TOPICS OF THE DAY.
THE EARLY MEETING OF PARLIAMENT. THE stars in their courses fight against Turkey. She has been beaten in the field, but only after a struggle which might have induced the Emperor of Russia to consent to any reasonable terms of peace,—terms, that is, which would secure the objects of the war, and liberate the Christians of Eastern Europe and Armenia from Ottoman domination. The Sultan is believed to be hesitating, the Pashas are reckoning up their remaining resources, and Constantinople is divided between fear of the advancing Russians and fear of the fanatical section of the mob. If matters were allowed to go on naturally, a peace might be patched up which would undo half the results of the war, leave the Sultan in Constan- tinople, and consequently maintain Turkey still in existence, with liberty to oppress over a more limited area. Lord Beaconsfield seizes this occasion to call Parliament together, not at once, but three weeks earlier than usual, in order to. propose that it should strengthen his hands by voting him some money and some men, to be used as he may please, in securing to England her "just influence on negotiations." This is, as we believe, tb.eobject of the summons which has BO alarmed the country, and as a demonstration it is one of the most feebly futile character. It is by no means certain that Par- liament will place a blank cheque in the hands of a man whom the country at large distrusts so profoundly as Lord Beaconsfield. It is certain that if it does so, it will only be after debates which will make patent to all men the profound divisions existing in English opinion, divisions which entirely preclude the possibility of war being waged successfully without a previous appeal to the people to pronounce their will. Even if the vote should be granted, it could not be used to bring about active hostilities in alliance with Turkey without a reconstruction of the Cabinet, a furious agitation over the whole country, and a desperate Parliamentary struggle, fought out as no struggle of our time has been. The measure can, in fact, secure nothing which could not have been secured without it, but it will be just sufficient to reanimate in the Turks their undying hope that the foolish Infidels in London will once more spend their treasure and their lives in bolstering up the tottering domination of the Sultan. They will interpret the sum- mons to Parliament as a summons to war, and they will be justified in doing so. They will read in all the organs of the Premier that England has resolved to resist Russia, that Constantinople must be defended, that money and officers must be lent to Turkey—which is not even paying the in- terest guaranteed by England and France in the Crimean war—that in short, the British Grand Vizier has determined to fight for them, and of course they will fight on in hope. Why should they throw away such a chance V All is safe for the Pashas while Constantinople is safe, and with British assist- ance Constantinople may be made safe, or the Russians even com- pelled by the length of the war, which their wealth enables the In- fidels to maintain, to treat upon the basis of the status quo. Mr. Layard is certain to tell the Turks that this is Lord Beacons- field's hope ; they will fight on with renewed heart, and as Russia cannot recede, and as this country, when it comes to the point, will decline to fight in alliance with Turkey and without help from any Power in the world, the Sultan will be compelled at last to buy peace by receding to his natural home in Asia.
This is, we sincerely believe, the real meaning of the summons of Parliament,—to obtain votes which, if not intended to support a great war, are needless, and if intended to sup- port a great war, will be refused or rendered useless by the divisions in the country ; but of course there may be, as all quidnuncs will tell you, some concealed design. The late Mr. Bagehot, one of the wittiest men in Europe, wrote of Lord Beaconsfield that "his chaff was the best in the world, but his wheat was worthless," and it is improbable that the Premier has anything like a well-considered plan to lay before the country; but shadowy ideas are always flitting before him, and he loves before all things the melodramatic element in politics. He may, therefore, have some grand notion to pro- pound, or even some carefully-hidden surprise of the theatric kind to reveal to an admiring world. He may have bought something, as he bought the Founders' shares in the Sues Canal or the Castellano jewels, in secret, but with a sure hope that the nation, betwixt amusement, surpritie, and genuine admiration, will sanction his act without demur. He may have purchased Crete—is not Mueuras Pasha a Cretan of ancient stock I—or the peninsula of Gallipoli, or the Turkish Fleet, or the Suzerainty of Egypt—which, on decent terms, would be really a wise purchase—a anything else which may give or seem to give a lustre to his Administration, and induce friends and foes alike to say once more, with a chuckle or a sigh, that the world never quite sees the end of the schemer of Hughenden, who, whether as politician or as host, succeeds always in realising the unexpected. Or he may have resolved on some grand coup—the occupation of Constantinople, for ex- ample—which he will carry out by an exertion of prerogative, and only be calling Parliament together to obtain an informal Bill of Indemnity: We do not believe in any such project, in spite of stories about military preparations, because we know that no Minister, in the present state of the political world, would venture on such a step, so infinitely important to the future of the nation, without some explanation of his policy and seine previous sanction from the repre- sentatives of the people. The British nation would make; short work of a Ministry which, after formally pledging its honour to conditional neutrality, took, before any con- dition had been broken, such a step as that. We would not in such a case guarantee Lord Derby against a per- manant ostracism from public life, as a politician who could not be trusted when making the most important declarations,— a charge never yet brought against his name. Or finally, the Premier, having heard the intentions of Russia as to the con- ditions of peace, may believe that Parliament would not be reluctant to resist them, and may have advised the Queen to call Parliament together as the first step towards the gigantic war on which he himself, like 011ivier, is willing to enter with a light heart. That is, of course, a possible explanation, and in that case the course of the Premier is entirely constitutional and proper, but then we do not understand why his organs are prating so loudly about prerogative and the right of a Ministry to advise war before the nation has been consulted. Nobody, not the fiercest opponent of war with Russia, ever de- nied that a Minister might believe war expedient, or questioned that if he consulted Parliament and accepted its verdict, or appealed against its verdict to the country, he would be within his clearest rights. Only, the country is accustomed to see such a policy pressed on it as a policy, and not as a design conceived in the dark, hidden till the last moment, and then revealed as a magnificent and terrible Gunpowder Plot. Englishmen are only tolerant of conspirators abroad. Least of all is it accus- tomed to such doings just at the moment when the Foreign Secretary has officially explained to the world that England adheres to neutrality, that our " interests " have been carefully marked out—as one buoys torpedoes—and that England has no right to reckon upon her only possible ally. What has occurred since Lord Derby spoke so freely to make his speech so mean- ingless I The fall of a fortified position, which every one knew could not hold out for many weeks, and which, now it is fallen, leaves Russia just where she was after her armies had crossed the Danube and masked the fortress of Kars.
We have mentioned all the explanations rumoured or dis- cussed, but we repeat we believe that the true one is that the Premier is following the precedent of 1853, and wishes to ask for votes which will strengthen his hands in "guarding English interests,"—that is, in doing as much as possible for the Turks without actually declaring war. If that is correct, the duty, of course, of all who are opposed to the war is to resist any vote either of money or men which is not preceded by the most definite pledges as to the uses to which these resources shall be applied. If they are to be used for English interests comprehended by the country, well and good, let us vote them to any required amount ; but if they are to be used to bolster up Turkey, to preserve to the Ottoman caste one acre of its dominion, then they ought to be resisted by every expedient known to the Constitution, until at all events the voice of the nation has been distinctly heard. If the constituencies, warned as they have been, choose to rush into a great war for an im- moral object, under a leader like Lord Beacionsfield, they are masters of their own destinies, and opponents have only to submit ; but with the country divided as it is, to declare war on the verdict of a Parliament elected with the recorded man- date of keeping everything quiet would be a stretch of autho- rity at variance, if not with law, at least with the whole spirit of the unwritten Constitution, the essence of which is that the money of the people is not to be taken from them for objects of which the majority disapprove.
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