The Press.
London, England, 1854-02-04 00:00:00

MANNING THE NAVY.

The weather is mild, spring approaches, the seasons
of late have been abnormal, and the northern ice
may break up earlier than usual. Because the Baltic
is rarely navigable before a certain period, we should
not act as if there could be no exception to that
general rule. NELSON had an excellent maxim,
" Always be a quarter of an hour beforehand."
Thanks chiefly to the practical ability of the late
Board of Admiralty, we have one efficient fleet
fully manned, but that is in the Black Sea, and,
unless its work is effectually done at this moment,
could scarcely be here in time to operate in the
Baltic on the opening of the navigation. We have
ships, guns, shot, and shell sufficient to accom-

THE PRESS.

plish al that the destructive skill of man can effect.
One thing alone is wanting—the human power that
is to wield this terrible weapon. It is easy to say
that the Russian ships are rotten, the officers dis
honest, and the sailors landsmen. They may be ;
kit the rudest raft is more than a match for our
Duke of Wellingtons and Agantetunons if the former
is manned and the latter is not. The Russians are
said to have twenty eight sail ..f the line in the
Baltic : in a month we ought to be at least prepared
to meet them. The Admiralty seem to be aware of
the emergency ; for even landsmen, agricultural
labourers, and others are allowed to enter; but
they will not have acquired their " sea legs " even
for smooth water by the spring, and the North Sea
requires tried and able mariners to face its threat-
ening'sky, gloomy waters, and dangerous coasts.
As apparently it seems to be agreed that the
wisest economy will be to destroy the maritime
aggressive power of the enemy at once, we presume
the Russian Baltic fleet will be captured or de-
stroyed within a month after the breaking up of the
ice. Men would only be wanted for a short period.
Is there any real reason why seamen should not
be allowed to enter for that particular service, pay-
ing them proportionally ? The blue jackets must
have lost their ancient pluck if they did not rush
to our naval depots, if they could enter on those.
terms. And there is one class of seamen, perhaps
the finest in the world, amounting to several thou-
sands, whose services we should imagine could be
easily obtained on an emergency for a limited
period. We allude to those employed in the various
yacht clubs of the ITnited Kingdon. Hostile opera-
tions should properly be over in both the Baltic and
the Black Sea before the season fully commenced,
and thus patriotism would be compatible with
pleasure. We throw these out as loose suggestions
for the consideration of those who will be answer-
able for any sins of omission or commission in the
discharge of the terrible trust confided to them
of wielding the armed might of Britain. WELLINGTON
and NELSON have gone to their rests, and this gene
ration has been cradled and grown up in peace;
but "we have heard with our ears, and our fathers
have told us what wag done in their days and in the
old time before them," and in those brave days we
have heard that if " the high resolves, the enduring
constancy, the heroic self-denial of patriotic resist.
once" were wanting elsewhere, in Britain at least
it was not so. Let us prove to the world that the
children are worthy of the sires, and of the fame
inherited from the days of old.

LORD JOHN RUSSELL AND MR. CROKER.
AN angry correspondence, too long to insert, has
taken place between the noble editor of " Moore's
Memoirs" and Mr. J. WILSON CHOKER, who criticised
that work in the Quarterly Review. In the sixth
volume is this entry in "Moore's Diary "
"' Barnes' (then editor of the Timex) 'beggel me, in
anything I might now write for him, to spare Croker ;
which I told him was an unnecessary caution, as Croker
and I were old allies.' "
And on this Lord JOHN RUSSELL comments, to the
effect that to address such a request to MOORE was
unnecessary, but that, if it had been addressed to
Mr. CHOKER, it would have been complied with only
while MOORE was alive, and would have added zest
to the pleasure of safe malignity " after his
" death." This naturally called forth from Mr.
CHOKER a characteristic letter, in which he ex-
presses his belief that " spiteful slyness" is the
main feature of Lord JOHN RUSSELL'S character.
The truth is, Lord JOHN RUSSELL has badly edited
the worst book ever written by a man of genius, and
Mr. CHOKER, " in the 74th year of his age, suffering
" from disease," with his intellect unimpaired, but
with those idiosyncrasies which distinguish his
criticisms, probably heightened by illness, reviewed
that book. Mr. CHOKER, too, had in his possession
certain Irish provincial playbills fifty years old, and
from these and a comparison of dates he was ena-
bled to avail himself of facts which were generally
unknown, which were not mentioned in the
" Memoirs," and which it was not necessary to in-
troduce into the review. Lord JOHN RUSSELL,
probably smarting under the strictlres on him-
self, availed himself of this circumstance to jus-
tify and defend the comment he had made, and
told Mr. CHOKER that it was because he
was the author of that review that the
comment referred to was insert el in the
sixth volume. This drew from Mr. Csoxr.r.
another long letter, still more angry than the
• first, stating that he should publish the corre-

spondence, and concluding, "If your lordship has
" anything to add to it, I request that I may receive
" t here by noon on Monday." Strange to say, be-
fore that period it appeared in the Times without
any addition or explanation of any kind ! There is
much in this case to blame on both aides. We
cordially concur with Mr. CROlan when be calk
"Moore's Memoirs" "flimsy and mean," but we also
think that the particular portion of the review to
which we have referred gave a colourable excuse to
Lord JOHN Rt'sseu. for a comment which probably,
unconsciously to himself, arose from a cause not quite
so disinterested as that which he assigned to it.
All will agree in the opinion so generally ex
pressed that " Moore's Memoirs " is a trumpery book,
and that it is wretchedly edited by a nobleman who
had some literary reputation to throw away. Lord
Joffe professes that he only meant to do a kindly act
to the widow of his friend. He should have remem-
bered what was said to a late Lord Chancellor when he
remarked that "a certain barrister had been very use-
" ful, and it would be necessary to rewar3 him with a
" place." The observation was, " I t would be cheaper to
" pay in money." At all events it would have been
cheaper in this instance, for the reputation of the
chief parties concerned, to have arranged for a sup-
pression of the hasty inuendoes and frivolous scan-
dais which are transmitted thus, unqualified and an-
corrected, to posterity.

THE ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH IN FRANCE.
IT is stated that owing to the mendacity of the
" lying wires " of the electric telegraph an order has
been issued in France that henceforth no message
shall be issued from the office without the formal
consent of a responsible Minister. We cannot but
think this course injudicious. Mistakes must occur;
no vigilance can prevent them in communications of
this nature ; and the effect of the order will be either
that so much time will be lost in testing the truth of
the messages that the world will to a large extent
lose the benefits of early intelligence, or that intelli-
gence which is not correct will occasionally go ford►
stamped with the sanction of the French Minister.
Under the old system telegraphic information had
no weight except from the character of the commit-
nientor, internal evidence, its probability, or the
general circumstances of the case. If people acted
on false intelligence it was their own fault, and they
can only blame themselves ; hut if by an inadver-
tency error were to be promulgated by the French
Minister, and individua!s, acting in full reliance on
its accuracy, were to sustain Incises in consequence,
then they would have a just tight to blame others.
The object of the regulation is good, but we believe
it will increase the evil it is intended to cure ; for
under careful official supervision errors would be so
rare that all of them would be implicitly believed, and
might therefore effect incalculable mischief; whilst
under the recent system the electric wires did not
enjoy a reputation for veracity; each short tale told by
that "iron tongue" was scrutinised and criticised
with keen-eyed suspicion, and never fully believed
until confirmed by other testimony.