The Sun.
London, England, 1855-07-17 00:00:00

—and no doubt those errors are many—or whether
founded, as unquestionably they were- to a great extent
upon misapprehension and misrepresentation of my con-
duct—be that as it may, I found the impression
very wide and very general that my presence in the
Cabinet was not consonant with the carrying on of
affairs with that advantage which it was my intentioa
to afford to my noble friend. When I was fully con-
vinced of that I told my noble friend that there could
be no hesitation about it, that I could not listen to any
arguments which he might wish to advance to me, but
that my resignation must be decided, and that I begged
him to place it before her Majesty, with his recommen-
dation that it should be accepted. (Hear, hear.) That
conversation took place on Thursday night, and, in con-
sequence, my noble friend, I must say with the hand-
somest expression towards me, concurred with the view
which I had taken. And now, sir, let me say that,
having taken that course, I do not feel that I am at all
discontented with the position in which I stand. I see
reason to be so. In the first place, I have acted always
for what I believe to be the benefit of the country. I have
thought over these questions again and again with a view
to the public interest, and I have advised that which I
have considered expedient for the country, and I have
refrained from advising that which was disapproved or
rather, I should say, that which did not obtain the con-
currence of those who generally held the same views as
myself, and who were acting with me in the same Ad-
-1 ministration. I have
felt that in the
foundpos many trueitionwhichl
have occupied at various times I have
and attached friends, and I must say that, towards them,
beginning with the members of the Cabinet which I have
left, I have every reason to thank those friends for their
confidence and support. Others there certainly are of a
different class :

"Those who make friends
" And give your hearts to, when they once perceive
" The least rub in your fortunes, fall away
" Like water from ye, never found again
"But when they mean to sink ye."
(Hear.) Some there are of that class—l trust but few—•
with respect to whom I can only say that I regard them
with contempt. With regard to public affairs, it has been
my fortune, far beyond my deserts, to carry on, or assist
in carrying measures which have promoted civil and
religious liberty, which have tended to the promotion of
the moral and religious welfare of my country. (Hear.)
I say, sir, that I have had that good fortune, far be-
yond my deserts, and that is a satisfaction of which I
cannot be deprived. That in the course which I have
pursued, and in the positions which I have at various
times filled, I should have been slandered and calum-
niated is a circumstance at which I ought to feel neither
surprise nor dissatisfaction. There have been men whom
I have known, and among them I cannot but recollect
my dearly loved friend Lord Althorp, whose only am-
bition it was to steer clear of office, and who when he
held the highest offices in the State only aspired to
descend from them, and yet I have known him calum-
niated as seeking. place. I have seen but lately a gal-
lant and a skilful soldier calumniate]. I mean the
great and humane Lord Raglan, who was slandered
and persecuted even to the very verge of the grave.
I say, therefore, that I can feel no dissatisfaction
and no surprise at being myself thus calumniated, but if
I had to balance my political account with my calumni-
ators, I cculd say to them that I have been able to pre-
mote by measures which I have seen adopted the wel-
fare and advantage, the liberty and prosperity of my
country, and in doing so I have met with many warmly
attached and excellent friends—(hear, hear)—men of a
nature as noble as that of any men who have ever taken
part in public life—and I have this satisfaction that,
whatever errors I may have committed, whatever mis-
takes I may have made, I have always endeavoured to
satisfy those friends and my own conscience, and, there-
fore, I have no reason to be dissatisfied with the result
at which I have arrived, even if that result should be
for ever to exclude me from any voice in the manage-
ment of affairs. Whatever, therefore, may be the result
of the motion of the hon. baronet opposite, I have no de-
sire that it should be postponed, and I am most willing
that he should have the full opportunity of making any
charges against me that he thinks necessary in support
of the views which he entertains. To these observa-
tions, sir, I can only add that I am satisfied to abide by
the decision of the house. (Hear, hear.) The noble
lord concluded by moving that the orders of the day be
postponed.

