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case 574 THE ^EAD EL * [SATtrRBAY,. ¦'.....
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THE WEEK IN PARLIAMENT. Loed Jomr Russei...
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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Malmesbury Must Be Thrown Overboard, To ...
his ministers to profusion . The tax on paper is at least consistent with the obscurantism that holds authority and knowledge irreconcilable . In order to render the expression , public opinion ^ on which the Elect of the JKp > % ygpdses , $ Qpi sincere and complete ^ abolition $ f trial by jqry ( that inconvenientform of opposition . ) is threatened . Resignations and arrests make up $ Jg § um of news from France . The H # * J § e o £ , Qf h ^ ws have appealed : whatever the issue , it vrsjl be fatal to the confiscatbr .
The latest intelligence from Burmah is meagre , but very unsatisfactory . Our forces were maintaining their ground , but the men had no shelter under which to sleep ! " While conquering the Burmese , they are exposed by the negligence of their own commanders to destruction by the climate . Is this an instance of the efficiency which has been boasted for General Godwin ? Is this
the justification of his appointment by routine , though he had passed the average years of man ? Is he in fault , or what commissary is it that deserves hanging ?
Case 574 The ^Ead El * [Sattrrbay,. ¦'.....
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The Week In Parliament. Loed Jomr Russei...
THE WEEK IN PARLIAMENT . Loed Jomr Russei , Ii gave notice last week that he would , before the House went into Committee of Supply , on Monday , " call the attention of the House to the case of Mr . Mather , and , " he added afterwards , " generally to the present state of public affairs , " The afterthought was , as will be seen , a clog upon the primal thought , and afforded the Chancellor of the Exchequer ground for a telling electioneering reply . But everybody , except the respective ¦ ' * Buncombes" of the rival members , felt that the whole of the interest lay in the single and simple subject first announced . We shall , therefore , divide the debate into two parts , taking first
THE OUTRAGE UPON ME . MATHER . Lord John RussKbii intimated at the outset his unwillingness to question the foreign policy of the Government j and alleged as his excuse for doing so now , the spontaneous production of the papers in the Mather case by the Government ; and . also that , as the correspondence was on the table , if it were not noticed now , it would be considered too late to notice it next session .
He then entered upon the case , by pointing out the contradictory nature of tho story of the outrage , as narrated by Mr . Erskine Mather , and the Florentines , and by the Austrian officers ; stating , however , in a subsequent portion of Ma speech , that the " Mathers had been unexceptionable , plain , and straightforward in their story . " According to the latter , it was an " unprovoked and brutal outrage ; according to the Austrians , represented on this occasion by Endetzski , an " accident " . What did Lord Malmesbury do P
"Itnever seemed to have occurred to the Government to ask to have the facts ascertained . While , on the one hand , Mr . Mather and his witnesses concurred in one story , —that this unfortunate young man had been struck and was staggering under the blow , and had scarcely recovered himself , when he received the cut from tho sword , —the statement is quite as positivo , on the other hand , that , in fact , it was tho act of this gentleman which , provoked the outrage . " And this was tho moro remarkable , as Marshal Kadctzski , who furnished tho Austrian account of tho affair , relied exclusively upon military ovidenco , " seemed to set at
naught anything like civu testimony , and to conclude that nothing but tho testimony of soldiers was worth , anything . " Then ho thought that her Mojosty ' s Ministers ought to pay cither that this was a most " unprovoked assault , " or that it was an accidontal encounter ; but to his astonishment , Lord Malmesbury took both views ! Writing to tho Tuscan court , ho / said : — " Now tho ov ' ittonep which has thus boon obtained conclusively establishes that a most unprovoked outrage was committed on an unarmed and unoffending British subject by an officer in command of a military party acting ' for Tuscan purposes in tho Tuscan dominions . "
Uufc -when ho wroto to tho Earl of Westmoreland , at Vienna , Lord Malmesbury agreed that it was " caused by ' a concourse of fortuitous and unfortunate circumstances , ' in which , " added Count Buol , " a tionality was concornod . " Thus , what was an " unprovoked outrago , " when tho noblo lord tho foreign Seorotary wroto to Florence , bocamn an " unfortunate uocidont" when ho wroto to Vionna ; n ' nfl his inind being in that undecided stato , it was no wondor that tho Government should' havo behaved not v <> ry consistently with regard to tho roparution they ohould ox not .
