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

LONDON, SATURDAY, OCTOBER 28,1854.

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LONDON, SATURDAY, OCTOBER 28, 1854.

No Administration (ever took office under
more favourable circumstances than the pre-
sent. The revenue was prosperous, and gave
a large surplus applicable to fiscal reforms
and reductions of taxation ; the balances in
the Exchequer were ample ; the country was
at peace with all the world ; the great public
services were in a state of complete efficiency ;
our colonies were prosperous and contented ;
and there was no more of political agitation
or commercial complaint than must always be
expected to exist in a free country when
times are prosperous, and the people have to
be amused with imaginary grievances, or
excited by inevitable evils. On the whole, if
a modern annalist had to point out one of the
happiest epochs of our national existence, he
would select the period immediately preceding
the fall of Lord DOERBY'S Government.
We do not attribute the blessings then
enjoyed to the policy of that Government in
any great degree. They were rather the fruit
of nearly forty years of European peace—of
unparalleled progress in all industrial arts—of
the healthy action of our constitutional system
—and of the unexpected and rapid develop-
ment of our Australian empire, with the cor-
responding stimulus afforded to all our great
branches of manufacture and the general
commerce of the globe. Our industrial in-
terests were recovering from the changes to
which they had been rudely exposed—the
painful state of transition both here and in
Ireland had been passed through—and no-
thing seemed wanting to our prosperity but a
period of tranquil government to cement it,
and to carry into effect those practical mea-
sures of social amelioration which enlightened
men of all parties desired.
That the Government of Lord DERBY satis-
fied in every respect the wants of the public
is its highest praise. It excited no expecta-
tion which it did not fulfil; and as, in looking
back upon any distant period, trifling inci-
dents which had no consequence disappear,
and great events only assume promi-
nence, all the captious objections which
were urged against the late Administration
are already forgotten, and its history is written
in the substantial benefits it conferred upon
the nation by its solid reforms and administra-
tive skill. Not one person in a hundred, we
will venture to say, recollects at this time the
precise ground taken for obtaining a majority
against it. At the general election some seats
were obtained by a display of false colours,
and the Conservative feeling of the country
was deceived into contributing to the over-
throw of the only practicable Conservative
Government.
In some important particulars the Coalition
Ministry were directly indebted to their pre-
decessors for the favourable position in which
they found the national affairs. It was to the
judicious policy of Lord MALMESBURY that
they owed the French alliance, which at first
they affected to despise, but were afterwards
so eager to embrace ; the naval administration

of the Duke of NORTHUMBERLAND, unequalled
for vigour, if its short tenure of office be con-
sidered, gave them the command of a fleet
equal to any emergency ; Sir JOHN PAKINGTON'S
colonial rule dealt with the new questions and
new interests raised by the gold discoveries in
a conciliatory spirit which imparted equal ad-
vantage to the Australian colonies and to this
country ; and the most adverse critic must
admit that Mr. DISRAELI'S management of the
Exchequer tended both to augment the re-
sources of the country by increasing the
public balances, and to diminish its burdens
by reducing the interest on the floating debt.
These are facts concerning the executive busi-
ness of Government which it is impossible to
deny. Be it admitted that in all these parti
culars Lord DERBY'S Administration acted only
with ordinary prudence, yet how great is the
contrast between the order established by their
vigilance and foresight, and the confusion
which has ensued from the mischievous med-
dling of the Government which succeeded
them.
How is it that, in less than two years, the
whole aspect of affairs has so entirely changed?
From the moment of the Coalition taking
office until this hour troubles have been
gathering about us, and are still thickening.
Its influence has been felt like a malignant
blight overspreading the country with disaster.
The war is, of course, alleged as the great
cause of the change. But can it be for
gotten that the designs of the Emperor
NICHOLAS upon Turkey were exactly coincident
with the formation of the Aberdeen Cabinet?
The mischief done is irreparable. The only
question is, how it is to be encountered. There
is no party in the country which hesitates as
to the necessity of vigorously prosecuting hos-
tilities except the party in power. By their
conduct it would seem that they hope to
blunder out of the war as they have blundered
into it. They are as destitute of a foreign as
of a domestic policy, and trust to the same
chapter of accidents for the triumph of their
arms abroad as for the success of their mea
sures at home. The Baltic fleet is ordered out
and ordered back, as the Reform Bill last
session was introduced to be withdrawn. The
power of England in their hands is like the
sword of a giant in the hands of an imbecile.
The mighty weapon moves and gleams, but
wants the nervous grasp and steady direction
required for its effective exercise.
The country now demands men of masculine
intellect and firm nerves at the head of the
Government. The time for antiquated weak
ness and routine experience has past away.
The boundary lines on the map of Europe
are melting away. The whole Continent
is heaving with the throes of warfare,
and even America is taking counsel on the
part she shall play in the struggle, or on the
advantage she may hope to reap from it. With
the prospect before us of one of the greatest
wars in which we have ever been engaged, we
have a Premier mumbling peace, and a Cabi-
net only equal to the exchange of meaningless
or deceitful diplomatic formalities. It is when
old settlements of territorial empire are broken
up that the prescience of true statesmanship
is most urgently required to strike out those
new principles of policy for alliance and com-
bination which the changed circumstances
demand. At such crises the destiny of nations
is at the mercy of the men who govern them,
and a single false step—especially on the side

