The Sun.
London, England, 1856-05-02 00:00:00

THE DANUBE.

Sir H. WILLOUGHBY asked whether the First
Lord of the Treasury would lay upon the table of the
house any plan describing the proposed boundaries on
the north of the Danube between Bessarabia ?
Lord PALMERSTON said the boundary was so clearly
laid "doin in the treaty of pease that with the aid of a
• goOd map it • could be traced. Tile boundary
.ladnotryet been )aid down, on that ground but a com-
-' mission was about to go out to do so.
Mr. FRENCH asked whether the islands of the
Danube would be restored to Turkey ?
Lord PA.LMERSTON said the islands at the mouth
of the Danube had been excluded from the Russian
boundary. They would of course belong to Moldavia.
THE FIRE WO RKS.

Mr. T. DUNCOMBE said he bad been requested th
put a question to the first Lord of the Treasury ; it was
whether he would state when the metropolis was to be
entertained by the display of fireworks which the Home
Secretor* bad provided for them ? (Laughter.)
Lord PALMERSTON said it would take place on the
Queen's birthday.
. THE ORDERS OF THE DAY.
On the motion that the adjourned debate takes prece-
dence of the other orders,
Mr. DUNLOP complained of the injustice thEy would
inflict on the business of the house, and pArticularly of
private members, in delaying their proceeding with their
bills. He thought it absurd t prolong the debate on
the fall of Kars, the question having been virtually de-
cided by the d►visiou on Tuesday night. This debate
was continued merely to allow certain honourable
members to make speeches, which would in all proba-
bility be improved by delay, and reserved for another
occasion..
Mr. MALINS also made a similar complaint.
Lord PALMERSTO..\T said he had no control over
the course the house should pursue on this occasion.

FALL OF KARS.
The debate upon this subject was resumed by
Sir E. B. LYTTON, who spoke as follows :—After what
has just taken place with respect to the postponement of
orders of the day, I feel that I ought to assure
houses and more especially those hon. gentlemen
whom my motion for the adjournment of the debate on
Tuesday last may have inconvenienced, that when I rose to
make that motion I was totally unconscious it would have
been opposed by the noble viscount at the head of the Go-
Vernment. In making it I had no particular wish of my
own to gratify, for I would willingly submit to have been
silent ; and I may say it is not now my intention to oc
cupy the time of the house at any considerable length.
Eat I was piessed to move the adjournment of the debate'
by hon. eneMbers who were desirous to prolong the dis-
mssion, and whose wish I considered, to be entitled to re-
spect. I naturally thought, casting a glance upon the
benches opposite, and seeing that gentlemen who are accus
tomed to adorn our debates had not as yet expressed their opi-
riions upon this important subject, although they were to
some extent arraigned ; seeing, also, that we had only one
address from a Cabinet Minister—the right hon. gentleman
the Chancellor of the Exchequer—and that at an hour
when the house was so empty that very few gentlemen
could have profited by listening to his elaborate and able
defence of the Government and to the very interesting
wemoir of the Turkish loan by which that accomplished,
distinguished, and historical critic endeavoured to relieve
the dreary chronicle of the decline and fall of Kars; seeing
all this, I naturally thought that when I ro-e at half-past
twelve o'clock oniTuesday night to move the adjournment
of the debate, that motion would he acceded to as a matter
Of course—(Hear, hear)—and I certainly was never more
surprieedthan when I found that, for the second time iq
any life, I had occasioned a degree of angry exeiteasent—
. -whether real or well simulated I know not--in the case of
• the noble viscount at the head of the Government, which
fora me
_ment almost overcame his habitual urbanity. I
feel that the best peoof I can now give that I am not. dia-
led:se:a
d to abuse the privilege by which I am allowed to ad-
w... the house, at the expense of other hon. gentlemen,'
be
tocondense as much as possible the observations I
shall have to make, torefera sdittle ai I can to the now fa-
miliar extracts from
the blue books, and to confine myself
to what may be a fair reply to the
hon. gentlemen opposite. my llna:ents employed by.
Aylesbury told the house that he frienda the member for
bet* defence for th
it e Government than theyke a much
for themselves. Eat appeared to me that had
made
m
defence he did make rested on an exaggerated
estimate
of •the
the charges which are brought in this ease. :13Y at
hoof
n.Triend, with the candour of a good, advocate, aelmitteci
that
.the Government had committed very serious mis.
e _takes ; but added that he thought it would •be eta_
fair to assert that the fall of Kars was solely attri-
butable to, "a want of energy and foresight on their parts.
But the resolution- before the house 'does not say that
the fall of Kars was owing exclusively to a want of
eoerey and foresight on the part of the-Government ; if it
did, it should not have my support. The question is, whe-
ther, among other causes, a want of energy and foresight
. on the part of her Majesty's Government did not contri-
bute to that result. The correspondence laid before the
house shows that a difference of opinion had prevailed be-
tween the English Government and the English ambassa-
dor at Constantinople from Pie month of Sept., 1854, to
the month of Sept., 1855, as to the amount of support to be
given to the English commissioner in Asiatic Turkey. Now
that commissioner had been sent out not only to report
upon the state of disorganisation to which the Turkish
army in that quarter had been reduced, but also to use all
' ~, the means at his disposal for the purpose of amelioratingits
el condition; and this blue book all goes to show that the
English Government and the English ambassador between
.Ahem failed to place at the disposal of,that commissioner
t any adequate means for the fulfilment of his mission. The
Government itself took great pains to publish that fact.
eel., ;.e :The blue book showed that from the 11th of Jan., 1855,
the 21st of November, a few days before the fall of
.4: gears, little or nothing had bean sent to that city by the
Geriernment, except a few ball-cartridges. My hon. and
. • learned friend the member for Enniskillen referred in terms
winch seem to me too severe to the statement of Lord Cla-
Wx -tindon, that "the neglected g •
arreeen of Kars would at

