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. NOTICES TOCORBESPOJSDENIS . No notice can be taken of anonymous communications 'Wb&tevm * is inteaded'tor insertion must be authenticated bythe n »» e andaddress <« f the writer ; not necessarily for publioation , but as a guarantee of his good'faith . It is impossible to acknowledge' the mass of letters we . reoeive . . Their insertion is often delayed ,, owing to ai press of matter ; and when omitted it is 'frequently from reasons' quite independent of" the merits of the communication . We cannot undertake to return rejected communications . During the Session- of -Parliament ifr is often impossible to find room for correspondence , even the briefest . ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ G /^ B ^ K ^ B ^^^^^^^^ fB ^ B ^ G ^^^^^^^^^ fB&B ^^^ K ^^ B ^^ KRt ^ K to ^ G / tBBRBBKnK ^^ n ^ inBtBpKlQU ^ B ^^ BtB ^^^^^^ BBKBG ^ K ^^ tB ^^ Bt ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
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THE PEACE DEBATES . TflE G-overnment , in the debates on the Treaty of Paris , encountered a feeble and desultory opposition . In the Lords , the Earl of Dbebt eonfined himself to technicalities and points of detail . In the Commons , Mr . Diseaeli did not feel the ground Strong enough for an attack . The Tory criticisms of the Peace seem to have been
half-sincere and experimental . In reply to the elegant and scholarly speech of Lord EiiiJBSMBBE , Lord Maemesbttby desired only to qualify the language of the Address , indicating certain minutiae of objection , which by no -means amounted to a contrast of policy between the Government and the Tories . He cavilled over the stipulations relating to Kars , suggested doubts in the construction of the clauses applying to Sebastopol and to the neutralization of the Black Sea , complained that the independence of Circassia had -not been guaranteed , and that the Bessarabian frontier had not been
rectified in the sense of the Vienna preliminaries , and delivered himself of the oration he had prepared in support of his stifled motion on the sacrifice of the Anatolian army . It was in this narrow sense that the Foreign Secretary of Lord Derby ' s Cabinet impeached the peace . Lord Clarendon , denying that the surrender of KarB had modified the spirit of the plenipotentiaries , diverged in defence , not of the Treaty , but of the conduct of the war , and , before he returned to the stipulations of the peace , recapitulated the case of Kars . . He avowed that the Russian
declarations with regard < to JNTicholaieff and Kherson were satisfactory and binding , that the adoption of a now frontier on the Danube was a reasonable concession on the part of Russia , that the Circassians had established no claim to the political support of the Western Powers , that the forts on the eastern coast of the Black Sea wore not to bo destroyed , and that the general effect of the Paris negotiations had been to instil new life into the Ottoman Empire , and to establish tho law of nations . In the same breath , he lauded the
constitutional progress of Sardinia and tho single-handed supremacy of Louis Napoleon , who " occupies a great position , which ho has made for himself , and which ho do- serves , because it is founded upon strict confidence in his honour and fidelity . " What was tho criticism of Lord Deiiby upon this apology for the treaty of Paris ? Me , too , had conceived a speech on tho fall of Kars , 'which ho was unwilling should die Without utterance Ho then dissected tho now political mnp of Bossarabiu to comparo
the Vienna . plan with > ihe ? plan adapted at Paris , repeated Lord Majjmesbujby '< s "; no confidence" in r Count Qblopf's promises as to Nicholaieff and the Eastern ports , prophesied endless disputes and differences on the political organization of Wallachia and Moldavia , and ended by declaring , that a truce , not a , peace , had been concluded .
But what was Lord , 'Debry ; prepared to do ? Was > he prepared to -shed the blood of new armies , to load the Treasury with new loans , to hold commercial enterprise in suspense , to promote immoral and morbid passions by a third campaign , simply for the sake of these diplomatic trivialities ? He accepts the settlement " reluctantly ; " but does-any statesman believe that Lord Debby would have removed
the war to a broader basis , and fought for principles , instead of a set of " points" agreed upon at Vienna ? The Earl of Abebdeen whispered a fine sarcasm on political parties and on the public when he said that Lord PaiiMebston's warlike reputation " had rendered it possible to make a peace wise and honourable in itself , but which , if it had been made under his ( Lord Abebdebn ' s )
auspices -might have produced discontent , and , perhaps , -serious reprehension . " The truth is , that there was . no " serious reprehension" of the Paris Treaty . It was felt that the positive objects of the war had been obtained ; and that , if the Peace confers no securities on civilization or liberty , it is because -liberty and civilization have not been the objects in . view .
