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

etefal, because your example will inspire your country-
eon, you will be the men who will have upheld and main-
tained the honour of your flag, you will be the men who
have delivered Europe from the power of the oppressor,
and yOu will deserve the blessings of England and of the
sworld." (Much cheering.)
The Duke of NEWCASTLE said—Whenever on a
former ooeasion I have had to follow the noble earl, I have
always felt the difficulty under which I laboured in reply
ing to statements and rebutting arguments brought for-
ward by so able and practised a debater ; and upon the
present occasion, which was rightly characterised by the
noble earl as one of momentous interest, I feel those diffi-
culties to be greater than usual. Let me say at the outset
that I rejoice that, though the noble earl, in the latter
half of his speech, somewhat departed from the spirit of
the first part, and entered a little perhaps into unfair and
party attacks, yet it will be known to our great and pow-
erful:enemy that the only cause of dissension, at any rate,
which could be found in this house, was, that Government
not been energetic enough in carrying on this war ;
*cause, at a moment like this, the interests of a humble
ndividnal like myself, or those of the Government, are
•mall indeed as compared with the interests e
estimation
ingreat
country. Better that we should suffetrh ine the
world,
rather
t
of every man in this country, and
than that the Emperor of Russia should be under the
smallest delusion as to the sentiments of this country, and
as to the complaints which can be
isan against
called"out-
and-out" made
ttlt-
(Cheers.) lam not about to make what
and-out" defence of the Government, and of the depart-
ment far
to which I belong. lam by too sensible of my
own shortcomings, and of the defects of administration, to
the
n2a rsadthe thatde
day
prepared to say that everything which has been done
has been right, that no mistakeseonnehe av
29th
h beenef made,March, if we had now to begin, as
on which war was declared, we should do everything as
we have done it. Some thing might be omitted and ethers
night be mended. Before I comment upon the principal
fault* of omission and commission to which the nobleearl has
alluded,
I must in justice to Government recall to your lord-
ship's recollection the circumstances attending the decla-
ration of war, and the measures which were taken by the
Government at the commencement of those operations.
The noble earl seemed to me to be a little intonsistent in
saying that at the commencement of warlike operations it
was clear that we had some other object in view than the
mare defence of Turkey and the assistance of the Turkish
forces, and shortly afterwards, when it suited his purpose,
endeavouring to prove that, until the siege of Silistria was
raised, we had no notion of what we were about to do. I
say at once that the first of the noble earl's propositions
was correct. We had throughout a double object. The first
object was the support of the Turkish forces and the pro-
tection of Constantinople from any possible attack from
the Russian forces which were then in the Principalities.
Our second object was, that if war were once declared, and
we had to send force. to the East, we would not be satis-
fied with the expulsion of the Russians from the principa-
lities—we would not be content with the status quo—bat
we would endeavour to obtain from the enemy such secu-
rity for the future as should prevent the recurrence of those
evils which had involved us in war, and of attempts upon
the integrity of the Turkish empire. In this double object
our policy was identical with that of France, and let me
tell the noble earl that not merely from the first moment
of warlike operations, but from the commencement of
the negotiations which eventually concluded in war, our
policy has been identical with that of the Emperor of the
French. Our union and alliance with that great emperor
has from the first been complete, and I freely confess that
I do rather pity the noble earl for that not very dignified
attempt en his part to sow dissentious between the Go-
vernment of her Majesty and that of the Emperor of the
French, by resuscitating upon this occasion some misera-
ble election speeches delivered long ago by members of the
Government—(cheers)—when the noble earl knows as well
as I do that never was alliance firmer, never was the de-
termination to maintain that alliance more resolute or
more fixed in the mind of every member of her Majesty's
Government, than at the present moment. And when
the noble earl taunted my noble friend the First Lord of
the Treasury that he had at this moment discovered that
alliance with France was worth having, even with others
than Orleanists, I must take the liberty to say that the
noble Earl (Derby) is perfectly aware that the policy of
my noble friend and of the Government has been that, as
we were faithful to the alliance with Louis Philippe so
long as he was upon the throne of France, so will our pre-
sent alliance be fixed, and perhaps more firmly, from the
resolute character of the Emperor of the French, and the
openhanded fairness which he has shown to us. (Hear.)
