The Sun.
London, England, 1860-01-24 00:00:00

be carried by occasional reform. Annual parliaments
might be carried by occasional reform. no-distribution of
the seats might be accomplished by that method. The

difference between the two was, that crude and comprehen-
sive schemes disturbed the public mind without altering the
law, whereas occasional reform had led to practical results,
and left the island in tranquillity. And that tranquillity,
however valuable in itself, was yet more to be valued as a
defence against the hostile Powers (if any such there were)
whose opportunity would be in our struggles and divisions ?
_ _ _ _ _

And here he would remark that the volunteer movement

ought not to be suspended or discouraged because France
and England were engaged in a common enterprise, or
bound by new commercial treaties, or firm in the ideas of
mutual respect for one another. It had first been kindled
by the Laureate ; it had been fanned by the exertions of
the Press ; and, last of all, Lord Elcho and other men of

public spirit, by foundling the Volunteer Association, had
endeavoured to perpetuate it. The Secretary at War had
lent his high authority and sanction to it. But neither the

Laureate, the Press, Lord Elcho, nor Mr. Sidney Herbert
had ever roused the country on the ground that an alliance
with France no longer to be cultivated. For his part, he
thought a French alliance was essential to the country and de-
sirable for Europe. If you looked towards the North and
East you saw a Power whose territory was unlimited, whose
Government was central and despotic, whose policy it was
to absorb weaker States into itself, and who swayed towards
that line by the irresistible desire of Northern populations

for those more sunny climes into which aggressive arms

could alone introduce them. Russia was that Power. Could
Great Britain unaided and alone suffice for the exertion of