..~ ~ ~,,

:~~~:

\*.*

least have the satisfaction of knowing that their sufferings
troubled the sleep"and repose of the Turkish Ministers,w.ho,
in default of all ordinary measures of relief, never ceased.
to pray for their safety and success." But the question
arises whether there are not other Ministers besides those
of Turkey whose " sleep and repose" those sufferings might
have disturbed, and in whom that neglected garrison might
have inspired not only the piety ofprayer, but the humility
of repentance. (Hear.) Now my hon. friend the member
for Aylesbury dwelt with great praise on the despatches of
Lord Clarendon ; and my hon. and learned friend the At-
torney-General said that these dispatches were a sufficient
proof in themselves of the energy and the hohesty of her
Majesty's Government. My hon. and learned friend asked
what more the Government could do than that which they
had done ? Well, in much of the praise that is given to
these despatches, I most cordially concur. I think that
many of these despatches of Lord Clarendon are most ex-
cellent; I will go further, and say that if despatches or, in
other words, if letter-writing could have saved Kars, Lord
Clarendon would have saved it. (" Hear, hear," and laugh-
ter.) But if the Government ought to have been aware of
one thing more than any other, it is that despatches or
letter-writing were wholly insufficient alone to effect that
purpose—(hear, bear)—and the inventive genius of her
Majesty's ministers might surely have devised some other
mode of provi.wig for the defence of Kars and the security
of Asia. It is perfectly true that Lord Clarendon did
faithfully report to Lord Stratford all the complaints of
General Williams—complaints that he wanted cavalry,
that he waster gunners, that he wanted artillery-men,
that he wanted reinforcements, that he wanted ammuni-
tue and proviSions ; and, above all, that he wanted
money—(hear, hear)—and Lord Stratford very fully
explained that for all these purposes the revenue and re-
sources of the Sultan were totally inadequate. He also
stated very lucidly the reasons why the corruption and
peculation which had' been the habit of Eastern Govern-
ments for generations could not be reformed in a
day, or in anything like time sufficient to enable Tur-
key ,to provide for the defence of Kars. There is one
important fact which comes out of this mass of correspond
ence with which the right hon. gentleman the Chancellor
of the Exchequer has wholly failed to grapple, and that is,
that if any moderate sum of English money had been
placed at the disposal of the English commissioner in good
time, notwithstanding all the vices of Turkish pecula-
tion and corruption, a sufficient amount of ammunition
and of provisions might have been thrown into Kars, in
defiauce of the Russian blockade (Hear.) How die Kars
fall at last? It fell from no superiority of force on the part
of the enemy, for at the time of its capture there was a
greater proportion of force in the garrison than in the be-
sieging army. Every one knows that Kars was conquered
by famine. The blue book tells us that the Russian
general would have raised the siege when Omer Pacha
entered Georgia, if he had not learned from an Armenian
spy that there was only a fortnight's provisions in the gar-
rison. And yet, while England was cheerfully taxing her.
self to the utmost to save the empire of the Sultan, not
one shilling of our money went to the aid of General Wil-
liams, who wag holding that fortress on which, in the opi-
nion of her Majesty's Government, and of Omer Pacha,
although not of the Chancellor of the Exchequer, the safety
of the Turkish capital depended. Let me remind the Chan-
cellor of the Exchequer, who seems to have doubts upon
that point, that General Simmons, in a despatch to Gen.
Williams, says that the Government informed Omer Pacha
that if Kars should fall, there was no force to prevent the
Russians marching directly on Constantinople—(hoar, hear)
—and Omer Pacha credited that information. I think
that evidence shows that the Chancellor of the Exchequer
might have placed himself in more confidential communi-
cation with the noble lord the Secretary for War; and
then, perhaps, he might have told us with that unvar-
nished severity of candour with which he so often tells us
vary disagreeable truths, that he was about to raise so
many millions for the vigorous prosecution of the war, but
that such had been the energy and foresight of the united
cabinet that they had pre-determined that not one Aix-
pence of the money was to go to the relief and defence of
that fortress which commanded the great key of Asia Mi-
nor. (Hear.) " But," said the right hon. gentleman the
other night, "if Kars is lost, what then? Vi'hy," says the
