The Sun.
London, England, 1859-07-01 00:00:00

some fortuitous chance form
present Ministers might by
smother Government which would carry out the policy so
ably followed by his noble friend. (Hear.) They had suc-
oftded in forming a Government. Of thes possible respect,
talents of its mem-
bers he wished to speak with the greatest
and the integrity o their motives he did not doubt. But
in consequence of that unfortunate step the country had
been left for some two weeks or more without any Govern-
ment at all, and even now two of the most important offices
of the State were not yet filled,—the one because it was not
t known whether the constituency would return the right
role.- gentleman, and the other because it was not known
whether the hon. gentleman himself would join the Admi-
nistration. (Hear, hear.) He begged to read an extract
from the speech of Mr. Cobden at Liverpool, which cer-
tainly did not :agree with the noble sentiments they had
to-night heard from the President of the Council. Mr.
Cobden said,—" The Americans look with some dread at
the amount of preparations which are making in England
for the purpose, to use the language of those gentlemen who
are in the habit of speaking in public, of meeting any
eventualities. Now, the opinion of the United States is
that war between two great Powers of the continent does
not involve any more danger to England than if they were
at peace and keeping their armies unemployed. I heiud
opinions in America expressed to this effect,—' If I were in
a merchant ship and saw two pirates, I should be much
more easy if they were fighting each other than if they
were standing aloof ready to bear down upon me. "
(Laughter.) He rejoiced most sincerely to hear from the
noble earl that the armaments of the country were to be
kept up, so as not only to meet but to prevent the possi-
bihty of invasion. (Hear, hear.) He did not know whether
Mr. Cobden had accepted office, but if he had he hoped Mr.
Cobden would renounce such opinions as he expressed at
Liverpool, and adopt those of the noble earl in their stead.
(Cheers.) He believed that Enland ought to be prepared
for any and every eventuality. He hoped that we should
be able to keep out of this fearful carnage, but he said that
we ought to be prepared, and he said se not doubting the
sincerity of the Emperor of the French, but because the
Emperor was no longer master of the situation. He ad-
mitted that the Emperor had treated this country with a
loyalty and frankness for which we should be ever grateful
but now that he had roused the passions of the French
he could not say to that army, " Thus far shalt thou g
and no further. (Hear, hear.) The Emperor could not
restrain the French army, and no one could say wha even s
might happen. (Cheers.)
The Earl of MA.LMESBITRY said,—l should not think
of troubling your lordships this evening if I had not been
obliged to wait for some time before I was able to answer
certain charges made by eminent members of the present
Government, and by the Primo Minister, with respect to
that part of the policy of the late Government for which I
was more particularly responsible. On the last night
that we met in this house my noble friend the President
of the Council, if he did not make charges, certainly made
two or three insinuations of neglect, in which, I think, he
must now confess that he was mistaken. (Hear.) In the
first place, he insinuated that her Majesty's late Govern-
ment had not taken such measures as were desirable to pre-
vent the collision which subsequently took place between
Austria and France and Sardinia. He asked, with the con-
viction, no doubt, that such was not the fact, whether,
early in the month of February, or within three weeks of
Parliament meeting, the late Government had done any-
thing to put a stop to the then unfortunate state of things.
The noble earl, if he has had time, and taken the trouble to
read the books which I haveplaced on your lordships' table,
must confess that we did all we possibly could at the period
to which he alluded to prevent what subsequently occurred.
(Cheers.) As early as the 10th January her Majesty's
late Government addressed beth the Courts of Paris and
Vienna, entreating them to use their utmost efforts to come
to some understanding, they being the only two Powers
which, by acting in concert, could stop the calamities we
foresaw and prevent the war which was impending. I will
not trouble your lordships by reading any extract, but I do
not believe that any language could be stronger, or any
advice more candidly put forward than was addressed to
those two Courts on that occaaion. (Cheers.) My noble
friend went on to insinuate that Lord Cowley's mission
was invested with great mystery and discredit, and that it
had no definite object. You will find in the blue-book that
before Lord Cowley left Paris he had a personal interview
with the Emperor, that the Emperor drew up a memoran-
dum of points which he wished to be settled by the Court
of Austria, that these points were afterwards drawn up by
Count Walewski, and that nothing could be more particular
and exact than the objects with which Lord Cowley went to
Vienna. (Cheers.) lam sure that in that respect also my
noble friend will admit his anticipations have not been jus-
tified, and I am quite prepared to acknowledge that, in
alluding to those to him obscure points of our foreign
policy, he did not lay upon them any such stress as to say
that her Majesty's late Government ought, in ccnsequence
of them, to be excluded from office. My noble friend con-
fined himself to the expression of a hope that the supposi-
tion on which his statement was based was not true, but
there are other members of the present Ministry who were
not content to pursue a similar course. The noble lord at
the head of the Government himself did not scruple to use
in another place language to which I shall, with your lord-
ships' permission, briefly refer. He was, in the course of
the speech in which that language occurs, attempting to
show that the late Government was not entitled to the con-
fidence of the country, and to adduce proofs that they ought
to be immediately ejected from office as unworthy to give
counsel to the Sovereign. The ground on which he based
his argument as their incapacity to discharge that duty
was this :—He said, " The course which the Go-
vernment has taken has brought on war. They
are the cause of the present hostilities ; " and
how, in his opinion, had we produced this result ? By
the use of language hostile to France and Sardinia and by
patronising Austria. He said we held out hopes of sup •
porting Austria against France, that we were ignorant
that Austria was determined on war, and that France was
not prepared for it ; and, that being the case, that the
breaking out of war was attributable to us, and that we
were as a consequence no longer fit to hold the seals of
office. Now, if this imputation be correct—if we were in
reality the cause of this dreadful war, no verdict could be
more just than that which the noble lord asked the House
of Commons to pronounce. But let me for a ,moment en-
deavour to show your lordships how reckless is the lan-
guage which the present Prime Minister has deemed it not
unfit to use, and how totally he must have neglected to
look into any source of information by means of which he
could arrive at a knowledge of the real facts of the case.
