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108 THE LEADER. fNo. 306, Saturday
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THE CLAIMS OP SARDINIA. We trust that no...
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.LORD WTLNSLEYDALE AND LIFE PEERAGES. A ...
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Transcript
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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Ment Of His Diplomatic Career In The Uni...
would not present risks and difficulties . High as the national spirit might rise , much as the efficiency of our armament may have been increased , Russia has almost incomparable -facilities of defence . Whether we fight or negotiate , it is as well to think calmly , to avoid exaggeration and bluster .
Such is the tone of Parliament . In that assembly , the opinion undoubtedly reigns that another campaign would have illustrated more signally than hitherto the powers and resources of the English nation . At the same time , to reject reasonable terms of peace would involve a moral loss , and give a more favourable colour to the Russian cause . Accordingly
Ahe Houses assent with obvious reserve to ¦ the policy of negotiation . Lord Clajbendon , who was more explicit than the Premier , acknowledged that the Russian acceptance of the Austrian proposal , was accompanied by the suggestion of an armistice , and . that this had been conceded by the Allies . But he made no reference to the " additional propositions , " contenting himself with stating , simply , that he believed in the sincerity of ^ Russia , that the Allies weie themselves sincere , and that
nothing WQuld be exacted to degrade or lnflame the Russian Government , So far , therefore , the representatives of the several Powers , will meet on common ground . jEngland is ready , France is anxious , for peace . To Austria peace is safety , to Russia relief . It restores the natural relations of dynasties- — unites the absolutisms now at war , and leaves the French and English alliance to depend , as all . real alliances must depend , on mutual respect and confidence , instead of mutual aid , which is , at times , the source of jealousy , and wjhich . does not always lead to the brotherhood of armies .
. Assuming that the negotiations prosper * that peace is established , there will be some C 0 . use for congratulation . We shall have passed through a crisis , in -which our reputation has been imperilled by the apathy and incapacity of our governing class . To them will the public mind be turned , to discover what guarantees may be . secured in the event of another war , Against the risks we have * ? fe ¦ £ &&• We may not always monopolise Jfoe offensive in warfare . How , then , can the
national power be so organised that , if unhappy contests should arise , we may meet its dangers without taking two years to prepare an army and a . fleet , without losing prestige and surrendering the predominance to an all y ? In this war we have not had one complete success . Our navy has been a mere auxiliary . But we have now prepared the machinery of a real campaign , t > y land and sea , so that , we repeat , we are not negotiating with Russia from any inability to enforce by arms the objects which will be contended for at the Congress .
108 The Leader. Fno. 306, Saturday
108 THE LEADER . fNo . 306 , Saturday
The Claims Op Sardinia. We Trust That No...
THE CLAIMS OP SARDINIA . We trust that no disposition exists in the British and French Cabinets to assign to the representative of Sardinia a secondary place at the approaching Congress . Whatever may have been done by Austria as a mediator , Sardinia has done something as a belligerent . It is now a proper time , therefore , to consider under what circumstances the
Piedmontese government joined its forces with ft ?? ° f Western Powers , and what axe the' political necessities created by that alliance . It is generally supposed that the ] $ emomtory symptoms of peace were viewed ^ % M , gratification at Turin , and it has been imputed to y 1 OT on Emmanuel that ho desired Lffi ^ convulsion , out of which a prize xrn ^ ffl ° t ^ for 8 a * d i * ia . We have no difficulty m conceiving that any patriotic
Italian , upon the outbreak of an European war , might anticipate changes favourable to Italy ; but , without taking remote probabilities into calculation , Piedmont has reason to suspecji an Austrian peace . It is no secret that when Victor Emmanuel was in En gland he already understood that , if the Western Powers were reconciled to Russia , he might be
sacrificed to a quietus of diplomacy . Could he , or the nation he governs , be assured that they had not exasperated old jealousies , without securing new friendships ? It was this scepticism that was expressed by the more impatient Liberals in Turin , and we are not sure that Victor Emmanuel went from London better satisfied than when he came .
Justice and sound policy require that we should remember the circumstances under which Sardinia was drawn into the alliance . She did not occupy an independent position . It may be said , in fact , that she had but the alternative of adopting the cause of the Western Powers , or suffering for her neutrality . Diplomacy , of course , would be a clums y process if it left , in written documents , the record of its menacing insinuations ; but , in effect , Sardinia was challenged to choose between the hazards of an alliance with the
Western Powers and the dangers of Austrian hostility , with the jealousy of another Government in the background . The kindlier pressure was probably exerted by England : possibly , indeed , this Italian covenant was sought to aid in counterbalancing the preponderance , visible from the beginningof the war , of French arms and counsels . Had the congress of pacificators been appointed to meet in London , we should probably have heard no whisper of the diplomatic subordination of Sardinia .
