The Press.
London, England, 1854-12-02 00:00:00

THE PRESS.

DECEMBER 2, 1854.

AN APPEAL TO THE BENEVOLENT.

Old rags, old brass,
Old hats and broken glass ;
Whatever ain't no use at all,
I've got a bag 'ill hold 'em all.
Rustic Hawker's Rhyme, adopted at Downing•street.

All ye who have feeling to pity the fate
To which war has consigned the chief servants of State,
Give from your abundance some aid to the dearth
Of a mendicant Government crippled from birth.

No vulgar impostors your kindness implore,
You can see for yourselves every fracture and sore ;
So luckless a family ne'er did you meet
Paraded to whine its distress in the street.

Have you pity for age? See that winters fourscore
Have silvered the head of our patriarch o'er;
All hopeless and helpless his Lordship stands forth,
Of snowdrops the last from the ice of the North.

So, if you have the hearts to know
The sad condition to which fate is
Consigning Aberdeen and Co.,
And how each Minister of State is
In danger right about to go
Except supplies are sent him gratis—

'Tis time you should at length he told
We bade our troops the war begin in
A style so far unlike the old
That people raise our ears a din in,
And from each taproom we are told
Of want of drugs, and lint, and linen.

Do, then, of your charity,
Look your wardrobes through and see
If you can in pity find
What Ministers are paid to mind.
Be your garret stores unrolled,
Shirts and coats howe'er so old,
Hats of every shape and trim,
Though as broad as Bright's in brim.
In our begging we combine
Clothes, and drugs, and stores, and wine;
So we pray you carry all
Your spare trifles to Whitehall,
Sign of the War-office " doll."

RUSSIAN ANTICIPATION OF THE
ROYAL SPEECH.

[The London correspondent of the St. Petenburgh Gazette, who, as is well known, has
very peculiar sources of information, has the following anticipation already
despatched, that it may appear by telegraph on the 12th in his journal.]
My Lords and Gentlemen,
The appalling condition of every portion of the country has
compelled me to assemble you, so that some terms may be made, in
the hope of staying the impending revolution.
The war undertaken in defiance of my first Minister has so
disgusted the masses of the people, that you cannot have failed to
notice that they carried the effigy of the Emperor of Russia in tri-
umphal procession on the fifth of November, amidst loud cheers.
For these reasons I have thought it right to suspend the Habeas
Corpus Act, and disarm the Quakers.
I have, at the same time, found it impossible to avoid the extreme
course of arresting the Greeks in London, and placing Finsbury-circus
and Tottenham-green in a state of siege. It will be necessary to
obtain from you a remedial act, justifying these unavoidable measures.
Acting from the same motives, I have directed to be laid before
you, at the earliest possible moment, a bill for the banishment of
John Bright to St. Helena.
Gentlemen of the House of Commons,
It is with the utmost pain that I am compelled to inform you
that there is not a shilling in the Exchequer, and that the popular
discontent at the late assault upon Odessa, and the consequent pri-
vation of corn, has risen to so great a pitch that the Constitution is in
imminent danger. You will, I doubt not, with your usual wisdom,
see the necessity of providing for the possibility of a Russian inva-
sion, which, except the well-known clemency of the Emperor should
come to our rescue, to all human appearance, will take place.
For this purpose I have directed measures to be proposed to you
for the arming of the lumber troop, and the staving such barrels of
train oil as may be found within the bills of mortality. It will also be
for your consideration whether those who may have taken the Chiltern
Hundreds may not be requested to return them in the present dearth
of men and money.
The Chancellor of the Exchequer will lay before you the project
of a loan from the State of Pennsylvania, secured by the cession of the
island of Atlantis to that conamonifialth,

1141

My Lords aad Gentlemen,
A plan has been drawn up by which the present hostilities may
be arranged with a view to the peace and final prosperity of Europe.
With this object, there will be submitted to you the basis of proposals
for a peace, assuming only the abandonment of that " geographical
anomaly " the Ottoman Empire, with the condition of Lord Aberdeen
becoming Chancellor of that new portion of Russia ; the dividing of
India between Russia and the Sikhs ; and the placing of the Greeks
of Manchester under a protectorate presided over by Mr. Joseph
Sturge.
I take my leave of you, hoping that when your labours aro ended
I may be enabled to assure you of the Emperor's betted lotion