The Press.
London, England, 1856-11-15 00:00:00

THE WEEK.

JT unfortunately appears that there is no approach to a settlement of
the disputed execution of the Treaty of Paris. As in all such differ-
ences of opinion between nations there exists a strong sense of right
upon the part of each, it is but just that the English public should
fairly understand the position assumed by Russia, since it is so well
informed (of the attitude held by Lord PALMERSTON'S Government.
The two special points in dispute are, the retention or resignation
by Russia of Bolgrad and the Isle of Serpents. It is upon the
interpretation put by Russia upon those articles of the Treaty
of Paris which refer to the rectification of the frontier that the
English Ministerial prints found all their charges of perfidy, bad faith,
and arriere-pensee against the Court of St. Petersburg. Le Nord this
week, in a series of able and statesmanlike articles, discusses the
questions in dispute, and defends the conduct of the Court of St.
Petersburg. Le Nord meets with a flat denial the assertion of the
Times that Russia wishes " to substitute for the town of Bolgrad a
" small hamlet, which will give her ready access to the mouths of the
" Danube." Le Nord declares that Russia claims the town of Bolgrad
upon the faith of Art. 20 of the Treaty of Paris, which recites in formal
terms that the new frontier line shall pass to the south of
Bolgrad. " If," maintains Le Nord, " the Congress committed
a blunder in writing south instead of north, the Congress
only can rectify the error." Russia desires that the Congress of Paris
should decide whether, in order to conform to the spirit, if not to the
text, of the Treaty of the 30th of March, she must make the sacrifice of
Bolgrad Upon the question of the Isle of Serpents Le Nord maintains
that Russia occupied the rock before the war, and desires to reoccupy
it for the sake of general commerce ; and that, even if the island
forms part of the territory at the mouth of the Danube to be aban-
doned by Russia, the frontier commission must first settle the limits
and boundary of the frontier.
This is the substance of Le Nord's arguments on those two points ;
and, without pretending to say how far it is correct, it is clear that a
primci facie ease is made out for fair and impartial consideration. As
fcr the bluster of our Ministerial party, there never was the slightest
occasion for it, since there never existed the least probability that
arms would again be taken up. All the matters to be adjusted are
trivial in themselves, and with a little of that " round and fair dealing "
which BACON eulogises, might be speedily accommodated. From the
coolness between the French and English Governments, however, a
great advantage is given to Russia, as it is no longer possible to
conceal the fact of the estrangement from the eyes of the world.

England has reason to be proud. His Majesty the King of the
Two SICILIES bas placed all British subjects in his dominions under
•orotection of his police. This is for the present the end of the
imbroglio which the Ministerialists confidently assured us would result
is a grand display of British bunting in the Bay of Naples. Now we
are told not to mind a course of action, which thus far—our boasting
b ing taken into account—has made us look uncommonly small.
" Something will turn up." Very likely. Encouragement will not be
wanting to get up a grievance. There must be Jews in Naples as
well as in Greece. We must live in hope that some disturbance will
occur to justify our Government in making representations. To our
view, this is about the worst thing that could happen. The best
would be the assemblage of a Congress to dispose of this
embarrassing question, together with all those other topics of irritation
which at present prevent Europe from reaping the full fruits of peace.
To this course, however, our Premier and our Foreign Secretary arc
for obvious reasons opposed. The first would find his trade gone
with the restoration of tranquillity, and the second has no inclination
to again exhibit his weakness at a council table of European
Representatives.

There is one point in the speech of the Emperor of the FRENCH
in receiving the Russian Ambassador, M. DE KISSELEFF, on Wednesday,
specially deserving notice. His Majesty said he had learnt with plea-
sure that his Ambassador, M. DE MORNY, at the Court of St. Peters-
burg, had known how to win the esteem of the Emperor ALEXANDER 11.
What does Sir ROBERT PEEL say to this? Very lately lie said that
Lord GRANVILLE had disdained to have recourse to those acts by
which the French Ambassador had gained favour at the Court of the
Czar. The reflection, it now appears, was levelled at the Emperor
NAPOLEON. Nor are the Honourable Baronet's boisterous declarations
without a degree of significance. His antics are not his own. Like a
monkey under the tutelage of a showman, he only plays off the pranks
he has learned. He is notoriously prompted by Lord PALMERSTON,
who is thus enabled to scatter a little fire about without any other
kind of responsibility than that of keeping this hair-brained inheritor
of a great name in his service.

