NEWS OF THE WEEK.
MINISTERS have so managed to steer their Foreigners Enlistment Bill through the two Houses of Parliament, as to succeed with the measure, at the cost of considerable though perhaps temporary damage to themselves. The opportunities for inflicting this damage were so much greater in the Foreigners Enlistment Bill than in the Militia Bill, on which some signs of obstruction were shown, that the latter measure has been permitted to pass to its latest stages without any serious impediment in either House. We mentioned the Foreigners Enlistment Bill last week, but its purpose has come out more distinctly in the subsequent discussions. Lord Raglan had felt that the recruits sent to increase his num- bers, not being inured to the hardships or hard work of military life and the severities of an unfamiliar climate, have not been so use- ful as they will become with time, and have increased the number of his sick. He requested, therefore, a supply of mature soldiers ; and we may surmise that he pointed to sources which, as a mili- tary man, he has known to exist. It was necessary, of course, that Government should comply with a reasonable demand on the part of a commander-in-chief charged with such grave responsibilities as Lord Raglan: we may presume, therefore, that the question whether the measure should be introduced was not open to the responsible Ministers. The mode of introducing it was the question. In this Ministers have not been happy. Amongst the com- plaints, one is that they took Parliament by surprise, not having previously announced the measure. This is said to extenuate the silly objections ventured by the Opposition on both sides of the House,—e. g. that the men were to be employed in this country against our own disturbers ; that mercenaries are not trustworthy; that they would disgrace the army with which they were to be as- sociated; that " oondottieri" disgrace their employers, and dis- grace the princes that hire them out; that different kinds of disci- pline would introduce confusion, Suddenness in the discus- sion of a subject, however, ought not to excuse silliness for so long a period as twenty-four hours, and in this respect the opponents of the bill have been deliberately foolish. But their pretence is nonexistent. On the first night of the session, Government stated that a bill would be introduced to raise a foreign auxiliary corps ; the actual bill was permitted to be introduced into the House of Lords sub sikntio ; nor was it challenged by Lord Derby, until Lord Ellenborough, the non-Minister of War, turned his dis- appointed mind to see what could be made of so fertile a subject of declamation.
It is too late to say that Ministers might have anticipated the obstructions they would meet; but, undoubtedly, they are guilty of having at once said too much and too little. The bill appeared at first to be introduced as part of the Ministerial policy, and not as a direct military requirement. The bill originally limited the number to be embodied in this country at any one time to 15,000; this was Subsequently altered to 10,000, the number not materially affecting the gross amount of the force that may be accumulated by the suc-
cessive relays. At first, however, the limited number was suffered to appear to be the entire amount of the force,—an auxiliary too small to be very valuable, but large enough to be the basis of mis- representation. At first the Opposition in both Houses hoped, apparently, to arrest the measure. Lord Derby resisted the second reading on Friday, and Mr. Disraeli did the like in the House of Commons on Tuesday ; but the Opposition was defeated, and when the bill approached the Committee on Thursday, Mr. Disraeli os- tentatiously relinquished resistance in detail, and claimed from Lord John Russell- a certificate for his good behaviour. He had failed in stopping the measure, but he had gained a greater object: the bill goes forth to the country under every kind of mystifies-
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tion, powerfully appealing to popular prejudice against the em- ployment of foreigners in the military service of our constitu- tional Sovereign.
More than that had been gained. If the Ministry had not been divided, the integrity of the Ministerial party had received a shock. Government having put forward one of their war mea- sures, which it was easy to render unpopular in appearance, the Peace party had a new opportunity for coming forward—not to oppose the war, for that would still be unpopular—but to cripple Ministers in one of the war measures. It is notorious that out of doors there are two parties under direct foreign influence, and ex- tremely hostile to Ministers. One, animated by the refugee-demo- cratic interest, is endeavouring to work against a Government that acts in alliance with Austria ; and the members of this section in the House of Commons do not care to conceal their sympathies. The other party veils its foreign relations much more cautiously, and would sometimes be taken to belong to the ranks of its own enemies—it is the party working to defeat a Government which has ventured into war with Russia. The old sympathies of our inveterate Tories would necessarily make them regret the downfall of that Ultra-Tory the Emperor Nicholas. So much for known motives; but if we may judge men by the effect of their actions, we must say that the political representatives of those old believers in Russia, under the pretext of criticizing Ministers for want of vigour, are endeavouring to obstruct their measures, and, if their scheme were practicable, so to cripple Government as to force upon it the abandonment of the war. We doubt whether any satisfac- tory proof be advanced against the suspicion that the Emperor Nicholas is represented in both Houses of Parliament ; and the conduct of the leaders of the Opposition renders them open to the suspicion that, consciously or otherwise, they are working under a direction.
If the underlings of the Whig party are not jaundiced by an- cient jealousies at the prominence of so many of Sir Robert Peel's colleagues in the occupation of office, their conduct raises a suspicion of such feelings ; and at least lays them open to the operations of the Tory party, which has always been anxious to divide the Coalition." The murmurs create a mischievous impression that some success has attended those efforts. Rumour goes yet further. While Lord John Rus- sell spoke in desponding terms of one of the prinoipal achieve- ments of the Cabinet to which he belongs—the Austrian alliance— Lord Palmerston's phrases were quoted by the Opposition and it is shrewdly surmised that the Members on the left hand of the Speaker entertain hopes of alienating from the present Government some part of its own members and supporters, and of drawing off others for a new Coalition.
The introduction of the measure, we have said, was necessary ; the mode of introducing it a matter of great delicacy. Ministers could not state all the grounds ; they could not therefore com- pletely lead the discussion upon the merits of the measure ; and, turning from its merits, from its political effects even abroad, the Opposition contrived to raise a false discussion, entirely for the purpose of bringing out those incidents which would most increase the discredit of the Government. The experience of these debates shows how advantageous it would be in similar circumstances to state explicitly, from the first, as much as can be stated, declaring that it is all, and then, forswearing any superfluous discussion of collateral issues, to throw upon Parliament the responsibility of
the vote. If Ministers had said—" Here is a military measure which is necessary ; we will tell you part of the case ; that is all, and we will tell no more ; and now you must vote us the mea- sure on our responsibility, or throw us out on your own"—much injurious gossip would have been spared, the public would have
had a clearer idea of the thing wanted, and the influence of the Opposition would have been reduced to its proper nullity. Their position amounted to that at the last, when they threatened to re- sign if the bill were not passed; but in the mean time they had given the vicious opportunity.
