The Sun.
London, England, 1855-05-15 00:00:00

gefit

`~ ~.~_.
~'l~,l

~~~ ~~

3111,

LONDON, TUESDAY, MAY 15, 1855.

Lord ELLENBOROUGH'S motion, although very
ably brought forward and efficiently supported,
has been rejected by a large and decisive majority.
Of Peers in attendance there were 71 in favour of,
and 110 against, the resolutions ; and Ministers
enhanced their numbers by recording 66 proxies
on their side, while nonewere produced on behalf of
their opponen ts. The actual numbers therefore were
181 to 71, or nearly five to two against the motion.
This result is perhaps not very surprising, consi-
dering the arena in which the contest took place.
A less favourable audience could scarcely be
selected to complain to of an oligarchical Govern-
ment, and the undue selection of Noble Lords and
their immediate relatives and connexions for situa-
tions that might have been more efficiently filled
by less aristocratic persons. The demand for
Administrative Reform fell unpleasingly on the
ears of those who had profited in the persons
of their proteges so largely by the obnoxious
system. There were few of the assembled Peers
who had not some friend who might be affected
by the required changes in the public offices. The
very name of " reform" was distasteful to thole
who had invariably been its strongest opponents,
whatever aspect it assumed. The mere notion of
" the selection of men for public employments,
without regard to anything but the public ser-
vice," was a heresy that startled many of their
lordships from the frigid indifference which they
ordinarily display, and induced them to flock to
the scene of action in order to defeat the daring
effort.

Lord ELLENBOROUGH had indeed undertaken a '
task of no ordinary difficulty, and he performed
the arduous duty with admirable tact and judg-
inent. Many might have thought that he touched
too lightly on the monster grievances ; but he was '
well aware of the feelings of his auditors, and he
suited his tone in many particulars to their cherished
prejudices. Had he been in the House of Commons,
or, still better, in the London Tavern, with
S'tlitTßl. MORLEY in the chair, and surrounded by
Congenia.l spirits, we have no doubt that his
eloquence would have been more brilliant, his
arguments more convincing. Let it not be sup-
posed that we
are censuring the Noble Lorti for
any shortcomings or
wbackslidings. Far from it. '
On the contrary, he to the greater
credit for the obvious
and
whichc ulties by which his
course was impeded,
he surmounted by
a judicious combination of
boldness and dis-
cretion. Nothing, for instanee, could be more
felicitous than his allusion to the founders of 1-' '
own and many other noble fa.milia._ ii
in that
—what I ,
justly. termed " the principle of their • he '
origins r,
How could they, who owed their seats
House, their honours and fortunes to the ser-
vices of their ancestors, consistently say, " It is
true our ancestors rose by fitness, but our rela-
tives shall enjoy advantages from connexion with
113, and from favour !"
There was
equal truth and boldness in the
assertion, that
"to attribute anything to the
defects
of system convicted
is the subterfuge of
mediocrity.
'
Mediocrity succumbs to system.
Ability dominates over
better course." This
it,
a cilled forces men into a
arly applicable to
those who strive to excuse themselves by attribut-
ing their own errors and mictak es—their offences
of commission
_and omission—to the prevailin

routine or practice of their offices. It does not
render it the less necessary for the community at
large to strive with all its power and all its
strength to get rid of the vicious system, and to
remove as many obstacles as possible from the
way of Ministers, so that they may be able, with-
out regard to the murmurings of the " Tapers"
and " Tadpoles," to place " the right men in the
right places"—to select the ablest men in their
respective departments for the public service.
This is the principle for which the Administrative
Reformers contend—this is the principle asserted
by Lord ELLENBOROUGH in his place in the heredi-
tary branch of the Legislature. This is the prin-
ciple rejected by their Lordships, by a majority of
110 out of 252—or, including tellers, 256 titled
voters !

The arguments adduced will, however, have
greater weight with the great body of the
People than the members who gave silent votes,
or sent their proxies against it. It is not be-
cause Lord NOODLE deemed it a revolutionary
doctrine, or Viscount DOODLE conceived the
attempt to deprive the nobility of their long-
recognised privileges as little better than a general
"confiscation," or the Earl of NEPOS thought it
very unfair to poor AUGUSTUS and FREDERICK,
and asked, with tears in his eyes, how could
noblemen in such cases provide comfortable
sinecures for their younger sons, or find
husbands for their daughters, that the voice
of public opinion is to be slighted or despised.
