The Press.
London, England, 1855-11-17 00:00:00

LONDON, SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 17, 1855.

Is discussing the Policy of the War, and the
conditions on which an advantageous and
lasting Peace might be founded, we have
'hitherto been met by the objection that it was
useless to debate the question of terms, as no
opening for pacific arrangement existed. It
was urged that, while Russia showed no dis-
position to make concessions, and the bellige-
rents maintained their hostile attitude, our
arguments indicating a pacific settlement of
the points in dispute must fall to the ground
altogether, or only have the effect of encourag-
ing the enemy by leading him to suppose that
our resolution was failing us.
To one part of this objection we had 'no
difficulty, in replying, that it was always wise
• for a nation to keep stcadily in view the plain
:and practical ends for which it Was contending,
and that, as regards the effect produced on, the
mind of an enemy, he is more likely to be im-
pressed with the firm moderation which de-
cisively declares the least and lowest conditions
that justice and policy will allow it to accept
(those conditions being at the same time of a
nature to be irresistibly enforced), than by the
bravado which aims at uncertain or impractica-
ble objects, and which confessedly is content
to adapt its deinands and its policy to the
fortune of the War. Still, as regarded the
objection that the question of terms had not,
since the fall of Sebastopol, assumed any
practical shape, we had no other answer to
make than that discussion might probably
tend to encourage a moderate and conciliatory
spirit in the councils of the belligerent Powers,
and make Russia more ready to extend the
olive branch, and the Allies more willing to
accept it.
The objection we have had to contend with
applies no longer. Very recently the question
of Peace, and the conditions on which it may
be concluded, has assumed a practical shape.
The question has been considered by the Em.
peror of the FRENCH, and by him has been
pressed on the attention of the English Govern.
ment At the Councils which our Cabinet has
recently pield, this subject has been debated,
and on the decision taken it• must depend
whether we are to expect a prompt Peace or
prolonged War.
It cannot have escaped the sagacious mind
of the Emperor of the FRZNOR, that if the War
is to extend beyond its present limits, it must
be f..ir objects with which France has no con-
cern, and with which he individually has no
sympathy.
However greatly Russian power may be re-
duced in the South, France has nothing to
gain from such reduction. She can have no
desire to establish settlements on the shfireS
of the Euxine, or to complicate still further
the Eastern Question by bringing the Western
Powers into immediate contiguity with the
Turkish territory. Still less can it be her
wish to protract a bloody and expensive war
for the narrow and questionable object of re-
storing the Crimea to Turkey, or of placing it
in the custody of some minor European
[LATEST EDITION.]

Power, whose weakness would be a perpetual
temptation to Russia to renew the War, that
she might regain the territory she had lost.
The Emperor of the FRENCH must know that
the stability of his throne will depend less on
any transient popularity he may gain by the
success of French arms (unattended with
solid advantages) on a distant theatre of
operations, than on the wisdom and firmness
of his internal administration. Empty vic-
tories on Russian soil would be dearly pur-
chased by the conscription falling with greater
severity on the people, and by lasting embar-
rassment to the French finances. __ _

