The Sun.
London, England, 1855-02-12 00:00:00

Tra MISTAKE OF LORD ABERDEEN.

(Front the .Examiner.)
"My belief is," said Lord John Russell in his speech
on Monday night last, " that had the Prime Minister
been a man whose persuasions and dispositions would
had him to hasten on with eagerness the preparations
and arrangements for war, the Duke of Newcastle would
bay. been perfectly competent tor the department which

in held." -
In these words are explained the failure and the down-
fall of the Aberdeen Administration. No other result
Gould attend the determination not merely to conduct a
government in accordance with the ven e polic
when iy of peace, b
failure
bad been demonstrated by the commencement of war.
Well would it have been for Lord Aberdeen if he had
retired from office when he had exhausted all his powers
of conciliation ; when, having proclaimed on every pos-
sible occasion that peace was the first object of his po-
licy ; he had at length discovered that the Emperor of
"Cassia, utterly unmoved by such pacific demonstrations,
was only proFeeeing with increased insolence to take

advantage and make profit of thorn.
At that time Lord Aberdeen had not only obtained
the enthusiastic approval of Mr. Cobden, Mr. Bright,
and their adherents, but had demonstrated the fallacy of
their principles. He had put them to the test of experi-
ence, with the direct result, however unintentional, of
alluring the " friend of peace and supporter of order" to
lay aside the mask be had so carefully worn for many
ears. If Lord Aberdeen had then retired, it would
have been well for his reputation, and still better for his
country. In all probability England would not now
have had to mourn the destruction, by a process far more
cruel than that of actual warfare, by cold, by hunger,
and by disease, of the noblest army ever sent from her
shores. There was a weakness in Lord Aberdeen's
character, in itself aimable, which made him shrink
from the probability of war up to the very day when the
sword was drawn ; and this fact, cenpled with his fa-
vourite but fallaciont maxim, that war is the greatest
evil which can befall a nation, rendered him surely the
most unfit statesman that could be selected to conduct
what he had already shown himself se utterly incom-
petent to avert.
Who would choose, ler the purpose of performing a
long and painful operation, a surgeon liable to grow
faint at the sight of blood and suffering! Would true
humanity approve of such a selection t Yet it is easy
to me that a still lingering hope of avoiding extreme
hostilities directed all the earlier measures of the war.
If the English Government bad been energetically di-
rected to the attack on Sebastopol from the first mo-
ment when a °mallet was imminent, can any one doubt
that the fortress must long ago have fallen with a loss of
life comparatively trifling to that which has been actually
sustained S Whilst the English troops were halting at
Malts, at Gallipoli, in the Valley of Death by Varna,
the Russians were incessantly employed in those de-
fences which have hitherto successfully resisted us. And
there were other preparations making in the meantime,
while our troops were idly and usefully perishing in
Bulgaria, more formidable than even the intrenehments
and batteries of Sebastopol. The cold, the rain, and the
tempest were preparing in secret and unheeded ; and
the precious hours of spring and summer, in which a
campaign in the Crimea might have been undertaken
with almost the certainty of success, were allowed to
ass away.
In his farewell speech Lord Aberdeen referred to the
success of his Government in securing the alliance of
Austria, and expatiated on the advantages tobe expected
from it. On this subject we will only here observe that
such advantages are still future and contingent, while,
on the other hand, the evils undergone to obtain the
alliance are positive and present. As Lord John Russell
told us at an early period of the session, the English
army was kept at Yarns till the autumn solely because
the Government was waiting for the Austrian Cabinet
to make up its mind. It was thought that an earlier
movement might weaken the chance of obtaining the co-
peration which Lord Aberdeen appears to think cheaply
purchased with even so many disasters ; as if any policy
could so infallibly have secured this SUMMUM benum of
Austrian friendship, as boldness and success on the part
of the Allies. The pretext sometimes put forward for
the delay, that the expedition to the Crimea was neces-
sarily deferred until the Austrians had occupied the
Principalities, is entirely without foundation. Even it
the Russians had not been baffled at Silistria, any at-
tempt en their part to march upon Constantinople, while
the sea was commanded by the Allies, Schumla and
Varna garrisoned by Omer Pasha, and the read through
Servia closed by the lines of Salafat, would assuredly
have been attended with discomfiture and ruin. The
Austrian troops, moreover, did not venture to enter the
Principalities until the Russians had begun to evacuate
them.

THE WEATHER, THE PARKS, THE

BAILWAPS, thc.

The coldest night experienced in London for some con-
siderable time past was Saturday night, when the mer-
cury in the thermometer at the Royal Humane Society's
receiving-house, Hyde Park, fell to 19 degrees, being 16
belew freezing point. At nine o'clock yesterday morn-
ing the thermometer indicated 23, and at noon it indexed
30. The barometer at the same institution yesterday
was 29-57. The wind yesterday morning at nine o'clock
was a little to the north, but during the day it veered
from the north to the north-east. The ice on the Ser-
pentine was five and a half inches in thickness, but of a
very dangerous character, arising from the surface having
been rotted and broke' by the continuous falls of snow.

