The Press.
London, England, 1854-01-07 00:00:00

JA:NNUARY 7, 1854.

selves ; and the marked subserviency of the
nominal head of the Government to Russia
gives colour to the charge positively ad-
vanced by our contemporary, that " the
" shameful neglect and disrespect shown to
" this Envoy Extraordinary of Paraguay " was
exhibited in deference to the desire of Russia
that the treaties negotiated by the Govern-
ment of Lord DERBY, and hailed with acclama-
tion by the commercial interests of England,
should be broken off if possible even at the
eleventh hour. Let the Government take its
choice of these explanations of its conduct—
envy of the success of Lord MALMEBBURY in
negotiating the treaties, as our Liberal con-
temporary alleges; subserviency to Russia.
as the Edinburgh Advertiser suggests ; or care-
less guardianship of the mercantile interests
of England, of which even its friends must
admit it has been guilty.

THE LAST OF THE IRISH ORATORS.
IT is little more than twelve months since the
greatest man that ever sat in the Irish House of
Commons—AßTHUß WELLESLEY—WAS buried in
St. Paul's, and we have this week to record
the death of the last of the great Irish orators.
We have not space to render an adequate
tribute to the eminent talents of the late
Lord PLUNKET. Long withdrawn from public
life, he expired in his ninetieth year, after
having survived nearly all the statesmen
with whom he had acted. His career was
varied, and his character was of that mixed kind
which is so difficult to delineate, especially
where an open grave imposes restraints upon
political criticism. Selfishness was the charge
which his adversaries constantly brought
against him ; and there can be no doubt that
" the little Hannibals," while they filled their
own pockets at the public expense, fixed upon
their father the charge of nepotism. Strictly
speaking, he could not be called a statesman ;
he originated or devised no great legisla•
tive measure ; but to the fame of a first-class
orator he is indisputably entitled. His name
will last in parliamentary history as a power-
ful and permanent advocate of the Catholic
claims. His style was remarkable for its
massiveness and brilliancy, and was well
suited for winning the approbation of a Senate.
It is understood that Mr. BERWICK, the President
of the Queen's College, Galway, has been for
some years occupied upon the biography of
Lord PLUNKET, and, if the work should be
published during the lifetime of " Mr. RIGBY,"
we shall probably have " a slashing article "
upon it, with more revelations about the ex-
Chancellor of Ireland than his biographer
would care to record. An edition of Lord
PLUNKET'S speeches has been announced as
ready for the press, and their publication will
give an opportunity for noticing the career of
this very famous but far from faultless public
character.

JUVENILE CRIME—THE BIRMINGHAM
CONFERENCE.
CONFERKNCES and public meetings for the pro-
motion of political or social objects have,
among much that is faulty and sometimes
ridiculous, one great practical result : they
serve to elucidate complicated questions, and
bring out into strong relief the few leading
facts of the case that is dealt with. This
arises from the nature of their constitution.
Who, when reading an elaborate essay on any
large subject, has not occasionally set down
the book, oppressed as it were, and perplexed
by the multitude of new ideas poured in upon
him—many, it may be, valuable—more wholly
worthless—but distracting from their novelty
and variety? Very different is it when the
same topic is handled by the public speaker or
professional journalist. Each expects only a
casual and precarious hearing--each knows
that; to secure attention he must arrest it ;
hence, in both, occasional exaggeration, where
an object is sought to be forced into notice by
magnifying its proportions ; but hence, also,
compression, force of style, selection of impor-
tant points, and. careful elimination of the rest,