the right hon. gentleman, " the easiest military operation
would be all that is needed to recapture it." (Hear, and a
laugh.) Now let ma appeal to him, not as a military
authority, but as a Chancellor of the Exchequer, and let
ins azle him whether he does not think, as a matter of
pounds, shillings, and pence, that it would be much
cheaper to save than to recapture it? (Hoar, hear.) The
right hon. gentleman the Chancellor of the Exchequer,
• alluding to the statement that he might himself have
come down to Parliament and asked expressly for 'a
sum in aid of Kara, said that be could make no such
application, because the sum required was so small.
The right honourable gentleman seemed to think that it
would be beneath the dignity of a Chancellor of the Ex-
chequer to ask the house for so contemptible a sum as
100,0001. or 200,0001. Now it appears to me that the
question of dignity, in such a case, depends not so much
on the amount of the sum to be raised, as on the purpose to
which it is to be applied. Dr. Sand with tells us that if
Gen. 'Williams had had the absolute control of the commis-
sariat Ksrs would have been saved. But if the Govern-
meat I ad placed a sum of money at his disposal, that con-
trol he must necessarily have acquired. If no money, how-
ever, was to have been given expressly for the defence of
Kars 1 want to know bow it was that the Turkish
loan had been deferred until August, although the
Government had long before been aware, from the in-
formation furnished to them by their own ambassador,
that the pecuniary resources of Turkey had been ut-
terly exhausted ? Hon, gentlemen opposite may say
that any objection of that kind conies with a bad grace
from gentlemen who opposed that loan. Now, that may
be a very good House-of-Commons argument, but it is
not an argument for common sense. I was not myself
in the house at the time, as I had paired off during the
latter part of the session. But I think that if I had been
here, 1 should have voted for the Turkish loan, and I must
observe, that in looking at the debates, I find the principal
objection urged to the proposal was made, not to the loan
itself, but was made on account of the form of our joint
guarantee with France. I will appeal to the candour of
the noble lord opposite, and I will ask him whether he
really thinks that if he lied coins down to the house, and
said that pecuniary aid of that nature was absolutely ne-
cessary. for the security of Kars, and that without it the
honour of the British naineonust be tarnished in the E rat
—I will ask him whether he really thinks from the expe-
rience he bad already acquired of hon. gentleman on this
side of the house, or even of those hon. gentlemen who
were warm advocates of peace, that, however they might
have urged their objections to the form of the loan, they
would have pressed their objections to a hostile division?
(Hear, hear.) I say that either by a direct grant, or by
means of a Turkish lo •n, or—and that would have been the
beet and simplest mode of all—by sending money to your
commissioner himself, expressly for the purpose of being
employed. in the defence of K'rrs—l say that by any one
of these modes that city might have been saved. (Hear,
hear.) But when Lord Ellenborough, in the month of
August, called the attention of the House of Lords to the
distressed state of Kars, and the neglect of the war in Asia,
Lord Panmure replied, that Turkey, in that quarter, was
well able to defend herself. (Hear, hear.) Turkey able to
defend herself ! That was the statement of Lord Pan-
mare, in the teeth of the information contained in those
despatches which have been published for the purpose of
showing how defenceless Turkey was at that very time ;
and the statement was made on the very same day—
namely, the 3d of August—on which Lord Clarendon, in a
at:speech to Lord Cowley, said it was clear that without
assistanse the whole Turkish force in Asia must be de-
stroyed or captured. (Hear.) And was it becoming in
my hon. friend the member for Aylesbury, who scarcely
ever addresses the house without making some com-
plimentary allusion to his own peculiar frankness, ho-
nesty, and straightforwardness—(a laugh) was it becoming
in him, not only to excuse, but to eulogise that assertion
of Lord Panmnre, on the express ground that it was a
falsehood? Can he eulogise a British Minister who deli-
berately deceives Parliament and the country, in order
that he might, at the same time. endeavour to practise a
hollow deceit on the Russian General besieging Kars?
(Hear, hear.) My hon. friend, in the course of his ad-
dress, compared himself to a dog at a race course —(a
MA—who was shouted at from both sides until the race
