The Sun.
London, England, 1855-02-24 00:00:00

upon its advice. (Hear, hear.) I must say, sir, that Ido
not myself see on what principle we can, after an interval
of a few days, take a-course diametricallyncepposite to that
which a fortnight ago we deliberately adopted. Recollect
what has occurred since. One object which gentlemen
had in view in supporting the committee is accom-
plished, and there is therefore now less necessity for it. As
a censure it is valueless, for its work is done. As an in-
quiry, I tell you it is nothing but an immense sham. I
defy you to get to the bottom of one of these facts, unless
you do it at the risk of disorganising your army in the
Crimea, or of exciting the susceptibilities and shaking the
confidence of your allies. (Cheers.) You cannot attach
too great weight to the warning which the right hon. baro-
net gave you upon that subject. Or, if you succeed
some in
avoiding this danger through the intervention of
member of the committee who shall have influence enoughwith it to arrest its progress when it gets upon what he
thinks dangerous ground, then you may do the grossest
injustice by sacrificing officers whom you may bring before
the committee, to whom you may put questions of an ac-
cusative character, but whom you may not allow to defend
themselves, because they cannot do so without trenching
upon grounds too delicate and dangerous for them to be
allowed to approach. (Hear.) I say, sir, that I, who have
'held far a long time a position in connection with the ad-
ministratien of the army, who have received from that
noble service every courtesy and kindness, and who feel
that I owe it a deep debt of gratitude, should be ashamed
of myself if I could allow such a proceeding to be insti-
tuted here, and not raise my voice against it, and do what-
ever I can, however humble and feeble, to protect them
from being placed in a position in which everything which
is dear to them—dearer than life itself—will be so staked
that they will be unable to defend their accused honour.
(Hear.) But lam told,—that is now the-expression—that
it is irresistible. I have in my short experience in the
House of Commons seen resistance made, and successfully
made, to feelings quite as strong, and quite as universal,
as that which now operates in this house. I have seen that
done against the conviction which pervaded the whole of
this house, sincerely and according to the plain sense and
meaning of the words. At this moment that is not the
case. We have some men voting for this upon one
ground, some upon another. (Hear.) We have many
voting for it as an inquiry who know it will not, it can-
not, ba any inquiry at all. The hon. gentleman says
that in the present state of parties there is chaos. Is
there no Government, no man who shall bring order into
this chaos, and who, by his commanding position, shall ac-
quire for himself the lead of the house which, like all popu-
lar assemblies, is willing to be led, if it discerns in those
who aspire to lead it the qualities necessary for the pur-
pose ? (Cheers.) I have seen this house rescind a vote at
the bidding of Sir Robert Peel ; but it was after reasons
were gravely and fully stated, and from a conviction on the
part of the house that they were dealing with a man of
great judgment, and above all of strong will, and that they
must either rescind that vote or part with the Minister
whom they then thought necessary for the public welfare.
But two years—it was under the Government of which I
then happened to be a member—l saw but one feeling per-
vading this house. It was the conviction that you would
have no income tax in this country, unless it were a gradu-
ated one. Influenced by the firmness, by the arguments,
by the eloquence of one man, the house came to a different
conclusion. (Hear.) In adopting the proposals which he
had made, they entirely accepted his argument; and at the
same time they honoered the genius and courage of the
man who had stood forward to oppose them. What you
want is a strong Government. (Opposition cheers.) I con-
fess that my own impression is—the right hon. gentleman
by me (Sir J. Graham) has analysed the state ofthe house
—that, as it was constituted when we were in it, the Go-
vernment had not the confidence of the house. It had a
great many professions of support. Memel from the bench
above (behind the Treasury boucle) critical support; I heard
here (below the gangway), support given upon the ground
of peace at all prices—no war at any price ; and opposite,
vittip ,retlve support. But genuine support support
having for its single object the public welfare, given to a
Government which is believed to be seeking that welfare,
is a thing which, in this house, does not at this moment
seam to exist. For my part, under these circumstances,
not having succeeded in my individual capacity, how-
ever humble, in conciliating even the smallest grate of
confidence, I am perfectly willing to shoulder my musket
again, to go into the ranks, and to attempt to give to
the Gotreentnent a support, not critical or vituperative,
but a support given to the Executive because I believe it
is necessary it should be supported, and with the single
object of giving stability to the Government and strength
to the country in a moment of areal difficulty, and of
seeking the promotion of the public welfar, . Sir, you do
not have a strong Government by having in it strong men
who take a weak course. (Hear, hear.) You must have
strong men taking a strong course. They must not at the
first moment throw clown the reins. They must not cast,
down the reins, and act contrary to the opinions which
they strongly expressed only a short time ago, because the,
house happens at the moment to demand it. The Govern-
ment must !se something more than the reflection of the
caprices of a large popular assembly. For these reasons
the Government must not only be a Government of strong
and independent men, but it must act strongly. Well,
Sir, I have felt that in the course the Government was
about to take that condition was net likely to h 9 fulfilled.
