The Press. — London, England, 1856-05-03 00:00:00

MAY 3, 1856. did not form the principal moiety of that subject. Great pains had been taken to make a scapegoat of Lord Stratford de Redchtfe, on whom public indigna tion w as visited by anticipation ; but the motion be fore the house had nothing to do with that noble lord; it referred only to the conduct of the Govern ment; and however indefensible might have been the conduct of Lord Stratford, according to the do cuments on the table, yet the Government, not h av ing recalled him, was responsible for that con duct. For these were the principles the house should r ecollect concerning the conduct of a public man : First, never to allow an attack on an individual Mi nister when the whole Cabinet is known to be re sponsible for his conduct; and secondly, never to throw upon any individual employed by her Majesty's Go vernment abroad the consequences of his conduct— h ,wever outrageous, iniquitous, or ruinous that con duct may have been—so long as that individual, whe ther a general or an ambassador, is not recalled by her Majesty's Government. When the present Government was formed the squabbles between General Williams and Lord Strat ford were over. The war in Asia was to be carried on with vigour and efficiency ; but how was the war carried on? And what did the Government do for General Williams; did they send him men?— We have been assured that all the energies of the nation were concentrated on Sebastopol, and that the stake was too great, the conflict too arduous to admit of your under taking any other enterprise. That the stake was great I freely confess—that the energies exerted were no greater than the occasion demanded events have testified—that mighty efforts were required to be made even by the lead ing nations who were embarked in the struggle is beyond all controversy. But what armies were assembled on that remote peninsula? France was there, imperial France ; England was there, free and patriotic England ; you had by your side the Turkish army, a gallant band, whose valour had been proved on many a well-contested field; you had brought from the north of Italy a body of men dauntless and intrepid, for whom I trust that the glorious destiny is yet reserved of exercising a high and salutary influence on the fortunes of their country—( Hear, hear ) and, not content with these assembled hosts, you had en tered into conventions enabling Austria to call up from the banks of the Danube all the chivalry of Hungary to protect your interests in Wallachia and Moldavia. (Hear, hear.) You were five nations allied in a common cause — England, France, Turkey, Sardinia, Austria. That you were playing a high game, and that you had a great stake in Sebastopol, Ido not for one moment dispute. But was there not another power who had also a great stake ia that mighty fortress? ( Hear, hear.) Had not Russia every thing at stake in Sebastopol ? ( Hear, hear.) And did she not prove by her policy that she knew well how to gauge the value of the prize she set her heart on in Asia Minor. (Hear, hear.) Now that peace has been con cluded, we can afford to speak of Russia with the respect and admiration due to the prowess, the valour, and the foresight of which she gave such abundant evidence through. out the recent contest. (Cheer s.) Russia, I repeat, had everything at stake in Sebastopol. Her pledge was as grave—her interest in the fate of the struggle as momen tous as it is possible for language to describe. Yet Russia could at the same moment defend Sebastopol and invade Asia Minor. (Loud cheers.) And now we are to be told that the combination of two such enterprises exceeded our powers ! What a tribute to our country ! What a com pliment to our great arid faithful ally ! What an end ti• ragernent for these rising Sardinians ! What an animat mg reflection for Turkey in her future conflicts with the to tell her that the banded nations o f Europe made common cause against Sebastopol, and that Russia, unaided and alone, not only baffled them for a year, but sent an army of diversion to Kars, while you could not afford a hundred gins to General Williams! ( Hear.) i will not believe that we are so fallen that the House of Commons will tole rate such a defence. I tell you that you ought to have asnt forces to Asia Minor—however grave the responsibility that devolved on yon—however great the stake for which y oi were contending—however arduous the difficulties that encompassed you. (Hear, hear.) Yes, even though you had not these true and gallant allies by your side—even thought you had stood against Russia singlehanded and alone at Sebastopol, it still would have been your duty to have sent assistance to General Williams in Asia Minor. It might be said (as the Chancellor of the Exchequer had observed \ that the fall of Kars was neither a military nor a political disaster, but it could not be asserted that a Minister, with all the resources of the country at his command, was unable to assist General Williams at Kars, because the energies of the Government were concentrated in the Crimea. But did the Ministers send money to General Williams Who will rise in this house and assert that they did. Not one single piastre did they send. The soldiers of five nations were wanted—every man of them—at Sebastopol. Was the money required there also? Were all the balances of the Exchequer likewise and of the banks needed at Sebastopol? The noble lord at the head of the War De partment should have known, if any one did, what are the sinews of war ; yet it will not be asserted that he sent any Supply of them. (Hear, hear.) The noble lord at the heed of the