The Sun.
London, England, 1854-03-14 00:00:00

THE BALTIC FLEET.

Mr. FRENCH observed that in the newspapers o f
the Bth instant, there appeared in the public prints a
report of the public dinner given to Sir C. Napier, on
the previous evening, at the Reform Club. By that re-
port it appeared that the right hon. gentleman, the
First Lord of the Admiralty, in his official capacity,
gave Sir C. Napier liberty to declare war on entering
the Baltic. Now he wished to ask the right hoa baronet
two questions upon this point ; first, did the right
hon. baronet give such authority—and, secondly, if
lie did, would it be acted upon while we were
in anticipation of the arrival of the Czar's reply to the
ultimatum which had been offerded him.

Sir J. GRAHAM said—Sir, although I might be wil-
ling to dispute the right of the hon. member to put a
question to me with respect to what passed after (limier
(roars of laughter)—yet perhaps it would be disrespectful
to the house if I did not give an answer to the ques-
tion. (Hear, hear.) I have to state, then, to the
honourable gentleman, that with respect to the
authority given by me it arose in this way—
Sir C. Napier had observed that before he entered the
Baltic, lie must have authority to declare war, and I
said, in reply to this remark, that when he entered the
Baltic, I hoped there would be no difficulty on his part
in declaring war. (Hear, hear.) No declaration of war
has, however, been made yet, nor has any order been
given to Sir C. Napier to enter the Baltic, but when war
is declared, a proper notification will be given to him
and the country of it. (Cheers.)
Mr. BRIGHT—That I may not be out of order, I shall
take the liberty of moving the adjournment of the house.
I gave notice a few evenings ago to the right hon. baronet
the First Lord of the Admiralty that I would put a ques-
tion to him on the subject which has just been brought
under the notice of the house. I cannot say that the an-
swer of the right hon. gentleman is one which meets the
case—(cheers from the Opposition)—or one that would
justify me in saying nothing more upon the subject. The
right hon. baronet complains that he should be asked a
question about something that happened after dinner. (A.
laugh.) Now, the house put an interpretation upon that
remark which, lam quite sure, was not justified by the
state of the right hon. gentleman, (Loud laughter.) There
is, however, a matter connected with this subject which
affects the Government as a Government, and not the right
hon. hon. baronet alone. I have seen it stated in one of
the morning papers—and it has been currently reported—
that some time ago the Lord Mayor of the city of London
proposed to give a dinner at the Mansion-house to distinguish-
ed officers of both services. Every gentleman who becomes
Lord Mayor seems to be excited about something—(a
laugh)—and in the effervescence of my Lord Mayor Sidney
it was thought desirable to have this dinner. I understand
that application was made to the right hon. gentleman
(Sir J. Graham) who is at the head of the naval adminis-
tration, and to Lord Hardinge, the head of the army, for
their sanction ; and that in the one case it was agreed that
some 30 officers should be invited, and in the other case, I
believe, as many as 40. Everything went on swimmingly
for the ambition of the Lord Mayor—(a laugh)—until in
consequence of some notification from some higher power—
from the Cabinet, or from the noble earl at the head of the
Government, but I suspect from the latter—the dinner was
countermanded, and for a time at least postponed. Now,
in my opinion, nothing could be more proper or judicious
than that postponement ; for considering the circumstances
in which we are placed, I think that, at such a critical N.
riod, it is advisable that the members of the Government
should abstain from any demonstrations of this nature.
The Mansion-house dinner did not take place, but the din-
ner at the Reform Club came on. Now, I don't at all ex-
pect the Government to put an end to dinners at the
Reform Club. Clubs are celebrated for their cookery—(e,
laugh)—and in the case of a great many members of clubs,
the preparation of their dinners and the eating of them are
the chief objects of their concern during the day. (" Oh,
oh !" and a laugh.) lam sorry if I have said anything
offensive to any hon. members. (Laughter.) Although it
was no part of the business of the Government to put a
stop to a dinner at the Reform Club, yet, if the Govern-
ment considered a dinner atthe Mansion-house injudicious,
I don't know how they could regard the attendance of
three Cabinet Ministers, and an amiral just appointed to
a high command, at a dinner of the Reform Club as other-
wise than injudicious also. I suspect that, some day or
other, this house will have to ask who is the Minister, and
what is the Cabinet, and where we are to look for the exe-
cutive administration of the country ; for I regard the two
cases I have mentioned as affording some evidence that
there are probably a majority and a minority in the Cabi-
net, and that there is a difference of opinion upon this
subject, as probably there may be upon other important
questions. I will say nothing of the good tasse or the
bad taste of Ministers of the Crown in attending the
dinner at the Reform Club. I can imagine, however,
that, after Ministers have succeeded in bringing a na-
tion to the verge of the precipice of war, they will .not be
very particular as to the means they take to keep alive or
to stimulate public passions, in order, it may be, that
some blunders which have been committed may, under
this prevailing frenzy, lie undiscovered. It is said that the
noble member for the city of London (Lord J. Russell) was
requested to attend, if not to preside at, the dinner at the
Reform Club ; bat I need not remind the house that the
noble lord, in the midst of many political successes,
and some reverses, has generally—l think always—
managed to show that he had some self-respect some regard
for his own dignity and for his own character, and he was
not present at this dinner. The noble member fcr Tiver-
ton (Lord Palmerston) was the chairman on the occasion.
1 wont go into the question whether he should have been
chairman or not, but I must say I could not help con-
trasting the language lie used on that occasion, when he
spoke of the single-mindedness, the good faith, and the
honour of a certain ruler abroad, with the language which
I recollect was used by the noble lord in this house only
two years ago, when he sought to terrify the house and