Having delivered this tolling blow at Lord Malmosbury , Lord John KuhnoII turnod to Lord Qranvillo ' H conduct of tho cam ? , and declared that ho took a iruo view of it , holding' both TiiHcan and Austrian GovornmontH rosponoiblo , mid dmnanding ample reparation for tho injury . " Now , I must say , that I think Mr . Mather placed tho case in tho hands ol Lord Granvjllo , and of courso , also , in tho hands of Lord GranVillo ' B successor , in as fair a mannor as ho possibly could . Ho took cortain objections
*—very reaspnabl * " ^ bje ^ cm ^ rtW the a Tuscan court of lijjB ; but ' ne s ^; a that he and his son were entirely in the hfipls of the Government , and if the Government deemM it best , for reasons of state , to take such , a course , he djflHppt object . Uow ^ othing could be ffigre honouraWf ) $ fipi rjjjhat position . | fjs : son had suj ^ tod a great deaf ' : Be hin ^ g elf had goTnffl { firough great arapety as Morencey ^ ere h £ Ijbund his sgif suffering seriously frojij | jje injury . '' But he plaims nothing for himself ; he says-i—; f'jpo you ' toescribe : ^ , bourse , and | $ ough j | " may not ' -be tha $ ^ ich I tmik des | r ^ , ble , I shallop willing t *> submit ; ypur course will " be m $ c , ourse . ' < ; 2 jo ^ : I- sa . $ fp one couUj . | f $ tt 3 in a better posinpn than Mr . ' Mather . Lord Malmesfyirjy however , has contrived that Mr . Mather , who was the
object of the inquiry , and Mr . Scarlett , the personjpho endeavoured to obtain justice for him , should be theTnly persona to suffer .- ( itear , hear . ) He has sp contrived matters thatj' while the Austrian officer gets off with some iclat , Mr . Mather ' character is injured , and Mr . Scarlett has a very cruel censure passed upon . him . ( Hear , hear . )" Lord John then showed how improperly Lord Malmesbury had acted in asking Mr . Mather to fix the amount of the sum which would atone for the injury done to his son . In doing so he told a story , inadvertently complimenting Lord Palmerston , to the great ; delight of the Opposition . " I remember a case in which the noble lord , the member for Tiverton , was called upon to makei a demand . A British merchant in South America had been imprisoned ; the noble lord asked the Queen ' s Advocate what Ought to be
given to hiin as compensation . The Queens Advocate said that twenty pou nds a day was the sum which ought to be paid . The noble lord wrote immediately to th « American government and asked for that sum . The merchant himself thou ght the sum should be much greater j but the noble lord , who understood the business or his department—( cheers)—did not say , ' You , a private merchant , should tell me exactly what reparation you require , ' hut he said , M will settle the matter , after consulting persons competent to give me an opinion on the subject . ' Lord Malmesbury had not done anything like this . He had , after much pressing insistance , obtainedMr . Mather ' s estimate , and had then written to the Tuscan Government that he thought the sum exorbitant \ \
" And this is the way the Secretary of State obtains redress for a cruelly injured man ! ( Cheers . ) He puts him in the situation of a person proceeding for money , and pnly anxious to obtain a large sum from the Tuscan Government . He spoke of Mr . Mather as asking an ekorbitantsum , and thus the character of Mr . Mather is injured , and injured by that very person who ought to have underr taken his defence , and obtained redress for him ! ( Cheers ;) Lord Malmesbury ought to have written to Florence that Mr . Mather would never have thought of naming a sum as reparation for the injury his son had sustained , and that he would not name a sum until he desired him to do so . But Lord Malmesbury left it to be understood at Florence , as if there were a demand on the part of Mr . Mather of what was most unreasonable and out of the question . ( Hear , hear . )"
He criticised Lord Malmesbury not less severely for not having given definite instructions to Mr . Scarlett . " If Mr . Scarlett had received instructions he would have asked for what he had been told , and would not have taken a farthing or a word less ; and be it observed all this time that to tho Austrian Government the most conciliatory dispositions are expressed . They are not asked to take any steps on the subject , even after the communications made by the Tuscan Government . I have said that the first demand was properly made to them , but when they said that ' the Austrian army are beyond our power , we have signed a convention with them by which no Austrian officer can be brought to trial for any offence in the Tuscan courts , ' I think that tho Austrian Government became responsible
for the conduct of their military , and to them a proper requirement for reparation may bo made . If it comes to this , that an Austrian officer may wantonly cut down a man because ho supposes some insult has been offered to him , let that bo declared . But , as it is , every Englishman who goes to Italy and meets there with Austrian soldiers —and , unfortunately , there are Austrian soldiers in too many of the States of Italy ( cheora)—in the States of the Church , tho Papal States , and tho Tuscan States—rovory Englishman is exposed to everything that an Austrian officer thinks proper to inflict upon him , and he is then to be
