The Sun.
London, England, 1855-07-24 00:00:00

JOURNALS.

( ow, the Times of this clay. )
The opponents of the war have taken the oppor-
tunity of auother Aage in the question of the
Turkish Loan, not to resist it—for that seems to
have been hopeless—but to remove some of the
obloquy which naturally attaches to their conduct.
With two whole days to prepare they have said a
good deal. Mr. Gladstone has told us a good deal
about himself in reply to the charge of surprise, and
about the right of Parliament to interfere with the
carrying out of conventions and treaties. Mr.
Bright, after working in all its forms the possible
difficulty of the Turkish security and the allied
guarantee, returns by an easy transition to his
old enemy the press which he accuses of brow-
beatinghim, and which he is evidently resolved
shall have nothing to boast of in the encounter.
But, in all that these gentlemen and several others
have said, we cannot help noticing a grave omis-
sion, and we note it all the more, because we really
did look for the topic which is not to be found. We
did think it possible, not to say proper, that these
gentlemen would have told us in what form they
would themselves have assited Turkey to fight her
battle, or whether they would have done it all.
We have indeed to beg Mr. Bright's pardon, per-
haps Mr. Gladstone's also, for an exceedingly harsh
supposition—viz., that they are ready to co-ope
rate and advise for the prosecution of the war. On
this supposition, how will they deal with the Turk?
Will they leave him quite alone, to perish, as he
did by wholesale at Balaklava, from want of all
things ? Do they insist that we shall fight the
cause of the Turk, but independent of the Turk ;
so that, while the Western Powers are suffering for
want of men, a nation of soldiers on the very spot,
that nation our allies, and the very people in whose
behalf the war has been undertaken, shall be ren-
dered incapable, for want of provisions and all
kinds of stores ? They know very well the Turk-
ish Government is comparatively penniless, and
that it is idle mockery to tell her to collect troops,
to feed, to clothe, to arm, to convey them, and
supply them all the other appliances of war, from
her own means. There are various methods of
dealing with a poyerty-stricken ally, some of which
we employ, as, for example, in the formation of
the Turkish Contingent. But, assum'rkg that there
are many such methods, that there is a good deal
to be said for, and also a good deal against each
of them ; assuming, also, that Messrs. Gladstone
and Bright have no fundamental objection to the
whole of them, simply because they are what they
profess to be methods of co-operating with Turkey for
the prosecution of the war, we thereupon ask these
gentlemen severally what particular method do they
select and recommend in place of the particular
form of Turkish Loan now before the Commons ?
No doubt the war is a very disagreeable thing ;
and a loan of 5,000,0001. is a very disagreeable
thing, and the fact of its being advanced to a State
with such a barbarous finance as that of Turkey is
still more disagreeable ; the security, too, is ques-
tionable ; and the joint guarantee of allies has too
often been belied on a slight provocation to allow
one to be quite easy on that point. But we sub-
mit that, whatever objection there may be to this
particular form of loan, they come with an ill
grace, or no grace at all, from gentlemen who are
against the war altogether—all assistance to Turkey
altogether, that is iu the present stage of the affair,
' when, in Mr. Gladstone's view of the negotiations,
we are protracting the war without sufficient rea-
son. It is impossible, indeed, not to feel a con-
viction that both Mr. Gladstone and Mr. Bright
object quite as much to every other possible form
of loan, and every other possible arrangement for
communicating to Turkey the benefit of our credit,
and deriving from her the benefit of her men. If,
indeed, Mr. Gladstone, who has delivered many
speeches on finance, and who has experimented in
finance with great ingenuity and considerable
audacity, would only have the goodness to tell us
what arrangement would be better, in his opinion,
than the one adopted by Government, then, at all
events, lie would put down his stake and would
discuss the question on fair and equal terms. But,
as he very knowingly does no such thing, and has
forborne to back up his objections with a single
proposition, it becomes really unnecessary to meet
them at all, simply because we know that
he has a fundamental objection to the whole
affair, which very naturally shows itself in
criticising every possible way of conducting
it. We might, indeed, very safely admit the force
of all Mr. Gladstone's criticisms ; we might admit
that a pecuniary engagement with Turkey was
likely enough to be an occasion for sin on both
sides—that is, dishonesty on her side, and insolence
on ours ; that common liabilities have very often
been thrown upon ourselves, with a very ill feeling
towards the partner in the contract ; that a large
communication of good credit to a rower without
credit is likely enough to encourage that extrava-
gance which created the necessity for such an ope-
ration. We might admit a great deal more ; but
what if we are in a condition that we can listen to
no objections, and must consequently swallow them?
We may have the greatest objection to a sea
voyage, but if we are going to France there is no
help for it. We may think 50,000,0001. spent in
the improvement of land, or the construction of
factories, a better investment than in powder and
shot, but if we are at war there is no help for it.
If we are travelling in a strange country, we may
have the best reasons for thinking our host a thief,
our guide a robber, our food unwholesome, our beds
infested with vermin, our carriage unsafe, our
horses unbroken, our postilions drunk, and the
road a wrong one ; but, once in for it, there is no
help. We must run the gauntlet of all these perils,
and not pour out complaints or forebodings which
make our companions unhappy, and can do them
no manner of good.
No doubt, the history of our subsidies and loans
in the late war is very tragic, indeed, and amply
justifies all the warnings which Mr. Fox and the
Whigs were continually making. Some of our
debtors and proteges, though the favoured objects of
our subsidies and loans, af er taking the money and
spending it, repudiated the contract, renounced the
obligation, gave up our alliance, and even turned
against us ;so that we had often to fight men
whom we had ourselves armed and accoutred for
battle. We shall not mention names, for such
cases are notorious ; but, after all, this monstrous
ingratitude, as it may seem, was from first to last
a matter of necessity, quite as much as it may be
to spend a million of money on strengthening a
fortress, and in the course of a few years to spend
ten millions more to get into and knock it to
pieces. The hon. member who told us a year or
so since that people who went to war were like
young ladies at a ball—they knew their first part-
ner, but not their last—anticipates, possibly, that
in the course of revolving years we may find our-
selves fighting by the side of the Russians against
the French and the Turks. Of course he must
mean such interchange of parts. But, even, if it
were so, it might still bo unavoidable, and there-
fore no matter for vain regret. We believe that
the present war is necessary, and therefore, as a
matter of necessity, we as-ist the Turks, and give
them the aid of our credit to arm themselves and
fight their own battle. We do this precisely as we
spend money in constructing a position on the pe-
ninsula of Cherson, in a railway, in harbours, in
qua), s, and a good deal more, which we may even-
Wally find in the hands of our enemy, and have to
destroy if we can. In war we must do that which
is necessary for the present emergency—to use
Mr. Gladstone's words, we must do that which
answers our purpose to-day and to-morrow, but
which the day after may be useless, or even turned
against us. Sometimes, indeed, we may indulge
in more prospective considerations, but it won't do
to neglect our ally because he may be ungrateful,
or to distrust him because he may be untrue. If
we do that we shall have to do without alliances
altogether, which we cannot afford to do.

