The Sun.
London, England, 1854-12-13 00:00:00

collor of the Exchequer, to the principle of a 'hich we talc
no exception, but of the impossibility of whic h we warned
him, in so great a struggle, namely, to pay for the expenses
of the war entirely from the revenue of the year. (Hear.)
I now approach two other passages of her Mai mety's Speech
—namely, the paragraph-which refers to th, a eonduet of
the army, and the paragraph which refers to the conduct
of our noble allies the French. In approttching those
passages, I do so with a feeling, which I think every
man will entertain who tenches upon them, of the diffi-
culty of expressing himself upon those subje its as he
would wish. No language can exceed the debt of grati-
tude which we owe to the British army in the Crimea—
(cheers)—and well does the language of her Majesty's
speech point to that debt when it says, " The exertions
they have made, and the victories they have ob tained, are
nqt exceeded in the brightest pages of our history, and
have filled me with admiration and gratitude." Not only
i that language jest—not-only did not the page al history
record such gallantry, but we have not read even i u fiction
—either in fable or in song—anything equal to ;the gal-
lantry of that army. (Cheers.) And while cent idering
the deeds of this gallant army, and of those among • them
who suffered and who bled its those sanguinary stir giggles,
I hope it will not be considered inappropriate if r pay a
passing tribute to the memory of one of those who had
fallen in those struggles, and whose loss that house b ad to
deplore—he alluded to the gallant Col. Blair. (I fear,
hear.) We valued, we esteemed him as a friend. No p arty
feeling should mix in such subjects. (Hear.) He was
esteemed by us all, and it was a matter of deep regret. that
one so full of promise should have been so soon and so. pre-
maturely cut off. (Hear, hear.) There was yet an other
gallant officer whose name was familiar to that hon, le to
whom I cannot refrain from reference, and whom I do
hope we shall soon see amongst us in renewed health and.
vigour. I allude to the hon. and gallant member for West-
minster. (Cheers.) No hon. member lam sure will feel
that I am drawing invidious distinctions when I am allud-
ing to a member of this house with whom we daily mix,
and I think the house will agree with me, that amongst
the noble deeds characterising the actions of our troops in
the Crimea, there had been nothing more heroic than the
manner in which that gallant officer had left his bed on the
bloody day at Inkerman, to share in the dangers of the
fight—a gallantry which was only exceeded by the pradenee
with which he refrained from resuming the command of
his division. (Cheers.) I hope the house will forgive me
for stepping aside to allude to these topics—(renewed
cheers)—but I hope we shall soon see him amongst us.
(Cheers.) Honour to all—to those who have fallen, and
to those who have fought and bled. They have all suf-
fered for their country's honour, and deeply are we in-
debted to them for their conduct in the -field. And
while I allude in such terms to the gallant deeds of our
own army, I have no desire to disguise my feelings as to
how deeply we are also indebted to the heroism of our gal-
lant allies, the French army. (Cheers.) The hon. mover of
the address had already paid a just tribute tothem—to their
noble emulation with our own many, and their unparalleled
gallantry, by which the French army had gained undying
laurels. (Loud cheers.) I cannot, also, while on this sub-
ject, avoid referring with praise to the noble spirit with
which General Canrobert rode side by side with our own
noble and gallant Commander-in-Chief, aiding him by his
counsel and advice on the day of Inkerman, and the readi-
ness and talent displayed by General Bosquet in coming
to his assistance. I hope these acknowledgments and ob-
servations will be read by, and prove gratifying to, her
Majesty's allies, and I hope it will be known to our French
allies and to the gallant French army that the Parliament
of England recognise their services. (Cheers.) Tile next
paragraph in the Speech to:which I will allude, and, to.
