DISCUSSIONS ON FOREIGN AFFAIRS.—RUSSIA AND TURKEY.
Some party debates ensued upon certain speeches made “out-of-doors” by cabinet ministers about French affairs, in which some personalities towards the French emperor were indulged. Hardly any other foreign topic engaged the debating powers of the members, except the all-absorbing one of the hostile proceedings of Russia against Turkey. It was the general opinion of the English people, that the French emperor, for dynastic purposes, brought on the war. He had not been recognised by the Russian emperor, and the policy was obviously to bring on a conflict in which, with England and Turkey for allies, victory was certain, and the beaten czar would be obliged to recognise an emperor in the person of his conqueror.
Discussions upon the relations of Turkey and Russia began as early as April, and were continued, with short intervals of intermission, while parliament sat. During these debates the ministry was severely arraigned for incapacity, tardiness, crotchety and conceited views, confidence in the czar, which could only be inspired by sympathy with his despotic views, and instability of purpose. To the Aberdeen section of the cabinet these failings were especially attributed, and the justice of the imputations was too plainly established. The Earl of Derby, Lord Lyndhurst, and the Marquis of Clanricarde, showed a large acquaintance with the subject, and their orations against the policy of the government were the happiest political and parliamentary efforts ever made by those noblemen. In the commons, Mr. Layard, Lord Dudley Stuart, and Mr. Duncombe, made severe and eloquent denunciations against the ministerial policy, which “out-of-doors” encountered universal reprobation. It was the general opinion that Lord Palmerston ought to be placed at the head of affairs: even the conservative section of the country desired such a change, but were of opinion that his lordship should serve as minister for foreign affairs, or minister of war, under Lord Derby as premier. It was plain that while Lord Palmerston supported his colleagues ostensibly, he did not interfere much in foreign affairs, but attended to the duties of the home-office, which had never before been so efficiently performed. He was an object of jealousy, both to the Russell Whigs and the Aberdeen Peelites, and possessed more of the confidence of his opponents than of either. Much dissatisfaction was created throughout the country by the temper and policy displayed by Mr. Cobden, Mr. Bright, Mr. Fox, and other gentlemen of the Manchester school. The great abilities of those gentlemen, the general conviction entertained of their honesty of purpose, and their past services to their country, on economical questions especially, made men reluctant to exhibit the dissatisfaction felt, and which, at a later period, displayed itself by strong practical demonstrations. These gentlemen lauded Russia as a highly civilized and Christian state; Turkey, on the other hand, was denounced as a robber power, which ought to be dispossessed. It was asserted that it was for the good of English trade that Russia should succeed in conquering Turkey; and that, at all events, it was the interest of England to be neutral, and leave France, Turkey, and Russia to concuss, as the waves of the sea against one another and the shore. A general impression, however, arose, that as the Manchester trade with Turkey and Eastern Europe was mainly transacted through Greek merchants and agents, it was the commercial interest of these men to conciliate the enemies of the sultan, apart from the political aspect of their relations. The cabinet was undoubtedly much influenced by this section of its supporters in the blind confidence it snowed to the czar, in their presumption that moral influence would suffice to prevent a war, and in the niggardly, and therefore unwise, and ultimately costly scheme upon which armaments were provided. Probably never in the House of Commons was rebuke more eloquently and sincerely given, or more justly merited, than when Lord Palmerston exposed the contradictory, selfish, and unpatriotic policy advocated by Mr. Cobden.
The hostile feeling of the Manchester section of the liberal party towards Lord Palmerston increased from that time, and his lordship made no efforts to conceal his dislike of the party, but sometimes showed it in a manner even contemptuous. The influence of the party was exercised upon the cabinet, and Lord Palmerston felt himself treated by so little consideration, that on the 16th December he resigned. Her majesty wisely refused to receive his resignation. No explanations of the cause of the circumstance were ever given in parliament, but the country, una voce, pronounced that it arose from his lordship’s dissatisfaction with the truckling policy of the Aberdeen party in the cabinet, and his popularity rose still higher.
The session of 1853 was not unproductive. Various measures of importance were transacted. The cabinet possessed much administrative ability, and displayed it by carrying a number of bills of great practical utility. It was a good peace, but a bad war, ministry.