The Press.
London, England, 1857-10-31 00:00:00

THE PRESS, OCTOBER 31, 1857.

much superior to those with which HAVELOCK first started.
The rebels aro very numerous, the roads are almost im-
passable, and every village is a fortified post to be stormed.
Now, with such obstacles before them, we must not expect too much
of this gallant litle colutnn. That they will dare and do all that
human effort is capable of to relieve their fellow-countrymen we may
rely upon it, and whether they succeed in bringing them off in safety
or not, the glory and honour of our arms, we may rest assured, will he
well maintained. Little is known of the state of the garrison at
Lucknow, but that little is favourable. They have repulsed the
assaults of the rebels, spiked their guns, captured provisions, and
appear animated by the most determined spirit. Let us hope,
therefore, for the best, and place our firm roliance on the God of
Battles.

The triumph of Lord STRATFORD at Constantinople, the chagrin of
his antagonists, and the return of REDSC II ID PACHA to power, has caused
quite a sensation throughout Europe. The fact is that the diplomatic)
bullet which is to extinguish this superb diplomatist is not yet cast.
Lord STRATFORD is, as he has ever been, more than a match for all his
antagonists. The Paris papers, of course, are very angry, and among
other foolish reports state that M. de PERSIGNT has been desired to
read a note upon the subject to Lord CLARENDON. There is not the
slightest truth in this statement. M. de PE RSIGN Y is, at present, on a
visit to Compeigne ; and we should imagine that if the Government
of the Emperor of the FRENCH thought it necessary to take umbrage
at the exercise of that free-will every independent sovereign employs
in his choice of a minister, a representation in this case would have
been made, not to the British, but to the Turkish Minister for Foreign
Affairs.

The tone in which Lord Chancellor BRADY composed his recent
manifesto was singularly ill-chosen. His Lordship ought to have
recollected that recent events have clearly shown that the Court of
Rome has entered on a new policy, and that ecclesiastical engines
are being set at work in Ireland, in order to mark distinctively the
lines between Protestants and Roman Catholics. The Irish
Chancellor might have remembered that if Roman Catholics
have reasons to complain of " Orangeisin," on the other hand
the Protestants of Ireland have much reason to be indig-
nant at the way in which the patronage of the Crown has been
diverted upon professional agitators, who have passed their lives
in stirring up hatred against the law of the land. The manifesto of
the Chancellor was the more galling, as at the last general election
the Lord Chancellor's son was run in double harness along with Mr.
RRYNOLDS at Dublin. The Protestants of the north of Ireland, also
have had bitter reason to complain of the way in which
they have been treated by modern Whig Ministries. It can.
not he gratifying to them that the Government think it right to
quarter the sons of the late Mr. O'CONNELL on the public purse. We
believe that two sons of Mr. O'CONNELL have between them about four
thousand a year. We do not say one word against these gentlemen ;
but it is not passing the fair limits of public discussion to assert that
such distributions of patronage are not of a conciliatory character.
It is unlucky, also, that for some time past the Lord Chancellor is
stated to have placed in the Commission of the Peace, in the
southern and western parts of Ireland, a considerable number of
Roman Catholics to a degree far higher than the numbers of their
gentry would be entitled to claim. In the appointment of stipendiary
magistrates there has, also, been much jobbery, and we should not be
surprised if the style in which Lord Chancellor BRADY has made
"J. P.'s" of his own political connection would yet become the subject
of serious and sustained discussion. The unfortunate letter of De
CULLEN (dated Rome, September 23), and addressed to one of his
Vicars-General, ought to open the eyes of Government to the danger
which they are running in their systematic courting of the Roman
Catholic interest. It' it be right that Orangemen should be put down,
it is by no means clear that Roman Catholic " agitators " should be set
up in authority and honour. Surely one side is not to be crushed for
the gratification of the other. Dr. CULLEN and his advisers are foster-
ing a bad spirit, and they are opening fresh fountains of bitterness
which we had hoped were dried up for ever. As yet the Catholic laity
have not come prominently forward in a body to separate themselves
from the intense sectarianism which the Cullen rule is meant to
inaugurate. Here and there a few Catholic commoners and profes-
sional gentlemen have manfully spoken out, but the fact
cannot be denied that so far as the Roman Catholic portion
of Ireland is concerned, the missive of Dr. CULLEN has been
witheringly effective. The Roman Catholic Archbishop has
damped a great movement, and chilled the public spirit in many a
generous breast, and we must insist that the Government in Ireland
should show more true impartiality and more official caution than it
seems ready to exhibit. If " Orange Societies " be offensive
to Roman Catholics, we have no hesitation in saying that
the showering rewards upon mere " agitators," and making
"J.P.'s " by wholesale to please the " P.P.'s" of Doctor CULLEN'S
Church is deeply calculated to wound and alienate the feelings of the
Protestants of Ireland. Jobbery and partiality are the curses
attendant on Whig rule in Scotland. We know what a state the
Whigs brought that country to by constantly truckling to agitators,
and rewarding theta as they were violent, and a portion of the Minis-
try seems bent upon resuming practices which were supposed to have
been exploded. There are rumours that the Cabinet is not of one

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mind with respect to certain recent transactions in Irish affairs , and
we can hardly suppose that even the present Ministry will be unani-
mous in leaning with exclusive severity on the Protestants of Ireland.

