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March 29, 1856.1 THE LEA DEB. 301
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MARTIAL LAW AT PARMA. Agaix the protest ...
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A FRENCH AGGRESSION. The French. Governm...
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TKIAL OF WILLIAM PALMER. "We do trust th...
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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.
Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.
The Sign At Banger. If There Be A Thing ...
provement by throwing open the church doors twice if not thrice on the seventh day . The Welsh m > jst go to some kind of religious meeting 1 and , literally excluded from the Church , they have rushed into the meetinghouse , where they are tie prey of any rhapsodisfc that can go about seeking whom he may devour—Mormon , Ranter , or Jumper . Who is it that objects , however , to the very modest form of Church extension now proposed ? Oar readers , of course , can guess . Who could it be but , the Bishop of the diocese ? He rates Mr . Stanley for "high-flying nonsense and
palaver , " ' blunders , " « self-deceit , " « wilful ignorance of self ; " while he informs that honourable gentleman that Mr . Ellis , though a " meritorious young clergyman , " is " contumacious , " " turbulent , " " factious , " " unclutiful , " " insubordinate , " and te insolent . " The reason for these epithets is , that after Mr . Ullis bad been told by his Bishop thai the movement was "historically" wrong , he was selfbilled enough to embody the proposal that he liad so earnestly at heart in a memorial to the Bishop ! This is the insolence , this the insubordination—and this is the Bishop of Bangor ' s view of liis dutie 3 as an Overseer of the
Church of England . There is a reason for tlis general unrest . With the adva , nce of free discussion there has oome a reaction against that absolute infidelity which suppressed discussion fosters . The religious instinct is stirred ; the religious spirit looks abroad . The authority of sect declines , and the people decline to exchange one sect for another . If they do change , it is to abandon sect for a Church which is greater than sect . And out of the disruption of sect , who cannot see signs that the Church of the nations is gradually forming itself ? So death is the prelude to a larger life .
March 29, 1856.1 The Lea Deb. 301
March 29 , 1856 . 1 THE LEA DEB . 301
Martial Law At Parma. Agaix The Protest ...
MARTIAL LAW AT PARMA . Agaix the protest of the Dagger is ma . de at Parma against the domination of an Austrian army , for virtually , Parma is an Austrian city . The public sentiment of the West is shocked by the report of Assassination in that ¦ city , usurping the functions of moral force . It is natural that Englishmen , living usnder a Constitution , -with a police force merely trained to protect life and property , and a military force for purposes of parade in time of peace ,
and of defence in time of war , should be indignant when men take blood vengeance for their national wrongs . We cannot write the apology of political assassination . Bat can our humane sympathisers realise the condition of the Italian subjects of Austria , and not ¦ understand why they shoot and stab , how they are maddened , how in a country where the law does not exist for their benefit , they spurn the law , and treat as a criminal every representative of their oppressors 1 To judge fairly -the acts of an Italian liberal , the Englishman must suppose himself in the Italian Liberal ' s
place . He must suppose himself governed by a foreign army , with ant insolent , soldiery in possession of his native city , with no- law for his protection ; a police that dogs his steps , insults him , goads him , and may , at any time , arrest him on no stated charge , and keep him , with , discretionary malice , in prisom , This Government , placing itself above all law , is outlawed in the hearts of the people , -whom it perpetually irritates and defies . The Italian sees his wife or daughter flogged , Uis son hanged without a pretext of legality , and what is there monstrous in the terrible lo « nc
of revenge , which tempts this man to kill a spy , or a brutal officer , or an infamoua judge ? Make what comments you may , oa the assaHsinations at Parma ; they only prove that the system under whioh Austrina
Italy and the satellite Duchies are governed must come condignly to an end , and that no pacification of Europe can be lasting which provides no solution of the fearful crisis there arising . A Government which has reigned in its Italian provinces for forty years , without conciliating the population of a single town , and is forced perpetually to renew the state of siege , cannot be durable . Yet we hear of further reductions of the Austrian
army forced upon the Ministry of War by the " hopeless embarrassments of the Treasury . And such are the Powers that give peace to Europe . As to the desperate men who sta . b the oppressors of their country in Parma , what can we say , unless , with Burke , we " pardon something to the spirit of liberty . "
A French Aggression. The French. Governm...
