The Sun.
London, England, 1855-02-05 00:00:00

imputed errors to the Duke of Newcastle, but he referred
in his letter to the error committed in regard to the 97th
Regt., not for the purpose of censuring the noble
Duke, but in order to show that there was
not full efficiency in the administration of the
office—(hear, hear)—and he stated to the noble duke at
the time that if he required additional power to increase
its efficiency he should immediately apply to the Prime
I Minister to supply the defect that might exist. (Hear.)
His impression was, not that the Duke of Newcastle
was unfit for his department, but, as he had already
stated, either the Prime Minister must be con-
stantly exerting himself in making the necessary
preparations for carrying on the war, or that the War
Minister must have extraordinary authority and judg-
ment. (Hear, hear.) His opinion was, however, that
had the Prime Minister been a man whose pursuits and
disposition would lead him to hasten the necessary pre-
parations for the war, the Duke of Newcastle would
have been found perfectly competent for the department
he held ; but with Lord Aberdeen as Prime Minister,
the affairs of the department could only be conducted
by a Minister having extraordinary energy and authority.
Under that belief, he had no hesitation in admitting
that the Duke of Newcastle had done all he could in
the circumstances in which he had been placed. (Hear.)
I now come to a more important question, namely, to
the statement that I had withdrawn altogetker my pro-
position. New there were two questions which I had
incorporated in the letter which I wrote to Lord Aber-
deen ; the one was as to the constitution of the War De-
Partment—whether the offices of the Secretary of State
and the Secretary at War should be consolidated into
one, or administered separately ; and the other related
to the efficient direction of the war, and the person into
whose hands the department should fall. The house will
at once see the two questions were wholly distinct.
(Hear, hear.) With regard to the first of these ques-
tions I consulted a noble friend of mine, who long held,
with the respect and the satisfaction of this house, the
office of Secretary at War—Lord Panneure. (Rear.) I
thought I could go to no better person, as I had some
Bonversation with him on that subject last year, and I
wished to ascertain his opinion on a question of some
Importance. My noble friend told nee in reply that he
thought there should be a Secretary at War, charged
with the finances of the army, but that he should also be
a Secretary of State ; but with respect to the other
question I have mentioned, and in this I have been
confirmed by my noble friend (hear, hear) I
never stated to him anything relating to the offices
held by either the Duke of Newcastle or Lord Palmer-
ston ; that was a question which I never touched on
with him, for whilst I thought that the constitution of
departments in the Government was a question on which
I could nob ask an opinion out of the Cabinet, I should
have thought it highly improper if I had asked an
opinion out of the Cabinet relative to the persons fit to
hold them. (Hear, hear.) What I stated on the 16th
of December, therefore, had reference to the distinctness
of these departments. I know I stated more than
once, and I may have stated to Lord Aberdeen
at that time, that after the noble lord had said
that he could not :honestly recommend to the Queen
that the office of Se eretary at War should be trans-
ferred from the hands of the Duke of Newcastle to those
of his noble friend the Secretary of State for the Home
Department, that it was not my intention to bring that
question again before the Cabinet, because if it were
decided adversely to Lord Aberdeen, it would kave been
equivalent to depriving him of the Cabinet over which
he presided. (Hear, hear.) Now I was very likely in
error in coming to that determination ; and it is also
likely that having formed the opinion I have mentioned,
it would have been for the welfare of the country if I
had pressed it on the Cabinet, and if it had decided con-
trary to my opinion, at once to have resigned my office.
I own, however, I was adverse to bringing the question to
such an issue, for I wished, as long as possible, particularly
in the relation in which I stood to Lord Aberdeen, and
having accepted office under him to maintain his Ad-
ministration as long as I consistently could. (Hear,
hear.) As events progressed, various questions arose
with respect to the war, and in regard to them all I
endeavoured to give my assistance to Lord Aberdeen,
the Duke of Newcastle, and the Cabinet in improving
the condition of army, and in providing for the means of
its future operations. I must say, at the same time,
that with respect to some of these questions—such for
instance as the question raised in this house by his hon.
friend the member for Aylesbury, as to the danger
which might be incurred if the Russian army was in-