which I cannot refer with unqualified assent, is one of the
most important. I refer to the paragraph respecting the
treaty of alliance with Austria. We are at present igno-
rant of its terms; but it has been intimated that it will be
laid forthwith upon the table of the house. With the n sad-
ing of that treaty, with the state of affairs in the East, and
and with the future prospects of the war, I hope that we
shall soon be acquainted ; I hope that we shall soon have
an intimation from her Majesty's Government of what is
the real scope and object of that treaty. (Hear from the
Opposition.) With respect to the views and feelings of
Austria, and as to her conduct and intentions in concluding
the treaty, they had been watched by the country, in pro-
portion to their importance as bearing upon the present
contest, and an impression has prevailed that she was fol-
lowing out her own interests in exclusion to those of the
allies. The public were very little informed as to the con-
dition of affairs in the East, and as to the nature of the
treaty of Austria with the Porte; and an impression had
prevailed that Austrian intrigues had prevented Omer
niche and his army from keeping in check the Russian
forces in Bessarabia, and thereby preventing the march
of those troops to swell the army of the Enveror of
Russia in the Crimea, and greatly augment the danger
surrounding our arms in that country. (Hear.) These are
very important subjects. In the discussions on these sub-
jects last session, he spoke from memory, when the noble
lord the leader of the Opposition (Lord J. Russel) was ex•
tenuating the conduct of Government, he said that delay
which had taken place had secured the co-operatio,e. of the
German powers. But was that the case? What had been
their course of conduct from that time to the present mo-
ment ? The public had viewed with suspicion the ownduet
of the Austrian Government--conduct which had been
'marked with great ability as regarded the objects of that
power. The treaties now concluded by Austria with the
Porte and with this country and our French ally are mat-
ters of no little importance, and I hope the noble ion I op-
posite (Lord J. Russell) will inform the house as sou. a as
he can upon these subjects. In the meantime I hop eit
will be understood that the Address before the house will

be worded as not to pledge that house to all the provisi:ons
of that treaty. (Hear.) Ido not know that there is piny
other paragraph that requires special observation. Yes,
there is one—a somewhat mysterious paragraph, relating
to matters to be proposed for the welfare and interest of
the country, which are not specified. I hope that vitt!,
the experience the noble lord opposite had now had that a
reform bill will not form one of them. (Laughter al ad
ironical cheers on the Opposition benehes.) The not Ile
lord, they Gould not forget, told them last year that it
would be a noble speetaele for a nation to let the wor Id
see that it could at the same time reform its own instit a-
tions and attack so great a power as Russia. (A laugku) Aim
I hope his views on this subject aro now pormealentAy
ehnog,ed, end, with the provisoes I have mentioned, I edi.-
tirely agree with the sentiments in the Address. It will not "
(to, with the duties which the war devolves on us, to take
unnecessary exceptions as to our domestic legislation . I
cannot find any severe fault with the language of Go's •ern-
mint, and I have no intention to resist the language of
the Address. (Cheers.) I would gladly have limited my.
self to these remarks on this occasion. I feel strongly - frith
hon. gentlemen on the other side of the house, that this is
not the moment for a party struggle. It is most important
that we should show a united Parliament and a united na-
tion. (Cheers.) If we have differences amongst us, let it •
be clearly understood that these differences refer only to
the best mode in which we can support •ur Sovereign in
this great struggle in which we are engaged. (Cheers.) But
on the other hand, I will not admit that it is consistent
with our duty as members of Parliament, on this side
of the house, to abandon our duty t• the country. I think,
on the contrary, that when we are about to en trust to the
Government large powers and large resources, it becomes
our duty to state any grounds of complaint which may exist
as to the manner of conducting the war hitherto, and to
call for explanations upon points upon which tie, public
wished for explanations. That is a duty which I will :not con-
sent to abandon. There was a feeling in the public mind
that, whatever anxieties the Government could haw() to

bring the war to a successful issue, yet that they had not,
since it was declared, shown that wisdom, foresight, and
prudence in the measures they had taken, and which were
necessary most of all to conduce to that great end. (Op-
position cheers.) It was our duty last year seveirely to
criticise the conduct of the Government in the coque° of
the negotiations carried otiatiens which were then on. -It -was ad-
mittedethat, when vigour and energy were most essential
their conduct was most passive. And now that we are in-
volved in an arduous war, and when it was the paramount
duty of the Government' to show energy and decision in
their measures, and to temper theta with the caution, pru-
dence, and foresight of statesmen, we will have, I fear, to
accuse them of rashness and incompetezicy. (Hear, hear,
from the Opposition.) The public attevtion was so filled
with what was passing in the Crimea, tha t attention was
diverted from affairs in the Baltic tiea. But attention
Would return to that subject, and when it fully considered
the magnitude of the naval armament sent to ;hat sea— that.
it was the finest fleet that ever swam upon the sea—and
when it was, as now, returning to England, with out accom-
plishing any one act for which it was commission, scl to leave
our shores, we have a light to complain. He ,heard ex-
pressions of dissent from hon. gentlemen opposite. (. d l augh.)

