TOPICS OF THE DAY.
THE WAR PROCLAIMED.
THE suspense of a twelvemonth is at last ended ; diplomacy has retired, and leaves the vindication of European law and order to righteous indignation wielding the force of two mighty empires. France and England, rising above their history, advance their allied banners to defend a cause more sacred than their national rivalry, and find beneath their traditional antagonism a profounder sentiment that unites them, inspired and evoked by a common danger, which threatens all they prize in their rich inheritance of a thousand years of wisdom, courage, and industry. For months we have seen that this was the only probable issue from the events that were in progress • for months we have looked to it as a ter- rible but hopeful remedy for far worse and more terrible evils. Yet the realization of the fact startles the imagination by the mere magnitude of the event, and the greatness of the issues depending on it ; and we feel, not more truly or deeply, but more acutely than before, the solemn responsibility that rests upon all of us who have in any way aided in accomplishing it. And who throughout this broad land, but Mr. Cobden and a select body of his friends, can clear themselves from having in their respective spheres-done somewhat to swell that popular impulse which has ultimately de- termined the forcible solution of the long - pending Eastern question P—nay, perhaps our friends of the Peace Society have, after all, done more to excite the military ardour of the nation than any of us ; for doctrines pushed to an absurdity provoke re- action, and exaggeration in one direction is sure to be followed by a violent rebound quite the other way. We are, then, all who can have influenced the opinions and feelings of others, responsible; and for our own part, we do not regret any share we have taken in the discussion, nor were it to be done again should we adopt any other line than the one to which from the commencement we have adhered, or abate in the slightest degree our opinions of the dangerous aggression of Russia—of the imperative duty which is laid upon the Western Powers to resist her ambition and curb her powers of mischief.
Indeed, while we acknowledge all the responsibility which at- taches to those who urge a nation to take up arms and all the responsibility which attaches to the nation which follows such ex- hortations—while we feel the solemnity of the presence of a great peril, needing high action and strong endurance—we cannot but acknowledge also that something like exultation blends with this feeling, at having emerged from the weary mazes of diplomacy, however ably conducted. The proceedings of that profession are too elaborately commonplace, too ceremoniously false, altogether too conventional and unreal, not to tire the practical energy which seeks an intelligible issue, as well as the moral sentiment which would have men and actions called by their right names. The phrases of courtesy, respect, and even homage, are so utterly and pertinaciously misplaced and misapplied there—the right and the wrong are so utterly subordinated to considerations for which or- dinary mortals have scant regard—even the substantial material interests of nations are so overlooked—that a little diplomacy seems to carry an affair a low, way wrong ; and, after so much of it as we have had during the last twelvemonth, it is a perfect miracle that the right action has been possible at last. To get into action at all, and to be undoubtingly convinced that we are in the right path of action, is so satisfactory under such circumstances, that, terrible as the alternative chosen unquestionably is, a feeling of almost joyous relief results from the termination of the peal.- ful irritating anxiety we have so long endured, heightened as it has been by the constant fear that some timidity, or some blunder, would leave to a future day the solution of a difficulty that de- manded settlement, and which not only would have grown more complicated if deferred, but which could scarcely have been Wed under more advantageous circumstances than at present. The Queen relies upon the nation for a loyal and generous sup- port in the conflict to which high duties rightly estimated have called her and the people over whom she rules. It is of the ut- most importance that we should at the commencement of the struggle duly weigh the full import of this sentiment, and its obligations for all of us. There is not a man or woman in the country to whom it is not addressed—not a man or woman to whom it does not appeal for sacrifices, for constancy, for effort. To the soldiers and the sailors who are called to expose their lives, to endure personal hardships and privations, to suffer wounds and death in its most sudden and its most appalling forms, it makes an appeal to which we have no fear of their responding as Eng- lish soldiers and sailors have ever done. To the poorer classes at home it appeals, to endure partings that sadden the heart, losses that can never be repaired, and privations from increased taxation and impediments to commerce. To the middle classes it indicates interference with some of the main sources of that commercial activity by which they live, as well as the more direct sacrifice of augmented contributions to the state. It calls upon the upper classes to forget the party jealousies and interests in which they mainly are concerned, and to rally round the Government in the execution of its onerous duty ; it imperatively bids the orators of the poli- tical coteries be silent, and not, when the country is in peril, go on seeking the gratification of personal vanity or malignity in calum- niating and misrepresenting the actions and motives of the Govern- ment. Each in his turn is called on to make sacrifices of some daily profit, to endure an artificial enhancement of prices and
