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Leader (1850-1860), 16th December 1854, Edition 1 of 2, Page 1193, Untitled Article

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      . y nce Europe in 1 J 825 , which so firmly established the power of Russia , and undermined every other tbnme on the Continent , that the importance of Turkey has been seen . Because we now witness the singular spectacle of the two most enlightened nations © f Europe going to war , with the approbation of every sincere and wise friend of freedom and . civilisation , for the purpose of keeping the Turks at Constantinople , the loss of which w in . eeks was four centuries ago considered the most grievous calamity that ever befel Christendom , some sanguine spirits forget how very recently this policy has been decided upon , and are read y to denounce Lord Aberdeen as a traitor for not supporting the policy which he really originated . The readers of some journals will think it an incredible paradox to assert that it was Lo-rd Aberdeen who first as Foreign Secretary proclaimed it to be the duty of England to maintain the independence and the integrity of the Turkish Empire . Nevertheless , such is the fact . THE PEACE SOCIETY ONE CAUSE OF THE WAR . .

      The future historian will some day have to record what an important part the Peace Society has played on the breaking out of the great war for the security of Europe . The Emperor of Russia trusted to the orations of tlie fanatical votaries of peace in 1853 , as he formerly trusted to the speeches of the Opposition when he dictated the treaty of Adrianople . Experience , the surest of guides in political affairs , had taught him that in 1829 the Duke of Wellington and Lord Aberdeen , with their eyes open to the consequences of the unfortunate treaty , had been obliged to acquiesce in it : andthat even Sir Robert Gordon , the brother of the English foreign secretary , had advised the Sultan to accept those liard conditions of peace rather than continue a ruinous war . How could the northern autocrat expect that the result would have been different in the present day ? Were not some of the members of the Peace Society as influential politicians as the noble lords and honourable gentlemen who scouted the idea of defending Turkey twenty -six years ago ?

      LORD PALMERSTON 8 TRAINING AS A STATESMAN . Though an Irish peer , Lord Palmerston had not many powerful friends to push him over the heads of able rivals . He owed his appointment to the important post of Secretary-at-War entirely to the reputation which he so early acquired . For nearly twenty years he performed the duties of that department with such efficiency and success as may perhaps have been equalled , but have certainly never been surpassed . He was not the slave of routine , but a zealous administrative reformer . The intricate details of military finance , and the regulations of the army were subjected to his careful supervision ; and immense improvements w > ere effected , for which he neither received nor expected popular applause . Few people but those intimately conversant with this department , ever knew how much Lord Palmerston had done for the efficiency of the service , or even had the least Idea of liis great administrative abilities . When he entered the War ^ office he found everything in the greatest confusion ; but after his long tenure of this important place he left it a model of order and industry

      At this time Lord Palmerston troubled himself very little about the personal differences of Gastlereagh and Canning . He had not yet become the ardent friend of Canning , and he confined his activity to his office . He was the Secretary-at-War , and Secretary-at-War he continued to be until it appeared that Lord Palmerston and this department could never be disunited . Through , all the season of youth and early manhood , through all the changes of administrations , through all the vicissitudes of empires , ia war and in peace , Lord Palmerston remained Secretary-at-War . During that time the most memorable events in European history occurred ; the most important domestic and foreign questions were discussed ; -while year after year he sat silent throughout the greatest debates , year after year he , contented himself -with moving the army estimates : in discussions on foreign policy , when Lord Castlereagh ¦ was Secretary for Foreign Affairs , he scarcely ever opened his lips . Such taciturnity .

      ¦ when Lord Palmerston ' s powers as an orator and his actions in future years are considered , is truly wonderful and almost incredible . When Canning became Foreign Minister , Lord Palmerston ' s consciousness of his great abilities slowly awakened . He gradually overcame what must be called , however surprising it may seem , his habitual modesty . He spoke well on the affairs of Spain . He spoke well and more frequently on other topics . He began to announce some decided opinions on the political and commercial qnestions of the day . For Mr . Canning he now felt warm admiration , and adhered to him with generous fidelity when this injured statesman formed his ministry , and so many influential Tory politicians sent in their resignations and positively refused to serve under a Prime Minister favourable to the claims of the Roman Catholics . Lord Palmerston had now a seat in the Cabinet , though he still held his old office .

