The Sun.
London, England, 1863-12-11 00:00:00

times, often on behalf of crowned heads and against
peoples; but he held that England, if she would re-
tain her position as a first-rate Power. m exert
a moral icfluence on the questions of European con-
cerns which affected her interests. To. do that how-
ever, she must be prepared to incur h :avy expenses ;
and that expense, he believed, Englis men would
not grudge. The Government possessed the beat
information of what took place on the Continent,
and could alone know the state of foreign arma-
ments. In 1861, Mr. Cobden wrote a pamphlet,
entitled "The Three Panics," in which he tried to
persuade us that our armaments were too large,—
infinitely larger than those of France ; and he
quoted returns to show what the French armaments
were. Now, curiously enough, an official report of
the state of the French navy at that time, to which
anybody could refer, had been published, and he
would quote a few facts from it. In France they
had a system of what were called " supplemental
credits"—that was to say, a certain estimate
was taken for tha year for the fleet, the
manning, the building of vessels, and the rest ; but
beyond that, the Minister had the power of drawing
extra credits, which did not appear in the estimates.
Now, in the , House of Commons the mistake had
been made of taking the French estimate alone,
without the supplemental credits. But the real state
of things was as follows :-1861--Vessels estimated
for, 171; number actually armed, 315; estimated
expenditure, £4,999 948 ; supplemental credit,
£3,350,000 ; total, £8,349,948; men on shore, esti-
mated, 4,259; actual number, 8,113; excess,
3,854 ; at sea, estimate, 26,366;
actual number,
42,840 ; excess, 16,474; total excess over estimate,
mentioned of
ou expendituregthh ought
stthese
inb facts
,
00
u 0 excess
. Government H ean
tdo dockyards,hshow
hehaovwy
2.i
:1
0,
careful,3B2oBo:
a responsibility for the defence of the country rested
upon them. In Europe the
were to be seen on almost all
sides. The French
Emperor had proposed a Congress for their settle-
ment, and Englishmen, being a practical people,
always looked to see whether any project that was
proposed to them was likely to promote or defeat
its end. Having given every consideration to the
Emperor's scheme, her Majesty's Government,
acknowledging the good intentions of his Imperial
Majesty, had yet come to the conclusion that a Con-
gress would not practically attain the object in view.
The arguments of Lord Russell's despatch on that
head were, he thought, unanswerable. The good
sense of the English people had at once seized the
drift of those arguments and recognised their force.
Secret diplomacy had often been denounced, and in
diplomatic negotiations a certain amount of secresy
was indispensable to their success; but in this case
the official despatches were submitted to the public,
and on the whole, approved by them, almost as soon
as:they were written. It Russia would not give up Po-
land under pressure of the three Powers, she would
not do so under the pressure of a Congress. Austria
would not give up Galicia, nor would:Prussia give
up Posen. Neither was France likely to give up
Savoy and Nice, whatever might be the decision of
a Congress. But if these questions were raised, how
could animosities be avoided, ending most probably
in war ? No country had less to fear in going into
a Congress than England ; none less of selfish inte-
rest to seek. Selfish feeling, also, was utterly alien
to the decision which the British Government had
taken in this matter. He was surprised that their
Italian friends had jumped so quickly at the proposal
lof a Congress. Of all the countries which had most
to lose from a Congress Italy was the first, because
the majority of the Catholic Powers would, no
doubt, have decided that Rome should remain in the
hands of the Pope against the wishes of the Italian
people ; and Venetia, also, would have been worse
situated than ever. (Cheers.) He woull not at-
tempt to explain the Danish question to them, be.
cause, perhaps, he did not quite understand it him-
self—(a laugh)—but her Majesty's Government had
there likewise endeavoured to persuade the con-
tending parties to come to an amicable understand-
ing, and to respect treaties, which after all must be
the bases of all peace. He trusted that that warning
voice would be heeded, and that a fruitless war,
perhaps involving untold calamities to Europe and
to the Powers immediately concerned, would be
averted. (Hear, hear.) He approached the subject
of Poland with feelings which he could not well
describe. History scarcely furnished a case more
deplorable, more horrible, or in which the Powers
had been more helpless. A policy almost of exter-
mination was being carried out in that unhappy
country, enforced relentlessly against young and
old, woman and man. The contemplation of it natu-
rally made an Englishman's blood run cold. (Cheers.)
But with all their sympathy for that down-trodden
race, the English people felt that they would not
be justified in going to war for them. Short of that
the Government had done what it could in their
behalf. He wished it could have done mote. The
opponents of the Government said in one breath
that it had done too much and that it had done too
little, saying at one moment "Why did you say you
would not go to war ?" and at another, " You gave
encouragement to the Poles." These two things
were irreconcilable. If the Government said at
once that is would not go to war, how could it have
given encouragement to the Poles ? Some argued
that it ought to have done nothing ; but if at the
time the insurrection broke out her Majesty's Go-
vernment had not remonstrated with Russia, as it
was warranted by treaty in doing, world it not
have been visited with the reprobation of the
country ? Sad as was the position of Poland, he
did not despair. The history of nations showed
that great crimes always brought about their own
punishment. The result of the groat deportation
of the Polish people, instead of destroying disaffec
tion in Poland, would be to carry disaffection else-
where ; so that the cruelties now committed by
Russia might ultimately bring about their own
punishment. For the policy of strict neutrality
pursued by the Government in regard to America
he confidently claimed the approval of the country.
That policy could not be carried without extreme
difficulty, as was exemplified by the case of the iron-
clads. It had been often asked why our merchauts
should be allowed to supply munitions of war to
one of the belligerents and not allowed to supply
ships to the other. The answer was very simple—
the law prohibited the sale of ships, but did not
prohibit the sate of munitions of war. The Govern-
ment had endeavoured to enforce the law to the
uttermost, but without straining it one tittle.
The Government was bound to protect the
rights of British merchants ; but on the
other hand, those merchants had likewise a
duty resting on them as honourable and up-
right citizens. For the sake of private gain they
ought not to expose their country to the risk of
Z.l,_lPlunged in war with a kindred nation. (Hear)
sow turned from the West to the East. Mr.
A ssociattrtid the chairman of the Manchester Cotton
country :IA only that morning told him that the
ciJncy of thaltlahad done most to supply the defi-
been most liberal to
in our markets, and which had
was Turkey. Th:._ the cultivator and the buyer,
finances of that Power had also
improved to an ezte4u
its Government
even he could not have
contemplated, and Government were putting
forward for the first time
a Budget exhibiting to
the world the state of their
He mentioned these thingsby in answer to the
attacks made upon
Mr. Gold Smith,of
u
Oxford, who had prostituted the "In
chair of History
by mingling
• in the dirty arena ot
party strife.
Coming to China and Japan, he read With astonish-
ment Mr. Cobden's statement that see bad
gone to
those regions in the spirit of Cortex and P'zirro
di loot," and the ine • '
our only object being inevitable re-
sult of our policy being ere at
China. The truth was that our policy now con.
sisted in avoiding quarrels with the provincial go-
vernors of China, and in having recourse to theeve to a right
should any
Central Government, with the view
un-
derstanding with it, treating it as
civilised nation, admitting our own obligations to-
wards it, and expecting from it, in turn, respect for
our treaty rights. In regard to British officers en-
tering the service of the Chinese Government, they
were to all intents and purposes Chinese officers
while they continued in that employment. The
same practice had been followed from time imme-
mor.;al. Peter the Great, whose empire was very
much in the same state as China now was, organised
his fleet, his army, and his civil administration,