The Sun.
London, England, 1855-10-26 00:00:00

THE EARL OF ELLESMELE ON THE

WAR.

On Tuesday night the opening lecture for the season of
the Woraley Literary Institution was delivered in the
Court House, Woraley, by the Earl of Ellesmere, who
chose for his subject " The Present War." The room
was crowded.

The Noble Lecturer, on commencing, said that in pro-
posing to endeavour tc illustrate his lecture on the war
in the East, he should have some apology to make for
the selection, because he was sure there could be no
assemblage in this country to which the subject was not
in some degree familiar, and he felt that, whatever
might be the merits of the subject, some excuse was
necessary for any one who proposed to instruct others
respecting it. Now, if the question was asked him,
whether he was able to tell them anything that they had
not learned themselves, his best reply must be with
Shylock in the play, " I'll not answer that." But having
more idle time than most of those present, there might
be sources of information—French and German more
particularly—to which he and not they had had access.
He was inclined to look upon tie war from a military
point of view ; but with respect to the origin and nature
of the war he might touch so far upon its political
aspect as to say that there never was a war more essen-
tially national. There had been wars attending on the
wills of statesmen, of kings, and oven of kings' mis-
tresses ; and he had lived in a time when one man, con-
trary to the advice of all surrounding him—of his most
confidential and faithful advisers—could launch the whole
of Franoe into wars that overwhelmed that country. But
this was emphatically the war of the people, as far as this
country was concerned. It was curious Vq ascertain what
had been the cause of this. It was very natural that a peo-
ple in great sacrifices or great struggles should be influ-
enced either by fear or by revenge. But neither of these
influences had had any particular effect on the present
struggle. We were actuated by a sentiment against the
oppression of the weak, and by a feeling of indignation
at the breach of that peace under which Europe was
prospering; and these were the motives that had led us
to this contest. Russia had thrown down the gauntlet of
defiance to Europe, and Europe would have been dis-
graced if she had not taken it up. The prevention of the
'extension of Russia was only a provident step on our
part, and on looking at her past history he thought it
wise to check her progress towards becoming a great
naval and military power. His lordship pointed out
the length of time that Russia had had designs upon
Constantinople, and alluded to the fact of her having ex-
acted tribute from the Greek empire in the ninth cen-
tury, when the Anglo-Saxon rule was established in this
country ; and this war might have taken place, he said,
after the congress of Vienna but for Napoleon's return
from Elba—when that general, on reaching France,
found the secret treaty framed by Lord Castlereagh,
and entered into against Russia by England, France,
and Austria, and sent it to the Czar. He thought we
were perfectly right in not being alarmed by the
sight of the Russian army on paper. In time of war
it was said Russia could raise a million of men ; but
she could not move any considerable portion of that
army to any frontier that was threatened, and still more
difficult would she find it to advance on Turkey or any
other power. But she was formidable in a strictly de-
fensive war, from her inaccessibility, as was experienced
by Charles XII. and Napoleon. On commencing the
war we were too sanguine, and overlooked the fact that
for 40 years Russia had been making ready for the
struggle, and had carried her military preparations as
far as she possibly could. But Russia herself was not a
warlike nation, and he doubted whether the Emperor
could get a single volunteer soldier out of all his people.
His lordship, however, acknowledged the stubborn bra-
very of those Russian soldiers engaged in fight, and spoke
in terms of admiration of their officers, who, he said,
were highly instructed and able generals. At the time
when the Russian fleets and our naval operations most en-
gaged our attention, there were great expectations raised,
and it was said that great improvements had taken
place, particularly in our naval gunnery. The range of
our guns had been vastly increased, and we had the
screw applied to our ♦essels : and so we were to destroy
those great fortresses, Cronstadt and Sebastopol, and
put an end to the naval power of Russia for ever. Now
he thought this increase of range of no moment ; for
against a fortress the fire of heavy guns required to be
near to have effect, whilst a shot from the fortress might
easily get into the magazine and blow up a ship.
However, it had been said that though we failed in our
naval attack at Sebastopol we had succeeded at Bomar-
sund. Bat Bomarsund was not taken by naval, but by a
laid attack. There were three towers, one of which was
taken by our marines with three heavy guns ; another
by the French ; and the last fortress, though it had been
battered by our guns, fell in consequence of the others
being taken. He thought the attacks that had been made
on our admirals, for not making more havoc, were unrea-
sonable and unjust. His lordship then proceeded to give
an historical sketch of the war, in the course of which
he spoke with some warmth and admiration of our achieve-
ments, and particularly of the late Marshal St. Arnaud
and Lord Raglan, of the conduct of the officers Butler
and Nasmyth at Silistria ; and of that of General Scar-
lett at Balaklava. The war had been very generally
called "the soldiers' battle." If it was meant by that
that the victory was owing to the bravery of the Eng•
lish soldier, the definition was good ; but if it meant that
he was not well led by the English officer, it was a libel.
The English army had borne a distinguished, if not a
successful share, in the last great action, resulting in the
fall of Sebastopol ; and he regretted to see the state-
ments which had been made in the Times, statements
which, even if true, should not have been promulgated by
an English newspaper. It had been said that the distance
in the army between the officers and the men was too
great ; but there was not an army in the world in which
there was such attachment between officers and men. He
would give an jnstance. A young man, wounded, was
lying in his tent during the dreadful hurricane in the
Crimea, and the tent was threatened to be blown down ;
but eighteen men turned out of their own tent, and re-
mained out in the cold all night in order to keep the
poor boy's tent from falling. It had also been ob-
jected that officers were too young ; but he would
ask—where would a well-grown and well-educated boy
not go, and where would not men follow him ? His lord-
ship then proceeded to give instances of the bravery of
young officers during the campaign. In conclusion he
might proceed to sum up, or, in commercial language, to
take stock of the costs and the assets of the war, and he
might say that, though our expenses had been vast, our
returns had been somewhat in proportion. We had
everywhere been successful ; and, though we had had
great losses in killed, he shuddered to think how much
even in that respect the balance was in our favour. He
had beard the Russian loss stated at 400,000 I and he
himself was inclined to estimate it at 3C0,000. The
latest telegraphic despatches brought us accounts of suc-
cesses at Bars, and in the Sea of Azoff, and lastly, of
the capture of that fortress on the mouth of the Dnieper,
Kinbourn. These were advantages ; but he should.
deceive his hearers if he said they were sufficient t•
induce Russia to make offers of peace that should
be accepted by the allies ; and, till such offers were
made, he trusted this country would persevere in the
struggle. No one could be more anxious than he was
for the return of peace, and he hoped the path to it
would not be impeded by any unreasonable demand from
us. He would not talk of the humiliation and degrada-
tion of Russia. He hoped that peace would be eventually
effected on terms that would give it the chance of being
permanent ; but he feared it would only be the fruit of
further and considerable efforts in the war. He would
conclude by saying, "St. George for England, God
defond the right !"—The noble lecturer was listened to
throughout with marked attention, and many of his re-
marks elicited considerable applause.