That voice has proclaimed " trumpet-tongued "
the great fact, that "it is absolutely necessary for
the future to adopt a new principle in the selec-
tion of officers for the public employment, and, if
disregarded in the Upper House, it must be treated
with deference and respect in that which pecu-
liarly belongs to the people, in which every mem-
ber owes his right of voting to the suffrages of
his constituents.

The defence by Lord PANMTTRE was exceedingly
weak and vapid. He complained because his op-
ponent did not descend from generalities to parti-
culars—did not adduce instances of the " QUEEN'S
bad bargains," and cite the names of some of the
many detrimentals in the public service. But there
was no necessity for entering into such details when
their name was "legion," and when every man
throughout the length and breadth of the land
could himself speak of his own knowledge as to
persons who fell within the scope of the Noble
Earl's condemnation. Lord PANMURE, who was,
perhaps, the last man who ought to have ColE-
plained of the forbearance thus strikingly dis-
played, announced the doctrine that " public
opinion ought to lead both Parliaments and Go-
vernments." In other words, that every " aged
vice" should be retained until it could no longer
he defended—until the pressure from without be-
came too powerful to be any longer resisted. Lord
ELLENBOROUGH, on the other hand, called on their
Lordships "to place themselves in the front of
the people, and at the foot of the Throne to state
their complaint and their dissatisfaction." It does
not require very astute arguments to show which
is the more dignified course, or which is more
befitting the constitutional attributes of heredi-
tary legislators.

Administrative Reformers must not, however,
be discouraged by this failure. We repeat that
which should be inscribed on their banner, Palma
non sine pulvere. They cannot expect immediate
success without setting their shoulders to the
wheels, and exerting themselves zealously and
energetically in the glorious cause to which they
have so devoted themselves. Lord. ELLENBOROUGIe S
motion may be regarded as the first step, so far
as Parliament is concerned, in the path in which
we hope and believe rapid progress will speedily
be made.

We believe the view which we have advocated
from the beginning will soon be the universal one
—thatno peace can be made worth having with-
out Russia on her knees. That was the policy of
the Allies.towards France, even when during the
hundred days she had given no indication of in-
tending any aggressions upon the rest of
Europe. Why should Russia be dealt with
more leniently now ? We look back upon the
peace we have escaped with almost the sensations
of one who perceives at dawn that he has in the
darkness been treading the brink of some dreadful
precipice. Peace was to be concluded on the basis
of the illusive Four Points, without one word of
many serious questions raised by the incidents of
the War itself. Not a word of the brave Circassian s,
nor of Bomarsund and the Alanders ; not a word
of indemnity either to the Allies or to Turkey,
whose exchequer the aggressor has almost drained.
Not a word of the surrender to Turkey of all the
territory bordering on the mouth of the Danube,
of which Russia deprived that Power, and of
which she has made so infamous a use ; and even
the evacuation in perpetuity of the Black Sea by
her ships of war was not insisted. on, notwithstand-
ing our having that point absolutely in our
power.

All this must be reversed, if we are to have a
speedy, not to say a safe peace. Let the Allies
openly lay down as their rule of conduct before all
Europe, that all they acquire by their arms, whe-
ther by sea or by land, shall cease. for ever to belong
to Russia, and we believe that she would make
peace only too speedily. The folly of Lord JOHN
RUSSELL'S declaration that the Allies did not wish
to deprive Russia of any of her (stolen) territory
has probably done more than anything else to
prevent peace. Coupling this with the imbecility
which courted Austria, let her into the provinces,
and then made her president in a peace con-
ference, why should Russia put herself in
a fright ? ;Very different would have been the
effect had we pronounced each conquest forfeited
for ever by the aggressor—had we, as soon as
her ships were sunk at Sebastopol, proclaimed
that not a Russian vessel of war should ever float
again on the Black Sea. And again, when Bomar-
sund fell, that no Russian soldier should ever
assert Russian power again in the Aland Isles ;
and when we took Eupatoria that it ceased
thenceforth for ever to be a Russian town.