of vaccination or timidity—may be productive
of irreparable misfortune.
Can it be that our people are yet alive to the
magnitude of the war into which they have
been plunged, and the sacrifices it will de-
mand from them ? The sanguinary con-
test in the Crimea may tend to open their
eyes to the real state of things. That
contest is yet doubtful, though it has
already cost much of the best blood
in our nation's veins ; and many incidents
attending it, even to the inexcusable neglect
in the transmission of authentic intelligence,
show how little our Government comprehends,
or is prepared to fulfil, the most obvious duties
imposed on it by the war.
If we triumph at Sebastopol, the Emperor
NICHOLAS will triumph in the Baltic. The
return of Sir CHARLES NAPIER with no other
trophies than he won at Bomarsund is a tacit
confession of the impregnability of the Baltic
forts which will not be withoutits effect on the
other States of Northern Europe. After the
reflections passed on the conduct of Admiral
NAPIER in one sea, and of Admiral DUNDAS in
the other, it will not be possible for those
officers to remain silent when their season for
operations is over. We shall then know
whether their inactivity was due to any want
of courage and enterprise on their part, or is
chargeable to the Administration from the
want of necessary armaments, or the absence
of direct instructions. We do not believe that
our sailors more than our soldiers have de-
generated since the last war, and in the case
of NAriEn, we know that the only service he
was expressly commissioned to perform was
executed by him with complete success. That
more has not been done with our magnificent
fleets is solely attributable, we suspect, to
feebleness at home.
The most desirable thing was, a Ministry
which by its resolution would have averted the
necessity fur war. The most desirable thing
is, a Ministry capable of discerning its true
character, and of bringing it, by decisive
action, to a speedy conclusion. To trust the
Coalition with its conduct is like leaving to the
careless domestics who have set fire to a house
the work of extinguishingthe flames.

REWARDS FOR RECRUITS.

Ws do not entertain 'any doubt about the
munificence with which the people of England
will respond to the call of the Crown for
raising the Patriotic Fund. To answer libe-
rally to the Sovereign's demand is the duty of
every loyal subject, aud, as the widows and
orphans are to be relieved in this particular
manner, it is incumbent on us all to assist
in its promotion. But, while we cordially
approve the object, we must express o
doubts as to the propriety of the wido
and children of the fallen brave bei
left to a voluntary subscription, whose weig
will fall entirely upon the most generou
while the frigid and the niggardly will contd..
bute but moderately. So important is the
relationship of our soldiers to the State
we request attention to some consideratio

involved in the voluntary character of the
Patriotic Fund.
That we are now on the eve of a prolonged
war is a matter which scarcely admits of