The Press.
London, England, 1856-11-08 00:00:00

LONDON, SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 8, 1856.

duced ; our army and navy sank to a scale
scarcely compatible with their efficiency ; and
under the coercion of the Liberal party, then
excessively hostile to Turkey and clamorous
for the independence of Greece, no resist-
ance was offered to Russia when the Ottoman
empire was invaded, and the Porte compelled
to make ignominious concessions.
With the triumph of the Reform Ministry of
Earl GREY the former professions of the party
were at least nominally upheld. Retrench-
mentand peace were still political watchwords,
hostility to large establishments continued to
be professed, and the ,policy of non-interven-
tion received on more than one occasion the
express sanction of Lord PALMERSTON.
When the popularity of the Liberal party
was on the wane, it endeavoured to recover its
ground by pretending zeal for new schemes of
Reform. A wide extension of the Suffrage with
the Ballot was advocated by the more ad-
vanced Liberals, and Lord JOHN RUSSELL, con-
ceiving that something must be done to save
his party from extinction, was induced to
strike his reputation on the success of a new
Reform Bill.

With an agitation for further measures of
Reform, the Liberals have now been playing
since the success of their bill of 1830. The
agitation has been suffered to sleep as the
possession of power by their party seemed
tolerably secure, or has been roused into ac-
tivity as their political fortunes declined.
The Government of Lord PALMERSTON opposes
itself to the Ballot. It manifests not the
slightest inclination to interfere with the
existing electoral system ; yet as the cry fur
Reform produces an effect on certain con-
stituencies, and as it may possibly be useful
hereafter, it is not suffered wholly to drop.
A majority of Liberal members declare them-
selves resolved to obtain the Ballot and ex-
tension of the suffrage, while they declare
their determination to support Lord PALMERS-
TON, notoriously opposed to both. This creed,
as impossible to be rationallAconstrued as the
antagonistic assertions embodied in theolo-
gical dogmas, is yet thought ♦ery suitable for
popular constituencies. It is one of the forms
of imposture which are covering the Liberal
party with ridicule and disgrace.
Unable to sustain itself by this delusion, it
endeavours to raise national sentiment against
foreign despotisms and in favour of oppressed
nationalities. This fraud is more dangerous
and more disgraceful than the other. It is
both petty and wicked. It does not deceive
foreign Governments, but it tends to raise the
expectations of continental revolutionists. It
burdens this country with the support of
heavy armaments, while it actually diminishes
our external influence.

In place of being favorable to -peace, the
Liberal party is sedulous to propagate ru
mours of probable disturbance and war. In
place of studying economy, the Liberal party
demands that our establishments shall be
kept on a war footing. In place of insisting
on non-intervention, the Liberal party is urgent
that our Government should entangle itself
with the internal politics of continental States,
and should endeavour to provoke a European
convulsion.

While the war with Russia lasted, the
Liberal party, contrary to every principle of
humanity and sound policy, demanded that
the war should be maintained to extremity,
and that lan peace should be concluded except
on terms which would leave Russia a con•

STAMPED ....SIXPENCE.
UNSTAMPED..FIVEPENCE.

qttered and diminished power, destitute
of all weight in the councils of Eutope.
Yet, when Russia was treated with on
moderate terms, the Liberal party found i;
convenient to forget all the violence of its
former sentiments, and to applaud the wisdom
of a course of conciliation.

The Liberal party maintained that Sardinia
was to be supported against Austria as the
great hope of Italian independence. When
the Tripartite Treaty was concluded, the
Liberal party indignantly denied that Sar-
dinia was to be sacrificed to an Austrian
alliance ; but it now appears that the Cabinets
of London and Vienna are agreed upon the
leading questions of European policy.
If the Liberal party has ide:itified itself
with one principle of foreign policy more than
another, it has been to the principle of irre-
concileable hostility with Austria. 'rake up
what Liberal publication we may of the last
forty years, and the probability is that we shall
find in it some ;denunciation of Austrian per-
fidy. Of late years the abuse of Austria has
deepened in intensity. She has been repre-
sented as even more than Russia the tyrant of
the Continent, and the oppressor of down-
trodden nationalities. Liberal politicians have
joined in a chorus of hatred and vengeance
against her; they have sworn eternal enmity
to her dynasty and power; they have rejoiced
when the dagger of an assassin was directed
against her Sovereign's life, and they have
openly expressed their hope that the hand of
some future desperado might be more fortu-
nate. They have encouraged Italian discon-
tent that they might keep Austria insecure ;
and they have feigned that to act against
Naples was in reality to point a sword at the
heart of Austria, with this great recommenda-
tion—that the Power offended would be too
weak to retaliate.

As the result of all this Liberal declama-
tion, what do we find ? The Liberal Govern-
ment of Lord PALMERSTON deems it expedient
to support Austria in her continued occupa-
tion of the Danubian Principalities, and to
come to a good understanding with that
Power on the Eastern question, even at the
risk of endangering the French alliance.

Upon what question is it that this agree-
ment is deemed so essential ? Upon the
question whether the Principalities shall
remain subject to Turkey, or be erected into
an independent State. The population of
those provinces answer most distinctly to the
character of one of those oppressed nationali-
ties which have heretofore been championed
by the Liberal party. The people are Rou•
mans ; they demand the union of the pro.
vinces; they demand that their nationality
shall be recognised. If ever there was an
occasion on which the Liberal party should
have been united, and on which they should
have stood firm, it is this. Those provinces
have just been rescued from the Protectorate
of Russia—the hold that Turkey had on them
was scarcely even nominal. The question is
between the national independence of these
Christian provinces and their subjection to a
foreign and, in race ani
Government. The Li be!

it must oppose the ind,
provinces, and that it mus
Austria against—if need

great and generous ally,
For the last forty years
the creed of the Liberal •

expediency of a Frenoh

id religion'', a hostile
oral party de&
depende 'o
st suppost.
be—the-vi
France.
rs it h
party t
alliano4L: • •
.9.
"\i