began, when he was whistled off, for fear he might throw
down a favourite. Now that reicinds me of a well-known
canine saying—that "Brag is a good dog, but that Hold-
fast is a bettbr." I believe that on our side of the course
we shall 'always be willing to follow Holdfast ; but I ton
afraid we must leave it to the other side to offer to Brag
woke enticing attractions. (A. laugh.) I will touch
upon the
point which, though it did ,not directly
affect the fall of Kars, will show we et was the bias in the
mind' of the noble lord the Secretary for War, a bleb, I
think, did affect the fall of Kars. No sooner had the Eng-
lish commissioner arrived ler Anatolia than he informed the
Government that 10,000 or I'4ooo persons had perished for
want of proper medical assistance in the hospitals. He
then asked for medical'relief, and the Duke of Newcastle,
who, whatever might 'be his faults, was always ready to
listen to the claims of humanity, directed that an inquiry
should be instituted for the purpose of ascertaining whether
the Turkish Government would permit a few English army
surgeons to be sent to superintend the hospitals at Kars
ancErzerourn. 'That inquiry having led to no effectual
result, Lord Clarendon, with equal humanity, forwarded,
through Lord Wodehouse, to Lord Panmure, in the month
of April, a despatch from Gen. Williams, and a medical re-
port froar Dr. Seed with, and singe:este& to Lord Panmure
whether it would not be advisable to send out some surgeons
to-the Turkish army. Lord Commure replied "that he did
not see touch prospect of being able to send medical aid to the
Turkish army in the province of Anatolia; but he would
endeavour to do so to a limited extent, as soon as he had
provided for the army of Omer Pacha and the Turkish
Contingent." Now I will venture to say, that if the nole!e
lord had inserted at that period en advertisement in the
Times newspaper, offering a good remuneration to young
surgeons for their services in Anatolia, he would have re-
ceived applications by the hundred in reply. I remember
that at the time I myself was asked by several young sur-
geons to aid them in obtaining employment in the Crimea.
The English Government complained that the Turkish au-
thorities did not attend to the representation of their com-
missioner, and lyet when he made a request directly to
themselves in a matter over which they had absolute con-
trol, the noble lord the Secretary for War treated that re-
quest with as supreme an indifference as any pacha in the
East. While you attempt to throw all the blame in this
case on Turkish mal-administration, do not forget that that
mal-administration, with all its Orion tallanguor and all its
constitutional vices, did great things before you sent your
mighty aid to its defence in Asia. Do not forget that on
the Danube it, had gallantly coped with the whole might
01:,,i Russia. What was the aid whichyou sent toTntkey in
Asia, and what has been the result of that aid ? You took
20:
,oeo Turkish soldiers into your pay ; but when these
soldiers were urgently wanteillor the relief of Kars, not a
"'an
of teem could move. (Hear, hear.) Ido not attempt
to excuse Lend Stratford de Redoliffe's neglect in this case.
and adhere to that But we have
will riot allow us to
I must fall baeskard so
much already upon that score that
the generous practice of this house,
who is riot present to true constitutional principle which
atfile all our blame on a diplomatist
poses of the Goverrmensteed himself. It may suit the pur-
glect, but it should be restsene
constantly to that
tcomplainhey thoefmhsiesl
vnees-
have thought proper to retain him,. in his office. I will not
a man of emtingte. ability, and I must
undertake to censure them for so Lord Sntet•ahtef ordl i
ede
glort the house
Redcliffe is, no
thoudobt,
leave to them responeibilay of edl";',
of retaining him in the service of the State.
would not hold to the principles of the
It is ;3---;
tion if, while they attack the agent, they allow ' toensiistue.
censured the men by whom he was employed.
singular circumstance that although Lord Stratford asked
in language the most pointed to be informed what was the
extent of General Williams's powers, and how far it eves
thought desirable by her Majesty's Government that his
commands should be obeyed, without reference to any
doubts as to their expediency, no answer seems ever to
have been returned to that question. (Hear, hear.) But
it may be said that such was the surpassing energy of Ge-
neral Williams, that in spite of every difficulty, and by
his own individual exertions, he succeeded in provisioning
Kars for four months. Yes, but General Williams stated
in his despatches that if within the four months aid did
not come to hitu the only perspective of Kars was

