The Sun.
London, England, 1854-06-19 00:00:00

~/

On the part of all classes of the community. They had;
therefore, at once called'upon the people to take upon
them those burdens, in their own day, without entailing
them upon posterity, and had asked them to furnish the
means to make such efforts as were worthy of -a
great people and country, and which were cal-
culated to bring that war to a speedy termination.
(Applause.) . The representatives in the House of
Commons, actuated by the feelings of the people ex-
pressed throughout the country, freely granted the Sup-
plies requisite for the war, and measures had already
been taken by sea and land. They had sent forth .a fleet
of such magnitude that few in the present generation
could remember ever seeing proceed from this coun-
try ; a fleet provided with all the appliances which
modern science could invent as aids in naval warfare,
and commanded_ by gallant and determined British sea-
men. (Applause.) They bad, likewise, sent forth a
land army of no inconsiderable force to act in con-
junction with their allies in defence of the com-
mon principles of justice—a force comprising men
bold, brave, and of determined bearing, who would,
no doubt, distinguish themselves in any service,
and who were commanded by a chief trained under
the eye of the great Duke of Wellington, his
early military friend and companion in arms, and
who was associated with him to the close of the life of
that great and lamented hero in the administration
of the military affairs of this country. (Applause.' The
Government, therefore, bad done all they could do, and
all the people could expect them to do ; and there could
be little doubt that whenever the services of either the
fleet or the army were called upon, these gallant seamen'
arid brave soldiers would maintain unimpaired the glory
of the British flag and arms. (Loud applause.) The hon.
baronet next proceeded to caution the nation against
glorying in ',war, for the sake of it, or of bringing fame
to individuals, but to remember the misery it carried
with it, either from victorious or defeated armies, and be
desirous of a speedy peace—remembering the words of
the greatest'of English poets—that
"Peace has her victories not less renowned than war."
Let them then contrast the most successful wars with
the results of those applications of mind in promoting
domestic improvements, and the social, moral, and, com-
mercial progress upon which the happiness of the people
depended. And when he said that he did not wish to
apply it to themselves, but extend his desires to the
civilised globe, wherever the influence of Englishmen
was felt, or where it could be exerted for the benefit of
people in the most distant parts of tlae-lveries. (Ap.
plause.) The hon. baronet, after a 'few. other general
remarks, thanked them for the hearing they had given
him, and concluded by pledging himself to a faithful dis-
charge of his duties. (Cheers.)

SIR GEORGE GREY ON THE WAR..

The speech of the new Colonial Secretary, Sir
George Grey, on his re-election to the House of
Commons, will startle many of those who were
inclined to support him, and will assuredly revive
many of the old dislikes to the `Whigs. Sir George
Grey narrates very circumstantially to his consti-
tuency the history of his repeated refusals to join
the present Ministry—at a time, it will be recol-
lected, when they were struggling with difficulties
—and the reasons which have induced him to join
them now when they seem more safe in the saddle.
This merely personal detail is a matter more in-
teresting to Sir George Grey than to anyone else,
and may fairly pass without further comment than
this—that the Colonial Secretary has a keen sense
of the interests of Number One.
The latter portion of the speech cannot be so
easily passed over. It is, if one may use such a
term with respect to a literary composition,
"flabby." It wants body. It is the speech of an
invalid—weakened by too much " coddling." Sir
George Grey forgot seemingly that he was talking
to common-sense Englishmen, or he would never
have droned over the war as he did. People don't
want a Minister who takes office, when we are in
the midst of a war, to be repeating all the old talk
about the miseries of war. We want Ministers who
will prosecute the war vigorously, and bring it to a
rapid and prosperous issue. " War was no slight
evil," droned out Sir George Grey. Why who ever
imagines now-a-days that war is not ? What is the
meaning of this cuckoo-cry about the evils of war ?
Is it to disgust us with doing our duty by the war ?
Does Sir George Grey want to induce us to put up
with a dishonourable peace? "It was, indeed, one of
the greatest evils by which the human race —." Of
course it is ; and therefore let us get out of it as soon
as we can, by inflicting such a punishment upon
the provoker of the war that lie shall be glad to sue
for peace on such terms as will ward off the evil for
the next century. Why, of all nations in the earth,
do we need these constant allusions to the evils of
war ? Don't we feel it in every shape ? Is not our
legislation delayed? Are not our friends abroad
risking their lives? Are we not paying heavily for
every cannon-ball that is fired ? Are not prices
1, high ? And is not the income tax doubled ? Why,
again, does Sir George Grey think it necessary to
address the English public on the necessity of pro-
viding heavily for the demands of the war ? "To
make war without adequate means—to attempt to
induce the people to believe that the burdens would
not be great, heavy, severe, and general,' would be
an omission of duty on the part of the Government,
and would only protract what we want to see -
abridged to the least possible period, and ultimately
impose upon them greater burdens than they would
otherwise be called upon to bear." To do the Go-
vernment justice, they never neglected this duty
of telling the people how costly -war would be.
They were never weary of dwelling upon these
points. This was one of the great cards of the
friends of Russia in this country, and the Czar evi-
dently expected that it would play his game well.
He thought that a nation of shopkeepers would be
frightened at an appeal to their pockets. Has this
been the result ? Have the English people grum-
bled at any fair demand made upon them ? Why,
then, this reiteration of the necessity of warning
the people of the " great," " heavy," " severe,"
and " general" burdens they would have to bear ?
If this is not the merest twaddle it, has a most
suspicious meaning in it. Is it intended to
draw away the attention of the country from the
beneficial results that a war vigorously and success-
fully carried out would procure, and fix it on the
injurious effects it would have on their pockets?
Let us hope that it is simple twaddle—pure Inanity
of the Whig Colonial Secretary. What follows is,
perhaps, more absurd than what has been quoted.
After adverting to the anticipation of the success
that might attend our arms, the speaker continues
—" In anticipating these successes, however, with
which we hoped Providence would bless our fleets
and our armies, they had to guard lest the public
feeling, which was naturally excited, should lead
them to engage in a war for war's sake, or for the
sake of the glory which war brought to the
indivi-
dual and the countries. He trusted that that was
a feeling against which the people of this country
would be effectually guarded." It is difficult to
speak harshly enough of this absurdity of " guard-
ing" the people of England against the danger that
they become intoxicated with war and glory. There
is not one sane person in the country who looks
upon war in any other light than as a great and in-
calculable evil—heroically dared for the sake of a
great principle. Why, then, are we to be warned
by Ministerial twaddlers not to become mad for
the sake of what in itself is most distasteful ?