It is worthy of note that at the recent investiture of the SULTAN
With the Order of the Garter, by Lord STRATFORD DE REDCLIFFE, at
Constantinople, the oaths of this "Most Christian Order" were, for the
first time since its institution, dispensed with. Neither was the
Sultan literally invested with the Order. The insignia were presented
to his Imperial Highness, who himself put on the collar. The mantle
and hat were placed on a table at his side. With the greatest respect
for the" Padishah," we wish some means had been found of marking
the estimation in which he is held in this country, without stripping of
its Chribtian character this ancient and brilliant order of chivalry.

SATURDAY,

The Whigs always contrive to make a mess in their legal appoint.
ments. Their selection of Insolvent Commissioners, Colonial Judges
and Police Magistrates, seems to have been with a view to patronising
" Odd Fellows." The situation filled by the lamented Mr. GILBERT
A BECKETT has been recently conferred on Mr. BURCHAM. What his
Particular claims for that office are we really do not know. He is a
barrister, but we are not familiar with his name in the reports before
the C. J. of the Queen's Bench, or any other judge. But the learned
gentleman is well known to the J. C. of the Reform Club. He is, also,
Examiner in Classics to the University of L9ndon, and he enjoys the
reputation of being able to set the tables in a roar. The Reform Club
has long been peculiarly noted for its " funny members," and the
Broadgrin Interest has, we suppose, laughed itself into the good
regard of the patrons of politicians like Mr. JOSEPH PARKES, and of
vita like the late Mr. JOSEPH MILLER, or the formidably facetious Mr.
BURCHAM. At first it was thought tout this nomination was one of the
Garrick Club jokes; but, unfortunately, it is not so good a thing as
one of them, except for the gentleman himself, who relishes Lord
PALMERSTON'S capital jest in setting him to administer justice, as Mr.
DOUGLAS JERROLD might say, "indi&rently."

The mission of England, according to Mr. ROEBUCK, would ap-
pear to be to propagate Liberal opinions at the head of 100,000 men,
and to convert the world, like M A HOM ET, by the edge of the sword.
This is to be done, at the same time, from the most disinterested
motives, and on the purest principles of non-intervention. We are
to drive King FERDINAND from his throne, but are to leave his dominions
to others. We are to abstain from meddling with the affairs of other
nations, but we are to force them to be Liberal at the point of the
bayonet. For such, if any meaning whatever is to be placed
upon words, must be the theory which floats before the imagination of
the Hon. Member for Sheffield—Europe in one glorious conflagration
from the Bay of Biscay to the Black Sea ; England and Austria fighting
about Naples ; England and Russia fighting about Hungary ; England
and other countries fighting just to keep themselves warm—seems to
he this Honourable Member's idea of a healthy state of
things. But, to pass from politics to religion. Mr. ROEBUCK fore.
sees the time whea all creeds shall be placed upon an equal footing.
Deprive them of their endowments, says he, and truth will prevail.
The State did not endow either the Church of England or of Ireland, Lit
private individuals. And is not that the very system of voluntaryism
which Mr. ROEBUCK recommends? We should be anxious to
know how Mr. ROEBUCK proposes to prevent religious corporations
from acquiring property as long as there are laymen disposed to
give it. These are some of the ecclesiastical " hard facts ' which
nevertheless seem to melt away from Mr. ROEBUCK'S eye as he contem-
plates the coming Utopia.

Politics penetrate everywhere, and even the turtle and venison
and champagne of the Lord Mayor's banquet cannot be exempted from
the common lot. Dinners, moreover, in England have a recognised
political aspect, and we cannot, therefore, help commenting on one
unparalleled feature in the late Mansion•house Lanquet—the fact,
namely, that not a single European Ambassador was present on the
occasion. The United States Minister was absent as well, and it
seems to have been a doubtful point whether the black Ambassador of
Hayti was not entitled to the honour of returning thanks for the entire
corps diploinatique. This duty, however, was passed on by some
dextrous management to the Minister of Brazil. Whether this
general absence was concerted or not we do not inquire, we only say
it is remarkable. At the least, it looks as if foreign States did not
care much about showing us any marked cordiality ; and at such a
moment as this the absence of cordiality is more than usually indica-
tive of the presence of a worse feeling.

