The Sun.
London, England, 1855-05-25 00:00:00

despoil of her territories, push her back to the north, and
reconstruct, in short, the map of Europe. If there were
a young Minister full of genius and energy, backed by the
enthusiasts of the people, unembarrassed by any public
debt, and fortunate enough to possess as a colleague a
general, young, energetic, and ahle as himself, I do not
say that that is not a career which I should recommend
to his attention. I do not presume to predict what the
result of such a struggle would be, but I think few will
deny that the hair of .the youngest member present would
grow grey before its termination arrived. There is an-
other mode of waging war with Russia—an essentially
protective mode. In adopting that mode your object
would be to protect your ally, to take care that her terri-
tory was not violated, that her fortresses were secure, and
to check the preponderance of Russia by increasing the
power of Turkey. That was the war in which, from your
declarations at its commencement, I thought we had em-
barked But what have you done? Having embarked in
a war to protect the Turkish empire, you suddenly re-
solved to invade the Russian dominions—(hear, hear)—
and while you were !protecting Turkey you engaged in
diplomatic transactions which were to carry out a protec-
tive policy. You have thus combined, therefore, an ag-
gressive war with a protective diplomacy; and to this
incoherent, inconsistent union I trace and attribute the
dangers which are surrounding us, and which, in my opi-
nion, unless you terminate that union, must, increase
until they perhaps overwhelm you. A Conference at
Vienna may cope with such questions as the government
of the Dantibian Principalities, as to the course and free
navigation of a river, or as the security of the rights of
the Christian subjects of the Porte. But Conferen3es
at Vienna cannot cope with such subjects as the invasion
of Russian provinces, the destruction of Russian fortresses,
or the fortunes of accumulated hosts on the sterile terri-
tory of a proud foe. (Hear, hear.) While, therefore, you
are wasting your time at Vienna in this protective diplo-
macy, all that you can do is to devise schemes which will
apply to the objects of the war. But the ern consequences
upon the objects of aggressive war are easily traceable, be-
cause by these conferences and this morbid diplomacy you
not only check and destroy the spirit of the nation, upon
which, after all, you must rely, but by these very confer-
ences you are paralysing your allies, and preventing that
energy and exertion on the part of the European Powers
which may be necessary for you to carry on your aggres-
sive warfare, and to extricate you from the dangers which
you must meet. (Hear, hear.) Sir, it mey have been a
great error—as frankly confess I believe that it has been
—to depart from the protection of the Turkish empire to
undertake that invasion of Russia which you most rashly
and, as I think, thoughtlessly decided upon; but, having
once entered upon that course, you must now meet the
consequences of the fatal policy you have pursued. You
cannot, however, extricate yourselves from these conse-
quences by conferences at Vienna. (Hear.) ;You will only
increase your difficulties and augment your dangers if
you trust to diplomacy. Your position is one that is en-
tirely deceptive ; and you never can carry on war with
success unless, on the one hand, you are supported by an
enthusiastic people, and unless, on the other, you can count
upon allies—if you have allies—who know that you are
determined to support them. I have said, sir, that there
was at least one object in my making this motion—not a
solitary, but a main object—viz., that I want the House of
Commons, by its vote to-night—l want those who are the
most favourable to peace, provided, I suppose, that it is
made upon honourable terms, and is likely to be permanent
—for I trust that no hon. member would advocate any
other kind of peace—l want this house, by its decision, to
put an end to that vicious double‘ system by which we have
so long carried on an aggressive war and a protective diplo-
macy. I want the House of Commons to-night to say in
distinct language that the time for negotiation has passed.
