Mr. Gladstone, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Mr. Sidney Herbert, the
Colonial Secretary, Mr. Cardwell, the President of the Board of Trade,
and Sir James Graham, the First Lord of the Admiralty, had resigned the
offices which they had accepted a fortnight before. The ground of this
secession was the impression entertained by the above-named personages
that the Committee of Inquiry moved for by Mr. Roebuck was equivalent to
a vote of censure on them, as they had formed part of the Government of
Lord Aberdeen, whose conduct of the Russian war was impugned by the
appointment of the Committee. The places vacated by these secessions
were filled up on February 28.]
I am one of those forming the majority of the House, I suspect, who are
disposed to look upon our present position as one of more than ordinary
gravity. I am one, also, of those, not probably constituting so great a
majority of the House, who regret extremely the circumstances which have
obliged the right hon. Gentlemen who are now upon this bench to secede
from the Government of the noble Lord the Member for Tiverton. I do not
take upon me for a moment to condemn them; because I think, if there be
anything in which a man must judge for himself, it is whether he should
take office if it be offered to him, whether he should secede from
office, whether he should serve under a particular leader, or engage in
the service of the Crown, or retain office in a particular emergency. In
such cases I think that the decision must be left to his own conscience
and his own judgment; and I should be the last person to condemn any one
for the decision to which he might come. I think, however, that the
speech of the right hon. Gentleman is one which the House cannot have
listened to without being convinced that he and his retiring Colleagues
have been moved to the course which they have taken by a deliberate
judgment upon this question, which, whether it be right or wrong, is
fully explained, and is honest to the House and to the country.
Now, Sir, I said that I regretted their secession, because I am one of
those who do not wish to see the Government of the noble Lord the Member
for Tiverton overthrown. The House knows well, and nobody knows better
than the noble Lord, that I have never been one of his ardent and
enthusiastic supporters. I have often disapproved of his policy both at
home and abroad; but I hope that I do not bear to him, as I can honestly
say that I do not bear to any man in this House--for from all I have
received unnumbered courtesies--any feeling that takes even the tinge of
a personal animosity; and even if I did, at a moment so grave as this,
no feeling of a personal character whatever should prevent me from doing
that which I think now, of all times, we are called upon to do--that
which we honestly and conscientiously believe to be for the permanent
interests of the country. We are in this position, that for a month
past, at least, there has been a chaos in the regions of the
Administration. Nothing can be more embarrassing--I had almost said
nothing can be more humiliating--than the position which we offer to the
country; and I am afraid that the knowledge of our position is not
confined to the limits of these islands.
It will be admitted that we want a Government; that if the country is to
be saved from the breakers which now surround it, there must be a
Government; and it devolves upon the House of Commons to rise to the
gravity of the occasion, and to support any man who is conscious of his
responsibility, and who is honestly offering and endeavouring to deliver
the country from the embarrassment in which we now find it. We are at
war, and I shall not say one single sentence with regard to the policy
of the war or its origin, and I know not that I shall say a single
sentence with regard to the conduct of it; but the fact is that we are
at war with the greatest military Power, probably, of the world, and
that we are carrying on our operations at a distance of 3,000 miles from
home, and in the neighbourhood of the strongest fortifications of that
great military Empire. I will not stop to criticise--though it really
invites me--the fact that some who have told us that we were in danger
from the aggressions of that Empire, at the same time told us that that
Empire was powerless for aggression, and also that it was impregnable to
attack. By some means, however, the public have been alarmed as if that
aggressive power were unbounded, and they have been induced to undertake
an expedition, as if the invasion of an impregnable country were a
matter of holiday-making rather than of war.
