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    throug h , sinking to the Dbbby level ; that was Lord Aberdeen's object , and Lord Aberdeen was sincere . But let us learn Lord John RusseijIj ' s genuine purpose from the sequel . It is quite evident that he kept at a distance from Lord Aberdeen , who had regained for him the position of a Cabinet minister . For his own part , lie trifled with that position , exchanging his seat like an uneasy boy ia a room full of company ; being , first , Foreign Minister , then Minister without office , then President

    of the Council ; but he was unable to rest . Determined to make a separate position for himself in the House of Commons , he dictated to Lord Abekdeen a reorganisation of the war department ; endeavoured to hunt the Duke of Newcastle out of place , but affected to bo answered by Lord Aberdeen ' s objections ; then flung himself out of

    office into tho back bench , threatened ministers with the opposition of his Whig contingent , threw the whole Government into confusion at a period when confusion on the Treasury bench was worse even than a Derby regime , —succeeded in shuffling the sincere Aberdeen , the earnest Newcastle , and the other Peelite members out of the

    Government , —and finally accepted the mission of going to " Vienna for the purpose of carrying the Four Points according to the Western interpretation . Thus , he seemed to accept the Coalition Cabinet as a rescue for the credit of his class , but be really entered it on a separate scheme to break it up for regaining a more conspicuous position . He became the dogmatic advocate of reorganisation of the war departments , evidently before he had framed any distinct idea of the requisite

    reform , for the" present change is totally unlike his own crude suggestion . He affected to be answered by Lord Aberdeen while he persevered in the unavowed object of his contrivance ; lie retired from office in order to take a more advanced position in oflice ; he accepted tho post of envoy at Vienna in order to perform the manifest duty of a British minister ; and he returned to London irimful of eagerness to carry out the objects of Austria .

    )¦ . His last turn was the tour dc force , or lather tho tour d'invpuiecance ; for no man is such a master of incapacity as Lord Joujn * . The work that . ' lie hns achieved does not stop in defeating his own mission to Vienna- ; it does moro than defeat the object of hib readmission to the British Cabinet ; practically , it has destroyed the vital principle of Cabinets in general . When Ministerial

    responsibility was substituted for regal responsibility ; when Ministers undertook to be the whipping-boys of Kings towards the State , and a peccant Chables I . was to lose his head by proxy in the person of his principal seal-bearor , the enforcement of Ministerial responsibility lay with tho headsman . That is the object of . the impeachment with which the War members of both the late and

    fcho present Cabinet arc threatened by Mr . Ecmebuck . If the Member ibr Sheffield were to carry out his mission with theoretical perfection , Lord John Russkjll would have to be conducted to Tower Hill or to Guildhall , would lay his head on a piivo of wood like that ¦ which wo tseo in butchers' shops , xmd would permit : some superior Calcuakt to divide his neck . Mr . Roejiuck , it is true ,

    ainaa at all tho heads who arc challenged With tho " conduct of tho war ; " but wo l \ avo no ciiao proved against any mive Lord John , ami that by his own confession . In modern days , however , the practice of decapitating mhunters haw sudly degenerated . The moat mj > ital punisluuent by which Ministerial responsibility has been enforced has boon expulsion from oflice .

    An adverse vote of the Commons depriving Ministers of the voting-machine , and therefere of the tax-compelling power , obliges them to leave the Treasury Bench . It was an understanding that no man should accept office to carry out measures which he " could not conscientiously support ; and while that was the case , the withholding of confidence iu the House that regulates finance , was sufficient to dismiss a Minister . Lord John

    has broken that understanding . He accepted a mission to Vienna for one purpose and executed another ; he came back pledged to sustain the Austrian compromise , and , although it was rejected by his Cabinet , he continued to remain a Cabinet Minister . He has thus shown to other statesmen a trick worth knowing . If they will only consent to carry out measures of which they heartily disapprove , they may remain official agents ' and defeat the forms of the House of Commons . Henceforward it mav be

    understood , that a man may have a set of official opinions distinct from his own opinions ; as there is a set religion , and members of the House of Commons are expected to use oaths of abjuration , to attend the Speaker at prayers , and so forth . This establishes the convenient rule that Ministers who have no conscience need be under no responsibility . The House of Commons , indeed , might pass a direct vote of censure upon an individual , but the House has of late years grown so polite that it

    always frames votes of censure extremely abstract , general , and in impersonal terms . Nor would it exercise any power of compulsion : Lord John has worked out ibr the public a double-faced demonstration—that no penalty now hangs over the British Minister save moral disgrace , and that the British Minister is callous to that species of attack . You cannot arraign him upon any course—since lie is always for boili . Neither Mr . Cobden nor Mr . Bright can impeach Lira for betraying the countrv into a war , since he has done

    his best to betray the country into a peace ; Sir Edwauu Litton cannot convict him of coucludiug a disgraceful peace , since he is as devout as any for . war . He is a Janus who closes his temple , and at the same time leaves the door open for war—greedy at once for the sacrifices both of honour and of bloodshed .

