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706 THE LEADER. [Saturday,
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TO C0BRESPONDENTS. " X." is illogical. W...
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blu SATUBDAY, JULT 29, 1854.
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There is nothing so revolutionary, becau...
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MINISTERS ACCOUNTING TO PARLIA-- MENT. T...
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HOW TO MAKE THE WAR PAY. People are so v...
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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Transcript
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.
706 The Leader. [Saturday,
706 THE LEADER . [ Saturday ,
To C0brespondents. " X." Is Illogical. W...
TO C 0 BRESPONDENTS . " X . " is illogical . We offer him our columns for his "largest truths . " We only condition that ho shall give his name , address , and calling , and then his private world will judge if the heroism or his life corresponds to his style of abusing merely practical people . " Ma . ec 4 . itne Da vet . "—Advertise : that is the only plan . It is impossible to acknowledge the mass of letters we receive . Their insertion is often delayed , owing to a press of matter ; and when omitted it is frequently from reasons quite independent of the merits of the communication .
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blu SATUBDAY , JULT 29 , 1854 .
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There Is Nothing So Revolutionary, Becau...
There is nothing so revolutionary , because there is nothing so unnatural and convulsive , as the 3 train to Seep things Sxed when all the world , is by the very law of its creation in eternal progress . —Db . Abnold .
Ministers Accounting To Parlia-- Ment. T...
MINISTERS ACCOUNTING TO PARLIA-- MENT . The result of the debates on Monday and Tuesday nights more than justifies our expectations of the good that naight be done if independent members of the House of Commona were to restore their own power to themselves . Tkeir case is one of the most surprising instances of voluntary abdication , without motive or reward ,-we ever remember . They seem to forget tha , t , practically , the
Commons may be the rul © 3 ? s of the country ; that is , that they possess the power of eompelling those rulers , as our predecessors have compelled the rulers of a former day , ~ whether crowned or right honourable . The work of Monday and Tuesday night was not done in that first-rate style which masters of Parliamentary action have formerly exemplified , and ¦ which even living members may regain by practice . The object was to make the Ministers of this country , who are appointed by
the Crown , but are responsible to Parliament , tell their Parliament how they were carrying on the . affairs of the empire abroad . Although not at present greatly skilled in combinations of independent parties or members to put the screw upon Government , individuals did show a real intention of putting the screw as they best could ; and the mere sight of the instrunlenfc , the mere lopk of earnestness , was enough to bring Ministers to their duty : —they told how they are carrying on the affairs of this country .
Their conduct is indeed remarkable-. Not a hundred years ago the answer would have been the " throwing themselves upon the House , " or some other evasive pretext to get off without an answer . They have now given the answer completely—they have told us the motives of the war , the objects at which they are aiming , the conditions which they will accept , the relations with their allies , the state of our forces , military and naval , and to a certain extent the instructions given to the
commanders . Prom the reply we learn , that Russia is no longer called upon simply to eracuate the Principalities , but that the treaty of Adrianople , which secured her a position or influence in Turkey , will not bo renewed ; that the Sultan is no longer treated as an outside barbarian , but will bo admitted to the European council as of its coaistituont members ; that Bussia will not bo permitted to retain a strong fleet in a fortified port as a master-key for tho possession of the- Black Soa ; and although Ministers still reserve tho
right of a discretion in negotiating terms of pacification , ifc is distinctly underafcood that tliey will not grant peace except on conditions of this kind . There is , indeed , one part of Mio position of Ministers which they have explained aa far
as they have been interrogated , and . it is important to note that it always bears a certain proportion to the force of the interrogatory . They have been asked how they are placed with Austria , and they have answered frankl y and directly . Axistria has demanded the evacuation of the Principalities , and has promised , if that evacuation be not
effected , that she will aid in compelling it by force . " We do not say that Ministers could , be discreetly asked to state now , what they would do if Austria broke her pledge . We do not say tliat they are even yet bound suddenly to declare what they will do with Prussia , who not only temporises in a way that savours of more than treachery , but maintains such an intimate and fixed
relation with the Court of Kussia as to prove that her likings , her faith , her purposes , are all Russia . The eldest son of the Czar remains colonel of a Prussian regiment ; officers of that regiment have been permitted to visit St . Petersburg , and to accept honours and rewards . There is , indeed , a fraternising between the IRussian and the Prussian army ; , between the Russian and the Prussian Governments , and the families . Prussia is less a colleague than a spy in the Councils of the Four Powers- There remains , however , some alliance between her and Austria for German
purposes , and tune might fairly be allowed to Austria in breaking that alliance . Still , we say that the Ministerial vie-Tv of such conduct ought to be declared . We ought to kiLOW whether our Ministers share the opinions , the feelings , and the resolutions of the English people towards crowned cowards and traitors like [ Frederick William , or whether they retain some separate kind of etiquette and customs , which are regulated by diplomacy , and not by national feeling . If they
had been questioned on that point , they could . not have refused to answer , and , perhaps , it is not too late even now . In regard to the direction of the war , its motives , objects , and conditions , Ministers have given distinct pledges , and the country has responded to their frankness by the most complete trust . We have given into their care a picked army , thoroughly equipped , in Turkey ; a fine fleet in the Euxine , and a magnificent fleet in the Baltic ; we have
entrusted to them the safety of our island against any treachery on the part of Russia and her allies , avowed or secret . These are momentous trusts indeed . After the recess Ministers will be expected to give an account of that army , of those two fleets , of these two islands . They are expected to give us back our warlike machinery , not perhaps uninjured by contest , but adorned with victory . And these are trusts in regard to which statesmen themselves are bound to challenge a stern account .
