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    • siderad , at Schnmla—¦ threatened Odessa , -threatened ffiebastopol , threatened , Anapa , threatened every ' place in the Blaok Sea , whiledt gave security to theraavytfn -its twaters . It -was , in itself , an excellent position . ; But , cno sooner wa 3 our army embarked— -too -sooner did-we givea hand to Austria , ' who wasabout toresfnpon itthan we withdrew it . I think that a 6 t of withdrawing the hand—of sending the expedition to the Crimea , after Austria had invited our co-operation in the Principalities—I think that that was as great an error in diplomacy as it was in warfare . I ventured iff caution the Government At the . time of the effect -it would have upon Austria . We have never to this day-been , in the same position with respect to Austria that we -were when

    that offer of co-operation was made . What did she say when informed of our intention to send : the expedition to the Crimea ? ' That alters my position . I cannot venture to incur the responsibility of fighting the Russians by myself . You have withdrawn the forces that might have assisted me , and upon which-1 relied . ' And what have we done , almost at the moment of entering into the negotiations , when it was-of the greatest possible importance to have the cordial assistance of Austria ? What did you do ? You withdrew the Turkish army ; you sent it from the Principalities to . Eupatoria ; you withdrew it at annoment > when it was necessary for the Austrians to have something to rely upon . You left her with a line extending r from the Pruth to the north -of

    Gallicia , exposedalongthe-whole line to the attack of the Russian army , with Germany , uncertain , behind . Can you complain of the conduct of Austria ? And if you see that Austria has been ^ acting with undue timidity , impute it to your own mistakes—the mistake of the expedition-to Sebastopol—the-: mistake of the expedition to Eupatoria . Those two mistakes have paralysed Austria ; and your army is now in a position in which it cannot assist the Austrian army , and you may depend upon it Austria ' never can give you any assistance . " Lord Ellenborough then pointed out the mistake of leaving our army at Varna in such a condition that it could not move . Had it been able to move , and had it advanced , we should have had more than

    120 , 000 troops , French , English , and Turkish ; Bessarabia would have been in our possession ; the campaign might have been recommenced from the Dniester ; and the iirsfc victory would have placed Odessa , Nicolai , and the Crimea , in our hands . However , it was determined to send an expedition to the Crimea ; but two conditions , essential to the success of that enterprise , it was impossible to fulfil . It was impossible to send a sufficient force of cavalry , or sufficient animals to move the army ; and the consequence of these defective arrangements is , that the army has since been beleaguered between Sevastopol

    and the sea . The Government were also chargeable with great indiscretion in having sent a large army across the sea , during the autumnal equinox , in four hundred vessels , without having sufficiently reconnoitred the place , and without having obtained information from any quarter as to the character of the defences , and the probable amount of the forces there employed . Any general so acting , and failing in his attack , would have been brought before a court-martial and dismissed the service . As regards the sufferings of the troops , is there any man who does not believe that forethought might haye prevents ! many of these ?

    " I think the opinion of all all men is this , that however deficient may have been the system , it is not system alone which has to be impugned , but the conduct of the men by whom the system has been carried out . My lords , to attribute everything to the defect of system is the subterfuge of convicted mediocrity . ( 7 / ear , and laughter . ') Mediocrity succumbs to system ; ability dominates it , .. and forces men to effect what mediocrity would bo unable to do . Public , zoal , seconded by public ability , will impel almost every system into tlio right

    course ; but'that has not been dono , and one of the most disastrous circumstances , in the contemplation of all that has been produced before the committee , is tlius not so much the defoct of system , which may bo remedied , but the extent of mediocrity which pervades the wholo of the departments . It is this which has led the people of this country to tho very general belief that it in absolutely nccoasary to adopt another principle iu tho selection of officers for public employments . I outiroly accede to that . "

    Tho Reform Bill , in keeping out many men of faculty from tho House of Commons , hud operated injuriously by limiting a minister iu the choice of his colleagues . Tho country must insist , however , upon tho necessity for selecting tho members of a government with the solo viowto thoir fitness for ollice . "My lords , how can wo , Hitting hero by horeditnry right , conferred , for tho moat part , upon our ancestors for thoir oorvicos to tho Stalo , for their ntno . su for public employment , how can we rofimo to adopt that prinoiplo which is tho principlo of our own origin V It wan because my father was a groat lawyer , and not . bccuuao ho was a party man , that ho was aolocted for tho groat ollico of Chief Justice . It was not favour , it woh iitnosa , that mudo Mr . Yorko chancellor , and afterwards an end ; it was not favour that made Sir J '/ unos Harris a groat , diplomatist and 'Earl of Miihne . sbury ; it wuh not favour that raised tho father of tho noble viscount opposite