creased on the land side, and the necessity of providing
some force to meet any invasion of the Russians on that
side. That was a very important question, and occu-
pied my attention considerably, but I cannot say that it
met with that sufficient attention from Lord Aberdeen
which I could have hoped. However, I still continued
a member of the Cabinet. My noble friend the Seca-
tau for the Home Department, the other day said, in
answer to the statement which II had made
here, that I had not,,takenta right time, or the
right mode of resigning, and that I ought to have
brought before the Cabinet, before Parliament met, the
question of how any motion for inquiry was to be en-
countered, and to have stated the deficiences which I
still thought existed with respect to our military ar-
rangements connected with the war. I think my noble
friend was entirely right in saying that I ought to have
done so. (Cheers.) lam quite willing to admit that,
and I perceive the error into which I have I
fallen. It was an error on my part not to
have fully considered the position I should
be in if a motion for inquiry should be made after the
opinion I had expressed and the dissatisfaction I felt ;
but be that as it may, having committed an error, I felt
that I should be guilty of a still greater error —of Ail error
in morality, and there can be no sound politics
without sound morality (cheers)—if I stood up in
this house and opposed inquiry, and told this house to
be perfectly satisfied with regard to these arrangements,
whilst, at the same time, my own mind was not satisfied
with regard to them, and I did not feel that they were
satisfactory. (Loud cheers.)t It had been said that I
might have stood by my colleagues, and that if the Go-
vernment had Leen defeated I should have resigned with
them. I cannot say that that proposition is at all satisfac-
tory to my mind, for it is presumed that I was to take a
course which I was conscientiously opposed to. (Cheers.)
But there was another alternative to be considered, the
event might have been different, and a majority might
have declared in favour of the Government, and what
course could I have taken! (Hear,lhear.) After all, I
am very glad I did not run that risk. (Hear, hear.)
But I must say I have been much struck, if a state-
ment which is totally new to me, and which is princi-
pally contained in the speech of the Duke of
Newcastle, viz., that he some days before the
meeting of Parliament, had placed his resignation in the
hands of Lord Aberdeen, and had stated that if any
censure was passed on the conduct of the war, and
even if that censure was resisted successfully,
he should still retire from the office he
held. Now, I was totally ignorant of any such
resignation having been offered. (Loud cheers.) With
regard to my own resignation, I must say that I
think, under these circumstances, the advice of my
noble friend (Lord Aberdeen) to her Majesty to accept
it without any further communication with me was
somewhat hasty. (Hear.) I think it was but due to me
to have informed me of the communication he had re-
ceived from the Duke of Newcastle, and we might then
have considered together whether the motion for
enquiry could be resisted on good and sufficient grounds.
The noble lord then proceeded to advert to the obloquy
which had been cast upon him for the step he had
taken, and observed that if his past public life did
not justify him from the charge of selfishness or
treachery, he would make use of no arguments for the
purpose of defence. After a few further remarks with
-regard to the reception of his first letter to the Earl of
Aberdeen, the noble lord went on to say that
her Majesty was pleased, on Friday night last,
to call upon him to undertake the formation of a Go-
vernment. He felt that there were two reasons which
made it incumbent upon him to obey her Majesty's cone-
menthe The one was that he had been instrumental in
the decision of the house on Monday night last,
in consequence of which the Government had resigned,
and the other that it had been attributed to him that he
was disposed, from mere cowardly feeling, to shrink
from encountering a vote of that house on the conduct of
the war. Therefore he thought it incumbent on him not to
shrink from a task the most honorable, brit at the same
time the most arduous in the present situation of public
affairs. He found, however, that there were insuper-
able obstacles to his forming a Government. He was
not surprised ; on the contrary, he concurred in some
objections which his friends urged, and he submitted to
her Majesty that he could not succeed. His lordship con
eluded by excusing his omission to notice the heroio ac-
tions of the Second Division at Alma and Inkerman,
referred to on Friday by Sir De Lacy Evans
on the ground that ho never professed to
give a detailed narrative of the achievements of the
army, to whom he paid a feeling compliment. His
lordship sat down amidst loud cheers.
After a few words in reply from Mr. GLIDSTONIZ, the
house adjourned.

