The Sun.
London, England, 1855-07-24 00:00:00

LONDe Lti, TuEs DAy, JULY 24, 1855.

The Report of the Committee on the Turkish
Loan was last night brought up and received, if
not
without oppositdon at least without a
and a bill fot.nded thereon was ordered to be
brought in. The opponents of the resolution
were, with few exceptions, apparently thoroughly
ashamed of the, factious and highly
impolitic
course adopted. They had
accordingly the grace
to abstain from any attempt to repeat the dis-
creditable proce Oiling.
An apologetic tone was,
generally speakhkg, adopted by the absentees, and
there was a gent n al feeling that if there had been
the slightest not: o n of the formidable consequences
that might have :followed the repudiation of the
convention, flier e.
would have been a very deci-
majority in favour of the
sive and over wh 31 ming
Government pro p Dsition.
There Was, Lowever, one exception. Mr.
BRIGHT, the brotsi:-brimmed friend of peace at any'
p rice or on any e( inditions, exhibited his usual pug-
nacious propensit ie s, hitting right and left in every
direction with as. :much reckless indifference as to
the quarter on - wt ich his blows might fall as an
inebriated Irish 1 a.: lor at a faction fight. And
the " sweet lamb,,'" while pitching into everybody
with the most perfect impartiality, complained

that he bad been " brow-beaten" by the Press !
BRIGHT bullied ! teneafis antici ? The
notion is too rich. He asked, with an air of in-
jured innocence, " Do those people out of doors
who in the public press write lectures to us think
that we are mean, sneaking cowards ?" We shall
answer the interrogatory which he has emphati-
cally addressed to public journalists, although
possibly without expecting a response. We do
not consider Mr. BRIGHT " a mean, sneaking
coward." His conduct in reference to the War
might induce many persons to think so, and we
have no doubt that the term may be applicable to
many of his supporters. But it is not so
to the man of whom his most intimate friend
and coadjutor declared, that "if he had
not been a Quaker, he would have
been a prize fighter." We have no doubt
that he is perfectly conscientious in his opposition
to the War, and that he conceives himself justified
in adopting any course in order to bring it to a
close, which in a person holding different religious
tenets would be " unwise, unstatesman-like, and
unpatriotic." But Mr. BRIGHT is almost a mo-
nomaniac on the point ; and, therefore, we make
due allowances for the man, although we feel
bound earnestly to protest against opinions in which
scarcely one in a hundred of the population of the
country participates, and which we believe t 9 be
alike injurious to the honour and the interests of
the British Nation ! But the Honourable Gen-
tleman, who feels himself one of an insignificant
minority, would now fain muzzle the Press.
There was a time when he thought very differently,
when he was, or professed to be, truly grateful
for the exertions of the Fourth Estate, in advo-
cating the great principle of Free Trade, and
scarcely less so when they handed about
the begging-box for himself and his colleagues.
Then, "an unfettered Press "—a true and accu-
rate exponent of public opinion—was the great
Palladium of national liberty, and the most un-
restricted liberty of commenting on the sayings
and doings of public men was its unquestionable
privilege. But now all this is changed. In place of
being petted and caressed, his -Views sustained, and
himself applauded, he finds that his absurdities are
ridiculed, and his fallacies unsparingly exposed,
and therefore the Press is to be silenced, and he
is not to be " browbeaten." We tell Mr. BRIGHT
that he cannot thus silence those who have as
much right to speak as himself, and whose opinions
aro as conscientiously entertained, and will, there-
fore, be as freely expressed as his own. We have
made great allowance for the peculiar tenets
of the sect of which he is a member,
but we cannot on that account " abdicate
our functions," or disregard the duties
of our position as easily as some Honourable and
Right Honourable Gentlemen seem disposed
to do.

Mr. GLADSTONE also defended his vote, although
with less vehemence and less offensive personality
than his new colleague. The sharp hits of Mr.
LAYARD, however, told powerfully, and the ex-
pr,sure of the inconsistency of the Right Hon.
Gentleman while actually a member of the Go-
vernment which professed to be friendly to the
Ottoman Empire, and to be even willing to take
up arms in its defence, making a damaging
speech for the purpose of preventing it from ob-
taining the pecuniary assistance it so greatly re-
quired, excited him in no ordinary degree. With
these exceptions the tone of the minority was apolo-
getic, and we trust that there is no great proba-
bility of a repetition of Friday's attempt. Due vigi-
lance must, however, be exercised, and now that
the full importance of the result is appreciated
there must be no possible chance afforded to the
Peace Party of inflicting so serious a blow on the
country as a refusal to sanction the Treaty en-
tered into with our faithful Ally would necessarily
be. On this point there can be "no mistake"
for the future.

