The Liverpool Standard, and General Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1854-12-26 00:00:00

ministration In an especial manner has this jealous.

been directed

gainst everthing which could bear even the

semblance of a military interposititon in our domestic

affairs. Special, provision was made with the most sedu-
lous care, to. exclude armed interference in our electoral

rangements ; and the introduction of a
foreign military power into these islands has beehlooked
on by all parties as an act which nothing but the most
urgent necessities could palliate, or justify the attempt of.
It has been reserved for a cabinet professing more than
ordinary regard for public liberty and popular rights to
advocate and insist on the adoption of a measure by which
our native soldiery may be drafted off to the uttermost
ends of the earth, while their places are supplied by armed
bands of foreighhirelings, and our liberties and constitu-
tional privileges are abandoned to the protection of mer-
cenary bayonets. Free trade in corn, the supremacy of
calico, and unstinted concessions to the interests and pre-
dilections of foreigners, have been characteristically fol-
lowed by a law for the introduction of alien cohorts, by
whose aid individual freedom or public liberty may be sus-
pended or trodden under foot at the bidding of a court
favourite, or in obedience to the dictates of a supple or an

and judicial

arbitrary minister. When about to introduce a measure
of such sinister reach and such questionable application as,
the Foreign Enlistment bill, it is scarcely to be wondered
that Ministers should have been desirous of avoiding
anything in the shape of premature publicity—that
with their own chattering habits and the pragmatical
boasting of their underlings they should have been able
to prevent the slightest inkling of their intention to
transpire on such .a. subject, indicates only too clearly their
consciousness of its iniquity ; and this consciousness of its
dangerous_importance is still farther borne out by the
style of arguments adduced by them in its favour. No one
of all the ministerial band in either house, for even a

moment, attempted to• grapple with the constitutional
argument against the adoption of the project. Side state-
ments of every form—plausibilities of every hue—misre-
presentations varying through every degree of magnitude
and incredibility—were put forward in justification of
present expediency. The views and the opinions of
MARLBOROUGH and of WELLING4ki were adduced as
affording parallels to the present nppliestfinn for foreign
mercenaries; but in every case the fact that the foreigners
employed under those illustrious commanders were troops
raised, trained, and disbanded in foreign countries, and
never set foot within our island, was carefully excluded
from view. With equal disingenuousness the distrust
evinced by both those. commanders for the fcLrOgn
legionaries placed under their controul was caraully
segregated from the ministerial arguments ; and one who
possessed no. better knowledge of the facts than that
derived from the harangues of the " coalition orators"
would have been led to believe that the success of the
English arms at Blenheim and Minden, on the plains of
Talavera and Waterloo, depended exclusively on the
valour and prowess of the foreign battalions of which our
army were mainly composed, and with which our own
insignificant squadrons were fortunately brigaded ! The
bad taste and erroneous deductions of the ministerial
statements and logic formed fertile themes of reprobation
for the eloquence of the Conservative phalanx, which
defended alike the integrity of our constitution, and'
upheld the honour of our national renown. Among
the peers, the Earls of DERBY and ELLENBOROUGIL
eloquently denounced the danger of giving to any.
government " the power of placing any portion of
the guardianship of England in Germans, or in the
hands of other foreign troops, in substitution or to the
exclusion of the troops of the country." In the House.of
Commons, Sir E. B. LYTTON, in answer to the specious
clap-trap about the bravery of contingent troops, as that
was testified to by the Duke of WELLINGTON, said finely,
and with telling effect, while proclaiming the general
anxiety that the war should be prosecuted with vigour,
" I am unwilling to acknowledge, in the beginning of the
contest, that we have not sufficient men to fight our own
battles and to win our own laurels. The honour-of Eng-
land is staked upon the present war, and that honour is
not so intolerable a burden that we must thus early call in
foreigners to share in bearing any portion of it. If any-
thing can render the war unpopular, the sight of foreign
troops in this country, supported by the taxes, and occu-
pying those barracks, the avowed deficiency in the accom-
modation of which has been alleged by ministers as a
reason for not embodying the militia, will tend to make it
both unpopular and hateful. Such a spectacle will sour
the temper of the middle classes. Those classes now
proud of bearing the burdens, and of making sacrifices in
support of their fellow-subjects, who repay those sacrifices,
and lighten those burdens by the achievement of deeds,
the glory of which reflects honour on their common name;
but they will not bear such burdens, nor submit to such
sacrifices for the support of foreigners, whose most brlliant
achievements are only to be looked on as compliments
paid to our wealth at the expense of our manliness of
character." The flimsy pretext that our immediate re-
sources in available recruits had been exhausted, was
dexterously anatomised by Sir E. B. LYTTON, and also
by Lord STANLEY, who, on Tuesday night, may be said to

