The Sun.
London, England, 1855-02-22 00:00:00

not attend them in war. That Government is now past
I—it is a matter of history ; but, while we speak of its
shortcomings and failures, those successes ought at least
to be remembered." Having eulogised Mr. Gladstone's
budget and the system of finance that gentleman erected,
Mr. Lowe proceeded :—I am of opinion (an opinion
which I know is not so popular as it was a few months
ago) that the expedition to the Crimea was well planned
and sent forth with men and appliances adequate to the
execution of its object. This may seem a startling asser-
tion in view of what has since occurred, but I believe it
is susceptible of proof. Thefirst great point of the expedi-
tion was the landing—that was effected with precision
and success ; its second was the opposing of the Russian
army, who were driven from their intrenched position
with admirable daring and success. But here, lam
sorry to say, the panegyric must stop. But I say the
expedition was not ill-conceived nor ill-provided, if the
object was at once to attack and defeat the Russians.
Because generals are sluggish and neglect to avail them-
selves of great opportunities, those who planned the ex-
pedition ought not to be blamed. When Sir Arthur
Wellesley had won the battle of Viiniera, Sir Harry
Duren' ordered a retreat, oa which Sir Arthur said,
" Why retreat ? Advance, and in three days we are
in
Lisbon." So, had we advanced, in 21 hours we should
have been in Sebastopol. (Cheers.) On the 21st or
22d of September we ought to have been within the
writ's of SeLastopol.• There was nothing to prevent the
fleet sailing dower keeping open the port while the army
was engaged. There v.as nothing to prevent two largo
divisions of the English army, who had never drawn
triegsr, and the cavalry, who had not drawn a sabre,
and a great part of the artillery, who had taken no part
in the engagement, from marching a!1 night and arriv-
ing in the course of next day before Sebastopol ; and
they would have taken it, for there was no force there
then sufficient to resist them. From that period our
course has been downward ; there has been nothing but
blunder, mismanagement, and incapacity, which none
of us can speak of with patience, or think of without
perpetually recurring irritation. The department whose
duty it was to minister to the wants of the army has
utterly broken down. The General has not shown the
activity and zeal we have a right to expect. (1 Voice—
" He's too old.") Well, perhaps so. I wish to say nothing
harsh of that gallant soldier, who lost an arm at Waterloo,
and has since given his best energies usefully to the public
service ; and perhaps it is hardly to be expected, that,
if we take a man from his desk, at which he has been
sitting for 35 years, and at the age of 64 or 65 require
him to enter on the stirring duties of leader of an army
in a severe and active campaign, he should be altogether
as efficient as we should desire. Yet when we remem-
ber what Sir Arthur Wellesley effected with hardly a
commissariat, without a waggon-train, with scarcely a
single thing necessary for an army, badly supplied by
the Ministry at home, badly supplied even with money,
which ho often supplied himself with by commercial
transactions into which he entered, so fertile was his
genius—l say when we compare what he did with what
has been done by our commander in the Crimea with
an unlimited supply of money and unlimited power to
displace any who might be incompetent—when we think
of the thousands of his men who have succumbed to
sickness, starvation, and death, we cannot but be struck,
I think, by the painful and humiliating contrast. Now,
the question comes—What is the remedy for this state of
things I That it should continue would be intolerable
and unendurable—inconsistent with our power, dignity,
honour, nay, perhaps, with the very existence of this
nation. We possess more of what is desired by man-
kind than other countries, and we must keep what
we have with a strong hand, or a stronger man
will conic and take it away. The cankerworm which
has caused the failure of this campaign, and which
pervades every department of the civil and mili-
tary service, is the vice of public patronage. (Loud
cheers.) Merit is not promoted ; the only thing con-
sidered is personal connexion and favour. It is, in-
deed, humiliating that we who supply an engineer for
almost every railway that is made and for almost every
steamer that is afloat,—who furnish the brains and the
talent by which the affairs of other countries are
organised—that we should fall so far below others in
this very respect when our own public affairs are con-
cerned, and be so infinitely surpassed by what we have
been in the habit of scornfully calling the barbarous
power of Russia in the art of war, in the art of keeping
an army alive. But Russia has the great advantage in
war of having only one head, whose interest and that
of the public, so far as the success of his armies is con-
cerned, are entirely at one. He recalls any general who
displeases him without the slightest hesitation, and if he
does anything wrong punishes him with the utmost
severity, without mercy and without remorse. But our
statesmen stand in a different position. They are not
identified with the public interest. In filling up offices
the Emperor of Russia looks only for servants who will
best execute his wishes, and the public of this country
lookf or that too ; but the statesmen in whose hands the
gift of these offices is look rather to their own profits or
that of their friends, or their Parliamentary influence,
than to the interests of the people. It is no use in talk-
ing of any kind of reform till you get this altered. If a
man conducting a manufactory, instead of choosing for
his confidential servants persons of industry and know-
ledge of the business, were to fill all his places of re-
sponsibility with sons and nephews of his friends, with-
out any reference to their qualifications, he would
soon be bankrupt—his affairs would inevitably go to
rack and ruin ; and so will it be with us as a nation,
unless we demand that no office shall be given unless to
those who prove their fitness by passing a previous and
sufficient examination. Mr. Lowe proceeded to say
that he approved neither the remedy proposed by Go-
vernment nor by Parliament ; that of Government was
to appoint commissioners to take charge of every depart-
ment of the army, leaving those in command just where
they were. To continue in office a man acknowledged to
be unfit, and to send another to take charge of him was
repugnant to common sense. It was as if, When they
had a horse that would not draw a cart, they put on a
leader to draw him and the cart too. (Laughter.) He „.
was sorry to say that lie could not approve of Mrl4::..
