The Sun.
London, England, 1855-02-21 00:00:00

noble friend opposite, he hoped and trusted that a war enter-
ed into, as the i were told, to prevent Russian aggression en
the Turks, was not t • be converted into a war for earrri•,--

iu Poland

No

more deeply for the Poles than himself, or contlemnect
strongly the iniquitous proceedings of the Three Powers,
which terminat. d in its dismemberment ; but at the same
time he thought that, had it not been for the faults of the
Poles themselves, the design could never have succeeded.
Had it not been for those unhappy internal divisions which
always made the Poles incapable of governing themselves, and
unfitted them for a6ting as a great nation, their number and
the resources they possessed, were amply sufficient to have
enabled them to protect themselves against the ambition of
their neighbours. He feared they had the same faults still,
and his belief was that if ever Poland should be regenerated
the work must be accomplished, not from without, but from
within. If we were to engage in the hopeless measure of re-
establishing Poland, we should find ourselves embarked in
numberless difficulties, and committed to the hazards and
responsibilities of future wars, which might for generations in-
volve the country in calamity.
The Earl of HARROWBY begged to ask his noble friend
in what way he contemplated takinc, any securities for the
future against Russia, if not in the direction which he had
just specified The present war was not one of immediate
self-defence, for Russia was not attacking us, and we were
under no obligatiouto support Turkey. It was an act of far-
sighted self-defence—a war of policy, of which the main
object was to prevent Russia obtaining a preponderance in
the affairs of Europe. Could this object be attained by
merely expelling her from the principalities—humiliated,
but not weakened ? The noble earl spoke of Poland as
having been unfit to defend herself ; but he forgot that
she bad net merely defended herself, but had been the
saviour of the empire under Sobieski ; and it was at the mo-
ment when the main evils of her internal condition we
about to be remedied that Russia stepped in and effected her
subjugation.

The Earl of EGLINTON wished to advert for a moment to
the subject of the Scottish militia. The noble earl who com-
menced the discussion had recommended that the lord-lieu-
tenants should call upon tee deputy-lieutenants of counties
to co-operate with them in raising men for the militia. The
act for the Scottish militia contained a clause precluding the
lord-lieutenant from doing so except under authority spe-
cially given by the Crown. He was happy to say that ho had
been tolerably successful iu obtaining volunteers in the
county with which he was connected, and several weeks ago
more than 400 out of 600 were enrolled. There had been
great and unnecessary delay about the embodiment of the
militia, and at this moment it was not settled what the uni-
form of the Scottish militia was to be, so that they were
brought to a stand-still until this point was decided.
Lord COLO aESTER observed that what his noble friend
(the Earl of Ellenborough) recommended was, that native
Indian troops should be sent, not to the Crimea, but into
Asiatic Turkey, where, from similarity of religion, they might
more easily act in unison with the inhabitants. His noble
friend further suggested that they might be paid in part at
least by the East India Company,,which had a great interest
in preventing the countries of Central Asia from falling under
the domination of Russia. He must remind the noble earl
opposite that great authorities had held very different views
on the qaestion of a Russian inva ion of India. What else
had induced British statesmen for the last half century to
support so strenuously the independence of Persia? And
what had Lord Melbourne's Government done in 1838 ? On
the mere rumours or notion that the Ameer of Cabul had en-
gaged in an alliance with Russia they thought fit to send an
army and upset his sovereignty.
Earl FITZWILLIAM entirely approved of the mea-
sure, which he believed would produce the most
beneficial effects in improving the composition of
our army. He disapproved of seeing the militia con-
verted into a mere nursery for the regular army. It was a
great mistake for Government to enforce volunteering, be-
cause if the system of volunteering was to be pushed to the
fullest extent, he did not understand how the militia could
be properly officered. It was desirable that the militia should
be officered by the gentry of the country ; but he did not see
how they could expect that to be the case if regiments were
to be required to volunteer in their corporate capacity.
Gentlemen who bad duties to perform in this country could
not be expected to volunteer their services for the colonies,
and therefore he trusted his noble friend would consider well
before he called upon officers to enforce volunteering amongst
the men. He said enforced volunteering, because what was
called volunteering might be put in such a manner as to take
the shape and tone of force ; and as he, for ono, disapproved
of the idea of making the militia a mere nursery for the regu-
lar army, he hoped nothing but legitimate volunteering would
be expected, to which, of course, he entertained no objection
whatever. (Hear.) He was not going into the other topics
touched upon in the course of this debate, but at the same
time he could not sit down without expressing his entire con-
currence with what had fallen from the noble earl who had
recently addressed them, relative to the fear that Russia
would attack India. That was a fear which he did not enter-
tain ; he did not believe that Russia could march au army
over the deserts and scale the mountains which intercept
Russia and the Indian peninsula • those natural defenders
were sufficient to protect India not only against the physical
attack of frost and snow, but also to protect her against the
ambition of the northern Autocrat. He did not believe there
was any danger in that direction, but still he agreed with the
noble marquis that it was most desirable that we should avail
ourselves of the high spi.it and peculiar position of those
tribes which lie bet s een the Black Sea and the Caspian, be-
cause he considered it most essential that there should be a
barrier placed between Russia and Persia. Whatever fear he
might entertain of Russian designs upon India, he did not
think they could be directed to the north of the Sea off
Azoff, so much as to influence the movements of the tribes
which lie between the Black Sea and the Caspian.
_ .

