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194 ®!>e 3L$aiteV. [Saturday, — - — —......
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The news from India is not satisfactory....
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PARLIAMENT. HISTORY OF THE WEEK. Parliam...
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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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It Is Melancholy To See Such Intellect A...
say he tried to abscond again , terrified at the apotheosis of Eugene Sue . His French friends stopped him ; and will watch him carefully for the future . It is likely to be only a rumour : but not without signification . Rumour says , too , that Austria is dictating a convention to Tuscany , in order to place the Tuscans under martial law , looking toward new struggles in Italy . Also , says Rumour , Lord
Palmerston is about to repeat his Greek policy toward Naples , where , too , there are compensations owing . French " mediation " in Greece is rewarded by the decoration of St . Saviour , presented with delicate irony by King Otho to the French agents . General Baraguay d'Hilliers has also been decorated by the Pope . A change of Ministers has taken place in Turkey . . . , . „
Russia has taken a hand at last . Our astute diplomatists may begin to watch the changes of the game . After sundry German rehearsals , or call them private theatricals , at Erfurt , Frankfort , and Berlin , the real European Congress is to be exhibited at Warsaw . Italy pacified , Hungary down-trampled , the last mystification played off in Germany , the Czar will now advise with his grateful vassals as to the measures to be taken by him
and them to crush the revolutionary spirit of Louis Napoleon ' s France . By him and them " and England , " says the German Constitutional Gazette . It would be a strange coalition , and one hardly feasible , even though Mr . Urquhart should have justly estimated the tendencies of our Foreign Secretary . It is time , though , that other eyes besides Lord Palmerston ' s were watching the progress of the Czar .
194 ®!>E 3l$Aitev. [Saturday, — - — —......
194 ®!> e 3 L $ aiteV . [ Saturday , — - — — ... . . ^—— . i
The News From India Is Not Satisfactory....
The news from India is not satisfactory . The Kohat expedition has proved unsuccessful , and Sir Charles Napier has returned to head-quarters without intimating his intention to renew the expedition , although further outrages have been committed on travellers . In Oude , a detachment of the Bengal army has met with a reverse ; the Nizam ' s dominions are in disorder , of course ; and a serious outbreak of the Sikh prisoners appears to have taken place at Agra . The most remarkable item of news we have
received by the last American steamer is the account of a convention of women which assembled at Salem a few weeks ago to discuss the condition of " Woman of the Nineteenth Century . " From all we have ever heard , American women have much less ground for complaint against the laws and social usages than Englishwomen have . And yet they are the first to denounce their grievances and demand redress . They complain that they are
taxed without representation , oppressed , degraded , ill paid for their labour , and subjected to misery and crime . Yet they are better oif than Englishwomen of corresponding classes , to say nothing of " distressed needlewomen . " But they prove the old rule : oppression begets abject submission ; comparative freedom begets the desire for absolute independence . We shall hear more of American " rights of woman . "
Parliament. History Of The Week. Parliam...
PARLIAMENT . HISTORY OF THE WEEK . Parliament assembled on Thursday evening for the first time after the holidays . Previous to the House of Commons resolving itsolf into a Committee of Supply , on Thursday evening , Lord Palmkkhton took an opportunity of explaining why lie had lately tried to make the House believe that there was a good understanding between the French nnd English Governments at the very moment when ho know that the French Ambassador had been ordered to leave England . After " It wnn thought by many persona , " said his lordship , ' in this House and elsewhere , that there was an inconnifltency on my part in the answer which I gave in this House with respect to the transaction itself , —that I endeavoured to suppress something which I ought to have stated . Whut passed with regard to that circumstance is this , —dilFerenc . es of opinion had occurred betwen the ( iovermucnt of France nnd the Government of Knglanrl in th <> cause of the few < luys preceding , in con-Nt' (| iicm ; enf the in ; iniicr in which the ' jiff . tir had terminated betwi'rn Kn ^ l ; m < l and Greece at Athens . When first M . Prouyn do Lhuys communicated with me , I had not . n * ct iv « d the despatches from Athens . On Monday morning ¦ the French Ambassador came to me for the . purp < s <* ot entering upon a discussion of those t ransaction * . I told itiiu that 1 was obliged to go down to" a committee of this House to which 1 had been summoned , and begged him to return to m << the following morning . On Tuesday morning he < iiin «\ when I resid to him the despatches 1 had rteeived from Athens , nnd also the reports made by Mr . Wyso of whut passed in t
