The Press. — London, England, 1857-02-07 00:00:00

surer prospect of prolonged tranquillity. I thought when our Minister quitted Naples, and there was evidently no prospect of ulterior measures, that the period of tranquillity had arrived—that the Italian difficulty, which the noble lord had created, he would himself settle—that he would take his usual course, and allow the matter to run on without result—that, like the Rhine, it would never reach the ocean, but finish in a mudbank. (A laugh.) Generally the noble lord extricates us from the difficulties which he himself creates, and that is his great claim to public approbation. Everybody feels that in our foreign relations there is an immense difficulty, therefore they say the noble lord ought to be at the head of the Government, because he is the telly man who can bring us out ; but they do not pursue the investigation a little further, or they would invariably find that the noble lord is always the creator of those difficulties from which he extricates us. (Laughter.) One would have thought that at the end of the summer we might hope to enjoy the blessings of peace, that the Government would have taken advan tage of the recess to prepare those measures which the country has been looking for, and that they would have occupied themselves in reducing our military establishments, which had imposed so great a burden upon the country during a struggle which it had conducted with so much vigour and spirit, and the fruits of which vigour and spirit it had a right to expect to be allowed now to enjoy. To my great surprise 1 awoke one morning and found that we had never had a peace, only an armed truce ; that we were about to be involved in a great war, on a great scale, under circumstances of great disadvan tage, without that generous and disinterested ally to whom I thought we were bound by every feeling of gratitude. (Hear, hear.) When Parliament was prorogued I left the usual place of our meeting with the idea that the French alliance was the great foundation of oar policy. I remember the noble lord, on the occasion of my making some observa tions of no great importance upon external affairs, complained that I did not put the alliance with France in that prominent position in which I was bound to place it. (Hear, hear.) But I found in September that we bad never had a real peace, only an armed truce ; that we were again going to war with Russia, that we were going to war without our ally, that we had to encounter at the same time Russian duplicity and French perfidy, and that we were on the verge of a contest of a very alarming character. (Hear.) It was still more striking, be cause I bad the impression that Russia had given up the contest, being exhausted both in men and money, and having made up her mind not to continue a policy which she was convinced must lead to the same ruinous result. But I found there was again a difficulty. There was again another Russian diffi culty. It is not necessary that I should enter into details with which every gentleman is perfectly familiar; I will only say, for myself, that I wish there should be no misconception as to what I considered, and what the majority of the house considered, were the legi timate objects of the late war with Russia. When that question was first discussed, in 1554, I said I thought no peace could be satisfactory to this country in which the independence of the Black Sea and the freedom of the Danube were not secured. (Hear, hear.) Those subjects were not then so familiarly known as they are at present ; but two years after wards, when the wildest notions were entertained on the subject of the war arid the terms of peace— when we were told that nothing short of the dismem berment of empires, the destruction of thrones, and the change of dynasties would be satisfactory, I took the liberty, though I supported the war as a politic and proper measure, of laying down far more moderate terms on which peace might an:l ought to be secured. Those terms involved the two great points, the independence ot the Black Sea anti the freedom ot the Danube ; and I say frankly and fairly to the noble lord that if he found in the month of September, whatever the cause or the means, that the country was deprived of one of the prime objects for which they had made such enormous and costly sacrifices of life and treasure, it was his duty, even at the risk of another war, to attain those objects. (Cheers.) I do not see how he could have faced this house, or how he c.iulti have raced the country, if, after announcing that he had negotiated peace and attained those objects, he had had to communicate that one of the most important was lost to us. (Hear, hear.) I give the noble lord full credit for that feeling. But the question then arises, who placed this great point in jeopardy ? (Hear, hear.) Why were we about to lose the fruits which we so richly deserved ? 