The Press.
London, England, 1856-02-02 00:00:00

THE ADDRESSES.

The opening night of tee session was occupied in
both houses by a brief debate upon the Address,
though no amendment was moved in either.

The Earl of GosFoun, in the Lords, moved the
Address in reply to the Speech from the Throne,
and alluded to the prospects of a speedy peace, which
he trusted would be safe and honourable :

A short time back the duty which he was now called
upon to perform would have been comparatively light and
easy, for it would have been a task of no great ditticulty,
and one which required no great amount of eloquence, to
persuade their lordships to a vigorous and, as regarded
the enemy, a destructive pursuance of the war. A short time
back but few of their lordships, and fewer still out of
doors, would have been opposed to such a course, and, for
his own part, he felt no hesitation in saying that it would
have been most congenial to his own feelings ; for of the
justice and necessity of the war he had never entertained
the slightest doubt or misgiving He must
confess that he had himself looked forward with joyous
anticipation to the probable result of the campaign of
MO. The scene was, however, changed, and he, with
feelings strongly enlisted on the side of a vigorous prose•
cution of the war, found himself suddenly and, he must
confess, somewhat reluctantly transformed into an advo-
cate of peace. Every Christian man must, of necessity,
feel that a state of peace was prefetablc to a state of war,
and, indeed, the main justification of all war, and espe-
cially of the war in which the country was engaged, was
the endeavour to obtain a substantial peace
All other considerations must give way, and they were
bound to use their best endeavours to obtain so desirable
a result as a safe and honourable peace. But let him not
he misunderstood. He had already stated that he had
become, somewhat reluctantly, an advocate of peace. He
would add that he was so only conditionally upon our
being able to arrive at an agreement upon terms safe and
honourable to ourselves and to our allies—terms calcu•
lated not only to effect the object of the war, so far as
Russian aggression on Turkey might be concerned, but to
curb the aggressive policy of Russia in other quarters—
terms such as our successes entitled us to require.

His lordship then briefly noticed the various para-
graphs in the Royal Speech, and congratulated the
house upon the successes already achieved by the
allies.

The Earl of ABINGDON, in seconding the Address,
rejoiced over every sentence of the Royal Speech,
and particularly over the annoutcement of pacific
negotiations :
Nothing could be more congenial to the feelings of the
people than the statement in the Speech, that our
naval and military preparations should in DO degree be
relaxed until a satisfactory treaty of peace should be com-
pleted. He rejoiced that the negotiations were to be con-
ducted in Paris, the capital of that illustrious prince Mho
swayed the destinies of a people renowned in arms, and
foremost among the nations of Europe in all the arts of
civilisation. (Hear, hear.) He could not find words
sufficient to express his admiration of the conduct of that
illustrious prince and the people over whom he reigned in
having come forward in so honourable a manner, forgetting
all former occurrences, and entering into so cordial an
alliance with this country.

The Earl of DERBY assured the house that no
party feeling should interfere with that unanimity so
essential to the best interests of the country, but at
the same time he claimed a right to criticise the
Speech from the Throne:—

My lords, I go along with the Address in answer to that
which, in constitutional phrase, I must call her Majesty's
moat gracious Speech ; but, having said so, I must be
permitted to deal with that speech as it is. and not as it is
lint—(a laugh)—to deal with it as the speech of the
Ministers, and not as the speech of our gracious Sovereign ;
and I do so because I feel that in my comments on that
speech I may make use of some expression and apply
some terms that would hardly be complimentary or even
fitting if they were addressed to the Sovereign. (Hear,
hear.) We are not accustomed to look in documents of
this kind for ornaments of stele, or for any great elegance
of diction or language; and long experience has induced
us to be perfectly satisfied with the plain and intelligible

101

English of the First Minister of the Crown in conveying
his intentions to the louse. (Hear, hear.) But I must
venture to say that of all the documents of this kind that
ever came under my observation, I never met with one
that could so little pretend to the graces of diction, or even
to the intelligible conveyance of information to the house.
(Laughter.) Of course, lam ignorant by whom the para-
graphs relating to the war may have been flamed; but if
they were the suggestion of my noble friend opposite, to
whose department they principally belong, it must have
been at the close of one of those exhausting attacks to
which he as well as lam unfortunately subject—( a laugh)
—or under the influence nut more exhilarating of that
meagre diet which is their necessary accompaniment.
(A laugh.) The Speech is redolent of water.gruel.
(Great laughter.) It reminds me of nothing more than
those documents which in our early school days we were
accustomed to prepare, and which went by the name of
" themes," in the composition of which the object was to
accomplish the allotted task, and fill up the six and thirty
lines of writing, taking special care not to exceed the
*Round limit, but within that limit to dilute with the
largest possible amount of feeble and unmeaning language
the small modicum of sense. (Laughter.)
The omissions in the Speech were remarkable.
There was no notice taken of India, or of our colo-
nies—nothing said about our commerce or finances—
no allusion made to the state of our relations with
America, and but little indication given of those
measures intended to be brought under considera •
lion of the Government. Lord Derby then came to
the Speech itself :