A FRENCH AGGRESSION . The French . Government , under cover of the Alliance , has projected the military occupation of Madagascar . It pretends to have interests ton defend in that island , and , to inherit from preceding governments certain political and commercial claims . In threatening the independence of the population , it professes to act under a sense of injury , though we have heard of no formal demand for satisfaction , addressed to the native power ,
therefore of 310 contumacy on the part of that power . These ,. however , under the public law of the world , are the recognised preliminaries of violence . If a descent be made upon Madagascar "without clear justification , we must hold it to be piracy , and a sort of piracy which the British Government is interested in preventing-Of course , the French have no real pretence for attacking Madagascar . ^ They want the island , and , being " cordially allied" with the only power that is concerned in prohibiting
the aggression—except , perhaps , Americathe opportunity seems auspicious . But , every objection that applies to the opening of the Isthmus of Suez , by a canal in the hands of the French , applies as directly to their occupation of Madagascar , firstly , it would be a pretext for maintaining a powerful French squadron in the Indian waters , and for securing good harbours and roads , as outposts on the Indian ocean . Then , in the event of a
war , what would be easier than for the possessors of Madagascar to excite a Kaffir insurrection , and to supply the enemy with money , arms , and ammunition ? But , which is more serious , a naval station at Madagascar would constitute a guafd set over the K , ed Sea , the Gulf of Bushire , the entire Indian Ocean , even on the track of our Australian trade . Egypt , Algeria , and the Mediterranean , will be hemmed in one side , tlio parallel of Aden will be established 011 the other .
New military necessities will thus be created along our Oriental ocean frontier . What are the defences of Bombay ; what has been done to prevont the bombardment of Madras from the sea ; what protection lias been secured to the mass of wealth that floats on the Hooghley ? Witlx an European war and the French at Madagascar , the capitals of the three Presidencies must rely on the chance that a French squadron in the vast Indian water could not find its way to the coast , unintercepted by the British squadrons . Our annals prove that such confidence may be a fallacy .
In projecting the occupation of Madagascar the French by no means abandon their favourite scheme of a . short canal between the Mediterranean and the Hod Soa . It may bo that British influence at Constantinople will permanently deter the Sultan from giving his sanction to the entorpriso ; but we know what political pertinacity can accomplish . Two points of attack upon our Indian Erapiro will thus bo established . Yet
it is rumoured that the British Government will offer no opposition to the project . There will be no difficulty in showing , as we shall , that if this be English policy , it is one of infatuation and danger ; and that when the French Government threatens to seize upon Madagascar , they are acting on a paltry pretext in pursuit of a formidable political design .
Tkial Of William Palmer. "We Do Trust Th...
TKIAL OF WILLIAM PALMER . " We do trust that the trial of William Palme * is not to T > e made an occasion of mere forensic and medical gladiatorship . A man's life is at stake , and his character , not as a citizen only , but as a human being . The object of the prosecution , then , is not to convict William Palmer , in spite oflall advocacy and evidence on his behalf , but to bring a murderer to justice , if a murder has been committed . Nor is it the legitimate object of a legal defence to
exonerate a guilty prisoner at all hazards , but to rebut false accusations against an innocent man . The solicitors and counsel on both sides , therefore , ought to go to their responsible duties calmly , and even generously . But , judging by th . e result of Mr . Smith ' s perfectly reasonable application to be furnished with an authentic copy of Dr . Taylor's report and depositions , it would appear as if the conductors of the prosecution felt a personal interest , not in the elucidation of a terrible mystery , but in the conviction 0 / William Palmer . Who is at
the bottom of this sinister refusal 1 Is it the Counsel who has been promised the brief ? Is it an assurance office ? Is it Dr . Taylor , whose professional testimony is in danger of scientific ! refutation 1 The Lancet , in a very able and pointed article , implies that Dn Taylor's conclusions 3 on the subject of the antimony found in the body of Ajtite pAriMER , were rasli , ignorant , and fallacious . Dr . Taylor saidj that antimony being detected in the body , must have been administered a few days beford death . The Lancet replies •' : —
" The importance of the point at issue will be at once seen if we reflect upon the logical consequences of such a conclusion as that arrived at by Dr . Taylor . Antimony is found in a dead body , therefore antimony must have been taken within a short period of death . 3 STow , if we assume it to be proved that no antimony was prescribed toy a medical practitioner during the last illness of the person whose death is the subject of inquiry , there arises immediately a primd facie proof that ifc
was administered for a nefarious purpose , and some one connected with the deceased might toe placed in custody upon a charge of murder . No effort , then , should be spared to set this question at rest . We raised it with no special reference to its bearing upon the charge against William Palmer . We have carefully avoided any discussion of the evidence as bearing upon that particular charge . It is because the question is one of general interest that it presses for solution .
" Feeling this very strongly , and being mora anxious that the truth should be ascertained and the stream of justice should be pure , than that legal forms and technical precedents should bo too rigidly observed , we should be glad to see every possible facility given for the thorough investigation of the subject before the day of trial , in order that the scientific witnesses for the prosecution and the defence
might bo enabled to bring before the Court such full and prooiso information as may set cho question for evor at rest . We , therefore , think—reserving all opinions as to points of legal formality—that the application made by Mr . Switu of Birmingham , the solicitor for the defence , for tlio written reports of Dr . Taylor , containing a reoord of the circumstances and tho deductions by which ho arrived at his
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), March 29, 1856, page 13, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_29031856/page/13/
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