told that ho is to hdvo no redress , according to tho mode in which tho Government have earned on this affair . Only tho other day I was told that a non-commissioned officer hod boon severely punished in one of tho towns of Italy according to tho Austrian code . Although this caso was simplo onough , and neither the Austrian Government nor tho Tuscan Government wore ready torosist any reasonable demands , yot such has boon tho niodo in which Lord Malmesbury lias conducted this transaction , that you have exposed yourself to tho ridicule and contempt on tho part of foreign Governments . "
And lie wound up tho subject with thoso onorgotio but party sontimonts . " All I can flay on tho subject is , that I will not tako tho courso which Lord J ) erby did when ho saw reason to censure the conduct of tho late Government in regard to tho affairs of Groeco , but I will content myself with protosting against what has boon done in Mr . Mather ' s caso in torms similar to thou ' o which his lordnhip thon omployod . Lord Derby said on that occasion s— ' Surely it becomes tho British Legislature to stop forward and say that tho
Foroign-ofHco of England is not England—that tho highminded , generous fooling , of this groat people is opposed to measures auch as havo boon talcon by tho Government of tho country—that wo separate our actions frpm theirsour foolingu from thoirp—our viowtt © 1 " jubMco and good faith- from theirs . ' I also tako loavo to woparato my foolinga — my notions of justice and good faith — from tho course which tho Government has pursued in this caso . ( Hoar , hoar . ) I bog loavo to on tor my protest against conduct which Booms to mo to dogrado this Government in tho oyos of Europe—against conduct which does not
degrade thia- cM | i % t & pause the country"takes far hPn ' ^ iW ^ Mr- ' - ^ ^" wiat is due ^ its ch & fcfptt . J tjruBfc , however , it will be recollected + L * in the > prea & nt gjaatj ? of the continent of Europe thi almost thepnJ g r cqiutfay in which a free extwesfnrm ^ om *^ # W PM : ** almost the onlycouX g which a free press and free discussions in the L . Zir can & u $ te ^& Z to ' make themselves felt & ture although th ^ fogs of constitutional government p . ? 5 severafStates , ot | urop ^ those ; forms are in some eS ^ pervert e d , ^ ftile other countries in which' thev aZ V ^ m ^ ° ^ d Where real liberty exists , are so small « 3 so dependent pn their more powerful neighbours- « .+ bold and loud Wpressio ^ of public opkion cStl 1 in them . No slich addresses as are deHverod in " Im- T - lature , and no such publications as that which t ^' imxaortal honourthe right honmember far twrr '
, . - of Oxford issued ' from the press UA ^ SxS ^^ made or put forth , at present in ly otS'SuSv S Europe . Under these circumstances , it more e ^ T ^ 7 , behoves us to keep our character unhurt and ™~ u y untarnished . ^ b ^ s ^ i £ ^^ £ S ^^ for redress from a foreign Government , to procee d t ^\\ m and with temper ; but , at the same time , to insist mT + 11 ? which we reaUy think due tp us . ( Hear , hea ?) i ^ S be aii inestimable loss , not to this country alone but to all the world , if our character as a great and independent nation should be in any degree impaired . I trust there fore , that before tlie noble lord at the head of the Foreien " office again writes such despatches as these , he will con " sider how great is the charge that has been entrusted to him , and that he will not lightly commit the great in terests and the high chamcter of this nation by heedless expressions . ( Cheers . )"
Lord Staniex ( the Under-Secretary for Foreign Affairs ) replied on behalf of the Government ; but he made only a lame defence . He explained the discrepancy between the despatches to Florence and those to Vienna , by asserting that there were two ways of looking at the question ; one was in reference to the "Government and the country , " and the other to the indi - vidual . As regarded the former , the outrage might be termed " accidental , ' as no insult was intended to England . But that , he contended , did not prevent it being true , in a personal point of view , that the outrage was " , brutal and unprovoked . " He declared that to
have demanded reparation from the Austrian Government would have been to ^ cknptyledge Austrian rule in Tuscany . After an allusion to the attack on Haynau , he paid a well deserved compliment to Mr . Mather r" The noble lord had referred at considerable length to the nature of the reparation awarded to Mr . Mather , and had argued that the transactions of the British Government had a tendency to damage that gentleman ' s character . The Government certainry had ho intention to inflict such damage , and if that were the case > he must say the Government ought to take , and would takej the earliest opportunity oi bearing testimony to the character of Mr .
