The Sun.
London, England, 1856-01-26 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON SATURDAY EVENING, JANUARY 26, 1856.

LINES L keixr,i)

IJppzr House with a life peerage as a breaking through
by Lord Palmerston of a great principle. (Hear.) After
,vune further remarks the speaker seconded the reso-
lution.

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Mr. A. B. RICHARDS supported the resolution. He
retraced the rise and progress of the present war, and
the evils our diplomacy had brought on this country.
Our present system of government he looked upon as
nothing better than an organized system of demoralisa-
tion. (Loud cheers.) He was inclined to believe that
Lord Redcliffe had exceeded, like a bravo, in the heat
of feeling, his instructions. He might have had his
private pique and hatred against General Williams; and
it had been reported in the East that Lord Stratford de
Redcliffe had said that General Williams should perish
at Kars. (Cries of " Shame.") The parties who sent
Lord Redcliffe to Constantinople he thought more
answerable for his acts than the noble diplomatist him-
self. They ought to know who sent him to Constanti-
nople, and for what purpose he was sent there. (Hear.)
He was not a young man, but a person of 70 years of
age, whose temper and disposition must have been well
known to those who had sent him out. Some person
must he responsible for that, and the inquiry they
wanted was one that should show them that party.
(Hear, hear.) It was well known in the East that
Kars should he sacrificed in order that we might
obtai❑ a peace that would be of the most degrading
character. The hon. gentleman touched on the four
points for negotiating a peace, and said he was at a lose
to understand the meaning of "neutralisation of the Black
Sea," which he said was a Gladstonian term. The way
to neutralise the Black Sea was by giving the supremacy
to Turkey. That would be a bar to Russia now she
had destroyed her navy, which was the only thing this
country could congratulate themselves on. (Hear.)
The Ministers of this country for many years past had
acted as executors to the will of Peter the Great.
Mr. 31Fsou said he merely attended to-day to express
his opinion as one of the citizens of London. He highly
approved of the resolution, and felt great pleasure in
supporting it. He wanted to know what would be
thought of a merchant of the city of London, who, if he
had received twenty or thirty letters of advice and never
took the slightest notice'of one of theca. Why, would such
a person not be thought unfit for business ? (Hear.) He
highly approved of the proceedings of the Administrative
Reform Association, and he felt perfectly sure that pub-
lic opinion was the only thing that would keep the Go-
vernment in the proper course. He was sure there was
some invisible influence at work which it was impossible
to ascertain under present circumstances. The Govern-
ment felt that influence, and they also felt the effect of
the long list of votes which this invisible influence car-
ried with it. It was such meetings as the present that
would turn things into their proper course, and further
the abject which they all had in view.
Mr. LINDSAY, M.P., who was received with cheers,
said he had no intention when he came to the meeting of
addressing thorn, but he was happy they had given him an
opportunity to express his support •f all that had been
stated, With regard to reform, he did not think they
had obtained much in that direction since

the first meeting to consider the subject. ^ (Hear,
hear.) What reform we had already obtained, he cha-
racterised as " surface reform," and that it was neces-
sary they should continue the exertion, and press the
necessity of a more efficient reform on the Government.
(Hear, bear.) The hon. member read a letter
from a General of brigade belonging to the Tark-
ish Contingent, in which the writer said that no
doubt they bad heard in England that the Turkish Con-
tingent had not been employed. The Contingent was
ready for active service in August last, and the reason
why they had not been employed remained to be ex-
plained. The real cause of that inactivity was that per-
sons in high quarters in the Crimea had evinced a narrow-
minded, paltry course, and-who threw difficulties in the
way of the contingent, fearing they would supersede
them in command. The writer entered into many de-
tails with reference to the contingent, and expressed his
opinion of the evil resulting from the Indian and Eng-
lish armies being kept distinct. (Hear.) The speaker
said that the letter he had read showed there
was something radically wrong, that should and must
be removed. It was of no use saying that the associa-

tion did not know what they were driving at. They
had, however, done much, but more had to be done.
He suggested,qlen, taking up one point ata time and well
working it. Let them take first the consolidation
of the Indian and English armies, and bring
forward a motion on it in the House of
Commons, and if they had right on their side the people
would carry it. (Applause.) Next work that objec-
tionable matter, " patronage in the civil service," with-
out which it was said no Government could exist, but
which was a great disgrace to this country, and which
bad been the cause of much of the mischief they
had had to deplore. (Hear, hear.) The next thing
they should oppose was ;hat secret influence over
the Executive, that had been doing much mischief,
and which was so very unconstitutional. (Loud cheers.)
He made no charge against any man, but he called at-
tention to this evil, being a man who wished to maintain
the constitution under which they lived, and which he
believed to be the beet that could be found under the
sun. That coatitution could not be maintained'unlessithe
persons in power were allowed to exercise theirjudgmentas
they thought fit.
Mr. T. LLWRENCE also spoke in support of the me-
morial.

Thanks were voted to the Chairman, after which the
meeting (which had greatly increased in numbers, and
filled the large room) separated.