(Front, the Morning Advertiser of this day.)

The translation of Sir William Molesworth from
the Board of Works to the Colonial-office has
been followed by another appointment, not less
important in point of principle, nor, as far as the
metropolis is concerned, in point of fact. It was
one of the charges brought both against Lord
Aberdeen and Lord Palmerston that they had
placed Sir William Molesworth in a post for which
he had no special aptitude, when they might have
appointed him to one for which he had. It was
hardly to be expected, that when at last the pre-
sent Premier placed him at the head of the Colo-
nial•office, he would so fully carry out the prin-
ciple of Administrative Reform on which he so far
acted, by appointing to the office thus vacated a
successor in all respects as qualified for its duties
as s'ir William is for those of his new office.
But Lord Palmerston has agreeably disappointed
us. Raving supported Sir Benjamin Hall in car-
rying through the House of Commons the two
°Teat measures, whose good sense and comprehen-
siveness have upheld his popularity at a time when
the Cabinet was labouring under disgrace, he now
places him, with all the experience he has gained
as President of the Board of Health, and with the
strong capacity he has displayed for plastering
variety and intricacy of details, in an office in
which he will render an incalculable service to the
public.
There is not another fact in connection with the
history of the late and the present Administration
on which wo can dwell with so much satisfaction as
the appointment of Sir 13,:njatnin Hall to the labo-
rious office he ha; just resigned, nor can we imagine
a more powerful argument in favour of Adniii.Us
trative Reform than the result of that experiment.
-Without official experience, untried in anything of
3 the kind before, it would not have been surprising