The Sun.
London, England, 1855-11-26 00:00:00

MR. BENTIACK, M.P., ON TI3E WAR.

Mr. Bentinck, M.P., met his constituents at Terring
ton, near King's Lynn, on Wednesday, and addressed
them on the war, the Turkish loan, &c. On the lattertopic
he defended the coursehe had taken in voting against the
Ministry, as he thought the money proposed to be raised
would have been better employed in collecting a fresh
levy of English troops, in increasing the navy, and in
promoting the bona fide progress of the war. On the
general question of the war he observed that he bad
always thought 'the invasion of the Crimea a grievous
mistake. Passing on to the question of a general block-
ade of the Russian empire, he observed—" When the
war was first considered a matter of probability in the
House of Commons there were various discussions on
the subject, and it was urged by mon of the longest ex-
perience and the greatest ability—men who were- most
conversant with the subject, and cognisant of the finan-
cial details and commercial position of the Russian em-
pire—that the only vulnerable point to Russia was
through her export trade, and that the only real mode
of aggression this country possessed against her was the
enforcing, not a nominal, but a strict blockade. We had,
in reply to the various remarks which were made on the
subject, pledges by the Government of the day that the
blockade should be strictly enforced, and we had counter
arguments by the gentlemen of the Manchester school,
who have since degenerated into the peace at-any-price
party. Those gentlemen rose and remonstrated with the
Government against carrying out the blockade upon the
old system practised in the last war, because, they said,
"If you attempt this you will involve this country in a
war with America." Gentlemen, there is no man in a
rational state of mind who would not much rather see
this country at peace than at war with America—there
is no man who is not prepared to admit that war with
America would be a great national misfortune ; but, if a
war with America had arisen from the circumstances
adverted to by those gentlemen who were so extremely
anxious upon the point, it would have arisen from the
over-sensitiveness of the Americans as to their mari-
time rights. We, in fact, were called upon to forego a
privilege which we exercised without question during
the last war—to forego a system by means of which
we could have established ea offioloot blockade upon the
Russian ports. The consequence of that has been in the
first place, as far as the Americana are concerned, that
while we waived our right in that particular, within the
last three weeks we have been—l will not say upon the
verge, but certainly within the probability of an Ameri-
can war—about "what ? About halfa dozen recruits, not
worth having when you got them. We gave up the
enormous advantage of a blockade of the Russian ports
through dread of incurring the displeasure of the Aineri-
cane and we find ourselves now risking all that we gave
up so much for then, merely upon a frivolous question
of this kind. It certainly shows that as far as the
Americans are concerned there is a very strong party in
that country who are not particularly friendly to the
British nation. Flow the question is to be settled re-
mains to he seen ; but the result of this is—whatever
the cause may have been—that if we may believe the re-
turns with which we are furnished, the export trade of
Russia has increased during the war ; and it is admitted
by every man who is conversant with the commercial po-
sition of the Russian empire and with the resources
which she has at her disposal, that she is mainly de-
pendent upon her export trade.- I ask you whether this
is not in itself a sufficient corroboration of the opinion
which I have held from the first, that if we had taken
effectual steps to enforce a real blockade we should pro-
bably have had Russia at our feet in the course of a year,
not from the want cf men, but from the want of means
to pay them, from the suffocation of her trade and the
failure of her finances. I tell you this not as my opinion
only, but as the opinion of all the best-informed men
upon the subject ; and the fact is beyond dispute, that
at the end of more than a year of war we find ourselves
keeping up what we call a complete blockade of the Rus-
sian ports, while we are in possession of returns showing
that the export trade of Russia is on the increase. I
quite admit that we ought to have gone a step further.
The great source of the export trade of Russia has
been through Prussia ; and I would much rather have
seen our Government take a summary course and say to
the Prussian Government, " This is one of those cases
where neutrality is out of the question ; you are either
with us or you are against us, but we cannotunder these
circumstances, for the sake of playing what schoolboys
call a fast and loose game, allow you to involve us in the
sacrifice of thousands of men and millions of money by
your being the means of supplying our enemy with
munitions of war. One of two things—if you side with
them we know how to deal with you ; if you side with
us we will instruct you how to deal witsi them." The
bon. and gallant gentleman resume,' his seat amid con-
siderable applause.