NEW PRUSSIAN NOTE.

by deliberately seeking to exclude from the future
transactions of Europe one of the two great German

The following is the despatch of M. Drouyn de

powers.
I authorise 'you, sir, to read this despatch to --,
to make use of it layour interviews with your colleagues.
Receive, &c., (Signed) Dnouyv Ds LIM%

Lhuys, to the diplomatic agents of France iu Ger-

many, of which a summary has been given :
PARIS, Jim 26.
SlR,—The cabinet of Berlin has resolved not to reply
directly to the last communications of the cabinet of
Vienna ; it prefers addressing itself to the members of
the confederation, and it is at Frankfort that the two
great German Powers intend to meet. The crisis that
has long been preparing is at last about to break out,
and the Government of the Emperor follows its develop-
ment with the most sincere regret. Our own suscepti-
bility enables us to fathom that of others.
" We have, therefore, no wish to mix ourselves up
with affairs, which by reason of their intricacy cannot be
exactly understood and advantageously arranged, save
by the States concerned. But after all, we are the
neighbours of Germany ; whatever interests that great
country touches us ; and at the moment even when
symptoms of division become manifest within it, we can
loyally bear witness in our own behalf, that we have in
no respect contributed to the difficulties of a situation
that we deplore.

NAVAL AND MILITARY INTELLIGENCE.

The crew of of the screw steam-ship Exmouth, 90,
Captain the Hon. F. Pelham, bent ■ails at Plymouth
on Saturday.
Letters, dated Jan. 15, have been received at Ply-
mouth from the Vengeance, 84, Captain Lord Edward
Russell. The Vengeance and the paddle-wheel steam-
frigate Vulture, 6, Captain F. H. H. Glasse, are ordered
to Plymouth, where they will be refitted and their crews
paid wages.
The Pembroke and Hastings, 60-gun screw block
ships, have been commissiond at Portsmouth by Cap-
tains George H. Seymour and J. C. Caffin. The Pem-
broke was got out of dock and basin on Saturday, and
under the shears to be masted, her screw having been
got in by hard work the over night, and the Hastings
was expected to be supplied with her screw on Saturday
night. These ships will quickly be supplied with their
screw power, and we have no doubt that they will be
with the fleet for the Baltic, which is now ordered to be
at the rendezvous by the 3d of March.
The screw steam-corvette Esk, 20, Captain Thomas
T. Birch, from the eastward, bound to the Black Sea
with shot and shell, arrived at Plymouth on Saturday
morning.
The Penelope, 18, paddle-wheel steam-frigate, under
refit at Portsmouth, is ordered to be commanded by
Captain William Wiseman, Captain Wan having re-
ceived a more important appointment—the Hastings, 60.
The Centaur, 6, paddle-wheel steam-frigate, is ordered
to be commissioned at Portsmouth by Captain Clifford,
who was disabled some time sines while in command
of the Sphinx, but now recovered. He is the son of
Rear-Admiral Sir Augustus Clifford, Usher of the Black
Rod, and a popular officer.

So soon as Russia unveiled her ambitious designs, our
policy was clearly defined. To protect Turkey in her
resistance to an unlawful attack, which compromised the
general equilibrium—to endeavour to constrain, by an
imposing union of every will, the Cabinet of St. Peters-
burg to renounce an enterprise condemned by public
conscience, to collect eventually into one " fascia ' the
strength of Europe, threatened, an it was, by one and the
same danger—such was the line of conduct we proposed
to ourselves to follow, and which the Government of her
Britannic Majesty adopted in conjunction with us.
Notwithstanding the slight differences of the situations
and the march of events, we did hope, that during the
course ef last year the object of our efforts would be at-
tained. The conferences had been opened at Vienna,
and the choice alone of that capital, as the spot where
we could discuss topics with Austria and Prussia was a
sufficient indication that France and England, far from
supposing they could dispense with Germany, desired,
on the contrary, to come to an understanding with
her ; to make her, in some measure, the judge of
the debate, and in every case not to settle it without
her knowledge, nor to her detriment. Never, I
believe, have two such important belligerent Powers
been seen to evoke the solemn declaration of an opi-
nion on the merits of their cause, when already their
armies were charged with the maintaining of it, from
other powers equally of the first order, but which had
remained free as to their resolutions, and intimately
connected hitherto with their adversary.
Be that as it may, if France and England have ren-
dered homage to the spirit of conciliation that a long
peace had caused to prevail on every important occasion
between the great states since 1815, one can say that
the first protocols of the conference have been, as it
were, the preamble of an European sentence pronounced
against Russia ; and they need only be read over again,
in order to see that those very protocols contained in ad-
dition the bases of an effective alliance between all the
parties that had signed them. The force ef things would
of itself lead from theory to practice. It was not pos-
sible, if that expression be permitted me, that the di-
plomacy of the Berlin and Austrian Cabinets should con-
tinue to be always in a state of consulation, and the
moment soon arrived when it was requisite to withdraw
or to act. It was at that period that a divergence exhi-
bited itself between the two great German courts.
Prussia has ceased to have herself represented at the
conferences, and if, as she pretends, her refusal to assist
at them has not been formally announced, it is at least
certain, and the absence of her signature at the foot of
the notes of August S proves it, that she no longer
considered it incumbent on her to put her acts and
words into, complete harmony with the acts and words
of Austria. _

