The Press.
London, England, 1856-04-05 00:00:00

THE WEEK.

For once the Government has had tho start of the journals in
conveying an important item of intelligence to the public. It was
generally rumoured, on Sunday last, that the Treaty of Peace would
most likely be signed at Paris that day , but nothing like assurance
was felt on the subject till the guns of the Park and the Tower began
to boom. At ten o'clock the roar of the first gun was heard, and the
exclamation was on every lip, before the second explosion burst,
" Peace has been signed !" The bells of some of the metropolitan
churches soon after rang in

" The reign of Pence,"
and continued their peals until past midnight The announcement
has been received in France with an enthusiasm easily understood.
The Conscription presse,z heavily on the French people—the loss of
the French army has been immense—and all classes are glad at the
termination of a •.car which bore heavily on home and industry, and
promised no immediate advantage. Paris has been brilliantly illumi-
nated. In compliance with French sentiment, the Treaty has been
signed with the plume of an eagle in the Jardin des Plantes, and the
pen, after its work was done, was mounted on a gold stand, covered
with a crystal dome, and placed under guardianship of the Empress.
We manage these matters differently in England. Our Queen was intent
on the much homelier duty of providing artificial arms and legs for her
maimed soldiers. Her Majesty's letters to FLORENCE NIGHTINGALE,
her visits to the military hospitals, her distribution of medals to the
Crimean invalids, might be regarded as public displays, and so far be
depreciated ; but her care to replace—so far as art can replace nature
—the limbs which the noble soldiers of England have lost in England's
cause, shows a homely, tender, maternal care and sympathy which
must and will for ever endear the name of VICTORIA to the hearts of
the English people.
But though the Treaty has been signed, and the Baltic squadron
has been recalled, and the mightiest fleet that ever old ocean bore
on its bosom exists only for show, the work of the diplomatists is far
from being ended. The Conference assembled again last Wednesday,
and the details of the arrangement to be made respecting the Chris-
tian subjects of the Porte, and the administration of the Principali•
ties, will probably take some time to settle. It would seem most
politic to erect the Danubian provinces into an independent State,
and on this point the nominal suzerainty claimed by the Porte ought not,
one would think, to be dealt with too scrupuloasly.

By the appointment of Mr. KEOGH to the Irish Bench, the Go•
vernment has. of two evils, chosen that which it esteemed to be the
least. If Mr. KEOGH had been passed over, it would have been received
as an acknowledgment that he was not fit for the Bench, and if not
fit for the Bench, how fit to be her Majesty's Attorney-General in
Ireland ? What a fine field is now open for the Administrative Re-
formers ! What will Mr. TITE say ? Will he declare that Mr. KEOGH
on the Bench is the right man in the right place ? Sir JOHN SHELLEY'S
motion, though it. missed its aim, gained its object by a chance shot.
The excitement caused by the motion, and by the receipt of so many
addresses by the grand juries of Ireland, hastened, it is supposed, the
end of the venerable judge, though his intellect to the last was as
clear as it had ever been, and he died in harness. By Mr. KEOGH'S eleva-
tion, there are two more vacancies in the Irish representi.tion for
Athlone and Ennis, and we trust that the constituencies will follow the
good example of Sligo and New Ross, and return independent
members. No institution could possibly serve Ireland more than
raising the status of her representatives. The fatal. habit of choosing
adventurers has depressed her position in the United Empire. The
influence of her name would he great if her political self-respect was
increased, and if she would elect some of the real gentry, who would
do honour to her name. We trust that at Athlone public spirit will be
shown, and that the borough will free itself from the rule of the clique
which has too long been allowed an ascendancy. The gentry of Clare
ought to supply an independent candidate for Ennis in place of Mr.
FITZGERALD, who uses the borough merely as a stepping-stone to the
Bench.

The report of the Peace Banquet at Paris, this week, has excited—
as chroniclers of fact we must speak the truth—it feeling of great sur-
prise, not unmixed with indignation, in this country. The phrase of
Count WALEwsm, that the peace was humiliating to no one, that it
was humbling to no one, and honourable to all, has excited much and
angry comment. If the Count merely intended to be complimentary
to the Russian Plenipotentiaries, his phrase was yet not happily
chosen. He should have remembered the proverb of his country,
Qui s'excuse s'accuse, and should rather have dwelt on the bright future
than have excited reminiscences of the dark past. On this subject
some contributions have reached us, which, to speak frankly, we must
not insert. Their tenor may be judged by two of the mildest verses
we can find in a poetic piece addressed to Lord CLARENDON :

Not humbled, say they ; then in God's name say
What have we fought for so fierce and long?
Is blood and agony toasted away,
And no one humbled, and no one wrong?
N.tv, if the foe is not humbled sore,
It itinlpled sorely is England's word ;
Aml the traitors who shamed the hommrs they bore,
Shall answer an angry land, my lord.