the vanishing point of starvation, and yet that
aid was. never sent. I find that when Omer Pasha
pressed the allied generals and hduairals to consent
to the adoption of his plan fur the relief Kars,
and founded his arguments ou a despatch of General Wil-
liams's, dated the23d of June, showing the urgency and the
importance of sending aid to the Turkish force in Armenia,
the allied generals absolutely refused to give any opinion
upon the subject, on the ground that they had no informa-
tion from the ambassa'lors of their respective Governments
at Constantinople which could lead them to suppose that
the affairs of Asia were in a precarious position. That was
the species of concert which seemed to prevail between our
agents in the East. Is it for the men who have. so signally
mismanaged our interests in that quarter to come forward
now and throw on Turkish mal-administration the blame
of any calamity that may have arisen? I cannot but think
that her Majesty's Government strikingly failed in the duty
of providing early in the Rummer some plan for the em-
ployment of the army of Omer Pacha, whenever it might
be found that that army could ho sent to Armenia. I
shall not, in an assembly of this character, and seeing as
I do before me many distinguished British offiders, presume
to allinie to strategical faults ; but as a man of common
sense, I say, why were you not provided with some kind
of strategy Your attention was repeatedly called to the
embarrassments which must necessarily arise under a cer-
tain state of circumstances in the direction of which events
were fast tending, and it was your bounden duty to have
provided some plan by which the anticipated evils might
have been met. (Hear.) But where was this organised
conception of yours ? I think it has been said by a mili-
tary authority of the greatest eminence that a good gene-
ral may be defeated, but cannot be surprised. Such a say-
ing also is applicable to a minister far war. He ought to
think of a choice of plans, and be ready to adopt one or

