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proportion as it had few points to defend , for the fewer points it had to defend , the more it could concentrate its forces , and therefore the more powerful it was either for defence or offence . Therefore he considered the true policy of this country , with regard to military stations , was to occupy only a few commanding positions , with good harbours . They should be small , isolated , salient spots , easily defended , and close to the beaten paths of the ocean . He thought that , amongst our military stations , those which best fulfilled the conditions of good military stations were Gibraltar at the mouth of the Mediterranean , Malta near its centre , Bermuda in Mid-Atlantic . Halifax commanding : the coast of North America , Barbadoes
among the islands of the West Indies , the Peninsula extremity of South Africa on the route to India , the Mauritius on the same road , and commanding the Persian Gulf , Singapore at the entrance of the Chinese seas , and perhaps Hong Kong amidst those seas . He had named these eight stations , because he was inclined to believe that it was not necessary for the attainment of the object of the naval policy of Great Britain that we should keep military possession of more than these eight stations . To garrison them as they were garrisoned in 1846-7 , a military force of 17 > 000 men would be sufficient , and they would cost about £ 850 , 000 in effective military expenditure . "
If our colonies were governed as they ought to be , no troops ought to be maintained in them at the expense of the United Kingdom , except for strictly Imperial purposes , and the expense of all troops required for local purposes should be paid by the colonists . He then argued that our policy wi h regard to our colonies had not been a wise one , inasmuch as it had not tended to teach them self-reliance . He examined the course which we had adopted in South Africa , contending that with the termination of each war vre had added to our territories , and thus sown the seeds of another war , and declaring that we could never civilize the Kafirs , and that all we could do was to exterminate those upon our frontier . He concluded
by moving the resolutions we have quoted . Mr . Hawes moved the previous question . He contended that Sir William Molesworth ' s plan would reduce our trade with the colonies , and increase that of the United States by twenty-five per cent . Mr . Cobden , Mr . Adderley , and Mr . UnauHART supported the motion , Mr . E . H . Stanley opposed it . Lord John Hussell contended that the colonies would not remain attached to the mother conntry when our military establishments for their defence were withdrawn . They must fall into the arms of other countries , and then , when engaged in war , those colonies would become hostile stations . On the motion of Mr . Hume the debate was adjourned to Tuesday .
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THE MAYOR'S DINNER TO MINISTERS . Her Majesty ' s Ministers , and a number of ladies and gentlemen invited to meet them , dined with the Lord Mayor , at the Mansion-house , on Wednesday . The banquet was in the grand style customary on such occasions . There was a splendid display of plate ; the band of the Coldstream Guards , stationed in the gallery , played various marches during dinner ; the loving cup ' was sent round ; and the usual routine toasts were enthusiastically applauded , as might reasonably bo anticipated . Lord John Russell , in acknowledging the toast of " Her Majesty ' s Ministers , " took occasion to recal the condition in which , we were placed three years ago : —
" We can all recollect , on the evening previous to that 10 th of April , what were the doubts , the misgivings , the fears tbat there might be some violation of the public peace—fearw , even , that there might be loan of life on the ensuing dny . But , my Lord Mayor and gentlemen , on the evening of the ensuing day we found ourselves perfectly safe ; and safe , not , I will venture to suy , on account of the armed force that was in this metropolis— -although the armed fi . rce , the Hniatl armed force , that , was in London would , no doubt , have done its duty if there had been occasion for it—but because the people themselves roue—( cheers)— 'they rose , not to cause , but to prevent , riot and disturbance ; they rose , to maintain , and not to subvert , the institutions of the country . ( Loud cheers . )"
He then alluded to the great assemblage of foreigncra which is likely to take place in London this . summer , and expresHcd his confident belief that they would meet witli a cordial reception , and would "have reason to be grateful for the splendid honpitality which i . s ever exhibited here . " The American Minister , in alluding to the Exhibition , said he was one of those who believed that it , wan conceived in wisdom , that , it . has been carried
out with energy and judgment , and that those men who conceived it , and who have had the management of it , will have done great honour to thcmuelvcH , iind , when it Khull have been finished , brought ^ , 'ieitt ; glory to England , lie had not a doubt but that peace and quiet itiul goodwill would reign in our borders for nix months to conic , and that when the great , number of foreign visitors . "hall have gone home ( hey will curry none 'Other than the kindlictst feelings with them . '
I Lord Pulmerslon took an opportunity of Haying a few words in praiine of the Jiritish Parliament , an having nobly done its duty : " It in the dispensation of Providence that , miiiikind should be divided into rieh and poor- -that the rich nhould br comparatively few , mid that ; the poor nbould be comparatively many ; but , though no human legislation
can alter that arrangement , it is in the power of our lawgivers so to legislate that the poor shall be protected from oppression by the rich , and that the rich shall _ be defended against violence from the poor . ( Cheers . ) That duty the Parliament of England has amply and successfully performed , and hence it is that , while we have seen all the nations of Europe convulsed with disorder—while we have seen industry suspended , commerce paralyzed , institutions civil and political overthrown—while we have seen fields that ought to be trod only by the peaceful husbandman beat down by the trampling of the iron heel of armed legions—while we have seen them bathed with the blood of kindred though conflicting armies—the people of this country have exhibited an example of tranquillity , of order , and of obedience to the laws , which , so long as the history of these times shall endure , will command the admiration of mankind . ( Cheers . )"
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A REVIEW OF CONTINENTAL POLITICS . Francis Joseph , Emperor of Austria , had reached Yienna on the 5 th instant , on his return from the Adriatic . His reception at Venice , the newspapers say , was very warm and flattering . The poor wornout , tumble-down city , hopelessly at the mercy of her destroyer , has tried to deprecate her final doom by a very harmless and meaningless clapping of hands . The reward has been the restoration of the free port , intended to prolong for a few years the lingering agony of the commerce of the lagoons .