I apprehend that the noble earl might have ascertained for
himself that our objects in this war were, as I have ex-
plained, twofold, from the steps which were at its com-
mencement taken in the Baltic. The noble earl has com-
mented with considerable severity upon the operations in
that sea. lam not about -to allude to his jokes upon the
First Lord of the Admiralty or the Commander-in-chief of
the squadron in the Baltic ; but I think that if the results
which this country at first anticipated from those opera-
tions have net been realised, nevertheless they have not
been unattended with beneficial results. It is undoubtedly
true that Cronstadt and Sweaborg have not fallen, and
that the Russian navy in that sea is at present intact ; but
will your lordships bear in mind the results to the pride
and position of Russia ? That fleet, though intact, has
never been able to attack us, and her trade has been en-
tirely suspended. (No, no.) A noble marquis says " no."
I am not, of course, alluding to her trade overland through
a neutral state, but to the trade with which a fleet
could interfere ; and I repeat that the trade of Russia has
not only been crippled but completely suspended. It is
not unnatural that the public should look slightingly on
the capture of Bomarsund, partly owing to the facilit
-with which the operation was completed, a
other
partly
owing to the far greater magnitude the les
tion which we have undertaken; but if your lord-
ships will remember what Bomarsund was to have
been, and what it was rapidly becoming, I think you
will admit with me, that a very great object has been
attained by the destruction of that fortress—one to
which, in a few years, Sveaborg and Cronstadt would have
been as nothing—a port wherein all the fleets of Russia
might have ridden with perfect security, and a fortress of
much strength that, had it been completed, the Gulf of
Bothnia would have become another Russian lake, and
Stockholm would have been at all times at the mercy of
the Emperor of Russia. The noble earl (the Earl of Derby)
commented upon the budget at the commencement of the
war, and said that the Government proposed an estimat o
merely for sending 25,000 men to Malta and back again.
He dwelt repeatedly upon the phrase " Malta and back
again ;" I do not know whether ha had found the phrase
in the speech of any minister of the Crown, but I men say
from my own knowledge of the facts that it never was
dreamed for a moment that the troops should come back
from Malta unl see-which we never anticipated—the Em-
peror of Russia ed for peace before they got any further.
i
The original for amounted to between 28,M0 and 30,000
men, including officers, and of that 10,000 were sent to
Malta, net to remain there, nor to return home, but to ex-
pedite the transport of the whole force to Turkey. The
noble earl also laughed at the supposed boasted activity of
the Government, and said that this sending off 28,000 men
Consumed the months of March, April, and May, arid, as
he said, well into June. Let me remind the noble-earl
thet, with the exception of two or three regiments of ea-
Valry, the whole force was sent to Turkey before the end
-of April, and that on tha 22d April Lord Raglan received
from me instructions to move forward that force from its
position at Gallipoli, which it had occupied in conjuction
with the army of the Emperor of the French, to Varna, in
order to support that place, and subsequently with a view
to the support of Silistria. I may mention, as complicat-
ing affairs, that about this time events had been taking
place in Greece which appeared likely to embarrass other
nations, and which rendered it necessary that, on, I think,
the 20th of May, certain forces of Prance and
England
securing
should be sent to the Pirrone, for the purpose of s• g
that neutrality on the part of Greece which had begun to
be departed from. When the noble earl came to that
part of his speech at which he thought it was favour-
able to his case to represent that it was only after the
raising of the siege of Silistria that we contemplated ,
the invasion of the Crimea, he quoted two speeches—
one of my noble friend the President of the Council,
the other of my noble friend the Chancellor of the
Duch of Lancaster—in order to prove his case. He said
that it was only after the siege of Silistria was raised that
we asked ourselves " What next ?" and that the generals
were ordered to proceed to the Crimea ; and he asserted
