The Sun.
London, England, 1854-07-03 00:00:00

TILE SUPPLEMENTARY SPEECH.

Lord Aberdeen complains of misapprehension
and misrepresentation, but, by his own showing,
the speech vchich filled the country with astonish-
ment and dismay was a speech which did not ex-
press his opinions fully and completely, and which
has been fairly judged according to its imperfect
terms and scope. If the speaker did not do justice
to his own views, he has only himself to blame.
And certainly no one could have divined that
Lord Aberdeen, while dissenting from Lord Lynd-
hurst's spirited argument, was so nearly in agree-
ment with him. That was the occasion to have
called forth the speech of last Monday, which in-
deed is neither a speech of explanation, nor of re-
tractation, but a sort of supplementary exposition,
showing that though Lord Aberdeen has acquitted
the Czar upon one felonious count, he holds him
guilty upon another of a graver cast.
Being a great lover of peace, Lord Aberdeen is
naturally polemic and disputatious, and the asser-
tion that Russia had doubled her territories within
the present century moved him to a contradiction,
in which he thought much more of confuting an
individual than of the impression his words would
convey, and their effect at home and abroad. Be-
cause an opponent somewhat exaggerated Russian
territorial encroachment, he made passing light of
it in the spirit of controversy, forgetting that the
position of a statesman is as incompatible with such
a handling of a great national question as a duel
would be with the duties of a general, in the field.
He says, truly enough, that Russian territorial
aggression was not to be feared, but that Russian in-
fluence for the same end was to be feared; and he gave
expression to what he did not fear, and locked up in his
breast what he did fear. This was not natural,
but what was suppressed would have brought him
into position with Lord Lyndhurst, which, in the
excitement of debate, the spirit of disputation for-
bade.

It is a point of good generalship to be prepared
with a reserve, but such a strength in reserve as
Lord Aberdeen has discovered is without parallel.
Another time he should be requested to say what
he has left unsaid, or to give those thoughts,
which are proverbially best, the first place.
There is one part of his speech, however, which
the context of the supplement does not correct or
improve, and that is the alleged kind service of the
Czar to the Porte in protecting it against Mehemet
Ali, receiving in return only the little advantage
obtained by the treaty of Unkiar Skelessi. But
besides this special consideration, there was an-
other motive for the friendly service, for the Czar
having a prospective partnership interest in Turkey,
was naturally hostile to any interference with the
property. Meaning to rob the house at suitable
opportunity, he was, of course, quite ready to bar
the doors against a rival depredator.
Another part of Lord Aberdeen's reply to Lord
Lyndhurst, which no subsequent statement can re-
concile with sense and consistency, is his wish for
another . five-and-twenty years' peace, like that
which followed the treaty of Adrianople. His
views of that treaty, which he justly designates as
disastrous, are now before the world. The effect,
in his opinion, was fatal to the independence of
Turkey. How he could have spoken those light
words, denying the encroachments of Russia, after
he had penned these grave words on the same sub-
ject-matter, is utterly inexplicable :
"The modes of domination may be various, although
all equally irresistible. The independence of a State
may be overthrown and its subjection effectually secured
without the presence of a hostile force, or the permanent
occupation of its soil. Under the present treaty the
territorial acquisitions of Russia are small, it must be
admitted, in extent, although most important in their
character. They are commanding positions, far more
valuable than the possession of barren provinces and de-
populated towns, and better calculated to rivet the
fetters by which the Sultan is bound.
"The cession of the Asiatic fortresses, with theire
neighbouring districts, not only secures to Russia
thhe
uninterrupted occupation of the eastern coast o
command-
ing Sea, but places her in a situation so
ing as to control at pleasureintthoe
"Prominently advanced
• Russia holds the
in the midst of a Christian population,
Turlubh provinces ;
keys both of the Persian and the
to extend her con-
questsand, whether she may be disposed
can arrest her progress.
"In no serious obstacle
Wallachia
"In Europe the principalities of and Mol-
davia are rendered virtually independent
of the Porte.
theestciennYtroefAofbcAiarl‘nlieinnoiar,
to the east or to the west, to Teheran or to Con-
stantinople,
astrni boultneeaist,isinodf eeendiortcoinbge
epxacideyttobythteheSupletrainnahoinelai
and
even the assistance of Russia herself ; and a prince,
elected for life, is to demand investiture which cannot be
withheld. The Mussulman inhabitants are to be forcibly
expelled from the territory. The ancient right of pre-
emption is abolished ; and the supplies indispensable for
Constantinople, for the Turkish arsenals, and for the
fortresses are entirely cut off. The most important
fortresses upon the Danube are to be razed, and the

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[PRICE SD.

frontier left exposed and unprotected against incursions
which at any future time may be attempted.
"It is sufficient to observe of the stipulations respect-
ing the islands of the Danube, that their effect 'must be
to place the control of the navigation and commerce of
that river exclusively in the hands of Russia."