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    SURVEY OF THE VTA II . Although but little news had arrived from the seat of war up to last night , what little there is shows that , in spite of great obstacles , tho Allies are not only repairing the disaster of the 18 th , but pushing the attack with vigour . Nor is it from the Crimea alone that wo hear good news . The campaign iu Asia was opened by the Russians early in Juno , and at the latest advices Movhavieij ?' s army had sustained a repulse at Kars .

    The OrtMea .-r-Tho method pursued by the Allies since their repulse lias been a development of that which haa distinguished the operations of this year from those of last —namely , the accumulation of formidable masses of very heavy guns iu positions close to the huge defences of the place . . From the 18 th of June to the 9 th of July , in accordance with this plan , the lut'iieh completed their parallels , uniting the Mamelon and Mount Snpounc , connecting at the same time their lefi ; with the advanced British right

    attack . In mi-vying forward these operations , with tho double object of getting " command of tho Russian whips , and establishing a Hunk f ' a-o upon the Ixiissian left , they were subjected to considerable less from the Russian batteries on tlie north side of iSebastopol bay , and our allies deserve- the greatest credit ibr tho steady and undaunted

    manner in which they conducted their incessant labours . At the same time , the works in . the quarry were perfected , new batteries constructed , and armed . A heavy storm of rain on the 23 rd of June having broken up a portion of the railway , caused a temporary obstruction to the supplies of shot and shell . We presume , however , that this was rapidlv

    overcome , for on the 10 th of July the British right attack opened a terrific fire upon the Redan , and either silenced the enemy ' s guns , or caused him to withdraw them . In any case , the British troops were enabled , under cover of the night , and by favour of thq damage inflicted on the enemy , to push their approaches in the direction of the Hedan , as General Pelisstee informs us . On the

    extreme Jeffc of the main French attack upon the town face oflSebnstopol , we believe a battery of very heavy and far-reaching mortars has been constructed by our allies . The object of this battery is to co-operate with tho mortars in the Mamelon and the works on Mount Sapoune in destroying the -Russian

    ships , and so to complete an imperfect kind oi investment of the south side of the great bay . Thus , by degrees , the Allies drawgradually and steadily nearer the enemy , overcoming the inconceivable obstacles interposed hy the ground , the fire of the enemy , the climate , and the mighty lines of earth which protect Sebastopol .

    In the field Ave hear of no movements ercept constant reconnoissances made by tho Turks , assisted by the 10 th Hussars , into the valley of Baidar . Prince Goktscsakoff boasts that he had received , or was about 1 c receive , considerable reinforcements ; but a letter from Warsaw in the Consiii-iitionnei , purporting to be derived from the Prince . through Councillor * f State ~ De Kotzebu . :. who bad recently arrived from the Crime .-:, gives a different colour to the boast . According to this statement the reinforcements

    arrived very slowly , and were decimated in their progress to and beyond Perekop by the want of ^ vat-el' and provisions . The Russian covering force , including the garrison of tho north side , is estimated at 93 , 000 men . But it is next to impossible to obtain any accurate information on such a subject . To all appearance no forward movement v \ as contemplated by the chiefs ; yet who shall say what an hour mav bring forth ?

    Asia . —The Russians opened the Asian campaign by au invasion of Turkish Armenia , in three columns , on the 5 th and 9 th of June . Their forces were estimated on tho spot at 20 , 000 men , including a due supply of guns and horsemen . Their base of operations was the fortress of Guinri ; the object of their first movement the capture of Kars . The plan of campaign this year differs materially from that of last . Then , General Bebutoi'it advanced himself directly towards Kara ,

    while General WitiUKUEi . moved upon Bay ay . id with the view , as it seemed , of marching by Toprak Kaleh upon the road to Erzeroum , and cutting the line of coinmuuication between that town and Kars . The Turkish army moved at once upon BicjiUTorr , and met ' with defeat at Hadji velli Khoi . It will be remembered , however , that tho Russians gained nothing by tho victory beyond the glory of it , for a menacing advance of Schamyi . towards Tiilis drew the Russian reserves nil

    to that side . This year tho plan has been dittercnt . General * MouitAvuur directed < lio active army lo move by its right , first taking Avda-han before moving upon Zaun , and tncuco upon Khi-b . The left and centre colulr . ua oflectocl a junction near Zaim on tho 14 th . By that tin ' io the vi-ht column , under KovalivsKY , had unVtl . Ardughnu , which the-Turks abandoned , and had blown up tho

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    Jui * T 14 , 1855 . ] THE LEADB R . 669

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), July 14, 1855, page 669, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2099/page/9/