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

THE ADDRESS.

At half-past four o'clock the mover and seconder of the
Address entered the house together, one attired in the
uniform of a lord-lieutenant, and the other that of a de-
puty-lieutenant. At this time the house was tolerably
full, but by no means so full as we have seen it on the
first night of many former sessions. All the Ministers
were in their seats, while the front Opposition bench was
crowded with the leading members of the Opposition, in-
cluding Mr. Disraeli, Sir John Pakington, and Lord Stan-
ley..

The &Milani having read the Speech as it was delivered
from the Throne this afternoon,
Mr. HENRY HERBERT rose to move the address,
which was an echo of the speech. He said—Sir, in rising
to move an humble Address be presented to her Majesty
in answer to her most gracious Speech, he could not ask
for that indulgence which was generally accorded to gen-
tlemen who addressed that hon. house for the first time ;
yet, he was sure no member ever stood in greater need of
that indulgence than himself. It was a source of the
greatest Pleasure to hear that her Mejesty had concluded
a treaty with Austria, and also one with our transatlantic
brethren. There was a topic in her Majesty's Speech—one
of the most solemn topics to every man, woman, and child,
ho meant the war —at which he hoped they would permit
him to take a short glance. In-making that retrospect he
thought the country had ample cause to congratulate itself
upon the victory, the splendid victory—(loud cheers)—
which had been achieved. He did not underrate the losses
that had attended the splendid successes of her Majesty's
arms, and he trusted that the efforts that would be made
to alleviate the sufferers by those successes would prove
that those sacrifices had not been made in vain. (Cheers.)
The efforts made by the Turks at Oltenitza and Citate
had surprised every one, and proved that their courage
had not degenerated. Few could have expected
such splendid results with a foe so gigantic. The Russians
passed the Danube on the 27th of March. When they had ad-
vanced as far as Silistria, they met with a blow from the
Turks, commanded by tlee gallant Butler, they least ex-
pected. That campaign, already commenced by the cross-
ing of the Danube, ended by the Russians retreating
across the Pruth ; thus, without the loss of a single man,
the first object of the campaign was effected. He would now,
if permitted by the house, take a glance at the naval ope-
rafions. There were seine in this country who felt disap-
pointed that no great battles had been won—no glorious
results had been added to the naval glories of this
great country. On former occasions we had noble
foes to deal with, not those who skulked behind
stone walls and dared not show themselves. Persons were apt
to forget that long blockades had before led to the most
brilliant results. Was it nothing for our sailors to have
done to have swept those seas which, until then, had been
called Russian lakes? (Cheers.) Was it, nothing that our
flag should be as safe now as if we were in a state of pro-
found peace ? Pleasure yachts could traverse the seas un-
armed and unmolested by an enemy, and everywhere our
chips were on the alert. And here he might take
the opportunity of congratulating our gallant seamen
upon the noble spirit they had displayed through-
out the whole of the existing struggle. The house was
aware that on the 3d of September the Allied Forces
left Varna, and within eleven days they were landed
in the Crimea. (Hear, hear.) That movement and
the instructions which he issued on the occasion, were
sufficient to satisfy the country that in Lord Raglan we
had a military commander as able as any who had ever
borne arms in the service of England. (Hear, hear.) The
glorious battle of the Alma followed the landing, and then
subsequently came the Battle of Balaklava, which was
fought on a day that 'would ever be mournful to us as the day
on which our cavalry was so terribly cut to pieces. (Hear.)
On the sth of November was fought the battle of Inker-
man, and on that day our troops well sustained the repu-
tation of that army which never knew when it was beaten.
(Cheers.) Since then we had been unable to carry on our
siege operations with the same vigour as before, and
though he was ready to admit that we had underrated
the power and ability of the enemy, he did not think our
mistakes could be urged as a reason for not prosecuting the
war with increased vigour. (Cheers.) The country was
unanimous almost to a man in favour of its being carried
forward until some effective result had been obtained. As
an Irishman,
Minister did it,.Ttt,v'LhsiiTatiLretao"::iitliiVatirttGrooTl'saftrho7nt
the
the
Sister Kingdom to send against the enemy. There was a
time when the Minister would have feared to leave Ire-
land as it were without troops, but thank God that day
was past, and now all classes of her Majesty's subjects in Ire-
land were uniting to assist the Allies in carrying on the war.
On the whole then he thought we had good reason for con-
gratulation. Notwithstanding that our losses had been
great, our troops had obtained a position that was impreg-
nable, the flag of the enemy had been swept from off the-
waters where it was wont to be seen, and without wishing
to shut his eyes to the power of Russia, he felt
that the time had not yet come when we should give
way to a feeling of despondency. (Hear, hear.) Let the
house, then, be unanimous in voting the means necessary
for prosecuting the war with vigour and effect, and thus
show itself worthy of the country, Tho were anxious to
see it terminated only on terms honourable alike to our-
