The Sun.
London, England, 1855-06-05 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

(Fora the Times of this day.)
The unfinished debate has been resumed under cir-
cumstances which at first sight offer an unwonted de-
gree of novelty in the elements of the, question. For
nearly a twelvemonth, whatever the phases of a nego-
tiation which the public at large scarcely followed, the
war has presented an almost unvaried tenour of unpa
ralleled preparation, difficulty, and sacrifice. All at
once we seem to be reaping the fruit of our long exer-
tions. The mist seems to be vanishing from our eyes,
and we disc wer how much we have been befooled by a
crafty foe. _ We enter the Sea of Azoff, we discover it
to be navigable, and we capture or destroy immense
stores collected on the faith of our Western stupidity.
We march up and across the Tchernaya, and find neither
entrenched armies nor clouds of Cossacks, but an open
country before us. Other obstacles have yielded to our
courage and perseverance, and it is now evident that
the Black Sea and the whole region about it are quite
at our mercy. Dues this, however, make any real dif-
ference in the question ? Not to us. The Russians
may take what view of it they think fit. They may, if
they so please, now submit from a naked necessity to
conditions which a month ago would have had some
shadow of grace. They may, if they choose, now avert
an impending catastrophe which a month ago was at
least distant. The case of the Allies, however, is not
materially changed, for they have long shown that pre-
sent success, or ,the absence of it, does not affect their
stern determination. They have made it their business
to secure at any cost the liberty of Europe, and.they
will not desist, either for ill success or good success,
until that object is effectually attained.
But, though there is nothing in the changed aspect of
the war to affect the tone of the British Legislature,
for the cause of truth and the honour of our country
we are gratified to notice one improvement in the de-
bate. • Even those who spoke faveul of Sir W.
Heathcote's amendment last night did not follow
Mr. Gladstone's example in selling the honour of two
noble nations, the argument of Christian charity, and
every great consideration that could be dragged into
the debate, for the mere purpose of assailing a Minis-
terial position. Lord Elcho, one of Mr. Gladstone's
usual supporters, thought it necessary to express the
great pain he felt at the tone of that gentleman's speech,
as diametrically opposed to the universal feeling of the
country, which his lordship himself expressed briefly by
saying that the shortest way to peace lay through the
breach of Sebastopol. In this country we tolerate much
licence and forgive many excesses in the political de-
bater. A year hence, perhaps earlier, it will be for-
gotten that Mr. Disraeli availed himself of the question
of peace or war to lampoon the diplomatic career of
Lord John Russell. But we doubt whether the singular
line Mr. Gladstone has selected will be so easily for-
gotten or regarded as anything else than an unmitigated
scandal. In the face of all Europe, with the knowledge
that in a few hours his words would be reported to
every hostile or wavering Court, and that the more pre-
cious grains would be picked out from the alluvial de-
posit of his harangue, be deliberately reversed all the
characters of the quarre!. He assigned to Russia the
pacific and conciliatory part. He pronounced the proper
objects of the war attained, and our present prosecution
of it unjust, wanton, aggressive, vainglorious, immoral,
inhuman, anti-Christian, alike guilty and unwise,
tempting the justice of the Almighty and provoking the
wrath of Heaven. Russia having, as he said, done all,
and even more than could be expected from her—
having now, with great sagacity and great wisdom,
from the sound application of the principles of common
sense, and, in this case, he hoped also of Christianity,
surrendered all her ulterior claims—he proclaimed that
we are now merely playing the game of brag, fight-
ing for prestige, insisting that more blood must be
shed, more human souls dismissed from the light of day,
more desolation be carried through Christian families
and Christian lands, in order to satisfy the demands of
military fame. He affirmed that England and France
had violated the received maxims of justice, and com-
mitted a downright dishonesty, by flying, as he said
they had, from the terms they originally proposed to
Russia, and meeting her concessions with outrageously
insulting and humiliating demands. He threw upon
them hnceforth all the responsibilities of the war.
Twice he attempted to sow the seeds of distrust between
us and our allies, first by intimating that we may be
driven to a war of nationalities—in which case, he said,
we should have to fight alone—and then by a bitter al-
lusion to the French occupation of Rome, which, to say
the least, cannot be more disagreeable to Englishmen
than Austrian domination. Thus, according to Mr.
Gladstone, the Western Powers of to-day are the Russia
of yesterday—as violent, fraudful, unscrupulous, domi-
neering, dangerous to the peace of the world, and liable
to the vengeance of Heaven ; while Russia is now a
meek, submissive, contented, rational, humble-minded
Christian State.

