The Press.
London, England, 1854-10-28 00:00:00

THE PRESS.

OCTOBER 28, 1854.

ANOTHER REFORM DINNER TO NAPIER.
[We received the following letter just as we were going to press, but out of consideration
for the writer we obligingly make room for it, at the price of displacing a summary
of our Baltic triumphs.]
Tax First Lord of the Admiralty presents his compliments to the
Editor of the PRESS, and begs to protest against the unwarrantable
assumption at the close of a recent leading attiele in that periodical.
The F. L. has, of course, not seen the article himself, not being in the
habit of reading newspapers, but he has been informed of it by the
Noble Earl at the head of her Majesty's Government, who devotes con-
siderable attention to the journal the F. L. has the honour of addressing
The writer in the PRESS states that no dinner will he given at the.
Reform Club to celebrate the return of Sir Charles Napier from the
Baltic.
The F. L. begs to give this statement the most unqualified contra

diction.
It is in the contemplation of several members of her Majesty's
Government to arrange a festivity, in celebration of Sir Charles's
return, which shall entirely eclipse the memory of the affair of which
so much unwarrantable use has been made by the Opposition press.
The Government intend, by means of this new demonstration, to
show that they are entitled to the confidence of every member of the
House of Commons by whom Liberal opinions are held. The dinner
when Sir Charles departed was chiefly intended to conciliate that por-
tion of the Liberal party which, while devotedly attached to civil and re-
ligious liberty, free trade, and the other essentials of the creed of en-
lightened men, has a lingering belief in the traditions of the honour of
the country, our duty to our allies, and similar pardonable, if pitiable,
delusions. In the conviction that this portion of the party would be
alienated by any apparent indifference to the prosecution of the war, the
firstßeform Club demonstration was arranged, and Sir Charles Napier
was dismissed to the Baltic with exhortations to effect wonders, which
he, of course, neither could nor was intended to achieve. The object
of the Government was answered, and at a critical juncture it obtained
credit for being in earnest about the war.
The juncture being no longer imminently critical, it appears to
the F. L. and some of his colleagues an excellent opportunity for making
political capital in another direction.
The victor of Bomarsund will be invited to meet the leading mem-
bers of the Manchester School and of the Peace Society, and it will be
the duty of the Ministers who may attend at such banquet to con
vince their guests that the real principles of commerce and progress
have been most effectually promoted by the Baltic expedition.
The F. L. is apprehensive of trespassing upon the valuable space of
the PRESS, or he would enter at some length into this view of the sub-
ject, It will, however, be the duty of himself, or of the Chancellor of
the Excheuer, to enter into the question in the course of
nethe first
debate upon the war. He will, therefore, only indicate the li which
will be adopted.
Messrs. Cobden, Bright, and others, opposed the war because it
would interfere with commerce. The Government wiil be able to
show, from incontestible evidence, that though, as matter of form,
obstacles were placed in the way of Russian exports from the ports of
the Czar, no appreciable diminution has taken place in the quantity of
merchandise transmitted from Russia.
It will also be shown that a healthy stimulus has been given to
the currency at home, inasmuch as English gold has been flowing into
Russia in far greater quantity than heretofore, the price of all goods
purchased by us having risen one half.
To the members of the peace party who objected to our prepara-
tions because they tended to foster in our population a lov
evi e of warlike
display and glory, it will be proved, by the incontestibledence of
the whole press of the country, and by the sentiments expressed at
public meetings and elsewhere, that Cue nation is so thoroughly dis-
gusted with the Baltic expedition that there is no small danger of the
naval service becoming most unpopular. A greater amount of con-
tempt was, perhaps, never entertained by England for the exploits of
any armament that has left her shores than is now expressed for the
feats in the Baltic.
To those who objected to war because one of its essentials is the
killing a large number of persons, the bloodless expedition affords no
subject for regret.
To those who desired extreme economy the explanation will be
be
perfectly easy and satisfactory. The present Government cannot
fairly chargeable with the extravagant preparations
Derby's Ministry. It was no fault of the F. L. if, in coming into office,
they found that the costly and enormous fleet now coming home was
so far advanced that to have abandoned the work won
d l have
th ey exposed
were
them to universal condemnation. They did, therefore, what
compelled to do ; but the absence of gun-boats from the Baltic will be
a triumphant proof that they did no more, and will at once evidence
the determination of the F. L. to enforce economy, and of the head of
the Cabinet to prevent any operations which should really damage
Cronstadt.
These are among the principal arguments which will be adduced
at the banquet which it is intended to give to Sir Charles. The time
at which it should take place was unsettled ; but a fortunate circum-
stance so clearly indicated this that the F. L. has no longer any hesi-
tation in fixing it.
The intention of the Emperor of the French to visit this country is
now formally declared.
His Majesty (whom the F. L. has no hesitation in saying that he
always regarded as the model of men and of Sovereigns) will, o .
f course,
be invited to a splendid entertainment by the City of London

