The Press.
London, England, 1855-06-09 00:00:00

THE PRESS.

exhausted the energies of Turkey, and should be
greeted with the curses of a beggared and decimated
people.
Lord Dusu,tuvoN congratulated the country ou the
termination of the conferences at Vienna, and was
glad that Russia had refused to accept a limitation
which would have turned out void and useless.

Mr. BAXTE►t, SS the representative of a constituency
depending on Russia for the staple of their manufac-
tures, agreed, nevertheless, that the ambitious
designs of Russia must be destroyed, for the future
security of Europe, of our Indian dominions, and of
international concord.

Mr. H. BAILLIE renewed the criticisms on the con-
duct of the (war, and said that, even if out present
army was well equipped and provisioned, it was no
great matter to maintain 40,000 men, a feat which a
third-rate German power could have dune more
Mr. M. Miums contended that the ambitious
designs of Russia had been encouraged by all the
Governments of Europe, while that house had ap-
plauded the most flagrant violations of the public
law. To expect the German Courts to join us
against Russia was like expecting the House of
Lords to take the lead in a reform movement. He
urged the exclusion of all vessels of war from the
Black Sea, and thought that we might have been
nearer success, with far less waste of blood and
treasure, if we had confined ourselves to operations
on our own element. _ _

Sir E. DEMING urged the occupation of the various
strongholds of Russia on the shores of the Black
Sea. He was pleased at the failure of the negotia-
tions, which would only have insulted Russia without
weakening her.
Lord ELcuo maintained that the objects of the
war were not yet attained. The events of the con-
test had proved that the power of Russia was no
bugbear—she was found armed at all points. The
breach at Sebastopol was the proper door at which
to open negotiations. He professed his confidence
that the Ministry would maintain the honour of
England and the prestige of her name.
Lord C. HAMILTON renewed his defence of Russia,
throwing the blame of the contest on the mis-
management and internal disorganisation of Turkey.
Sir E. B. LYTTON said that the material interests of
England rested on its character, and that if its honour
were affected the consequences would be fatal to its
commerce and its power. How could we accept a peace
which did not take from Russia a single fortress or
ship? He impugned the speech of Mr. Glad-
stone, who had been a party to the Crimean expedi-
tion and then shrunk from its logical consequences,
and who recommended a peace which would have
exposed us to a charge of desertion both from Turkey
and from France. He exposed the danger which would
attend the acceptation of either of the Russian pro-
positions. He gave the peace party credit for good
intentions, but implored them to consider the conse-
quence of speeches which might be read by Russian
generals at the head of their troops, and translated
by Russian Ministers for the benefit of their nation.
As to the resolutions, that of Mr. Disraeli was intelli-
gable as a censure on the Government—the rest were
unmeaning platitudes. He iugued at some length on
our relations with Austria, observing that while it was
our interest to maintain friendship with that power,
he doubted the wisdom of so earnestly soliciting her
alliance. It was asked what was to be the future
shape of the war. After a vehement denunciation
of a war of nationalities, or any attempt to create
liberty except by the spontaneous movement of the
nation itself, he said that matters of strategy must
be settled by allied Cabinets and in councils of war.
We could not crush Russia, but we could prevent her
from becoming more than Russia. If the war were
confined to its proper limits it could not last long.
War was now a question of money, and the pecuniary
resources of Russia were already becoming ex-
hausted, while her recruiting system drained the
country of its population, inflicting grievous loss on
the proprietors of the soil, and causing misery and
discontent amongst the people.
The Loan ADVOCATE congratulated the last speaker
on the tone and temper of his speech. lie denied
that this country had been driven into war : it never
entered into war with greater deliberation. Those
who charged the war on the encouragement of the
press to Russia, corceded that the Russian emperor
had been all along waiting his opportunity. Arguing
with previous speakers on the necessity of defending
Turkey—the impolicy of accepting the Russian pro-
positions—and the tight of any country to raise its
terms of peace after military successes—he said
neither Russia nor any other power would doubt that
England atter the language of her Parliament would
persevere in the combat she had undertaken till she
had attained her end.
The debate, adjourned at this point, was on TUES-
DAY resumed by Mr. COBDEN, who founded a long
peace oration on the practical impossibility of arrest-
ing the progress of Russia. After quizzing Sir W.
Molesworth on the score of his former peace orations,
and reiterating the arguments as to the easy evasion