And paramount as is the importance of the war , let us remember that it is not only iu regard to war that members have a right to call Ministers to an account : they have also a right to take the same stand in otbor questions- ^ -to make the vote a condition of having a sincere account . Wo do not counsel " factious oppositions ; " still less do we counsel fashing indictments , based not upon distinct evidence , but upon conjecture , or upon tho hope of bringing out somothing . The
House of Commons , however , liaia a perfect right , whenever it gives money to Ministers ., to say , Tell ua what you are going to do with it . In truth , Ministers have thornselves this timo ventured to tell us nil that they woro going to do with tho 3 , 000 , 000 / ., reserving only some discretion as to a part of tho cash in hand . It would , however , bo a groat mistake of tho constitutional right , if wo wore to suppose that the House of Commons can only exact an account upon tho Hpocifto distinction of cncli particular
grant . On the contrary , it has a right , on the granting of supplies as a whole , to exact an acconuifc from Ministers as a whole , upon their position and policy as a whole . For instance , before we are bound to give them up the civil estimates , we have a right to make Ministers tell us what they intend to do for the people in the way of improvement , political , sanitaiy , commercial or social ; and if they do not ' give us a good account , to "tell them that they are not the Ministers for the
English people in these days . Members appear to have forgotten that Ministers are really answerable to Parliament for their public acts , and that the relaxation of the purse-strings is only the condition of a really intelligent approval on the part of Parliament . How far members have forgotten this right the reports of our Parliament for the last few years will show . It will prove how idle is the farce of stating " grievances , " on going into Committee of Supply , by members who are prepared to give way if they be
only allowed to mouth out a speech . But if members really take the matter in hand , if any of them— -however few , so that they be reasonable , earnest , and firm—let it be known that they intend to have a clear account from Ministers before they consent to give Ministers the means wherewith , we shall once more renew Parliamentary responsibilities ; and the debates at the beginning of this week show that even the tenderest revival of the good old Parliamentary rule can secure us an ' earnest of a better regime .
How To Make The War Pay. People Are So V...
HOW TO MAKE THE WAR PAY . People are so very much engaged in the lofty consideration of which Minister is a traitor , and what Russian fort cannot be taken , that a very singular fact which at any other time wquld have excited very revolutionary ideas in England , is altogether overlooked—viz .,. that in this session we have had three Budgets . Bit by bit legislation is out of fasliion ; bit by bit finance seems to be coming in .
There has been this excuse for that sort of finance : that Ministers have only been feeling their way in the war . Public opinion has forced them oii from point to point ; let us hope it may force them on further . When , in a great hurry , and in an informal manner , they came forward with their first budget this session they asked for a very little money , merely enough to despatch an army and equip a fleet ; they have since told us that at that time they did not expect that a
hostile gun would ever be fired . On the occasion of their second budget they only asked money enough to sustain that fleet and army to the end of the year ; and at that moment they refused all information as to our prospects or their intentions , probably because they did not understand the war , perhaps because their intentions wero not of a character to bear revelation , Monday saw their third budget , which was merely a demand for a vote of credit to use money
already handed over to them . This is their year ' s finance in a great war , which thoy ought to have soen would bo a very long war , Tho tliroo budgets have knocked tho funds about a groat deal . Tho flrafc and second suspondod , and greatly interrupted trade ; tho third excited popular alarm . Is tlib to go on again next session , or arc wo to have a comprehensive finance for a European war ?
At tho beginning of this yoar it was a more abstract question whether or not Mr . Hume ' s now principlo of war financo could bo carried out—whether a people could afford to pay ready money for a war . But it is now evident , from what the mouthpiece of Ministers , or , if not of Ministers , of tho Whig party , hfts declared , that wo arc about to insist on conditions with Itusaia which Busaia
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), July 29, 1854, page 10, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_29071854/page/10/
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