The Sun.
London, England, 1855-06-02 00:00:00

TEE WAR QUESTION AND T.UE HOUS
OF COMMONS.

Our rapid and important military successes in
the Sea of Azoff go far to counterbalance our losses
in prestige, incurred through the failure of our
Plenipotentiary at Vienna. If some accounts re-
ceived from St. Petersburg be worthy of credence,
those successes have also very quickly produced
their natural effect in that capital. It is in the
very nature of things, that the stealthy and furtive
policy of Russia should instantly be routed by the
least show of action. We have committed the
blunder of negotiating with her as if she were an
European Power—henceforth let us treat her as
Oriental.
Whether it be pressure of a domestic kind on
the Government, or that the House of Romanoff
acknowledges au hereditary policy of aggression, it
is clear that no resource of fraud or force has ever
been spared by Russia in the attainment of her
schemes. It is now in proof -Unit moderation is
thrown away when exercised onsucil a Power. Our
fair and reasonable, but too lenient proposals of
peace were treated with contempt, as evidences of
conscious weakness, or of a desire to avoid the re-
sponsibilities of war. The moment we put our
military and naval forces in movement, bombard
forts, burn or capture ships, and seize the passage
through which supplies are conveyed to the enemy's
lteion ne y tPetersburg,h
ofe
cowardly
troops—as soon as there is material evidence' that
we are not in a pacific state of mind—accounts
reach us, of the altered tone of feeling in Sb.
andofeuthnenide:ire now
obtain the peace which so short a, time since was
rejected. manifested to
It is impossible not to see in this altera-
tion and calculated trucu-
lency Asiatic mind. Indeed,. it is ques-
tionable whether, if
the whole management of
this Eastern queston had been entrusted to
one of those soldier-diplomatists who represent the
British nation in contactat the
north of our Indian pose with the princes
esshons, it would not long
since have been settled,
Pe
but certainly in a ore
eartieafapstin a more summary,
more
It becomes tedious to inquirec
worhy,v manner
exploits
were not sooner performed? Why Odessa
ese exp
spared
_
Why the terror of the allied armsis
hnetlen
g
since spread over the whole coast of the Black Sea
As the House of Commons is at present constituted,
it appears useless to demand explanations of the
past or promises for the future.
Russian
cajolery
has already made us the laughing-stock of the
world, by paralysing our military strength with the
vain mockery of insincere negotiations ; and, if we
have at last flung off that incubus—exhibiting some
determination to act rather than to talk—we
owe it to the example of our allies, not to any initia-
tive of our own, whether on the part of the Govern-
ment at home or of the chiefs at the seat of war.
Yet we are menaced with an almost immediate
loss of the advantages thus gained by our forces.
The slightest symptom of vigour watched with
zealous anxiety by the advocates of peace—more
especially those who are members of the Govern-
ment—in order that it may be neutralised as
speedily as possible. The object of those politi-
cians—whether they be mere benevolent fanatics
or men of an unscrupulous ambition, bent on pro-
fiting by Parliamentary confusion—is to prevent a
specific declaration in favour of war on the part of
the ouseof Commons. Russian cunning had already
calculated the probable effect of any great military
success on the councils of England. It was pro-
claimed, in a semi-official way, that if we made
signal progress with our arms, the more moderate
would become the conditions on which we should
propose to negotiate a peace. One might suppose
that the advisers of the Czar had anatomised the
British character, had mapped out our whole Go-
vernmental system, knew exactly where lay our
weak points, and had thus intuitively anticipated
what is now going on in the political world, and
what will 'develope itself in the early part of the
week.

Mr. Disraeli's motion having, by the ma-
noeuvre of the Downing-street meeting, been de-
graded from a great national inquiry into a mere
party movement, the House of Commons has not
yet pronounced an opinion on the great question
of peace or war. Thus far, the interests of
Russia, and the delusions of the peace party at
home, were alike gratified. Lord Palmerston came
.cheaply off with an evasive art common to prat-.
tised rhetoricians. In place of giving sufficient
guarantee to his countrymen as to the policy he
would pursue, he rode of on an unnecessary refuta-
tion of the speech of Mr. Gladstone. The vague
generalities in which the noble viscount clothed his
assurances ought to satisfy the country as to the real
`nature of the dilemma in which he finds himself
placed. He has with great dexterity avoided commit-
ting himself to a positive statement ; so that if the
discussion on the general question could have termi-
nated with the vote on Mr. Disraeli's motion, the
public would have been left in the same condition of
darkness as before, and the Minister would have
been free to continue the game of fast and loose, ac-
cording to the internal state of the Cabinet, or the
external aspect of our military affairs.
The great effort now being made by the friends—
we hope unconsciously the partisans--of Russia, is
so to manage matters when Parliament resumes
its sittings, as still to prevent a positive expression
of opinion on the part of the House of Commons,
in favour of a vigorous and warlike policy. Fanatics
and schemers are alike employed in this ungrateful
task. The mild amendment on Mr. Disraeli's
motion that was first announced might, to these
gentlemen,be preferable by comparison with another
which followed it, of a more warlike tone. Lord
Palmerston, desirous to monopolise the power of
negotiating, whether with colleagues at home, or
with the enemy and his friends, would naturally
prefer the vote which pledged him the least. It is
affirmed that another " cross" is in preparation—
that persuasives of an effectual kind are being re-
sorted to, in order to " make things pleasant"
during the ensuing week—that the honour and
credit of this country are once more to be placed at
the mercy of intriguers, and made tis.e subject of a
Parliamentary juggle.
There is much daring cleverness in tf:is method
of neutralising the House of Commons by balancing
factions and parties —of governing the country
without the intervention of two of the Estates of
the Realm—of converting the representativesystem
into something worse than a mockery—of keeping
the nation in the dark on the subjects which are of
the most vital importance to its future welfare. We
question, however, whether it is not being carried
too far—whether the patience of the people
will not be exhausted when they find themselves
thus systematically cajoled, deluded, and be-
trayed by their own leaders, and treated by
their own elected rulers with less consideration
than the people of France receive from their Sove-
reign, although he is stigmatised as a despot. If
some straightforward speech be not made by Lord
Palmerston, indicative of the fixed purpose of
England not to yield any of the just demands of
the Allies—if there be not some decisive vote of the
House of Commons, and if yet speeches be made
by distinguished Statesmen in favour of almost un-
conditional peace—should the issue first raised by
Mr. Disraeli end in this anomalous and ambiguous
way, the enemy will gain fresh strength and
courage therefrom, to persevere in his truculent
policy. It will be of no avail that we obtain suc-
cesses in the Crimea or in the Baltic, if each
triumph be followed by the offer of a flag of trace.
Yet such is the folly now in preparation.--Morning
Chronicle.