the country by describing the imminent probability that
a marauding army of (30,000 Frenchmen might land on tho
southern shores of Englan,l in a single night. There was
another exhibition at that dinner which gave me extreme
pain—the presence of the right hon. baronet (Sir William
Molesworth) the Chief Commissioner of Works. (Hear,
elides, laugh). The change that 12 months of official life
appears to work in some gentlemen is wonderful. (Laugh-
ter.) We have heard of men who have grown old from
the anxieties of a single year, and I believe there are cases
on record of men's hair having turned grey by the agony
of a single night. I think it was Horace Walpole who re-
marked upon the frankness with which members spoke when
on that (pointing to the Opposition) side of the house, and on
the diplomatic reserve which they displayed when they sat,
on the benches below me and who observed that Ministerial
language was the easist of all languages, for a man could.
learn it in a week. It has only taken some 12 or 15
months of official life to erase from the mind of the right
hon. baronet (Sir W. Molesworth) all traces of that great
principle of non-intervention upon which, in 1850, if I
recollect aright, he gave a vote emphatically condemning
the foreign policy of the noble lord the member for
Tiverton. But now I come to the First Lord of the
Admiralty. He has been in this house longer than
most of us recollect ; in, fact, I suppose scores of mem-
bers of this house were not higher than that table
(pointing to the clerk's table) when the right honour-
able gentleman was first immersed in political affairs.
(A laugh.) He has held office for a great number of years;
his language is most precise and accurate ; he is not sur-
passed, or even rivalled, by any hon. member in the beau-
tiful precision with which his words are placed and uttered;
and he is such a judge of what is discreet that, upon this
very occasion, in flat contradiction to the notorious opinions
of the noble member for the city of Loudon, he took upon
himself to vouch for and to guarantee the absolute discre-
tion of Sir C. Napier. (Some cries of " Hear, hear.")
Now, the right hon. baronet (Sir J. Graham) has not to
my mind, stated precisely what were the words he used on
the occasion to which reference has been made. I must
say of Sir C. Napier that I thought his speech was the best
speech at the dinner, for it was a speech not unbecoming
the position in which he was placed. I will say nothing of
the appointment further than this,—that it appears now
to be the rule of the Government that a man does not come
to maturity until ho is about 70 years of age. (A laugh.)
I am certainly of opinion that it was not very judicious to
give the command of the most powerful and costly fleet—
costly whether viewed with regard to stores or to human
life—that ever left this or any other country, to one who
has passed that period of life when man's mental and
bodily powers are in full vigour. The language Sir C.
Napier used was this—and I believe the report, so far as I
can learn, to be accurate and verbatim :
" I cannot say we are at war, because we are still at
peace. (Great laughter.)"
(A laugh.) One would really suppose that nothing
gentlemen
gamceouelnd
be more funny than the subject which these
were discussing. " But," SirCNapierproceeded
,
" I suppose we are very nearly at war, and probably
when I get into the Baltic I'll have an oppo unity of
declaring war. (Loud cheers, laughter, and a cry of
Bravo Charley !')"
(Laughter.) Now, it was in reference to that paragraph
that the First Lord of the Admiralty made the observation
to which the attention of the house had been called. The
righesagiodelinto the Baltic be
tmhyong.alblaartiotufertie(nSdi (Sir J.
says, when Graham)
will declare war. (Laughter.) I, as First Lord of the
a
Admiralty, give him my free consent so to do."
(Hear, hear.) (An hon. member on the benches immedi-
ththee hon.ga gallery.)
means by
gentleman I understand
immedi-
ately behind the • Treasury bench, here made an observa-
tion which was inaudible
hatin
(Mr. Bright
saying, " When he goes into the Baltic ;'' but, suppose
continued)
w
the same language had been used before Admiral Dundas
entered the Black Sea. It would have been just as proper
and rational for a Minister of the Crown to have used
such language in that case as in the present ; and no idea
that we might be at war when Sir C. Napier got into the
Baltic could, in my opinion, afford the slightest excuse for
the indiscreet language of the First Lord of the Admiralty-
The question I intended to have asked, if I had not been
anticipated by the hon. member for Roscommon (Mr.
French), was simply whether the right hon. baronet had
the sanction of the Government to the language be used,
and whether he spoke in that explicit and resolute style
upon so grave a subject with the authority of his Sov"-
reign. From his explanation it appears that it was only
the expression of an after-dinner speech—that, in point of
fact, a subject so grave was treated in this manner for the
purpose of eliciting—not that it did elicit—cheers from an
audience who, no doubt, were not very particular about
what they heard, as they were not very particular about
what the Government were going to do. I must say that
I read the whole of those proceedings with pain and with
humiliation. Whether this war be justifiable or not, is
not the question ; but whatever sort of war it be, it is an
awful thing for any nation that engages in it. (Some
cries of " Hear, hear.") If war be not in itself always a
crime, it is the inevitable parent of innumerable crimes.
There are thousands, perhaps scores of thousands of
lives depending on this question. The fortunesou and
the happiness of millions depend upon
to thelt y
other sidern
oßfr
sending
5,a" man nie
from each of 25,000
feeling the deepest anxiety—who, it may
British homes. .10 -
o In or
thtaokse 2e
homes there are families who at
this moment are
be are alternating between hope and fear ; and what per-
son can tell but that before the heat of summer is past, or
even before it conies, you may have news from the swamps
of the Danube of the indiscriminate slaughter on the
battlefield, which will strike dumb with sorrow the oxen-
pants of hundreds of homes in this country ? I want to
know, then, whether it was right or becoming on the part
of the noble member for Tiverton to entertain the country
with stories and jokes at a time like this? I conceive, Sir,
•that this is one of the grayed matters can be amused,