The Sun.
London, England, 1853-02-19 00:00:00

1,

probably the subject under the consideration of her Ma-
4esty's Ministers. Every one knows how much is at stake
in the solution of that problem. It is a question not only
of the place of Europe, but of the civilisation of the world.
(Hear, hear.) And how have English statesmen hitherto
dealt with it ? In what manner have they attempted
to grapple with the difficulties of this ever-reverting h .abe
-
ject of perplexity and peril ? Only in one way. They v.
recognised but one means by which a temperate, wiset? and
successful issue could be insured. And what is that .
The
cordial -understanding with France. (Hee; eicriValways
traditionary policy of that great em
to feel that it must not sacrifice a highPire
interesthasl
. 0.. f a State
q
for any temporary success, or any petty and partial
As long as
sition which it might be able to secure-
d each other on
France and England thoroughly nnderst
and the
this great question the peace of the world
Iwill
inte-
rests of civilisation and humanity are not in
peril.b'ect of the
assume the Turkish question to have been thet sub
Cabinet Council of four hours, an
such prolongedaleenu w
deliberation.eotivt
any subject more worthy of .
the
can conceive her Majesty's Myers quitting
Council-
chamber deep in thought and fully impressed with the
awful responsibility of their decision, and I can also con-
ceive the feeling of these same Ministers when next morn-
ing the read the speech at Halifax—(cheers and laughter)
—and, found that their absent colleague had designated in
terms of ignominy the sovereign power with whom they
- were to, act as an ally, andtreated—as I willpresently show,
the nation he rules'overasthelowest, in pointof civilisation,
which it is possible to conceive. As regards the First Lord
of the Admiralty, he has had a great deal of experience, to
be sure, but then he has been a long time in opposition,
and something might be said for him in the way of excuse
on that account, if, indeed, so great a personage could con-
descend to an excuse. (Laughter.) The right honourable
baronet might say, or some one might say for him, that he
had been a good many years without attending a Cabinet
Council, that no new council had been summoned before
he went to his constituents—that he was called upon un-
expectedly, and without previous arrangement and under-
standing with his colleagues--that it was a strange thing
he should have made such a business of it, but still these
things would happen sometimes. (Cheers and laughter.)
But what is the position of the President of the Board of
Control ? He was hardly out of office but he was in again.
(A laugh.) He had been in office for five or six years, and
a hardish time he had of it, no doubt (a laugh) ; but,
nevertheless, he agreed again to lend his gravity to the
councils of his Royal mistress. (Laughter.) He was pro-
perly anxious that the people of this country should have
none but discreet men to administer their affairs, and,
therefore, without making any stipulations as to the policy
or principles of the Government, he became a Minister
again, and attended 20 Cabinet Councils before he went
down to make the Halifax demonstration. (Cheers and.
laughter.) And yet, with this renovated sense of respon-
sibility—knowing how much depended on everything said
by a Minister under these circumstances—the right hon.
gentleman, fresh from Cabinet Councils—knowing all the
questions at issue, goes to his constituents, describes the
ruler of the French in language which I have more than
once referred to, and will not now repeat, and then pros
ceeds, in a passage which I have not yet read to the house,
to give the people of Halifax some idea of the conduct of
the Emperor's subjects. The right hon. gentleman felt it
necessary to vindicate the increased expenditure of the
country to his constituents, and he showed them, as it was
not difficult to do, that this expenditure had been incurred
solely for self-defence. But then the right hon. gentleman
went on to illustrate the importance of these defensive
measures, " for," says he, " I do not think there will be a
general war, but I tell you what you will have ; you will
have bodies of 5,000 men suddenly thrown upon your coast,
and how would you like that ?—how would your wives and
daughters be treated ?" This is the description given ; but
I will quote the words of a great Whig Minister, whose
memory must be respected by every gentleman on the oppo-
site bench—l was going to say by every member of the
Whig party, but that, perhaps, would be going too far. I
remember reading the debate hich took place in the House
of Lords on Pitt's great commercial treaty, and Lord Stor-
mont, I think it was, who opposed the treaty, argued that
it would be dangerous for British merchants to invest so
much money in France, because in the case of a war the
French Government would seize upon all their capital ;
whereupon Lord Shelburne—who then bore the honoured
name of Lansdowne—ridiculed the sentiment, and inveighed
against the speaker, saying, " One would suppose, in listen-
ing to the noble lord, that he imagines the French nation to
be corsairs and bandits of Tunis and Morocco." That is
what I say to the President of the Board of Control.
