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    THE WAR. The latest news of the war is l...

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    Max 26,1855.1 THE L, B ADE1. **$ 6

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    I Contend, A Right To Know From The Nobl...

    honourable peace . After the sacrifices which the country has made—after the hearths of England have been darkened with the shadow of calamitymen must not be told that it is for a question whether the Emperor of Russia shall have four frigates or six . ( Cheers . ) " I trace tbe discontent that is prevalent , and the dissatisfaction -which we rfind in many quarters , I trace them to the continued alliance between diplomacy and war . I may be permitted so say that there are two methods in which you may carry on war with Russia . In one case , you may invade her provinces , despoil her of her territory , beat her back into the North , reconstruct , in short , the map of Europe , and solve the knot , which

    now you are trying to undo , by movements of the most determined character . And if there were a young Minister , full of genius , energy , and fortunate enough to possess , as a colleague , a general as consummately gifted , backed by an enthusiastic people , unembarrassed by public debt , I am not prepared to say that that career would not be well worthy of his attention . I will not presume to predict what might be the consequences of that struggle ; but I think I may venture to prophesy that the grey hairs would cluster on the temples of not the oldest members among us before its termination . But there is another mode of carrying on the war with Russia . It is one essentially protective . It is to protect your ally , not by reducing the peculiar

    influence of Russia , but b 3 ' increasing the power of Turkey . That was the policy which , as I understood from the declaration of war , we had embarked upon . But what have you done ? Having embarked in a war to protect the Turkish Empire , you suddenly resolve to invade the Russian dominions , while you were protecting the Turkish Empire , and engaged in diplomatic transactions which were to carry out the protective policy . You have combined , therefore , aggressive war with protective diplomacy ; and to that incoherent and inconsistent union I trace the dangers that are surrounding us , and which , in my opinion , unless you terminate that union , must increase , and fatally increase . " While you are wasting your time at Vienna in this protective diplomacy , all that you can do is to devise schemes which will apply to the objects of protective war ; but the evil

    consequences for the objects of aggressive war are easily traceable , because you not only by these Conferences , by this morbid diplomacy , damp and destroy the spirit of the nation , which , after all , you must alone rely upon , but you are , by these very Conferences , paralysing those allies , preventing that energy on the part of European powers , which would be necessary for you to carry on your aggressive warfare , and to extricate yourselves from the dangers to which you must now feel exposed . It may have been a great error to depart from that protection of the Turkish Empire and to invade Russia . But having , though most rashly , once taken that step , you must meet the consequences of the fatal policy which you have pursued . You cannot extricate yourselves from these consequences by Conferences at Vienna . " ( Cheers ) .

    It had been said that the present motion expresses distrust of the Government ; but is there any man who does not feel distrust of the Government ? And that distrust reaches still further ; it reaches even to a dark suspicion of the practical working of our representative institutions . The heart of many a patriot would be gladdened if , by the successful issue of that motion , it should appear that the House of Commons has decided that there shall be an end of diplomatic subterfuge and ministerial trifling . ( Cheeis ) . The motion was seconded by Mr . Barrow .

    Sir Francis Baking moved as an amendment " that tliis House , having seen with regret that the Conferences of Vienna have not led to a termination of hostilities , feels it to be a duty to declare that it will continue to give every support to her Majesty in the prosecution of the war , until her Majesty shall , in conjunction with her Allies , obtain for this country a safe and honourable peace . " He proposed this amendment because hu could not meet the original motion with a direct negative , since it would be liable to misconstruction . In answer to the charges brought by Mr . Disraeli against the Government , lie denied that there had been any unfair

    concealment or any ambiguous language on their part . It would not have been prudent or politic , nor would it have been just to our allies , from day to day to expose confidential communications . The Government had given all the information they fairly could . Sir WiLU-AW IIeathcotk said it was impossible for him to vote for the original motion , the object of which was avowedly to shut the door to negotiation ; and he thought tho amendment was open to the charge of being ambiguous and uncertain . To get rid of this objection , ho would insert , after " hostilities , " tho words , " and still cherishing a desire that the communications in progress may arrive at a successful issue . "

