rv. LETTERS TO M¥. BRIGHT. 627

"Ur views that public opinion which is ot present all but
Wanimonsly against us.
“I sometimes regret that I omitted to call meetings in
Yorkshire before tho war began. As it is, we must waib
"sults, which will be serious one way or another soon, if the
*Xpedition to Sebastopol has been carried into effect. My
Wu opinion is that if the Anglo-French army can make
300d a landing, it will be a match in the open field for three
“mes its number of Russian troops. But there are all the
idents of wind and weather. How Lord Aberdeen must
have quaked at the sound of the equinoctial gales which
Yegan blowing last night a week before they were due.
The fate of the ministry quite as much as that of the
Senerals hangs on the result. If, owing to the weather at
%a, or the climate on shore, or the dogged resistance of the
Russians behind their walls, the expedition should fail,
there will be a cry for a change of government. The
English Radicals and Tories will alike demand “victims” to
Ppease their wrath. If it succeed, no matter at what cost
life, the ministry will be saved.”
“Midhurst, Oct. 1, 1854. (To Mr. Bright)—You ask
vhen our turn will come. When common sense and honesty
Ae in the ascendant, a day for me not very likely to be
"alized, as I am fifty, and not of a long-lived family.
You have a better chance, but don’t be too sanguine. It
S very singular but true that if we look back to the
iginators and propagators of this Russiaphobia, they have
boen almost without exception half-cracked people. I
“ould give a list of them, including Urquhart, Atwood, &e.
Unfortunately we live in an age when in this country ab
ii mad people have still a very great power over other
Windy, , , ,
“I sometimes feel quite puzzled when I ask myself what
tesult in the present strugele for Sebastopol would be the

18554,
Air 50.