The Halifax hypothesis is, that without declaring war, and
in utter violation of the rules which govern civilised
nations, the French will land bands of men on our coasts,
to commit the desecrating enormities hinted at; and I say
that the man who conceives this to be possible must
imagine the bravest, the most ingenins, and the most
polished people in the world to be no better than corsairs
of Tunis and Morocco ,• and yet, after having said all
these things, the right hon. gentleman writes a letter, in
which, after making an apology to the Emperor of France
—which is not a very handsome one, but let that pass—he
proceeds to say—" I cannot conceive that an English
Minister is to be precluded from adverting to what he up-
derstands to be the state of things on the continent." I
will match that sentence against any that can be found in
any dispatch ever written. (Laughter) Recollect, the
writer of this important State memorial, addressed to the
leader of the House of Commons, is apologising, and his
object is to conciliate, and yet he says that he cannot con-
ceive that an English Minister is to be precluded from
adverting to what he underitands to be the state of
things on the continent. (Hear, hear.) My opinion is
that an English Minister should not open his month on any
subject, and certainly not upon what the President of the
Board of Control calls " the state of things on the conti-
nent," without a grave sense of responsibility. (Cheers.)
And, moreover, I think that if, under the circumstances,
the President of the Board of Control felt it his duty to
advert to what he supposed to be the state of things on the
continent, he ought, as a Minister, to have been courteous
in expression and conciliatory in language. But I cannot
admit the principle that an English Minister shall take part
in the most secret deliberations of the greatest kingdom of
the world, and then leave the Cabinet to babble on a hust-
ings all that he has heard. {Hear, hear.) What Cabinet
Ministers understand to be the state of things on the con-
tinent is a great secret of State. We have no right to
ask them to divulge it in this house, much less in the
Odd Fellows'-hall at Halifax. (Hear, hear, and laughter.)
Up to the point to which I have now advanced it is evi-
dent that the sentiments of Ministers with respect to our
relations with France are by no means of a satisfactory
nature. There was no doubt as to the policy of the Go-
vernment of the noble lord the member for London on this
point. There was no doubt also with respect to the policy
of Lord Derby's Government. What is the policy of Lord
Aberdeen's? This is not only a legitimate subject of investi-
gation, but it is absolutely our duty to obtain from the
present Cabinet, if possible, something more satisfactory on
this all-important subject than we have obtained from the
speeches of two of its members. There are additional and
peculiar reasons why the Government should make a decla-
ration on this occasion. When the present Government
took office the head of it offered what is called a pro-
gramme of his policy in another place. This programme
was so complete and lucid, according to the noble lord the
member for London, that he felt it quite unnecessaryto add
a single word to it. Now, this programme contained a de-
claration on the subject of foreign policy, and I beg to call
the attention of the house to it. Remember who made it.
Remember, it was made not only by the Prime Minister of
England, but by one who has filled the highest offices of
State, and especially more than once, and for a considerable
time, that of Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs. All
Ministers are bound to know something about everything,
but the house will observe that the Chief Minister is bound
to know everything on this subject, for it is one of which
he is pre-eminently master. Let us, then, recal to recol-
lection the satisfactory programme given by Lord Aberdeen.