Government introduced the Turkish Loan Bill to this house. Its preamble, if I atin recal the terms aright, declares that the loan is to be raised for the defence of the territory of the Sultan. Weto you too late in bring ing forward that measure ? If so, what is your vindication of f your t ar di ness ? You charge us with being an o b stac l e to, your affording th e necessary supplies to the Ottoman pee. We ars no such obstacle; but, whatever were our THE PRESS. intentions, your bill was passed with promptitude. I ask you, then, what did you do with the loin ? Did you furnish the Sultan with money ; and, above alt, did you remit the funds in time ? If not in time, why, Urn, was your pro position not made before? (Hear.) bit what did you do? Your measure was opposed in this hoise on grounds which, on reflection, I still believe to have ben sound and constitutional. (Hear, hear.) Its policy, I .pink, cannot be too severely impugned. In any case, it could only be justified by the extreme urgency of the occasitn. There are moments, I admit, when even the constituton must be wrested to save an empire; and if the noble lard had, by his sudden, crude, and unprecedented project, rescued the Asiatic dominions of the Sultan, he would have found that vindication which energy, and especially successful energy, has a right to obtain. (Cheers.) But not a piastre of your loan went to the relief of Kars. The first instalment of the loan was paid in August, '55, and yet, when Parliament met on the 31st January, '56, three millions of the loan were then lying in the Bank of England. Was this a display of energy or foresight? Did any portion of the conduct of the Government with reference to Kars display either quality?— Where is the display of those qualities proved? I am not addressing the right hon. gentleman the member for Carlisle, because, although he is about to support old com rades, he has, in a most crushing and effective speech, demonstrated that they have exhibited neither energy nor foresight. (Laughter.) I am addressing the Govern ment—the modern Chatham, the War Minister par excel knee—and I ask him, in all humility, where iii this period of the new Administration is foresight to be detected and energy discovered? (Cheers.) On the sth of March General Williams sent to the Government of England an account of the force necessary to secure not only his safety but his triumph. His demand for aid was mode rate, and might easily have been met; but how was it treated? The facts are in the recollection of the house, and I have no wish to pervert them. Why, sir, the com munication was bandied from public office to public office, and tossed from one Under Secretary to another. The two Under• Secretaries corresponded with each other from either side of Downing•street like two wooden puppets pulled by strings. ( A laugh.) The principle of exist ence was not necessary to such beings. (Laughter.) To accomplish such results vital power was not necessary. The animal° vagula blanduk—that evanescent thins — animated not those mechanical and frigid forms. It ought to have been one of the grounds of censure of the Government that they should, with fatal accuracy, have published this correspondence—that they should have revealed to Sardinia, to which this country ought to be a model, that this is the mode in which our public business is conducted—that they should have damped the rising energies of the Turks by showing that the great nation which has saved them conducts its affairs in such a man- ner. Well, the Under-Secretaries communicated from either side of Downing•street, at intervals of about a fortnight, the principal secretaries animating them with instruc tions quite worthy of the occasion. The demand of General Williams was tossed back to Constantinople ; ut Constantinople it was tossed back by our ambas sador to the Divan; and the Turks were asked to do that which British gold and British valour ought to have accomplished. I ask them this question—a very simple one—was that energy? (Cheers and laughter.) Is there a man in this house who will say that was energy ? Will even the First Minister of the Crown rise in his place and say that it was energy ? (Renewed cheers.) In the month of August Lord Ellenborough. in his place in Parliament, called the attention of her Majesty's Govern molt to the state of affairs in Asia, and asked for infor. m ttion with reference to our policy. The War Minister of England then assured Parliament that in the opinion of her Majesty's Ministers the power of the Porte was sufficient to maintain its authority and dominions in Asia. Was that foresight? (Cheers and laughter.) If, in the first instance, there was a want of energy, was there not subsequently a want of foresight? A new Ministry was formed upon the principle of conducting the war in Asia, and from the period of their formation to the fall of Kars there was an interval of nine months.. We find that at last the Porte. wearied with the energy and foresight of the British Government—(a laugh )—in its desperation rallied its resources; it wade a final effort, and it offered a plan of action for the approbation of the British Ministers. That project of the Porte, after due deliberation, and after many councils, was described by her Majesty's Go verntnent as an insane plan—( cheers )—but I find that a month afterwards the same project was adopted by her Majesty's Government. (Renewed cheers.) Well, is that energy and foresight combined? (Cheers and laughter.) We have had instances of energy and foresight; we now find the finer qualities of genius brought into play; we have prescience and vigour united, and