I disapprove of the committee. If it be inevitable, which
I deny, that is no reason for my voting fur it. I will not
make myself a party to what I disapprove of because I
cannot prevent others from doing so. I deny that it was
irresistible. I think that if the House of Commons and
the public outside had hail put before them a thorough
explanation of the real facts of the case —if they hail known
that the Government was more interested than they or
any one else in having a really searching investigation
—the Government, which is necessarily now perplexed by
receiving little but official despatches, and having private
letters now one way now another—souse corroborating,
some denying the truth of the statements made by the very
graphic writer in the public press, whose object is rather
to produce an effect thee to care about any very great ac-
curacy of detail—the Government has the greatest in-
terest of any one in an inquiry which shall be search-
ing, which shall get at the truth—if the public had
had that well, fully, and amply put before them--
if the whole gravity of the question and the dangers
of the course they are likely to take had been presented
to them—l think They would have hesitated. This
house is an assembly of educated men, and men of the
highest state in this country, who feel their responsibili-
ties, and who also feel that the great secret of their power
is their unwillingness on any occasion to transgress honest
limits. There is also an intelligent community, the mem-
bers of which like to be guided and taught by the house—
who expect direction and guidance from this hence, but in
this instacce are not getting them—who are being put upon,
and I think deceived, by a hope of an investigation which
can be no investigation at all. Investigation into the con-
duct of their late Ministers ? Yes, that they can have,
fully and efficiently. But investigation into the conduct
and state of the armyand its causes, they cannot get through
a committee of the House of Commons. It is mere Parlia-
mentary red-tapism to say it can be so. I say that, in the
nature of things, it cannot. They should likewise have
warning of the danger they incur, and of the risks they
run by adopting this course. I am confident that, had
snob an appeal been made, we should not have heard that
this was irresistible, and that men who had refused it as
we did a fortnight ago from conscientious conviction, could
now be justified in taking it up as though we thought that
all our arguments were fallacies. I will not much longer
detain the house, but I wish to say one word upon what
has fallen from my right hon. friend (Sir J. Graham.) He
said that words of parting are " apt to be delusive, and
had better be avoided." I am younger than my right hon.
friend, and perhaps the temperament of youth is more
trustful in that respect ; but I can say with truth that I
never left colleagues with greater pain. I have served with
them for two years in what ispopularly denounced as a coali-
tion, where it is supposed that men coalesced holdineedirectly
opposite opinions, and were it is supposed that the process
of discussion was dispute terminated by compromise. I have
sat for two years with these men in the most perfect har-
mony, the most perfect sympathy. I shall through all
time look back with satisfaction and pleasure upon the
friendships which I have acquired and which I hope I shall
retain. I have this conviction, which is meet agreeable to
me, after seeing men—and I believe that you nowhere see
-men so thoroughly as in a Cabinet whore you are
acting together in such close and intimate connection—l
rejoice to see by what high character the men are actuated
who hold the leading rack in the councils of the nation.