The extraordinary increase in crimes of audacious violence, even
within the last few months, we persist in attributing to any cause but
the right one. It is the fault of the police, the fault of our servants,
the fault of ourselves, the fault of insufficient street-lighting—any-
thing, no matter how unlikely or absurd, is alleged to prevent an expo-
sure of the real truth, that the great experiments of the nineteenth
century—the discountenance of transportation and the invention of
tickets of leave—have been an egregious failure. We could reckon up
some ten or a dozen cases within little more than as many days of a cha-
racter which three or four years ago did not occur once in a month. On
the 20th of October we had the Parliament-street murder. A tradesman
is preparing to leave his shop for the night ; a man coolly walks in, and
hits him about the head till he is senseless. A little knot of loungers
surround the door, who tell the passing policeman, " Oh ! it is nothing
—a man beating his wife ;" and the callous functionary calmly goes on
his way. Marley, the prisoner, was a ticket-of-leave man. On the sth
of November, a man named Charles Hunter was charged at the South-
wark Police Court with having garotted and robbed a Mr. Mason at
Clapham a few nights previously. lie, too, was a ticket-of-leave man.
Only the other day, a poor man, sitting down to rest himself in St.
James's-park, was daringly knocked off his seat, and plundered of
his watch and purse with the utmost publicity. On Monday last a
Mr. BISLEY, of Bermondsey, was found lying at Wandsworth with his
throat cut; and on the same night the son of a market.gardener at
Erith was found on the river-bank stabbed in sixteen places. Where
this sort of work was going on the Italian and German le.rionaries were
sure not to be backward, and the names of VoighCuletti,
Manosi, Bossee, and Theiss, all represent scparatecases of more or less
brutality. Now, where is all this to end ? If the ticket-of-leave system
is carried on ticket-of-leave men will of course increase. It' they in-
crease they are likely to band together till one almost shudders to con-
template the pitch of atrocity and impunity at which they may ulti•
mately arrive. All these facts and possibilities point to the one
remedy, the urgent necessity of which we have so often insisted ()n—
-amely, a general recurrence to transportation.

NOVEMBER 15, 1856.

THE

RESS.