the fall of Kars is complete. Lord J. RUSSELL said he thought the house would be dispcsed to view the war as a whole, and consider whether, having undertaken to defend Turkey for the present and to obtain some security for the future, these objects had not been fully obtained. He was of opinion that the Governments of France and England had acted with foresight and energy in declining to order the Turkish troops to leave Eupa toria and Balaklava without the consent of the allied generals, and thereby risking success at Sebas topol. He congratulated the present Government upon the fact that a war conducted with success had been terminated by an honourable peace, and he could not but believe, be said, that it would redound to our honour that we had, in the time of her danger, flown to the succour of Turkey, without the prospect of any reward but the satisfaction of 415 obtaining the independence of a friendly power, and thereby securing the balance of Europe. Lord PALMERSTON said the chief charge against the Government was that they did not send men and money to General Williams. But it was a total misrepresentation to say that they undertook to carry on the war in Asia. The Administration of Lord Aberdeen decided, and wisely, that in a war with Russia for the defence of Turkey the part to strike at was Sebastopol, the great centre of the Russian power as aggressive against Turkey, and that it was futile to assail its extremities. The real cause of the fall of Kars was the want of provisions and of a relieving force, and the cause of the want of provisions was the misconduct of the Pacha of Erzerouin, who had sufficient money to purchase an adequate supply of provisions for Kars, but who omitted to pay the carriers, and the supplies fell into the hands of the Russians. In justifying the route by Trebizond and Erzeroum, chosen by the Government for the relief of Kars, Lord Palmerston pointed out its comparative facilities, observing that it was not only calculated to turn to account the forces of Omer Pacha, but bad this advantage—that if the expedition failed in relieving Kars, it would provide for the supply and defence of Erzeroum. In reply to the objection that the Turkish Contin gent should have been employed in the expedition, he insisted that it would have been madness to ex pose raw troops against a Russian force, and that the Government were right in upholding the decision of the generals, who declined to allow any of their troops to be taken from Sebastopol before it fell. Mr. WHITESIDE replied he could not understand the statement of the noble lord, that the war in Asia was never seriously entered upon. He had ascertained that Kars might have been saved by the purchase of provisions at the mere cost of 27,0001., and was it possible that Government conic' say they had not incurred this expenditure becar.se the siege of Sebastopol was at that time going on The house then divided, when there appeared— For the amendment .. 52 Against .. 451 Majority against the amendment 399 The houso then' divided on Mr. Whiteside'l4 motion Ayes Noes Majority . . TREATY OF PEACE. .. 170 .. 303 . • -127 The Earl of CLARENDON, in the House of Lords on Monday, rose and said:— I rise, my lords, to lay on the table of your lordships' house a copy of the treaty of peace concluded at Pads, which has been signed by the plenipotentiaries of England, France, Russia, Austria, Prussia, Sardinia, and Turkey. The ratifications of this treaty were exchanged on Sunday, and have been received to day. There are three separate conventions annexed to it, which will also be printed with it. There is also a declaration respecting maritime law, and the course to be pursued with reference to neutral during a war, which has been signed by the plenipotenti aries on behalf of their respective powers. Lord BROUGHAM: To do away with privateering! The Earl of CL ARENDON replied in the affirmative, and continued : I have likewise to lay before your lordships copies of all the protocols of the sittings and conferences, during the time of the sessions of the Congress at Paris; and I have now further to move, that this treaty he taken into con sideration by your lordships on this day week. Lord P. 11.14 EASTON, in the House of Commons on Monday, laid upon the table the protocols of the conferences which were held at Paris relative to the general treaty of peace between Great Britain, France, Austria, Russia, Prussia, Sardinia, and Turkey. The noble lord immediately afterwards arose, amid loud cheers from the Ministerial side of the house, and said that one of the papers which he had just presented was a copy of the treaty of peace, the ratiticatioes of which had been exchanged at. l'aris in the course of Sunday. He should beg leave to move that those papers be taken into consideration on Monday next. The motion was agreed to. THE NEW BESSARABIAN FRONTIER. Lord PALMERSTON, in reply to Sir H. Willoughby, on Thursday, said that the boundary remained yet to be laid down upon the spot, and a commission was to be appointed to proceed thither for that purpose. Tt would be found from any good map of the country that the new boundary left the city of Ismail and all the islands of the Danube, as well as the salt lakes to the north ; ascending then, parallel to the line of the Pruth, it left the lower and navigable pert of that river within the province of Moldavia. The islands known as the Delta, at the mouth of the Danube, were excluded from the Russian territory, and would belong to Moldavia. EASTERN FORTS OF THE BLACK SEA. Lord J. MANNER 3, on Thursday, in referring to the conferences (page 16) respecting the Blaok Sea