His lordship did not dwell on the subject of foreign affairs
at any great length, but what he did say was succinct
and precise. He said it was unncessary to dilate on the
topic, because the system and principle on which the foreign
policy of this country had been conducted during the last
30 years was the same. I confess I listened to that decla-
ration with some astonishment. (Hear, hear.) I could
not but recall to mind the tempestuous debates which only
three years ago resounded in this house on the subject of
foreign policy. I could not forget that the system and prin.,
ciples of foreign policy then pursued, and which had been
pursued for years by the Government presided over by
the noble lord the member for London, had been de-
scribed as perilous to the dignity of England, and, per-
haps, fatal to the peace of Europe. I could not but re-
member that this was the language used by the chosen col-
leagues of the Minister. (Cheers.) I could not but recol-
lect that Lord Aberdeen himself used, with reference to
the then foreign policy and the principles on which it was
conducted, an epithet rarely admitted into Parliamentary
debate—for he stigmatised it as " abominable." I could
not but recollect also that the great indictment of the
foreign policy of the then Government was opened in this
house with elaborate care and veheinent invective by the
right hon. baronet now First Lord of the Admiralty.
.(Cheers.) I therefore was somewhat ear prised at hearing
Lord Aberdeen say that for 30 years there had been no
difference in the principles on which the foreign policy of
this country- had been carried on. I could not but recol-
lect, too, that the noble lord the member for London de-
nounced the principal instigator of those debates as one
who did not take the foremost post, as he ought to have
done, and as being in league with foreign conspirators for
the most disgraceful object which it was possible for a
British statesman, if it could be proved, to pursue. (Hear,
hear.) I could not but remember the glowing and fervid
eloquence with which the noble lord vindicated his noble
friend the then Secretary for Foreign Affairs, and still a
Secretary of State, when he said, " He is not a Mnister of
Austria— (cheers.)—norof Russia, nor of France." (Cheers.)
Who, then, was the Minister of Austria, Russia, and
France ? (Cheers.) Who sat for the portrait ? (Cheers
and laughter.) It is the portrait of the present Prime
Minister of England, drawn by his leader of the House of
Commons) and he has paid the artist for his performance
by degrading him from the post of which he was worthy.
(Loud cheers.) The recollection of these facts, coupled
with the statement in the panegyrised statement of the
Chief Minister, and the indiscretions of two of his Cabinet
• Ministers whose conduct I have been considering, in-
_ duces me to think that we require some satisfactory
assurances from the
Government on this important
subject. I give the noble lord the member for Lon-
don credit for adhering to the sentiments which he
expressed last year ; but, alas 1 he is no longer Prime
Minister, and the country will require more formal as-
surances, now that the noble lord's position is changed. I
think the house wen agree that I am takin no unfair or
factions course. rOh r from the Ministerial, and cheers
from the Opposition benches.) Perhaps the hon. gentle-
men opposite will favour us with their ideas of faction if
they think I am not justified in asking for a frank expla-
nation of the views of Ministers on a subject of the great-
est importance to the people of England. Here is a dom.
ment which has been put into my hands since I came into
the house, and to which I would not have alluded had it
not been for the indiscreet movement of hon. gentlemen
opposite—(a laugh)—who seem to insinuate that the obser-
vations I am making with a view to elicit information are
unnecessary. They shall hear what is the opinion of the
merchants, bankers, and traders of the city of London on
the subject. The document I hold in my hand is an invi-
tation to a meeting of those classes who feel called upon at
this time publicly to express their deep concern at wit-
nessing the endeavours continually made to create and per-
petuate feelings of distrust, ill-will, and hostility between
the inhabitants of the two great nations of England and
France. I therefore recommend some of the hon. mem-
bers who attempted to disturb my observations—if they
should not favour us with their opinions to-night—to go
to the London Tavern and tell the merchants, bankers,
epd traders of England that they are exhibiting a factious
e•-• e ' e'.ling towards the Government because they feel alarmed
-aretdisquieted as to their commercial transactions. (Hear,
, • heak;) I will not be deterred from asking the ques-
'. ••tiota m about to put. I say we have a right to ask
?lin* sto declare upon what system our foreign policy
- . 'to. conducted. Let them explain the mysterious
Pa- 11 in Lord Aberdeen's programme. Is their
- BY obe one of " liberal energy," or " antiquated
• ''beilitr?" (Laughter.)
That is the real question. When
ble lord °place' t• • •
' theApwas vindicating lumseli on the mei-