1 hear a great deal about Russian maps and Russian duplicity. I hear a great deal about French maps and French perfidy, but I hear nothing of English maps and English knowledge of the subject. (Cheers.) We know very well—no one denies it now—that this town of Bolgratt was, as far as the letter of the treaty was concerned, left in the possession of Russia. Never mind what was the spirit of the treaty. So far as England was con- THE PRESS. cerued, she determined that the freedom of the Danube should bs secured. With Russia possessing liolgrad the freedom of the Danube was not secured. Then why did Russia possess Bolgrad ? I am told that the Russian Minister behaved very ill. Oh ! wicked Baron Brunnow, whose conduct was so flagitious as to attend to the interests of his master ! (A laugh.) Oh ! ungrateful Baron Brunnow, who, after all the civility and hospitality he received in London, did not, when in Paris, do for Lord Clarendon that which Lord Clarendon ought to have done for himself ! (Laughter.) Now, that is the real state of the case. (Hear, hear.) I should have been perfectly ready to sup port any Government which resolved to obtain the results for which we fought and which we thought we had obtained. But when it is a blunder of our own negotiator, 1 do not see the advantage of turning round upon our kite foe and our present ally and accusing them of duplicity and want of• faith. (Hear.) Lord Clarendon was not in the least hurried, because he found time to recommend interference in the affairs of the kingdom of Naples, to which I have alluded, and he found time to dissuss measures to curb and, perhaps, suppress the liberty of the press throughout Europe. (Hear.) Lord Claren don, one would suppose, must have possessed ample means to obtain all the information he required. His position is remarkable. Lord Clarendon went to obtain the independence of the Black Sea and the freedom of the Danube, and he omitted to obtain one of those important points which he was sent to Paris specially to secure. Was ►t from want of information That is the most charitable view. But, want of information? Why, you had an ambassador at Con stantinople. He may have his failings, but all agree that he is a man of great experience, great energy, and great ability, and that he is supported by a diplomatic staff probably the most disciplined and the most able which surrounds any Minister. (Hear, hear.) Throughout all the provinces of the Turkish empire, throughout the Principalities them selves, you had costly consular establishments. One would have supposed that your diplcmatic and con sular sources of information would have furnished Lord Clarendon with sufficient knowledge at least to obtain that which was the object of war and the cause of negotiation. He had, besides, all the ar chives of the Foreign-office in Downing-street open to him, where he ought to have found all the infor mation ready prepared before he went to Paris. But if these sources failed—and it is a perfect libel on the diplomatic service to suppose they could fail— had you not railroads and telegraphs in this age at your disposal? If you could not obtain information otherwise, was it not worth while to send some one to the spot to ascertain the facts, when that which was at stake was no slight point, was not one of many points, but the very pith and essence of the whole negotiation—the cause of the quarrel and the cause of the treaty (Cheers.' And out of this condition of affairs, out of this almost unprecedented blunder of our own plenipotentiary, an excitement is got up, so that the people of England, who in the spring or summer expected they were going to war about Italy, now thought they were going to war again with Russia; and yet we are told this is to enjoy the blessings of peace. In this way the spring, the summer, and the autumn have been occupied. A great blunder is per petrated by the chief of your diplomacy—not by a "poor devil" whom you could throw over die moment discovery was made, or by an unhappy underling, who you could say had been improperly promoted by a former Minister, and kept in his place through good feeling. (Hear, hear.) You would not trust your ambassador. You wisely determined on sending the chief of your diplomacy, one of the principal Ministers of the Queen and a leading member of the Cabinet, to Paris to secure that which you were de termined to achieve. Ile commits this awful mis take. It is not at first discovered, and he returns to this country crowned with laurels. It is at length discovered by your late foes asserting rights which the treaty itself gave them, and, instead of turning round and saying, " Neither I nor the people of England can be satisfied; let us understand one another ; give that which was the spirit of the treaty ;" —instead of doing it. in the most conciliatory manner possible, every means are used to lash up the pas sions of the people of England. (Hear, hear.) One would suppose that, ipstead of our Ministers having made a great blunder, our late foe and present ally bad been absolutely trying to defraud us of the cou • sequences of our hari-earned victory, and, in order that the people of England might be prepared to enter into the contest with exhausted Russia, who was perfectly determined not to tight, the noble lord goes down to the great capital of industry and peace, harangues some of the most eminent members of the Peace Society (one of whom is no longer among us, and whose loss we sincerely deplore), and excites them to that pitch of enthusiasm that the members of the Peace Society half drew their swords. (A