another when the moment for action arrives. 'Bat more
than that, it is his duty to consult with his generals as
to the feasibility of the plan he proposes, and if it is
capable of alteration—capable of modification, with re-
spect either to the time or to the circumstances, to come
to a decision in accordance with the necessity of the case.
But, above all, it *was his duty to be ready when the
emergency arose. (Hear, hear.) It was this•want of
attention to preliminaries which led to the unparalleled
admixture of hurry and delay, energy and torpor, in
the mcsath of July, which prepared the way for the
catastrophe which ultimately rewlted. (Hear, hear.) Can
anybody doubt that had moripy' been forthcoming when
required—had troops been sups llied as they ought to have
been, the fate of Kars would have been wholly different?
I cannot bat think that such would have been the case.
(Hear, hear.) It was not until the month of July that
out of the cloud of the despatches there did at length
emerge the awful form of our Illin'ster of War. The Greek
poet tells us that the advent of the Olympian Jove, in the
struggle before the beleaguered city, was productive of
order in the confusion ; but the advent of my Lord Pan-
mure in the strugele seemed to render the confusion still
more perplexed and complicated. The only question being
how to stir for want of means, Lord Pantnure writes ora-
cularly to General Vivian, and tells him to do—what? To
uphold the British reputation ! (Laughter.) But does he
provide the smallest aid? Certainly not. Does he even sug-
gest the means? No. (Hear.) If, in the month of July, all
these preparations were required to place Kars in a proper
position of defence, why was not the money forthcoming,
which would have been the best countenance we could
have given to the prosecution of the war in Asia. If
you were so careful of the British flag, why permit it in
the month of September to succumb to the Russians
before Kars? Why, in the month of July, were you
provided with no moans to sustain it? The right ho-
nourable gentleman deludes himself if he supposes that
the honour of the English flag was not concerned in the
surrender of Kars. By that time the eyes of England
nay, the eyes of Europe—were fixed with unalloyed ed.
miration upon the noble attitude of the brave English sol-
dier, who, with the assistance of three or four of h;s
countrymen, was upholding—embodying—the renown of
the whole nation. (Cheers.) Kars and General Williams
could not he divided in the mind of anyone. Kars was
that Englishman, and that Englishman was Kars—(loud
cheers)—aud to have evinced energy and foresight in pre-
paring for the defence of Kars would have been to have
closed the war with glory, not only to General Williams,
from whose renown nothing can detract, but to England.
(Renewed cheering.) " Organisation," says Lord Pan-
mure:--" organisation is as necessary to an army as sup-
ply." Can anything be more severely true? But, says
General Williams, " adde 1 to organisation supply is ab-
solutely necessary to the defence of Kars." What does
Lord Panrnure say with respect to supply? Contrast
the account of the state of the Russian army before Kars
with its defenders. Behold the soldiers in their com-
fortable tents, with decent firepl,ces, and the officers in
their huts, with glazed windows, and surrounded
by luxuries. Contrast the condition of those men,
whow we are accustomed to consider as a sort
of semi-barbarians, with the miserable, ill-clad, famished
spectres, who for mouths withstood every effort
of the ene up, and who were left to struggle and to starve
with all the wealth of England at their disposal, wealth ex-
pended so lavishly, too, elsewhere. (Hear.) And yet, fore-
knowing what must happen, the English Minister of War
could not devise a single meesure of prevention until he

