On this page
-
Text (2)
-
304, THE LEADER. [No. 4.14, February 27,...
-
THE SEIZURE 03? THE CA.GLIAIU. A veby se...
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.
-
-
Transcript
-
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.
Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.
Lord Palmerston's Fall. The Intrigue To ...
IiOrd Pajdmebston ' s attempts to make capital out of the Isle of Serpents squabble are neutralized by the circumstance that lie has not guaranteed the Black Sea against Russian supremacy , that Hussia is filling the ports on the eastern coast with merchant vessels manned by men-of-war crews , that the Euxine has been a Russian base of operations against the Chechnian territories along the Caucasus . Lord PaIimebston drifted into the war with his friends ;
but he was personally responsible for having been dragged off the field by the French Government , and cajoled at the Conferences of Paris . There , moreover , lie suffered his plenipotentiary to hold his most i gnominious peace on the liber ty of the press and of public discussion ; instead of sustaining , by the moral example of a great and free nation , the menaced independence of the Swiss and Belgians , he allowed them to endure the entire weight of French Imperial pressure . To Sardinia lie made no return for
her campaign tin the Crimea , leaving Austria and France free to pursue whatever policy the jealousies or the alarms of their sovereigns dictated . The conduct of the late . Government towards Naples was inexpressibly degrading to the national character . First , in concert with France , they blustered about intervention , and withdrew their representative ; then , not being able to agree with Louis Napoleon , they stood off from the subject altogether , and were taunted by
every absolutist journal in Europe ; lastly , they allowed two Englishmen to be captured -on the open sea , to be incarcerated for months -without trial , and to be maltreated until one of them lost his health and the other his senses . ThiB is Lord Pak & ebbston ' s highest title to guaise as a minister who asserts the power « nd reputation of his country . On the contrary , he has sacrificed it . Intensely hostile to any other form of liberty than that which comprises a crown , a supreme
aristocracy , and a limited third estate , he regarded the French Republic with an evil eye . But , inimical to the Obi / eanb dynasty , he was favourable to the usurpation which avenged him upon the ex-royal family of France , and was the first English statesman to approve of the Coup d'Etat . This he did , not with reserve , but eagerly and in terms of precipitate congratulation . Ever since , he has been the dip lomatic follower of Louis Napoleon ; he accepted his lead in
the war with Russia ; he received from him the signal of peace . Finally , he yielded to him upon a question vitally affecting the national honour , in a way by which the national honour was disgracefully compromised . In the story of this transaction we do not find a single redeeming incident . M . Walewski wrote an aggressive , false , and insulting despatch , which remained officially unanswered . The Moniteur published a series of licentious and ruffianly military addresses directed against England , and not a word of protest was uttered by the Minister who , in 1850 , was a Roman citizen , as Sir IIobeut Peel reminds us . Then came the Conspiracy Bill .
" That was his answer to M- W AfcEWSKi ' s despatch , " Mr . Gladstone said , and it was a concession in reply to a threat . Smitten thus in the very front and bead of his prestige as a public man , censured by the House of Commons which had once professed itself ^' p roiid'of-himj' -for-havingnegieoted-to-upholdthe dignity of Great Britain , with John Bbioht and Mr . Milneb Gibson , whom last year he expelled from Parliament , this year expelling him from office , Lord Paxmebston hopes to return , after allowing Lord'Debs y to disport himself for a few weeks in Dowuing . etreot with the mystical Disbakli and 9 mm oher Malmkbbuby .
Lord Palmbbston sent a message to the French Emperor to the effect that the British public had been offended , and that something must be done to make things pleasant . A cold and prevaricating apology was returned , for publication in England , but for suppression in France . This did not seem to suffice . The Walewski despatch had not been answered , and condemnation fell upon the Premier . He had still a card , however , for although , it was necessary to resign , in formal deference to a majority , he believed that any other than a Palmebston Government was an absurdity , and not a few of his
friends still affect this opinion . Consequently , Lord C owlet was instructed to state his view of the matter , and the House of Commons having censured Lord Palmebston , is now censured by the British Ambassador at the Court of Paris . Concerning the abject drivel of Lord CowLEr ' s despatch to Lord Clabeitdon we will not say a word . But what result did he suppose would arise from the explanation that , having left M . " Walewski ' s insolence unrebutted , Lord Palmebston had transmitted a few private hints to the French Emperor , warning him at the same time that any enactment which could be introduced into Parliament must be
altogether inoperative ? It distinctly appears from this that the Conspiracy Bill was designed as a formal apology from Great Britain for the freedom of her institutions . The Palmebston Ministry had already apologized for the liberty of the press ; it now treated the liberty of the subject as a necessary evil . The House of Commons feels the dismissal of Lord Palilebston as a release . His arrogance , his levity , had wearied all except his own personal following . He ¦ was an Obstructive in disguise , as Whigs of his stamp
usually are , when on the Treasury bench . He had attempted to drive Parliament before him , instead of leading it . He had been a ' punishing' State jockey ; he had introduced into domestic government and into the Legislature all the trickery of a hack diplomatist , and , although we have condemned the policy favoured by some Liberals , of rewarding their enemies to punish the short-comings of their friends , we prefer to pass through the ordeal of a temporary Tory Administration to retaining Lord
Palmebston in power . Still worse would it be to bring him in again through a gap ^ in the Conservative ranks . Offensive before , he would then be insufferable . His ascendancy ¦ would be the nightmare of the House , and , as he affected on Monday last to slip off the Government like a glove , he would resume it as its only possible and rightful proprietor . He is dead , and must be , decently or indecently , buried . We have had more than enough of a House of OommonB browbeaten by a brazen Minister , and of a Liberal party duped , bewildered , and degraded .