NAPLES SOAP OR, THE POLITICAL FIGARO.
Naples soap!
Without any trope,
I'll tell you a tale about Naples soap.
ONCE upon a time there was a Barber.
He was in a large way of business, like the Barber of Seville, but
he served a different class of customers. Some barbers have been the
servants and ministers of kings—such, for example, was Oliver Dain ;
but it was the boast of this barber that he never served despots. He
simply shaved patriots and the refugees of oppressed nations.
He had hung out his pole and basin in different directions. He
had kept shop on both sides the street. He had trimmed up old
Whigs. He had tried to change the fashion, while Whigs were extant,
by a " New Whig Guide." He had invented a whisker-dye, and tested
its efficacy in person. He had been fertile in dodges, yet his credit
languished At one time ho had got into trouble, and was served
with notice to quit in consequence of his connection with a Pourtu-
guese Jew, who, it was even said, kept a public boarding-house.
At length he had recourse to the device of his craft, and for months
a large placard hung from his window informing the passersby that a
Bear was about to be slaughtered. The patriots and refugees stroked
their beards in anticipation. Kossuth and Mazzini each ordered a
pot of the grease, and the public were invited to compete for the hams.
An old sailor was displayed at the door sharpening his cutlass. But
when the day appointed fur the slaughter came, the bear's hams were
voted to be gammon, and the grease was such as is ordinarily sold in
bladders to the buttertnan to enable that functionary to adulterate the
butter of his country.
The travelling bagmen who took a specimen to the French
Perruquiers were laughed at and hustled, and were told in substance
to go home again and acquire a knowledge of their business. The
refugees and patriots disdained the glossy article, and walked about
with dishevelled locks, and the Barber was seriously thinking of putting
up his shutters.
But a thought struck him. To shave the patriots as before, for
they like to be shaved, ho advertised a new lather. The most obdurate
beards were to be instantly mollified by the application of a little
Naples soap.
Now Naples soap should rightly be made of olive oil, but the
Barber's was made chiefly of a different ingredient.
The Pam oil in the Pam-tree grows,
The Pam oil from the Pam-tree flows,
And the Pam in place of the olive goes
Into his Naples soap.
Olive oil, as the major part of the world believes, is an emollient;
Pam oil, as the residue knows, is an irritant. The latter has an ex-
citing influence when poured upon troubled waters. It was tried in
the Bay of Fundy and the Gulf of Mexico, and it created quite a
tempest in the Baltic and the Black Sea. Of course such an article
would not make the best shaving-lather.
In fact, it was ludicrous to see the wry faces which the regular
customers of the Barber assumed under its application. They fretted
and fumed, but they dared not complain, for the Barber held them
tightly by the nose, and flourished away with shaving-brush and razor.
If they told him his soap was a sham, he might wilfully cut them.
So they compared their discomforts warily and quietly at the
Coppock Arms and at Brookes's Coffee-house.
" We are shaved cheap," said one.
" And shamefull) ," said another.
" At a considerable profit to the shaver," said a third.
" This new soap," said a fourth, "is a spurious article, not fit to
wash the sheep of our Commons at shearing time."
" A slippery fudge," said a fifth.
" Made of Russian tallow," exclaimed the Refugees.
" Or of Carlton kitchen grease," muttered the Patriots.
" Worse even than the Pate Bourbon or the Old Brown Windsor."
" Not to be compared to the stuff of which we blew bubbles when
we were young "
" In short, it's a swindle," cried the Patriots and Refugees in chorus.
These murmurs of his customers reached the ears of the Barber
as he was in the act of fitting a new wig upon a block " Hang the
fellows," said he. " What do they mean by abusing my soap ? They're
all ready to use it; and as to its value, if there is not much of it goes
to the cakes, at least it's reckoned priceless by the Bar. The new
Chief Justiee knew its virtues long ago."
" Besides," said his assistant, " it's so handy for washing your new
clothes."

" What clothes?" said the Barber.
" The clothes you stole from the Tory gentlemen when they in
turn were caught bathing."
When the Barber heard that his last trick was discovered he
bolted. X.

SIR BENJAMIN HALL AND THE SEWER COMMISSIONERS.
( The resemblance to Tennyson is doubtless accidental.)
Ask me no more ! you're mooney—don't you see
You've bothered me, by Heaven, with every shape
Of trap and fall and outlet and escape.
But Bazalgette !—when have I answered thee ?
Ask me no more!
Ask me no more—what answer should I give ?
Your plan is hollow ! Sirs, its all my eye !
I don't want all the citizens to die.
Ask me no more !—I say, live and let live!
Ask me no more !
Ask me no more! Of course the smell's a bore,
But what'll the Erith folks say to your drain?
Will the great river bear it to the main?
Ask yourselves that—well—well ! I'll think it o'er.
Ask me next week !

1093

MINUTES OF TUESDAY'S COUNCIL.

PRESENT.—The Viscount Palmerston, the Lori Chancellor, Earl Granville, the Mar-
quis of Lansdowne, the Earl of Harrowby. Sir George Grey, Earl of Clarendon. Mr.
Secretary Labouchere, Lord Paninure, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Sir Charles
Woad, the Right Hon. R. Vernon Smith, Lord Stanley of Alderley, Mr. M. T. Baines,
and the Duke of Argyll.

The LORD PRESIDENT congratulated the Council on its reassembling
in good health and spirits. Thanks unanimous, except the Duke of
Argyll dissentient, having a cold itt his head. The Lord PALMERSTON
specially directed minute of this fact to he made.
Minutes of last Council read, and last resolution by which it was
decided that the best course was " to take a holiday and trust to good
luck " (altered, on motion of Sir G. Grey, to " Providence").
The Lord PALMERSTON briefly reviewed the events of the interval.
He and Lord Clarendon had done all that was necessary and prudent,
and now we were in an extraordinary mess. There was no use in dis-
guising it there, whatever it might be patriotic and proper to say else-
where. He sketched our various difficulties with Russia, Turkey,
France, Prussia, Naples, and Sardinia.
Mr. VERNON SMITH begged to say that he had gone to war with
Persia.

