The Sun.
London, England, 1855-02-24 00:00:00

l j ~ ~> y.

end of the kingdom to the other there is a general collapsi
of industry. (Hear.) Those members of this house not
intimately acquainted with the trade and commerce orthe
country do not fully comprehend our position as to the
diminution of employment and the lessening of wages. An
increase in the cost of living is finding its way to the homes
and hearths of a vast number of the labouring population.
At the same time there is growing up—.and, notwithstand-
ing what some hon. members of this house may think of
me, no man regrets it more than I do—a bitter and angry
feeling against that class which has for a long period con-
ducted the public affairs of this country. I like po-
litical changes when such changes are made to be
the result, not of passion, but of deliberation and
reason. Changes so made are safe, but changes made
under the influence of violent exaggeration, or of
the alolent passions of a public meeting, are not
changes usually approved by this house or advantageous
to the country .(Hear.) I cannot but notice, in speaking
to gentlemen who sit on either side of this house and any
of those localities we frequent when this house is up—l
cannot, I say, but notice that an uneasy feeling exists as
to the news that may arrive by the very next mail from
the East. Ido not suppose that your troops are to he
beaten in actual conflict with the foe, or that they will be
driven into the sea, but I am certain that many homes in
England in which there now exists a fond hope that the
distant one may return—many such homes may be ren-
dered desolate when the next mail shall arrive. The angel
of death has been abroad throughout the land ; you may
almost hear the very boating of his wings. There is no
one to sprinkle with blood the lintel and the sideposts of
our doors, that he may spare and pass on ; but he calla at
the castle of the noble, th i mansion of the set al ,hy, equally,
as at the cottage of the humble, and it is on behalf of all
these classes that I make this solemn appeal. I tell tho
noble lord that if he be ready honestly and frankly to en-
deavour, if possible, by the negotiations to be opened at
lieenionnfoa,rmuterionneit3:ut an end to this war, no word of mine, no
v
tobe, will e
given to
his
akpeohsiitsionin
power ftohrisonielosuisne:
g
(Hear.) I am sure that the nolo lord is not inaccessible
to appeals made to him from honest motives and with the
deferential feeling that ho has been for more than 40 years
a member of this Louse. The noble lord, before I was
born, sat upon the Treasury bench, and he has devoted his
life to the service of his country. He is no longer young,
and his life has extended almost to the term allotted to man.
I would ask, I would entreat the noble lord to take a
course which, when he looks back upon his whole political
career—whatever he may therein find to be pleased with,
whatever to regret—cannot but be a source of gratification.
By adopting that course he would have the satisfaction of
refleoting that, having obtained the laudable object of his
ambition—having become the foremost subjectto the Crown,
the dispenser of, it may be, the destinies of this country and
the presiding genius in her councils—he had achieved a
still higher and nobler ambition ; that over Europe he had
returned the sword to the scabbard—that at his word tor-
rents of blood had ceased to flow—that he had restored
tranquillity to Europe aid saved this country from the in-
describable calamities of war. (Loud cheers.)
Mr. SIDNEY HERBERT—Sir, I trust that, in the pe•
culiar situation in which I stand, the house will give me
its attention while I endeavour to explain the reasons
"which have actuated me in the course I have taken in se-
ceding from the Government of the noblo lord, and I pro-
mise I will do so as shortly as I can ; first, because the
greater portion of what I may have to state has been anti-
cipated by my right hon. friend, and partly from my phy-
sical inability to address the house. (Hear.) I feel that
the position which I occupied in the late Government dif-
fered, at any rate in degree, somewhat from those held by
my right hon. friend the First Lord of the Admiralty, and
my right hon. friend the member for the University of
Oxford. I was connected by my official position with one
of the IVar departments ; I was therefore, although in a
secondary degree, implicated in the censures which have
been passed by this house upon the management of those
departments ; because, by the constitutional theory, every
man forming a part of the Cabinet is equally responsible
with his colleagues for what is done by each and every one
of them ; but at the same time our own sense teaches us
that those who are most closely allied to a department the
operation of which has been condemned, do bear a weight
of responsibility, are more liable to eensure, and therefore
more bound to endeavour to stand clearly with the house.