The Emperor has never concealed his oppo-
sition to those schemes for revolutionising
Europe,—or, at. least, for overthrowing the
absolute monarchies of the Coutinent,—which
find so much favour with the War Party in this
country, and constitute, indeed, their principal
motive for urging on a continuance of hostili-
ties. The quietude of the Continent at the
present time must be mainly attributed to his
influence. Even when Naples was threatened
with disturbance, he hastened to declare that
his Government would not depart from its loyal
policy, and that the agitators must expect no
favour from France. It has been his constant
aim to confine the War to its legitimate pin.-
poSe of securing the Turkish empire, and of
forming an effectual barrier against Russian
aggression in the South. If the English people
are bent on prosecuting the War for such
high-sounding but visionary aims as securing
the liberties of Europe by the destruction of
despotic forms of government, they will cer-
tainly have no right to count on the continued
assistance of France for their Quixotic enter-
prise.
It was, probably, the known sentiments of
the Emperor of the FRENCH that induced
Baron de BORQUENEY, the French. Ambassador
at Vienna, to transmit to his Imperial Master
the assurances he received that Russia was
disposed to make such concessions as would
remove all obstacles to a pacific and honour-
able settlement of the Eastern Question. We
are enabled to assert that the Emperor of the
FRENCH considered the proposals he received
to be of a satisfactory character, and that as
such he forwarded them to our Government,
with a pressing recommendation that they
should be favorably considered. We can
conceive that to our Cabinet this communica-
tion has been a source of great embarrassment.
Lord PALMERSTON has so recklessly committed
himself to a belligerent policy, and has so
completely identified himself with the War
Party, that he is in no position to receive
pacific proposals of a character which would
merely fulfil, however satisfactorily and com-
pletely, the objects for which the War was
originally commenced. His Cabinet is of so
negative a kind, that he is not likely to meet
with any decided resistance to his will from
any of its members. The communication
of the Emperor of the FRENCH will probably,
therefore, be coldly received; and some formal
pretext be found for disposing of the subject
for the present.
The important point, however, is that, VI
the opinion of the F'rench Government, a basis
has been found on which pacific negotiation
may now be opened' with every reasonable
prospect of success Those persons who are
most anxious that our national honour should
he upheld, must concede that the Emperor of
the FRENCH is little likely to favour a Peace
' which would not be honourable to the Allies

in every respect, and which would not give
the fairest promise of permanency thathuman
arrangements admit of. Though not disposed
to interfere with the existing Governments,
and territorial arrangements of Europe gene-
rally, he is compelled by the necessities of his
position, and by the foundation of his throne
on the will and opinion of the French people,
to thoroughly complete any work to which h•
has once set his hand. It would add greatly to
his reputation if, after so short a period of
decisive and glorious warfare, he can take a
leading part in settling that Eastern Question
which for nearly a century past has at different
times engaged the attention and excited th•
fears of the statesmen of Europe. But it is
essential that the settlement be secure. Ad-
mitted into the family of European nations,
protected by the alliance of powerful Statee,
and guarded by that common law which
secures the existence of territorial bounda-
ries when once defined and ratified, Turkey
would possess sufficient internal strength to
present a firm and lasting barrier to the
aggression of Russia, should she ever be so
ill-advised as to renew the attempt which on
the present occasion has ended for her in so
. disastrous a manner.
It has been less from the power of Russia
than from the neglect of statesmen that
Turkey has been so far weakened as she has
been. To the Emperor of the FRENCH Mat
he ascribed the merit of being the first states
man—we do not say to perceive the vast im-
portance and true bearings of the Eastern
Question—but the first to decide on a bold
and intelligible policy for its settlement.
Though his views may for a time be overborne
by Lord PALMERSTON'S Cabinet, it is impossible
to suppose that this adverse influence will long
prevail.
Other circumstances than those we have
mentioned must incline the Emperor of the
FRENCH to favour a pacific policy as soon as it
becomes consistent with large and noble views
of the course most advantageous and honour-
able to the Allies. A settled form of govern-
ment is urgently required for the Danubian
Principalities. Restored to Turkey they
would add to her strength, and, endowed with
an Administration adapted to their wants,
their natural resources would be rapidly
developed, and they would augment the pros-
perity of the Ottoman empire. But such an
arrangement is incompatible with the Austrian
occupation ; nor does it appear how that oc-
cupation can be dispensed with so long as the
War exists.

Again, the War must press heavily on the
resources of Turkey, must burden her with
debt, and, by so much, weaken that internal
force which it is the interest of the Western
Powers to maintain and extend. Such con-
ditions of Peace as the Allies at the present
time may reasonably expect to conclude would
put an end to the anomalous condition in
which the Turkieh Government is now placed,
and would afford it all' the security it needs to
prosecute the internal improvements which
are necessary to its strength and prosperity.

