The Sun.
London, England, 1854-02-15 00:00:00

LONDON, WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 15, 1854.

An elaborate explanation was last evening ex-
torted from her MAJESTY'S Ministers, in the House
of Peers, in reference to their foreign policy during
the last twelve months—the Prime Minister, the
Lord Privy Seal, and the Foreign Secretary speak-
ing at considerable length in vindication of the
course pursued in regard to this Russo-Turkish
difficulty by the Coalition Government. It is par-
ticularly worthy of remark, that the gravamen of
the charges directed against the Cabinet in this
important matter was so directed by a nobleman
in no way allied by political interests or political
sympathies with the DERBY-DISRAELI Opposition.
The discussion was originated by the motion of
an ex-Member of the last Whig Administration.
Naturally enough, of course, the accusations
brought forward in this manner by the Mar-
quis of CLANRICARDE, in au harangue remark-
able for its tone of serious and dignified
reprehension, were enforced in severity by the yet
bolder disapproval avowed by the Earl of MALMES-
BURY, and by the searching and statesmanlike
analysis of out late foreign policy, upon which the
ex-Prime Minister of England yesterday adven-
tured—his materials for analysis, the Blue Book,
his audience, an attentive gathering in the Upper
House of the Legislature. Although, as might
have been expected, the motion which elicited
the debate was a mere formality, and was with._
drawn, as a matter of course, at the close of the
discussion, it was, nevettlieless, productive of
all the advantage that could have been rea-
sonably looked for under existing circumstances.
It drew forth, as we have said, the Min-
isterial explanation. For this we are in-
debted in the first instance to the Marquis of
CLANRICARDE, and subsequently, as already inti-
mated, to the outspoken opinions of the Earl of
DERBY and of the Noble Lord his Foreign Secre-
tary. Against these were opposed the Duke of
ARGYLL, the Earl of ABERDEEN and his Foreign
Secretary, the Earl of CLARENDON. Others par-
ticipated in the contest, as, for example, Lord
GLENELa, who appears to have regarded the con-
duct of the Coalition throughout with au all-
believing
generosity and a complacent satisfaction
—the Earl of ELLESMERE, whose mingled chivalry
and sagacity lead him to deprecate the notion
of any perver, in terferenee with our military
and maritime forces by diplomatic agency—and
Lord GREY, %du), in regard to this Eastern Ques-
tion as in regard to almost everything else, is as
erotchetty in his views as he is dogmatical in the
manner of their enunciation. Setting these three,
however, aside, the onus of the debate lay, as we
have remarked, on the one side upon the Earl of
DERBY, and the Earl of MALMESBURY, and the
Marquis of CLANRICARDE—and on the other upon
the Duke of ARGYLL, and the Earl of ABERDEEN,
and the Earl of CLARENDON. Between them as
many of the arguments both " for" and "against"
Ministers were adduced as could possibly have
been desired as the result of one night's discussion
for the guidance of the councils of the Upper
Chamber of the Legislature. A companion
debate, it will be observed, is threatened for
Friday evening next in. the House of Commons
when immediately on the
Committee of Supply, Mr. LAYARD is to call at-
tention to the present state of our relations with
Russia and Turkey, thereby, of course, compelling
Lord JOHN RUSSELL, as the chief organ of the
Cabinet in that division of Parliament, to enter
new vindication of the foreign
upon some policy
of the Coalition—possibly, moreover, interrupt_
ing the prolonged and tranquil reveries indulged
in by Lord PALMERsTON ever since the Tee_
Legislature and breaking, it
sembling of the
silence hitherto main-
may be, the cautious
taiued upon the same subject of our fo-
reign relations by Lord DERBY'S Chancellor of
the Exchequer. So that, after all, a month will
not have elapsed before Miuisters will have been
driven to the unwelcome necessity of explaining
their foreign policy in both the Upper and the
Lower House of the Imperial Parliament. Quite
a marvel of promptitude and rapidity under the
eireunut.-n_e&S—after the last ten or eleven months
deplorable experience.
Elsewhere, besides the important debate in the
House of Lords last evening, will be found a do-'