The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1854-03-14 00:00:00

tiberpoot f•tattbarb

FROM OUR LONDON CORRESPONDENT.

MONDAY MORNING.

THE gossip at the clubs has been more than usually
piquant during the last day or two, by the rather unex-
pected manifesto, or article, contained in the St. Peters-
burg Gazette, copies of which arrived in the metropolis
at the close of the week. This document purports to be
the opinion and declaration of the Emperor NICHOLAS on
no less a subject than the famous " war speech" of Lord
JOHN RUSSELL, delivered lately in his place in the House
of Commons, when he concluded with the memorable
_peroration, "May God defend the right !"—a speech, by
the way, for which the noble lord was much lauded by the
country at large. There seems to be a wide difference
between our principles of honour and justice and those of
Russia ; in short, that there must be a gross mistake—
misunderstanding—on a very simple matter somewhere ;
and our Club quid nuncs don't hesitate to express their
sentiments to the effect that, had ministers acted with
more frankness and firmness at the outset, NAPIER and
his magnificent fleet needed not now to be steaming for
the Baltic, even making every allowance for the slippery
character of the CZAR. I merely give you Club opinion,
letting your readers judge for themselves. Certainly, ac-
cording to the EMPEROR'S statements, he appears to be a
much abused gentleman. He commences his long mani-
festo by observing—and I translate broadly—that it is not
the place to recapitulate all the outrageous insults—sic—
of which the loyal subjects of the EMPEROR will retain
the remembrance, but which do not stain the character of
the august individual who is assailed. The annals of the
parliament of England may be in vain searched for an
example of such intemperate language from a minister of
the crown, directed against the sovereign of a country
against which war had not been declared. The result is that
the peace of the world is no longer a problem, but that
war itself enters most decidedly into the plans adopted by
the ministers of England. Such is the end of that fatal
distrust, which in the Eastern question has sown the
seeds of all previous difficulties. The document goes on
at great length, touching on every point front Mmescur-
YOFP'S mission to Constantinople down to the " war
speech" aforesaid. I must tell you that Nrceroels is a
capital French scholar, and the present document is fluent,
and now and then really eloquent ; but it smacks of
bounce, and it may be something worse, all through. In
the meantime there are all sorts of rumours—telegraphic,
of course, touching Russia—the CZAR has abdicated—.
stuff !—that he is again opening up negotiations—stuff !
and so forth. All through the piece the wildest and most
ignorant statements have been put forth—statements
which, had the most geographically ignorant but looked
at the map, they would at once have detected their frau-
dulent character. They all came and come through the
world's sinks of iniquity, made up for the purpose of
affecting the continental bourses, and through them our
own monetary affairs. Why, that childishly ridiculous
:dory, contained in a very respectable morning London
paper a day or two ago, that the Russians had taken
Kalafat —that a QUEEN'S messenger had arrived at Buck-
ingham Palace, all booted and spurred, and mud-bespat-
tered, with despatches for the QUEEN, detaining the
SON'EREIGN three quarters of an hour from the theatre, ,
made a change in the bourses referred to of about half a
million of pounds sterling. Somebody lost and won this.
Our own stock fell a half per cent. !
I am informed that HER MAJESTY was deeply affected
when taking leave of the fleet at Spithead, especially
during her brief but warm interview with the admiral.
NAPIER expected, when he set sail so magnificently, that,
if nothing untoward occurred, he would be in the Baltic
on Wednesday or Thursday. It is anticipated that n-
et:loess may " steal a march" on the combined armies,
with the view of testing the true feeling of some of the
smaller powers, and NAPIER is just as determined to pre-
vent it. Some alarm is felt by divers elderly politicians,
both in and out of the House of Commons, touching the
import of the admiral's expression at the dinner given to
him, to the effect that, if he did not find war on his sailing ,
into the Baltic, he would make it. In order to render the
matter perfectly understood, a question will be put this
evening to Sir JAMES GRAHAM respecting NAPIER'S
instructions, or rather powers. Now that he is fairly
afloat, the Admiralty may spare themselves and the tele-
graph
at the top of their house the trouble of interfering
with him. I fancy—and lam sure. I know the man—he
will follow the example set him by his illustrious prototype,
Hoeterto NELSON, at Copenhagen ; who, when informed
of a message being ahead, put his spy-glass to his blind
eye—the non est inventus one,— observing, very truly,
that he couldn't perceive anything, and so set to work and
achieved a victory. NAPIER, however, has sealed instruc-
tions which he will not open till his entering into the
Baltic ; and I firmly believe that he will keep up steam to
its highest pressure till he gets there, just to see "What
ma lords are aboot." Your readers are aware that CHAS.
NAPIBM is a descendant of the great Lord NAPIER, of
Merchistown, :the inventor of the logarithms, and the
admiral is not a little proud of it : his seat, small but
comfortable, in Hampshire, is named after Lord NAPIER.
My statements respecting the Budget (contained in last
week's communication) have been entirely borne out by
the expose of the CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER. For