    [( Visootrat'Canning ) ^ to the dffiee , * a £ swhich the jxatrxe wa * d « was * h e title-which * be noble "tdseonnt now- ^ possesses ; -it-was nofriavour that raised the brothers Cecil , and made them the ministers of Elizdbeth ;; and . Jamesthe founders of two great families . We acejheKe by the services of : our ancestors ; and isit for us to turn round and sayito ^ the people— - ' It is true , our ancestors * ose by their fitness , but our relations enjoy advantages by their connexion with -us--and-by favour . ' JTo ! I . trust that you will adopt a different view-for the interest andiionourof this house . I trust that you will agree on this occasion to place-yourselves on the part x > f 'the people , and , adapting yourselves to public opinion , go to tho foot of'the throne ^ and state there the complaints which

    you have to make . I" trust that you ¦ will show that you are fully impressed with the greatness of the crisis in which we stand ; that you feel all the dangers Of the contest in which we-are engaged . I'feel myself that , during this contest , protracted as it will be , we shall often have need of the support 6 fShe people . I desire to secure that support by identifying this house with public opinion . I desire to place the country ¦ and people on our side ; to present to the'enemy we have to encounter the-aspect of-a united-people ; and I feel confident that weshould obtain a- secure and an honourable peace by acting together , freely supported by the general affection and co-operation of the country . My lords , -I beg to conclude by moving the following resolutions : —

    " 'To assure her Majesty of our continued-support in the prosecution of the just and necessary war in which her Majesty is- engaged : " 'To'declare the sincere gratrfieationwith which > we have regarded the perfect community of counsels between- her Majesty ; and the Emperor of ; the French , and have > seen friendliness established and increasing between the French people . and our own ; events'ftill of hope for the future'to other nationals ' well ^ as'to ourselves : " ' To express our admiration of the many deeds of valour by which the allied forces in the East have illustrated then- brotherhood in -arms , and our satisfaction that the brave army of Piedmont is now called to participate in their actions and in their fame :

    " 'To declare our persuasion that , amidst all their disappointments , the people of this country still retain the generous feelings which led them at the commencement of the war willingly to place all the means required from them at her Majesty ' s disposal—that they will still protect the weak against the aggression of the strongand that they arc not prepared to consent that Russia shall , by her increasing preponderance , so control the Turkish Government as practically to hold

    Constantinople within her grasp : " 'To ' acquaint her Majesty that , while we admit and lament the privations to which war necessarily subjects all classes of the people , we yet venture to assure her Majesty that they would in so just a cause bear those privations without complaint if they could'feel that the war had been well conducted—that the troops had not been exposed to any hardships which could have been avoided by forethought—and that -everything had been done to enable them to achieve decisive success :

    " ' Humbly to represent to her Majesty that her people , suffering privations on account of this war , have as yet had no such consolation ; that , on the contrary , we cannot withhold from her Majesty the avowal of our conviction that the conduct of-the war lias occasioned general dissatisfaction , and giv « n rise to just complaints ; and that we must humbly lay before her Majesty our deliberate opinion that it is only through the selection of men for public employment , without regard to anything but the public service , that the couutry can hope to prosecute the war successfully , and to obtain its only legitimate object , a secure and honourable peace . ' " ( His lordahip sat down amidst loud cheers . ) Lord I ANMUREsaid that the resolutions commence with truisms which no man can contradict , continue with hopes in which every man must unite , and then proceed to cases of misconduct of tho wax . Speaking of Lord Ellenborough , 'he- » aid : —

    " Ho 1 ms gathered his opinions from public meetings lately held—( Jiear , and laughter )—and assorts that until tho proper men are placed in tho proper offices , and BClected sololy with a view to tho public service of the country , an honourable peace will xiovor bo effectually realised ; or , my lords , to use the quaint expression of my hon . friend in tho other House ( Mr . Drummorid ) , until the square men aro placed in the square holes , and tho round men in tho . round holes—( laui / hter )—or , still more , until that party with which the noble oarl is now permanently associated shall turn out the Government and occupy our places—( laughter )—nothing will go right in tlio conduct of tho wnr . "

    Lord l ' anmuro then -explained ' that he 'cordially ugrecd with a great part of the resolutions , hut that , aa other ports contain a censure upon the Government , ho should feel it his duty 'to move ^ thattthis question bo not put . ' Wlioa wo consider the sufferings of our army , we must ^ recollect 'Unit at 'tho breaking out of the war wo had been 'tit pence for forty yours , during which -successive ' 'Government outvied oach other , not in promoting tho military education of'England , but in economising it . " The noblo oatl has attached great blame to tho Government , because 'that army wasnont Into the fldld iacapablo of moving . It is qutto truo thoro wan no luntl