He went on to say, on the occasion to which I allude—
" I cannot but believe that friendly, firm, but temperate
language would have induced Austria to pause, and to ab-
stain from that act of aggression which, in the opinion of
the noble lord at the head of the Government, removed her
from the position of a dignified conciliator to that of a crimi-
nal. It is plain Austria was aLleo-ing that her treaty rights
in Lombardy and Venice were to invaded. The Govern-
meat might then have fairly said, 'Go into Congress. Let
all the great Powers of Europe assemble, and we will stand
by you in negotiation in maintaining your unquestionable
treaty rights; but do you and France consent to withdraw
all military interference and all improper administrative in-
fluence from countries which are not your own. Free the
South of Italy from military occupation and from dictation
to Governments, and let the Italians and their Govern-
ments deal with each other as independent nations in-
variably do."'
That is the course which the present Prime Minister
thinks we ought to have adopted. That is the language
which he thinks we ought to have used, and what will
your lordships say when I tell you that it is almost verba-
tim the very language which we did employ ? • (Cheers.)
On the 13th of January last I wrote to Lord A. Loftus, her
Majesty's Minister at Vienna, in the following terms
" Your lordship will frankly tell Count Buol that should
such a struggle as we deprecate be the result of the present
estrangement between France and Austria, England would
remain a neutral spectator of the contest, and that in no
case would public opinion in this country render it possible
for her to assist Austria as against her own subjects, if the
contest assumed the aspect of a revolution of her Italian
provinces against her Government. The public opinion in
England has a natural tendency to sympathise with Italian
nationalities, but her Majesty's Government believe that
those sympathies would not be aroused to any active form
against Austria, unless Austria put herself patently in the
vacmg, and either became an aggressor or gave France or
Sardinia a fair excuse for beginning a war. Her Majesty's
Government do not deny that Austria has cause for un-
easiness in Italy, but they maintain that it cannot be miti-
gateddnia. or removed bel
gine. into war with France or Sar-
If A.ustris. anti unFran- ce could be induced to take a
just estimate not only of their own political interests, but
of the course •
Nvhl'" would most effectually contribute to
the happiness of the Italian populations throughout the
whole extent of the peninsula ; her Majesty's Government
the rest of Europe, insteadh oaa
g
half-accomplished,
and
to the future, would only
prospect at length opening to thema forward tyti:sthuano anxiety
unstained by deeds of violence eoic;nfgrlatatulliaante
regeneration
nation
Now, in those few short sentences vlo.4dshed."
that nothing could induce us to assist Kainly told Austria
Lombardy against her own subjects, ander in maintaining
the strongest terms possible—exactly that upon her in
lord at the head of the Government says Wew }Lich the noble
aought to have
done—the expediency of entering into some gr
France as to the best course to be adopted with the with
contributing_ to the happiness of the Italian vie of
(Cheers.) Now, with respect to treaties, the
a
which I held in writing to Lord Cowley on tb.elthagoef
January was this :
"The unceasing advice of her Majesty's Government to
Austria has been to keep str-ctly within the limits of treaties •
to avoid all causes of offence to her Italian neighbours ; to
relax, as far as possible, all rigour towards her Italian sub •
jests ; and to adopt towards France a friendly and concilia-
tory policy."
Yet in the face of all this, the noble lord at the head of the
Government says that we threatened France and Sardinia,
while we patronized.Anstria and held out hopes to her that
we would support her against France. (Hear, hear.) We
also said to Austria, "Let all the great Powers of Europe
assemble in Congress, and we will stand by you in the ne-
gotiations which may take place," thus using the very lan-
guage which the noble lord says we ought to have adopted.
Again, I wrote in these terms to Lord A. Loftus on the
30th of March :--
"Her Majesty's Government entreat the Austrian Go-
vernment not to approach this Congress with distrust and
reluctance, but to take the lead in its formation, and, when
formed, in its deliberations. It will find in her Majesty's
Government a sincere ally, anxious to relieve it from un-
fair pressure, and to maintain its rights."
Yet it was on these statements that the noble lord thought
proper to base the accusation that we were unfit to hold the
reins of of which he made against us in another place.
(Hear, hear.) Your lordships will, I trust, not think that
I have acted unbecomingly in calling your attention at the
earliest possible moment to the subject, and repudiating the
charge which the noble lord has brought against us. (Cheers.)
I shall not trespass upon your lordships' time by comment-
ingupon the language which was used on the same subject by
another eminent member of the Government—l mean the
noble lord the memberfor London. H.
the e i
terms in which he
spoke in mu ch the sain e
spirit as his noble colleague, though
expressed himself were not quite so strong. I base my de-
fence on the papers which have been laid on your lordships'
table. (Cheers.) I may, however, be permitted before I sit
down to put a question to my noble friend opposite. I was
struck this morning by a passage in a speech which is said
to have been made by a right hon. baronet a member of the
. Government to his constituents at Halifax. It is not the
. first time that the right hon. baronet, when occupying
an analogous position, has exhibited less than might be
deemed desirable of that: quality of reticene which is sup-
, posed to be peculiarly well adapted to a newly created