PROROGATION OF CONVOCATION.—SbortIy after nine
-rGtehnee ral
province
of Canterbury, and other officials, attended at the Jeru-
salemr.
,To'cwlio4k)
Mr yesterday
F. ir.
Dyke,mor morning, ntgh,e
, .
Chamber, adjacent to Westminster Abbey, and in
the
proctor Vi
Vicar-General
the name of the archbishop prorogued convocation until
the 12th of December. No business will be transacted
in Convocation until after the meeting of Parliament.
COMMERCIAL TRAVELLERS' SCHOOLS.—His Royal
Highness Prince Albert has graciously consented to
open in person the new building recently erected for this
institution at Pinner near Harrow. The ceremony will
take place at one o'clock on Saturday, the 27th instant.
After the ceremony the company will sit down to a col-
lation in the dining hall. The Right Hon. the Lord
Mayor, supported by the sheriffs of London and Middle-
sex, wiil preside.
PARISH EXCIIRSION TO THE CRYSTAL PALACE.—The
Rev. Joseph Brown, the benevolent and active rector of
Christ Church, Blackfriars, was en Tuesday enabled,
through the kind subscription of friends, to treat about
1,5,0 of his poorer parishioners to an excursion to the
Crystal Palace. The Rev. gentleman himeelf headed the
miscellaneous company, including 150 of the inmates of
the workhouse, all the parish and ragged-school children,'
and a contingent of 50 from the Orphan Home at Ham-
common. It is hardly necessary to say that all these
poor and generally-neglected children of humanity were
what perhaps w
highly delighted with their trip, but we have to add—
ill not be so generally anticipated—that
they one•and all conducted themselves with the strictest
'
-
tude to the kind friends who had subscribed to give then,
a holiday. At 4 o'clock they were all supplied with tea
propriety, and by their demeanour indicated their gratt
in the south transept, the worthy rectar presiding, and
returned in their excursion train to
immediately after
town.,