      HISTORY OF MB . UJRQUHART . A blockade had been established by Russia along the Circassian coast , and its existence communicated through the ambassador at Constantinople to the British Government ; but as the ministers , without positively denying , did not think fit to recognise the justice of the claim which the emperor was enforcing , the blockade had never been notified in the Gazette . This passive resistance did not satisfy the inspirer of the Portfolio , and the small circle of which he was the centre . Lord Palmereton was against his will to bo driv « n into a war . A certain back-stair influence was brought into play ; confidential communications were held with Sir Herbert Taylor , the king ' s private secretary ; hints were given ; some obscure officials , who were supposed to know the opinions of their chiefs , looked mysterious ; and Mr . Bell , a merchant , wiia inspired with the design of sending a cargo of salt to Circassin , and of thus bringing the question to an issue . . . . . . . Mr . Bell eagerly desired the Government to authorise his commercial and political

      designs ; Lord Palmorston cautiously abstained from giving him the least encouragement . Trusting-, however , to the promptings of what he vaguely termed the Foreignoflice , though contrary to the obvious meaning of the letters of the Foreign Secretary , Mr . Bell , like the enterprising and patriotic merchant that ho was , sot out for Constantinople . There the regulations of 18 » 1 and 181 ) 6 were shown to him by no less a person than the English ambassador . The risk to bo incurred was now plain . Mr . Bell hesitated , and thought of abandoning his cherished project of giving the Circassians the opportunity of purchasing his excellent cargo of salt , -whatever the fiscal regulations of Russia and the stringent law of blockade might say to the contrary . The secretary of the embassy was excited ; ho felt that the great moment of his life was now drawing ; near . He advised Mr . Bell to proceed , notwithstanding the lanof the

      guage of Lord Pnlmorston and Lord Ponsonby . Was not the private secretary king more powerful than the secretary of state V So thought Mr . Urquhart , and in full reliance on Uia wimlom , the Vixen entered the Black Sea , and at l « et let go her anchor in tho bay of Soudjouk Kale , No time > vna lowt in informing the natives of the saline comforts with which tho sloop wns freighted . But before anything could be done , down « nm « a UushIiui bng ~ of-w < ir ; the Vixen was seized , earned ignoimnl-« . unly into Sebaotonol , nnd confiscated u » a contraband trader . . • Mr . B « U called on the English Government for vongoanco ; full reparation at least ho expected to receive . Ilthiinplorod U > o UHuiutauco of tlic IIohhc of Cominoim . But whatever might have been the Juatloo or tho injuHtico of tho proceedings of Kuoua In Ciroasaia , Lord PalmorsUm felt that ho iuuhI , cither ncqmosco m tho legality ol the conflBcation , or go to war in vindication of Mr . Bell and hia sloop Vixou . I ho paoiflc alternative waa preferred ; Mr . lioll wim ruined ; nnd Uia name appeared » n the

      Gazette , where he complained that the notification of the Russian blockade had never D 66 U * . . . ^ m But the name of Mr . Bell and of his ship would long ago have been forgotten had they not been associated with the fall of the ingenious Secretary of the Embassv at Constantinople , who was unquestionably the prime mover in the business . • • Lord Palmerston could only take one step . Mr . Urquhart had applied for leave of absence ; he was informed that he could not be permitted to return to his post ; but the minister kindly assured him that he would keep the reason of his dismissal a secret even from the ambassador at Constantinople This consideration for his feelings did not satisfy Mr . Urquhart . Trusting to private influence , relying on the friendship of Sir Herbert Taylor , and on the remembrances of kindness m the highest quarter , he had proudly ventured to brave the impotent

      diapleasure of the Foreign Secretary . But he found , to hia dismay , that the Secretary of State , as the responsible servant of the Crown , was not the contemptible automaton that he had supposed him to be . Mr . Urquhart was dismissed ; but he has never been able to consider calmly the reason of his disgrace . He imagined that he had fallen a victim to Ms honest and uncompromising patriotism . Dark suspicions entered his mind . He had long been a marked man for his opposition to Russian intrigues . His ruin had been resolved upon ; and though holding the seals of the Foreign Office of England , he was convinced that the English minister was a Russian agent . With the restless energy of a man labouring under one idea , and stimulated by the goads of wounded vanity and disappointed ambition , Mr . Urquhart from that moment became the relentless enemy of Lord Palmerston .

