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Leader (1850-1860), 29th July 1854, Edition 1 of 2, Page 706

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      Untitled Article

      TO CORRESPONDENTS . " X . " is illogical . "Wo offer him our columns for Tiis " largest truths . " AVe only condition that ho shall g-ivo his name , address , and calling , and then his private world ¦ will judge if the heroism of his life corresponds to his style of abusing merely practical people . " Marias > 'e Datey . " -Advertise : that is the only plan . It is impossible to acknowledge the mass of letters we receive . Their insertion is often delayed , owin ^ to a pi-ess of matter ; and when omitted it is frequently from reasons quite independent of the merits of the communication

      Untitled Article

      MINISTERS ACCOUNTING TO PARLIA-, ¦ . MENT . . ¦ : The result of the debates on Monday and Tuesday nights more than justifies our expectations of the good that might be done if independent members of the House of Commons were to restore their own power to themselves . Their case is one of the most surprising instances of voluntary abdication , without motive or reward , we ever remember . They ^ seem to forget that , practically , the

      Commons may be the rulers of the country * that is ,, that they possess the power of compelling 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 instrument , the mere look 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 . ! N " ofc a hundred years , ago the answer would have been the " throwing themselves upon , the House , " or some other evasive pi'etext 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 . From the roply we learn , that Buasia is no longer called upon simply to evaouato the Principalities , but that the

      treaty of Adrianople , which secured her a position or influence in Turkey , will not bo renewed ; that the Sultan ia no longer treated as an outsido barbarian , but will bo admit tod to the European council tia of its constituent members ; that Russia Avill not be permitted to retain a strong fleet in a fortified port us a maater-koy for the possession of . tho Black Sea ; and although Ministers still reserve tho righb of a discretion in negotiating terms of pacification , it ia distinctly understood that th 6 y will not grant peace except on conditions of this kind . ? J- ere is ' imlceu > ° n ° part of tho position ol Ministers which thoy have explained aaftu *

      as they have been interrogated , and it is important to no , te that it always bears a certain proportion to the force of tho interrogatory . They have been asked hov they are placed with Austria , and they have answered frankly and directly . Austria has demanded the evac \ iation of the Principalities , and bas promised , if that evacuation be not

      effected , that slie 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 that 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 Russia 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 Bussian 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 Grerman

      purposes , and time might fairly be allowed to Austria in breaking that alliance . Still , we say that the Ministerial view of such conduct ought to be declared . ¥ e ought to know 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 agaiust any treachery on the part of Russia and her allie s , 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 in 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 other questions—to make the vote a condition of having a sincere account . "Wo do not counsel factious oppositions ; " still less do wo counsel fishing indictments , based not upon distinct evidence , but upon conjecture , or upon the hope of bringing out something . Tho

      House of Commons , however , haa a perfect right , whenever it gives money to M-iniistorB , to say , Tell us what you are going to do wifclv it . In truth , Ministers have themselves this tiino ventured to toll us nil that thoy wore going to do with tho 3 , 000 , 0002 ., resorving only some discretion as to sa part of the cash in hand . It would , howover , bo a great mistake of tho constitutional ri jj iit , if wo wero to suppose that tho . House ol Commons can only oxncfc an accouut upon tho specific distinction of each particular

      grant . On tlie contrary , it has a , right , on the granting of supplies as a whole , to exact an account from Ministers as a whole , upon their position and policy as a whole . For instance , before we are bound to give theiu 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 , sanitary , 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 tar members have forgotten this ri ght 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 inouth 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 t ] iat even the tenderest revival of the good old Parliamentary rule can secure us an earnest of a better regvme .

      Untitled Article

      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 would 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 fashion ; bit by bit finance seems to be coming in . There has been this excuse for that sort of

      nuance : that Ministers have only been feeling their way in the war . Public opinion has forced them on from point to point ; let us hope it may force them on further . "When , ia 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 array 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 thoy refused all information as to our prospects or their intentions , probably because they did not understand tho war , perhaps because their intentions wero not ot ' n character to bear revelation . Monday saw their third budget , which was merely a demand for si vote of credit to uso money already handed over to them . This ia their year ' s finance in a great war , which they ought to have seen would bo a very long war .

      Tho three b \ idgota liavo knocked the funds about a groat deal . The first and second suapondod , and greatly interrupted trade ; the third excited popular alarm . Is thia to go on aguiu next sension , or are wo to have a comprehensive finance for a European wiir P At the beginning of thi « year it was a more

      abstract quostion whethor or not Mr . Hume ' s no-w principle- of war finance could bo carried out—whether a people could afford to pay romly money for n war . But , it is now ovidont , from what tlio mouthpiece of "M misters , or , if not of Ministors , of tho Whig party , hns declared , that wo are about . to insist on conditions ^ ith lluaaia which JtuBaia

      Untitled Article

      706 THE LEADER . [ Saturday ,

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      Untitled Article

      There is nothing so revolutionary , because there is nothing so unnatural and convulsive , as the strain to keep things fixed when all the world is hy the verylaw of it 3 creation in . eternal progress . —Db ,. Ar . noxd .

      Untitled Article

      _ SATURDAY , JULY 29 , 1854 .

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), July 29, 1854, page 706, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2049/page/10/