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    fce . fo . rje theraJind . thM they cannot , by denunciation : c * bv warning , - rescue either our . aymy etc the national honoua :, they must undertake the mose arduous , and perhaps the more hazardous , task of trying . to correct the master evil , by wrenching the . power of the State from the class that have usurped it .

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    LORD ELLENBOROUGH'S WAR POLICY . WaNSKP . a Wai * Minister of energy , invention , and insight , who thoroughly understands the present war . Wanted a Minister w . ho will make the most of the enormous resources of the British Empire in men , money , sh ips , material , and science ^ to crush the Russian Empire an d * . build up a strong barrier between the barbaric North and the civilised West . Wanted a Man , in short , to lead the British nation , in Parliament and out of Parliament , supreme in the council , prime moving spirit in the field . in

    Has theJBjritish nation got such a man its public places , or in its . holes and corners ? If it has , let him come forth and take up the mighty sburden * the British nation declares itself ready to lay upon him . As yet , certainly , the leader and saviour of the state , the Maryborough or the Wellington , the Napoleon or the Pitt , of this degenerate day , has not appeared . Lord Raglan is not be ; Lord Panmtjre is very far from being he- ^ -his only resemblance to Chatham is that he is liable to the gout ; Lord Palmerston—we have strong doubts whether the sprightly War Secretary of 1810 , is the mighty War Minister required in I 855 L —

    Is it possible that Lord Eljlenborough is the man ? True , he has " a natural inclination for war ; true , he has a natural love of matters military ; true , he deals eloquently , in farreaching views , and affect * a familiarity with details . He is full of years , he would fain persuade us he is full of vigour also . He is a thorough Tory , and asks to be the Minister of a Liberal war . Can Lord Ellenborough , chiefly known as a reckless talking power in

    the House of Peers , latterly presented to us as Lord Derby ' s Mars , be the man the nation is seeking ; and if he be , will the nation accept his policy and its ~ consequences—a - policy not new to the public—but new in the House of Peers ? Not new , we say , to the public , for programmes equally bold have been proposed before ; but new from the lips of a Tory statesman , and a sign that the party is going to bid high for popularity . D A . A . ml

    ^ Since Lord JEllenborotjgh ' s war policy , should the Executive relapse into the hands of the Derby-Disraeli faction , may become the policy of the country , it is impoi'tant that we should note it , the more especially as the Derbyite press have sanctioned the programme ostentatiously declaimed by the possible Minister . At the commencement of the war , Loyd Ellenborough declared that it was " a

    statesman s war , and that the people of this country would never understand it . At that time the people , and the people ' s organs , were demanding that the war should be a ( f least partl y carried on by an appeal to nationalities . On Tuesday night Lord Ellenborough treated the House of Peers to a sketch of the war policy he would pursue . We find , to our infinite surprise , that the statesman has talc en

    xip the people ' s view , and that he solemnly assures us that we must " appeal to nationalities as well as to armies , " if we would succeed . Let us assume ; that this is not a " bid" only ; but the earnest utterance of patriotism . Here then is one great principle of the policy of the man who aspires most pertinaciously towards the leadership of England' —war by nationalitww . It ia trwo that among the nationalities be

    named , thatof Poland te , not—« bot sorely h « , must , for consistency ^ sake , include . Poland , and perhaps Finland too . Next to tjbishgreafc princjLple . is that of adequately carrying on the war in Asia- — certainly a most important object . For this purpose he would caU on the Indian Government to furnish cavalry and artillery , and take a prominent part in the war ; Obe would obtain the aid of a corps of . Persians , ' * w , hoare the very best soldiers ^ as braye as their swords ., ; " he would

    employ the Turkish troops in British pay in ( ibis service , and with these eombioedbe would overrun Georgia , and with the further aid , of * ' the Circassians he would drive the Russian army beyond the Caucasus . He would have a body * ef Turkish troops in Frenoh pay , joined , we presume , with A « strians , make * a diversion on the Pruth ; for he calculates that without these diversions in Asia and Europe ., Persia will be compelled to side with Russia , and that the Allies' force in the Crimea will be unable

    to hold their ground . Of course , it is easy to fill up the outline . There would be vigorous war from the mountains of Georgia to the shores of the Baltic ; there would be Turks and Georgians , and Persians and native In- , dians , and Austrians and Poles , and Fins , and English and French , ah" surging steadily up against the great bulwarks of Russian power . It is a magnificent programme ! But what security have we that it would be carried out if Lord Ellenborough were

    entrusted with the war ? There are some important , some significant omissions . Lord Ellenborough spoke- of the militia , and ^ reconimended coercive measures ; but he is evidently not prepared to make it a imily national force , accessible in its higher ranks to others than gentlemen at large possessed of certain property . What view would he take of the system of promotion ? Is itlikely that the Tories would abolish the military Game Laws , and throw open the commission preserve to merit ?