scarcity of capital, to subdue an habitual tone of mind and bias of practioe, to submit in many cases to severe wounds to the affec- tions,—and all for what is to many a remote, abstract, and unin- telligible object. On what can we rely for securing through all classes of the community a constancy of temper, a cheerful and willing spirit, when such an appeal comes to be reduced to prac- tical tests ? For a few months, with uninterrupted success, and a fair sprinkling of brilliant exploits, there would probably be no difficulty. The vague enthusiasm generally felt at the prospect of a decisive conflict with the power which to the English people is more than any other typical of the political constitution and so- cial condition they most abhor, will carry us well over the first stage. But let the contest be prolonged—as who can venture to feel certain that it will not be ?—let reverses befall the British arms—and who that knows the chances of war and the resources of the enemy can anticipate nothing but brilliant victories P—on what can we rely for sustaining the enthusiasm, for preventing it from changing into resentment against the Government and all who have supported the Government and encouraged it to main- tain the cause of European civilization ? Such a question might indeed perplex and hopelessly baffle a Government that was con- scious of having engaged the nation in war at costly sacrifices for unworthy purposes ; it would be impossible of solution to a Go- vernment which had studiously kept the people in a state of in- tellectual ignorance and moral degradation—a Government that had systematically repressed free thought, high spirit, and bold tem- per, as dangerous to its own existence and the privileges of the class which it represented. We do not comprehend how a govern- ment whose subjects are excluded from political life dares to rely upon them for sacrifices—how it can venture to appeal to them to endure privations for political objects, the importance of which it has never allowed them practically to feel or understand. Even among ourselves, while domestic politics are freely discussed, and the fullest information circulates through society, laying bare their minutest details, we question whether, in addition to its other evils, secret diplomacy, and the mystery and comparative practical abso- lutism that have usually reigned at our Foreign Office, have not produced in our middle class generally an indifference to and an ignorance of foreign affairs, which may tell most lamentably on the disposition of that class to undergo privations and make sacrifices for what they have so little information about and so little genuine and permanent interest in. Should it prove so, here will be another instance of the foolishness of statesmanship. But at the worst, we may congratulate ourselves that political knowledge and political sentiment are inevitable elements in the practical education of all classes of Englishmen ; that we are all habituated to comprehend, to discuss, and to work for political ob- jects; that mere private interests and domestic affections nowhere limit the range of our thoughts and sympathies ; that knowledge of all kinds is abundant among us, and unimpeded in its circula- tion; that confidence forms the only bond between the Govern- ment and the nation—a confidence founded on the openness and responsibility of our legislation and administration. It is on these characteristics of our nation that we rely. Our material resources are indeed vast ; but, consisting as they do of the contributions of individuals, they are only conditional; and unless we could win the heart of the nation to the cause, and retain it firm and con- stant by the force of its convictions, those resources would not be available. So far are we from agreeing with Lord Malmesbury that a free enlightened people, interfering in and controlling the executive government, carries on war at a disadvantage, that we can scarcely understand how the people whose govern- ment is irresponsible, and who are indifferent to and ignorant of political affairs, can endure the sacrifices of a great war. Sure we are, that at this moment our sole confidence in the momentous struggle on which we have entered is in the convictions of Englishmen that the cause is just and the con- test necessary. Unless we could hope that our countrymen, whose taxes will be increased and whose comforts will be diminished by the expenses pf the war, will generally be brought to comprehend all the significance of the question at issue between Russia and Europe, and that their enthusiasm will, if it does not already, rest upon a clear appreciation of the intimate relation this question bears to interests and sympathies familiar and dear to them, we should look to the issue of this struggle with gloomy forebodings, and should certainly have advocated peace at any price. It is be- cause we believe in the justice of our cause, because we know that the safety of Europe depends upon checking the ambition and curbing the power of Russia, and because we have the fullest confidence that the political education of Englishmen fits them above all other European nations for thoroughly comprehending and appreciating the facts involved in these propositions, that we have advocated an armed intervention in behalf of Turkey pri- marily, but really on our own behalf no less than the Sultan's. The duty that lies before the nation is clear. Having delibe- rately constituted ourselves guardians and avengers of the broken law of nations—having determined to put a decisive cheek upon the designs of a power at once insidious and lawless—we have to form definite conceptions of the necessary means for these objects, and to endure cheerfully the sacrifices and exertions required to carry our plans into execution. The former duty rests wholly upon those who are statesmen and politicians; in our opinion, an import- ant part of the latter rests upon them too. The disposition of the people generally to endure sacrifices will in the long run depend on the amount of knowledge they possess of the objects for which sacrifices have to be made. No ranting declamations against Russia
will long serve the purpose : unless the understandings of the peo- ple are instructed and convinced, their passions will cease to be excited, even if the excitement of passion were desirable as a chro- nic condition of the public mind. Here then lies a field of useful- ness for public writers and speakers, to understand themselves, and to make the people understand, so much of foreign policy as is in- volved in the Eastern question. So far as the people have a voice in the government, our hearty perseverance in the war will depend on this; on this will depend whether the war can be carried on through all obstacles to such a conclusion as shall make it a glo- rious epoch in European history, or whether an inconclusive war shall be followed by a patched-up peace that will breed future wars. If the teachers of the public do their duty, their function will be as honourable and as honoured as that of the heroes who lead our soldiers and sailors to victory. The pen and voice will be the necessary ooadjutors of the sword and cannon.
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