that it was in spite of the representations of generals that
that order was given by the Government at home. Let me
inform the noble earl that he is entirely in error in the
whole of this statement. From the first, the invasion of
the Crimea was contemplated. I wish it were consistent
with my duty and that of the Government to lay upon
your lordships' table the despatches which have passed be-
tween Lord Raglan and myself with reference to the con-
duct of this war ; but I think your lordships will agree
with me that we should be endangering the
public service
if during the conduct of the war we produced suck docu-
ments. The production of these documents—and lam
sure your lordship. will take my word for the fact—would
prove that on the day on whisk the first official instruc-
tions were given to Lord Raglan, instructions were also
given to him in a separate despatch to make inquiries with
reference to the condition of Sebastopol, with reference to
the forces in the Crimea, and to the means of invasion,
and the best mode of carrying it out. When the noble
earl proceeds to say that this order was given from home
In spite of the opinion of competent generals, I admit that
the order was given from home, but I deny that it was
given in spite of the opinion of any generals. On the eon-
trary, as far as military opinions were received, they were
in favour of the measure; and all the information we were
able to acquire—l admit it was less than we could have
obtained in any other country—tended to show that the
step was a proper one to be taken. The noble earl then
proceeded to say, upon the authority, I believe, of some
speech which he had seen in a newspaper, that it was net
until the end of July that these orders were issued. Here
again the noble earl was entirely in error. The siege of
Silistria was raised. The moment the intelligence of
its' having been so was , received in this country by the
telegraph, the Cabinet *met, and decided that, as any
immediate inroad of Russian forces into the Turkish
empire was at an end, the time was come when, with
a Kew to the accomplishment of the great object of the
Irofariit Was necessary to strike a bold blow at the power
anin, and to deprive her of the means of aggres-
aid:
twilehch2uk f sksahad employed to the detriment of Turkey.
ing of The •June, only seven days after the rais-
cons f__„__Sifiry 0! %Maria, say despatch, giving direc-
RagiaZ b",Aie'
noble
of the Crimea, was written to Lord
expedition was ord earl also complained that when this
did not sufficiently strengthen
the oatenfrc under Lori d'
whiMari,'!command. I cannot forget
that, h time f
there was not a voice ra* ea inl thisani speaking,i/Is e o r ini nthjeucnoeulnastryt,
which did not say that
dtheperetued:vlaere sufficient for the
expedition, and did not
said there was no sufficient reason,y,TTer which it was
n
throughout_ his speech, entirely threw out of
accoobulent etahralt
the war was
not undertaken by our own army of 30
COO
men alone,
but that we undertook it in conjunctionwith
a great military power ; and,
in speaking of the sufficiency
ought to consider it in
_
or insufficiency of the force, yon
The first step whichwe took upon ordering
the aggregate.
to send out reieforceme• es
this expedition, was So long
was the first m '
as the defence of the Balkans consideration,
under the
we thought that the force
we of Lord
Raglan was sufficiently strong, and had reserved .a
companies of artillery
fourth division of infantry and come
'red to concentrate tAs soon as the forces
were ordered
ordered out, underin
the
Crimea, that reserve division was
officer Sir G. Cathcarte
command of that distinguished
of artillery, two regi-
ments to it were added three companies
attering train of 42 guns
meets of cavalry, and a second
abandon supply of am-
-veal e of equal =aunt, with an a
I believe that never
le - already sent out.
ni ,ieton, being , resat estate
ins sent out in so g
' befcts*vo two battering tra
tv of ammunition,
4 oteb,JSciatlcy, and with s.) large a supp.,
t authorities
- t
• ' Alleittititibg the opinions of the most competent
' Coief•,avo (lireet;oos for 1
•, , • ;:zirael,E4lyytkio Coininandef"'n" " wuclie,(l lightly
e
-' ' -11 • ' o the amouut. The noble earl
the
^`,./:e -e'..e.e.'„' )(set which has been made
d'h IV
object of louder
took place
',,,- - e'e l' : i • . • i out of doors, viz., the delay which
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