This situation has become atilt worse, and the treaty
of Dec. 2 was concluded. The adhesion of the Berlin
Cabinet to that convention was specially reserved, and
the Goversunent of the Emperor has neglected nothing
in order to obtain it. Like its allies, it has observed
every prudential nicety of form capable of determining
the acceesion of the Prusanan court. Its efforts have
hitherto remained ineffectual, and the present attitude
of that court seems to justify the conviction that its re-
serve may not really depend on any diplomatic question
of etiquette, but on some order of ideas that is not shared
by England, or France, or Austria. It is in this point
of view that the affair is grave for the German confede-
ration, and it is solely in this light that I wish to exa•
mine it with you.
Notwithstanding the most sincere and assiduous
wishes of the Western Powers, a moral scission has
been effected between Austria and Prussia ; and by
this act the union of Germany is compromised, which
would have been promoted by the harmony of these
taro courts. That harmony can only be re-established
and strengthened by the firmness and intelligence of
the other members of the confederation. The Diet
1 has to choose between these two appreciations ; Aus-
tria, who only demands a defensive assistance, believes
the hour is come for preparing to grant it. She alleges
the general state of things, the concentration of Russian
troops on her frontiers, the obligations that arise horn
her occupation of 'Wallachia, and which a movement
similar to the one that took place recently in the Do-
brutcha may render instantaneously executory. Lastly,
she argues that Russia's acceptance of a basis for nego-
tiations is not yet tantamount to a certainty of peace.
Prussia, on the contrary, declares that she is full of
confidence in the sentiments that animate the cabinet of
St. Petersburg; and that it is hence superfluous to make
provision against chimerical attacks. . . God forbid,
sir, that I should accuse the intentions of any person,
but I may be permitted to observe that between moral
assurances and material facts, between conjectures and
certainties, if a contradiction does exist, the simplest
and the wisest plan is to act in consonance with what
all the world is enabled to judge of in the same man-
ner.
Is it not true that a large Russian army, ready to
take the field, is stationed in Poland, and along the
frontiers of Gedlicia and Transylvania ? Is it not true
that an incident threatens to bring the Austrians and
the Russians into collision on the banks of the Pruth
or of the Lower Danube ! Is it not true that the rela-
tions between the Cabinets of Vienna and St. Peters-
burg are of the most delicate nature ! Can it be said,
in short, that the opinion of a speedy restoration of
peace is generally credited ! Is it even sure that the
acceptance announced by Prince Gortchakoff is such
as was at first believed ! To put these questions is to
solve them, and to justify at the same time all the de-
mands that Austria addresses to her confederates. I
have, sir, nothing further to allude to except two griev-
ances complained of by the Cabinet of Berlin : it has
not been regularly made acquainted with the negotia-
tions, and there is the appearance of excluding her in
future from the European concert.
On the first point I shall simply observe that if some
important eats have been concluded without the partici-
pation of Prussia, it is because she voluntarily isolated
herself from the powers that desired, and still desire,
nothing more sincerely thaa to coins to a good under-
standing with her.
The majority is the law of all associations, as confi-
dence is the animating essence of them. Prussia has
not desired to maintain herself, and advance, on the
ground that France, England, and Austria took up with
greater resolution than she did. It was her right, I
admit ; but for the instant she used that right she sepa-
rated herself from the others, and their right was as-
suredly no longer to combine with her their plans of
conduct, and no longer to admit her into the confidence
of their ulterior designs. These principles are ele-
mentary.
As for the European concert, it has been habitually
for the last forty years formed by five powers. Never-
theless, four of these powers, in one of the preceding
phases of the Eastern question, united without France.
The concert was not re-established until after the inci-
dent that gave rise to the treaty of July 13. An ana-
logous fact may th0r0f,,..., ....41,......4 ....••••,noly, b. ”r.--
duced under actual circumstances. In order to take
part in a debate, the party must be entitled, but
the only title Prussia invokes is her quality of great
power.
It is not we, air, who shall ever dispute the rank of
the Berlin cabinet ; but there are in this world no rights
without their correlative duties, and in general we do
net treat on the conditions of peace unless wo hare
waged war, or at least have accepted the eventuality of
taking an active part in it.
Is that Prussia's position I Has she made her elec-
tion between the belligerent parties ? Is she in alliance
with Russia or with us ? Until she has come to a deci-
sion, she authorises every kind of supposition, and spon-
taneously shuts herself out from the conferences. Can
the treaty of July 13, 1841, serve in any way to open
for her the access to them
One of two things is clear : either this treaty, by rea-
son of its preamble, has a very serious political signifi-
cation, or else it sanctions in its articles of detail only a
rule, a tradition of the Ottoman Government. In a
word, Europe either wished to give to Turkey a real
guarantee, or has merely contrived for France an
honourable opportunity of re-entering the European
concert.
For my own par‘ I declare at once that it is the for-
mer interpretation we have taken up ; and it is espe-
cially as signatariee of the treaty of July 13, 1841, that
we were induced to aid in the defence of the Sultan. If
Prussia recognises in that act, to which she subscribed,
the value we attribute to it, we have then good grounds
for saying that she has declined the obligations it im-
posed upon her, and that if she persists in her abstention
so much to be regretted, she loses the right of partici-
pating in the revision of the treaty, which it is pleasure
either not to execute, or to reduce to insignificant pro-
portions.
There would remain only for us the finding of the
means, at the end of the negotiations, of coming to an
understanding with the Cabinet of Berlin respecting the
only part of the convention of July 13, that may have
any value in her eyes ; that is to say, respecting the re,
gulation for the passage of ships of war through the Boa-
phorus and the Dardanelles, or concerning the closing
of these straits. And the Government of the Emperors
for its part, would very willingly join in any combina-
tion calculated, on the one hand, to give to Prussia
gystfantees equivalent to those she obtained in 1841, and
on *be ether band to cause her to resume a place that
we bare incessantly begged her to occupy, with the
risks and advantages attached to it.
I think then, sir, I have shown that the Cabinet of
Berlin can only blame herself for the position she has
created but which she can always modify. Nor do I
think the secondary states of Germany, as it appears they
are invited to do, can accuse us of having wished indi-
rectly to diminish the importance of their confederation

