The Sun.
London, England, 1854-12-19 00:00:00

possible. He said it was impossible, because if they
went to war upon these conditions, it was contrary
to all the theory of war—contrary to all the expe-
rience of ages, and to common sense, that they should
ever attain to that success which would give them a
safe and an honourable peace. But we were told by
the noble lord that our reserve is the people of Eng-
land. Some represented that noble lord as being of
all others, from his previous knowledge of the war, the
best person to conduct the hostilities. He (Lord El-
lenborough) knew that a reserve was a body of dis-
ciplined soldiers, who were ready trained to undertake
the active prosecution of the war—(cries of "hear, hear,"
from the Opposition)—but to speak of having a reserve
in the people was to show contempt for the reasoning
powers of the people. (Cheers.) But, however, if that.
were still the opinion of the Government, let them make
their appeal to the people of England, and not to the
people of Germany. (Renewed cheers.) Moreover, the
time for that was a time of difficulty. But that we
should now be in difficulty was entirely owing to the
laches of the Government, who hail neglected to make
that necessary provision without which success in the
war c-uld not be obtained. There was point on which
he had not yet addressed their lordships, but on which
he thought it would yet be necessary to ask their atten-
tion, he meant the general conduct of the war. Ho
thought it would be his duty at the earliest possible
moment to state his sense of what had been done, his
opinion of what ought to be done, and his deep convic-
tion that, unless the war were conducted on military
principles, the conflict would be most fatal, and the re-
sults would not only disappoint the people, but bring
the greatest calamities on the country. (Cheers.)
The Marquis of LANSDOWNE said that, although
he had taken no part in the debates on this bill, and as
he had accidentally hoard all the speeches of the noble
earl, he was induced to take this last opportunity of this
bill being before the house to state the grounds on which
he supported it, seeing the importance which was at-
tached to it—not an undue importance in one sense, but
a very undue importance in another, from the incredibly
exaggerated apprehensions (cries of "Hear, hear,"
from the Government)—which apprehensions, the more
they were looked at, sifted, and observed—apprehen-
sions which, when the phantom of fear paraded on this
subject came to be analysed, when the light was held to
the spectre which the noble lord had raised, would be
found to vanish into air in the same way that the best
accredited spectres— (laughter)—had always vanished.
(Hear, hear.) Upon this bill he was anxious to state
his opinion on both the points of view which had been
observed in the noble earl's criticism, both of them of
great importance. He would take the first point to
which the noble earl in his first speech in opposition to
the bill seemed to attach the greatest importance, but of
which the house had heard less in all his subsequeet op-
position—(cries of " Hear," from Ministerialists)—viz.,
the constitutional objection. They had rather less of
that objection that night than they had hitherto been
accustomed to hear from the noble earl. (Laughter.)
They might hear a good deal of it out of doors, be-
cause the people did not understand the provisions
of the bill ; and, that being so, he honoured and re-
spected the people for it. Such a thing in this
house was ridiculous, but he honoured and respected the
people for their jealousy lest, through means of this war
in which they had engaged in defence of their constitu-
tion, that constitution should be destroyed—especially
when they were told by noble lords in that house that
they were about to be tyrannised over by a body of
Germans. (Cries of" Hear, hear," and laughter.) That
was the phantom. The noble lord had forgotten that
there was no period during a war with this country when
the constitution had not been violated in the very man-
ner proposed by this bill, and violated without all the
precautions taken here against ultimate injury—from
the wars of the Duke of Marlborough to the wars of the
Duke of Wellington, which comprehended a very con-
siderable space of time—during which time every bril-
liant action, every successful campaign, owed its success
to the very means which were again proposed. But did
the Duke of Wellington or the Duke of Marlborough de-
precate the use of such troops ? It stood to reason, and
accorded with the very nature of war itself, that when
we took part in a great military struggle, considering
the habits of this cenntry, and the means which it pos-
sessed—which, thank God, had never been a great war-
like country with a large standing army—when called on
to begin the war, we must begin it with the means on
which we could immediately lay our hands. He was
rather surprised that the noble earl, among his great
employments, and the high subjects which engaged his
attention, should take notice of what had fallen from so
insignificant a person as lie (Lord Lansdowne) was—
(laughter)—but it did so happen that in the course of
the last session, in describing to the house his sense of
the magnitude, importance, difficulty, and possible
duration of the war, he did take the opportunity to
state his opinion, and to find that, on all these points,
the noble earl agreed with him. And now, whatever
differences existed before, the whole world were agreed
upon the immense difficulty of the war, and the power
of the enemy, too much overlooked at first, with whom
we bad to contend. We were now become aware of the
great resources which the enemy possessed ; but he be-
lieved we were equal to him iu the power of our navy—
equal to him in the extent of our wealth, and the
stahtmnohaiomnugsunosstutwonhfrdei
con
ripiui
iornliidert
bhcsiula•iaar
ildndtr
eopcntee:uomisi
an.nmtetobeeintred:
y.
Russia
.tiwuethsi
stelwihratbeeuwartotiihie must say that,
when the noble earl treated the pursuits of commerce
contempt,tsamittinheuoircetehhfwo means
from
which Parliament derived the power with whatrdistchhohnaedetphirreierey.:
had entered into the great conflict for national honour.