From that moment when hostilities are no
longer necessary for
great objects at issue.
still insist on a con'

be in danger of Man
expect Franee to join
her Government has
choose to embark in

----
absolute monarchies

for the attain . the
ue, this otottritrEfi_st9 it
ktinuaneec4, azviii,4 ..
ode
banding4o no' , .41 ~,..
An us in ftp alley with wilthif
....
has no a 'wrathy. ezi,
eg 10.
nan en errant) against en
sof th ositimat, fot

1086

dismemberment of Russia, or for any other
end foreign to the purpose of our alliance with
France, we must be prepared to take on our-
selves all the responsibility of our resolve,
and to stand alone in its proseentiOn.

THE BEDFORD WHIGS :AND
EXETER-HALL.
THE exhibition of Lord JOHN RUSSELL this
week, at Exeter hall, was eminently charac-
teristic of the man, time, and place. In his
language, and with thorough superficial read-
ing, there was visible the pupil of the moral
philosophers of Edinburgh of the olden school,
and the Noble lecturer showed the skill of a
practical Parliamentary debater in his selec-
tion of matter likely to prove attractive with
his peculiar audience. Without saying any-
thing that could gall the Roman Catholics,
the sitting Member for London contrived to
cater for ears accustomed to the philosophy of
Exeter-hall. There was adroitness in the
reference to GALILEO and his persecution. At
first it would appear to have been a mere
" cheer-trap," but with peculiar dexterity the
Noble Lord gracefully alluded to the best
commentary on the Newtonian philosophy
having proceeded from the nimble pens of a
couple of Jesuits ; and he gave a piquant
anecdote of the tact with which they avoided
the consequences of their promulgation of
scientific truth.
And, thus, when Lord JOHN had to speak of
religious persecution, the literary and lecturing
Member for London selected the dragonnades
of France French ladies talk of a " suspicion
"of rouge," and in the allusion to the bigotry
of Louis XIV., a listener got a hint of the
writer of the Durham Letter. There was evi-
dently a desire to catch at Protestant opinion;
but we are afraid that the inconsistent part
played by the Member for London in attacking
the POPE, and afterwards succumbing to Lord
ABERDEEN and the Brass Band, will deprive
him of Protestant sympathy. If he had retired
from Whig leadership, and stood alone amidst
his party on the Protestant question, what a
nigh position would now be given to him by
public opinion!
The lecture bore evident marks of careful
deliberation, and it is no satire to say that
there was an oblique reference throughout to the
" independent electors of the City of London."
The circumstance that Lord PANMURE and Mr.
VERNON SMITH escorted the Noble Lecturer to
the platform, would seem to show that some
of the "Old Old Whigs" compassionate the
position of Lord JOHN RUSSELL, while others
of that party only laugh at him. It is quite
evident that he has not lost those qualities
which made one of the most generous of his
adversaries designate him as " Pluck Per-
sonified." He is resolved still to combat for a
niche in the British Walhalla. The sibilla-
tions at Guildhall were largely compensated
for by the cheers at his literary lecture. He
showed himself off, also, and that was some-
thing. Like an old actor, he could not live
without the noisy applause to which he was
accustomed before "the cold shade " of ABER-
DEEN chilled his fiery Whiggism and destroyed
his popularity.
Next session will certainly see a Cabinet in
Parliamentary difficulties. All the leading
reputations of the House of Commons are ad-
verse to Lord PALMERSTON. His political
opponents include the most eloquent and ex-
perienced statesmen of the age. Lord STANLEY
has declined his appeal for aid, and Lord JOHN
RUSSELL, at the head of the Bedford Whigs,
stands aloof from his Ministry. Mr. DISRAELI
is, on his part, supported by a great connec-
tion, powerful in wealth, in numbers, and in
unity of purpose. Sir JAMES GRAHAM and Mr.
GLADSTONE menace him in the flank, and Mr.
COBDEN and Mr. BRIGHT assail his rear.
We do not recollect any previous Cabinet so
weak in the House of Commons. Sir GEORGE
GREY'S health is infirm, and neither Sir GEORGE
LEWIS, Sir CHARLES WOOD, nor Mr. VERNON
SMITH ere capable of supporting a tottering
Ministry. Nor can anonymous writers, with
unscrupulous pens, silent and salaried in the