Imagine an individual of a frank, fearless, and
h,,nest nature thwarted in his aspirations, frus-

trated in his best endeavours, and victimised

generally by domestic treachery, in vague uneasy
consciousness of this, casting vainly about for ade-
quate proof in order to put a stop to what em-
bitters his existence, and you have a picture no
high-minded man but must contemplate with corn-
pissionate interest.

Imagine a great nation in similar circumstances;
_ _

fancy its confidence systematically betrayed, its
mighty expeditions failures, its liberality of blood
and treasure fruitless, its aspirations baulked, its
will set practically at nought, and its uneasy sus-
piciousness of treachery still unsatisfied by abso-
lute proof, and you have a spectacle over which
gods and men might weep.
Imagine, further, a picture sub ars the history
of the War presents, and you have one over
which if you do not weep, you will at least have
no reason to rejoice. There are no traitors in the

19th century, they are all Russians and catspaws
of Germany, or we might hint at the probability
of treason. But of this we feel perfectly assured
that a secret, subtle, un-English, and uncon-
stitutional influence, whose traces are to be
met with everywhere, has been exercised with
the most injurious effects to the honour and in-
erests of this country, and that so long as that
influence remains unexposed and ina.resisted, we
may look in vain for statesmen in Vaom we can
confide, and for the prosperous conclusion of the
War with Russia. The nation was "Lover more in
earnest, or more able to prosecute, a war with
vigour than the present ; and only to the
baneful influence to which we alludo- —call it Ger-
minima or what you will, provided it; be foreign—
tre we willing to ascribe the shamefu 1 manner in
which it has been carried on, and the circum-
stances connected with it which. mus t inevitably
leave an ineffaceable stain ou Britis h statesman-
ship and
malignandPilblic spirit. To what, indeed, but
influence can we ascribe the unsur-
passed Ministerial treachery and vacillation from
which the country has so severely suffered ?
Treachery and vacillation are more foreign than
English vices ; and the inspiration: for them, in
`his instance, may fairly be said to have come
from abroad.
Fatal, however, as this influence has proved,
it exists in as much force as o,7er. RUSSELL
has fallen under it, and PAlntEltsvoN is unable
to withstand it. It permeates in every direction,
and can only be counteracted by -the vigilance
and stayed by the murmurs and resolute attitude
of the people. Already the plot for the interval
between the conclusion of the sessi on and the
meeting of Parliament may be ski)tched ; and
while we congratulate ourselves on a 'Belgian exit,
the meshes of a Russo-German web may be gather-

ing around us.
3fE
Under such circumstances, the go estion to be
put by Major REED to RSTON is Lord PAL
ex-
ceedingly apropos. The Gallant Major is to ask
whether, in the event of circumstances arising
'luring the recess calculated to put an end
to hos-
tilities, the Noble Lord would consider it his
duty to call together Parliament before ratifying
terms of peace. The remarks of the Morning
Advertiser on the subject are so appropriate
that we quote them in full The ques-
tion," says our spirited coni;einporary, " is
one of the greatest imporiiance, and the!

country must feel deeply indebted to the Hon.
and Gallant Member for Abingdon for putting it.
There exists, at this moment, the greatest dis-
quietude in the public mind at the bare possibility
of Parliament being prorogued without an assur-
ance being given of the nature implied in Major
REED'S question. When we reflect on the narrow
escape which the country has had of being sold
bodily, to Russia, through the agency of Lord
JOHN RUSSELL, it is no wonder that the nation
should be tremblingly alive to the danger of an
unsafe and dishonourable peace being concluded
during the recess. Major REED, therefore,
will only give expression to the universal
feeling, when he this evening puts his ques-
tion to Lord PALMERSTON. If the Noble Lord
at the head of the Government be, as he affirms
he is, determined not to accept any terms of
peace which will not be compatible with the
honour of the country, and secure the independ-
ence of Turkey and the peace of Europe, he will,
it is to be presumed, feel obliged to the Hon.
and Gallant Member for Abingdon for affording
him an opportunity of giving an assurance which
will tranquillise the public mind on a question of
the most momentous kind. If the answer of the
Noble Lord should be evasive or unsatisfactory,
we trust that Major REED will not be diverted
from his purpose, but that he will adopt what-
ever other course may seem to him most advis-
able, with the view of extorting from the Premier
an assurance which he had refused to give of his
own accord."

To the existence of this disquietude in the
public mind we can confidently speak ; and we
trust that especial care will be taken by Major
REED and other Hon. Members that an unmis-
takeable answer be given to the inquiry. In our
conscience we believe such assurance to be neces-
sary.