Fifteen or sixteen thousand sliders and skaters ven-
tured upon the frozen waters, in spite of the precautions
issued by the Royal Humane Society, and several
skating matches for heavy stakes took place, notwith-
standing that it was the Lord's-day. Fortunately no
immersion took place from the breaking of the ice, but
several—probably 14 or 15—persons received severe cuts
on the head by being thrown down upon the ice. These
persons were forthwith taken to the receiving-house,
where their wounds were dressed, after which they were
removed to their respective homes.
The scene at one time upon the ice in Hyde park was
of a very animated character ; for owing to the immense
number of persons, it was found impracticable to cross
the river, and many of her Majesty's Foot Guards
mingling with the throng -gave it quite a picturesque
effect. At the same time, the carriage-drives were
crowded with Blears, drawn each by two horses, and
carriages, containing members of the nobility or gentry.
Several emales who had ventured upon the frozen waters
in this park were run down by the skaters, and wore
also severely injured, either by the falls they sustained
or front being cut by the points of the gentlemen's skates
entering their forehead. So great was the number of
promenaders in Hyde-park that many thousands were
unable to walk along the footpath, and they in conse-
quence were compelled to pass ever the carriage-drives.
Had any portion of the ice given way in front of
the receiving-house, at least -1,000 persons must have
become immersed, owing to the vast concourse of per-
sons who had been drawn together to witness the evolu-
tions of the members of the Skating Club.
In the enclosure of St. James's-park a scene took place
yesterday that calls loudly for the interference of the
police on all future occasions. At one time, between
four and five o'clock in the afternoon, whilst the ice was
crowded by something like 10,000 or 12,000 persons,
and the men in the employ of the society were watch-
ing with breathless anxiety the movements of the skaters,
they, together with the park-keepers, were besieged by
a set of men and boys, numbering several hundreds,
who pelted them with snow-balls, by which the men had
their hats and caps knocked off, and several gentlemen,
and even ladies, had to make a precipitate retreat to
get out of the way of the unruly mob. Fortunately
they found a place of refuge in the society's marquee in
the park, which was sufficiently strong to bear the piti-
less storm of snow, and which reflects great credit on
the maker—viz., Mr. Benjamin Edginton, of Duke.
street, Borough. Mr. Deputy Superintendent Parsons,
who has charge of this park, states that the scene he

witnessed yesterday was such as had not occurred dur-
ing the many years he has been en duty; but, with the
exception of several cut heads, which were dressed by
Dr. M'Cann, nothing of a serious accident took place.
About 8,000 persons risked their lives upon the Lung
Water, in Kensington Gardens, including several mem-
bers of the Skating Club.
The Round Pond, in the rams gardens, was literally
besieged with an immense mass of human beings, in-
cluding several fashionably-dressed females. No accident
beyond severe cat woands on the head took place during
the day.
The Regent's Park had many thousand skaters and
sliders on the frozen waters during the day, and the ice
was of an exceedingly rotten and dangerous nature. In
some parts it had separated to such an extent that a man
could place his hands in the aperture. Up to six o'clock
last evening no fatal accident had been reported at Hyde
Peek.
great praise is due to Mr. Williams, the superin-
tendent, and also to Messrs. Deputy Superintendents
to4rAY. Parsons, and Chitty, for the means they took
4172lerve the lives of her Majesty's liege subjects.
The snow which had drifted upon the different rail-
ways was cleaved,
been made mar off during Saturday, and a road has
can now be taken to, the cross counties, so that the mails
the least obstructt and removed from, the rails without
Owing to the state of tileo.;11111
there seems little chance d and the glass last night
ntoon!rost breaking up during
the present quarter of the

DIVIDENDS ON PRO/RTY IN NA,,,.
v.y.-0.1.:..07 i
the do
Lordcu -
want has been recently published°
;idends, upon
in le in
Chancellor, en the subject of unclainineedwrai:
iesecloses
certain stocks belongingwtohicehstadt
the Court of Chancery,
curious fact that in no less than between gorewbat
and 600
suite some of the parties now entitled to receive dividends
have, either through ignorance of their claims or di
inclination to interfere in Chancery law,
fifteen years
-
claim to the same for the long period of
The document is headed as follows :—" The Lord Chan-
cellor has directed public notice to be given of the foi-
owing causes, matters, and accounts in which it appears
that the dividends upon certain stocks standing to the
credit of such causes, scatters, and accounts have not
been dealt with for upwards of fifteen fears. In any
petition which may be made respecting such dividends,
the fact of such period having elapsed without any
dealing therewith must be stated on the face of the
petition." Here follows a closely printed list of the
causes in question, amounting in number to upwards
of 550.
AFFREMENSION OT A
MAN FOR A MURDER COMMITTED I
concerned TWENTY YEARS AGO.—A man has been
apprehended in
this city, on the charge of being
committed at Borrisokane, a esmallin a murder i
town between Bire
and Nenagh, in the county of Tipperary, in September,
'1836'.- The murdered man was a farmerof some re.
BPeet-ability, named Michael Bryan. The prisoner's :
Mime is Stephen
Choate a . II ogan, alias Michael D
no4rtitatt, aroy.—man.