Lord PANMURE said an expression had fallen from him
which seemed to have given rise to some misapprehension.
When he used the expression " quota" he did net mean that
each militia regiment would be compelled to send up a portion
of its men for foreign service ; all that he meant was that
there should be no time lost in volunteering, so that the
quota of each might be ascertained. The volunteering would
not be compulsory, bat entirely at the free will of the men;
but it was not'for the credit of the service that militia regi-
ments should be kept as it were in a state of insubordination,
for a week or ten days, by the uncertainty that surrounded
the matter, and therefore a communication would be made to
the commanding officers of those regiments which had sup-
plied no volunteers, with the view of ascertaining whether or
no the men had been afforded a fair opportunity for volun-
teering. (Hear.) With reference to the suggestion of the
noble earl (Earl Grey), that mon who had purchased their
discharge should be allowed to re-enter the service upon cer-
tain terms, perhaps the noble earl was not aware of the exist-
ing regulation upon that point. When he first entered the
War-office he found that the men who purchased their dis-
charge were allowed six months, within which time theycould
re-enter if they repented of their retirement. If they returned
to the army within those six months they were allowed to
count their former service, while a portion of the purchase
money was returned to them. That was how the matter
stood when he first went to the War-office ; but whilst he was
Secretary-at-War the period was enlarged to a year ; and now
he understood from the Commander-in-Chief that it had been
further extended to two years. But supposing they were to
invite all the men who had purchased their discharge within
the last few years, and who were below 37 years of age, he
did not think it would very materially augment the army,
because, while he was Secretary-at-War, he did not think
more than 60 or 70 men purchased their discharge in a year.
Under these circumstances he did not feel disposed to adopt
the suggestion of the noble earl, at all events until all other
sources had failed.
Lori VIVIAN gave it as his opinion, which was founded

upon inquiry, that if the wh le of the purchase money were
returned, many men would be induced to return, and it should
not be forgotten that we had arrived at a crisis when our ob-
ject should be to get the ablest soldiers. (Hear, hear.)
The bill was then read a second time, and the standing or-
ders having been suspended, it was committed, reported, and
finally read a third time and passed.

PUBLIC BUSINESS.

Oa the motion of Lord REDESDALE the following resolu,

tions were agreed to, viz That no private bill shall be
read a second time after Tuesday, the 10th day of July next.
That no bill confirming any provisional order of the Board of
Health, or authorising any enclosure of lands under special
report of the Enclosure Commissioners for England and
Wales, shall be read a second time after Tuesday, the 17th
day of July next. That when a bill shall have passed this
house with amendments these orders shall not apply to any
new bill sent up from the House of Commons which the chair-
man of committees shall report to the house is substantially
the same as the bill so amended."

Their lordships then adjourned at half-past seven o'clock

HOUSE OF COMMONS-YESTERDAY.
PETITIONS.

Sir J. WALMSLEY presented a petition from
Paisley in favour of the vigorous prosecution of the war,
and praying that effort; might be made to re-establish
the oppressed nationalities of Poland and Hungary.
Sir J. DUKE presented a petition from various
City boards, in favour of Lord Brougham's Registration
of Bills of Exchange Bill, and against Mr. Keating's bill
on the same subject.

BIUSiNESS OF THE HOUSE.
Mr. SOTHERON moved the following resolutions
relating to the business of the house :—" That this house
will not allow any public bill to be read a second time
after the Ist day of July, without special leave ; that it
will not allow any bill to continue an act about to expire
to be read a second time after Easter, without special
leave ; and, that orders of the day have precedence of
notices of motions on every day of the week after Whit-

suntide." He stated reasons in support of these propii-
intions, which, he thought, might be adopted as sessional
orders, by way of experiment.
Mr. Bouverie suggested various objections to the re-
solutions, which were likewise opposed by Mr. W. Wil-
liams and by Lord Palmerston, who thought it would be
unwise to tie the house down to rules which would fetter
its discretion.
The motion was withdrawn.
DWELLING-HOUSES (SCOTL AND) BILL.
Mr. DUNLOP moved for leave to bring in a bill to
facilitate the erection of dwelling-houses for the work-
ing clasres in Scotland, explaining the objects and pro-
visions of the measure.
The motion was supported by Mr. Elliot, Mr. Kin-
naird, Mr. Wilkinson, and Mr. Cardwell, and agreed to.