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    would not present risksjaiid difficulties . High as the national spirit ' might rise , much as the efficiency of our armament may have been increased , Russia has almost incomparable fecilities 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 moraf loss , and give a more favourable colour to the Russian cause . Accordingly

    the Houses assent with obvious reserve to the policy of negotiation . Lord Clarendon , who was more explicit than the Premier , acknowledged that the Russian acceptance of the Austrian proposal , was accompanied by the suggestionrof 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 were themselves sincere , and that nothing -would be exacted to degrade or inflame the Russian Government .

    So far , therefore , the representatives of the several Powers will meet on common ground . England is ready , Prance is anxious , for peace . To Austria peace is safety , to Russia relief . It restores the natural relations of dynasties— - Unites the absoliatisins now at war , and leaves the Freribh and lEnglish 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 which does not always lead to the brotherhood of armies .

    Assuming that the negotiations prosper , and that peace is established , there will be some cau ^ e ^ ^ 3 ^^ ngxatu latioTi . We shall ixave "" pTCS ^ ea ^ T ^ ou ^ pr a crisis , in . ^ MfcTi our reputation has heenjjsriperiliea " by the apathy and in eapacity ^<> f' ^ Ti governing class . To them will jfespublic mind be turned , to discover wjiait guarantees may be secured in tlie event ^¦ ¦^ of another war , against the risks we have lately run . We may not always monopolise the offensive in warfare . How , then , can the

    national power he so organised that , if unhappy contests should arise , wo may meet its dangers without taking two years to prepare an army and a fleet , without losing prestige and surrendering the predominance to an ally ? In this war we Lave not had one complete success . Our navy has been a mere auxiliary . But we have now prepared the machinery of a real campaign , by 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 ab the Congress .

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    LORD WENSLEYDALE 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 tie good old Tory party is about to stand up for the British Constitution against tlie innovation caused by the creation of Mr . Baron Parke to be Baron Wensleydale 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 tlie gravest abuses . It is difficult to say what is unconstitutional or not , inasmuch as the Constitution is totally undefined , and has be-en 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 , though , we are not to have the sons of the same 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 moans of swamping the real Peers , and will undermine and overthrow the hereditary character of tlie peerage . This is rather true , and it is quite possible that popularity-hunting Ministers might crowd the House of Lords with pro fessionsil men , railway directors , great

    contractors , and all the rich and clever outcasts of the Commons , as tenants for life . But , really , there seems to be no reason to suspect such a design in tho present act . It originates in the difficulty of keeping up a sufficient number of Law Lords to do tho business ; and those we have arc most of them getting very old . The judges once sat ns a constituent part oi" the

    grand council of the nation—the Parliament . They slipped out of their place in tho reign of KowAitD the Tinui ) , and became " sissialunts . " They had disappeared before tho Revolution , and Lord Somicuh vainly tried to bring them buck into tho House bv . swnmion . s — even scolded them in vain . The ( scanty allowance of Law Lords is eked ovit by making a e « uj > lc of Lay Lords to sit with them and represent

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    Italian , upon the outbreak of an European war , might anticipate changes favourable to Italy ; but , without talcing remote probabilities into calculation , Piedmont has reason to suspect an Austrian peace . It is no secret that when Victor Emmanuel was in England 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 lie came .

    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 l > e 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 hex of independence ; to Europe , perhaps , of peace .

    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 clumsy 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 beginning of 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 , had 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 Italy . It was therefore partly with the o"bject 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 Cavour 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 tho future ; the Piemonte , with less sincerity , hinted at them .

    THE CLAIMS OF SARDINIA . WE trust that no disposition exists in tho British and French Cabinets to assign to the representative of Sardinia a secondary place at the approaching Congress . Whatever may have oeen 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 those of tho Western Powers , an < 5 T Avhat aro tho political necessities created by that alliance . It is generally supposed that the premonitory symptoms of peace wore viewed witu ixo gratification at Turin , and it has been imputed to Victor Emmanuel that he desired mSS h tr nVUl 8 i ° ' ° Ufc Of whidl » P ™ ought bq thrown up for Sardinia . Wo have no difficulty m conceiving that any patriotic

    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 Avar ; with a population not double that of London , she had considerable frontiers to guard , and was entering upon a prooess of radical internal reform . At such a crisis , with hostilo or suspicious Governments on all sides , did Sardinia engago in a great war , by the sido 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 Cabinet . But it has taxed her revenue , wliicsh , alter many disasters , required assiduous cultivation ; it has arrested the course of liberal innovation , and has thus produced only mitigated advantages .

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    108 THE LEADER . \^ o . 30 6 , Saturday ,

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), Feb. 2, 1856, page 108, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2126/page/12/