But we are now in a peculiar position with regard to that war; for, if I
am not mistaken--and I think I gathered as much from the language of the
right hon. Gentleman--at this very moment terms have been agreed upon--
agreed upon by the Cabinet of Lord Aberdeen; consented to by the noble
Lord the Member for Tiverton when he was in that Cabinet; and ratified
and confirmed by him upon the formation of his own Government--and that
those terms are now specifically known and understood; and that they
have been offered to the Government with which this country is at war,
and in conjunction with France and Austria--one, certainly, and the
other supposed to be, an ally of this country. Now, those terms consist
of four propositions, which I shall neither describe nor discuss,
because they are known to the House; but three of them are not matters
of dispute; and with regard to the other, I think that the noble Lord
the Member for the City of London stated, upon a recent occasion, that
it was involved in this proposition--that the preponderant power of
Russia in the Black Sea should cease, and that Russia had accepted it
with that interpretation. Therefore, whatever difference arises is
merely as to the mode in which that 'preponderant power' shall be
understood or made to cease. Now, there are some Gentlemen not far from
me--there are men who write in the public press--there are thousands of
persons in the United Kingdom at this moment--and I learn with
astonishment and dismay that there are persons even in that grave
assembly which we are not allowed to specify by a name in this House--
who have entertained dreams--impracticable theories--expectations of
vast European and Asiatic changes, of revived nationalities, and of a
new map of Europe, if not of the world, as a result or an object of this
war. And it is from those Gentlemen that we hear continually, addressed
to the noble Lord the Member for Tiverton, language which I cannot well
understand. They call upon him to act, to carry on the war with vigour,
and to prosecute enterprises which neither his Government nor any other
Government has ever seriously entertained; but I would appeal to those
Gentlemen whether it does not become us--regarding the true interests
and the true honour of the country--if our Government have offered terms
of peace to Russia, not to draw back from those terms, not to cause any
unnecessary delay, not to adopt any subterfuge to prevent those terms
being accepted, not to attempt shuffles of any kind, not to endeavour to
insist upon harder terms, and thus make the approach of peace even still
more distant than it is at present?
Whatever may be said about the honour of the country in any other
relation involved in this affair, this, at least, I expect every man who
hears me to admit--that if terms of peace have been offered they have
been offered in good faith, and shall be in honour and good faith
adhered to; so that if, unfortunately for Europe and humanity, there
should be any failure at Vienna, no man should point to the English
Government and to the authorities and rulers of this Christian country,
and say that we have prolonged the war and the infinite calamities of
which it is the cause.
I have said that I was anxious that the Government of the noble Lord
should not be overthrown. Will the House allow me to say why I am so?
The noble Lord at the head of the Government has long been a great
authority with many persons in this country upon foreign policy. His
late colleague, and present envoy to Vienna, has long been a great
authority with a large portion of the people of this country upon almost
all political questions. With the exception of that unhappy selection of
an ambassador at Constantinople, I hold that there are no men in this
country more truly responsible for our present position in this war than
the noble Lord who now fills the highest office in the State and the
noble Lord who is now, I trust, rapidly approaching the scene of his
labours in Vienna. I do not say this now to throw blame upon those noble
Lords, because their policy, which I hold to be wrong, they, without
doubt, as firmly believe to be right; but I am only stating facts. It
has been their policy that they have entered into war for certain
objects, and I am sure that neither the noble Lord at the head of the
Government nor his late colleague the noble Lord the Member for London
will shrink from the responsibility which attaches to them. Well, Sir,
now we have those noble Lords in a position which is, in my humble
opinion, favourable to the termination of the troubles which exist. I
think that the noble Lord at the head of the Government himself would
have more influence in stilling whatever may exist of clamour in this
country than any other Member of this House. I think, also, that the
noble Lord the Member for London would not have undertaken the mission
to Vienna if he had not entertained some strong belief that, by so
doing, he might bring the war to an end. Nobody gains reputation by a
failure in negotiation, and as that noble Lord is well acquainted with
the whole question from beginning to end, I entertain a hope--I will not
say a sanguine hope--that the result of that mission to Vienna will be
to bring about a peace, to extricate this country from some of those
difficulties inseparable from a state of war.
