The Sun.
London, England, 1856-09-26 00:00:00

THE SU DO .\, FRU)

courtly, nor to practise too unlimited a servility even tc
princely wishes. (Hear, hear.) The next warning that
his lordship had was on the question of the appellate juris-
diction of the House of Peers. The House of Peers, as
you know, have endeavoured to limit the royal prerogative
to deny the right of creating life peers, lest the Queen
should send in more wisdom and patriotism than it would
be convenient to them to receive in their house. (Hear.)
They say, with Doctor Caine, in the " Merry Wives of
Windsor," " What, shall the honest man do in my closet?
There is no honest man that shall come into my closet"—
(laughter)—and accordingly they, while rejecting this pre-
rogative, are attempting to set up for themselves a claim
for being, as they have practically been, the ultimate judi-
cial tribunal of the country. Well, the bill was carried
to its second reading, it was then shelved in a committee,
and the House of Lords and the House of Commons have
this hopeful thing to fight out in the next session ; they
have to give the country a high court of appeal, and they
have also to decide whether the Queen can create peers
who shall be peers in right of their personal qualities, and
not to be the fathers of legislators to the hundredth gene-
ration. (Hear.) I might add to these warnings that which
Lord Palmerston sustained by the mode in which his bill
for the resignation of the two bishops was received. Two
bishops stated that they felt themselves unequal to the
duties of their office. Well, the natural course of things,
when a man is unequal to his duties, is to give up those
duties. (Hear.) " No," said these bishops, "we will not
give up unless you secure for one of us a pension of 6,0001.
a year and a palace, and for the other a pension of 4,0001,
a year." Well, that has been carried, but carried amid
cries of shame which will reverberate through the country,
and which have done more to damage the cause of the es-
tablishment than anything else that could have been de-
vised. (Hear.) I have no complaint to make of Lord Pal-
merston on the subject of the peace. When I had the
pleasure of meeting you last year I testified my warm ad-
miration of him and confidence in him as war minister. I
confess some of the expectations with which I looked with
the degree of complacency which I then felt upon the war
have been disappointed. (Hear, hear.) I thought it might
have ended in a kind of crusade against despotism, uni-
versally. I thought there might have been, incidental to
the conflict, the liberation of the Hungarians, of the Poles,
and of the Italians. (Hear, hear.) That is postponed, but
it is only postponed. The time is coming, and it may perhaps
be nearer than we imagine, when the oppressed nationalities
will rise in their majesty, assert their rights, and obtain
their liberty. (Cheers.) God send that it may come soon.
(Cheers.) Our sympathies, our hearts, and hopes, and
wishes are with them. But this was not the object for
which the war could have been prolonged. The war was
made on definite grounds, for limited purposes, and in
conjunction with allies. Technically, the objects of the
war were accomplished. Turkey was saved, and has only
to work out her own regeneration. Russia, lam happy to
see, has recently manifested a pacific disposition ; and the
exoneration of the country from the recruitment of the
conscription for a number of years is a kind of pledge or
promise of a peaceful tendency and disposition, which I
think we ought to meet with gratification, and to recipro-
cate with pleasure. (Hear, hear.) But, nevertheless, we
cannot look on the state of Europe without deep feelings of
anxiety. We cannot but foresee the coming storm ; we
cannot but trust that, while there will be reforms in Eng-
gland, there will also be emancipation for Europe.
(Cheers.) Well, as I said, Ido not complain of Lord Pal-
merton, therefore, for making peace ; I approve his con-
duct. But there are some other things of which Ido com-
plain of him. I complain of him, in that he has screened
and sheltered from public punishment the Crimean crimi-
nals—(hear, hear)—•the men who had an army entrusted to
them, and who saw that army perish before their eyes,
and gave no note of warning, called for no succours
from England, but still kept on a sort of jog-trot kind of .
way—working out, it may be, the technicalities of mili-
tary discipline, but showing no power of strategy, no
genius, no attention to the wants of their own perishing
troops. And if we cannot lose a ship at sea but we try
the captain by court-martial, I say those who lost an army
ought to be tried, and to be judged also. (Loud cheers.)
I confess, it sickens my heart when I see the men who are
responsible for this—others have gone to a snore awful ac-
count than we can call them to—when I see the :men
covered with honours, and feted, and elevated into heroes,
who really were only damaging that heroism of the rank
and file, that innate bravery of the common soldiery, by
which the battles of the Crimea were won, and its laurels
nurtured. (Cheers.) Why, the government deserted—l
think, meanly deserted—its own commissioners. There
was the sham of that Chelsea inquiry—that board of
general officers, who seemed determined to hear nothing
that could inculpate a general officer : and the commis-
sioners who were sent out by the government, and did
their duty bravely, diligently, manfully, found themselves
deserted, put on their trial, and arraigned as if they had
been the criminals, when they were in fact the witnesses
out of whose mouths the real culprits should have been
condemned. (Hear, hear.) And for this, I say I complain
Of Lord Palmerston ; and it augurs little for that search-
ing reform of the army, for that endeavour, through all
ranks and gradations, not only to do more for the comfort
of the soldier, but to take care that we shall have the
nucleus of an efficient force—it argues against the prospect
of such a thorough reform as the army wants being se-
complidied by him, whilst he ia thus deferential to
those who hold its titles and its influence. (Hear,
hear.) Another thing of which I have to complain of Lord
Palmerston is this. When the war was finished, when
peace was certain, and when he called- his supporters
together to look the future in the face, I certainly did
expect, and I think now that he ought to have given the
country a programme of his domestic policy. He ought
to do it now. He should tell us how he means to arrange
and conduct the domestic affairs of this country. Aro we
to go on blindfold from session to session ? Is there to be
no adjustment of war taxation I Is there to be no exten-
sion of the representative principle? Is there to be n•
check on the sordidness and domination of ecclesiastical
authorities ? Are there to be no means of carrying on that
great progress throughout the country which has been be-
gun by the people themselves, and only needs the govern.
ment to give it free course in order to establish the most
glorious results ? I hear nothing of this. He is said to
have summoned the members of his cabinet to meet to-
gether in November, in order to propound the bills which
they wished to prepare for the next session ; and I sup-
pose after that we shall know something ; and so we shall
remai❑ in the state which I described at the beginning—of
waiters upon Providence and upon Palmerston. (Hear,
hear.) Aristocratic government has been tried, through a
course of years, and under a vast variety of circumstances.
What has it done? In peace aristocratic corruption brought
on corruption. In war, aristocratic government would
have covered us with disgrace, but for the bravery—the
consummate bravery—of our rank and file. (Hear, hear.)
In taxation, aristocratic government has spared the rich,
and pressed heavily on the poor. In administration, aria•
toeratie government has given us red tape, instead of
talent. In opposition, aristocratic management has given
us faction, instead of patriotism. (Hear. hear.) It has,
age:inch as it could, impaired the glorious destinies of the
country, and it requires imperatively, an amendment.
(Cheers ) The source of the evil is [this,—the Queen has
been guided by aristocratic recommendations in the choice
of her Majesty's servants, and I trust that the Queen in
future will not accept any for her servants but those who
come with a character from the people. (Great cheering.)
After answering a few questions, and the presentation of
an address from a local chartist association, Mr. Fox re-
tired in idst enthusiastic applause.