TATTERSALL'S.

(THIS EVENING.)

LITERPOOL STEEPLECHASE.
8 to 1 agst Trout (taken)
12 to 1 apt Miss Mowbray (taken)
12 to 1 apt Bastion (taken)
15 to 1 aget Dalkeith (taken)
Taffy is scratched.
GREAT METROPOLITAN STAKES.
8 to 1 *gat Pharos,laa (takes)
13 to 1 agat Fandango (taken)
THE TWO TROLISAND.
3 to 1 agst St. Hubert (taken)
4 to 1 agst Bonnie Morn (taken)
4 to 1 aget Lord of the Isles (taken freely)
10 to 1 agst Polydore (taken)
CHESTER CUP.
15 to 1 agst Andover (taken)
40 to 1 apt Bright Phoebus (taken)
e 0 to 1 agst Weathercock (taken)

8 to 1 eget St. DERBY.
Hubert (taken and offered)ll to 1 agst Lord of the Isles (take 12 to 1)
15 to 1 aget Grseculus Esuriens (offered)
20 to 1 agst Ouiston (taken)
22 to 1 aget Bonnie Morn (taken)
45 to 1 agst Rambling Katie (taken)
50 to 1 agst Vexation colt (taken)
6 to 1 agst St. Hubert and Oulston (taken)
° Lindsteeplechases will take place on Wednesday
Thursdayand ie
next.

A teleraph despatch announces the death g
Graverer d, Bishop of Quirsper, Rhich event took—place
yesterday mousing in the epuscopal palace of hie
diocese.

THE SUN, LONDON, MONDAY EVENING, FEBRUARY 5, 1855.

The !;rosps who embarked on board the Severn at South-
ampton on Friday, although no preparations had been
made previous to their arrival for their being immedi-
ately supplied with food, were, through the exertions of
Captain Vincent and Mr. Barnes, provided with an
ample meal about an hour after they bad all embarked.
There being no beds on board, the poor fellows lay dur-
ing the night in the bare berths.