We notice that the Del►ntr, which bas been forward in declaring
that the peaco is eminently and entirely I•'renc•h, warmly eulogises ti►e
docility of 1,,ml CLAnccnoN, and declares that he has acted in the

SATURDAY,

spirit of his declaration to the House of Lords, when the Russian
acceptance of the peace propositions was first announced:—

And for my own part (said Lord Clarendon) I think that the Emperor of Russia has
shown great moral courage in at once accepting terms which he has reason to believe
are displeasing to .he war party in Russia. I hope he will continue to exhibit the same
moral courage, and that be will, without any attempt at evasion, abide by the letter and
spirit of these terms. Should he do so, I think we have a prospect of speedily obtaining
that which has throughout been the object of the war—a safe and honourable peace. Hy
an honourable peace, I mean a peace which will be honourable to both parties; for a
peace which would degrade Russia would not be a safe peace.

The Dublin Nation has printed an ingenious paper to show that
JouN SADLEIR forged himself, and that he has played the trick of a
pretended death and a suppositious corpse. The notion that SADLEIR
is still alive has made some converts, and we could name shrewd per-
sons who are of opinion that he has escaped with his plunder. There
are some prima-facie evidences to support the proposition. The body
was not carefully identified at the inquest; the reports of the press
testified to a change in the face of the deceased, and his looking older
than he really was. Again, if he had committed suicide at midnight
(or thereabouts), it is argued in medical quarters that the rigor mortis
would not so soon have set in, and the retired spot at which the body
was found is adduced as an additional cause far suspecting that a body
had been conveyed there. ELWYN, the butler, fancied that his master
wanted the poison for a hair-wash, such as might hare been used for
dying the hair of a corpse taken for the purpose of imposture.
According to this supposition, then, JOHN SADLICIR is not dead, but
comfortably enjoying himself in some spot more comfortable than he
would be likely to find the Elysian Fields, or even the purgatory of
his faith. The body of a man bearing some general resemblance to
that of SADLEIR being found, the whole fraud would be easy enough.
"Death is a great disguiser," says the great observer SHAKESPEARE,
when making the Duke, in Measure for Measure, contemplate a similar
deception. There is a likelihood in the unlikelihood of the notion
favorable at first sight to its truth. Who cannot recal numerous
instances of like shams, perpetrated by Irish ingenuity, of coffins
filled with brick-bats being interred in family vaults, and of dead men
assisting with infinite jollity at their own " wake "? Necessity is the
mother of invention. We not long since heard of a gentlemen,
who, being seized on by bailiffs, at Cremorne, slipped a couple of
sovereigns into their hands, desiring them to wait for him at the doors,
as he did not wish to break up his party, and then going up with Mr.
GREEN in his balloon, and landing somewhere in Essex, while the officers
were scrutinising the company as they left the gardens. The suspected
fraud would he more in character with SADLEIR'S whole proceedings
than his suicide, and would form a fitter termination to the Tipperary
swindle. What JouN SADLEIR did with the two hundred thousand
pounds he is acknowledged to have drawn from the bank is a mys-
tery ; and what has become of the other two hundred thousand pounds
of deficiency is a greater mystery still. I t is, however, unnecessary to
state the arguments on the other side, as Mr Coroner WAKLEY has,
with a few words, put the ingenious supposition to flight. He knew
JOHN SADLEIR well—examined his features attentively at the inquest
—and, with professional accuracy, turned the hair off the forehead,
remarking how free the deceased was from baldness. His evidence
sets a matter at rest which otherwise might have remained in dispute,
to the great profit of some Dickens of the next generation.

The debate on Thursday night is a sign that Parliament is
awakening to the extreme urgency of the convict difficulty. In deal-
ing with penal servitude as a substitute for transportation, several
points have to be considered. First, its comparative deterring in-
fluence. Secondly, the wishes of the Colonies on the subject.
Thirdly, the ultimate reformation of the criminal himself. Fourthly,
the effect upon society in this country. Now, as Sir JOHN PARINOTON
very justly observes, there is no comparison between the severity of
seven years' transportation and four years' penal servitude, which has
been fixed as its equivalent. And this is the scale on which all the
periods are framed. Expatriation possesses great terror, and we
doubt if any method of imprisonment at home will be found equal to
it. In regard to the ultimate reformation of the criminal, the argu-
ments are still more in favour of the old system, while as it affects the
security of society in England, the question admits of not one
moment's doubt. But there remains the reluctance of the colonists,
and we cannot see how this is to be overcome Some little while ago,
however, there was a great deal said about the capabilities of the
Falkland Islands as penal settlements. Why should this point not
be looked into? We next come to the ticket-of-leave system. Sir
Jons PAKINOTON does not consider the result of this as at present dis-
couraging "Of the tickets of leave granted since the system came
" into operation, not more than five and a half per cent. had_ been
" recalled for misconduct." This is, of course, gratifying; but
what we wish to see carried out is some scheme for the assistance of
the ticket-of-leave man himself. If the public will not employ him,
we think the Government ought. Great care will, however, be neces-
sary to prevent imprisonment becoming anything like a passport to a
permanent or superior provision. If ticket-of-leave men are employed,
for instance, upon Government works, their wages and food must not
be made superior to those of the free labourer. All that is wanted is to
give them a start; to find some sort of intermediate station between
the prison and the world, which may smooth the reentrance to the
latter, and by which the transition from confinement to liberty nr-ty be
rendered a little less sudden. Let the convict be stamped with the
approbation of a Government inspector, as well as of a gaol chaplain,
and he will rind his way much easier in the world than it is a:
present.