It was resolved, on the motion of the Lord LANSDOWNE, that Mr.
Vernon Smith should be silent.

The Duke of ARGYLL wished to propose a plan for settling all
difficulties, and was prepared to assume the responsibility of so doing.

It was resolved, oil the simultaneous motion of the rest of the
Cabinet, that his Grace should be silent.
The Lord CLAREsnoN asked what the Cabinet thought of another
war with Russia.

A .3,

Sir CHARLES WOOD highly approved that plan, and offered imme-
diately to telegraph to Portsmouth to desire everybody to look alive.
The Lord PANMURE thought, on the contrary, that war would give
a great deal of trouble to persons who had no right to expect such
addition to their labours.

The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER also objected, having a plan
for a Budget which war would disarrange.
Mr. VERNON SMITH begged to say that he had gone to war with
Persia.

Reminded of the resolution on that subject, explained that he
had now a right to speak, as war was under discussion, and Russia
might help Persia. Held that this was a subterfuge, and Mr. Vernon
Smith requested to be silent.
Lord CLARENDON said that they were not now assembled with an
eye to Parliament, ai that very week there would be another proroga-
tion, and another after that. There was ample time, therefore, for
maturing a scheme of policy.
Question by Sir GEORGE GREY how the Noble Lord had gone on
without. a scheme of policy hitherto ? Answer by the Lord PALMERSTON
that the question was an objectionable one. Repeated by Sir GEORGE
GREY. Answer that it was impertinent. Sir George Grey retired.
The LORD CHANCELLOR, apologising for intruding (and desiring
such apology to be entered on Minutes), requested to know whether he
was to reform the law in any way this session.
Answer by the Lard PALMERSTON. Certainly, and that he had
better go home and do it. The Lord Chancellor retired.
The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER had not much time for reading
the newspapers, being engaged in going once more through Pausanias,
but had noticed something about an unpleasantness with France.
Was there anything in it?
Answer by the Lord PALMERSTON that matters were pretty smooth
for the present, but that he hoped to alter all that before long.
Mr. VERNON SMITH begged to say that he had gone to war with
Persia.
Again reminded of the resolution, replied that the Chancellor of
the Exchequer ought to be made aware of the fact. This was allowed,
but Mr. Vernon Smith was required to be silent.
On the motion of the Lord PALM RSTON, it was agreed that foreign
affairs should not be further discussed until the return of M. de Per-
signy from Paris.
On the motion of the same, members of the Cabinet were
requested to submit the titles of any measures they considered should
be introduced this session.
No member having any suggestion to make,
Address by the Lord PALMERSTON, remonstrating in terms of seve-
rity upon the want of imagination which was displayed by his col-
leagues He had asked for a programme, and must have one. He had
not intended to require more than suggestions ; the Government law-
yers would prepare the bills, and would qualify each person to whose
department they belonged to make the speech on introducing them.
He himself would take the work of withdrawing them at a late period
of the session. He did not think that this was much to ask of official
men ; and he considered that he had a right to complain of not
receiving adequate support.
The Duke of ARGYLL said that if the Lord President would give
him a pen he could write with, he would dash off the titles of a dozen
measures of the very highest importance which he was prepared to
bring in.

resolved that the Lord President should not give the Duke of
Argyll a pen which his Grace could write with.
Mr. VERNON SMITH begged to say that he had gone to war with
Persia. Reminded of the resolution, urged that it was his excuse for
not having prepared any bills. Held that this was a subterfuge, and
Mr. Vernon Smith directed to be silent.

Letter received from Sir B. H.ill, Chief Commissioner of Works,
inviting the Cabinet to attend at Westminster on Thursday at eleven
o'clock, and hear the Great Bell tried.
Resolved unanimously that Sir B. Hall was a great bore with his
bell, and letter ordered, in reply, thanking him kindly.
Mr. VERNON SMITH inquired when he was to make his statement
about the war with Persia. [The Council broke up.,