The twentp-five years of peace, under the " dis-
astrous treaty," which Lord Aberdeen declared it
would not be amiss to get renewed, have been
twenty-five years of sapping and undermining the
independence of Turkey. How that country has
resisted the machinations against her, with all the
advantages which her enemy has possessed, as
recited by Lord Aberdeen, is truly wonderful, but
the strain of such another five-and-twenty years
of peace with Russia is more than she could bear.
There is more peace in war than in such a perfidi-
ous peace as has passed away.
As we predicted, the bully has been found really
weak in aggressive warfare, and, conceiting himself
an eagle, has performed the part of the claw in the
fable; but though he may not be of a force to
cope with the justice of Europe, he may yet be of
a force to trouble its repose by insane attempts like
the present, unless his means of mischief are cir-
cumscribed. When the time comes, his humilia-
tion will be deprecated with an outpouring of cant
of generosity; but as his conceit of power has been
the main cause of the disturbance of Europe, and
the destruction already of many thousand lives,
his humiliation is the politic and necessary correc-
tive of a dangerous delusion.
We confess we should have been better pleased
with the supplemental speech if Lord Aberdeen had
been a little less vehement in professions. He pro-
fesses peace, and he professes war ; first in the love
of the one, foremost in the prosecution of the
other.

" It is true, my lords, that I have, perhaps, more than
any other man in this country, struggled to preserve a
state of peace. I have done so because I thought it a
duty to the people of this country—a duty to God and
man—first t) exhaust every possible measure to obtain
peace before we engaged in war. (Cheers.) I may
own—though I trust my conscience acquits me of having
done the utmost—that I only regret lest I have not
done enough, or lest I may have lost some possible
means of averting what I consider the greatest calamity
that can befall a country. It has been said that my
desire for peace unfits me to make war ; but how and
why do I wish to make war ? I wish to make war in
order to obtain peace, and no weapon that can be used
in war can make that war so sure and speedy, and attain
peace, as to make that war with the utmost vigour and
determination. (Cheers.) This, my lords, I have not
shrunk from ; on the contrary, I have been ready to
co-operate with my colleagues, and most urgent as to
our hostile and warlike preparations, and they will ad-
mit that I personally have been more urgent than per-
haps any other man in exhorting a speedy advance and
concentration of the allied forces beyond the Balkans, in
order to support the gallant army of Omer Pacha, and
to extend a hand to Austria, in order to enable her to
take a more active part in the operations of the
war. (Cheers.)"

More than any other man .my Lord Aberdeen
has struggled to preserve peace ; more energeti-
cally than any other man my Lora Aberdeen
has urged on the movements of the war. And
has not every other adviser 'of our Sovereign
performed this same duty to the country, to
God, and to man ? Is it to believed that any
one has been backward, or less zealous, less
earnest than another, in exhausting every honest
and just expedient for peace before recourse to the
sword ? What right can the First Minister have
to claim pre-eminence in the discharge of this
clear and imperative duty both of the Christian
and the statesman ? Ho may have performed his
part -Snore ably than others, but not more conscien-
tiously, for there are no degrees in the realm of
conscience. Why is he to arrogate to be first in
virtue, first in duty to his sovereign and his country,
first in duty to God and man ?
And hardly less invidious and objectionable is the
boast of urging on the war " more than any other
man," implying that all are not equally earnest, re-
lute, and energetic in her Majesty's councils, and
that there are divisions of the backward and the
forward, or at least such distinctions. Lord Aber-
deen should surely refrain from thus exalting him-
self at the expense of his colleagues, for it neither
consists with justice nor good taste ; and as little
does it become the dignity of a statesman charged
with the honour and fortunes of a mighty empire
at a most critical juncture.
It may be, however, that in this as well as in
other instances, Lord Aberdeen appears to say what
he does not mean to say, and that it is another
example of that imperfection in expressing himself
to which he ascribes his previous miscarriage. It
was not always thus with him, for we remember,
and with respect and gratitude, the services he
rendered to the free trade cause by his argumenta-
tive and statesmanlike speeches, which were
amongst the most weighty and earnest on that
great theme.—Examiner.