Jfn the House of Commons the spirit of the Opposition was identical -with that in the House of Lords . Only some third-rate Tories spoke . Lord John Mannebs discussed the position of the Turks in Asia , contended that the independence of Circassia should have been secured , mis-stated the entire case , and turned off briskly to a lively comment on Lord CiiAbendon ' s manner of dealing with the proposal of the French Government " to gag and fetter the press of one of the only free countries now left upon the Continent . " This , from Lord John Mannebs , was more explicit than anything said by a Whig in the course of the Peace debates . Mr . MoNOKTON
MiiiNES , hesitating an epicurean censure on Lord Clarendon ' s faint apology for a free press , summarized with pointed brevity the scope and the result of the war . By the Allied Governments , he said , "ithad been regarded solely as political , bearing upon certain distinct political objects . " " By tho people of this country it had been associated with far other hopes , far other desires , far other expectations , " none i of which had been fulfilled . But Mr . Milnes forgot to say , that these hopes had been flattered by the Government—that Ministers had unscrupulously
libertinism of arbitrary power ? To this topic Mr . Sidney Herbert did not advert , exeept to blame the plenipotentiaries for being seduced by Count Wajqewski into an irrelevant discussion . Mr . Gladstone , however , summarily dimissed the Treaty , and discussed the later protocols at large . His explanation of the press laws of Belgium seemed to take by surprise a House of Commons accustomed to look upon free journalism as a necessary evil , for which . Lord CiiABENDON was evidently inclined to
apologise to the superb plenipotentiaries of the arbitrary powers . This point was eluded by Lord Paxmerston , when he defended the reticence of the Foreign Minister , who might , he said , have declared his principles "in a more naming and violent sentence , which would have brought down thunders of applause from every hustings , " but who , " in firm and courteous language , " declared that " the Government would be no ; party to any interference with the view of dictating to an independent nation the steps she . should take to gag the press . "
Yet the instigator of this scheme of violence is the man whom both of the leading parties in the British Legislature deKgh t to exalt and flatter . Every speech from the Whig and Tory orators has been contrived to raise ^ a pedestal for Louis ^ Napoleon . Our statesmen . seem bewildered by that adventurer ' s success . He dazzles their conscience blind , and his " great qualities" are extolled as if all the bloodshed of the last two years had been cheaply spent to procure such an ally for Englandand to establish such a
, dictator in France . And this is the end of the Russian war . It was for this that the Government and the governing classes abused the public mind by " flaming and violent sentences" in behalf of the liberties of Europe . Grossly cajoled as the nation has been , it cannot be said that the offence belongs to the Administration alono . What is the value of that morality which permits
policy . He blamed Lord < G : larbndon for signing Count WaiiEw-ski ' s false recapitula tion of , the viewfl ! elicited by bis escapade on the fBeigian press , rand he expressed the general opinion < of honest Liberals on the subject ; ofiltalian interventions . Lord John Ri 7 SSEiii > , > traversing the same ground , spoke more faintly , than inithe Kars debate , but insisted that " it would be most abhorrent to the feelings of an English Minister to interfere with the press of a foreigntcountry . " ' The press , he thinks , is , as it ever-was , a chartered ibertine , which may be true ; but what of the
statesmen to falsify their words , and to excite enthusiasm in favour of one object when they design it to promote another totallydifferent ? Let the reply be whaf . it may , this is clear : —that tho Kussian war , besides establishing certain diplomatic points with reference to tho Ottoman Empire , has maiuly resulted in the creation for the FitENOir Emporor of a European position which ho could not have gained for himself . This is tho work of England . This is the
traded upon the liberal sympathies of the British nation—that tho half-generous , halfblind pugnacity of " the people" had been bewildered by an official mirage of a crusade against despotism—and that the mon who profited by these illusions , fostored them to the latest hour , and can only satisfy their consciences by deriding thoir dupes . The duped nation , meanwhile , evinces neither jealousy nor joy ; drifts into peace as it drifted into war , convinced of its own capacity for self- government , yet totally averse from assuming the initiative , or acting
moral of a war conducted by an aristocracy in tho cause of a free nation which displays neither intellect nor will , but , impatient of its constitutional rights at home , suffers its policy abroad to bo confounded with that ol tho Holy Alliance . Wo pay tho coat of immonao armaments which are employed without effect by incapable Ministers . We preof
an independent or decisive rnart . Lot us do justice to Mr . Layard . Ho alone , in the House of Commons , depicted the true course of tho French alliance . Ho said that , from tho beginning , wo had placed ourselves in an equivocal relation towards France , that wo had gratuitoualy bowed to tho control of tho French Emporor . Thoroforo it was , that throughout tho war , English principles had boon abaorbed by French
tend to do battle for tho independence Europe , and our ignorant strength is devoted to the service of a Government , in ovory Benuo as treacherous as that of Austria . In tuia day of dip lomatic reconciliation France is ruled by a nilont- terrorism unequalled in iiuHaia , and by an inquisitoriul police that oata like a poison into society . The " groat
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SATURDAY , MAT 10 , 1856 .
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There is nothing so revolutionary , because there is nothing so ¦ unnatural and convulsive , as the 3 train to keep things fixed when all the -world is by the very law of its creation in eternal progress . —Db . Ailnold . ^
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Leader (1850-1860), May 10, 1856, page 443, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2140/page/11/
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