The Sun.
London, England, 1856-02-01 00:00:00

maiden which for the last three months has been notorious
all over the world. (A. laugh.) Within that time infor-
mation of the fact, so far as it is a fact—because unhappily
it is not a fact (laughter) —might be derived from the
columns of any newspaper. Unhappily it is not a fact.
" Sebastopol, the groat stronghold of Russia in the Black
Sea," has not yielded to your valour and to your daring,
whatever that valour and daring may have been. It is
true that, by unparalleled achievements, you have suc-
ceeded in forcing a portion of that stronghold. You have
obtained possession of the southern side of Sebastopol. You
have destroyed tho fleet of Russia, or at least she has
destroyed them herself, and has saved you the trouble.
(" Hear," and a laugh.) You have blown up, or you are
blowing up, those splendid docks which were miracles of
art, of perseverance, and of skill, but " the great strong-
hold of Russia" still holds you at defiance. In front of
that stronghold upon the northern coast, beleaguered
rather than beleaguering, lie your armies at this moment,
while your fleets are floating at a respectful distance from
that stronghold which you declare has yielded to the per-
severing constancy and to the daring bravery cf the allied
forces. Although, therefore, I am ready to coegratulato
her Majesty, as we are invited to do, upon the success
which has been attained, I must yet say that the first
paragraph of the Speech contains an erroneous statement,
and that the great stronghold of Russia has not yielded to
the daring and valour of your troops, however great that
daring and valour may have been. (Hear, hear.) My
lords, I rejoice to learn that the naval and military pre-
parations for the ensuing year have occupied the serious
attention of her Majesty's Government. I must confess
that, whatever hope of peace I may have entertained, or
may entertain, as the result of these negotiations, I hive
not derived any great encouragement to look for a satis-
factory issue from the language which has been held by
my noble friend who opened the debate and by the noble
earl who seconded the address. Roth those noble lords ex-
pressed considerable doubt as to the issue of the negotia-
tions which are now in progress, and I concur with them
that, while we should welcome, and cordially welcome, in
the interest of Europe, any peace which would effectually
attain those objects for which we originally wont to war,
it will be a permanent disgrace to this country if we accept
any peace which should fall short of the full accomplish-
ment of those objects. (Cheers.) I rejoice that, while we
are not declining overtures of peace, we are making effec-
tive preparations for war ; and, although I fear that the
noble earl has to a certain degree overrated the state of ex-
haustion and difficulty and distress of our groat foe, yet I
believe he has not overrated the amount—the formidable
amount—of the preparations which we are making, and
which my noble friend was somewhat reluctant to see alto-
gether wasted, and not applied in the new campaign of
1853 • and I am sure he has not overrated the stedfast,
stubborn perseverance which this country will always
display for the attainment of any object which it feels to be
just and necessary to attain. I cannot blame her Majesty's
Governmoat for having consented to enter into negotiations,
although I may entertain considerable doubt with regent
to the quarter from which these negotiations proceed, and
I must say, though I do not doubt that the framer of the
paragraph before us has accurately described the course of
events, yet the language used in that paragraph is by no
means satisfactory to my mind. We are told that the
Emperor of Austria lately offered to myself and to my
august ally tho Emperor of the French to employ lsis good
offices with the Emperor of Russia, with a view to en-
deavour to bring about an amicable adjustment of the
matters at issue between the contending Powers." I
doubt not that this is a correct statement of the facts,
and that the Emperor of Austria has applied to the
Emperor of the French and to her Majesty for their sane-
tion to these negotiations with the Emperor of Russia
in order to the attainment of peace ; but I confess that
it would to me have borne a more gratifying appear-
ance if the Government had been enabled to state that
the Emperor of Austria had applied for the sanction of
the Emperor of Russia to employ his good offices with the
Sovereigns of France and England; from the language of
the Speech— and I doubt not that language was well con-
sidered—the impression in Europe, and 1 fear it is a cor-
rect impression, will be that, after all, we are virtually
applicants to Russia for peace, and that Russia is not the
applicant. (" No, no," from the Ministerial benches.)
