On this page
-
Text (4)
-
Untitled Article
-
Untitled Article
-
Untitled Article
-
Untitled Article
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
-
-
Transcript
-
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.
Untitled Article
are . the antecedents of Mr ; Jqsiah Wilkinson . "We ^ reeoxd them without comment , to weigh for "Wlbafa they , ai * e worth \ yith the members of the Metropolitan . Board of Works ; whose judgment should ., we conceive , in , a matter of this kindj be left to its own free exercise , uubiassed by any recommendations or counsels ft on the press . On the other baud , we feel it our duty , as faithful guardians of tire public interest , to declare our conviction that the London
ratepayers would view with dissatisfaction the reappointment of Mr . Woolrtch , the secretary to the defunct Sewers Commission . —or , as he has been wittily termed , " the relict of the late lamented Mr . Jebb . " la that ill-organised and most unpopular Commission party spirit was carried to such lengths , and was so radiated ( if we may use the expression ) from the chairman to his superior officers , that a clean sweep is indispensable , in order that the new Board may avoid the fatal inheritance of traditional discord and intrigue .
This , if we are rightly informed " , is the view of that large majority of the new assembly who advocate - the collective rights of the metropolis againsfe the interests of the City . clique . The latter will probably vote for Mr . Woolbych , with : the object of weakening Mr . Tswaites , by placing at his side , instead of a gentleman with whom he can cordially co-operate , one who does not eaijoy his : confidence . But forewarned , is forearmed . The premature revelations of the City policy by Mr . Deputy Peacock , in his celebrated nomination , speech , have put the " Metropolitans" on the alert . The
City members , "g iants" though they be , and sent expressly to ^ tackle" the Metropolitans , and " put them in a fix , " will find in the common sense of their opponents a quiet power with which Gog- and Magog cannot cope . That common sense -will , if we judge it aright , lead the assembly to prefer public to merely personal . considerations ; to reject , as an obvious element of discord ,, the City candidate , who mourns the fall of Jebb ; and to place beside the chairman , in conformity -with his known preference , a secretary with whom he can cordially co-operate in the discharge of his onerous public duties .
Untitled Article
THE BALTIC BLOCKADE . The relations of civilised States are , no doubt , too complex to allow of war being carried on , without embarrassment ,. in the presence ; of powerful neutrals . On the high seasj especially , it is impossible to destroy the commerce of one nation , without impeding that of another . Great Britain and France have had to deal , in the Baltic , with peculiar difficulties . To cut up the Russian trade , it was necessary to enforce the Right of Search . To enforce
me rugnt bearch , it was necessary to risk , not only the hostility , of Prussia , but the eonsequences of an agreement between the American and Gcerman Powers . The doctrine thatr free ships make free goods , which was never brought into operation oil a large scale until now ,: exonerates Russia , almost completely , from the effects of the Baltic blockade , the principal expense of which is borne by England . The Russian exports from the , Njorth flow out little less freely in time of war than in time of peace . Prussia is benefited by ( tb , e carrying trade ; the Russian merchants in * mx own country and in others , pursue their tra ^ s ^ ctipna , nearly as usual ; and , so cognisant is _ th « British Government of these facts , that it advertises , officiall y , for tenders of Russian tallow ..
an exceptional case . What is most important is the astonishing truth that English money supplies Russia with means for carrying on the war . Meanwhile , England spends £ 10 , 000 , 000 each season , without seriously crippling the commerce of the nation with which she is at war . We have admitted the perplexities of the question . Bat Russia , will never succumb , except under an overwhelming pressure . Is the risk we escape by relaxing the severity of
our maritime code , equal to the injury we sustain by allowing Russia to trade by proxy with our merchants , while she fights our armies , and defies our fleets 7 With the exception of her Black Sea trade , we have stopped none of her outlets , —for it cannot be said that the Pacific is blockaded , though it would be highly useful to close rigorously the mouths of the Amoor . Northwards and eastwards , Russia trades over
an immense extent of territory , with China , and the populations of central Asia- —even with our own subjects in . the Indian peninsula . On the continent , her commerce is uninterrupted ; internally , supposing her entire circumference blockaded , her vast surface , and the variety of her territories give her means of industrial vitality . Thus , it is difficult , by any process , to exhaust Russia : but what success can be
expected , when two navies cannot guard the Baltic , \ and when from exaggerated caution , and deference to neutrals , the exchange between St . Petersburg and London remains tininfluenced by the war ? It is a serious question whether the Right of Search should not be enforced-in the Baltic this coming season . The Minister , we are told , dare not enforce it . The American difficulty and the Prussian difficulty arrest him . But the former does not seem to us so portentous
as the governmental apologists believe . The latter is an obstacle that ought not to stand in the way . It is not an infraction of any maritime law that is required , but the application of the undoubted Rights of Belligerents . If we are to pay millions for a blockade , which if successful , would not drain Russia to the extent that it drains us , we must have results . It is the first maxim of warfare , to strike the enemy with the utmost violence , in the most
vulnerable place . Otherwise peace is delayed , by indulgences granted to the hostile power , and by concessions made to neutrals . If Sir Edmund Lyons commands this year in the Baltic , the nation may be disposed to treat him as they treated Btng should he return without having struck decisive blows . But even naval and military successes lose half their value , if , while we destroy fortresses and armame nts , a weak policy leaves Russia facilities for retrieving every loss .
