The Press.
London, England, 1854-12-16 00:00:00

1188

FOR polititians—and who is there in England that is not a politician
now ?—the week has been crowded with events. For the moment all
eyes are turned from the Crimea to Westminster—from the heights of
Balaklava to St. Stephen's. There i 3 a lull in the war, our troops are
left to contend with the elements, and the question is now what mea
sures have Ministers to propose for their relief—what defence have
they to make for past blunders and neglects?
Lord DERBY in one House, and Sir JOHN PAKINOTON in the other,
stated the case against the Government with great calmness and
moderation, but with fatal precision. In all their measures for the
conduct of the war the Ministers have been too late ; when the period
for action arrived they began to prepare for it. Hence all their ar.
rangements have been incomplete, and all their plans unsuccessful.
The resources of the Russians could not have been anticipated.
Perhaps not. But might not winter have been anticipated? Was not
that sure to come? The Ministers in their arrangements were equally
unprepared for the uncertain resistance of the enemy, and for the
certain operation of the seasons.
No attempt was made to meet this charge. The Duke of NEW-
CASTLE in one House, and Mr. SIDNEY HERBERT in the other, merely
attempted to defend their several departments. They were profuse
on details, and silent on principles. They gave all the information
the public cared little about, and not a ward of explanation the public
desired. These Ministers "of war " and "at war," with the resources
of the nation at their disposal, had collected so many pounds of lint,
so many pairs of socks, so many flannel shirts, &c. Who could not
have done as much? With pompous particularity his Grace cf
Newcastle undertook to assist their Lordships' comprehension of
the magnitude of his figures. " Your Lordships cannot conceive
" what a quantity of lint 26,546 pounds represent. I am sure I
" could not; so I had a calculation made ; it would actually cover no
" less than thirty-six acres of ground." We are familiar with this
kind of calculation, through the medium of popular lectures. His
Grace might have gone further in the same style. This lint, manu-
factured as thick as whipcord, would encircle the globe ; piled into
a column one foot square, would reach as high as the Monument ;
woven into gauze, would just form a veil for the sun; and spun into
fibre as fine as a spider's thread, would exactly reach from the earth
to Sirius; tho port wine sent out would be just enough to float a
line-of-battle ship; and there would be sufficient sugar to afford a
taste to all the inhabitants of the earth, from the Creation to
the present time. In this style was met the heaviest accusa-
tion ever made against a Government, and at the end of every list
of statistics there was a cackle of triumph as if the answer was
complete.
One circumstance in this debate is worth notice. The Ministers
did their best to stifle discussion. After Sir J. PAKINGTON and Sir R.
PEEL had spoken, Mr. S. HERBERT reluctantly rose to continue the
debate, and when he had been answered by Mr. LAYARD, the discussion
would have terminated abruptly but for the Speaker leaving his chair
for some minutes. Colonel DUNNE then gallantly continued the
debate; and Mr. DISRAELI, in one of his most effective speeches, suc-
ceeded by a charge of bayonets at the close in forcing from Lord
Joils RUSSELL his real opinion of the Austrian treaty. At the last
moment Austria might say she did not agree in the interpretation to
be put on the four points, and she would then be released from the
alliance. In fact, it was easy to see from Lord JOHN'S tone and manner
that he did not consider the treaty worth the paper on which it is
written ; and for his candour he has been fiercely assailed by the
Ministerial prints, though they quite fail in showing that his version
of the treaty was not in every respect perfectly accurate.
The business of the sitting commenced on Wednesday with the
" introduction of Lord PALMERSTON'S Militia Bill, which appears to be
mystifying every one. The volunteering from the militia to the line has
been highly successful, but the Ministers think they can improve on
this plan. They propose to legalise and to encourage the volunteering
of whole regiments. or of companies, or of corps of militia for foreign
service, such troops to be sent in the first instance on gat rison duty.
But there will plainly be a hitch here. Such services were never con-
templated from the militia. The regiments were raised to feed the
army if necessary by volunteers, a part they have admirably performed,
but were never constituted to be fit for foreign service. Many of the
officers would be unable to leave their duties at home, many would be
unfit for active duty abroad, and many of the men, in spite of what
. screw " which would be put on them,
refuse, to part from their family and
therefore be completely disorganised,
a regiment of militia alone ; its head-
tore would be no attempt to replace the

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