The Sun.
London, England, 1855-05-15 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

(From the Times of this day.)
LORD ELLENBOROUGH'S MOTION.
The intentions announced last night by Lord Ellenborough
were in all respects meritorious—to restore to Parliament
that influence which it ought to possess over the public
opinion of this country ; to place the Hone of Lords in the

fi:ont of the battle for the rights of merit and for adminis-
trative reform ; to assure the Crown of the fearless deter-
mination of Parliament to give its active support to the war,
while it lays bare the causes that have hitherto increased our
sacrifices and impaired our success. These were objects
worthy of a groat oratbr, a groat crisis, and a great display
of political excitement. Never was the House of Lords more
crowded, cover did a more brilliant audience throng the gal-
leries or besiege the bar, never was public curiosity more
excited; yet, in spite of all these announcements, of all
these preparations, and of the tiptoe avidity of the public,
we are constrained to add that the debate in no degree
realised these expectations, and the largo majority which ne-
gatived Lord Ellenborough's resolutions expressed the opinion
of all who listened impartially to the debate, and of all, we
believe, who will read the report with similar impartiality
this morning. The most brilliant audience in Britain was,
indeed, kept for above an hour suspended between plati-
tudes which no one could contest, and paradoxes which
no one could believe ; and we suspect that most of those
present retired with the melancholy conviction that, although
the country may be sorely in want of a powerful War Minis-
ter, that heaven-born statesman is not to be found in the
accomplished orator who had commenced the discussion. Nor
was Lord Derby more fortunate. ' Brilliant as usual, his
speech failed to convince his warmest admirers that he was
sincere in desiring the Administrative Reform which he
affected to advocate, and he must have borne his friend's de-
feat with more even than his ordinary resignatiOn.

Lord Ellenborough, with characteristic military tactics, be•
gan the action by throwing out his light troops, and succeeded
by a small anecdote in raising a faint laugh. But this petty
advantage was not favourable to his career, and in discussing
the wars of empires we can forget the fate of small birds.
The true gist of the speech was confined to two points- -the
strategical operations of the war as projected and executed
by the late Government in the last campaign, and the selec-
tion of men for the public service, and especially for
the military service of the country, without interest
or favour, but by the sole test of merit. On this last
point we need not say that we cordially agree with Lord El-
lenborough, and that he has the country to back him ; but
the application he made of the principle led him, as we shall
presently see, to a most extraordinary paradox.
We gather from Lord Ellenborough's remarks en the last
campaign that be would have preferred, if possible, that the
English and French armies should have been engaged in dis-
tinct operations, in order to avoid the evils of a. divided com-
mand. He approves, however, the gradual advance of the
forces, the lines at Gallipoli, and the landing at Varna, but
from that point his comae of operations would have been
wholly different. He appears to think that one portion of
the allied forces ought to have been employed in Asia to co-
operate with the Turkish army of Kars, and that the re-
mainder should have co-operated with the Turks and Aus-
trians in the'Principalities, so as to' drive the Russians from
the Prnth to the Dnieper. There have, no doubt, been many
defects of military judgment and administrative ability in the
conduct of the past campaign, but, all things considered, no
blunders have been committed at all approaching to the ab-
surdity of these suggestions. The position of the allied
armies has been most trying during a winter in the Crimea
within six miles of the sea ; what would it have been in
the mountainous regions of Armenia, cut off by rocks
and snow from the coast, and buried in that wild
region which Xenophon crossed by a march still cited
as a miracle in military history ? The Government are
sometimes accused of not knowing what they under-
took when they invaded the Crimea, but that reproach
is, at least, ill-founded in the mouths of men who would
have despatched an army into Mingrelia and Imeritia. Again,
Lord Ellenborough advocates a campaign in the valley of the
Danube, the Principalities, and the plains of Bessarabia—a
country already exhausted by the passage of armies, infected
with pestilence, scorched by heat in summer, and swept by
the severest cold in winter—where we must have encountered
as we advanced two or three fold our own numbers in the
ranks of the enemy. Both these plans appear to us so ex-
travagant, and so evidently fatal to the troops which might
have been engaged in them, that they materially shake what-
ever confidence we might have been disposed to place in Lord
Elleuborough's judgment and sagacity; and we are confident
that the difficulties *e have already had to surmount in our
schemesoperations
ha d
beenwould haveadop bted.
e e
n
Lord
r
e t con-
trary, e-
t , omits the one main point of our superiority and our
success. We are making war at a great distance from home,o
n
cation wholly deficient. What, then, have we in
andiclimates habitations and
countriesscarce,
w we
nkdn thee little
means of,
of where
inland
y
France and
;urourmairinntiummearahevencatrao food
to ma n
tolfP'tpline?se?
• and enable us
e
England into contact with Russia,
superiority,le an s ort which,w h givesch bur isanitglh c
a Tauric Chersonesus.
railroads and telegraphs on the soil of thesa
which exposed it to
tarn our armies, to reinforce our troops, and even to Plant out
It is the peninsular form of the Crim cases
stnmand
base of operations.
to carry on the war there with e
f the maritime character of
the attacks of the maritime Powers,as
Lord Ellenborough loses sight o
t erceive that the conquest of
the war, and hence he does not p
attainment of every other ob-
cainirde which enables them
ilereas with the Russian
top ursue, w
ject he recommends us
-ed in Sebastopol no other opera-
tion
hccosueldstwraittchsriscaafle,tvyinchwoeatevs:ehbh.
doubtedly are, were eaewAnsdavotetpre,tminspgint attempted.
Lord Ellenborough t 313
the advancement of merit and capacity in opposition to fa-
vouritism and routine, he gave his unqualified support to
those principles which the experience of the last few mouths
has placed in the mouth of every man not pledged by interest
or prejudice to the existing system. We give Lord Ellenbo-
rough credit for something of that sprrit which enabled Lord
Chatham to select the best instruments for the boldest policy,
and to triumph over obstacles in war which baffled the con-
stancy and the courage even of his illustrious son. But, while
Lord Ellenborough gave utterance to these honourable and
patriotic sentiments, we were not prepared to hear him wind
up his harangue by a direct appeal to the personal merits of
his hereditary auditors. The merit to which the country looks-
for the work of administrative reform is the personal merit of
those who raise their own fortunes and confer a lustre on their
own names—the merit of those who make peerages, but who
assembly who cannot invoke theerhfeaemibs
do not often inherit them
eeasMorsfrCfsreoolmyme
cestor, and reckon the honours he ns peero illustriousmeoimnioteha
nt
servant of the realm. We neither forget their past services
nor grudge them these rewards.• But is it possible that Lord