising influences, sink in many in-
stances below the level of brutal nature. In Marshall County, Mis-
sissippi, a slave who was at work in a field rushed on a lady lately
married, who was out walking, outraged her person, and then suffocated
her Bloodhounds were put on his track, he was tortured till he con-
fessed his crime, then mangled, hung by the neck until nearly dead,
taken down and hung by the heels, and finally shot by the crowd. A
similar clime was committed by a slave in Tennessee, but in this in-
stance he murdered a family to conceal his guilt. He was pursued—
shot down before any inquiry was made—tortured till he confessed—
and then chained to a tree in front of his master's house. Pine logs
were heaped round him and set on fire, and a company of 1,200 or
1,500 persons remained to enjoy his agonies till he was consumed to
ashes. One motive which prompted the wretch to his crime was, it
seems, his fear of receiving a whipping which had been promised him.
It is plain enough, from these horrible instances, that the barbarous
slave code of America brutalises not only the unhappy African, but his
master also, and that society must be in a fearful state where such
crimes and such punishments are of common occurrence. What
would be the condition of those states where the African population
, is systematically brutalised, should a servile war ever break forth in
I them ?

ADVERTISEMENT TO WAR MINISTERS.

Wanted the noo a canny chiel
Wha kens war•ministering weal,
An' pikes, an' niccan things o' steel,
Is nae bit feared ;
Wha in lang protocols can deal,
An' wag his beard.

'Gin he be Russ, it's no the waur,
There's ithers in like place afore ;
Just stan' on baith sides o' ane door,
Ye'll ken wha's coming ;
We hear what's done against and for
Without the drumming.

He'll hae to ken what's "belli anus,"
And when the foe slaps British faces,
Aye mindful o the Christian graces,
Wi' holy fear
To turn their ither cheeks his place is,
And say, " Slap here !"

He must nae hold that war means battle,
But just a toy for Czars to rattle ;
An gin the Russians fly like cattle
He'll bide a wee,
An' stap the Parliamentee's prattle
Wi' " Wait and see."

Aiblins his weel-meant letters spurning,
The carlins will hae powder burning,
And swear o' all Vienna learning
They'll mak' an end,
Then he'll just ken wi' wily turning
To save a freend.

The lads gang off where glory led 'em
Nae fash! sma' food or fire will stead 'em.
The fleets look big, and like to bleed him,
If to 't they buckle.
Gude sakes ! just wait till ice imbed 'em,
They'll nae do muckle.

'Gin any laughs at patriot stuff,
An o' this lore bath gat enough,
Lord A., care of M. Romanoff,
Will meet reply.
N.B.—The Advertiser's ganging 'aff,
Sae just be spry.

E. A.