The trial which has recently occupied so large a share of public
attention and so many columns of the daily press—that, we mean, of
Captain THORNE and EvANs for an attempt at extortion—has been ter-
minated by the conviction of the prisoners, and their condemnation to
a year's imprisonment. It would be presumption in us to deny the
justice of the verdict. There is, indeed, that indefinable air of
" the adventurer" about one of the defendants which would have
predisposed us to an opinion of his guilt. " Captain Tl•orne of the
" Prince's Club, Leicester-square," has a very odd sound. The Gallant
Captain's counsel does not seem to have been able to identify either
his company or his club. Confessedly, therefore, we have no pre
possessions in favour of either of the defendants. At the same time,
we should be failing in our duty as public journalists if we omitted to
point out that Mr. CADOGAN, though doubtless innocent of the full
offence imputed to him, does seem to have acted with indiscretion in
the exercise of his functions. Here was a man in command of the
earliest information relative to the Money Market of Europe ; an
admitted speculator, and in the habit of visiting his broker three
times a day. These facts speak for themselves. The complex ma-
chinery of modern civilisation demands the management of the most
devoted and usefully selected instruments. Without the slightest
imputation on his honour, it may be doubted whether the Hon. Mr.
CADOGAN came up to the standard.

We should much like to see the face of Sir RICHARD BETHELL, if
anyone laid a case " for the advice and opinion " of that eminent
person as to the degree of reputation which should be assigned to his
colleague, Mr. Solicitor-General KEATINGE. In the last session, when
the Divorce Bill was before the House, the assistance of the Solicitor-
General was not of much use, apparently, to his chief, at the time
when Mr. GLADSTONE and others were affording the Attorney-General
several opportunities for exhibiting the serenity of his temper and
the artless simplicity of his disposition. Mr. KEATINGE has not yet
made any name in Parliament; and his most elaborate effort some
years ago caused members of the House of Commons to think of
" Keating's Cough Lozenges." His speech this week at Reading will
not much raise his credit as a speaker. Postprandial eloquence, to be
sure, is not severely to be criticised, as those who entertained Sir
CHARLES NAPIER at the Reform Club will readily admit. But really
the extravagance of the Solicitor-General in contending that the
energy of the Cabinet in despatching to India 29,000 men in four
months was "without parallel" in the history of England is
too absurd. A gentleman of his name wrote the legendary history of
Ireland ; and the Solicitor-General is not ill-qualified for attempting a
fabulous history of England. His visions, while on his legs, must
have been of a most ecstatic character, and he might have forgotten
that there was such a person in the world as Sir RICHARD BETHELL.
if Mr. KEATINGE would read Lord HARROWBY'S speech delivered on
Wednesday, the Learned Gentleman's poetical imagination may become
more prosaic. Office produces extraordinary freaks in forsensic per-
sonages ; and such an hysterical oration as the Solicitor-General's
deserved a hurricane of hiccups.

We dare say that many of our readers have been either amused
or indignant, according to their respective temperaments, by the peru-
sal of a scene that took place at the Marlborough Police-court on
Tuesday last. Two cavalry officers of the class on which Mr. THACKE•
RAY has long delighted to whet his wit, were charged with endeavour-
ing to rescue a woman from the grasp of the police. The alleged
offence took place in a locality which is said to be one of the
reproaches of London—namely, the Haymarket—at the small hours
of the night, and the distressed damsel was alleged by the guardians
of the peace to have been " drinking." In this condition it appears
that she encountered some young lady with whom she imagined her-
self to have cause of quarrel, and a very noisy dialogue straightway
ensued between them, which unhappily terminated in " the female
prisoner" being forcibly conveyed to the station-house. With the gal-
lantry of their age and profession the two young officers at once inter-
fered between their natural enemies, the police, and the aforesaid
" female in distress," and in return for their chivalrous conduct were
carried off likewise to that limbo of choice spirits near the police-court.
The whole transaction is trifling and commonplace enough, and
cannot be described in any very serious language ; but our reason for
alluding to it is that in our opinion the conduct both of magistrate
and policeman on these occasions will be all the better fur knowing
that it is occasionally scrutinised. On this occasion one of the cul-
prits placed himself so decidedly in the wrong by the language
uttered by him in court that he scarcely deserves to
have his cause pleaded. But for the sake of the general
public we think it right to say thus much, that in cases of this
description the magistrate places himself far too much in the
hands of the police. These honest fellows make no scruple of be.
having to that unfortunate class which has no protectors with a degree
of brutality that is disgusting. And if any unlucky gentleman, more