Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1859-05-17
John Bright on the War.

the war i'll the following terms:
hear to-day that there has come down
from London intelligence Of the most sol
emn and awful import to Europe and to hui
mainly The war, which, for four months,
has been coming on with stealthy, but not
unseen or unheard steps, at last has made
its appearance in all its grim and devillsh
proportions.
"See where the giant on the mountain stands,
His blood-re tresSes deepening i'll the sun,
With death-shot glowing in his fiery hands,
And eye that scorches all it glares upon
(Cheers.) Such is the monster that now APP
pears above the horizon, and threatens To
scatter desolation and bloodshed and asonies
unutterable through the homes of countless
millions of the population of Europe. What
are We to doy Looking TO the past, | know
what We are to do. We are for II time to me-
date when mediation is ofno use. Weare to
give little encouragement here and little
encouragement there. We are by and by
to connect ourselves with one side IN such
manner that the other will accuse us OF hos
tility and pertidy. Meanwhile, some act 1t
may be, Of great cruelty, or great atrocity,
may be committed by one OF the belligerent
Powers. 1t may be told to us III words OF
truth or in terms of gross exaggeration. II
your Government is disposed for war, there
will be agents of the press in London to
magnify and distort every thing and to stIm-
ulate you by appeals in some cases TO pas
sions that are noble, but in others to passions
that are base, until ut length this country,
this precious gem set in Il silver sea, which
alone rides secure amid all the storms and
tempests that agitate and perplcx the world,
| kn a. al tl,a ON
English blood and English treasure, as You
know from past history they have been. will
again be poured out like water in every part
of Europe, wherever battle is to be lost or
won. (Cheers.) a gentleman not particu-
larly remarkable for political consistency,
who held office under Lord Palmerston. and
who now seeks the suifrages of the West
Riding to do the bidding Of Lord Derby, said
in speech the other day at Leeds that he is
for peace, and that it may be necessary for
the fleet OF England to enter the AdrIatc
and to protect the ancient city of Venice.
"A laugh.)
have been in the ancient and venerable
city of Venice, aud | say. excepting the
people who live there, let Venice sink into
the seaweed out of which, rs the poet tells
us, it first arose, rather than that the fleet Of
England should take up position there,
proclaimng to the world that We are becom-
ing belligerents in this great contest -
(Cheers) Others have told us that we have
solemn treaties with Belgium, and that n
anybody treads, aS it were, upon the very toe
of that little kingdom, the might of England
must be called forth to defend the capital
and its monarch. | am no party to any
such treaty, nor are you; and | say, as
have said before, that tho Minister who tries
to force England into this war convicts him
self Of the foulest treason tn the English
Crown and the English people Cheers
You are all in the dark. however. as u what
Your Government will do. We nave had
two speeches from Lord Derby, the second
intended to correct what he calls the false
impression which had been created by the
first. No man knows better than Lord Der
by the use of words in the English language,
and only hope that the second speech more
truly explains the policy of the Government
than the first. But remember that you know
nothing of the negotiations. Parliament
knows nothing. We are in total ignorance
what obligations we are under to him who
rules in Paris or him who rules in Vienna.
Ny opinion is-and | commend 1t to the
gentlemen who differ from me-that II the
people of England were fairly represented
in the House Of Commons, in all probability
our foreign affairs would be conducted with
greater opennesS, greater trankness, greater
truthiulness, and we should be less liable
some morning to awake and find this noble
country with all it's industry, all its intcli-
gence, all its morality, aud all its Christiani-
ty. about to be plunged into the most fearful
crime and the most awful calamity that oan
affect mankind (Cheers.) One word more
upon the question Of war. Whatever may
be the seeming necessity of war ut any
time-and have never denied, and know
ing human nature somewhat, and having
read history somewhat, | shall never deny
that there Is ut times to the human eye and
to the human heart an apparent necessity
for undertaking the responsibility and the
sutferinws of war; Cheers let every man
be able to acquit himself in the sight Of God,
who knows the secrets of every heart, ~ To
the course which he Individually may take
in any emergency Of that kind. Hear,
hear.
War is in it's nature destructive and an
archical. There can be no freedom in Eu-
rope--there can be no permanent or assured
| ptt'c III ~ i'hP 'to WV C'N'' Wv
ers maintain .i,OOO,0OO or 4,0OO,OOO Of men
in arms at II period of profound peace
(Cheors) Even in England, and to us, what
can be more anarchicnl and less conservative
than war? Look back to the war i'll which
we were engaged from 1913 to lSlj. That
WAS period of fearful suffering 1t was
also period of utter tyranny. There was
no FREQ expression of opinion. no free press.
no freedom to anybody, unless he chose I"
outstrp his neighbors in n foolish passion
for war. So. too. from 1915 down t" lS2s,
there was no liberty in England, or little
more than now exists i'll the ncighborlng
country of France. From year to year there
was an intense suffering. bad trade a de-
pressed population, constant plots, secret so
cietes, incipient Instructions dangers OF
every kind to the institutions IF the country.
Such things were the legitimate, natural and
inevitable offspring of that gigantic and
wicked war which your rulers had waged for
twenty-five years. Cries Of "No,' fol-
lowed by cheers And now war again.
After that war; national debit after that ma
tional debt, increased taxes: after those
taxes, danger and discomfort of every kind
in the future, if you permit your Govern
ment to NEEDLE for one single hour III the
armed contest which is Just commencing
The other day, in the House Of Commons. Il
| h,l ha ,r1o,ity IN