Noble lords opposite say "No, no." The statement they
make is this—that Austria has applied for your consent to
employ her good offices with Russia towards obtaining the
assent of Russia to certain conditions in which you have
signified your concurrence. Now, if in that case you are
not the party seeking for peace—you having given your
assent to the conditions and applying for the concurrence
of Russia—and if Russia, is not the party preserving the
right tolgrant these conditions or to refuse them, I confess
I do not understand what is the force of language. (Hear,
hear.) There are in the Speech from the Throne two very
remarkable omissions. The noble earl who seconded the
address has to a certain extent supplied one of them. He
has done justice to the merits, and to the services, and to
the position of one of our allies—the meet disinterested, the
most energetic--(cheers)—and the most deserving of our
support and consideration—l mean the King of Sardinia
(hear, and cheers)—but strange it is that, throughojat the
whole course of the Speech, not only is the existence of
the King of Sardinia altogether ignored, not only are the
services he has rendered to the cause totally obliterated
from any mention, but—what is something more extraor-
dinary still—from first to last in this speech there does not
occur the slightest allusion to the name or the existence of
Turkey. Why, I thought Turkey was the principal in this
war ! (Hear, and a laugh.) I thought you were at war
in defence of the integrity of Turkey. I thought it was
because Turkey boldly and gallantly threw herself into the
breach, and refused to assent to the degrading conditions
which Russia sought to impose upon her, that we came for-
ward as allies toherassistanco, butnow, forsooth propositions
of puce are made to France and England; they are accepted
for France and England ; and having assauted to those con-
diftms, we are—certainly iii corjum:tion with our allies, as
we find at the close of the paragraph—droe,eding to discuss
them as the foundation of a general treaty. 1 must, say,
that this entire silence with regard to betliTuikey and Sat-
dinia is little consistent with the comity of nation:;, and
the relationship in which those countries stand to France
and England. lily lords, I commented just now on the un-
gracious terms in which her Nlajesty has been made to refer
to the services of her own troops iu that successful and
honourable achievement—the capture of a portion of Sebas-
topol; and certainly, if such ungracious terms are applied
to tboAe whose efforts have been crowned with such an i -
portant measure of success, it does not surprise me that her
M jests 's Ministers should have found no terms of cow men-
dation to throw away upon others whose sufferings !rave
been net less unparalleled, whose deeds have been not less
heroic or less distinguished, although, alas ! their efforts
have not been attended with success—it does not surprise
me that the Government should have found no language in
which to record the matchless endurance and indomitable
gallantry of those brave men who, in a distant and deserted
Asiatic town, maintained so well and so nobly the honour
of the English arms, and showed in so signal a manner
what Briti•th officers can achieve when iu command of foreign
troops. My lords, are there not those whom a word of preise
and of sympathy might have cheered in the depths of those
prisons to which their gallantry has consigned them—might
have given them fresh courage to support their sufferings
and their misfortunes, and proved to them that their exer-
tions and their hardships had not been undergone in the
service of an ungrateful country? Such words, coming
from their Sovereign in the presence of her assembled
Parliament, would carry with them a weight which
can accompany the language of no other individual.
Yet, standing in this place, and feeling that my words
may possibly roach the prisons to which they have been
doomed by a not ungenerous enemy, I would say to those
gallant spirits—to a Williams, a Teesdale, a Lake, and a
Thompson—" You may rest assured that this house and
the country deeply sympathise with you in your misfor-
tunes"- -that " We honour the valour and prize the fame
of the brave defenders of Kars as not below those of the
more fortunate conquerors at Sebastopol." (Hear, hear.)