All accounts from Ireland tell us, that THE PRESS articles on the
Sadleir case have created an " immense sensation " throughout the
island. It is not only in Conservative circles that they are read and

APRIL 5, 1856.

- -
discussed; the high.principled Roman Catholic party acknowledge
their justice, and look to the extinction of the " Brass Band," with all
its prostituted practices, and unutterable corruptions, as the best
hope for the regeneration of their country. The Tipperary smash,
which has spread dismay through a province, and which stands on
record as the most gigantic scheme of swindling ever attempted, has
opened people's eyes to the baseness of the men who professed to
secure for Ireland political importance by selling themselves to the
highest bidders. Tho mongrel and degenerate descendants of the
O'Connell policy seem at last to have exhausted the breed. But what
has it not occasioned, and what pernicious influence has it
not exercised, to the disgrace of English loyalty and sense, on imperial
politics? While English parties have been nearly balanced, the herd of
Irish placehunters have been able to turn the scale at willto their own profit and their country's cost. A significant instance
comes before us this week. Lord GEORGE BENTINCIC—a political name
never to be mentioned without honour, for integrity of principle and
commanding talent—conceived the noble design of benefiting Ireland
by an advance from the imperial Treasury, for the construction of a
system of railways. He proposed to do for Ireland what has been
done with the happiest results for Canada—advance such loans as we
have very recently advanced to Sardinia and to Turkey, but with much
better security, and much better prospect of repayment. Thoughtful
men hailed his proposal as a vast stride in the right direction, as
tending to develop the resources of Ireland, and stimulate her in-
dustry. In Mr. CAYLEY'S " European Revolutions of 1848," he prints
two letters from Lord GEORGE on this subject. Let Irishmen read this
passage, and blush for the political profligacy of the men whom sht.
sends to Parliament for her representatives :

It was not so much through the hostility of the English Members, as*throu
gh the
desertion and hostility of the Irish Members ( many of them Repeaters), that in
Feb-nary, 1847, Ireland lost the opportunity of obtaining a loan of sixteen millions of
English gold at 31. 7s. fill. per cent., to stimulate the construction, by private enterprise,
of railways in your country. Unanimous in Palace-yard, on one Tuesday, in favour of
the proposition I then brought forward on the Tuesday se'nnight. the same sixty gentle-
men, having seen the Prime Minister at the Foreign office in the interval, voted two to one
in the House of Commons against giving railways to Ireland. Out of a hundred and five
representatives which Ireland possesses, twenty-eight only, if my memory serves me
correctly, would vote for that loan to Ireland.

It was by the same malignant influence that Lord DERBY'S Admi-
nistration (most favorable to the real prosperity of Ireland) was
overthrown. Why do not the Irish independent party, the political
patriots, set up a market for their sale and purchase ? We can tell
the remnant of the faction something worth their knowing. It is not
only in Ireland that their case is discussed. It is debated in every
English hamlet, and there is rising a feeling against their practices,
which should make them tremble for the consequenees. Their in-
fluence is gone. They will in future be a millstone round the neck
of any party to which they cling, and as useless in the Legislature for
any influential purpose as SADLEIR in his suicide's grave, or O'FIA-
HERTY in felonious exile. It will be " a proud day for Ireland " when
she shakes herself clear of them altogether.

THE WHIG WAR MINISTRY.
It was a cold March morning,
Without a ray of sun,
When London learnt by telegraph

The Confrences were done.
And glad we were 'twas all serene,
For what a mess this war has been !

To the proud Lord of Lansdowne then
The Premier sped away.
'Twas strango to watch those ancient men
And hear what they did say.
" I fear 'tis Peace at last," quoth one,
" Confound it, yes !" said Palmerston.

" The Parliament will shortly meet,
And men in either House
Will quote a thousand biuuderings
To prove our want of nous.
Dizzy's fierce eloquence, I fear,"
" And I, Lord Derby's," quoth the Peer.

" And the great English people, too,
Who backed us in the war,
Will tell how Kars was left to fall,
And ask what it was for,—
Forgetting such mistakes must be
When they've a Whig War Ministry."

P.
" And many men will speak in wrath,
Who silent sat before
(Unlike the old Whigs, loath to thwat t

~
The action of the war),
Of England's heroes left to die
In sickness, want, and misery.

They'll storm about green c...ffee, too,
The want of drugs and food,
And speak of Andrew Smith's neglect
In no too gentle mood,—
Forgetting that such tools as he
Best serve a Whig War Ministry."

THE PRESS.

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