If Sir George Grey has entered the Ministry to
throw cold water upon the enthusiastic desires of a
people to put down a war-making despot, he bad
much better have kept out of Downing-street. We
don't want another member of the Cabinet to bold
a brief for Russia. Lord John Russell was pulled
down into the mire once before by this kind of
" statesmanship," and will suffer a similar fate,
unless he takes care to keep his Whig friends in,
order. We wan't no war for war's sake ; but,
having gone to war for principle, none but the
friends of the Autocrat should throw cold water on
those who are making great sacrifices in a great and
righteous cause.—Daily News.

ATTACHMENT OF A SPARROW TO ITS MASTER.—Nu-
morons detachments of all the regiments of the garrison
of Paris assembled yesterday morning in the large court
of the Ecole Militaire to be present at the reading of
judgments of Courts-martial, by which seven soldiers
were condemned to what are called " peines &Maim'
et infamantes," and some others to hard' labour, or the
peine du boulet, which are simply correctional punish-
ments. The former sentences carry with them military
degradation, and accordingly the seven
the usual form.
de-
graded and excluded from the army in where
men were The condemned to hard labour were placed
theeine au
they could be seen, and those senteneenddtange
beforeF the
boulet were paraded with their eyes
troops, dragging after them
were gone through,
their waist. After these formalitioas line,
and the troops
a .4nsiii)oan ball attached at
all the condemned drawn e
curious circumstance oc-
marched off past them.
cured in the course of thueAproceedings :—One of the
r:tence for five years' imprison-
-1 of -the 38th Regiment, named
cAounridecmh,nwedh,oains
uexn-doeorrp;
' of St. Germain, insulted and threatened
having, sylier! in confinement in the
relieved the tedium of captivity by
the officers,
mPeennifteinntiiarroyngkr
which he had happened to catch. The
much attached to him that it never
bird became so
poor
A being brought up to Paris in a cellular
taming
left hiniam. on .
a sparrow,
It was resting on his finger,
when to undergo degradation. The gen-
darme who proceeded to the operation tried to frighten
the bird away, but it flew about until the corporal was
released from his hands, and then went and perched on
his shoulder. It was still perching there when the man
re-entered the cellular van to be conveyed back to gaol.
—Galignani.
BREAD FOR THE WAR.—During the past week an
order has been given to some of the ship-bread bakers in
this town for 500 tons of bread for the troops. It appears
the facilities for baking ship bread are greater in Liver-
pool, as well as cheaper, than in any other town in the
kingdom. The order came through a London house,
The bread is to be on shipboard in three weeks, and the
destination is said to be Turkey. Such an order could
not have been executed by the same number of persons a
i few years ago under tWO myths.—okirereQ4 AfF.GurY.