(Cheers.) We were, he said, equal in respect t, those
tslcp(bps:ero4:oo)lniniuirepsl:isteteriunatstoaiisbote:slglte:aflitt:pantedieoe,oireahnnisnrhnta,se.eaivhuslotnbhi ich Russia surpassed us, for Russia had
o-
tersatl
nsni
un()oeianswered, measure,
ndewivbeseit were
trofeepesrdt.
lust e
sooTbbaetcuylhsohl but
saepei tarpm:ehtl
oppose
that we
means—in
numbers
ari
thes
asndwtswhenmighte—hagar
rruci
great
it
army
wasul
etrtNweyovn incompar-
ably cylshaui
kdkeit ,
en,
Eng-
land
con-
flict y
y
er
l
flict ? Did the noble lord think that this country could
turn out an equal number of armed soldiers to fight the
legions of Russia ? (Hear, hear.) We had never had a
war in which we had not employed auxiliaries ; and
always with the greatest advantage to success, and with-
out any inconvenience whatever. But then, though
that were so, they were told, that to employ such auxi-
liaries was, first, highly unconstitutional ; and, secondly,
that it was highly inexpedient. Why were they to be
deterred from employing such forces ? It was not the
object for which these men were to be employed
which was to deter us, but the possible use which might
be made of them by her Majesty Queen Victeria—
deeply interested in the war with Russia, and in the suc-
cessful prosecution of that war—if she should suddenly
divert these means from their purpose, and, the better
to disorganise the means, should launch from the depots
the men which occupied them against the people of Eng-
land. But, in the opinion of the noble lord, the British
yeomanry and the people of England would be found to
be no match for these foreigners in defence of their
liberty. (Loud laughter.) Why, if the noble lord had
stated his thoughts out of doors to the barber of any
village, or the farmer of any district, he would be told
that that was the substance of his apprehension. (Cries
of "hear," and laughter.) He might remind them that,
during the time of King William the Third, the Dutch
Guards were very gladly employed in the war without
any fear whatsoever as to the constitution of this coun-
try. But the first mention of that apprehension was to
be found upon the accession of the House of Hanover,
when men dreaded the adoption of principles which were
inconsistent with the British Constitution ; then it was
that the first enactment against the enlistment of foreign
troops was passed. But, before the country could en-
gage much further in a war that required any great
military exertions, the necessity of foreign troops was
immediately felt, and Parliament hastened to make pro-
vision for their employment. The noble earl not only
wished this country to do everything alone, but said that
it would be a degradation to the British soldier to have
a foreign force, perhaps somewhat inferior, fighting by
our side. Surely the British army might see a well-
trained and disciplined force—either German, Spanish,
or Dutch —fighting by their side without any feeling of
degradation.
The Earl of ELLENBO ROUGH-1 assure the noble
marquis I never said so.
The Marquis of LANSDOWNE begged the noble
earl's pardon. The remark was not made by the noble
earl, but by some other noble lord. With regard to the
ce, he wthouelbdaguoleboafckmtiondthenat.
remarkable employment
scenea foreigno f British
r
On that occasion the English army was extremely in-
ferior in numbers to the mercenaries in our pay, but
they were not on that account at all discouraged in the
battle. Three British regiments made a charge, which he
(the noble marquis) mentioned now because they were
regiments which had transmitted their glorious name
and character to their descendants—he meant the Innis-
killings, the Blues, and the Scots Greys. When they
leader, they
tehrienyitmteaddetotheadcvealnecberatuenddcehraa brave
rgeof and
thedagya,llaanntti
they certainly did not enter the conflict with less hope,
confidence, and satisfaction, because they saw associated
with them in their bravery and glory, and animated by
the same spirit, regiments of Germans, Hanoverians,
Hessians, and others. (Hear, hear.) It was the infinite
importance of bringing every well-trained Englishman
into the field, and to procure every means of carrying
on the war, that the Government now felt themselves
called upon to pass this bill. It was intended for the
purposethe
most of
extensiveenabling
scaleth e
.m
It
n 6
o l 80engageehs
his
sy wishedi n the
Majestyto
w ado by
contests onex-
pressly enabled to do what her ma j
this act—to alter the war regulations so as to make
them of service to the nation. He therefore trusted
there would be no objection on the part of any of their
lordships te this bill. It only gave a small extension
to the privileges which her Majesty already enjoyed,
and would be attended with great service to the public.
(Hear, hear.)
The Earl of DERBY—My lords, having already, on
a former occasion expressed at considerable length my
objections to the bill, I should not have thought it neces-
sary to trouble your lordships on the present occasion
but for the speech just delivered by the noble marcpsie.
I must be permitted to say that I cannot but think the
noble marquis, in commenting on the speech of the noble
earl (Ellenborouh), and on the speech which that noble
lord delivered on a former occasion, has departed from
that courtesy which generally characterises him. (No,
ne.) When he talked about arguments used in this
house as being positively absurd, and stated that what.
ever respect he might entertain for opinions of the kind
used by the noble lord out of doors, he entertained no
respect whatever for the expression of such opinions in
doors. The noble marquis, in using that language, took
up a position which, I think, even his high character
does not entitle him to hold, nor do I think he has been
exceedingly happy in the ridicule he has sought to throw
upon the 'constitutional argument of my noble friend.