There is one subject upon which I should like to put a question to the
noble Lord at the head of the Government. I shall not say one word here
about the state of the army in the Crimea, or one word about its numbers
or its condition. Every Member of this House, every inhabitant of this
country, has been sufficiently harrowed with details regarding it. To my
solemn belief, thousands--nay, scores of thousands of persons--have
retired to rest, night after night, whose slumbers have been disturbed
or whose dreams have been based upon the sufferings and agonies of our
soldiers in the Crimea. I should like to ask the noble Lord at the head
of the Government--although I am not sure if he will feel that he can or
ought to answer the question--whether the noble Lord the Member for
London has power, after discussions have commenced, and as soon as there
shall be established good grounds for believing that the negotiations
for peace will prove successful, to enter into any armistice? ['No!
no!']
I know not, Sir, who it is that says 'No, no,' but I should like to see
any man get up and say that the destruction of 200,000 human lives lost
on all sides during the course of this unhappy conflict is not a
sufficient sacrifice. You are not pretending to conquer territory--you
are not pretending to hold fortified or unfortified towns; you have
offered terms of peace which, as I understand them, I do not say are not
moderate; and breathes there a man in this House or in this country
whose appetite for blood is so insatiable that, even when terms of peace
have been offered and accepted, he pines for that assault in which of
Russian, Turk, French and English, as sure as one man dies, 20,000
corpses will strew the streets of Sebastopol? I say I should like to ask
the noble Lord--and I am sure that he will feel, and that this House
will feel, that I am speaking in no unfriendly manner towards the
Government of which he is at the head--I should like to know, and I
venture to hope that it is so, if the noble Lord the Member for London
has power, at the earliest stage of these proceedings at Vienna, at
which it can properly be done--and I should think that it might
properly be done at a very early stage--to adopt a course by which all
further waste of human life may be put an end to, and further animosity
between three great nations be, as far as possible, prevented?
I appeal to the noble Lord at the head of the Government and to this
House; I am not now complaining of the war--I am not now complaining of
the terms of peace, nor, indeed, of anything that has been done--but I
wish to suggest to this House what, I believe, thousands and tens of
thousands of the most educated and of the most Christian portion of the
people of this country are feeling upon this subject, although, indeed,
in the midst of a certain clamour in the country, they do not give
public expression to their feelings. Your country is not in an
advantageous state at this moment; from one end of the kingdom to the
other there is a general collapse of industry. Those Members of this
House not intimately acquainted with the trade and commerce of the
country do not fully comprehend our position as to the diminution of
employment and the lessening of wages. An increase in the cost of living
is finding its way to the homes and hearts of a vast number of the
labouring population.
At the same time there is growing up--and, notwithstanding what some
hon. Members of this House may think of me, no man regrets it more than
I do--a bitter and angry feeling against that class which has for a long
period conducted the public affairs of this country. I like political
changes when such changes are made as the result, not of passion, but of
deliberation and reason. Changes so made are safe, but changes made
under the influence of violent exaggeration, or of the violent passions
of public meetings, are not changes usually approved by this House or
advantageous to the country. I cannot but notice, in speaking to
Gentlemen who sit on either side of this House, or in speaking to any
one I meet between this House and any of those localities we frequent
when this House is up--I cannot, I say, but notice that an uneasy
feeling exists as to the news which may arrive by the very next mail
from the East. I do not suppose that your troops are to be beaten in
actual conflict with the foe, or that they will be driven into the sea;
but I am certain that many homes in England in which there now exists a
fond hope that the distant one may return--many such homes may be
rendered desolate when the next mail shall arrive. The Angel of Death
has been abroad throughout the land; you may almost hear the beating of
his wings. There is no one, as when the first-born were slain of old, to
sprinkle with blood the lintel and the two sideposts of our doors, that
he may spare and pass on; he takes his victims from the castle of the
noble, the mansion of the wealthy, and the cottage of the poor and the
lowly, and it is on behalf of all these classes that I make this solemn
appeal.
