The Sun.
London, England, 1855-02-27 00:00:00

Mr. FREDERICK Pm, it appears, after all, is

t Undertake the duties of Under-Secretary for
;the War Department, an office which it was gene-
rally believe& would have been offered to the
' Hon. Gentleman the Member forAylesbury, whose
• peculiar information on Eastern subjects and ex-
ttaordinary energy indicated him as the best man
feT the office. It was necessary, however, that
'fliers should be a "Comedy of Errors" to introduce
the •
; —~w4terialDßOMlO and, therefore, the young
gettl*s.n Whose red --tapi st propensities are so
notorious, was nitcla-forked from an office, with the
duties whereof
he had some acquaintance, having
eerved a brief app x` e 0 •
46614, into one for which
he was especially ustfi,ted by disposition as well
as education; while Mr. L
Ax 4.14, whose name in
connection with the. War- office reverberated
throughout the length and breadth of the land—
as loudly, indeed, as some few weeks since did that
of Lord PALMERSTON—WaB quietly disposed of
the offer of the Colonial Under Secretaryship,
as
offer which it is almost needless to say he unhesi_
tatingly rejected.
Having thus made the worst possible arrange-
ment for the War-office, lot us see what has
been done for the Colonial Department. Sir GEo.
GREY, who had for some months been Secretary,
has been removed to the Home Office. His suc-
cessor, Mr. S. HERBERT, held office for some ten
or twelve days, when he joined in the Peelite
" Estampede," * and rushed wildly off, fleeing
from some unknown but no less dreaded danger.

tr.---t;
.1,4111"; *. A panic that occasionally seizes horses in South
474fAs Azastica.—See " The Scalp Hunters," by Capt. Mayne
64riptc1.5010itld.
tt,A " >,l'4
'11,4 - •
,

.

.'.-rf,";,tt.":..:F.1

Now, a Noble Lord, of unquestionable efficiency,
has accepted the office, but he is otherwise en-
gaged ; and while he is closely occupied in Paris,
Berlin, or Vienna, he cannot be supposed to bestow
much time or attention on the other important
interests committed to his charge. It would then
in the absence of the head of the department be
essential that the Under-Secretary should have
some knowledge of the routine of its duties. But,
alas, there is no Under-Secretary responsible
to Parliament ! The young gentleman who lately
held it with what might in some quarters possibly
be termed " commendable ambition," but which
is likely to receive a more homely and far less
flattering appellation from the community at
large, abandoned the position where he might
possibly be useful for one in which, according
to all human probability, he must be very much
the reverse. It would appear as if Peelite
management had been so very successful in the
conduct of the War that it could not be dis-
pensed with, that one who would derive his inspira-
tion from " the good and excellent" Earl should
be sought for at any sacrifice.
As to the nomination of Sir CHARLES WOOD to
the head of the Admiralty, we can only say that
the " derisive cheers" with which the announce-
ment was received in the House of Commons
will be echoed from all parts of the country.
Even the strongest Government would be mate-
rially damaged by such an appointment. When a
man of energy, and genius, and determination
is imperatively required Sir CHARLES WOOD (!)
is presented to the country as the pilot to weather
the storm, to retrieve the mismanagement
that has already been so grievously complained of.
There are few, indeed, who, whatever may be
their aristocratic or red-tapist predilections, will
not feel that this is indeed " too lout 1 "—that it
is an insult to our navy and to the country.

We have already expressed our views respecting
the new Chancellor of the Exchequer. He must
certainly be a bold man to accept such
an office at such a time and with
such desperate up-hill work to encounter.
Should he prove himself equal to the magnitude
of the emergency we shall be very agreeably sur-
prised. We cannot, however, discover anything
to warrant a reasonable anticipation that such
will be the case. With such critics as Mr. Drs-
RA.ELI and Mr. GLADSTONE watching at either side
he incurs no trifling danger.
" Incidit in Scyllam dum vult evitare Charybdin."
If he strive to conciliate the Oxford Pet," he
must anticipate the sledge-hammer assaults of the
Backs champion, while his situation will be but
little better if he reverse the operatien. His
chances with either would be something like that
specified by a China orange to all Lombard-street.

Lord DuNcs..N's, although a minor appointment,
is one that will be received with general approval.
The labours of the Noble Lord for the abolition of
the Window-tax and the improvement of the
Woods and Forests, merit a much higher reward
than a Junior Lordship of the Treasury.

We cannot conclude our notice of the new
writs issued without alluding to one that was
ordered with deep sorrow by men of all parties. Tke
"veteran reformer," honest, faithful, and energetic
JOSEPH HUMS has left a vacancy which it will indeed
be difficult to fill up. He was, indeed, one who
struggled boldly and manfully, not for his own
personal aggrandisement, but for the common
weal. The reformer of every abuse the ,
abater of every political nuisance —he Not
only laboured incessantly, but with an almost
unparalleled amount of moral courage, he
braved the sneers and ridicule of the pert
officials and time-serving waiters on PROVIDENCE.
At first waging single-handed war against the
Hydra of corruption he enlisted many promising
recruits, and became the founder of an important
and influential party. He laboured in his
vocation to the very last. He died in the ser-
vice of his country, and if ever a private indivi-
dual merited a public funeral or other indication
of national respect and honour, JOSEPH HUME
was the man. Peace to his manes. He has left
a blank which it will, indeed, be difficult to fill.

We don't know but that, for most practical pur-
poses, the best thing Lord JOHN RUSSELL could do
would be to turn his back on Vienna, and hasten
home to enter on the duties of the Colonial-office.
The Congress of Vienna, we grow more and more
convinced, is a miserable farce—and the only good
we see likely to come of its being played out, is
the satisfaction of the scruples of parties too little
national in sentiment and feeling to be deserving
of much consideration. We are booked for a
terrible and decisive struggle, and please HEAVEN
we will win.