selves and our allies. (Cheers.)
Mr. E. F. L. GOWER seconded the address. He said
he felt great difficulty in performing that task, because he
had not the ability to do justice to the one leading topic
of her Majesty's Speech. • Every man must p lament
that he had lived to hear a speech from the Throne
which referred to no other subject than war ;
but at the same time it must be gratifying to all Englishmen
to find that the gallantry of our armies had been acknow-
ledged in suitable, nay, noble terms by her Majesty from
the throne. (Cheers.) The gallantry of our own armies
was only to be equalled by that of our own Allies, and
he hoped now that the two greatest nations of Europe had
united in the battle-field, that when peace should be re-
stored they would display a similar declaration to further
the mutual interest of each other. (Hear.) Of course, his
seconding the Address indicated that he had confidence in
her Majesty's Government, and hedid so because they had
not only united all classes at home in support of the War,
but they had secured the feeling of all Europe in our
favour. (Hear, hear.) He would not attempt to criticise
our military or naval operations, but ha agreed with the
mover of the Address, that though there might have been
mistakes committed, yet on the whole many vast and
permanent results had been obtained. (Hear, hear )
We had shut up the Baltic for the pear ; we had
done the same for the Black Sea, while we had been
enabled to send \out to the East an army of 50,000
men, and he put it to the house whether they would have
been credited had Ministers announced at the beginning of
the year that they meditated attempting those great
achievements ? (Hear, hear.) Well,[then, he hoped the
house would be unanimous in supporting them during the
remainder of the struggle, and thus satisfy Europe, the
British Parliament, as well as the British people, were
resolved that the aggressive power of Russia should be
destroyed. (Cheers.)
Sir J. PAKINGTON—Mr. Speaker, if I am desirous
of availing myself of an early opportunity of taking part
in the debate on the motion that has now been submitted
to the house, I do so because I have a strong impression
that in the present state of public affairs, it is the duty of
men of all parties in this house frankly to state their sea -
timeuts, and not because I entertain the smallest desire to
criticise, and especially in any hbstile spirit, the speeches
which have been delivered by the hon.-gentlemen opposite,
the mover and seconder of the address. On the contrary,
I readily recognip the fairness of the tone in which those
hon. gentlemen have spoken. I take no exception to the
spirit in which they have addressed the horse, and I most
readily admit the ability with which-"they have done so.
(Hear, hear.) I. confess also it is to me a source of the
greatest possible satisfaction in this motion that I find
myself unable to take any serious exception to the address
to her Majesty which hail been moved by the hon. gentle-
man opposite, in answer to the gracious Speech which her
Majesty has this day delivered from the throne. Sir, in
contemplating the first paragraph of that speech and of
the Address—namely, the paragraph in which her Majesty
has appealed to Parliament for support in the great war
in which she is now embarked—l do entertain a sanguine
hope that, among every party in this house, there will
prevail a degree of candid unanimity which was never ex-
ceeded in any other popular assembly. (Hear, hear.) And,
Sir, I am sure I may say, in the name of the great Con-
servative party, both in this house and in the country,
that we do not yield to the gentlemen who have framed
that Address—that we do not yield to them nor to any
t
body of men in this house, or in the country, in:111113a
resolve to extend to her Majesty that support
desires. (Loud cheers from the Oppoontw_biesn_cohuesse.)
Sir, the next portion of the speech appeals I
fee my-
to sanction an augmentation of the army.
to h
self equally unable to take the slightest, exception to
this demand on the part of
Govern-
ment. On the contrary, I believe
the feeling of those
friends with whom I have the
.honour of acting, is, not
that we should now hesitate in acceding to the desire
of the Government for increasing the army, but rather
totind fault with the Govern-
that we should feel disposedelayed doing 80. (Opposition
meat for having so long
cheers.) The questioisnot, " Will you increase the army
have you not sooner taken that step?"
now ?" hut, "Why
Why have you nofttsboeoner taken precautions to show that
magnitude of that struggle in which
you were aware o
this country is now unhappily engaged ? I fear that the only
construction that can be put upon the policy which has
y her Majesty's Government, and upon the
been adopted b
course they have taken is, that until lately, until within
the last month, when they have appeared to awaken as
from a dream—(laughter)—they have been-entirely uncon-
scious of the magnitude of the difficulties and of the perils
of the struggle with Russia in which we are embarked. Sir,
that has been no fault on this side of the house. In the last
session of Parliament, whatever demands the Govern-
ment made were freely and liberally acceded tc. The noble
lord opposite, I think, on more than one occasion, frankly
admitted the spirit in which the Government was mot, and
it WAi therefore not from any want of spirit on the part of
this house that the army was not earlier augmented; but
I believe we shall trace, wtat I taut call the crippled state
of our military armaments merely to the financial arrange-
ments of her Majesty's Government during last session ;
and to that attempt announced e 4 the part of the %ea.