The incident in Tuscany , combined with others , Jhad proved to Sardinia that she stood in need of guarantees ; not against Austria only ; since it cannot be for the interest of any absolute Government that free institutions should prosper in Ital y . It was therefore partly with the object of providing herself with these guarantees that Sardinia pledged herself to share the exertions and sacrifices of the Western Powers . To those who knew the state of feeling at Turin , it was obvious that a thoughtful section of the public dissented from the adopted policy because it doubted the good
faith of the English governing classes . Count Cavoue scarcely procured credit for his patriotism in promoting the alliance ; but his views on the subject are not unknown . When the war commenced , was ho blind to the possibility of Sardinia being dragged into it ? When the pressure of the British representations was felt in Victor Emmanuel's Cabinet , was Count Cavour ignorant of the risk ? Was the public kept uninformed ? The Diritto , the leading liberal journal , pointed out clearly the perils of the future ; the Piemonte ^ with less sincerity , hinted at them .
We must not forget that Sardinia , when she took the field against Russia , acted with rare courage and magnanimity . She was not a military Power ; her prosperity was insecure ; her armies had recently come out of the exhausting Austrian war ; with a population not double that of London , she had considerable frontiers to guard , and was entering upon a process of radical internal reform . At such a crisis , with hostile or suspicious Governments on alL sides , did Sardinia engage in a great war , by the side of England and France .
The war has gained for her the recognition of Europe . It has brought prestige to her army , and importance to her Cabinot . But it has taxed her revenue , which , after many disasters , required assiduous cultivation ; it hivs arrestod the course of lib eral innovation , and has thus produced only mitigated advantages .
If , however , it has created for Sardinia positive claims on England , Count Cavour ' s policy would have been patriotic and wise , even if it had not been inevitable . Has it created such claims ? The question may test the good faith of the British Government , and of the British nation , if ever the nation assert a policy of its own . At all events , right-minded men , in and out of Parliament , must perceive that there was" no justification of the policy which dragged Sardinia into the Western alliance , unless her aid is to be reciprocated by the support of England in her eventual difficulties . It
is impossible to deny that we are morally pledged to maintain the independence of our Italian allies , so long as they respect the public law of Europe . To give effect to this principle , the claims of Victor Emmanuel's representative must be recognised on an equality with the great Powers , at the Paris Congress . It would , indeed , be a reproach upon the British name , if , in our need , we enticed a weak State into war , and left it afterwards to struggle for existence with overbearing enemies . What Sardinia requires is the avowed political sympathy of England . That will be one guarantee—to her of independence ; to Europe , perhaps , of peace .
.Lord Wtlnsleydale And Life Peerages. A ...
. LORD WTLNSLEYDALE AND LIFE PEERAGES . A grand debate is announced for next week , on . a high constitutional question . As the Morning Herald is the organ for the announcement , we suppose that the good old Tory party is about to stand up for the British Constitution against the innovation caused by the creation , of Mr . Baron Parke to be Baron Wensletdale for the term of his natural life .
The Morning Herald states that all the Law Lords are of opinion that this creation of life peerages is unconstitutional and open to the gravest abuses . It is difficult to say what is unconstitutional or not , inasmuch as the Constitution is totally undefined , and has been nibbled away by modern Acts of Parliament until the , law of the country is about as unconstitutional a thing as exists in the world .
The best exponent of the British Constitution , perhaps , consists in the Bill of Rights , with its glorious antecedents , the Great Charter . And yet , if any Englishman were to take the trouble of perusing the Charter exacted for the people when the Orange dynasty was established on the throne , he would find that we have desperately fallen away from that high standard of the British Constitution . A Law
Lord more or less , thoiigh we are not to have the sons of the sam e to boot , will not make much difference . But the argument , of course , is this , —that if the Crown can appoint life peerages , it will hold in its hands the means of swamping the real Peers , and will undermine and overthrow the hereditary character of the peerage . This is rather true , and it is quite possible that popularity-hunting Ministers might crowd the House of Lords with pro fessional men , railway directors , groat
contractors , and all the rich and clever outcasts of the Commons , as tenants for life . But , rually , there seems to be no reason to suspect such a design in the present act . It originates in the difficulty of keeping up a sufficient number of Law Lords to do the business ; and those wo have are most of thorn getting very old . The judges onco sat as a constituent prut of the
grand council of the nation—the Parliament . They slipped out of their place in the reign of Edward the Third , and became " assistants . " They had disappeared before tho Revolution , and Lord Someks vainly tried to bring ( hern back into iho House by summons — ewn scolded them in vain . Tho scanty allowance of Law Lords is eked out by making a coup le of Lay Lords to sit with thorn and represent
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Feb. 2, 1856, page 12, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_02021856/page/12/
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