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AUSTRIAN AND RUSSIAN AGENCY IN ENGLISH PUBLIC OFFICES . We have no desire to impute motives of treachery to our Government , and yet a strong suspicion forces itself upon us that they are acting as traitors to the principles which they profess—to the vital principles of the British constitution , in a manner the most hazardous to its independence and its iiberty . We now have before us some evidence on the case of Mr . Hale , some facts on the statement of Ministers themselves , and some avowals which they make on another ground , not at all disconnected with , the subject of the late " seizure of arms . " We invite the reader ' s close attention to the facts as they are now ascertained , and to the inevitable inference which accrues on putting those facts together . Mr . William Hale has long been known as the inventor of a particularly destructive kind of rocket , intended for the purposes of war ; he has offered to sell rockets of that kind to the British Government , and he has been engaged in that manufacture for customers who have applied to him . He has supplied more than one foreign Government—that of Denmark , amongst others ,
in the war with Schleswig Holstein . We may regret that a British subject should have served , even as a tradesman , on the side which appears to us not to be that of justice ; but we may observe in passing , that if Mr . Hale was free to sell projectiles for the Government of Denmark , he ought to be in logic , in justice , and in the view of this country , as free to serve the patriots of Hungary . We might push the argument a little further ,
and say , that he would be as free to serve the patriots of Hungary as Lord Castlereagh was to serve the patriots of Sicily , which that legitimist statesman did , while it answered his own purpose . But the constitutional politician will never lose sight of the fact , that the present royal Government in Hungary is a usurpation , and that the Hungarian patriots were more distinctly standing up for the constitution of their country than our Barons in the time of John , or our Whigs in the time of William .
Now , if any distinctions aro made adverse to the dealings of Mr . Halo with any party abroad , it is from the bearings of those distinctions that we must learn the inclination of the Ministers who enforce them . Thus , if the British Government permits Mr . Halo to serve out ammunition for the King of Denmark , and forbids him to serve it out for the patriots of Hungary , wo must suppose that tho British Government sides with the Xing of Denmark , and sides against tho patriots of Hungary . That is not impartial dealing , nor political justice . But thore is something considerably moro important than the mere bearing of the case on Mr . Hale . Lord Palmers ton made a statement in
the House of Commons which was marked by inaccuracies—such an his doubling tho quantity of rocket composition , and declaring that there was also gunpowder on the premises , distinct from this rocket composition , if not " arms . " It now appears , from tho evidence at the Police Court , that there was nothing there but the rocket composition , which has chemically 11 resemblance to gunpowder , but differs from it considerably . The " shells" which were on tho premises are a constituent part of this destructive rocket . Those inaceumcies in Lord Palmorston ' s statement , admit led by himself , are rather important , an circumstantial evidence , in being tho wimi ) kind of inaccuracies which murker ! the first
report , put forth in the Times—not where news usually appears , but in tho loading columns , and with the tone of an oflicial announcement . It was thore said that the seizure had been made at » dwelling-house of M . KoBSuth ; the journal
ridiculed the idea that arms could be amongst the " household" stores of " a private gentleman , " arid spoke of this discovery as justifying the police surveillance and search of M . Kossuth ' s residence . It would thus appear that the information given to the Times and to Lord Palmerston had a common sotirce , since they both have exactly the same flaw . Now , on the ground where the rockets were seized , there was , in fact , no evidence whatever to connect the factory , the rockets , or the owner , with Kossuth ; and we are at a loss to understand how Ministers and the
Times could have arrived at any suggestions connecting the two . It might have been grossly illegal for Mr . Hale to cultivate rockets in that garden beyond the Isle of Dogs , but whatwas there in the crop to point to M . Kossuth as the eventual purchaser P Given the height of a blade of corn , and the rent of the acre , and you cannot tell the purchaser ' s name . Nor is conjecture enough . There are at present , markets for such a commodity as rockets , far more promising than Hungary . There are not many dealers , in this very week , who would be inclined to speculate in the
chances of sale for such wares on a Hungarian demand . But there are other markets , such for example as South America or the Mexican Gulf . In that quarter there are places which will very probably witness a brisk dealing , and we need not wonder if rockets were rising . We only mention these circumstances to snow , that the simple fact of discovering the rockets at Hotherhithe is not sufficient in itself to suggest the name of M . Kossuth to the most sagacious of politicians or policemen . The suggestion , therefore , must have been derived elsewhere .