Sir E. B. LYTTON—Sir, I do not regret that the course
which the noblelorl has taken in'retiring from the councils
of her Majesty, while it justifies the course which we con-
tested, has transferred the victory without a struggle to the
general patriotism of thisbouse and the peopleit represents.
For if I interpret correctly the sense of the noble lord's
quotation, it is not before a member of my humble preten-
sions that he retires—not before the phalanx of a hostile
party—no, it is before the general sense of the country,
which is evinced in the desertion of his own followers.
Nor do I think that theydeserve the taunt which the quo-
tation implies, that they could not accompany even so il-
lustrious a leader a single step which seemed to them to
leave behind it the interests and honour of their country.
But, though the noble lord, a second time in one cam- '
paign, has left the field, and this time paring nose base
relicta, yet since he has entered at length into the vin-
dication of his previous conduct,. so I trust it
will not seem ungenerous in me if I vindicate
also those reasons which induced me to think that
that conduct had shaken, and perhaps shakes still, the con-
fidence of the country in those who administer its affairs.
But, under the altered circumstances of the case, I shall
i make my statement as brief and as temperate as will be
consistent with requisite proof that it was not upon slight
grounds we would have brought a charge against a man so
eminent and against a Government so justly entitled to the
indulgence of compassion. (Hear, and laughter.) What, sir,
on Thursday last was the position of the noble lord and of
the Government who then so boldly accepted our challenge,
and who have since propitiated the fates by selecting for
sacrifice the very chief whom they then armed at all points
for encounter? The position of the noble lord was this.
Ho must forgive me if I state it frankly, for in the expla-
nation we have just heard ho does not seem to comprehend
the light in which his countrymen view it. Here is a
great statesman, one who has held the office of Chief
Minister of the Crown, who is sent to Vienna to negotiate
terms of peace, orreport honestly to us the necessity of con-
tinued war. Under what circumstances is he selected?
He had just broken up a Government by his solitary deser-
tion, at the very time when that Government was put upon
its trial—a desertion so sudden, and accpmpanied by a de-
nunciation of two of his colleagues so startling as to bo
without a parallel in the records of this house—without a
parallel, but not without an excuse. What was the excuse?
That on a question involving the fate of armies he could
not honestly conceal his sentiments. Rather than do so
he left the associates whom he could not defend.
Lord J. RUSSELL— What I said was, that I could not
oppose the motion for an inquiry, but I did not say that I
could not defend the conduct of the war.
Sit E. B. LYTTON—I have not the least objection to
the change of terms, and as I now understand the noble
lord he left his former office in the Earl of Aberdeen's ad-
ministration, because he could not oppose the motion for
the appointment of the Sebastopol committee ; but does he
forget all the observations which he made it explanation of
the course ho then took ? Does ho forget the charges, or at
least the strong insinuations, which were made against the
Duke of Newcastle and the Earl of Aberdeen? Surely, if
the noble lord's resignation meant anything, it was that he
retired and broke up the Government because of his dis-
trust of the warlike capacities and vigour of the Duke of
Newcastle and Lord Aberdeen; and I say that that excuse
for not suppressing his sentiments was, in itself, very jus-
tifiable ; but it certainly does require the uniformity elan
inflexible political creed. Well, then, this statesman is sent
to Vienna; ho apparently fails in his object; he returns;
and then a suspicion gets abroad that the noble lord is in-
clined to favour the proposals of the Austrian Government.
That suspicion is mentioned in this house on the 21th of
May, and the noble loid rises to dispel that suspicion, to
vindicate the breaking-off of the negotiations, and the con-
tinuance of the war ; and although the noble lord does not
refer to the Austrian proposals at all, he does in that
speech, which I do not think he has successfully defended
to-night, speak with marked disdain of the proposi-
tions which embodied that main principle of naval
counterpoise which, we know, he himself proposed.
He says :—" After I had left Vienna another proposal was
made, which my right hon. friend the member for the Uni-
versity of Oxford seems to think offered a security—
namely, to leave the treaty of 1841 as it now is ; but when
Turkey is menaced, to enable her to call the fleets of her
allies to her assistance." " I own," said the noble lord,
" I can see very little security in that proposal." Tho
noble lord then proceeded to argue in favour of thee
.toso-
lute necessity of limiting the power of Russia in 9 B 1
Sea. He
ding Turks Band
a
ly defending . . .
ebydtehneonWnceesdtertlinePoidweearso;f haendyen"ouunntceardP°tlesee
nd
course
g
celebrated philippic of
osfeaoufrorbtehinegpcuozopseelloefdrteorpmetauianitain a force in the Black
the noble lord wound up by the .
hall, and ambition
had shown itself in every council
The general impres-
threatened every civilised nation.
f the noble lord rather
Demosthenes upon Macedon, when he said that corruption.
Bien then was that that speech o
of
zeal.
But wek who
bordered upon the extravagance
otfhethueubAleusltorridanwasnotof the spirit ; and we said,
that extravagance for the sake of
who is thoroughly in
" Here, at all events, is
"of the war." At that moment
advocated the vigorous prosecution of the war, pardoned
earnest the prosecution
mini-
ster, in which Count u
n the terms proposed, but he had
only inclined to Peace
l upon
fore his Government
those de-
came the publicationvoufu
for
„cam The noble lord expressed his b
finite proposals y
Is if adopted, would ()-
lief that those P o.
pursued,eveit
- r°11" to the allied put an end to
the war with honouriar theat ates circular
h at
Powers, and with secu-
rityhen the
actually promis to ay e
for the future.
.Austrian manifesto was first
until the question upon the
tl t
subject wee pu to the noble lord in this house.
The noble lordthen in his place rose and confirmed that
statement. Sir, I say that the noble lord, by the course of
did abuse thehi h position
which he then held by the favour of his Sovereign,g and the
confidence of the people in his honesty and truth • for
ru ,
with
his those sentiments •in respect to peace he joined with
his colleagues and called upon the country to sacrifice the
best blood of England •
cseeenndun;tbw°dhYichviohueldhabseli
to
in a war which he believed be
wholly unnecessary. (Hear.) On the 6th of June, when
the
was still more directly before the [house, the noble lord
acted a still more disingenuous part on the occasion when
the right hon. baronet the member for Carlisle alluded dis-
tinctly to the report that an Austrian proposal had been
suggested, which had been favoured byMenschikoff, which
had been favoured by France, but which had been rejected
by England. The noble lord replied to that speech, and
evading all reference to the Austrian proposal, he left the
house, the country, and the great powers of Europe under
the impression that our illustrious ally would have sanc-
tioned terms of peace which were utterly disdained by the
lofty spirit of the noble viscount and the united chivalry of
his cabinet. Now, let the house mark the consistency and
want of faith in the noble lord. On Friday week what was
the noble lord's excuse for his preference of peace ? Why,
that Russia was so powerful! And what was the excuse of
the noble lord on the 24th of May for his preference of
war ? Why, that Russia was very powerful ! So that the
excuse of the noble lord for either peace or war was equally
the same. (Cheers.) And what was the apology of the
noble lord on Friday week for having suppressed his real
sentiments, and stilled his conscientious convictions'.
Why, forsooth, if he told the truth he might have damaged
the Government. But what was the noble lord's apology
for destroying the Government some months ago? y.
I
i , that as an honest MIMI he could not suppress his sentinitAte