The blockade is , then ,, an illusion ; a costly , and . -virtually , an ineffective process , exhausting toromrselves ,. innocuous to , the enemy . Within a week we have oven heard , qt firmed , Kussian veeaela flitting across the Baltic ., but tine , was
Untitled Article
" GEORGE BATES , ESQ . " Does fiction contain any incident excelling the scene in which George Bates is standing , with pen in . hand , hesitating to sign the proposal for a policy of insurance , with Palmer waiting for his signature , and Cook—the very man who died in convulsions on his own bed— crying , " Sign away , George ! " The proposal for the
assurance , says the story current , this week , was filled up at Palmer ' s house ; Cook was there , and a horrible shadow of recollection appears to have fallen upon each one of the three men . Bates , the stable-keeper , hesitated : perhaps he knew that other persons'lives had been "insured " by Palmer , and that they had died . It is reported that he told the detective officer who went
down to examine him , that if he had signed the paper he should have got . £ 500 from Palmer , and he should then have gone abroad , and " given him a chance . " We do not know how far these stories arc true , but there , at all events , is the paper got up-by Palm Kit , signed by Bates , countersigned by Cook , and intended for a purpose now sufficiently intelligible .
In fact , it is difficult to know whore suspicions can first have commenced . Mr . Thomas Pratt , of Queen-street , Mayfair , who acted at . the time as solicitor for Palmer , now publicly explains in these words : — " With respect to tho insurance of Bates ' h life ,, it is on record that I stated to the secretary of tho Solicitors ' and General Office , that 1 know nothing of the party intending to insure , and left , it to tho office to make their own inquiries . " W / u / did tho solicitor act thus cautiously and so fur against his own client V lie bud , of course , a X'eason , and it appears in his own explanation . " "When . the information wtw jreqiiirotl by tho
Untitled Article
oavalry generals in Europe . It held a gocd position , until the fatuity of the Pachas , the neglect of the Porte , and the wretched influences that destroyed Guyon's authority , brought the campaign to a ridiculous result . Last year , the lost ground was partially retrieved , and though Guyon had been sacrificed , ICars was occupied and fortified by a force virtually commanded by General Williams . From tlio first it was seen that the Russians were
determined to push on the campaign . We published , many months ago , details of their strength , and indicated the danger of Kars , and of the Anatolian army . What was done ? Nothing- The Turkish Contingent was not sent to Asia Minor * The transport service was never employed to carry supplies to the coast by the open highways , and every means of carriage into the interior was totally disregarded . Why ? There was an English staff at Kars , corresponding with our War Office . At our War Office , therefore , the facts were known . Apparently , too , Ministers were not indifferent to the fate of
the Anatolian army . When the Russians were defeated , the Ministerial organs gave expression to their cordial joy . But they were again warned that , unless relieved , Kars must sink into the enemy ' s hands . Not a movement took place . Clearly , some sinister influence was at work . The Disraelite faction , desiring to fix the stigma on Lord Panmure , describes the defence of Kars as a purely English affair . The French Government evinced no interest in the variations of the Asiatic campaign . Not a single Frenchman was there . Our contemporaries do not understand that this is an illustration of that secret power which prohibited the British Government from marching troops into Asia Minor . The Russians , in the spring , will threaten Erzerouin . How far are they to advance , unresisted ? Or , if Omar Pacha occupies that city , is he to be abandoned until he is starved into surrender ?
THE DISASTER AT KABS . When ; Parliament meets , Ministers will undergo a peremptory cross-examination on the subject of the disaster at Kars . Was General Williams sacrificed , with the Turkish army , to the ; . apathy of the English Government , or to the jealousies of the French ? It is stated that he repeatedly begged for assistance from the
Administration at , home , and from the Porte . Had the English . Minister no discretion ? Was thO Porto helpless ? Or did Lord Panmurk neglect his duty ? It is a serious matter . If any influonce is to be exerted , favourable to the Russian arms , let us understand it , that we may , not bo disappointed shoxdd Russia obtain , for every defeat in Europe , an equivalent in Asia .
The story , as far as the English Government is -concerned ,, is a . plain one . Two years ago , the Turkish army , garrisoning the frontier tonra . ofiKara ,, waare-rorganised , after its defeat at Soobaltan , by Guyon ,. one of the best
Untitled Article
3 $ r THEr !< B A D' £ ? B . [ No .. 303 , ^ atju ^ day ^
-
-
Citation
-
Leader (1850-1860), Jan. 12, 1856, page 38, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2123/page/14/
-