No man, I think, will be inclined to deny that proposition
who has read Count Nesselrode's circular. If I thought
that there was even a chance of obtaining an honourable
peace and of extricating this country from the difficulties
by means of negotiations, I might still have the weakness
to cling to it ; but I am convinced that further negotia-
tions, instead of securing a peace, will only aggravate the
dangers and distresses of the war. lam confident that, if
negotiations are continued, the Government may be pre-
vented, indeed, from making a disgraceful peace by the
still latent spirit of England, but the Government, if it
persists in its present policy, will only substitute for such
a peace c. lingering, fruitless, and inglorious war. I ask
the House, therefore, to support this motion, because one
of its main objects is to put an end to this fatal union be-
tween diplomacy and aggressive war. Sir, it has been said
that the motion which I um about to make expresses a
distrust of her Majesty's Government. Be it so. Is there
any man out of this house who does not feel a distrust of
her Majesty's Government ? (Hear.) I beg the noble lord
to understand that Ido not say this by way of taunt. I
know full well—and it is a most sorrowful thing—that this
distrust is not limited to her Majesty's Government ; and
that it has been occasioned by the policy of this country
for the last two years. That distrust reaches our generals,
although they are victorious—it reaches our officers,
although during this war they have achieved deeds of un-
precedented valour, and maintained among their troops
unexampled discipline—(hear)—it reaches our aristocracy,
although they have poured out their bloodl ike water iu the
conflict. (Hear.) Amid the dark suspicions that have,
alas, been rife, that distrust has even reached the prac-
tical working of our administrative system ; and will
you, then, hesitate to support me to-night in this
the first effort to breathe some feeling of life into this
House, in the dangerous circumstances in which, be-
lieve me, the House of Commons is placed? (Hear, hear.)
Further forbearance on our part cannot be submitted to by
our constituents. I speak frankly ; I say that silence is
by them considered to be an abnegation of our functions.
(Hear.) You must say "Ay" or "No" to this motion.
I cannot believe that you will allow any miserable amend-
ments to evade the issue which I am going to place before
the House of Commons. (Cheers.) That issue is this :
" Will you put an end to this diplomatic subterfuge, and
this Ministerial trifling ?" and it will be so looked upon, I
believe, here and elsewhere. I find, sir, that a right hon.
gentleman has done me the honour of adopting five lines
of my composition. (A. laugh.) I must congratulate the
present Ministry upon its good fortune in always having
a Privy Councillor to rush to its aid ; and certainly it
ought to be a wise Government that has so many amateur
and veteran colleagues. (Laughter.) I read that Sir F.
Baring is to move an amendment to my motion in these
terms :—" That this house, having seen with regret that
the conferences of Vienna have not led to a termination of
hostilities, feels it to be a duty to declare that it will con-
tinue to give every support to her Majesty in the prosecu-
tion of the war, until her Majesty shall, in conjunction
with her allies, obtain for this country a safe and honour,
able peace." The latter portion of this amendment is
taken from the words of my motion. Is this the amend-
ment of the Ministry ? If it is their amendment, it is an
act on the part of the Ministry which vindicates to a cer-
tain degree the course I have taken, and in every sense
condemns themselves. (Hear, hear.) If the noble lord and
his colleagues think that this house ought, in the present
stat of affairs, in consequence of the failure of these nego-
tiations, to express their determination to support her
Majesty in the manner I have eescribed, how can the no-
ble lord reconcile it to himself that he did not himself,
like a loyal Minister of the Crown—(hear, bear)—cothe
forward and propose an address thankiug her Majesty
for the papers which she has so graciously placed on our
table? I can hardly recall the passage, but I remember
reading of an example in the history of this countrywhich
the noble lord the First Minister might well study in re-
gard to communications of this nature proceeding from
the Sovereign. It is to be found in " Cox's Life of Sir
Robert,Walpole," where it is stated that the Duke of
Newcastle, then Secretary of State, brought down papers
relating to the threatened invasion of England, and laid
them on the table of the House of Lords, by Royal com-
mand. In consequence of some papers on the same subject
having been previously laid on the table, and the Crown
having been addressed in regard to them, the Duke of
Newcastle said it was not necessary a second time to ad-
dress the Sovereign. I can remember the spirit if I can-
not repeat the words of Sir Robert Walpole on that occa-
sion, when he Made the only speech he ever delivered as
Earl of Orford :—" My lords," I think he said, " isthe
English language so barren that we cannot find words to
express our gratitude to his'Majesty for every act of grace
and condescension to this assembly ? ' And, continuing in
this strain, he so shamed the Ministry that, although the
Government party had a great majority in the House of
Peers, that august assembly rose almost in a body and
decided that it should address the Monarch ; while the
Prince of Wales, who was then in Opposition, although
he had not Veen for some time on speaking terms
with Lord Orford, warmly embraced. that nobleman,
and, addressing him, exclaimed, " From this moment
we ' are friends. I feel that you have vindicated
the honour of the Crown and represented the feeling of the
country." (Hear.) Well, then, here is this amendment
of the right hon. gentleman (Sir F. Baring). Is it the
amendment of the Government? Will they have courage
to support this amendment? If they have, it is possible
they may yet take Sebastopol—(hear, and laughter from
the Opposition)—for a more audacious act was never per-
petrated in this country. (A. laugh.) I wish to impress
upon the house the difference between my motion and the
shabby amendment—(laughter)—that has been cribbed
from my thoughts and ,clothed in my stolen language.
