The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1854-04-04 00:00:00

CROWN.

The Earl of CLARENDON moved the address to the
Queen, in reply to her Majesty's message announcing her
intention of declaring war against Russia, and, after enu-
merating the serious consideration which such a war must
occasion in every reflecting mind, congratulated the house
on the enthusiasm and unanimity which pervaded the
country on this momentous question. The Crown relied
on the unanimous co-operation of the Legislature, and
humbly trusted that, under the blessing of Heaven, the
nation might look forward with confidence to a glorious
issue of the struggle on which it was about to enter.
He then read the address, which was an echo of her
Majesty's message.
The Earl of DERBY fully admitted the importance of
the present moment, when, though her Majesty's govern-
ment had continued up to the last to hope against hope,
they were about to carry on a great war. He feared the
country, whose enthusiasm was so excited by the prospect
of hostilities, did not sufficiently "realize " the magnitude
of the coming struggle, and he hoped it would not grow
impatient if it found after a campaign or two it had made
little progress towards the object of its desires. It was
very important that we should clearly understand that we
went to war to abate the intolerable pretensions of Russia,
and to place the relations between Russia and Turkey
on the footing of two independent States, so that they
should not remain as at present, when a weak State, no-
minally independent, was throttled and strangled by the
protection of its powerful neighbour. With respect to the
secret correspondence which had been laid before parlia-
ment, he could not go so far as Lord Clarendon when he
asserted that it justified the government and afforded
proofs of the deception practised on this country by the
Emperor Nicholas. On the contrary, he proceeded to
show, by examining that correspondence, that it was the
government which had deceived the Emperor of Russia,
who, he asserted, had all along stated his pretensions in
the plainest manner, and continued to maintain them
without the slightest deviation. The fact was, that the
Emperor of Russia, ever since the time of his visit to this
country, in 1814, considered that a perfect, though private
understanding, as to the steps taken by England and
Russia in the event of the dissolution of Turkey, existed
between himself and the present premier; and as soon as
the present cabinet came into power the Emperor, acting
on that belief, proceeded to carry his plan against Turkey
into execution. Regarding the question from this point
of view, he could only express his conviction that there
would have been no war at all had not the present pre-
mier unfortunately come into power. As for the way in
which the Emperor of Russia expressed himself in the
correspondence with regard to his two German allies, he
need hardly say that history had no parrallel for such
sovereign contempt since the days of the Triumvirate.
The description given by Anthony to Octavius of Lepidus
suited exactly the account given by Sir H. Seymour of
the way in which the Emperor Nicholas had expressed
himself as to Austria. The noble earl then paid an elo-
quent tribute to the conduct of the Emperor Napoleon,
and, after commenting on the ill-success which had at-
tended the financial experiments of the government,
warned it against a false economy in carrying on a war
of this magnitude, the only result of such a system being,
that the fortune and honour of the country would be
risked on one fearful throw, which, if lost, could never be
retrieved. This was not only a contest of enthusiasm,
but of perseverance, and the government, to which he
gave full credit for all that it had done to avert war,
should appeal to all classes, which felt a common interest
in the national honour, and at once pledge itself to carry
on to the utmost this most just and righteous war.
The Earl of ABERDEEN said he confessed that, in com-
mon with the late Sir Robert Peel and the Duke of Wel-
lington, he had been a friend of the Russian alliance,
because he firmly believed that it was calculated to ad-
vance the best interests of England. Even now, when
compelled to make war, he should carry it on with the
utmost vigour, only for the sake of securing a speedy
peace, and, like the purest patriot of our civil war, who,
even when buckling on his armour, murmured " Peace,
peace," a prayer for a return to peace would ever be upper-
most in his mind.

The Earl of MALMESBURY complained of the unstates-
manlike way in which Lord Aberdeen had treated the
question, and appealed to Lord Granville to confirm a
statement of Lord Derby's as to the mysterious way in
which the memorandum of 1844 had been handed from
one Minister for Foreign Affairs to another.
Lord GRANVILLE confirmed this statement, but said
that he was surprised on reading the document in question
to find that it contained so little.
After some observations from Lords BROUGIIIM and
HARDWICRE,
Lord LANSDOWNE defended the course pursued by the
government, in which, in everything done or omitted to
be done, he entirely concurred.
The address was agreed to unanimously, and their lord-
ships adjourned at half-past nine.

HOUSE OF COMMONS—TUESDAY, MARCH 28.
Petitions were presented against the Medical Botany
Bill; by Mr. HORSFALL, from Liverpool ; in favour of
closing publichouses and beershops on Sundays, by Mr.
GREENALL, from Warrington ; by Mr. L. HEYWORTII,
from Goodshaw ; from Fulham, Norfolk, and from the
workmen of Messrs. Crosfield, St. Helen's, and two from
Bedworth ; by Mr. GREENALL, from St. Helen's, against
the Friendly Societies Bill; by Mr. BRIGHT, from Man-
chester, against the Friendly Societies Bill; by the Loan
MAYOR of DUBLIN, signed by the Lord Mayor, aldermen,
and burgesses of that city, in favour of improved postal
communication between London and Dublin.
TUE DUBLIN STEAMERS.—Mr. H. HERBERT moved an
address to the Crown, praying that immediate measures
be taken to give effect to the recommendation of the
select committee appointed last session to examine and
report upon the present state of communication between
London and Dublin—namely, that a class of steamers be
provided with adequate accommodation for passengers, and
with greater capacity as regards speed than those now
employed.—The CKANCELI,OI% of the EXCHEQUER op-

posed the motion. The principal part of the case was the
comfort and luxury of passengers, and the upper class of
passengers ; and to give effect to the object of Mr. Herbert
would require an outlay of £300,000 in the first instance,
and an annual cost of £120,000 for the sea communication
alone, subject to a small diminution on account of receipts
from passengers. The object was not, he thought, worth
this immense outlay, especially at a time when the burdens
of the nation were likely to be greatly augmented.—After
some further discussion a division took place, when the
motion was negatived by 210 to 164.
UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD.—Lord J. RUSSELL gave
notice that when the Oxford University Bill went into
committee he should propose that the commissioners
under the bill should be the Earl of Ellesmere, the Bishop
of Ripon, Mr. Justice Coleridge, the Dean of Wells, and
Sir John Awdry.