Of course, it is not to he denied that a case might pos-
sibly arise to justify such expressions. A man might,
unfortunately, belong to a country as utterly lost to all
sense of humanity and justice as Mr. Gladstone describes
England and France at this moment • and in that case,
of course, he would do well to take warning from
Sir. Gladstone's prophetic denunciations, and to fly
out of the object of mankind's just abhorrence, and of
Heaven's gathering indignation. Every man may
have to say, "I love my country, but love truth
more," even though few will be quick to think
that time near. What "hideous " national crime,
then, has imposed on us the terrible necessity of
denouncing our own country to its enemies and
rivals, warning off her possible friends and abettors, se-
parating her Allies, and marking her out alone, un-
friended, hated, and accursed even by her own children,
for the vengeance of Heaven ? Happily for the patience
of our readers, we are not to go back very far for this.
We are not to go back to the origin of the war, nor yet
to the sailing of the expedition, nor to the entrance into
the Black Sea, nor the landing in the Crimea, nor the
siege of Sebastopol, nor the instructions to our plenipo-
tentiary, nor the first of the Four Points, nor the se-
cond ; for in all these matters Mr. Gladstone not only
stood by, but also took part Nor was it a crime against
man and God to insist that Ru-sia shou'd submit to such
a limitation of her power in the Black Sea as should be
necessary for the independence of Turkey. In all this
Mr. Gladstone assented and assisted. Where, then, do
we arrive at the point where everything changes, and
Russia stands at the right hand of Heavenly justice, and
we at the left ? We proposed an application of the prin-
ciple simple and obvious enough ; indeed, to most minds,
a natural consequence of admitting the principle of
limitation at all. However, Russia rejected it. She
then proposed her applications, both of which would
have left her at liberty to maintain a fleet of any force
in the Black Sea, constantly overawing the Turkish do-
minions on its shores, and ready at any moment to
pounce down on Constantinople, with no other qualifi-
cation of this substantial power than that Turkey
might have a treaty right to protest against the Russian
fleet entering the Bosphorus, or, as that was not ap-
preciated, England and France might keep as many
ships as they liked in the Black Sea. As to the former
of these securities, the power of saying "No" would be
but poor artillery against twenty sail of the line ; and
as to the latter, we were not likely to keep a fleet
of that force always standing sentry over Russia
3,000 miles from home. Both these applications of the
point in dispute being thus illusory and insulting were
refused by the allies. There is the whole basis and jus-
tification of the tremendous charges and unsparing ana-
themas Mr. Gladstone lately launched against his coun-
try and her allies. Because we did not straightway
acquiesce in that sensible arrangement, accept it as a
peace offering from Russia, call home our gallant fellows
from Sebastopol, and proclaim peace, therefore we are
all that is odious in the eyes of man, and abominable in
the sight of Heaven. Therefore, all the miseries of the
war will now rest on our shoulders.
It is possible Mr. Gladstone and some of his more
zealous supporters may feel all this, and believe all this.
It is possible that this paroxysm of indignation against
his country and all the enemies of Russia may have
arisen naturallc, and without any other exciting cause,
out of his surprise and grief at our rejection of the very
gracious terms offered to us by the clemency of the
Czar. It is possible that the accident of Mr. Gladstone
having been in office at the time the Four Points were
constructed, and out of office when the Russian applica-
tions of the third point were declined, may have nothing
to do with the present ebullition. The people of Eng-
land, however, we are persuaded, will reason that, even
supposing Mr. Gladstone to entertain a conscientious
conviction that Turkey would continue quite safe and
independent with 20 Russian sail of the line in the Black
supposing Sea, and 200,000 men
within
tthis,
s daystha
tmar
gentlemanch
noigfs
have his patriotic, or rather anti-patriotic emotions, and
his moral and religious sensibilities very much aRt
Russia,
if he can raise such a storm of them against
and suspicion, and
his former colleagues for feeplrionvgedrastuhtfiercieene
paTnruedrskeen Turkey under
Russia
ansdse,arl suchanned, t
fa,t
in
nhasth eb r circumstances.brought
fallibility
iltt
yht f
human
judgment our iniristers have deemed a Russian proposal
herself insufficient
is
to
blamewhich mfi lagr
misgiving, and dread with which her proposals are re-
garded. Who else has made the prejudice that surrounds
her ? But we are quite sure that the people of England
and their representatives in Parliament, even if they give
Mr. Gladstone credit for a conscientious difference of
hthtehadvisecredit,
opinion, will have no sympathy, no respect for the tem-
pest of objurgations and imprecations he raised against
the very cause of which a few months since be was one
trst:lßtuoPs mustusrtfsi the
-
of the constitutional leaders. They will set it down as
something between the rant of the fanatic and the trick
of the stage actor, or simply as a very bad attempt to
" bear" the political market, and they will be prepared
to "discount" rather heavily any future exhibitions of
the kind.