    ; transport attached to the army atrthatitame . The told waggon train had been -abandoned ; nothing-was ? set rnp in-its -p lace by any Government , and iwhen .-the army teas called upon to take the field , it whs natural thatrfhe means-of transport should-not be surnqpant ; > but I-am bound to say that every means was itakemto . makeitibat transpoffcas complete -as possible , and I do cnotbelienre that it was ¦ for want of means of . transport that the army did not advance to the rdefence-of SiKstria : ' The sufferings of the army during the ^ winter arose from circumstances over which the Govermnent faaxl no control ; 'but 'the-troops are now 'in as good > a . state as when they left this country . From-the'beginning of February , owing , in great measure , to the

    means previously taken by the Duke of Newcastle and the Government of Lord Aberdeen , the army began gradually to resume its'first condition , and to gain increased energy ; and since the beginnings ! March the army has been deriving reinforcements . Notwithstanding his general charges , Lord Ellenborough had not been afeleto-show a single instance of any one connected with the war being in an unfit place . 'No one , indeed , knows better than he that it would be -most unpatriotic and most dangerousto reflect upon the actions of men who are devoting

    their best energies and their lives to the service of their country . Nor had Lord Ellenborough set Ms hand upon one instance , in connexion with the civil service , of improper men'being-selected ; which , considering-that he had advanced these abstract -charges , he ought to have done . Lord Panmttre then expressed his -dissent-from rthe < opinion of Lord JEUenborough , ; thattheireSaraaBd Parliament . ; had Sailed , in producing men fit for the , public ? service ; and , ^ ranswertothe . com&kunt ituat iin these days ; Earliament is too much influenced . byfj > ablic . opinion ,.

    observed : — " I am one of those who think'that public opinion I is right " in leadingboth Parliament and the Government , to a certain extent , and I should be sorry to see : public opinion taking its views either from Government or from the transactions of Parliament iteelf . My lords , I now come , to that part of the noble earl ' s resolutions which -seems t o me to pass a censure upon the Government . Now , I think it is deserving of your serious attention that three months have scarcely elapsed since we ; had : a political crisis of perhaps the most extraordinary nature ever known in this country . During that crisis , the Government was offered to no less , I think , than four distinct statesmen . It was offered , amongst others to the noble earl opposite , of whose party the noble earl Who moved this address formed one , at least from public report . Three months ago , the expedition to

    Constantinople , to Varna , to fiebastopol , was exactly stated to be in the same position as it is now ; the neglect to carry the war into Asia > was exactly the same as it is now , and yet at that time when the Government was offered to the noble earl opposite ( Lord Derby ) , and the noble earl who moved those resolutions was at the point which would enable him to carry out his views , that Government was deliberately declined by the noble earl opposite ; and I can hardly think it fair now that he should pass censure on the present Government for the position of affairs which ho had himself had an opportunity to grapple with . But is it for the good of this country- — is it for the advantage of the conduct of the war—is it safe—to be requiring within three months a change of Government , and agitating the country from one end to the other ? My lords , this is a serious question , on which , I say , you will do well to deliberate . "

    Lord Panmuro concluded by hoping that the present Government would be left to carry out their plans with reference to the conduct of the war . The Earl of Hardwkkb , in criticising the general conduct of the war , said that the result of tho blockade in the Black Sea was that the trade of Russia had been carried on through Prussia ; and the result of the military expedition had thrown into the hands of Austria two Turkish provinces . He called attention to tho statement made by the Government last year that there < wa& then a blockade in tho Black Bea , and to the fact / now disclosed , that there was in truth no blockade there at the time . This was a serious omission , since the trade in the lilacs considerable

    Sea and the Sea of Azdffis of magmtude . Then , with respect to tho Baltic , if . Uwwvormnent had provided vessels drawing only from five to six feet of water , St . Petersburg would have been within tho power of tho fleet . As regardstho t ^ n ^^^ ' besrhS rsr js ^ Js ^ sz ^ i Xh oug ht to be"Sained . Lord Hnrdwicko gave several otheV instances of official mismanagement ; but at tho same time expressed his opinion that LIP mre had acted to tho best of his power and ability , and that therefore to him personally no hlnrno WftS to bo JlttlWShod . Tho Earl of Kmiin expressed his confidence in tho GovSnn ont . The condition-of thoarmy is *« rpidly Imnroving and the departments af homo < ate 'being botS SSfii . Ho could not -eae * lmt > mty « d-

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• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), May 19, 1855, page 459, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2091/page/3/