that letter as to the grounds upon which the French Ambassador was ordered to return to Paris . When I spoke to M . Drouyn de Lhuys on the subject , he said , ' I must go back . To-morrow the papers will be presented to the Assembly ; to-morrow , possibly , questions will be put on the subject ; to-morrow there may be a discussion . It is my duty to be at Paris before the Chamber meets , in order to afford to my Government any explanations they may wish to have from me . ' I said that I certainly concurred in the propriety of the course he meant to pursue , and that I would not press him to remain ; but I begged M . Drouyn de Lhuys to communicate to his Government , early the next morning , the substance of the
explana-Greece , doing my best to explain according to our view of the matter , how the course adopted was one which ought not to give , justly , any ground of offence to the Government of France . The French Ambassador left me at rather a late hour , saying that he should return the next day to continue the conversation . He came the next day ( Wednesday ) at twelve o ' clock , and I forget whether it was at the outset , or in the course of that conversation , which also lasted to a late hour , as honourable gentlemen will see by a reference to the account of it given by M . Drouyn de Lhuys , that he read to me the letter of General de Lahitte . Of course I could not concur with the opinions expressed in
tions I had given him . I furnished him , also , with copies of some of Mr . Wyse ' s despatches , having marked , especially , those passages to which I wished the attention of the French Government to be called . And I begged him not only to give his Government such explanations as , in the capacity of their representative , he might think fit to give , but that he would also lay before them the detailed explanations I had had the honour of giving him . Well , sir , thus stood matters on the Thursday when I was questioned in this House . Now I must say , in the first place , that it could not in the ordinary course of things , be expected by me that the letter of General Lahitte would have been read to
the French Assembly { loud cheering ) , even before the Assembly was in possession of the documents connected with the transactions to which that letter related . { Hear , hear . ) It certainly never entered into my mind that such a course of proceeding would in any case be adopted . But I was also justified in thinking that the explanations with which I had furnished M . Drouyn de Lhuys were of a nature calculated , if not to remove entirely the dissatisfaction the French Government felt , at all events greatly to modify that feeling , and to lead to further explanations . Now , entertaining that opinion , and believing it possible that at the very moment when I was giving my answer the French Minister might have been assigning to the Assembly ,
as a reason for the return of M . Drouyn de Lhuys , simply that which w ^ as one object of his early returnnamely , the giving of explanations , and the communication of those explanations to the Legislative Assembly , I would ask any man in this House who values the good understanding between this country and France—{ cheers )—who has any just appreciation of the interests of this country , and of the duty of a Minister , whether I should not have been guilty of the greatest indiscretion , of the most mischievous act—I will say of a culpable proceeding—if I had proclaimed that feeling on the part of
the French Government which had been expressed in their letter , but which , for all I knew , might at that moment have ceased to exist ? Supposing the French Minister had given , as a reason for the return of M . Drouyn de Lhuys , the simple ground of explanations , what mischief should I not have done if I had proclaimed the other ground , and thus nailed and fastened the French Government to a dissatisfaction which might at that moment have been removed ? I am confident that I need no further justification of the course I then pursued "
The grounds upon which France had undertaken the office of mediator were perfectly understood . The demands of England were not to be questioned ; the grounds on which they were made were to be admitted , and the friendly offices of France were to be directed to settling the amount of these demands . In the negotiations , however , between Baron Gros and Mr . Wyse , the former raised questions having reference to the principle of the demands , which Mr . Wyse said he had no instructions to entertain . Baron Gros then said he had better apply to his Government at home for fresh instructions , which Mr . Wyse declined , being already in possession of
positive instructions , whereupon Baron Gros said his functions were suspended , and withdrew from the affair until he should have received further instructions . Mr . Wyse waited the full time which had been previously agreed upon , and even then addressed a proposition to Baron Gros , which unfortunately the Greek Government would not accede to , and the result was such as they were all aware of . He thought the course pursued by Mr . Wyse was perfectly justifiable , and that the letter of General
Lahitte had been written under an erroneous feeling , which the documents he hud transmitted were calculated to remove . lie much regretted the misunderstanding that had taken plnco , not having the slightest wish to slight the mediation proffered by France . He hoped , however , that harmony would bo speedily restored ; and impressed on the House the necessity , in the course of the discussion , of abstaining from anything that could dulay such a desirable termination of an occurrence which ho sincerely regretted .