laugh.) The noble lord then says, " With such SATURDAY, enthusiasm I will not he defrauded of my hard•earned rights. I will have the treaty executed. I will have no conference, no explanations ; I will have the treaty, the whole treaty, and nothing but the treaty " —the treaty which, if executed as agreed to by Lord Clarendon, would have lost us everything for which we were struggling. (Hear, hear.) Because Lord Clarendon makes a gross blunder the noble lord at the head of the Government excites the passions of the people about they do not know what, until they seem almost ready to bear a twenty-per-cent. income tax. (Laughter and cheers.) Now, let the house see in what an absurd position the men were eventually placed who were in the wrong. Russia never would have consented to make peace bad it not been impossible for her to continue the struggle. The noble lord the First Minister of the Crown said, " Only have confidence in me, and you shall have the tfeaty." He set in motion all those artificial means which were more at his com mand than that of any British Minister since Boling broke, and these monitors so instructed the people of this country that they were prepared to go to war, with )ut knowing the cause, with a power that was determined not to fight. ( A laugh.) The Ministers were determined not to have a conference. At last it oozed out that there was to be a conference, but that it was not to be presided over by the Minister of France, because he had acted perfidiously. Well, the conference was held, and it was presided over by the Minister of France. Then we were told that it was to be a mere matter of ceremony ; that the Ministers were merely to come into a room with their boxes in their hands and their cocked! hats, that they were to bow to each other, that they were to agree that the treaty meant what it did not mean, and that then they were to leave the room. (A laugh.) But instead of this the conference was obliged to meet, and to admit that the treaty expressed that which it was not the desire and wish of the Minister that it should express. However, he threw himself on the good feeling of his allies and of his late opponent, and it was owing to that good feeling that a good understanding was come to. Russia said, " We offered you a conference in August, and, indeed, long before, when the difficulty first occurred. We knew that we must have some compensation, because the letter of the treaty was against you, and as we have the legal right we must have some compensa tion for the concessions that you demand." Ycu say there was no question about Bolgrad, but if Bolgrad did not belong to Russia why did you give her a large compeusation ? (Cheers.) My object in making these remarks is to show the effect of this mode of managing your affairs upon the, internal administration of the country. (Hear.) At a period of peace we are not reaping the fruits of a period of peace. (Hear, hear.) In the spring, summer, and autumn you bad nothing but difficulties in your foreign affairs—all difficulties that have been created by a Ministry who have extricated us from them somehow or other, and who, because they have done so, are entitled to our confidence as the only men who understand bow to manage foreign affairs. Eight months had been wasted in this way. There was a chance of an American difficulty before Par liament prorogued ; but the House of Commons for tunately got over that. Then there were the Italian difficulty and the Russian difficulty, and so the whole of the year was wasted. Still there was time, with energy, great exertions, and great ability, for the ❑oble lord to put his house in order, and come to the House of Commons with measures which would enable the country to reap the fruits of the struggle in which it had been engaged and enjoy the blessings of peace. But no sooner is Bolgrad in the possession of the noble lord, and the Isle of Serpents relieved from the presence of half a dozen Russian riflemen, than another difficulty arises of the most menacing cha racter. A German prince seems about to invade Switzerland with an immense army. The Emperor of the French, whose motto was "The Empire is Peace," and who, notwithstanding all that has occurred, and notwithstanding the conduct of Minis ters, I think the house will be of opinion, sin cerely and honourably fulfilled that programme— (cheers)—might under such circumstances have insisted on his right to march a French army to the Rhine. What was the Swiss difficulty ? A more simple one never existed. The King of Prussia believed that his honour was grievously at stake. Every man is the guardian of his own honour, and of ail others a sovereign is not the man who ought to permit his honour to be stained. The King of Prussia does that which every person in private life is allowed to do, and which in that case society sanctions and approves. Instead of adopting a hostile and bullying tale, he puts the matter into the hands of a friend, and one whose character and position might be supposed to give him great influ ence in affecting the sentiments of the Swiss. (Hear, hear.) That appeal I heartily approve, and I think the King of Prussia is entitled to the respect and esteem of society for having made it eith success.