(Hear.) I have left !hem with the deepest regret. I regret
that at this moment 1 should have been severed from con-
nection with them. I lament, perhaps selfishly, that hav•
ing passed through this gloomy period, I am debarred from
all share in any returning prosperity. I will not profess
that entire indifference to office which many men on such
occasions think it necessary to profess. I will say frankly
that, holding a position in which the greatest and most im-
portant interests which could be entrusted to any man had
been committed to me, I had questions before me hoping
to settle thorn' upon the settlement of which any man who
had the good fortune to achieve it might look back with
pride and congratulation ' • and I honestly confess that I
garb up that position with,pain, but I gave it up as I part
from my cis/leaven, frofn a paranaL :nee of public
duty. lam told that I have deserted my colleagues at a
period of great difficulty. I say, like the right hon. baro-
net (Sir J. Graham), that I have deserted no man. I was
Prepared to stand by my fellows, and I must not be called
a deserter for so doing. But, sir, in the course which I
shall pursue hereafter I trust that I may learn a lesson
frem the conduct of many whom I have seen in this house,
professing to support her Majesty's Government, but at the
name time throwing every impediment possible in its way.
(Hear.) I have no inclination to take any such course. I
can therefore only look trustfully forward, hoping that the
ana conduct of the Government may be such as I can cordially
heartily approve. Ido for their sakes, Ido so for my
Own sake, I do so above all for the sake of my country,
which I now 800 in difficulties, but which will, I trust,
b 7 the energies of our administration, by the courage of
armies and
the poikitiZ. by the steadfastness of the people, recover
hitherto holici. vddeb, as a military nation, she has always
(Cheers.)
4:nu:a ts,GIe.SInELL confessed that he could not un-
whohadaddre *lre of the right heiaeurable gentlemen
self to think that it house—how any man couldbringhim-
head of the Govervjamei,P°ssible fo upon noble viscount at the
decision to which thehotutios insist the reversal of the
upon a question of sesei-cane by ea immense a majority
(Hear, hear.) It was toon_lnnense public importance.
and
nn,:stelie,ethe habit to give the go-
bye to the real facts,
aj, a:efficiently in mind
the gravity of that question.
wasting away by disease, by mismareiviletliboynw
The facts were
neglecta s the
f
the British army. (Oppositien ch
ine felti that it
it power
admitted by the Ministers of the Crown,
was imperatively his duty to do everything
to give effect to the decision of the house, and it
Was
his
firm conviction that if the house had unhappily been in
duced to retrace the step which it had taken, it .could
have struck a heavy blow at representative institutions.
(Cheers.)
Mr. H. DRITMAIONTD said, in addition to many other
difficulties under which he always laboured in addressing
the house, one which always pressed upon, htimi beyond
o alt
others was, that ho was not quit©
spoken in the house. He believed h
sure
't wwafisa a dainareucatgoef wasthe
English, but when he was told that be, in his ecnhestthsiinr,m-
plicity, voting for an inquiry, did not mean any such
but meant that he had a want of confidence in somebody
else, he was really at a loss how to proceed. Admitting.
the translation, he was at a loss to understand what was
the meaning of words "want of confidence." He had
great confidence in the right hon. gentlemen, the late
Chancellor of the Exchequer, that he would not rob the
till, but he had no confidence in his commanding an army.
Ho supposed they must take these words in a non-natural
sense, as that was the only way in which matters could
be reconciled. As he took seine past in recommending
the house to adopt this inquiry, he begged to say that
if he had seen any reason to alter his opinion, nothing
would have psevented his voting against that motion
'new. (Hear) Bnt let the house remember the facts.
TheY had no knowledge before them. Ministers came
• down to give them Whatever certain individuals
mig kreow f none,
forins.„_ from private letters, the house had no in-
" 4". (Hear, hear.) It knew that it had voted
einerenenei Sinus of money for very large forces. It saw
G„„„__
that snot munkers of those me lod died