I tell the noble Lord, that if he be ready honestly and frankly to
endeavour, by the negotiations about to be opened at Vienna, to put an
end to this war, no word of mine, no vote of mine, will be given to
shake his power for one single moment, or to change his position in this
House. I am sure that the noble Lord is not inaccessible to appeals made
to him from honest motives and with no unfriendly feeling. The noble
Lord has been for more than forty years a Member of this House. Before I
was born, he sat upon the Treasury bench, and he has spent his life in
the service of his country. He is no longer young, and his life has
extended almost to the term allotted to man. I would ask, I would
entreat the noble Lord to take a course which, when he looks back upon
his whole political career--whatever he may therein find to be pleased
with, whatever to regret--cannot but be a source of gratification to
him. By adopting that course he would have the satisfaction of
reflecting that, having obtained the object of his laudable ambition--
having become the foremost subject of the Crown, the director of, it may
be, the destinies of his country, and the presiding genius in her
councils--he had achieved a still higher and nobler ambition: that he
had returned the sword to the scabbard--that at his word torrents of
blood had ceased to flow--that he had restored tranquillity to Europe,
and saved this country from the indescribable calamities of war.
* * * * *
RUSSIA.
IV.
ON THE PROSECUTION OF THE RUSSIAN WAR.
HOUSE OF COMMONS, JUNE 7, 1855.
_From Hansard_.
[On May 22 Mr. Disraeli moved, 'That this House cannot adjourn for the
Recess without expressing its dissatisfaction with the ambiguous
language and uncertain conduct of Her Majesty's Government in reference
to the great question of peace or war, and that, under these
circumstances, the House feels it 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
the country a safe and honourable peace.' This was met by an amendment
from Sir Francis Baring, 'That this House, having seen with regret that
the Conferences at 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.' Mr. Disraeli's resolution was rejected by 319
votes to 219. Sir F. Baring's motion having become substantive, was met
by an amendment of Mr. Lowe, to the effect, 'That this House having seen
with regret, owing to the refusal of Russia to restrict the strength of
her navy in the Black Sea, that the Conferences at Vienna have not led
to a termination of hostilities, feels it to be a duty to declare that
the means of coming to an agreement on the third basis of negotiation
being by that refusal exhausted, it will continue,' &c. Mr. Lowe's
amendment was negatived and Sir F. Baring's motion carried without a
division on June 8.]
Last year, when the declaration of war was brought down to the House, I
took the opportunity of addressing the House in opposition to the policy
of the Government of that day. I was told I was too late; and it has
been also said repeatedly in this debate that those who take the views
which I take are too late on this occasion. It seems to be one of the
consequences of the, I would say, irresponsible system of diplomacy in
this country with regard to foreign affairs, that we are never allowed
to discuss a mischief when it is growing, but only when it is completed,
and when no remedy can be applied. And now we are at liberty to discuss
the conduct of the Government in the Conferences at Vienna; and, though
we were repeatedly told from the Treasury bench that it might be
injurious to the public service to discuss what was going on till the
affair was concluded, I suspect the House has come to the conclusion
that we have been pursuing our true duty to the country in the debate
that has taken place.
We are indebted to the right hon. Gentleman the Member for
Buckinghamshire (Mr. Disraeli) for having placed his notice on the table
of the House, and not less to my right hon. Friend and Colleague that
he, before the recess, moved the adjournment of the debate. I am
satisfied myself that the people of this country have no intention to go
wrong either in home or foreign affairs, and it requires only that
questions of this nature should be frequently discussed by the
intelligent men of which this House is composed to set before them the
true state of affairs, and to bring them to a wise opinion with regard
to the policy which is being pursued. Now, we are not discussing the
policy of the war--that is, of the origin of the war. If we were, I
should lay claim to some degree of foresight in the opinion which I
expressed a year ago, for there seems to be a general feeling that the
sacrifices that have already been made are somewhat greater than the
results that have been obtained. I am anxious, in the observations I may
have to address to the House, to impress my opinions on them, if it be
possible to do so, and to lay before my countrymen out of the House that
which I believe involves their true interests with regard to this
question. It is necessary, therefore, to have a basis for our
discussion--to fix what were the objects of the war--to ascertain, if
that be possible, whether those objects have been secured and
accomplished--and whether there can be anything in prospect which we are
likely to gain that will justify the Government and the House in
proceeding further with the war.