For the rest , the Emperor visited churches and inspected arsenals . He feasted that poor empty-pated Count of Chambord , and one of the Spanish exiled princes , the Infante Don Juan ; Marshal Marmont and M . de Falloux sat at the royal table . Cardinal Bedini hurried from Ferrara to tender the homages of Pope Pius IX . to the mainstay of the Papacy . The Emperor intended to visit Milan , Monza , and Mantua , but changed his mind , probably on hearing that the
stiff-necked municipal authorities of Milan tendered their resignation at the bare prospect of having to make their salaam to their imperial master . It was also expected that the Kaiser would travel back to Vienna , touching at Agram and other towns of Croatia ; but the late infliction of excise duties on those hitherto free provinces had not tended to prepare the ground for a very enthusiastic welcome . The youthful autocrat will have found anything but favourable news at Vienna on his return . There
is a strong ultramontane feeling abroad , —a longing for the restoration of priestly supremacy in all its unmitigated hardship . The fabric of an Austrian church , reared with so much trouble and peril by Joseph II ., is now to be demolished down to the very foundations . There is to be an Emperor above the world and a Pope above the Emperor . Count Leo Thun and other men of that temper carry everything before them in the Austrian Councils . Nothing short of an omnipotent hierarchy and absolute Papal supremacy will satisfy them . The new Marriage Bill is drawn up , and its object is merely to do away with civil marriage at once and for ever .
Meanwhile the discontent throughout the Austrian provinces , especially the Eastern ones , Hungary , Croatia , &c , baffles description . It is in vain that the Government takes heed of the people ' s material prosperity , hurries on the work of railways ( the Hungarian line alread } - reaches Debreczin , and the line between Dresden and Prague was opened on the ( ith ) , promotes agriculture , establishes a uniform system of custom and other duties . Its wisest measures raise as fierce an opposition as the most violent and oppressive ones . In spite of the apparent
activity and vitality oi the state , it must , also , be confessed , thedistiess of the people throughout the empire is very great . The depreciation of paper money has caused an alarming rise in the price of provisions . The half million of soldiers are , indeed , well fed ; but the rest of the thirty-six millions of the Emperor ' s subjects are described as struggling hard against want . The deep wounds inflicted on the empire by two or three years riot and civil war begin to tell on the masses , and it will take at least ten years of uninterrupted , wise , and peaceful rule to restore the country to its wonted prosperity .
'I he Ministers for Lrade , Agriculture , Public Works , & . i ' .., awaited the Emperor ' s return with impatience , anxious to submit several measures of vital importance to bin approval . The diH ' erenceis with Prussia , also , have met with a solution which uh yet docw not neeni nu favourable to Austria as her friends might have desired . Prussia lias come to the determination of restoring the old Frankfort Diet . It way a measure long in contemplation , but weeinH to have been definitely udoptcd only in the course of the week . A renrtwentative of I ' ruNHia in instantly to proceed to l'Vankfoi t : M . von
ltonin is mentioned [ by Home uh the poram likely to bo charged with the mission ; he in the President of the Province of Posen ; others suppose Count licrnsdorf will be Prussia ' b representat ive at Frankfort . The PniHsiiiiL ( ioverninent communicated if . 8 resolution to the friendly States ; most of which , especially the little Thuringiitn Princes , ttaxe Altenburg , Meiningcn , Coburg , Uotha , &e ., & . c , which were chained to the chariot of Pruwhia all through the content , and the llanse Cities , have agreed to ttecoud tho movement of their Louder , and have already , in worn *) iiiwtauceti , appointed ami despatched thai *
Ministers to Frankfort . Bavaria , Saxony , Hanover a nd Wurtemberg have not as yet come to any declaration on the subject ; but it seems that at Vienna itself the restoration of the Old Diet is viewed with no unfriendly eye , and , in that case , th « measure can meet with no serious opposition in any quarter Count Thun had indeed been summoned from Frankfort to Vienna , and this was looked upon as a protest on the part of Austria against the new Prussian pro - posal ; but the Cabinet of Vienna seem now disposed to view the matter with a favourable eye , and Count Thun is likely to be sent back to his post .
