The Press.
London, England, 1854-12-16 00:00:00

1208

("Hear, hear," and cheers.) You have commenced such
a campaign ( a great blunder) without providing for it
(the next great blunder). ( Loud cheers.) The huts will
arrive in January, and the skins probably will meet the
sun of May. (Cheers.) These are your preparations !
(Renewed cheers.)
But you say that time was of the greatest cGnsequence—
that if you had dela} ed fresh frosts would have been encoun-
tered. Surely, however, when a Ministry has so managed
the affairs of a country as to bring it to such a condition that
at last they have to go to war with one of the greatest mili-
tary powers in the world, you will agree that the decision
should be arrived at after deep thought, with ample know-
ledge. Surely oue would have thought that statesmen who
arrogate to themselves all the ability and all the experience
of this house would so have played their cards that in
trying this great issue they would have essayed it under
tho most favourable circumstances, and not have incurred

fearful odds. (Cheers.) It is now two years since you
were dallying with Russia with your diplomatic overtures.
(Hear, hear.) You may possibly have supposed that your
negotiations would terminate in peace. I believe the
majority of you did ; because I know that when a body of
men of different opinions counsel together, they always take
refuge in the consolatory conviction that they will not be
called on to act. ( Cheers.) I believe, then, that this Cabinet
of Coalitionists from the first flattered themselves that the
tremendous circumstances they have to encounter, and which
engage their most anxious thoughts by day and night, would
never be a part of their lives. (Cheers.) The First Minister
of the Crown had never dreamt that at the termination of
his career he would be acting against that Russia of which
he was the cherished and almost the spoiled child. ( Cheers.)
And another Minister who has indulged in dreams of
political Liberalism, scarcely thought that the latter days
days of his eminent career would thus approach his pur-
Ese. (Cheers.) We know this from the Chancellor of the
xchequer at Manchester, and from his budget in the
House of Commons. We know by your own confession that
not two of you are of the same opinion; yet as responsible
men it was your duty to have formed some policy two
years ago. You appear to me not to have embraced any
definite object or adopted any definite system. If you had,
you would not have told us now that you are obliged to
enter upon a winter campaign in the Crimea, because
time is precious and that another month's delay would
have rendered it impregnable. This I maintain—
that the Ministry which has involved this country in a
war with Russia ought not to have taken such a course
unless they were prepared for all those consequences which
men of experience, ability, and knowledge must have
known, unless they shut their eyes wilfully to those con-
sequences, must have ensued.
I said just now that they had called Parliament together
unexpectedly ; but what I object to in the Government is,
that they have done everything unexpectedly in this great
affair—(" Hear," and a laugh) —they have done everything
too late ; and in all they have recommended they have
given signs of vacillation of opinion and uncertainty of
purpose, and, necessarily, feebleness of execution. These
are little things—they may be nothing ; but the doctors
came after the men were wounded, and the nurses ap-
peared always after the wounded had expired. These things
were never cared for until the indignant sorrow of the
nation called upon them to exercise the duties of minis-
terial humanity. (Hear, hear.) But the same fate seems
to await them in all their course. Now it is the surgeons
that are too late, now the nurses • after the battle rein-
forcements arrive ; and at last the storm and hurricane,
that everybody had been expecting, overwhelms our navies.
This is not an overcharged picture, for it is founded upon
fact. Does the house think it is judicious that, under
such circumstances, Parliament should meet sub silentio
But even the resolution to call Parliament together
was taken too late. ("Bear, hear," and a laugh.) They
prorogued the Parliament to the 14th of December, and
then so uncertain was their purpose—so vacillating their
conduct—so undefined their object—that, having assembled
and counselled the Sovereign to prorogue Parliament to
the 14th December, they find it necessary to invade the
prerogative, and are obliged to avail themselves of the scurvy
aid, comparatively speaking, of an act of Parliament, to
call us together on the 12th. (Hear, hear.) I should like
to know what influenced these gentlemen when they coun-
selled the sovereign to prorogue Parliament to the 14th?
And yet these are the men on whom the fortunes of the
country depend. What are we to think of men who,
taking into consideration all the circumstances of the
nation, recommend to the Sovereign to prorogue Perlis
anent till the 14th, which virtually was a meeting
after Christmas, and then, in a panic, avail themselves
of an act of Parliament, and call us together on the
12th ? I want to know why they changed their opinions ?
(Hear, hear.) I want to know why it is necessary to pro-
vide now for an immediate increase of the forces, and why
that was not done when it was recommended and sanc-
tioned by the Sovereign ? It is in perfect keeping with
the whole conduct of the Government, and adds another
to the catalogue I have mentioned. I want to know, in
the dismal and deplorable circumstances in which we are
placed, and in which we are alone sustained by the unsur-
passed heroism of the English troops, why they determined
upon a winter campaign in the Crimea, without that assis-
tance and support our soldiers ought to have received?
Such a step would have been considered most unnecessary
and unwise if Ministers had only ordinary foresight and
sagacity. I will not say the disastrous position of our
forces, when I recollect the glorious feats of arms they
have accomplished ; but certainly I may say that it is a
deplorable state of things in which we find ourselves.
It appears that towards the end of her Majesty's Speech
there is a specific for our dangers. It is not from the
deeds of daring of oar own gallant countrymen, or the
enthusiasm and loyalty of the country, we are to look for
extrication from the position in which we have been
placed ; but rather, as it seems to me, from the fact, as
her Majesty informs us, that, "together with the Em-