Lord Aberdeen, "with one foot in the grave,"
to adopt his own self-description, has recently
thought fit in his place in Parliament to vindicate
some passages of his busy though not memorable
career. The necessity for such " explanation" in
one filling the most eminent post in the kingdom,
alone proves how unworthily it is occupied. The
conduct and opinion of a Prime Minister should be
of that evident and signal character that, though
they may be opposed, they should not need to be
explained. It is only when high places have been
illegitimately obtained, not by fair parliamentary
influence, but by backstairs intrigue, that there can
be a necessity for such a humiliating performance
as took place on Monday last.
A young member of Parliament, without follow-
ing, and we should. think without concert with any
individual, gave notice of a motion condemnatory
of Lord Aberdeen, which, both in its form and
spirit, was so irregular and unconstitutional that
its sanction by the opposition was out of the ques-
tion. Yet no sooner is he menaced by this Bashi-
Bazouk than the Prime Minister of England, in a
panic, hurries to the House of Lords to anticipate
his House of Commons' assailant by an exposition,
which was received with invective and derision by
some of the friends of Lord J. Russell, but by his
opponents with the contemptuous silence which it
merited.

Notwithstanding the controversial obscurity with
which the subject has got involved, the relations
between Lord Aberdeen and Russia are simple.
Early in life the present Minister of England im-
bibed the idea that Russian power was the conser-
vative element of European society. It is, in fact,
the destructive element. In 1828-9, notwithstand-
ing all the efforts of Prince Metternich, then in
his zenith, and who had formed a correct estimate
of the military means of RuSsia, Lord Aberdeen
refused to resist • the efforts of the Czar, then en-
gaged in the same operation on Turkish integrity
and independence which we are now witnessing.
More than this, he endeavoured to assist those
efforts. He consented to the blockade of the
Mediterranean forts of Turkey by the Russians
without the cognisance of his colleagues, and was
forced to retract his assent. He succeeded in pre•
venting the entrance of the English fleet into the
Black Sea, which would not only have hindered
the success of the Russians, but would have se-
cured the triumph of the Turks. In one of the
secret despatches of this period, which, at the sack
of Warsaw, were rifled from the portfolio of, Con-
stantine, is a despatch from Count Mastutsc bejamiets,z,
the Russian Envoy at the Court of
s
(1829), informing-his Court that Lordth Alter. deen,
while he dwelt on the difficulties
with
had to contend, had
acknowledged his
theirw.sl i
that the Russians should be succe3sf
campaign against
the
LoTdurkAs.be.r.dNeeon dhoaucibtb,eeinf
any other person that
Secretary of State at this period,r the treaty of Ad-
rianople would never have been concluded, and, in
that sense, he may be said to be the author of that
disastrous document. Many weeks after it was
signed he produced that despatch
or its contents,
for a copy of which ho has recently moved in Par-
liament. It is a comment on the past, conceived
in the spirit of the traditionary policy of our Cabi-
net, very just and unanswerable, but quite useless.
It was of this despatch
that Prince Metternich ob-
served, "Apparently Lord Aberdeen has com-
menced his career as an historian."
This State paper .i)11 was a very convenient record
to have at hand in case there had been any stir of
indignation inParliament ; but in 1830 Parlia-
ment was in another cue, and events, very soon
after, swept Lord Aberdeen from that scene where
he has reappared, in his old age, to plunge Europe
in confusion, and to burden his own country with
taxes, from the same causes that previously in-
fluenced his impolitic career, namely, an exagge-
rated estimate of Russian power, and a most mis-
taken and morbid assumption oeTurkish weakness.

But in the interval, also, Lord Aberdeen has been
a Minister, and no sooner did he seem rooted in
power than iu 1844 the Emperor of Russia per-
sonally visited this country to confer with Lord
Aberdeen on the possible partition of Turkey. It
is somewhat strange that such propositions should
be made to the author of such an " acrimonious
despatch" ! We hold that the proposals for par-
tition were not only made, but were..aeoepted, as