Lord PALMERSTON,Mr.DISRA.EU happily ridiculed what he
felicitously denominated "the good-natured bluster" of the
noble Home Secretary ; and, by a few well-selected:quo-
tations from the correspondence of the Duke of Wm,-
ellous
noble

LINGTON gave the coup de grace to these m

stories of mercenary 'prowess with w

member for Tiverton endeavoured to cajole the House

In quoting, however, the notable fact, that to the inform-

tion, derived by the Russians fron
belonged to the French Foreign Le

gion, we o

and nearly ruinous attack upon our gallant countrymen
Inkerman, the right honourable member for Buckinghai

Lire tore awa,

had beer

ainated

4DAV, DECI

'n of (

ms been so unseem

nctured with dislovalt

n some of their lett

Jell time ft

national banners

side-by-side with foreign
have condescended to bec,
perty. Early in the pre
the discreditable spectacle

in anticipat
known as
laurels

to defe

Potations pottle deep
triumph, and full of

Dutch couragE

vauntir

This was on the occasion-
lead of

renowned commanc

enterprise; to effect a destructive and de
the Baltic. He went and saw ; but, 1

their sl

_ Ministers
national pro-

:Cla—cO'sql

solatill„.0 warfare in
unlike CESAR, did,

not conquer, at least not much : but he speedily found ou
(what he' and his employors ought previously to 1101
knownYttat his ships and armament were unfitted to till

of the Balti

es which 1

un-boats with heavy artille
litable than stat

and ilight
shins. True

draft of water were more

iscovered that

On the banks of the Tham

blood of

;-but our gallant First Loft_

upon shedding IL'
than estimating the re"
xpeditions to the 13altici

more it

Scro's- vir

plirements of warlike

fakes no note' of such affairs, till they are force(
upon his official observation, and then he sets about' ill'