Thus does Germany , after three years of convulsion , find herself precisely at the point she started from . Prussia , who , it is calculated , has sacrificed more than forty millions of thalers in a contest which , but for her irresoluteness and faintheartedness , would have secured in her favour that supremacy over the destinies of Germany , to which she was so clearl y entitled , can find no safe retreat , save only upon the very ground on which Austria had her , and is now surer than ever to have her , at a decided advantage .
It is as yet uncertain whether or not the Dresden conferences will be suffered to continue ; though it has long been asserted that Prince Schwarzenberg no longer intends to return to the Saxon capital . But the reestablishment of the Frankfort Diet puts for ever at an end all deliberative power of those conferences , and , if they are indeed any longer to sit , it will only be for form ' s sake , or at the utmost to tender their advice and suggestions—to make propositions to be submitted to the consideration of the Diet .
If everything turns out as xt is now anticipated , Germany will once more have a centref and Frankfort will again exercise a certain control over its destinies ; but , even admitting that all the German States will consent to this backward step , it is difficult to imagine that either the nation or the princes themselves will allow the Diet to pursue the even tenor of its existence on the same smooth and easy terms as it did before the revolution . The great questions which have been debated before the National Assembly , before the Erfurt Congress , before the Dresden Conferences , will now be submitted to the plenipotentiaries of the Diet , and become the subject
of endless discussions . Certainly no good can be expected from a body of men working in the dark , and only acting in obedience to the dictates of an oldfashioned and narrow-minded diplomacy . Still the jealousy and ambition of the different parties , the pretensions of Prussia , the arrogant demands of Austria , the new claims of Bavaria and the other royal potentates , will not allow the plenipotentiaries much leisure to doze in their chairs . Moreover , the German people , however egregiously dumb-foundered for the present , are not likely to have gone to sleep to all eternity ; the same upraised hands and angry voices that scared the old Diet from its residence
in 1848 , will not fail to come and beset it with pressing and importunate demands . If at the latter named epoch they took it by storm , they will now be satisfied with besieging and blockading it . " What are you doing , what do you intend to do for Fatherland ? " Such will be the cry ; and , however gagged and fettered , the German press has still power enough to report progress if any is made , or to denounce its rulers' inactivity if they remain stationary .
The trench and Prussian papers would lead us to believe that the great project of incorporation of all the non-German provinces of Austria into the German Bund has been altogether abandoned , owing especially to the remonstrances of French and English agents—nominally of Lord Cowley , to Prince Schwarzenberg . So far as we can gather from Austrian and German authorities in general , it would , at any rate , appear that the Austrian Minister stoutly denies the right of any non-German power to interfere in the arrangements to which the members of the German Confederacy may amicably come to between them . We insist upon our assertion that the German people us a mass , and all the German States with tho exception of Prussia , will consider the annexation of the Sclavonic and Italian Provinces of Austria to their
great empire i \ n a consummation highly conducive to their material advantages , and will , to a great extent , be . inclined to look upon it as a compensation for the disappointment they have suffered in their expectation of the establishment of liberul institutions amongst them . We Hhull not be surprised if the plan of incorporation proves to be the very first topic discussed before the Diet on itu reestabliahment , and if it meet with the approbation of a large majority of the German plenipotentiaries . Nor axe we inclined to think
that any protent against the scheme on the part ol Fnuice or England would meet with any serious attention , unlest * it were l > acked hy the moremginiieH " remonstrauce of Kuutria ; for to thin we are , indeed , come at la » t , thut nothing prevents the absorption of Pruuttia and of all Germany on the part oi' Austria ; nothing Haven us from the formation of an empire that would m > on diHturb all the balance of power , save only the jealousy of KuBtua ; and the Kmperor NicholikH mu » t now be looked upon as tho guardian and deliverer of Europe . Tho oiHcial papers of Denmark publish a scries of proposition * to bo laid before the Cluunbenof Notables
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336 $ tt ) tf 3 Lt&itt . [ Saturday ,
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), April 12, 1851, page 336, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1878/page/4/
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