    Mr . Kick Sjsymjsk said ho should support tho original resolution . —Mr . Wilkinson was disposed to vote for Sir Francis Baring ' s amendment . ' —Tho Marquis of Gbanbv denied that ltusaia had ever had

    any intention of seizing Constantinople , and thought that the second proposition of Russia contains elements of negotiation . —Mr . Robert Phtllimore , while admitting that there never was a war more just in its origin than that in which we are now engaged , asserted that Russia ) had made great concessions , and held that we should not propose to a great power terms which she would be despised if she accepted . Mr . Gladstone said he could not possibly agree with Mr . Disraeli ' s motion , because he thought the negotiations had offered an admirable opportunity of terminating the horrors of war . He was disposed cordially to agree with the amendment of Sir William

    Heathcote , which expressed the opinion of the House that the advantages of negotiation should not be lost to view . The war was most just in its origin ; but it would become unjust if we continued to prosecute it after its object has been attained . The second proposal of Russia was the question properly before the House ; but the designs originally contemplated by the war had completely vanished from sight . After the war commenced the objects had been enlarged , and finally merged into the Four Points , not merely limiting and restraining the treaty rights of Russia , but abolishing them altogether . These Four Points were , in August , 1854 , previous to our expedition to the Crimea , absolutely rejected by Russia ;

    but in December the Emperor promised his unreserved acceptance of terms which four months before he had contemptuously refused . It could not , therefore , be said that our attack on Sebastopol had altogether failed . The only one of these articles not now settled was the third , and the difference arose , not upon its principle , but upon the mode of its application , so that the quarrel was merely as to the mode of construing a moiety of the Third Point . The question of the Black Sea , he observed , was surrounded with difficulties , and the choice was to be made between several plans of limitation , all being open to objections and imperfect arrangements . The

    more he looked at the question of limitation , the more apparent was its enormous difficulty and the indignity it would offer to Russia ; and no policy could be more dangerous than that of inflicting indignity upon her without reducing her power . Russia had receded from her pretences ; she had gone far to put herself in the right , and , in war as well as in peace , the great object should be to be in the right . All the terms we had demanded had been substantially conceded ; and , if it was not for terms we fought but for military success , let the House look at this sentiment with the eye of reason , and it would appear immoral , inhuman , and unchristian .

    Lord John Russell began his observations by commenting on the opinions expressed by Mr . Gladstone . The speech of that gentleman , he said , was characterised by great fairness , therein contrasting with the oration of Mr . Disraeli ; but he ( Lord John Russell ) dissented from Mr . Gladstone ' s views with respect to the war . The terms proposed by Russia would not guarantee the protection of Turkey ; for a Russian fleet might sail from the Black Sea , and dictate terms to the Sultan at the gates of his own palace . According to the second Russian proposition , it was true , Turkey was to have the right of calling upon the fleets of her allies for succour whenever she might be menaced ; but , in these cases , as

    Marshal Marmont said , priority is everything , and the allied fleets might be at a distance while those of Russia were near at hand . To accept , therefore , such futile and nugatory terms as those of Russia would be to deceive Europe in a way quite unworthy of England and France . With respect to Mr . Disraeli ' s charges , Lord J . Russell said that the right lion , gentleman , in speaking of the protectorate of Russia over tho Greek Christians of the Turkish Empire , confounded two things which were perfectly distinct—the protectorate over Wallachia and Moldavia , which was sanctioned not only by the treaty of Kainardji , but by the subsequent treaties of Bucharest and Adrianople , and the proposition which

    was put forward by Prince Mensdiikoff , which went far beyond those treaties , and was based on an erroneous interpretation of tho treaty of Kainardj i . Ilia lordship then gave a brief historical summary of the ambitious designs and aggressive policy of Russia , and sketched the . progress of tho present war , and the course ho had taken at tho Conferences . The Austrian occupation of the Principalities had enabled us to attack Sebastopol ; and that attack had demonstrated tho weakness of the Black Sea fleet for defence , and had shown that its real purpose was to

    create a standing menace to Turkey . As to tho churge against him that ho had desired to conserve the honour of Russia , ho still believed that that object was a fitting one , supposing it to be compatible with our own designs . The most important of those designs , tho limitation of the Russian power in the Black Sea , is indispensable- for tho security of Constantinople ; and the refusal by Russia to accept those terms is a sure indication of tho dishonesty of her intentions towards her neighbour . Tho conduct of Austria was not altogether such as he could wish ;

