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

( From the Times of this day. )
It is lather a remarkable revelation to bo made without
any reserve or misgiving, that there exists in the Cabinet
which is wholly responsible for the continuance of the war a
Minister of great consideration who -thinks it unnecessary.
That is the fact. Not deterred by his rebuff the other evening
Mr. Gibson last night renewed his efforts to probe the great
mystery of the Vienna negotiations. This is not the first
time, uor the second time, nor even the third time that, after
a due bombardment of questions and insinuations, an attempt
has been made to assault the rampart of official reserve, and
get at the reason why Lord John left Vienna so abruptly,
and how it 'came to pass that the Austrian Minister and
others as well informed, confidently stated that Lord John
,was ready to make peace, as some said, on any trans; at
least on' terms that Austria would agreeto. It comes out
that the English' and French Plenipotentiaries were'agreed,
and that they returned home to recommend to their Govern-
ments the acceptance of the Austrian proposition ; that M
Drouyn de l'Huys, on finding he had not the concurrence of
his Government, resigned ; that this want of concurrence was
owing, not to the independent opinion of the French Em-
peror and his advisers, but to the dissent of the British
Government ; and that, notwithstanding that dis-
sent and the consequent retirement of the French
Plenipotentiary, Lord John. Russell has thought it best to
devour his differences in silence, and to assist his colleagues
in carrying on a war which he believes to be wholly gratui-
tous, and involving the nation in the guilt of causeless blood-
shed. All this was rumoured, not only here, but through-
out Europe. Reasons were even assigned. Some said that
Lord John had been seduced by the hearty and good-natured
tone of the Russian Plenipotentiary; others, that, he had
learned more than he chose to tell, including some vision
of danger from some quarter or other to the country ; in fact,
that he had " seen a wolf," and that his very Hence was
portentous. It was then stated very confidently that when
he resumed his place in the Cabinet haneade such a case that
he won over several of his colleagues to his view of the Sub-
ject ; that the Cabinet was therefore divided into a peace
party and a war party ; that the war party carried the day,
and that Lord John Russell, conceiving that he,would be no-
body, and would do no good out of the Cabinet, resolved to
forget his advice and the• whole chapter of his unsuecepsful
diplomacy, and hold on with Lord Palmerston. We ven-
tured to intimate ourselves that the case was very much
as we have stated it. Yet, when the opportunity occurred,
and the special invitation came, to give Parliament a full ac-
count of the failure of the Conferences, and Lord John
Russell's own part in it, his lordship flew cif into some safe
historical declamation about the immense power, dangerous
position, and overweening ambition of Russia, the general
effect of which was that he was quite as'much heart and soul
in the war as any of his colleagues. As might be expected,
we came off ourselves rather ill. We were charged with hav-
ing imagined a dissension between Lord John and his col-
leagues, with having fabricated a peace party, all out of spite
either to Lord John, or to somebody, or to everybody. In-
deed, we have statement had so much abuse as for this one false
and malicious viz. that Lord John Russell had
came back from Vienna with' au Austrian proposition for
peace, and had strongly urged his colleagues to agree to it,
but that they had refused.
After a silence of we know not how many Weeks, so long
and so profound that really Lord John and his Conferences
had almost come to be forgotten in the gravity of passing',
events, all of a sudden last night, on Mr. Gso's mere
interrogatory, Lrd John Made a clean brea ibst,n telling
everything with the simplicity of a- child. It was per-
fectly true that he had acquiesce." in the, Austrian pro-
position, and expressed an opinion in private to the
Austrian Minister that it afforded a means of
ter carry
of
ing
out the third point as satisfactory to the interests
Europe as to tho honour of Russia. It was quite
true that M. Drouyn de l'Huys had agreed with him. It was
true that he had remained of the same opinion still, and to
this day thinks we are lavishing our blood and our treasure
without any necessity for it. It is also true that there was
good precedent for withdrawing in such a case—the case, viz.,
of a decided difference of opinion with the Cabinet on th
most important question, not of the day, but of the centurye .
Was there ever anything more ingenuous ? If the position in
which his lordship now stands be not quite accountable on
the common notions of consistency, cOnstitutional propriety,
and even personal honour, still there can be no doubt as to
the facts of the case. We now know all about it. Mr. Gibson
has broken the mystery, and captured the fortress, by the
simple expedient of walking right into it. Ou the former oc-
cassion Lord John was evidently in no humour to give satis-
faction, and preferred to raise a cloud of dust about Russian
aggressions, or anything whatever. On this occasion he has
been so prompt, so explicit, and so natural as oven to
suggest the ides, which, of course, has no foundation in fact,
that he was not only prepared for the question, but had
even contrived it, in his fear that more delay would occur,
and that Parliament would separate before hhat e had had
stood
the
opportunity of informing the world tho
in precisely the same position as M. Drouyn de l'Huys, ex-
cepting only that the Frenchman had retired from office, and
the Englishman had not.
Well, this is, to say the least, a very odd story. There are
not many men in England, we had said irr the world, who
could stand up and tell it with Lord John Russell's matchless
composure. " Evil be to him that thinks evil." doubt
Lord John is an honourable man ; so long as he is satisfied he
is acting for the best, and doing his country more service by
staying in the Cabinet than by " hanging out" anywhere else,
and knocking about among the various nondescript Opposi-
tions, his lordship must be considered the best judge of his
own conduct. At the same time we cotdd wish that his lord-
shif) had just dropped a syllable to save oar ownhumble selves
from the charge of lying and slandering;
profusely heaped
upon us when we spoke of the peace and war party in the
Cabinet, and said that Lord John had brought and recom-
mended overtures of peace from Vienna. There is,an-
other unfortunate mcaapropos in the time which his lordship
has selected for his hardy confession. It is much the same as
what happened at Christmas. On that occasion, after
keeping to himself, or at least from the world,
for three-quarters of a year, his objections to the
imperfect state of the War Ministry, and his distrust of
the hands in which it was placed, he found himself at last
obliged to speak out at the very moment when the Govern-
ment was on the eve of dissolution under the
As storm
nothing of pubcan
lic
disgust at the mismanagement of the war,
be more disagreeable to a generousnation than to desert friends
in the hour of peril and disaster, so hiss lordship wast
assumed
uly un-
fortunate in having put off a good en ll i
the appearance of that equivocal act. In the present instance
it so happens that we have had, till just now, a run of suc-
cesses, or something like it, ever since Lord John returned
from Vienna; so decided, indeed, at first, that certainly
a proposition to make peace with Russia on tho Austrian
terms would have sounded very ridiculous. The restored
health and increased numbers of the allied armies, the
arrival of the Sam dinian contingent, the improved condof
i-
tion of the camp and the hospitals, the constant repulse
the Russian sorties, the capture of the Mamelon, the occupa-
tion of the Sea of A zoff, and the prospect of cutting off the
Russian supplies —all kept up a state of confidence, in which
it would have been an act of uncommon courage to explain
what Lord John did last night. The scene has now unhap-
pily changed. We are experiencing the dark side of war.
There is, therefore, now no rashness, no courage, in the con-
fession of peaceful wishes, and of an inward dissatisfaction
with the war. Most heartily do we condole with Lord John
on the delay which has timed his explanation at so ungracious
an hour. But, as truth is always desirable, and better late
than never, we will still beg to thank his lordship for a state-
ment which the British public, and inded all Europe, had
certainly some right to be in possession of, and which is also
' - ^,ir own vindication.