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F1A,7,... : .
G"."--e.--e- C---6 proved by the eg toed Me— Itiltrldel. ." 213. t then 1i... '..--(.:-Ea
is urged that the secret memorandum was not an --07,C,,_ ,
agreement. If it were not an agreement Alms am: ::::-:-t-nr
overture ? What answer was made to it/ 'Let -'l4l-.14
)
Lord Aberdeen move for a copy of thatanswer in -;:r'... kl 4
the Rouse of Lords, and produce iti,-;and we.will .4...3:-./.',.?-4
acquit him of complicity. He may rest asatiied - :14&14,,,'
that such a document would do much more to cleag :.
his reputation than the production of a 'dust, despatch more more than a quarter of a century old.
Well, in 1853, Lord Aberdeen is once more in
office, and we find him at the same work again. In
1829 assisting Russia against Turkey ; in 1844
conspiring with Russia against Turkey ; in 1853,
with the same confidence in Russian force, and the
same despair of Ottoman strength, deprecating all
resistance, and instructing his Secretary of State
to write to our ambassador at Constantinople,
that, though " the Western Powers might' suc-
ceed in crippling Russia in the struggle, TuritCY
would, in all probability, disappear in the coma?
of the contest."
The honesty of Lord Aberdeen can only be -
established at the cost of his powers of discrimina-
tion, his judgment, and his knowledge of affairs.
The Minister selected to champion the integrity
and independence of Turkey has looked upon that
country for half a century as a corpse, and has
never concealed that opinion from Russia. But
can his honesty be established even at his expense I
In February he vindicated his course by a convic-
tion throughout of the good faith of Russia ; in
June he attempts to clear himself by the .
duction of an ancient despatch, which n v.,,,
his persuasion of the inveterateness of Russian
duplicity. But, whatever may be the motives
of Lord Aberdeen, the result to the country is
the same. He has involved us in a costly, a
perilous, and an unnecessary war. Had he acted
with frankness and firmness towards Russia at the
commencement, Europe would not have been dis-
turbed, and, had peace been maintained for a few
more years, it is evident that even the Czar would
have discovered that the Porte was a sUfficient
barrier to his ambition.
Lord Aberdeen concluded the melancholy display
of Monday by one of his habitual notices of
this journal. It seems that we stated in our
last number that Prince Metternich had been
consulted by his imperial masters and we
added. that we had reason to believe that the fruits
of his counsel had been communicated, though not
officially to Lord Aberdeen. We alluded also to
previous communications which had taken place
between the two statesmen. Lord Aberdeen de-
clared on Monday that he had had no communica-
tion with his Highness for a year and a half, and
insinuated that the whole paragraph in the Press
had been suggested by a casual allusion to Prince
Metternich in his speech of the 19th June. A little
while ago Lord Aberdeen traced the Cabinet secrete
revealed in the leading articles of the limes to a
youth who had been for a few months a clerk in
the Foreign-office. Now, it is from hints furnished
by his own speeches that the Press has been
enabled to announce to the public the exist-
ence of the " Secret and Confidential Correspond-
ence " a year before it was disclosed ; that,
throughout last autumn, it furnished important
information—sometimes even weeks before it other-
wise transpired ; that, on the 27th of May last, it
announced the secret negotiations which were to
lead, in the first instance, to the evacuation of the
principalities by the Russians.
We really should have thought, after the scrape
of the " clerk in," the Foreign-office," that Lord
Aberdeen would scarcely again have had recourse
to such desperate rigmaroles. Lord Aberdeen at
present affects sincerity, plainness, and a habit of
rough truth. " Honest lago I" -It may be that
ho has changed since he gave his friendly and con-
fidential counsels to his predecessors. 'Tis a cha-
ritable conclusion. Time, his "one foot in the
grave," the intrigues of some of his colleagues, the
insolence of others, the sense of the mischief he
has accomplished, terror and remorse, may have
combined to render him less master of his memory
and of a tongue never very skilful. He declares,
with uncouth raillery, that he has had "no com-
munication, direct or indirect, with Prince Metter-
nich since he has been in office." We aver, on
the contrary, that within this year an individual
who for long years has possessed the confidence of
Prince Metternich and Lord Aberdeen, and has
been frequently employed by the Austrian states-
man on special services, .arrived in this country,
saw Lord Aberdeen instantly, and without the in-
terposition of any third person, remained here pri-
vately for three or four days, had repeated inter-
views with the English! Minister, and returned.
We have the best reasons for believing that the
object of this mission was that concerted action
with Austria which is to extricate both Russia and
Lord Aberdeen from their terrible embarrassments.
We have more to say upon this head, but it will
keep. Lord Aberdeen not only reads the Press
very regularly, but is in the habit of replying to
its articles. The matter, therefore, may rest till
his nut speech.—The Press.

THE BANKERS' CLEARING HOUSE.