acquisition of the two coveted gun-boats in a Manner, It
not entirely sui generic., certainly unique, for a member of
the British cabinet. On behalf of the nation, Sir .1"..5a1V5
GRAHAM has acquired those identical gun-boats by a.,.,Pr°"
cess, which a Scotch .paokman would describe as nrue,ll;
ing ;" in his own words, he has agreed to give
frigate" for the two vessels ! Here was a bargain worthy
of the employment of several of the "talents." The thrift
of getting two " spec' and span new" gun-boats, for air
" old frigate," was indeed an idea worthy of a " nation of
shopkeepers" good
and when, we reflect that the opposite chat.'
ferer, in goods " contraband of war," was a veritable,:
though probably not a very kingly king, the transaction'
seemed of a higher reach.in " dealing" than otherwise it
might have claimed to be. A slight consideration of the ca"'
will speedily show us, however, that, how defective soever
Sir JAMES may be in king-craft, his fellow-trader is the
superior huckster. The old frigate" turns out to he
none other than the Thetis; a-frigate of 1,524 tons burthell'
carrying 36 guns, launched in 184(from the building-Y.f
at Deptford, and considered by connoisseurs a model
naval architecture. Her performances in the Pacific and
also in the Channel are reported of in highly complimel?,-
tary terms ; and, so far as the• economy of this barg3l-"
goes, it appears to oscillate considerably beyond the reach
of our present first Lord of the Admiralty. In accordance
with present probabilities, the Thetis, assuming the neW
character of the Vladimir of the Baltic, will, next season'
cruizing under Russian colours, take a peep at the ta'o
gun-boats for which she was exchanged, and run away
from them or with them, as circumstances, or the fates,
may determine ! Who knows however, probably at the
close of the next valedictory 'Reform Club libation, Sir
JAMES, instead of conferring on his departing deputy the
power of declaring war, may impose on him the necessitY
of capturing the Thetis, and then we shall have frigate
and gun-boats both. Sir JAMES is a borderer, and no
doubt is up to a thing or two, in the art of predatory
warfare. Nous verons.
A long-promised and anxiously-looked-for work 113:
just made its appearance. It was announced, and apyeara
under the title of " Thirty Yeamof Foreign Policy,
is from the pen of the author of " The Right Hon..
Disraeli, M.P." It is a singular work, and, like its
predecessor, one of no small ability, however little autlf'
rity it may carry with it. It has been written obviously
with the intention of demonstrating the extraordinary
and startling proposition with which the Earl of Anal:'
LrEEN astonished Parliament and the country on ills
accession to office as Premier, when he declared that for
thirty years the foreign policy of this country had been
the same. To those who remember the commentaries,
more graphic than graceful, by which Lords PA LmEnsToli
and ABERDEEN respectively characterised the foreign
policy of each other, the task undertaken in the present
instance may seem difficult of execution ; but to daring
genius all things become easy, and the author of
Benjamin Disraeli" is one of those who make 1:1:
bones of cutting blocks with razors. True enough,
premises are always made prize of war, whether laviP. 5,
otherwise, and from these he ," draws his conclusli,
because they will not follow." His modus operand,
though not very new, is somewhat ingenious, and
eiently startling. He reviews the foreign policy of ea of
of the aspirants to statesmanship through the optics is
one who is decidedly inimical to that of both ; and by tu„f
method, having got up a pretty stron condemnation
g the one and of the other, he sets about sholting that the
sets of policy which could be thus obnoxious to
censures of M. FICQUELMOHT, the assumed arb2",e
malorum in this contest of politics, must in the main 113'0
a good many points of resemblance—hence, his Pg..,
Frow
assumption is that they must be very much alike. f „ot
this limb of the syllogism the-transference is easy,"
f no
quite conclusive, that they are identical. rlavibe
established, in this singular manner, not °nil, the
general similarity, but the absolute identity 01 on
two systems of policy, which appear to have no con 101.„,
feature, except that of having secured the blind host4l",l.
of M. FICQUELMONT, the author's next step in ratioellgs
tion, is an equally bold one. It stands something in„,
form, although not quite so succinctly given. Lord pay-
form,
MERSTON would make an excellent Minister for condl;ot
ing the present war—all men are agreed on that ;
Lord ABERDEEN'S policy is identical with that of Dptal
PALMERSTON; therefore, Lord ABERDEEN is a CaPiolv
Minister for conducting the war—therefore he does e,_
duct it admirably. Q. E. D.! Another of the paradox d.
ds:
demonstrations of this bold and cunning sciolist, is to 5 ity
die the blame of the present war, not on the pusillanimo
and bad faith of the Ministry, but on the influence., and
conduct of the Peace Society. That the stark mati_l've
and raving absurdity of these mock philanthropists 110„,
gone a good way in inducing Europe to a belief in our rsl
tional insanity, may, indeed, be true, but it seems a for
distribution of justice to hold their twaddle amenable e
the barbarous treachery and rapacious hypocrisy of %I.l_
CZAR. Another abortive, as well as impudent intrusion
into the literarvinerd, has been made in the form of
biography of "Barnum" the bold. The book, althour
ill-concocted and tastelessly put together, abounds
d, in, ft
teresting matter, an with the aid of one ordinarly sauk'„
in book-making, it might have been dressed up into ,s`;
highly amusing and not uninstructive volume. As it
Mr. BARNUM, the very jay of artistes, struts about lie
vellously in the peacock plumage of the unabasll!„.
showman. Among his other drafts on PcPP7tL.,,
credulity, Mr. Runnum exhibits himself as a zu-,"be
devout and pious Christian, who has dabbled ill '
piety of Shakers and other nondescript professorS.,,
nondescript faiths, mixing here and there his pious aat''eg
with devices for the sale of lottery tickets, and sometil%.
defiling them with newspaper libels, for which latter r''he
dering of faith, he was condemned to imprisonment in
" common jail of Danbury," whence he was taken in PAeti
fessional triumph, drawn in a carriage and six, prece:d
by the appropriate " brass band," whose brayingstalo
noise seem throughout life his characteristic and pr'A. ea,
companions. As an exposition of impudent and barel3ot
as well as successful humbug, the memoirs of B3F~h is
have few rivals ; and one is somewhat doubtful whit the
the more fertile source of wonder, his impudence
public gullibility

nitvic°l

The Christmas oratorios have introduced to. thb - 010"
world of London two vocalists who promise to bedralif
able acquisitions. The one is Miss PALM.E3I, a et);;e 'l4°
of good capability and taste. Her voice is at cai ressioll
and sweet, and in her execution she combines eq Ole

and delicacy, as well as no small degree of povver; gig
other is Mr. TILOMAS, a bass of rare acconaplishwell,n' pass'
voice is full and rich in quality, and extensive in eem, of
His execution generally was distinguished by brillialich
effect and .a considerable extent of artistic polish.l n his
may, however, be enlarged with no disadvantage
musil caabilities.
Fora considerable time past, the inventive fecuitifeaws"°f
theatrical managers and mechanicians have been s'Avelt3r
absorbed in preparations for the Pantomimes, that %gall
has been in a great degree banished from the 'Petrol? 01.19
stage, and although spasmodic efforts have oeee't the
been made to stimulate the wonder, if not to es,todea
admiration of the public, success has not generally ane
will
the attempts. To-morrow evening, the Pantomiel finite
blaze forth in full array at all the houses, to theii% ho-
delight and amazement of countless juveniles, vb:,(l:rsoleot
nesty of applause and outburs*-

of ecstatic wont.
-nscending the
the,. o
atiin
to
all prop,

I their unsdphisticated

astes will thetheatr

entrus

TATESTY'S ROYAL 801

d offie

at more

,ventr

prioulneut