half a century no Budget has been listened to in the House
of Commons with so much attention, or by such numbers,
both of members and of " strangers?' Never was Budget
so simple in its construction—so obnoxious in its character,
yet so well received. Mr. GLADSToNE's statement, by no
means a long one—for him, was studded throughout with
cheers—for " hears," long drawn out, come to that in the
end. It was simple, because it only went to double the
income-tax ; hence, also, obnoxious. It was well received,
because England has a heart in her—when war is men-
tioned. The right hon. gentleman received a ready echo
When he scouted the swindlery of loans, or the system of 1
burdening posterity with charges of to-day,—a system
which had been fraught with so much damage to the
present generation, the sins of the fathers being visited on
the children. It was obvious, to an experienced hand,
that Mr. GLADSTONE appeared really ill off for materiel
to construct a speech of decent length; hence he lugged in
all sorts of things and subjects to "make up a show,' like
our lean friend the apothecary. The CHANCELLOR picked
up the penny stamp, referred to the succession duty, tea,
sugar, soap (strange mixture), coffee, and CHARLEY
WOOD'S succedaneuns therefor—chicory ; having likewise
a touch at tithes,—mistaken for tiles, in consequence of
Mr. GLADSTONE'S pronunciation of the word tithes, in a
house (save the House of Lords) the worst in the world
for the true conveyance of sound. However, tiles for
tithes caused a laugh, and there an end. The soldiers
going and to go abroad—Lord RAGLAN'S army—are set
down at £5O a head. Poor fellows ! I hope and believe,
most firmly believe, that we shall soon see them back again,
for all the bounce of that smart old " Yerle" of ELLEN-
BoßorGir, who anticipates a protracted war. Be this as
it may, here comes the rub—pray pay attention—that,
thought NICK and his snub-nosed, dog-hock'd legion—
the Emperor of RUSSIA'S hordes—were quieted in a couple
of months, the double income-tax will remain. Yea, I
hear it in places, where I am never misinformed, that should
the war be protracted for less than twelve months, but more
than six, the income-tax, it is intended, shall be raised to
two shillings in the pound. Remember this. lam certain
on the subject of both anticipations. The Budget was
agreed to almost without dissent, except by Mr. DISRAELI
and Colonel SIBTHORP ; the former having agreed that the
government should have whatever sums were requisite for
carrying on the war, though the EX-CHANCELLOR was-
opposed to the present means being continued, should the
war be a protracted one. The gallant colonel spoke in his
usual unmistakeably emphatic style, and concluded by
calling ministers a set of humbugs ; which, of course, will,
at the ensuing Easter recess, more than procure a hearty
welcome for the gallant colonel when he visits his Lincoln
constituents. Among the whole 658 members there is
not one so popular, among the electors, as Col. SIBTIIORP
at Lincoln.
Ministers seem loth to reconcile themselves to the ine-
vitable fate which awaits their pet measure of reform, in
spite of the heavy lowering of the political sky, which fore-
bodes the close proximity of the storm that will sweep all
ideas of six-pound franchise, minority-regresentation, chop-
ping and changing of one borough for another, and the
like out of people's heads. Only on Thursday night Earl
Gain- again urged the government to say that, if our fo-
reign relations remained as warlike on the 27th April as
they were at present, they would not divide parties, and
entail the possibility of a dead-lock of public business by
a probable ministerial crisis, by thrusting their new reform
bill upon a reluctant parliament. No ! The Earl of ABER-
DEEN refused, paint blank, to say anything of the sort—
declared that the honour of government was pledged to
proceed with the measure, and emphatically iterated and
reiterated that when Lord Jon-e RUSSELL moved the
second reading of the bill on April 27, it would be " in all
sincerity and good faith." It is only to be hoped that, if
the noble lord is really rash enough to do anything of the
kind, some good-natured friend of the government will
avert the consequences of such desperation, by moving
what in parliament is technically known ps " the previous
emestion," or, in other words, whether it is expedient to
consider the bill just then.
Two orders of a very different description of character,
though tending
the same way, have been resolved on by
ministers. One refers to infractions of the Foreign Enlist-
nent Act ; the other to the
teTsghaesr t dignitary of the
Church, to whom such mat e always confided,
namely, the framing
.of a prayer that " strife and blood.
and that, to this nation
shed may be averted in Europe,
the blessings of peace may
be_continued. ' Probably, in
the first Gazette, after the sailing
appear. At all events, the PRIMATE,of the fleet, this will
in order to be pre-
pared, has given directions to his reverend secretary to
look for precedents for the form
God of Battles, but it will not be of
be cuch prayer to the
s circulated, as I under-
stand, until the close approach of hostilities.'
Paul
will, Proclamation of war at the crosses of and Charing of
will, it is also understood, give way to a less formal, but
*Emile' effective, means of declaration—a Gazette an-
nc'uneement—immediately on the heels of which the
prayer will be issued to all ministers of churches and
shapels in England and Ireland, Berwick-on-Tweed, and
-that Part ef Hsu MAJESTY'S dominions called Scotland.
The other order, touching int • eat of the
ruts.=

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