By all accounts, and in entire keeping with the
practice of Russian diplomacy, while the agents
of the CZAR glibly talk of peace, and the un-
English party in this country quack in sympa-
thetic accord—that potentate is straining every
nerve to increase the effective force at his dis-
posal, and the result is, that but a short period
will elapse ere Russia is armed to the teeth, and
presents a succession of lines behind lines of
bristling bayonets. Regret cannot but be a faint
term to express the feeling with which the pre-
' sent state of things must be regarded by those
who have had a due appreciation of the nature of
the contest on which we have entered from the
first, and whose painful lot it has been to witness
opportunity after opportunity foolishly permitted
to pass by unrecognised and unimproved.
The aid we had a right to anticipate from a
cordial appeal to oppressed nationalities is daily
becoming more mid more problematical. If we
turn to the Caucasus we find the mountaineers of
Circassia grumbling and dissatisfied, with an
ill-timed, however otherwise desirable, interfer-
ence with a traffic consecrated in their eyes by
the custom of centuries. If we turn to Poland
and Finland, what do we find? Why more dis-
astrous still—for the evil will shortly be beyond
remedy—the CZAR draining the best blood, the
youthful, ardent, patriotic blood of those countries
into his ranks, there to mix and to be lost in the
puddle of his Muscovite hordes. To dream of
Sweden and Denmark aiding us who have dis-
played so little capacity to avail ourselves of the
most palpable advantages, is ridiculous in the ex-
treme. Small States love the right as well as
large ones, but they are trained to respect
strength, management and fertility of resources,
and cannot afford to be sentimental.

We have lost a noble army, wasted an entire
campaign, and cast away every special advantage
in our power. That is the history of the present
War. Was ever a great nation sacrificed after a
fashion like this, by nincompoops of rulers like
my Lord ABERDEEN and his followers ? Driven
into a war which •
might have been averted for
the Ns vt e 0 f e
wien
hiatv, e a
tn
adk
ewn e et bound
years.
mearsa.ke When
gingerly and Pedantically as if it were a matter
within the scope of diplomacy, and not a struggle
in which the fate of Europe for the next century
we hesitate
t
say—is at stake. And all this comes of what?-
oWhy, t its well-being—its very civilisation,
of not effecting needful reform when we had
n
the opportunity. Nothingbas cost this country more
than its easy-going indifference to abuses that have

not sensibly galled large masses. Had the work of
reform gone on subsequent to the passing of the
Reform Bill as it ought, there had been no op-
portunity afforded at the present time to an aris-
tocratic clique to fatten on the mismanagement of
our army—merit, and not favour, would have
raised us commanders, and these would have been
worthy of us, and no Minister would have dared
to throw away, as Lord ABERDEEN has done (sup-
posing the War could not have been averted), the
aid of nationalities capable of being, and willing
to become, and that beyond dispute, our mist
effective allies. Let us never more call an
abuse little, or hesitate to deal with it, because
relatively it may be so. It is part of a great
whole, which has cost us dear.

TEE EMPEROR NAPOLEON'S VISIT TO
THE CRIMEA.

The following is from a letter from Paris,
dated yesterday, 6 p.m. :
Lord John Russell left Paris for Brussels on Saturday
evening, and will, no doubt, continue his journey from
that place to Vienna. I have already alluded to the con- 1
versation which the noble lord had with the Emperor '
relative to his Majesty's departure for the Crimea, and the
remarks attributed to him ; but I am assured that he ex-
pressed himself after an interview in a manner that left no
doubt of his conviction that the Emperor would persist in
his project, less from any reply given to those remarks
than from the manner in which they were listened to. ,
Colonel de Beville, one of the Imperial aides-de-camp,
was expected to leave this day for Marseilles. Of 4
the postponement, or the prosecution of the journey,
nothing certain can be said more than what was
stated yesterday and the day before. The Em-
peror appears to keep his mind to himself so far as
his Anal resolution is concerned. The Ministers are
quite as uncertain as any one en the matter, though
they seem to have made up their minds for the worst ; ,
and the Moniteur still maintains an ominous and per-
plexing silence. Evidently they take it for granted
that the Emperor will realise his project, and their
anxiety is directed to convincing the representatives
of foreign Governments that they must not
consider the. journey as an indication of there being
no chance for peace, or as a complication the more
in a question which is quite embarrassing enough
already. • On a recent occasion tho Minis-
ter of one of the States whose adhesion to the alliance
of the Western Powers would be very desirable, had an '
interview with M. Drouyn de l'Huys, in order to under-
stand clearly what he skould say to his Government. He
reminded the French Minister that on a previous occasion
he had informed his Government that neither France nor
England would offer any impediment! to an honourable
peace, but he considered the departure of the Emperor
for the Crimea would in fact create that obstacle. The
Minister for Foreign Affairs assured him that he was
mistaken, that the Emperor merely desired to visit the
army, but that his presence at the camp would not hasten
by a single day the assault, nor would it occasion the
spendingef a single additional pound of powder ; that the
project itself .had long floated in the mind of the Em-
peror, .but that at the moment he was speaking it was
only. an intention, a l'etat de resolution, which might
or might not be carried into effect ; but that, even
if it were; it was by no means to be considered an act
of war. M. Drouyn de l'Huys then drew forth the
circular letter which he bad addressed to his agents
at foreign Ceurts, containing instructions as to the re-
ply they were to give in the event of their being asked for
explanations, and he fully authorized the Minister to
write to his Government in the same sense.