I am not surprised that there should risen blush of shame
on the cheek of the Minister, or that he should hesitate
and be paralysed, when about to inscribe in the Queen's
speech the significant name of Kars l—(hear)—a name
of everlasting triumph and distinction to the valiant souls
who, amid all the horrors of famine and hemmed in on all
sides by an- overpowering force, gallantly repulsed their
enemy, on whom they inflicted a loss almost exceeding the
carnage of any battle of modern times; and who, despite
of every discouragement, maintained their high spirit and
achieved victory after victory, until finally compelled to
yield, not to the overwhelming numbers of the foe, but to
the still more unconquerable force of sheer famine. The
name Kars, then, will be remembered to the immortal
honour of its defenders ; and let me add, that its name
also confers no slight degree of honour and credit on the
conqueror of those brave men, who, in the generous terms
of capitulation which he grauted, showed that he knew
how to appreciate an enemy's valour and fortitude, even
when unavailing. (Hoar, hear.) Fortunate, indeed, was
it for the gallant garrison of Kars that they hail to deal
with a Mouravieff, and not with a Coronioi. (Hear, hoer.)
Fortunate was it for the brave Poles and Hungarians who
formed part of that undaunted garrison that the chivalrous
spirit of their high-minded conqueror suffered them to go
free, without incurring those additional dangers to which,
as other than mere prisoners of war, they might have
been exposed. Well was it for them that he was not one
of those who would seek to stain the law of nations fo:
the purpose at once of insulting an oily and baw-
ling on the misfortunes of an exile. Yet, my lords, if
on the conqueror of Kars, and still more ou its heroic
defenders, the name of that fortress reflects imperish-
able renown, I must say, with deep regret, that it is
equally a name of eternal reproach and chains te those, be
they who they may, by whom this devoted band was left
without support and without relief, and this important
town allowed to fall unsucceured, and even ititavenged.
My lords, I know not to what influence we may ascribe
this fatal disaster. But I have hoard a rumour which I
will mention, in order that the Government may, if pos-
sible, meet it with the promptest, fullest, and most ex-
plicit denial. I have heard it whispered abroad that white
my noble friend (Lord Ellenborough) was earnestly press-
ing upon the War Minister the necessity of protecting
Turkey on her Asiatic frontier, warning him, from history
and example, that that eras the qutrter from which qoi!
stantinopla had most cause for apprehension, remind-
ingandhesast
him that in the fatal years 1828 and
1829 the
bons treaty of Adrianople was hardly less i!,tarrio Europe an bid
to
the advance of the Russian troops upon
:whnieole a
full tnl( auras ae-
of Turkey than to the successes of Pask
vieff at Kars and Erzerourn. While nlyof
urging these considerations upon the attention Govern.
wl:essnneghlaeredtelyd credit ibat,ndthoante(tiliti:
ment, it is alleged, thougth
miserabl Jealousyinterestbtseoot
fwt
Turkeyhe weer
en coast
oh ae tta wnt:
and
important strategical pos
it fate because of some
great allies—some paltry fear that we should be suspected
Asia,
f isZtkoi nrgr,omunotesr
the allies, but our osvn and exclusive interests. If
cover
t t eoolfataeudexpedition
conjoint
this impression that has gone abroad were in any degree
well founded, I should look, my lords, upon the prospects
of peace for Europe with the utmost alarm and dismay ;
I should see in this circumstance a convincing proof that,
whatever the alliance which I deem so invaluable and on
which I set such vast store, may be in name, it is nothing
in substance—that there is no real alliance, no cordia
co-operation between the two great Powers the union of
which is indispensable to the wellbeing and tranquillity
of Europe. I should blush, my lords, for my country if
I could believe that under the pretence of advancing the
common cause, any measure could be undertaken by the
British Government, having for its object the separate
and exclusive advantages of England only. On the other
hand, I think it would be unworthy of France, and wholly
inconsistent with the frank and loyal course which
our illustrious ally has hitherto pursued towards us, for
him to harbour any such dark suspicion against the Go-
vernment of this country. At the same time, it would be
still more discreditable for us, from the fear of such a sus-
picion, to relinquish objects essential to the general inte-
rests and to the success of the common cause, because it
might be supposed that their attainment would incidentally,
contribute also to our separate,advantage. Such au un-
worthy and unfounded mistrust would not only bo dis-
graceful both to Franco and England, but must tend to
paralyse our efforts ; while for us to yield to it would be
doubly humiliating and degrading—(hear, hear)—and, if I
could for one instant "believe that there was the slightest
j ground for anything so derogatory to the character of both
nations, I should eay then that we were reduced to the