Now, in the Speech this day delivered from the Throne
we commence with a paragraph so bare, so bald, so meagre,
that I am at once warranted in drawing that distinction
which I have already done between the Speech of the
Sovereign and the Speech of the Minister. We have a
bare announcement in the first paragraph that. " since the
close of the last session of Parliament, the alms of the
allies have achieved a signal and important success—that
Sebastopol, the great stronghold of Russia in the Black
Sea, has yielded to the persevering constancy and to the
daring bravery of the allied forces." One of the noble
lords who either moved or seconded the Address has
spoken of the glowing encomiums which were psased by
her Majesty's Government on the gallantry and bravery of
the troops ; but all I can say is, that never was praise so
faint for achievements so great, and never was a reception
so ungracious given to heroic endurance, to unparalleled
bravery, and to sufferings all but unparalleled, or to exer-
tions that have achieved results which it was almost im-
possible to hope any amount of gallantry or endurance
could have accomplished. (Cheers.)
The warm, kindly, and womanly sympathy shown by
her Majesty for the sufferings of her soldiers gave
assurance that had she been left to the promptings
of her own heart, her language would hava been very
different :

My lords, if her Majesty had followed the dictates of her
own judgment, 1 think I know what would have been the
tone in which she would have addressed you. Her
Majesty would have expressed a deep sense of gratitude to
that Almighty disposer of all events without whom arms
can do nothing—(Hear, hear)—and would have asked you
to join in the expression of a nation's gratitude towards
those brave men who, under that mighty Providence, have
been enabled to achieve so important a success. Lan-
guage such as that would have gone to the hearts of many
and many thousands in this country. (Hear, hear.)
Language such as that, addressed by the Sovereign to her
Parliament, would have kindled anew and strengthened the
flame of loyalty winch burns among your troops, and
would have encouraged them to those deeds of daring upt n
which such a paragraph ai I have read is calculated to
throw a damp. (Hear, hear.)
The allusion to the fall of Sebastopol contained an
erroneous statement. The northern side was still
held by Russia, and her great stronghold bad not,
therefore, yielded to the daring and valour of our
troops, however great that daring and valour might
have been. He could not blame her Majesty's
vernment for entering upon negotiations, but the
paragraph in the Speech alluding to the event was
highly unsatisfactory :
We are told that " the Emperor of Austria lately offered
to myself and to my august ally the Emperor of the Fran, h
to employ his good offices with the Emperor of RUSSif,
with a view to endeavour to bring about an amicable at.-
justrnent of the matters at issue between the contendit g
powers." I doubt not that this is a correct statement of
the facts, and that the Emperor or Austria has applied to
the Emperor of the French and to her Majesty for their
sanction to these negotiations with the Emperor of Russia
in order to the attainment of peace; but I confess that it
would to me have borne a more gratifying appearance if
the Government had been enabled to state that the Im•
peror of Austria had applied for the sanction of the Em-
peror of Russia to employ his good offices with tl
Sovereigns of France and England ; for, from the language
of the Speech—and I doubt not that language was well
considered—dap impression in Europe, and I fear it is a
correct impression, will be that, after all, we are virtually
applicants to Russia for peace, and that Russia is not the
applicant. ("No, no," from the Ministerial benches.)
Noble lords opposite say " No, no." The statement they
make is this—that Austria has applied for your consent
to employ her good offices with Russia towards obtaining
the assent of Russia to certain con,iitions in which you

have signified your concurrence. Now, if in that case you
are not the party seeking for peace—you having given your
assent to the conditions, and applying for the concurrence
of Russia—and if Russia is not the party preserving the
right to grant those conditions or to refuse them, I con•

102

fess Ido not understand what is the force of language
( Hear, hear.)