    Certainly not . Yet that must be done by the minister who makes the military service popular and attractive in England . Besides , what guarantee have we that the party , whose Chief of the Staff this Lord would become , would sympathise with his policy in office—out is another matter ? Lord Stanley is not an insignificant Disraelite ; vet only Jast week J , e profjpssed a belief in the good intentions of

    Russia , and insinuated that war broke out because the Emperor was misunderstood ! When has Mr . Disraeli ever declared heartily in favour of the war ? It is just , he says , but was not necessary . But if the armed and aggressive policy of Russia be not strangely belied by facts , the war was not only just but wad inevitable , and necessary for the safety of Europe .

    Still Lord Elljsnborougii ' s position in Parliament , and his relations with parties , give his speeches an importance which they otherwise would not have ; and suggest a few reflections which demand consideration , and a few questions which demand replies . Are the British people so fully awakened from the dreams of peace , so fully aware of the dangerous power of Russia , as to give their adhesion , if not to Lord Ejllenborouqh , then to Lord Ellenborough's adopted programme ?

    Look the thing full in the face , and it will be seen that it carves out for us years of steady and unfaltering war . Yet the danger confessedly is great . Russia must be the conqueror or the conquered ; a compromise would be a delusive and a criminal waste . Look at Russia . The picture has often been drawn by abler pens than ours . Look along any large map , from Finland to the Caspian Sea , and observe the aggressive nature of the whole line of frontier . The Baltic is lined with fortresses of enormous strength ,, gradually edging down to the Sound , and permanently menacing Sweden

    and Penroask . rPoland ,. an en £ itewike& aamfr equally studded iWtth citadels , pjwfteetai << wM » Germany like a huge < l * astioe , lowers , ew Prussia , and outflanks Austria . Ea # t ^ ep . ^ Quife » ward Russia almost holds tjhekeys of T : « an « iylf vania ; is master of tne Pru * & : ; and is : p © sv » tively , at this hour , supreme on \ t \^ J ^ wegt Danube . From Sebastopoi-niif Sevastopol eg * eape us , she can again send forth a huge na ^ a ) armament , ; and on the Circassian coast he * fo « ts will rise from their ashes vwter the sun

    of peace . She ia roaster of the Gaweasus ; met is king in Georgia , aod Armenia ; her legio n * hsw < e > occujtted Baya ? id , that eastern : gate to Syria ; her steamers float upon . the Caspian , and her soldiers encamp on the JEasartes . Over neighbouring nations she exerciser a subtle in ~ fluenee , even beyond her -frontier , &om Monte * - negsbto Herat . Certainly , now is the time $ 0 d » al $ ie giant a fatal wound ; and the wan . to djeal ^ England ' s share of the btaw fe wanting . . Bat is it . tke man alone * hat i » wanting £ « r an earnest and deadly war ? Are the . people bjffh-teHipered enough to support the man if

    they find him ? to give : him men , to give him money , to give Mm jobedienee ., all with a pas * - digality as yet not mapifeskfeed ? Are tfaey who eall for the yeeonsjcructiion of Poteno , a ? e they who demand freedom for the ¦ Cn'casfiians . v aie they wilHng to pay the cost , of ther : « nterpj ? ise ? We put the question disti ^ kyttwtibe British people ready to spend ^ icpr energies iin a ^ war on this gigantic scale ,.-and stake ¦ tfeoeir honour on its sfuecegs ? Itisfoiltimetbaft *^ Should be « earchingly put . and fxSMkl y ; ans wered ; and if answered in the . amrmati ve , ; that the strongest demonstration of that affiwnajase should be made throughout the country .

    -Is LQrd _ JEw 4 BNBORouGH ? s poKcy ike poliey ^ and is the expounder of that policy * bfe man © £ the hour ? If Lord Derby comes into office we shall probabl y ; see ; but till . then , at kasfcr we may be peimifeted to doubt \ the seH-ad-VWr tised pretensions of Lord Derby ' s Minisfcer of War .

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    MILITARY PROMOTION BY BJRTJI . The treatment which Lo ^ GioDERieH ' s motioa receives from Government is curious . He was because Mr . Sidney Herbbbt was absent through indisposition , and he wished to take part in the debate . In the interval between Tuesday last and Thursday next , the : day newly named by Lord Palmerston , Mr . Sidney Herbert leaves the Government . What part then will he take ia the debate ?

    The position that other men may occupy is also an interesting question . We know , by the experience of Kidderminster , what Mr . Lotve will say to it . Mr . Osborne , who mounted on the top of the Admiralty to discharge red-hot shot into the building " next door "—the Horse Guards- —may be fairly asked , what part of the system—" rotten from

    top to bottom "—is worse than the promotion r There are other men of the rank of Ministers who have some knowledge of the world of England as well as of class or department , and they must know what is their duty on this occasion . Mr . Cardwell , for instance , ought to be able to tell the men of his order what w the feeling of thejnation j just as officers risen Crom tho ranks have been able to tell thwr brother officers at mess what ore the feelmgs

    of the men . . ' It may be supposed that the complaint of undue " aristocratic" exclusivonessisimaginary —that tho sons of tho aristocracy do no mor © than take tho advantage which their position gives them to keep the load of their country * wen- If that wore go , we ehouW not : gru <} ge the use of accumulated and Jtaseditary honours

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), Feb. 24, 1855, page 183, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2079/page/15/