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

What Cabinet, ; and ratified and confirmed by him upon the
Formation of his own Government—and that those terms

are now specially known and understood ; and that
they have been offered to the Government with

which this country is at war, and in conjunc-
tion with France rand Austria—one, certainly, and
the other supposed to be, an ally of this country. Now,
those terms consist of four propositions, which I shall
neither describe nor discuss, because they are known tothe
house; but three of them are not matters of dispute, and,
with regard to the other, I think that the noble lord the
member for the city of London stated upon a recent occa-
sion that it was involved in these terms—that the prepon-
derant power of Russia in the Black Sea should cease, and
that Russia had accepted it with that interpretation.
Therefore, whatever difference arises is merely as to the
mode in which that "preponderating power" shall be un-
derstood or made to cease. Now, there are gentlemen not
far from me—there are men who write in the public press
—(cheers and laughter from the Oppoidition)—l hope gen-
tlemen do not understand that lam alluding to any one
here ; I mean persots out of doors—the press genetally.
(Laughter.) I believe that most men who are able to do
it have mitten occasionally for the public press. (Bear.)
Well, I say that there are gentlemen in this house, that
there are writers for the public press, that there are thou-
sands of persons in the United Kingdom at this moment
—and I learn with astonishment and dismay that there

are persons even in that grave assembly which we are not
allowed to specify by a name i❑ this house—who have en-
tertained dreams—impracticable theories—expectations of
vast European and Asiatic changes, of revived nationali-
ties, and of a new map of Europe, if not of the world, as a
result or au object of this war. And it is from those gen-
tlemen that we hear continually addressed to the noble
lord the member for Tiverton terms which I cannot well

understand. They call upon him to act, to carrry on -the
war with vigour, and to prosecute enterprises which

neither his Goveinment nor any other Government has
ever seriously entertained ; but I would appeal to those
gentlemen whether it does not become us—regarding the
true interests and the true honour of the country—if our
Geveratnent have offered terms of peace to Russia, not to
draw back from those terms—(hear, hear)—not to cause
any unnecessary delay, not to adopt any subterfuge to
prevent those terms being accepted, not to attempt shuffles
of any kind, not to endeavour to insist upon harder terms,
and thus make the approach of peace even still more dis-
tant than it is at present ? Whatever may be said about
the honour of the country in any other relation in regard
to this affair, this at least I expect every man who hears
me to admit—that if terms of peace have been offered they
havebeen offered in good faith, and shall be in honour and
good faith adhered to ; so that if, unfortunately for Eu-
rope and for humanity, there should be any failure at
Vienna, no man should point to the English Government
and to the authorities and rulers of this Christina country
and say that we have prolonged the war and the infinite
calamities of which it is the cause. (Hear, hear.) Well,
now, I said that I was anxious that the Government of
the noble lord should not be overthrown. Will the house
allow me to say why lam so. The noble lord at the head
of the Government has long been a great authority with
many persons in this country upon foreign policy. His
late colleague, and present envoy to Vienna, has long been
a great authority with a large portion of the people of this
country upon almost all political questions. With the ex-
ception of that unhappy selection of an ambassador at
Constantinople, I hold that there are no men in this coun-
try more truly responsible for our present position in this
war than the noble lord who now fills the highest office in
the State and the noble lord who is now, I trust, rapidly
approaching the scene of his labours in Vienna. (" Hear,"
and cries of " No, no !") Ido not blame those noble lords,
because their policy, which I hold to be wrong, they, with-
sub doubt, as firmly believe to be right ; but I am only
stating facts. It has been their policy that they have en-
tered into war for certain objects, and I am sure that nei-
ther the noble lord at the head of the Government nor his
late colleague the noble lord the member for London
will shrink from the responsibility which attaches to
them. Well, sir, now we have those noble lords in a
position which is, in my humble opinion, favourable
to stopping the troubles which exist. I think that
the nobie lord at the head of the Government himself
would have more influence in stilling whatever may
exist of clamour in this country than any member of this
house. I think, also, that the noble lord the member for
London would not have undertaken the mission to Vienna
if he had not entertained some strong belief that by so
doing he might bring the war to an end. Nobody gains
reputation by a failure in negotiation, and as that noble
lord is well acquainted with the whole question from be-
ginning to end, I entertain a hope—l will not say a san-
guine hope—that the result of that mission to Vienna will
be to bring about a peace, to restore this country by extri-
cating it from some of those difficulties inseparable from a
state of war. There is ono subject upon which I should
like to put a question to the noble lord at the head of the
Government. I shall not say one word here about the
state of the army in the Crimea, or one word about its
numbers or its condition. Every member of this House,
every inhabitant of this country, has been sufficiently har-
rowed with details regarding it. To my solemn belief,
thousands—nay, scores of thousands of persons—have re-
tired to rest, night after night, whose slumbers have been
disturbed or whose dreams have been busied with the suf-
ferings and agonies of our soldiers in the Crimea. (Hear.)
I should like to ask the noble lord at the head of the Go-
vernment—although I am not sure if he will feel that ho
can or ought to answer the question—whether the noble
lord the member for London has power, after discussions
have commenced, and as soon as there shall be established
good grounds for believing that the negotiations for peace
will prove successful, to enter into any armistice ? (No,
no ! and Hear, hear.) I know not Sir, who it is that
sap "No, no !" but I should like to see any man get up
and say that the destruction of 200,000 human lives lost
on all sides during the course of this unhappy contest is
not a sufficient sacrifice. You are net pretending to
conquer territory— you are not pretending to hold forti-
fied or unfortified towns; you have offered terms of peace
which, as I understand them, I do not say are not mode-
rate ; and breathes there a man in this house or in this
country whose appetite for blood is so insatiable that, even
when terms of peace have been offered and accepted,
ho pines for that assault in which Russian, Tuck, French,
and English, as sure as one man dies, 20,030 corpses will
strew the streets of Sebastopol ? (Rear, hear.) I sty I
should like to ask the noble load—and I am sore that to
will foal, and that this house will feel, that I am speaking
in no unfriendly manner towards the Government of which
he is at the head—l should like to know, and I venture to
hope that it is so, if the noble lord the member for London
has power, at the earliest stage of these proceedings at
Vienna, at which it can properly be done—and I should
think that it might properly be done at a very early stage
—to adopt a course by which all further waste of human
life may be put an end to, and the animosity between the
great nations healed up ? I appeal to the noble 10-d at the
head of the Government, and to this house ; I am not now
complaining of the war—l am not now complaining
terms of pane', nor indeed of anything that has beeen
—but I wish to suggest to this house what of theae
thou-
sands, even tons of thousands of the most
the most Christian portion of the peopleoeifthb'teell'itise3vdcoaunndtio'yfamriedfeeling
certainupon
clamoureubje citn,
the although,
country,indeed,
they
notho
give
in
an
public
advantageoust o
tt
ah
teei rat feelings.th is momYoOnUt ;
rCOfUronmtryonies
not