Had we added, as we might . easily have
done, Odessa and other places to such a
list--in all probability the CZAR would have
soon put an end to a war, every year of which
would have only branded his wickedness and folly
with greater and permanent disgrace.
Suppose we become, as we hope to be, masters
of the Crimea—it will then be ours by at least as
good a right as that of Russia ; we should say a
better one. Let it be announced at once to all
Europe that it is Russia's no more. Perhaps
some would like her to redeem it ; if so, the low-
est price must be to refund to Turkey, to Enc..!-
laud, to France, to Sardinia to all but Austria,
every
penny
has of expense to which the War
put them.
only A policy like this is the
°"0 by which
a barbarous and cunning,
yet arrogant Power, can be 'brought to her senses.
t
From the beginnior—querj be—timidit ? Frcm
ng all has
timely courtesy, en sacrificed by ith-
ieassacre at
M
the passage of the Pruch e then n a, cruel e
Sinope, and thence to the v
onferences, all
has been conducted. on the principle of t
how little would do. The r w _ inn
ere
kept at a
polite distance, and even after the naval murder

were directed to salute the Russian flag ; Odessa
was spared ; Polish levies rejected, and Poland not
mentioned ; everything done indeed to show
that Russia was to be hurt as little as possible.
It was not by such processes our great com-
manders conquered India, and quieted in later
times the formidable Sikhs or the Burmese. In India
we have always diminished the territory of the
aggressors and enfeebled their power. Nor will
any other policy teach the CZARS to respect the
rights of civilised States.

There is one reason which must decide all but
the most unworthy of statesmen to concede
not a ship to Russia in the Black Sea ; and
that is, that we could now, at no very heavy
expense, take permanent possession both of
that and th© Baltic, and let Russia do her worst.
If we saw good to withdraw the greater part of
our troops, or to maintain any reasonable number
of them in the Crimea, we could completely im-
prison Russia for twenty years, if she choose to
stand out, and at a very small annual cost to the
Allies. All her articles of produce would be
speedily furnished us from other countries ; her
sailors would forget how to steer a ship ; her trade
would be ruined, her exchequer bankrupt, and,
probably, domestic insurrection would close the
scene. But for the necessity of emancipating Po-
land, a naval siege of Russia, as it is by far the
cheapest, so it] might even be the best means of
humbling her arrogance.

LATEST NEWS.

THE SIEGE OF SEBASTOPOL.,

BERLIN, MONDAY, MAY 14.
A despatch from St. Petersburg, dated the 13th
list., says :

Prince Gorstchakoff writes as follows on the
evening of the Bth inst.:—
The fire of the enemy is moderate.

The Allied fleet, which got under weigh on the
3d, only went as far as within view of Kertch,
and then returned.

A portion of the troops that were on board
the ships appears to have been landed in Kamiesh
Bay.

MARSEILLES, MONDAY MORNING.

A Queen's messenger, who left Constantinople
on the 3d inst., on board the Pericles, embarked
at Malta on board the Arabia for Toulon. He
left Marseilles at 9 o'clock this morning.
The maul bags have not arrived.

THE BALTIC FLEET.

DANTZIC, MAY 11.

The Driver steamer, Captain Gardner, arrived
here last night, having been up with the fleet as
far as the Aland Isles.

She reports that the Gulf of,Finland is packed
with ice right across from Revel to Aland, and
that all communication with the shore is imprac-
ticable.

The Driver left the fleet on the 9th, and,
having landed a mail, consisting of more than
4,000 letters, she returns to rejoin the fleet to-
night.

Owing to the vast number of letters, our post-
office authorities found it impossible to sort them
to-night, so that they will not leave till to-
morrow's post.

BERLIN, TUESDAY, MAY 15.

The French fleet, consisting of the Duquesne,
Austerlitz (Admiral's ship), Tourville, and the cor-
vette d'Assas anchored in Kiel harbour on the
evening of the 13th.
The Conflict left Elsinore on the 13th.