Sir J . Walsh condemned the whole policy of the noble lord , as calculated to embroil us with all the nations of Europe . French alliance had been tho keystone of the arch of the noble lord ' s policy ,
but now he had abstracted the keystone from the arch , and the alliance with France was as nearly severed as -were our alliances with the other states of Europe . Lord Mahok deprecated discussion until they had all the documents before them . Mr . G . Smythe could not help remarking that Lord Palmerston had fulfilled the expectations of the most far-seeing and penetrating of his colleagues in following out a policv calculated to sever the alliance between this country
and France , by treating the latter country with , jealousy , mistrust , and insult . Mr . H . Drummoxd also condemned the foreign policy of Ministers . He was not afraid of war , but he had a contempt for that pot-house valour which rushes into a quarrel without counting the cost . He reminded the House that we had no friends in any part of Europe , and that we should have to contend not only with France , but with Russia and Austria , and , very likely , with America .
Mr . Disraeli warned the House against coming so suddenly to the conclusion that they ought not to give an opinion upon any foreign transactions until the papers were laid before them . He saw no necessity for discussing the affairs of Greece , and , as regards our relations with France and the statements lately made on the subject , he did not think that a satisfactory explanation had yet been given . After all , it must be apparent to every one that the Greek affair was but a pretence , for so miserable a ground
of quarrel could never have required such an immense demonstration of force as that which had just been made in the Mediterranean . The noble lord , in his masterly exposition , as it had been termed , had been guilty of several very important omissions . He had never alluded to the convention in London in April . He had never alluded to the sentiments of Russia upon the question , nor had he ever glanced at the dispute about the islets , which might yet form the groundwork of future misunderstandings .
Lord John Russell having pointed out several errors into which Mr . Disraeli had fallen , entered into some explanations to show that he was justified in all that he had stated in reply to the questions put to him on Friday evening . Whenever the discussion should again be brought on , he would be prepared to take his full share of the responsibility of these transactions ; for , although his noble friend , as the organ of the Government , was the main actor in the negotiations , yet he , as the head of the Government , was prepared to take the largest share of the responsibility . He would add that no effort on the part of the Government should be wanting to restore harmony between the two countries , and no occurrence of recent date had given him so much pain as this unfortunate misunderstanding .
The subject the dropped . Mr . Anstey moved that , for the sake of the public health , the improvement of the revenue , and the encouragement of the Free-trader , it is expedient that the Commissioners of Excise be directed to prosecute all persons offending against the laws which regulate the sale of roasted vegetable substitutes for coffee , or whereby the fraudulent adulteration of coffee is made punishable .
The Chancellor of the Exchequer admitted the facts stated by the honourable gentleman ; but ^ he might rely upon it , his milk and his bread were just as much adulterated as his coffee , and he ( the Chancellor of the Exchequer ) thought it best to adopt the old legal maxim , ' caveat emptor , " and leave the public to take care of itself . Mr . Cardwell said the principle of" caveat emptor " might do very well if the buyer was aware that ho was likely to be served with brickdust and chicory instead of coffee . He hoped the Government would take the subject into its consideration with a view to a remedy .
Mr . Moffatt contended that the revenue was injured by the adulteration of coffee . Out of the 10 , 000 dealers in the kingdom in the article of coffee , he believed 9300 mixed it with chicory , and he blamed them not , because they did so under the sanction of the Chancellor of the Exchequer and of the Board of Inland Revenue . Mr . Anstey withdrew his motion . The House having gone into Committee of Supply , several votes were pnssed without opposition . On the vote of £ 17 < 3 , G 98 for various miscellaneous services , including head-monev for pirates , Mr . this
Coudkx strongly condemned the granting of money till proper enquiry had been made . None ot tho savages who had been slaughtered in such numbers by Rajah Brooke , had over attacked any English vessels , at least there was no proof offered of their ever having done so , Mr . Bright , Colonel Tiiomi'SOV , and Mr . M'Ghboor spoke on the same side . Mr . II . Duummoni ) , Mr . Plovvden , Lord John Manners , and Mr . S . Hrhukut contended , that the men who were killed were generally considered pirates . ' ln « House having divider ! , the numbers were—For The vote , I to ; against it , 20 . Majority in favour ot paying head-money , l' 2 o .
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), May 25, 1850, page 2, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_25051850/page/2/
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