bid they allude to Bomarsund ? Ido not admit 'that that
formed any exception. Knowing the gallantry of our
sailors, I cannot compare that expeition to anything but
the well-known military expedition with which they n ere
all familiar in their early days :
"The King of France, with twenty-thousand men,
Marched up the hill, and then marched down again?
(Laughter.) This is a fair description of the Baltic expedite
tion. Ido not allude to the Admiral of the Fleet. Hes
had no occasion upon which he could show his gallantry.
But after what.passed at the celebrated dinner at the Re.-
form Club, at the setting out of the expedition, no doubt.
they would again meet to present their congratulations on
its return. I pass no censure on the gallant admirals, but
we have a right to know and to have from the Government
some explanation why so grand an armament had left our
shores with so little resulting from it. I believe the Go-
vernment adopted an unwise course in sending so large a
fleet to the Baltic. They knew that the Russian fleet was
not in the habit of-fighting but at an advantage, sad for
the purpose of a blo:Nude the armament was altogether on
a scale of folly ' • and recognising the gallantry of the fleet,
they had a right to complain of the comparative failure of
the expedition. (Hear, hear.) There was another subject
upon which the public mind had been much excited—I
mean the bombardment of Odessa. It was accompanied
by something like an apology from the admiral when at-
tacked, but after what had occurred since why was it left
untouched ? Had not subsequent events made it clear that
it was impolitic to refrain from attacking it ? Was it be-
cause it was a commercial town? But when they found
that a large military force had been stationed there, and
its position between the principalities and the Crimea as a
great military situation, there is good ground for explana-
tion why it was not attacked. The Government had been
unwise and impolitic in leaving Russia free to throw her
forces from Odessa into the Crimea. (Hear.) I now come
to the policy of attacking Sebastopol. Ido not wish to
call for explanation of that policy ; but as the noble lord
at the head of the Government had only lately said that
his was a policy of peace, I do not knew but that this
course has greatly protracted the war. ,This is not a
time to enter upon it, but I reserve to the house and
myself to form an opinion upon a future occasion. Now
there was another view of that subject which they
a ere bound to take. If they attacked the Crimea,
they were not justified in doing it unless they did it
in a manner to secure success—(hear, hear)—but no
Government could have taken a weaker course. They were
bound not to attack a fortress with inadequate means, and.
there is a strong public opinion that weshouldnot be doing
our duty if we did not call for explanations on this sub-
ject. There were three questions upon which the public
desired information. The first was, Why was the expedi-
tion to Sebastopol undertaken without adequate means to
insure success? The second was, How was it theaetnthso
forces sent to the Crimea for that purpose hadr,b.
little cared for, and so badly supported ? (Hear,
"ucessad.
The third point upon which information w
was this. If anything could have added to
manner .
which
of that uadertaking, it was the unwise in
They ad pat the
the Government and the organs of the
tised it, if I may so say. (Hear, hear.)
Emperor
attack that was
theasdifficulties
extract from a speech
Emperor of Russia on his guard as t
to be made. I hold in my hand an
_rcussell) in July, and
Gent
delivered by by the noble lord (Lord _daily
taking it in connexion with intimations of the
ensure,: for strengthening
organ Government, the I.lu,k)l)limeeror of Russia was apprised
of tilt) expedition, and he " aragraph in apublie news-
;:iehastopol. There was al'the Pp /
° edt'ou was to sail from
d. X.O
were thrown out in July, al3. d
YLrna.of\Vtia-en .it vas ra 4 collectedthat
atthtaht unmistakeablee expedition
did hints
sot
sail till the beginning
peptemOor, a You late period for