Now, so far as that is concerned, I wish to say a word on
the motion of my hon. and learned friend the member for
Sheffield. His proposition was divided into two portions.
He proposed to institute an inquiry, first into the conduct
of the departments which were concerned in the supply of
the army in the East, and then he proposed, further, to
exareise into the state of the army at Sebastopol. [Mr.
Roebuck dissented.] Well, I am mistaken in point
of order. He proposed to inquire into the state of the
army first, and then into the conduct of the departments.
Now, I draw the widest possible distinction between the
two cases, and for this reason. The House of Commons
not only has the right, but it is the duty of the House of
Commons, to institute the most searching investigation
into the conduct of the Ministers of the Crown, if they are
so minded. I, therefore, have not one word to say against
that portion of the hon. and learned gentleman's motion
which concerns the examination into the conduct of the
Ministers. He had a perfect right to bring forward the
motion, the House of Commons had a perfect right to pass
it, just as I had a perfect right to resist it when I was con-
scious it conveyed an imputation which we did not deserve.
(Hear, hear.) I contend that the hon. and learned gentle-
man was not only justified in bringing it forward if he
thought there was a necessity, but he was right in adhering
to it, because he distinctly avowed that he thought there
had been malversation or misconduct on the part of the
functionaries at home. The tribunal he proposes to con-
stitute is a perfectly constitutional tribunal, and it is im-
portant to bear in mind that it is a tribunal which, from
its proximity to the scene of action, is able preeminently
and efficiently to investigate the charges to the bottom. I
say Ido not object to that nart of the motion. I shall be
ready when the committee sits to go before it. I have no-
thing to conceal—l was going to say, I have nothing to re-
Aset ; but would to God any of us who look back to alitlee
tietsils of the war could safely say that ; but I say I have
nothing to be ashamed of—nothing which I am afraid to
place before the light of day. There is not one word which
1 have said or wi i ten which I am not ready to place before
the committee, and I ain ready to abideby the issue. (Cheers.)
Let no ;non think for one moment that I am attempting to
'bilk or eve'o inquiry. I might vote against the in-
quiry as a Minister of the Crown. I was justified in
so doing, because an accusation was brought into Par-
liament, backed by a proposal for inquiry, and a Mi-
nister of the Crown ought not to he placed under sus-
picion so long es he holds his place. I felt it was not
rig,lt, a hen the inquiry was pendin?, that I should retain
the office of a Mini.ter of the Crown. Now, this con.-
inittee takes rather a wider and a far different scope. I
have se, n in Ibis house several occasions in which, unfor-
tunately. confusion and difficulty have been the result of
motions being brought forward which have not been suffi-
ciently clear and distinct, and couched in such ambiguous
terms that they might be considered to mean one thing or
be converted to other purposes. This vote, when brought
forward the other night, was adopted by a vast number of
gentlemen in the house as a distinct vote of censure, and I
recollect that the remarks of the hon. and learned gentle-
man were clearly to that effect. There have been others
who have understood differently ; but the question is,
What was the general feeling of the house, and what was
the general expectation ? (Hear, he I believe the ge-
neral expectation was, that when Lord Aberdeen's Govern-
ment was put an end to we should hear nothing more than
a formal negativing of the names of the committee. The
House of Commons may be accused of a great want of fore-
sight ; but they shared that opinion to a very great extent.