Mather . ( Hear , hea £ ) Mr . Mather , in the whole transaction , had suffered much pain , anxiety , and annoyance , and if under feelings naturally excited he had not at all times done justice to the conduct of tho Government , that was no reason why the . Government should not do justice to him . ( Hear , hear . ) He admitted the difficult position in which that gentleman was put by the demand made on him to stato his own compensation for the insult ; but he thought that there was some misapprehension on Mr . Mather ' s part . Mr . Mather ' s view appeared to bo that an Englishman having received a preme ditated i nsult on the part of a foreign Government , upon that Government a fine should be inflicted , he would not say proportionate , for ifc was difficult to measure an injury by nuraey , but sufficient to express the sense of the English Government on tho subject . Ho was willing to believe that that was Mr . Mather ' s view , and therefore he did not in that caso think the demand of £ 5000 exorbitant or unreasonable . t
But if the question was treated as a personal , and noan international one , and that compensation equal to the injury suffered was to bo asked , then , ho thought tho aemana of £ 6000 would bo , in that light , utterly unrea sonable , ana beyond what could be expected . " ( Hear , hoar . ) The next speaker was Mr . Osbobnb , who charged into tho subject in hia usual dashing style . He nrst showed that the Austrians held Tuscany under a convention , tho main provision of which was that the occupation should not be terminated without the consent of both parties ; equivalent to permanent possession tor Austria . Then entering on tho main charge , ho pointea out how Lord Malmosbury had insisted that Mr . Mather should estimate tho injury inflicted on his son . " Lord Malmosbury then , in the true spirit of a P « J'lJr { asked . « "What will vou tako for vour injury r V j '
Lord Malmosbury thorofore suggested pecuniary c ^ Pj ^ sation—a suggestion which was accoptod by -Mr . , with pain and reluctance . ( Hear . ) But on Mr . w **™ * naming £ 6000 , for which ho stated his roasonV *" Malmosbury , behind his back , and without P ^ ffiott information on tho point , wroto a letter to Mr . »< " » » designating this as an exorbitant demand , ana no e £ 1 , 61 ) 0 as the Bum for wWon a British Bubjoofc mig tf " cut down in tho utroots of Floronco- ' ( Ghoors nrtd w h . <; or . ) Lord Malmosbury in one of his despatches »» that tho sum namod by Mr . Mathpr \ ras ex . orWn ^ h , Mr . Scarlott would bo able to jjudgo ' what could w » b ( Hear , hoar . ) IS tho noble lord below him ( Lore 11 J » . Bton ) had writton such a despatch whon ho Pr 0 . " ^ f iiiQ iViuiinnHnn nr \ A linn /^ m . nvnv f . hn forOlffn allftir" " „•
country , what would havo boon said by tho tJiw « m ftt tionP ( Hear , hoar . ) 'A pecuniary componsawg » J ¦ loasfc tangiblo , ' said Lprd ^ alwioBbury to ^ f ^ A ^ 1 you must hold firm lftngua ^ o . ' J ? ixm la » guago » w y
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), June 19, 1852, page 2, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_19061852/page/2/
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