The Press.
London, England, 1855-12-15 00:00:00

OPINIONS ON THE WAR.

SIR STAFFORD NORTHCOTE, BART., M.P. for
Dudley, upon a late visit to his constituents laid
down the principle that the war was undertaken for
the vindication of the public law of Europe and the
submission of Russia to that law which she had so
grossly violated. He thought that Russia, to obtain
peace, would give up the mouths of the Danube, re-
linquish her naval establishments in the Black Sea,
abandon the protectorate, and make other consider•
able concessions. He was not one of those who to
secure the applause of constituents would cry out
lustily for " a vigorous prosecution of the war till a
safe and honourable peace could be cbtained "—words
which mean nothing, and might be construed either
one way or the other. He would not shirk his own
opinion upon what terms would constitute a safe and
honourable peace :
He was not prepared to recommend the dismember-
ment of Russia. I t might be desirable to take from her
some of the possessions she had gained by recent conquests
—to take those points which gave her the supremacy of
the Euxine, and made her dangerous to turkey, but he
was not for her dismemberment. He thought if they
could induce her to give up her peculiar privileges in the
Black Sea, the protectorate over the Christian subjects in
Turkey, and to disarm herself in those parts, they might
then rely on the force of public opinion, and the known
and proved powers of their army, to maintain peace.
MR. C. N. NEWDEGATE and MR. R. SPOONER,
Members for North Warwickshire, briefly expressed, at
the meeting of the Rugby and Dunchurch Conservative
Agricultural Association last week, their opinions upon
the war and upon the effect of the Bank Charter Act.
Mr. Newdegate would vigorously support the war,
but declined pledging himself to the support of Lord
Palmerston. He was of opinion that if the Bank
Charter were continued, it would be impossible to
carry on the war :
Money was obliged to be sent out of the country to keep
up the war, and, in consequence of a short harvest, to buy
food for home consumption. Was it reasonable, with these
necessary outlays going on, that that act, which was
founded on a fiction, should be allowed to continue to
cripple the country, when the people were exposed to an
enormous and increasing taxation?
Mr. Spooner regarded Peel's Act as a most mis-

chievous measure :
Unless Government were forced to alter it, the country
might protest against it, and urge on the war, but if the
act was not repealed—if they continued to confine the issue
of what represented money to the amount of bullion in
the Bank—they would find themselves disappointed. They
must alter the act or make peace.
Although desirous of peace, he would not seek to
attain any but one grounded on tarms honourable
landlasdng.

1187

LORD HARRY VANE, M.P., at the Darlington Cattle-

show, on the 6th inst., expressed himself adverse to
a prosecution of the war for indefinite ends :
We were now engaged in war, and he would be the last
to advocate any departure from the utmost fidelity to our
engagements. He would not now make peace with out
certain conditions, but he certainly would say that ho
could be no party to what he thought was a popular deli'.
sion—the advocacy of an indefinite war without any definite
purpose. He looked with some alarm at the opinions
entertained by some persons, and expressed at public
meetings. It appeared to him to be uo part of the mission
of this country to enter at all hazards and at any time into
an indefinite state of war, to settle every question at the
cannon's mouth or the bayonet point. Having engaged in
war, it was necessary to conclude that war upon certain
definite conditions. The subject was of a grave character,
and he thought it his duty, as others had done in different
parts of the country, to state his views upon it.

SIR ROBERT PEEL, M.P., at a dinner the bon.
baronet gave to the Staffordshire Yeomanry Cavalry,
on the sth inst., commented freely on what he termed
the "treacherous conduct" of Austria :

He wanted peace as much as any man, but if the nego-
tiations for peace were to come from Austria he should be
exceedingly cautious about them. He could not forget
the past—he could not forget the hesitation and vacillation
of Austria during recent proceedings, and he could nut
close his eyes to the treacherous conduct of Austria in the
Danubian principalities. Austria entered the principali-
ties as our friend, but her conduct had been nothing else
than that of the ally of Russia. If they were to have a
peace, the cause the allies had espoused, and which had
been hallowed, he might say, by the blood of our country•
men, absolutely demanded that it must be satisfactory to
the country, and such as the sacrifices it had made de-
manded. But, independently of all this, there was the
honour of our own country to be held sacred, and therefore
he said they must not be satisfied with the bare four
points. The Crimea was no longer an integral part of
Russia, and it never must be, and he would add it never
should be. Let them think of the carcases of their coun-
trymen by which the Crimea was hallowed in the eyes of
Englishmen, and then say whether they were to be satis-
fied with any false peace, which might be offered through
the medium of a power which had proved itself anything
but friendly towards them.
CAPTAIN SCOBELI, and MR. TITE, the Liberal
members for Bath, spoke on the subject of the
war at the West of England Agricultural Society.
Captain Scobell said that, with respect to the peace,
he believed it was only to be obtained at the point
of the sword, but that we were "not justified in carry-
ing on the war one moment longer than we could
procure honourable, safe, and upright terms of
peace." With reference to the expenses of the war,
the gallant captain observed that we must expect
taxes, but he thought the Government had been
guilty of great extravagance, and he hoped the
House of Commons would look into the expen-
diture :
The money was certainly flying very fast. It had got up
to 90,000,0001. last year, including the interest of the debt •
this year it might be something more. The result would
be, of course, that ultimately there would be some scru-
tiny into the manner in which the money had been
expended. With respect to the transport service, nothing
could have been more extravagant. He believed the
transports had been bought all of them over and over
again.
Mr. Tite regarded the prospects of peace as not
flattering ; he doubted anything that came from
Austria, and he thought it the duty of the Govern-
ment and the people " to assume a bolder attitude,"
and carry out the war "fairly, honestly, and houour-
ably," until we gained such terms of peace as we
might not be ashamed of. He considered, moreover,
that Russia should be made to pay the expenses of
the war.
W. F. KNATCHBULL, Esq., the Conservative member
for East Somerset, at the Castle Cary Agricultural
Society, paid a high tribute to the gallantry and
devotion of our army under circumstances of pecu-
liar hardship and trial, and to the good service of the
blue-jackets in the Eaht.
MR. H. DRUMMOND, M.P., at the Guildford Agri-
cultural Association, on Thursday, with reference to
the war, expressed an opinion that be doubted
whether the Emperor of the French was disposed
to carry on the war, and that be was not for carry-
ing on the war singlehanded against Russia. lie
was disposed to take possession of Constantinople,
and keep the Russians out, but not go further. Mr.
Mangles, M.P., considered that Mr. Drummond was
rather vague in his definition of the object of the
war. He considered the object of the war was to
press back the Cossacks to their native forests.
With respect to peace, the hon. member desired
peace, but only on terms which would effectually
prevent Russia from again disturbing Europe.
VISCOUNT NEWPORT, M.P., at the Shropshire
Cattle-show last week, in alluding to the war, said
that the terms of peace lately put forth by the
public journals were not such as we were likely to
obtain from Russia. The noble lord also frankly
owned that the object for which we were now fighting,
and the terms upon which the Western powers
would make peace, were not exactly apparent. He
believed, nevertheless, that the people would willingly