restraining her ? Would Prussia aid her in so doing
Would Austria ? Would Sweden ? The melancholy years
of 1854 and 1855, melancholy from the blood they had ex-
pended, from the crime they had avenged, the weaknesses
they had laid open, the animosities they had left behind,
might answer that inquiry. United, :France and Britain
were able to contend with Russia. Without Britain, ships
would have been wanting ; without France, armies would
have failed. But even these great Powers were not able to
obtain a result such as their boundless sacrifices, their heart •
rending endurance, and noble feats entitled them to look for.
Let disunion grow up between France and England, Constan-
tinople would be Russian, and Europe no longer safe.
If you turn your eyes towards the West you see a young
and vigorous Republic uniting the extremes of servitude
and freedom, and of whieh, in spite of many virtues,
annexation is the ruling passion and the constant end. The
Continent of America can never fall under one dominion
so long as two naval Powers like France and England are
united. But it requires the union of two naval rowers—
and Europe has only two—to form an adequate security
against that consummation. The Emperor of Brazil himself
might tremble on his throne, if he despaired of any steady
understanding between France and Great Britain. The
alliance of the two was necessary to the world ; but how
can you preserve it ? Equality of forces and mutual re-
spect was the foundation of so doing. In former years, to
1 balance the immense preponderance of France by land,
Great Britain exceeded her in line-of-battle-ships, in
frigates, and in gun-boats. If France became our equal
upon the land. How could you effect it? Would you in-
crease the army to 300,000 men? The spirit of the coun-
try, the necessities and obligations of the country would re-
sist you. Your only course was to depend, in some degree,
on volunteers. Such seemed to him the vindication of the
movement, and the closer France and Britain were united
the more essential to our honour was it to become a nation
of armed men. But it was said that the Emperor of the
French deserved our confidence, and that so long as he re-
mained upon the throne no danger would impend upon us
from that quarter. It was far from his intention to dispa-
rage that extraordinary person, or cast suspicion on his
policy. Many calculations of ambition might strengthen,
many inn. ulses of sentiment in prohibiting on his part a
rupture with Great Britain. He knew that the world could
furnish him with no equivalent ally. It could not be Rus
sia, for Russia was engaged always more or less in a policy
which France had renounced herself, and could never ac-
quiesce in from another country. It could not be America,
for the maxims of the United States prevented upon their
part the exercise of influence in Europe. It could not be
Prussia, for Prussia had not any navy by which France
could be supported. It could not be Austria, because the
views of France and Austria in Italy had always been irre-
concilable. Great Britain was the only Power, engaged in
no line of action, committed to no purpose which involved
disunion with France, and having the resources and ad van-
tages for which France would naturally look in an ally. If
a rupture ever happened between Great Britain and the
Emperor, it would most likely be at some moment when
the weakness.of this country in its national defences had
raised across the Channel a spirit of aggression which even
this great man was insufficient to subdue. But was his
life secured to us for ever ? Was it not possible that
a long career of agitation, of adversity, of struggle, and of
exile had imparted to his frame the cause of premature de-
cline ? Had not he been threatened ? Among the emis-
saries of the Pope as among the weak disciples of kazzini,
might you not conceive the fatal hand which had not yet
occurred to him. And if something happened to the Em-
peror, what situation would arise? The friends of that
dynasty which fell in 1830, the friends of that dynasty which
fell in 1848, the friends of the Republic which ceased in
1851, as far as we could judge, would all spring into a mad
and internecine struggle for ascendancy; and what weapon
would occur to them ? How would they be likely to outvie
each other in the race for short-lived popularity ? Would
not hostility to Britain be the watchword by which each
would hope to awaken in its favour those dormant passions
which the present Emperor controlled? Until, therefore,
the Emperor is proved to be not only a firm ally, but an
immortal one, all foresight calls on you to arm while his
life alone secures the order of his country. But granting
war to be in all contingencies improbable, there is another
ground on which a force of volunteers may be defended.
The power of a Foreign Secretary to uphold public law, to
vindicate the rights of British subjects, to negotiate success-
fully, to form satisfactory alliances, to prevent dangerous
combinations, depends not only upon skill, on judgment,
and diplomacy ; but on the fleets and armies which are
ready to give a point to his despatches and lend a substance
to his words. Suppose a country wholly undefended ; would
all the concentrated talent of Lord Bolingbroke and /tr.
Canning enable it to form the treaties which it aimed at 1,
Suppose it perfectly invulnerable on its coasts, and undis-
puted mistress of the sea, the most incapable of ministers,
with an electric telegraph to help him, would not be able to
sink it beneath a certain point of ijisignificance in the dis-
cussions of the world. In 1823, when France invaded
Spain, Mr. Canning protested ineffectually ; but a hundred
thousand volunteers were not arrayed behind his language.
It was necessary in 1826 to despatch 10,000 men to Portugal.
Had volunteers existed at that moment the emergency
might never have arisen. So, too, the Russian war might
yet have been a dream had not the Czar been able to look
down with scorn on the defences of the country. Diplomacy
was no doubt the general result of arms. But arms were
also the vital power and indispensable condition of diplo-
may. The past autumn has been fall of illustrations upon
this point ; and if they wanted our foreign policy to proceed
with dignity and firmness, on thai ground alone they re-
quired the Channel fleet, a reserve of gunboats, which a dis-
tinguished naval man had recommended, a hundred thou-
sand regulars, which was not much beyond our ordinary
limit, a hundred thousand militiamen, which the Duke of
Wellington had called for, and a hundred thousand vo-
lunteers, which was not too great a strain upon the gene-
ral enthusiasm. He had made these observations because
he was informed that in the town their existed some
backwardness as regards joining the arttllery they
had lately resolved to have. If such backwardness
proceeded from a belief that war was distant for
the present, it did credit to their judgment. But he had
shown the probability of war was not the reason of the
movement. Having urged this point on several local
grounds, Mr. Campbell said that ho hoped to see every man
enrol himself in the artillery who was under the age of 60.
The young might feel a glow of pride and satisfaction in
the consciousness of living, not only to support themselves,
but to defend the public fortunes, to influence the fate of
Europe and the movements of the world. They would lay
up a treasure for old age ; in all the hours they had given
to the service they would find a vent for the exuberance and
power which belonged to their time of life, and which,
unless it had a useful channel, would only tend to the con-
fusion of their fortunes and pursuits. As regards men
who had outlived their youth, what was more essential
to them than some new form of toil and excitement to
arrest the gloom and the satiety which often hung on their
existence, to keep up the activity they were much too
prone to lose, to dissipate the cares which not unfre-
quently assailed him, and to animate them by the feel-
ing that the remnant of their lives would not be useless
to society ? He had no desire to appeal to-night to
party feelings ; but he could not hear without concern
that the recruits had not come as yet to any great extent
from his political supporters. It was true, indeed, that
legislation was in some degree exhausted, the circle of
abuses was restricted, the battles 'of Reform were won.
From time to time, however, they might still remember
they belonged to that set of men by whom Parliament
had been released from the coercion of the Throne,
and the middle class from the dictation of the oligarchy,
by whom Town Councils had been made an organ of
the people, by whom corn had been taken from the
fetters which confined it to its native soil, by whom the
ships of every land had been encouraged to pursue an un-
impeded path over the ocean. In a short time—it might
be months, it might be weeks—they must be ready to see
their opponents face to face upon the hustings. In the
House of Commons parties were now balanced, Europe,
Asia, and America combined to furnish opposition with
the weapons of plausible, although not of just attack. On
the question of Reform no Government was safe unless the
prudent counsel he had quoted from Mr. Cobden influ-
enced their plans. Tho occasion might therefore be near,
which, looking to tho past, did not seem to them a distant.
one. When that day arrives, let it not be said by your op •
ponents that while you were zealous to improve the laws
and institutions of the country, you gave them a monopoly
in the sense, the hardihood, and virtue of being forward to
defend it.
The hon. gentleman, who was frequently and loudly
cheered throughout; then sat down amidst great applause.
A. resolution, expressive of confidence in the hon. gentle-
man, and approval of his course in Parliament, was pro-
posed, seconded, and carried unanimously, 1