      From these extracts , it will be seen that the book is one full of su ^ estive matter , much of which is of a kind to provoke controversy . We leave the writers ' s main paradox of the identity of the policy of Lord Aberdeen and that of Lord Palmerston , as well as the minor paradoxes asserted in some of the extracts , to the judgment of the reader . Differing from the book in many respects , we yet like it . It is certainly bolder in its sentiments and more respectful to the extreme continental liberals than was to be expected from a writer professing to talce Downing-street for his sland-pnnkt . "We wish Downing-street and Lord Aberdeen would endorse some of the language of their apologist , and declare his interpretations of their policy to be correct . If the writer ' s view is correct , why do not Lord Aberdeen and Lord Palmerston throw their arms round each other ' s necks publicly , and themselves put an end to the prevailing fallacy that they are antagonists ? After all , there is a leanness , a , narrowness , an officialism , about the book . The

      author , with a good deal of the speculative ' tendency himself , professes to keep clear of " abstractions" and " speculations" as having no bearing on practical British statesmanship . This is common language , but it is sad stuff . There never was a great Foreign Minister yet but he was swayed in his every act bjr ' * speculations . " In fact the precise business of every man is to fill his mind permanently with the biggest and best speculations he can get , and daily , with all his cunning , work as much of them as he can into the cracks and crevices of passing " affairs . "

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      THE ROSE AND THE RING . The Rose and the Ring ; or , the History of Prince Giglio and Prince BuZbo . By Mr . M . A . Titmarsh . Smith , Elder , and Co . If the time of a great writer like Mr . Thackeray were not intensely valuable , we could imagine him writing such a book as this for no other purpose than to enjoy a malicious satisfaction at the puzzle it would be to the ordinary rule-and-line critic . The latter individual has long since reversed the true position of the critic- —that of an indicator to the public—and writes now solely from the people ' s point of view , caring more cunningly to foreshow the popular judgment of a work , than to give his own honest opinion of its merits or dements . What , in the name of all Reviewdom , is such a critic to say of this last production of the author of Vanity Fair ? There will be a hundred different opinions among readers regarding it . Those of the public who never like Thackeray ' s writings will not like this ; of those who do , how conflicting will be the dicta ! Your solemn gentlemen , to whom Napoleon

      dibbling in trees at St . Helena is no hero , will loftily regret that Thackeray should waste his time on such trifles ; others will be delighted to miss his usual bitter tone , and chuckle over the great satirist ' s imagined return to common sense ; others will not like it because they miss the caustic touches of grim humour so peculiarly Thackerav ' s now , and will not like his merely trying to amuse people at Christmas time , instead of squaring at Vanity Pair m general , and birch-rodding its principal delinquents , as is his wont ; others will wish Doyle had illustrated the book ; others again would not part with one of Thackeray ' s quaint cuts for all that Doyle ever drew . " Ifc is a pity ho has disfigured so pretty a tale by slang , " some will aay . — " Thackeyay never shines so much as -when sketching the vulgarities of a * Jeames , ' " will be the verdict of others . In such a wilderness of opinions , what better course can the bewildered critic pursue than to bo a genuine critic for the nonce , and read the book and give his own opinion . Should he be wrong- * - why how many of his neighbours , in the first circles , make fools of themselves at Christmas-tide !

      We have read the Rose and the Ming with attention and great pleasure We arc glad Thackeray has written it . It is a fine instance of absence ol literary snobbery . The creator of Colonel Newcomo has put aside his mantle of artistic fame , and , stopping into tho circle , becomes Mr . Morryman for a brief season , and adds a large contribution to the fund of human merriment , The man who thinks the worse of him for this ia simply a snob , Wo like this book for very humble reasons , and for a high one as well . We like tho story as a story—wo like tho quiet quizzing of thefiiiry tales that charmed our youth , pntent to us , not patent to the juvenile niind—wo like the abrupt and inconsequential morals suddenly drawn like as in that stupidest

      species of children ' s books—tales with a tendency—wo like tho adinirabh cuts , always true to the text , generally well drawn , and not unfiequently ex ubornnt with the raciest fun . Those are some of our humble reasons- —noy for our higher one . A fairy talc , once popular , embodies something living and if tho artist or poet has one mission more than another , it is to Hoizo tin life thnt ' is hidden in old stories , and dress thorn in a modern garb . Th < chief of recent German po « ts him devoted much of his time to this , and no a few legends and ballads that had grown to bo dry bones have started uj again to modern life by a vivid treatment . Tho Hose and the Riiuj is ; n&

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      system deserved the curses of posterityIt is onlsi the settlement of _ ggggMBgB _ , 1854 . ] WHE LEADER . ^ $ 3 SVfitfim < ifcflPrt * VPr ? tha oiifcma t \ P nn& 4-n + * Z 4- * - * T * r « t - .. «_ . . « *« _ t ^ ^ ^^* ^ ^^ ^*^** m * mmmmm ^^ mi * mmmm ^^^^

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), Dec. 16, 1854, page 1193, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2069/page/17/