Roebuck's committee either, though he had done hien'
(Mr. Lowe) the honour to set down his name for one of
the committee. He thought it could not make proper
inquiry without having before it the officers and others
engaged in the Crimea. It would not be just to enter
into an inquiry touching their conduct without hearing
what they had to say ; and it would not be of any use
merely to find out that there was something which was
wrong at home, without being able to trace it further.
Another objection was, that it would interfere with and.
hamper the War Department at a time when of all others
it could least afford to be bothered. Mr. Lowe drew a
frightful picture of the work now to be done at the office
of the Secretary of War, and said he was assured that the
department was at this moment in a condition of the most
hopeless and inextricable confusion. It was impossible
that Lord Panmure could do all that was necessary to be
done, but at least he might be let alone, and not be
worried by a committee. Moreover, a committee of
this kind was most objectionable, because it really trans-
ferred the duties of the Executive to the House of Com-
mons, always a most dangerous thing ; and lastly, such
an inquiry as was proposed would certainly involve
statements respecting the French army which the Em-
peror of the French was desirous should not be known,
and would probably weaken our alliance with that
country. As he rejected, therefore, both the remedy
proposed by Government and by Parliament, he should,
of course, be asked what his own would be. He thought
that when an officer did not do his duty the proper way
was to recall him, and replace him by a man who would,
and this was really the only remedy the case admitted
of, for we had no time for elaborate plans of improve-
uncut ; we must act decidedly. But there was a reason
which he believed operated with the Government to pre-
vent the recall of Lord Raglan, and no doubt it was an
important one. It was that he had acted throughout
most harmoniously with our gallant Allies; and had
never by any intemperate sally or unnecessary oppo-
sition interrupted tho excellent terms on which they
bad acted with us during this campaign. His (Mr.
Lowe's) second remedy would be an entire recon-
stitution of our military system, so that merit should
be the road to promotion instead of favour and
seniority. At present an officer did little more than
buy an annuity when he entered the army, his pay
being only interest on the money he invested in
the purchase of his commission, and he gave his ser-
vices to his country gratuitously. At his death the
Government appropriated his commission; instead of
its being a benefit to his widow and children, it was a
Premium upon cowardice. At present it was almost im-
possible that a man should rise from the ranks, whatever
might be his merit, bravery, or good conduct, being the
very opposite of the system pursued by Napoleon, who
said that every man ought to have the materials for a
marshal's baton in his knapsack. A similar reform must
be carried through all our civil departments. It was
not reason enough why a man should be pot at the head
of the medical department that he had had the yellow
fever half-a-dozen times, had been in the West Indies,
and served in the Peninsula with usefulness, and was
now a grey-headed man, who ought not to be disturbed
in his old age. He would have public men prevented
from making appointments except the candidate's abi-
lity and knowledge had been previously tested by a
sufficient examination. This would strike at the root of
the evils under which we are new suffering. But this
was a question for the constituencies. They must be
content that their members should cease to distribute
Parliamentary patronage among them with both bands.
Members must cease to sell themselves to Government
for the sake of this patronage, and Ministers must give
up this system also ; because, until merit was the only
avenue to the public offices, we were fighting with a
leaden sword against a man who used a steel one. If
we Lad a spark of true greatness and patriotism left we
should immediately make this change, seeirg that the
position, honour, and perhaps, the existence of the
country depended Upon it. Finally, it iso IoY
wish, as I believe it is my duty, to support to the ut-
most the present Government. This is no party
thelue:-
tion, mid I am prepared to say the sameshould
power passed. into
resell t Gov't:ruin rt.
our allies, our
other hands. We ttirbee:',lst tsi°olsv.uidoalimi“eint coeteet with
influeace
all the Powtas Europe—w‘i,i'
ti%i,(,),ttillrert.hathwies of the last
enemies, or in a position
should ex-
stalmity and c,instaney in the
mayiml,o colvee,,r :overt
oi
our ice
co
entes oorr
of lan.Nceeitohier is it easy to over-estimate the
thyi ist
Enurope.
uarpoip) appearance
' iniiutnee of the name of Lord Pahnerstme over diplo-
matic circles on the Continent, or the importance that
is attached to his being placed at the head of the Ad-
ministration, His name is a pledge of our determina-
tion to resist Russia to the utmost, and his fall would be
regarded as a triumph of the principles of the peaces
party, whom foreigners believe to have a power they
do not possess in this country. 'We must leans to put
off party differences till the return of peace, and to pre-
sent a firm and united front to the powerful enemy with
whom we are engaged. (The hon. gentleman, who had
been loudly applauded- throughout, sat down amid loud
cheers.)