The Sun.
London, England, 1855-11-05 00:00:00

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have undertaken not merely the work of one nation, but
of half Europe. We cannot, if we would, depute this
great Self-imposed task to a legion of foreign mercena-
ries ; for our recruiting agents abroad (I blush to say it)
have everywhere been threatened or imprisoned—not
only the -United States,, but Prussia, Switzerland, sad
even diminutive Hamburg having refused to allow their
citizens to engage, even at our expense, in what we in-
sist on calling a struggle for their independence. We
cannot for very shame again confide this duty to "thought-
less boys ;" besides, even those raw recruits fall short at
the hour of our utmost • need to the extent of from
twenty to forty thousand of the number voted by Par-
liament. How, then, do you propose to bring the bone,
muscle, and manhood of England into the field?
There are two methods, equally successful, by which
regular armies are raised in- foreign countries. The one
is by a conscription, as in France, where a certain num-
ber of men of a prescribed age are taken every year by
lot from amongst all classes, and where the unlucky in-
dividual who draws the fatal number from the balloting
urn, be he peer or peasant, must either serve himself, or
find an approved substitute, at an expense varying from
801. to 2001., according to.circumstances. The other is
the plan of the United States, where the legislature vote 3
the number of the army, and voluntary enlistment sup-
plies the men. This mode has never been found to fail.
On the breaking out of the war with Mexico, five times
as many men offered their services in many parts of the
Union as were required. All 'ranks and professions
pressed f rt. ward—the newspaper editor exchanged the
pen for the sword '• the lawyer threw up his brief ; the
doctor abandoned his patients; and the farmer his land
—all to enlist into the ranks. The present President of
the United States, then of mature age, and with a lead-
ing practice as a barri-ter, gave up family and profes-
sion, and volunteered into the ranks. The plan is, in
fact, our own, with this material difference in its work-
ing, that in America the popularity of a war is proved
by the willingness of the people to take a part in it.
There is still a third system which has been recommended
for adoption in this country—that of increasing the
bounty until you tempt men from other pursuits into
the army. But it is liable to the objection that in these
days of cheap locomotion you would not be sure of keep-
ing your recruit after he had pocketed the bribe. "We
find," says Lord Hardinge, " that the more you raise
the bounty the greater the number of desertions ; they
make a trade of it."

You will not expect me to say which of these plans
should be adopted for carrying on a war which in my
conscience I believe to be more unnecessary, rash, and
aimless, than any in our history, and which, for the
visionary objects avowed by its advocates, has no paral-
lel since the Crusades. But, unfortunately, opposition to
a war by no means separates us from its consequences.
The safety of the country ; the prosperity of its people ;
the burdens we may be called upon to bear ; the pro-
bable duration of hostilities ; and, above all, because in-
volving all the effect which the policy and conduct of
the war may have upon our character and honour as a
nation ;—all these are matters of as vital importance to
the opponents as the advocates of a war ; and hence the
right they may fairly claim to call in question not only
its policy, but the mode in which it is carried on. We
are told of the necessity of maintaining our prestige
among the nations of the world ; and there is no advo-
cate of the war more sincerely desirous than myself of
elevating the true fame and influence-of England. But
my complaint is, that the war patty, by that display of
inflated pretensions and abortive performances with
which they have contrived to occupy the attention of
the world, have attained the very opposite end to
that at which they and have, no doubt with
equal sincerity, aimed. Nations, like individuals,
are judged less by what they omit to do than by
the extent to which their deeds fall short of their
wordy professions. America, fe,r instance, does not suffer
in prestige by maintaining a standing army of tea or
twelve thousand men only ; and but one, if one, line-of-
battle-ship in commission. On the contrary, there is
dignity in her att tude, when coupled with the avowed
principle of nonintervention ; and the strength which
she thereby husbands makes her one of the most for-
midable Powers in the world. But if America under-
took to "defend the liberties of Europe," or protect
the civilisation of the world," her present armament
would draw upon her universal ridicule. And I mu-4
be permitted to tell our.war-at-any-price party, who talk
so glibly of humbling and reducing to abject terms of
peace au empire of sixty millions of people, by invading
their territory at a distance of 3,000 miles, and thus
contending with the passive- obstinacy of the most stub-
born race in existence, under the greatest possible disad-
vantage to ourselves—who treat with scorn the neutrality
of Germany, Austria, Prussia, Sweden, Denmark, Hol-
land, and Switzerland, and assume to themselves and
France the exclusive honour of—to quote the words of
an esteemed friend of mine on a late occasion to his ap-
plauding csustituents—" thrusting back a barbarous
Power which is seeking to trample out civilisation and
overwhelm Europe "—I tell this party that they will
bring ridicule on this great country, that they will lower
our prestige, and perhaps draw upon us slights and in-
sults, thus hazarding tho recurrence of future wars, un-
less they either moderate their language to the level of
their deeds, or raise their performances to an equality
with their pretensions.
I shall say nothing upon a point which must have en-
gaged the anxious consideration of thoughtful minds,
namely, the effect which will be produced on our alliance
with the French people it the blood of their peasantry,
with whom the war has never been very popular, should
again and again have to be expended to purchase fresh
triumphs for our war party.
If the avowed objects of this party are to be persevered
in, see are now only at the commencement of the war.
If the whole of the Crimea were in our hands to-morrow,
we should still be at the beginning of the struggle. The
government of Austria must in its heart (if it have one)
be rejoiced to see three powers, not one of whom it
trusts, but all of whom it fears, exhausting themselves
in a destructive war at a remote distance from her fron-
tiers. Prussia and Germany are almost to a man for
neutrality—an armed ene if necessary ; and they who
still say there is a difference between the governments
and peoples on this subject know nothing of what has
been passing lately in those countries. We shall, there-
fore, be left to complete the task which, in conjunction
with our French ally, we have imposed on ourselves.
Every step we take on Russian territory must be over
earthworks, and at the point of the bayonet ; for the
Russians have never fought great battles with an enemy
on their own soil without the defensive aid of redoubts
and entrenchments. This is the work of men, and not
of the "thoughtless boys" who are at present kidnapped
by the recruiting serjeant. There is nothing for it but
an appeal to the manhood of England. To this end, the
press, and the orators and leaders of the party opposed
to peace, who tell us they have all England at their
back, must now address themselves. If, as we have been
told, this war, in defence of the " liberty and civilisa-
tion"
of a continent which does not think it necessary to
defend itself, is the people's war, there will be a response
to the appeal ; if, on the contrary, it be a war of diplo•
matists and newspapers, it will fail.
But, in the meantime, all parties, whether for peabe or
war, will, I am sure, agree with me that a less arrogant
and bombastic tone, not only towards Russia, but Prussia
and other countries,* on the part of our exponents of
public opinion, would be an acceptable change ; or, if
our able-bodied orators and writers will continue to de-
claim iu favour of carrying on the war " with vigour,"
let them at least be prepared to respond, in their own
persons, to the invitation to take part in it. And to our
festive warriors of the tavern and dinner-table school,
however exalted in rank, let me add, that the hour for

