Transcribed from the 1855 R. Theobald edition ,
THE
WAR WITH RUSSIA;
Its Origin and Cause:
A REPLY TO THE LETTER OF J. BRIGHT,ESQ., M.P.
BY
JOHN ALFRED LANGFORD.
LONDON:
R. THEOBALD, PATERNOSTER ROW.
1855.
p. 2BIRMINGHAM:
PRINTED BY J. A. LANGFORD,ANN-STREET.
p. 3THE WARWITH RUSSIA.
Amid the din of arms and the fiercecontest of battle, the less harmful, but, perhaps, not the lesspotent war of opinion, the clash of controversy, thedissemination of “views,” are as busy at their workas in the piping times of peace. As might have beenanticipated, the terrible struggle in which we are engaged hasabsorbed every other feeling; and whether men agree or disagreerespecting the cause, the necessity, and the justness of the war,all are zealous and earnest in advocacy or opposition. Avast majority of the nation believe in the justness ofEngland’s position—believe that she exhausted everymeans, and even went beyond the strict line of national respect,in seeking to stay the hand of him who, in sanctimonious phrase,was ever ringing changes on the theme of peace, and yet provedhimself so eager to “cry havoc, and let slip the dogs ofwar”—believe that no other course was open toher—believe that if she wished to preserve her owndearly-won liberties, she must stoutly oppose any furtherencroachments on the rights and liberties of Turkey. A vastmajority of the nation were, and still are, firmly convinced ofthis, and have most emphatically declared the firmness of thatconviction by the enthusiasm of their support and the wonderfulliberality of their purses. Yet, notwithstanding theclearness with which our course was marked out forus—notwithstanding the steady and continuous aggression ofRussia, now by secret fraud and now by open force, since the timeof Peter I. to the present day—there is a party in England,and there are a number of Englishmen, who, taking pre-conceivedviews to their study of the question, profess to find in the BlueBooks—in the documents issued by the Governments of thegreat nations, England, France, Turkey, andRussia—sufficient reason to condemn the policy whichEngland has adopted, and to declare the war dishonourable,unjust, and disgraceful. Among the party taking this vieware men of wealth and influence, and no pains or expense isspared in propagating their opinions. Lecturers are busygoing from town to town disseminating partial and ex partestatements of the cause of the war; and letters and speeches, towhich are added carefully collected extracts from the Blue Books,are printed and gratuitously distributed by thousands in order toindoctrinate the people with falsely-called peaceprinciples. The purpose of the present tract is to examinethe pretensions of this party, to test its statements, tocomplete the quotations which have been so partially made, and bypresenting a full p. 4statement of facts, to enable thepeople to judge for themselves of th