(Laughter.) What is the difference between them ? It
is this—both the motion and the amendment contain the
assurance which I am sure hon. gentlemen on all sides will
feel it their duty to proffer to the Crown, of their determi-
nation to support her Majesty in the war in which we are
engaged—(cheers)--but in the amendment there is an omis •
sion of those words, which, if they be adopted, will ring
through England to-morrow, and will gladden the heart of
many a patriot who is now discontented, when he finds
that the House of Commons have come to the issue I have
just described, and have decided by their vote to-night
that there shall be an end to diplomatic subterfuge and
Ministerial trifling. (Loud cheers.)
Mr. BARROW, in seconding the motion, expressed his
concurrence with the right hon. member for Buckingham-
shire in the opinion that the negotiations in progress at
Vienna were inconsistent with the continuance of the war,
and his belief that a large majority of the people of this
country were anxious that the suspense existing with respect
to:those negotiations should be terminated. He was fully
alive to the deplorable consequences of war—to the misery
which it inflicted upon private families, and to its injurious
effect upon the commerce and the general interests of the
country ; but it was because he entertained this feeling so
strongly that he was anxious to impress upon the house the
necessity of a vigorous prosecution of the war as the only
means of obtaining a secure and honourable peace. He was
satisfied that such a war as was now waged between great
and powerful nations would not be brought to a satisfactory
termination so lotig as any irresolution was exhibited on
the part of her Majesty's Government. He remembered
the hollow truce—the peace of Amiens—which for a short
period interrupted the war that was carried on at the corn-
mencemcntof the present century, and he had no desire to
see such an experiment repeated.
The question having been put by the SPEAKER,
Sir F. BARING said that, notwithstanding the formid-
able language of the right hon. member for Buckingham-
shire, he was not at all inclined to shrink from proposing
the amendment of which he had given notice. Indeed,
the right hon. gentleman's speech had convinced him of
the propriety of submitting such an amendment to the
house, for that speech plainly disclosed the intention which
he believed had lurked under the right hon. gentleman's
motion. He (Sir F. Baring) would, in the first place,
state the reasons which had induced him to steal the lan-
guage of the right hon. gentleman. (A. laugh.) He lied
concurred in the views expressed in that house by the no-
ble lord at the head of the Government, that until the
final and formal close of the conferences at Vienna, there
was no necessity for the expression of any opinion on the
part of the house with reference to the negotiatibns ; but
the state of affairs was entirely altered when the right hon.
gentleman's notice appeartcl upon the paper. The house
was then compelled to pronounce an opinion of some kind
or other, and the right hon. gentleman, with his usual
dexterity, had combined an address to the Crown with an
attack upon the Government. After the right hon.
gentleman had laid upon the table a proposal to address
her Majesty, stating in proper terms and language, that
Parliament was prepared to support her Majesty until a
just and honourable peace had been obtained, it was im-
possible to meet such a proposition with a direct nega-
tive, HQ, gentleman must remember that their discussions