"Rule Britannia" and other songs of triumph has not
yet arrived. We have taken Brittania from her ocean
throne, to land ber on an element over which her sceptre
does not "rule," where we have abandoned her to the
somewhat unsafe keeping of " thoughtless boys ;" and
if a tithe of the exploits promised in her name are to be
achieved, every man of the war-at-any-price party, be.
tween 21 and 50, must he prepared to rush Lo the rescue.
Before I conclude, I would express a hope that the
time is not distant when the thoughtful portion of the
British public, who in the end determine our national
policy, will be awakened to a sense of their responsi-
bility. Let it be remembered that we have invaded the .
territory of Russia; that we are now the aggressive
party ; that we have not to this day defined, even to our
own comprehension, the terms which would satisfy us,
and induce us to withdraw ; and that it is hardly pro-
bable under such circumstances that acceptable propo-
sals for peace should come from Russia. Let it always
he borne in mind that no terms of peace are possible
which do not involve the withdrawal of our armies
from her territory, and that no injuries which we
might in the meantime inflict on her (some of those
already committed on her coasts will not, fear,
re- .
I
dound to our credit as a civilised and commercial
people) could have any permanent effects to com-
pensate for the losses, miseries, a
to ourselves from the indefinitelnpnroatrtaid obvious dangers
ocntionof
bofo,ttililie
p
war. And by whom is the r. g,
ties advocated ? With the exception or those in office,
to whom peace will bring a day of reckoning, is there a i
statesman of trust and authority n
on
scou
believedntrywh
o to
not in his heart in favour of
tere be found one corn-
manding intellect now
peace,
terms
be now practicable ; nor can h
rrespon
empelidebyeityd()unless under the shield
of an anonymous i
2 Andin inciting the country
to a perseverance in the war ?for whose benefit
are
every dayhostilities to be continued ? Not for that of Turkey,
for
of their continuance diminishes the chances
of her resuscitation ; not for the interests of the govern-
ing classes of Europe, for they all desire peace ; not for
those of the "democracy," whose eminent chiefs have
denounced the war as an aimless waste of human blood
in which they have no interest ; not even for the benefit
of our ally, for we know that the French Government
was favourable to a pacification after the Vienna Con-
ferences, and report says, and I believe truly, that it is
now again disposed for peace. What human interest,
then, can possibly be served by the continuation of hos-
tilities ?

We have been told indeed that war, which the world

*
As a re •ent specimen, let me give the following extract
from the leading article of a journal which occasionally
does
.its best to earn for us the character of the
.73ombastes
litrioso of nations :—" We desire above all things the con-
tinuance of peace, but it it be the determination of any
large portion of the people of the United States to force
war upon us, we shall know how to meet it and repel i t
without relaxing for an instant our gripe on the throat of
the reeling and tottering giant of the north !"