537

of the limitation principle, he asked if we were pre-
pared to maintain large standing armies to compete
with those of the Continent in order to fight it battles.
Russia had been denounced as utterly without faith,
set we were prepared to join with her in guaranteeing
the Governments of Wallachia and Moldavia, and
the protocols reposing trust in Russia to this extent
was signed by the very Cabinet Ministers who had
so denounced her. He contrasted the polite con-
duct of Lord John Russell abroad with his violent
speeches at home, and asked which of the four
points was intended to prevent Russia from rebuilding
Bomarsund or intriguing in Germany. The language
and conduct of the Ministers was one continued see-
saw, who changed from time to time to suit the press
and the feeling out of doors. He then dilated at
length on the state of opinioa in Germany, proving
its tendency towards Russia—its saviour in former
days—and its suspicions towards France, which had
overrun and desolated it. He believed that Germany
would, if left to itself, have averted all the Russian
danger by its own atition : at all events it was not out
part to go to war because Russia was corrupting
Germany. The Ministry had repeatedly asserted
that if Russia did not agree to terms we should re-
ceive at once the active co-operation of Austria.
What did such assertion now turn out to be worth ?
He then came to the main point of his argument—
the natural development of Russia in the Black Sea,
which, he said, had been more rapid than even
that of the United States of America. It was,
he admitted, only a youthful barbarian develop-
ing itself into something better ; but while it con-
tinued with no other neighbour than the de-
caying and unimproving Turkish empire, all the
powers on earth could not take from Russia her
preponderance, which was inherent in the nature of
things. He wished to know ghat were the senti-
ments of the French Government, which he suspected
were overruled in their pacific tendencies by Eng-
land. He had asked the Premier respecting this point
confidentially at the private meeting of his usual
supporters, but failed to elicit an answer. He
warned the country not to trust too much to the recent
successes, which would cause less damage to Russia
than was commonly supposed, and depicted the
danger froth disease in the Crimean summer, against
which scarcely any precaution would avail. After
descanting on the inefficiency of blows aimed at the
mere outposts of Russia, our folly in attempting land
operations at all, and the hollowness of the magni-
ficent sentences of the Ministry as to the military re-
sources of England, lie pointed to a few signifi-
cant facts as indicative of the unquiet and discontented
spirit of the country, which would seek for victims
when it felt the consequences of its errors.
The debate was continued for ROMS time without
any remarkable feature. Lord HARRY VANE and Mr.
VANSITTART condemned the war as carried on without
any definite object, and after enough had been
secured to warrant its abandonment; and Sir S. N ORTH-
COTE blamed the allies for their persistance in the
third point as the sine qud non. On the other hand,
Mr. Collier, Major Reed, Mr. F. Scully, and Mr. J. O.
l'hillimore were for prosecuting it with increased
vigour. Mr. CROSSLEY thought that Russia, looking
at the antecedents of India, Algiers, Africa, and
Rome, had as much cause to be jealous of the allied
fleets in the Mediterranean as the allies had of those
of Russia in the Black Sea. At last,

Sir J. GRAHAM rose, and after expressing his con-
tinued approval of the war in its origin, and vehe-
tnently vindicating his own eagerness to do all in his
power, when presiding over the Admiralty, towards
providing the means for carrying it on with efficiency,
proceeded to discuss the actual position of affairs.
He wished to know in the first place what were the
purport of the propositions of Austria which were re-
jected by France and England ; and, in the next,
whether the four points were to be maintained, or
fresh terms were to be proposed. He asked this
from the alarming rapidity with which we seemed in-
clined to raise our demands on Russia. He went
through the history of former wars to show how
many, most popular at the outset, had either been
prolonged to our own disgrace, or had ended in un-
productive successes. Reverting to the late negotia-
tions, lie contended that the Russian envoys had
acted in the spirit of the declarations which they had
made at their commencement. After defending the
original proceedings of Russia in the contest about
the Holy Places, he reminded the house in detail of
the demands of Russia at the outbreak of the war,
compared with those which she was willing to accept
after a year of hard fighting. He took her preten-
sions, one after the other, to show how entirely she
had abandoned them, and dilated on her ships de-
stroyed in the Black Sea and blockaded in the Baltic,
her great fortress of Bomarsund razed, her control of
the Danube given up. Talk, he exclaimed, after
thislof prestige. Proceeding to the four points, and
assuming the consent of Russia to the fourth, he
found fault with our insisting on the third as an ul-
timatum, repeating the objections to it. He much
wished that Lord John Russell had not been presen
when Austria made her proposals on the 26th Apr