1021

At this banquet the Ministers of the Sovereign will naturally be
expected to attend.
But inasmuch as certain language used by the F L., by his friend
Sir Charles Wood, and by some other members of the Government at
the time of his Majesty's happy accession, was misinterpreted into
foul insult to, and ungentlemanly abuse of, his Mtjesty (though really
nothing could be further from the F. L.'s intention, whatever that ,50..
his colleagues might be), it is possible that the public might think it
somewhat indecent that men who are supposed to have recently
lavished course insult upon a Sovereign should be asked to sit down in
his presence.
An admirable excuse will therefore be found for the absence of the
F. L. and one or two of his colleagues from Guildhall. The banquet
to Sir C. Napier will be fixed for that day ; and if the world is spiteful
(the F. L. has found it so, to his wonder, having nothing of the kind
in his own composition), it may say that certain Ministers took refuge
in the society of the Admiral they had stultified from that of the Sove-
reign they had insulted.

ODE TO SEBA.STOPOL.

BY THE PREMIER.

Your friend the Scot, Sebastopol,
The news that come so fast appal ;
But trepidation lends me rhymes,
At which I'm slow at other times,
To mourn thy fate, Sebastopol.
To shatter thee, Sebastopol,
Would we had never cast a ball ;
If I could help thy being mauled,
By Jove ! "Athenian " as I'm call'd,
I'd even spend my last Obol.
Above thy roofs, Sebastopol,
The war-smoke bangs so vast a pall,
Old tragedies are out of date ;
Compared with thy impending fate
Medea and Jocasta pall.
If thou shouldst fall, Sebastopol,
Crim Tartary's devastable ;
And God knows where the war will end .►
If Europe finds that my " old friend "
The Czar, is fiabbergastable.

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" Let's raise thy siege," Sebastopol,
If I could get the mass to bawl,
'Twould spite " that person" Louis Nap,
Preserve the European map,
And save me from a vast hobble.
,Npos;
For this, indeed, Sebastopol, „,t 1404
Pay, patronage, I'd cast up all ;
I'd put my colleagues on the shelf,
And almost sacrifice myself,
Though, nigger-like, " de last ob

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THE FRENCH FAREWELL TO ALMA.
"At daybreak on the morning when we marched from Alma the French sent up all he
drummers and titers in their army to the summit of the highest peak around, and there they
executed a wild flourish, which was answered by the trumpets in the camp below, and thus they
bade farewell to Alma."—Correspondent of a Morning Paper.
The fight was won ; no more was heard the rush
Of legions on the hill of fire and death ;
But when the sky was fleck'd with morning's blush
Arose the trumpet, drum, and fife's wild breath.

Mourn low with the muffled drum,
Weep long with the wailing fife,
For the brave men cold and dumb
Who have perished in the strife.
With a soldier's sigh and a throbbing swell
Give them a solemn and last farewell ;
And the answering trumpets' tones shall tell
To our hero-dead we say farewell!

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But strike on the rattling drum,
Ring shrill the piercing fife.
Let the foeman know we come,
For enough are left in life.
With a threatening crash, wild, deep, and shrill,
Tell him we hide not on Alma's hill
And the answering trumpets' blast shall tell
We will conquer on other hills as well!
It ceased—that wildly proud and martial strain—
But on the winds it wandered far away,
And swept by stately cities of the main,
And scared the eagles on the wing that day.

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