    but with her frontier open to invasion from Russian without sufficient fortresses to prevent the Russians after a single victory , from marchingup to Vienna ** it must be admitted that her position is one of grewl difficulty . —With a fling at the AdministrativexReform movement , and a rebuke to the ambitious and partisan designs of Mr . Disraeli and his friends , Lord John Russell resumed his seat . ¦?> On the motion of Mr . WniTissinE , the debate was then adjourned . <~< JtETBOPOLIIAN GOVERNMENT BILL . Lord Palmerston announced that Sir Benjamrb Hall had postponed the further proceeding on tills bill until Tuesday after the recess , to be then taken at a morning sitting . _ '„ . RAILWAY ACCIDENTS . * Mr . Francis Scott asked the Vice-President .-of the Board of Trade whether the bill to prevent railway accidents , which the Government said in March would be laid before Parliament , and which in May was said to be ready for presentation , would be introduced into Parliament immediately after the Whitsuntide recess?—Mr . Bouverie said it was the intention of the President of the Board of Control to bring in this bill upon an early day . CHURCH DISCIPLINE BILL . Sir John Pakington asked the Solicitor-General whether the Church Discipline Bill would be introduced after the Whitsuntide recess , whatever might be the progress and success of the Testamentary Jurisdiction Bill ; and whether it was yet decided that provision shall be made in the bill for constituting one final court of appeal for the United Church of England and Ireland?—The Solicitor-General said it was the intention of the Government to introduce the Church Amendment Bill at an early day after the recess . He hoped on Friday to be able to give the exact date . The prosecution of the bill would depend upon the fate of the Testamentary Jurisdiction Bill , not from any connexion of the subject matters of the two bills , but because there were certain arrangements with respect to compensation contained in the Testamentary Jurisdiction Bill , upon which were founded certain regulations in the other bill . He was enabled to answer the last part of the right hon . baronet ' s question , as to the Court of Appeal for the United Church of England and Ireland , in the affirmative . ADMISSION OF JEWS TO PARLIAMENT . Mr . Duncombe asked the First Lord of the Treasury if it was his intention to bring in any bill during the present session to enable Jews to sit in Parliament ; also on what day the long promised bill for the reform of the Corporation of the City of London would be introduced?—Lord Palmerston said it was not the intention of the Government to propose during the present session any measure for the admission of Jews into Parliament . With respect to the other portion of the question , he could assure the hon . member that the bill to which he alluded was in the course of being drawn ; it was a matter of much difficulty , and would require considerable care . He trusted , however , that at an early day it would be before the House .

    The War. The Latest News Of The War Is L...

    THE WAR . The latest news of the war is literally that there is no news at all . The electric telegraph that extends from the heart of the contest into the heart of peaceful London has been silent for the last week , or , at any rate , has spoken not to unofficial ears . With the approaching heats of summer , a languor seems to have come upon both sides ; and the tw ; o opponents—meaning thereby tho Allies and the Russians" Like giants in contention , planet-struck , Stand gazing at each other . " The expedition to Kcrtch has added another mistake to the long list of our Crimean blunders . With the fleet insight of tho place which it was designed to attack—with tho soldiers and sailors both of France and England eager to attack tho enemy , and confident of success—with our opponents unprepared for the assault , and therefore at every disadvantagethe order comes that tho armament is to return , and return it does , to tho infinite satisfaction , and no doubt amusement of tho Russians . No such opportunity can again occur for the capture of a place which is irenorally held to be second only in importance to Sebustopol itself ; for tho intentions of the Allies are revealed—tho enemy are now on their iruard— their weak spot has been pointed out to them—and we all know tho energy and rapidity with which the Russians can strengthen themselves in a doubtful position . The return was in conucduonco of a message from Lord Raglan and Gonerul C . mrobert , withdrawing tho French troops ; which of course rendered it impossible for us to proceed . This message , it is whispered in tho camp ,

    Max 26,1855.1 The L, B Ade1. **$ 6

    Max 26 , 1855 . 1 THE L , B ADE 1 . ** $ 6

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), May 26, 1855, page 5, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_26051855/page/5/