304, The Leader. [No. 4.14, February 27,...
304 , THE LEADER . [ No . 4 . 14 , February 27 , 1858 .
The Seizure 03? The Ca.Gliaiu. A Veby Se...
THE SEIZURE 03 ? THE CA . GLIAIU . A veby serious question of maritime law has been raised by the capture of the Cagliari , and we publish an account of the case as it stands , some of the most important points relating to the action assumed b y the Government of Piedmont not having been precisely stated elsewhere .
The steamboat Cagliari , the property of Messrs . —RuBA . is * iNo—and ~ -Coinpany , ^_ saUed from Genoa last spring , upon its periodical voyage to Cagliari , in the island of Sardinia , and to Tunis . Not many hours had elapsed before . twentv-five out of the thirty-two passengers rose upon the captain and crew , and made themselves masters of the vessel . This accomplished , they sailed to Ponza , and afterwards to Sapri . There they set at liberty the
captain , Sitzia , who , upon recovering his liberty , sailed for Naples in the Cagliari , with the intention of informing the Sardinian consul of all that had occurred . Before the voyage was completed , two Neapolitan men-of-war , the Tancredi and the Ettore Fieramosca , captured the steamboat and carried her to Naples . Now , the Cagliari was captured upon the high seas , about thirty miles from Salerno , and twelve miles from the small creeks of Capri- —that is to say , on the free sea , over
which no power has jurisdiction , except over its own subjects . . It is proved that the vessel was no longer in the violent occupation of the rebels , and that none of them remained on board . These facts have been absolutely demonstrated by legal evidence , and are even admitted by the Neapolitan Government . Therefore , it cannot be disputed that the Cagliari was illegally captured . Nothing could have justified the seizure on the principle of public right unless it had been presumptive proof that the vessel was a pirate .
Now , the Cagliari had a registered captain , a certificate of nationality , and regular ship ' s papers , and was furthermore protected by her national flag . She was engaged in no act of piracy . She had sailed from Genoa , on her passage to Cagliari and Tunis , in accordance with a published announcement , upon one of the periodical dates advertized by her owners . In point of fact , she had been chartered as a Royal mail-packet between the Italian continent and the Island of Sardinia . All on board was en regie when the Neapolitan frigates made prize of the Cagliari .
The Neapolitan Admiralty Board appears to argue that the Cagliari was an enemy to the Neapolitan state , but this assumption rests upon not one particle of evidence . She belonged to a friendly power ; by the flag of that power she was protected . That she had been for a few hours in the possession of a few insurgents , who had laid violent hands upon her captain and crew , by no means created a state of war which , in fact , can only exist between recognised governments . The attempt of Pisaoane was the act of a
conspirator with a few associates , engaged in a desperate enterprise , and as much in defiance of Piedmontese as of Neapolitan law , and the affairs of Ponza and Sapri came under the ordinary enactments against rebellion , under the authority of which they might have been legitimately punished , according to the princi p le observed in the case of the ship Carlo Alberto , which , in the month of April , 1832 , carried the Duchesse de Bbebi to France , and
was afterwards captured , not on free sea , but in the French port La Ciotat . The offences which led to the capture of the Cagliari were offences triable by . ordinary courts , of justice , but the Neapolitan Government , in order to secure the sequestration of the vessel , passed it over for judgment to the Special Court of Prize and Wreck , whereas the steamer could be neither captured nor retained legally as a prize . The Piedmontese Government will not
acknowledge , nor should any maritime government admit , the right , on the part of a man-of-war , of capturing a foreign merchantman , unless it be caught in the very act of piracy , which , as we have shown , was not the case with the Cagliari . One of the great arguments of the Neapolitan Government is , we are informed , fr hat the two men-of-war had followed the steamer" into liKe free sea Uefore tfrey ^ captured her . They had , no doubt , a right to bring her to , and examine her papers on the high sea , but having discovered all on board to be en riffle , they were bound to sot her at liberty . At all events , even if they woro excusable in taking her to Naples , the subsequent act of sequestration was in direct vio-
-
-
Citation
-
Leader (1850-1860), Feb. 27, 1858, page 12, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_27021858/page/12/
-