himself sees that it is too late. What is the popular argu-
ment which hon. gentlemen opposite now make use of to
shield the Government from the consequences of its inac-
tion ? The war, they say, is over. But. if the war is over
its consequences remain. The Chancellor of the Exchequer
says, " We shall not fight the question again when we come
to discuss the articles of peace." Bat will any one wh)
calls himself an Englishman tell me that if a war should
break out again with Russia in defence of Turkey, and
that war should happen to havo for its theatre the Asiatic
frontier, the stirrenderof Kars on this occasion will not have
the greatest moral effect in weakening British prestige.
But, sir, aro we to be t,,ld that because the offence is over
the offender is to be freed from his responsibility ? That is
not the line of argument adopted by the Tight hon. vutle-
rn an with resnect to the Ottoman Porte. 11,,w does it agree
with the demand on the part of the English Government for
the dismissal of Selim Pacha. Ilis dismissal was demanded,
and he was dismissed. Might not the Porte have said.
"Oh that's over ; liars is gone andtheoffence has passed."

(Cheers.) What was the offence of &lint Pachal Why,
procrastination ; and if that is to be punished by loss of
office, what, I should like to know, is the obvious infer-
ence ? (Hear, hear.) The Attorney-General turns to the
art'cles of peace triumphantly, and asks—What mere
could we have done? That there were faults no one can
doubt. One gentleman says, they rest with the arnhassa-
dor; another, that Omer Pacha was to blame ; a third,
that it was the Ottoman Government ; but it you ask rile
to make a direct charge, all t can say is this :—Here are
the applications which General Williams wade to yott;
have you attended to them ? (Hear.) He is a man in whom
you place the .utmost confidence, and who in circumstances
of great difficulty makes three requests. First, he asks
for money; secondly, for surgical aid ; and thirdly, to
increase and extend his personal authority. The money
you do not send ; even the surgical aid you do not send ;
and with respect to extending his personal authority, you,
through your ambassador, in effect decline to do it. Your
general cannot stir a step because he does not receive the
information he is in want of ; when he asks for seine ad-
ditional force, we are reminded that France might have
been an obstacle. Has any hon. gentleman on the p srt of
the Government shown that there was ever any consulta-
tion with the French Government as to what should be
done should such a contingency as the siege of Kars bertha
Russians arise? No one has done so, and I think, there-
fore, that I am entitled to say such a contingeucy ought to
have been contewplaied and provided. fur, not that it
should be, as it was, left to the chapter of accidents.
When I am asked, what could the Government do ? I
say on the other hand, what had the Government done? It
is no answer to turn to the despatches. I grant that you
could not have written better ; but I cannot conceive any
case in which you could have acted worse. I confess I am
prepared to find a majority against me. Of course there
aro many lion. gentlemen who honestly think there is no
case against the Goverarneet. Some no doubt there aro
influenced by a laudable attachment to ministers, others
who will be seduced by those seductive touches of pathetic
eloquence in which the Attorney-General reminds us that
the Government have concluded the war by an honourable
peace, although it may be a peace which I do not tbiukhas
been greeted with any great manifestation of popular en-
thusiasm. (Hear.) Borne there may be who will vote fur
the Government from their admiration of the noble lord
at the head of the administration, in which admira-
tion lam free to say that I participate. But, upon the
whole Ido not think the majority will be great. If there
•is one of her Majesty's Government who, when he goes
into the lobby, ventures to ask some friend in a cautious
whisper, "Now, don't you think that thischarge is unjust
and that the Government have shown great energy and
foresight for the preservation and relief of Kers ?'' my be-
lief is that his friend will reply in an equally cautious
whisper, " If that be your idea of energy and foresight, I
trust, for Heaven's sake, that in future you will try to
direct it into some other channel." (Laughter.) lam not
altogether in the position in which I see some of my friends
around me and many boa. gentlemen on the other side—
I am not tied by the ties of party, but can afford fully,
freely, and fairly to do justice to the groat qualities of the
noble viscount at the head of the Ministry, and also to
Lord Clerendon, who has evinced in his despatches the
deepest sympathy for General Williams. I grant that the
words of these despatches must have been as gleams of
sunshine to the gallant soldier in his desolation and trial;
but if those letters come to cheer and encourage him, there
are others which tend to sadden and depress the gallant
defender of Kars, and which, like the gloomy apparitions
of the poet,

Show his eyes, and grieve his heart,
Come like shadows—so depart."
(Cheers.) Giving to the Government, however, all the
praise to which they can fairly lay claim, I ask the hon.
gentleman who can give a fearless opinion whether it is not
to such causes as want of energy and foresight on the part
of our Government that we are to ascribe the fall of Kars ?
In almost every letter General Williams tell you of the
evils of procrastination—in almost every letter he tells you
yon must not rely upon the resources of the Poste alone,
and yet to the last you procrastinate, to the last you, con-
fine him to those resources—not one step do you take, not
one remedy do you provide, not one stratagem do you con-
coct, until at length you are overwhelmed with the logical
consequences of your own improvidence and neglect, and
history, drawing her moral from the pages of this blue
book, will record with inflexible justice that the fall of
Kars in the two years' war was attributable, and attribu-
table alone, to the procrastination and neglect of the Bri-
tish Government. (Loud cheers.)
Mr. V. SMITFI would not attempt to follow the hon.
baronet in those flights of fancy by which he had a Corned
the discussion ; but he might be permitted to thank him
for the honourable contrast which his address presented
to the speech of the hon. and learned gentleman who made
the original motion. The hon. baronet complained of some-
thing like a want of courtesy by his noble friend at the
head of the Government on the occasion of the adjournment
of the debate last Tuesday. He assured the hon, baronet
no discourtesy whatever was intended, and least of all
would it become any member of the house to evince dis-
courtesy to him who was as much distinguished by his ur-
banity as his eloquence. (Heer.) But the hon. baronet would
recollect the circumstances of that evening, and the feeling
of listlessness and languor that existed. His noble friend
had alluded to the circumstance of the withdrawal of the
motion in the other house, and he (rtr. V. Smith) must
say, considering that a great part of the discussion had re-
solved itself into an attack upon Lord Clarendon and Lord
Pantnure, it would have been more generous for them to
have pressed it in the House of Lords and abandoned it
in the House of Commons. It did appear to him that
env a
there was an obvious intention to evade the divisior.
They trusted for a time to the hope that the amendment
of which notice was given by his hon. friend the member
for Leominster would ba debated, but he having de-
dined to brig it f
from which they sought to escape by putting up an hon.
resolutionorward they wet© wa
viewrein a
to evadetilu dilemma
the,,
d viden
Dorset-
shire h, and accordingly the hon. member for
ad in wed what, had been called the previous
question, but which, if carried, would be the most idle and