Now, in my observations I am not about to carry on this discussion with
the Gentlemen below me, who are interested in a question which is not
the question before the House. They are interested in some vast, and, as
it seems to me, imaginary scheme that would involve Europe in protracted
and widely-extended hostilities; and I think that, so far as the House
is concerned in discussing the question with the Government, these
Gentlemen are almost, if not altogether, out of court. It appears to me,
if they were logical in their course, finding that the objects of the
Government and the objects of the Government of France were entirely
different from those which they have at heart, and believing, as they
do, that the objects of the allied Governments are not worth a war, that
they ought rather to join us on this bench, and, instead of there being
one Peace bench in the House, there would be two Peace benches, and the
Peace party would clearly gain a considerable accession of strength. The
noble Lord the Secretary of State for the Colonies has stated over and
over again--and, amid the confusion of statements which he and his
Colleagues have made, I think he will not find fault if I assume that
the object of the war is simply the security of the Turkish territory
from the grasp of Russia, and probably from the grasp of any other
Power--the noble Lord has stated that he apprehends that if Russia were
to extend her empire by the possession of Turkey, it would give her a
power that would be unsafe with regard to the other nations of Europe.
When the noble Lord speaks in that vague, and, if I were not speaking of
a man so eminent, I should say, absurd language of the liberties of
Europe and the civilization of the world, I should say he means by that
merely those great objects, so far as they can be conserved by the
conservation of the Turkish territory.
The noble Lord tells us--we are now getting out of some of the
mystifications--that he has no kind of sympathy that would lead him into
war for the oppressed nationalities of Europe. The noble Lord the Member
for Tiverton (Viscount Palmerston) a few nights ago turned the cold
shoulder to the people of Hungary. He said he thought there could be no
greater calamity to Europe than that Hungary should be separated from
the Austrian Empire. Well, then, we have got rid of Hungary; and, next,
the noble Lord the Member for the City of London (Lord John Russell)
tells us it is quite a mistake to suppose that he ever intended to go to
war for Poland. In fact, he stated--what will be very disheartening to
hon. Gentlemen below me--that he never supposed we were going to war for
such a Quixotic object; that the case of Poland is one that is hopeless,
and therefore it would be madness in England and France--not
indiscretion--not a doubtful undertaking--but positive madness in
England and France to take any part in promoting resistance in that
country.
Having now got rid of Hungary and Poland, we only require that some
Member of the Cabinet should get up later in the evening--and that I
have no doubt will be the case--to state that it is utterly impossible
for this country to involve itself in hostilities with a view to the
regeneration of any part of Italy. The noble Lord the Member for London
tells us we are not going to war for the sake of conquest; and that, I
think, is a matter which ought to be kept in mind by hon. Gentlemen who
are urging the Government on to a prolonged war. He stated on Tuesday
night, 'Be it always remembered that we are seeking no object of our
own;'--it would be a very odd thing if we were to go to war for the
objects of somebody else--'that we are seeking no object of our own;
that when peace is concluded we shall not have acquired one ell of new
territory, or secured any advantage whatever for ourselves. It is for
Turkey and the general system of Europe that we are struggling.' In
fact, the whole matter always resolves itself into some general
mystification, and at this moment we are, every man of us, almost
entirely in the dark as to what are the ultimate objects of the war.