The arrangements just completed, by which the whole
of the London joint stock banks are allowed to partici-
pate in the advantages of the London Bankers' Clearing
House, are of sufficient importance to the country, under
the present monetary system, to induce us to call the
attention of the public to the subject. A few words of
explanation will make the matter intelligible to the
general reader.
The Clearing House, situated at the bottom of Loin.
hard-street, was opened about 90 years ago, for the pur-
pose of enabling the city bankers to meet and exchange
their bills and cheques, and• to settle the difference
of their accounts. A clerk from each clearing bank-
ing house attends at eleven o'clock ins the forenoon
and three o'clock in the afternOon for this purpose.
Each clerk has a desk and a drawer,/in which are
deposited by the other clerks all drafts and cheques on
the house which he represents. At four o'clock the
accounts are closed, the balance which each banker has
to pay or receive from another is ascertained, and thus
each banker arrives at the general balance which, as the
result of the day's transactions, is against him or in hie
favour. This general balance is transferred from one
banker to another till the claim which each has on the
clearing house is liquidated. Till very recently, these
general balances were paid in bank notes. In the appen-
dix to the second report of House of Commons on
banks of issue, a statement is given of the aggregate
amount liquidated at that period through the clearing
house, by which some notion may be formed
of the magnitude of these transactions. The amount
cleared in 1839 was 954,401,6001. The bank
notes employed in the settlement of this enor-
mous sum being 66,275,6001., or about 144th of
the whole amount. The extent to which the cur-
rency of the country is economised is evident. But
very lately another important improvement has been in.
troduced. Each clearing banker now keeps an ecoo°,_n
_4
with the Bank of England, and all payments due °n.'"so"
clearing accounts are paid by cheques on the bank
that the use of bank notes in the settlement
.mo.first.ohne
clearing balances is entirely superseded. The
a are six of
esmtamymbseteor,bstehrve
observed, bare
roefntdheersLothnedosnysj
toeimnt snteoacrklyßpanks to the
Th Clearing
ere _douse
se
these large companies, viz., the U. the London
Woltuse system through the
Joint Stock, the London
and County, the Commercial, and the Royal British
agency of the City Banks, of which advantage some of
tßhaenakdsv.anTtahgeeNoVfe st Wt-
ee ncdl e Ba
raianongkdsh,
them avail themselves.
It is difficult to calculate the exact amount of bank
note circulation which will be saved by the system now
introduced of paying the clearing balances by cheques on
the bank, and by the admission of the joint stock banks,
but it cannot be estimated at less than a million. The
return of the active circulation of notes up to June 17th
was 19,700,575/. which compared with the circulation
of the last two years, is small in amount. But it may,
we think, be safely assumed that a million of notes is
not withdrawn from active circulation, but merely
transferred by the new clearing system, from the tills of
the London bankers to those of the bank of England.
The Bank will gain, we imagine, considerably by these
changes. They will have large balances lodged in their
hands by the other London banks, and they will save
the expense of the manufacture of a large amount of
notes. The joint stock banks will gain in economised
capital and lessened expenses. The private bankers will
gain least, for if they have to keep fewer notes in their
coffers, they will have to keep larger balances at the
Bank, and neither will their expenses be materially di-
minished, but the security with which their business will
be transacted much increased.

The public will gain, for the bank note circulating Inv
dium of the country being limited by Peel's Bill, the more
you economise the circulation of the country, the itio"
you do away with the evils of a restricted currency.
Derbyshire Courier.

ONE OF THE " ODIN'S CREW.—Among those who
fell on the Ist instant, in the attack on Gainla Carleby,
D - inning
Gulf of Bothnia, was Mr. Henry Athorpe, midshipman
of the Odin, third son of J. C. Athorpe, Esq.,
ton, Yorkshire, and Loam, near Eyarn. Derbyshire, and
grandson of the late M. M. Middleton, Esq., Leans.
The unfortunate youth was in the 16th year of his ago,
of a very amiable disposition, never failing to Bemire the
good opinion of all who knew him. The untimely death
of the gallant youth has thrown his affectionate parents
into the deepest affliction. He is also much lamented
by many other friends who regarded him with the
highest esteem. Along with five others, his remains
havec found a watery grave.—Derbyshire Courier.
ARRIVALS OF SPECIE.—The arrivals of specie last
week have included 40,0001. from Russia, and have
again been extremely large, amounting to a general total
of about 350,0001., of which nearly one-half was in sil-
ver. The exports have been moderate, and are estimated
not to have exceeded 100,0001.
NEW BILL TO REPEAL THE USURY LAWS.—On Satur;
day the Government bill which is to be discussed on the
second reading,
was printed, to repeal the Usury Laws.
The bill contains a number of statutes from the 37 Henry
VIII., to the 13 and 14 Vict.