He commented on the entire silence of the Speech
with respect to Sardinia, our gallant ally, anti Turkey,
the principal in the war; and then remarked
strongly on the absence of all mention of the match-
less endurance and indomitable gallantry of the
British officers commanding at Kars :

My lords, are there not those whom a word of praise
and of sympathy might have cheered in the depth of those
prisons to which their gallantry has consigned them—
might have given them fresh courage to support their
sufferings and their misfortunes, and proved to them that
their exertions and their hardships had not been under-
gone in the service of an ungrateful country? Such words,
coming from their Sovereign in the presence of her as-
sembled Parliament, would carry with them a weight
which can accompany the language of no other individual.
Yet, stand.ng in this place, anti feeling that my words may
possibly reach the prisons to which they have been doomed
by a not ungenerous enemy, I would say to those gallant
spirits—to a Williams, a Teesdale, a Lake, and a Thomp-
son—" You may rest assured that this house and the
country deeply sympathise with you in your mistortunes;"
that "We honour the valour and prize the fame of the
brave defenders of Kars, as not below those of the more
fortunate conquerors at Sebastopol." (Hear, hear.) I
am not surprised that there should rise a blush of shame
on the cheek of the Minister, or that he should hesitate
and be paralysed, when about to inscribe in the Queen's
Speech the significant name of Rarer!—(Hear, hear)—a
name of everlasting triumph and distinction to the valiant
souls who, amid all the horrors of famine, and hemmed
in on all sides by an overpowering force, gallantly repulsed
their enemy, on whom they indicted a loss almost exceed.
ing the carnage of any battle of modern times ; and who.
despite of every discouragement, maintained their high
spirit and achieved victory after victory, until finally com-
pelled to yield, not to the overwhelming numbers of the
foe, but to the still more unconquerable force of sheer
famine. The name of Kars, then, will be remembered
to the immortal honour of its defenders ; and let me add,
that its name also confers no slight degree of honour and
credit on the conqueror of those brave men, who, in the
generous terms of capitulation which he granted, showed
,that he knew how to appreciate an enemy's valour and
fortitude, even when unavailing. (Hear, hear.) Fortu-
nate, indeed, was it for the gallant garrison of Kars that
they had to deal with a Mouravieff, and not with a Coronini.
(Hear, hear.) Fortunate was it for the brave Poles and
Hungarians who formed part of that undaunted garrison
that the chivalrous spirit of their high-minded conqueror
suffered them to go free, without incurring those addi-
tional dangers to which, as other than mere prisoners of
war, they might have been exposed.

To what influence WAS this fatal disaster to be
ascribed ?

I have heard a rumour which I will mention, in order
that the Government may, if possible, meet it with the
promptest, fullest, and most explicit denial. I have heard
it whispered abroad that while my noble friend (Lord
Ellenborough) was earnestly pressity, upon the NVar
Minister the necessity of defending Turkey on her Asiatic
frontier, warning him, from history and example, that
that was the quarter from which Constantinople had
most cause for apprehension, and reminding him that in
the fatal years 18'28 and 1829 the disastrous treaty of
Adrianople was hardly less attributable to the advance of
the Russian troops upon the European side of Turkey
than to the successes of Paskiewitch and Mouravietf at
Kars and Erzeroum—while my noble friend was urging
these considerations upon the attention of the Govern-
ment, it is alleged, though 1 can hardly credit it, that this
important strategical post was neglected and abandoned to
its fate because of some miserable jealousy between the
two great allies—souse paltry fear that we should be
suspected of seeking, under cover of an expedition to the
coast of Asia, to promote, not the conjoint interests of
Turkey and the allies, but our own isolated and exclusive
interests.

To that tumour he hoped the Government would be
able to give an uncompromising contradiction. The
country had a right to know on whose shoulders the
blame properly rested. He could not believe that
Lord Stratford de Redcliffe had so far forgotten what
he owed to his Sovereign as to treat with contempt
repeated and urgent applications made to him for
laid by British officers. It would not do to throw the
blame on this or that pacha. At the earliest moment
there must be laid before Parliament a statement of
all circumstances relaing to the abandonment of
Kars :

My lords, I do not hesitate to assert that there is'a
prima facie case of.grievuus charge against her Majesty's
Government for neglecting to see to the provisioning and
supplying of Kars while the communications were open,
and I cannot but think that ii will require some ingenuity
to show why, even after the 'eommunicationm were closed,
no effort was made to break throulgli* line of the be-
sieging army.
Could it be said that either met or.money were
wanting'— .
Where was the Turkish Contingent of which we last
session heard so much ? (Hear, hear.) During tbet dia•
cussion on the Foreign Enlistment Bill last year we were
repeatedly told that what we wanted were not soldio--
who would require six months' training, ht cers
men who were already prepared and disciplin. or
till;.
service of war, and who would be available in a. ery
period for any purpose for which we could possilrY require
them. (Hear, hear.) Parliament sanctioned last year
a very considerable loan for the purpose of securing4he
disciplined services of such a body. What has become

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