I can answer for this, that any colleagues shared in that
feeling—l can answer for this, that the noble lord at the
head of the Treasury shared in it until last Friday, and the
speech which he made on that occasion was that of a man
who entertained a strong objection to the nomination of
the committee. I will read the words which he used on
that day :—" We begin then the task which it has been
the pleasure of her Majesty to confide to our care. In un-
dertaking that task it is useless to dissemble that there is
one difficulty which immediately meets us. and which I
may say, stares us in the face ; that difficulty, I mean,
which arises from the notice which my hon. and learned
friend has given for Thursday next. Sir, I will not at-
tempt to disguise the fact that I feel the same objections
to the appointment of the committee of which he has given
notice which I had the honour of stating when the subject
was before the house on a recent occasion. My opinion
is, that such a committee would, in its action, not be in
accordance with the true and just principles of the con-
stitution ; and that for the effectual accomplishment of
it purposes it would not be an efficient instrument." I
must say that that statement of my noble friend was in
strict accordance and strict consistency with everything
that fell from him at the interview which I had the honour
of having with him at the time when, after some conver-
sation, 1 accepted the position which he offered me in his
Government. The noble lord then thought that that mo-
tion walla afford no obstacle or difficulty in the way of his
Government, and that it would be negatived without a
division. But I put that out of the question, and will
consider the motion for the committee in the second point
of view. Whilst the Administration was in the course of
formation a very marked change of opinion took place out
of doors. The vote which had done its duty for the pur.
pose of extinguishing an Administration was taken up out
of doors, and honestly taken up, as a means of inquiry into
evils which are gigantic in theiroporation, and which have
perplexed every roan. That alters the whole aspect of the
matter in this house. Then comes the question—if the
people of England are determined—and, as I think, right-
ly and justly determined—to have a searching investiga-
tion into these matters, is this the best, is this the most
constitutional, is it, above all, the most efficient, tribunal
for getting at the truth ? Now, take care that, in coming
to this decision, you are not practising a great fraud on
those out of doors. As I said before, for the purpose of
inquiry into the state of the departments, you can have
nothing better, because you can send to any man in five
minutes and obtain his despatches and paper,. But for the
purpose of inquiring into transactions going on 3,000 miles
off, the course you contemplate is totally inefficient. The
hon. and learned gentleman said he did not move that in-
struction, and that it was placed on the paper by mistake.
Now, I do not attach much importance to the withdrawal
of that part of the motion. It does not get rid of the
difficulties inherent to the question. What is past is
not specified. What happens to-day becomes " past" to-
morrow. Of course it means the existing as well as the
past state of the army. I apprehend also he means net
simply to inquire into the state of the army, not to ask
how many are sick and how many are wounded—God
knows, we have lists enough to give that explanation,
without summoning a committee !—but also what were
the causes of these calamities. For that purpose this oom-
mittee will be entirely a delusion, You might have had
a commission—somebody in whom the country had confi-
dence—who should have gone out to the spot, and ascer-
tained there what were the causes of these evils, and to
whom should likewise have been entrusted a remedial power
emanating from the Crown, which is the rightful authority.
If you must have this committee of the House of Commons
I must say I entirely sharp the objections which the right
hon. baronet took to its composition. lou are going to
launch these great subjects without the presence of any
Minister of the Crown. If not the Prime Minister, the
departments
itintsistwerliischhotairlde
ihna vdeenl7eern;
tl,i'loerreeign
TMhiensies Minister or tel red e
they are the departments which have charge of those valu-
able relations of this country which you are going to take
from the charge of responsible men, sworn to secrecy, and
to entrust to an irresponsible body, who may publish every
thing the next day. How do you indicate your own
opinion of the committee you are going to appoint ? Yen
advise, you entreat
the Government to pay no respect to
i
it, to institute ts own inquiries—not to wait for the re-
port of the committee, but from its own inquiries and its
own observation to act at once. So that, when your blue
months hence, it will be a complete
It
b pieceok wastecoefme out, four
paper and the committee will have
treated with the utmost contumely by the Executive
Government. You will with great pomp and ceremony
have installed a committee upon which you yourselves.
ask the Executive to heap every disrespfct—disrespeet
is not waiting to know its opinions, in net ectiag