Now , we learn from M . Kossuth , that a letter had been transmitted from his house to Mr . Hale . Assuredly this is a connecting link ; but how should Ministers learn anything about it ? They might hear of it by two channels . M ~ . Kossuth states , that police nave been set to watch his household , and even to enter it as members of it . The journal that put forth , information respecting M . Kossuth , which Lord Palmerston first paraphrased and now declares to have been false , throws ridicule on this idea . But we have more
than once had declarations of Ministers that the refugees are watched , and we have ourselves reason to suspect that before now the Government has possessed the means of pursuing its search for information , which would enable it to penetrate much more intimately into M . Kossuth ' s moat private arrangements than he himself might suspect . The use of police is not denied by
Ministers , but there is another mode of getting at these things . If letters are opened at the postoffice , the connecting link between M . Kossuth and Mr . Hale would have come before the eyes of the Home Secretary as a matter of course . We do not say that it was bo , because wo do not know . Perhaps Lord Palmerston would not deny the fact if he were asked it point blank . But at all events ho declares that Ministers have
a guilty knowledge respecting the confidential proceedings of the Hungarian refugees , and that they use that guilty knowledge for tho purpose of frustrating tho constitutional patriots of Hungary . Domestic espionage might bo one means by which Ministers might learn that a letter had gone from Kossuth's house to Mr . Hale . There is another channel by which the same fact would be learned ; or , if a hint were given by the watchman , that letters had been transmitted , the second agency would be sot to work
in aid . Tho letter had to go through the postoffice , but it never reached its destination . What has become of it P Is it in the Dead Letter office , or the Homo office , or in the Austrian embassy P Was it expected at the post-office , and recognised externally ; or is the practice of letter-opening revived ? To a certain extent facts aro known , but thou the track is lost , and concealment always suggests suspicion . Mr . Duneornbe should ask questions on these- points ; perhaps tho answer might clear our ( government .
In the Turkish debate , Lord Clarendon boasted that tho Austrian Government had made communications to our own in " the most friendly spirit . " Lord Clarendon vouches" for the fact that the . " Emporor of liussia " had practised no disguise ; " ho dcclaros that " her Majesty ' s Government feel precisely tho same confidence which his noble friend professed to entertain , in the honour and integrity of the Emperor of R-UBsia ; and when that sovereign gave his word as to what he waa going to do , and what he was not
going to do , he believed that the people of thia country would place full reliance on it . " JNp doubt this is said upon a specific subject , but we learn from it that our present Ministers are prepared to put the most liberal constructions wpoa . the bare word of the Emperor of Russia , and . that they have the most friendly relations with Austria—the two powers which suppressed the constitution of Hungary , while at the saitie time our Government is trying to thwart the patriotic exertions of Kossuth , and is employing agaiftst him police espionage . The hands j ^ re tne lianas of Englishmen , but the voice is '/ the voice of Austria . Have we , then , an Austrian Government arranging our affairs P If is a question which concerns ourselves . /
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A GENDARMERIE FOB TJtE ENOLISH COUNTIES / The proceeding in the Ho ^ se of Conxmdiis oil Tuesday night ought to hpe called forth from that assembly , as the representative of the people , an expression of touch greater jealousy than it did . Mr . Bice , the member for Dover , and pertaining more or less plosely to the Whig party , obtained a select committee to mquire into the police of tne country districts of England and Scotland , with the professed yiew of establishing a " national police" throughout
the country . , . The effect of this ' proceeding must depend in a great degree upon , the manner in which any measure founded upon it shall be carried out . We can imagine it possible to establish a national police with great benefit to public order , and with no danger to public liberty ; but we can imagine such a force as would purchase public order by the total destruction of anything like real liberty in the body of the English people . Ihe whole question is , whether the police is to be national , merelvin the sense of being a hody composed on
a uniform plan , and extending over the wnole country , or whether it is to be a force like the Irish constabulary and the English army , deriving its authority and its orders from head-quarters . If it is the latter , it is nothing more than a section of the standing army , available for purposes much more insidious and oppressive than red-coated soldiers can be . We have experience of a centralized Force such as we speak of , but not in England . All iorc
the most striking examples ot such a e are derived from countries in which the Government undertakes to regulate the -people , not only abroad but in their houses ; to follow the citizen into " his own castle , " to tell him more than what to eat drink , and avoid ; for it is employed to instruct him when to smoke or not to smoke
—what hat to wear , or not to wear—what to read and not to read—what to say or not to say —what to think and not to think . In short , the police in such countries is used to regulate all the functions of vitality , in hands and ^ head , brain , mouth , and stomach . Austria , France , and tho more absolute countries of Germany , furnish the best types of this class of " national
police . " We have also a uniform centralized police force in the English metropolis . Now , there is a groat distinction between a metropolitan and a national force . In tho first place , while the force is limited to the metropolis it is exceptional , and it is therefore deprived to a great extent of a national authority . In tho second place , so many influences are centralized in tho metropolis , including the national representation , that tho Executive is Icept in chock . London is
corrected by tho provinces , and we all know that the country towns ran speak out now with a life and freedom almost unknown to our unwieldy " wen . " Tho police force introduced by Sir . Itobert Peel was a groat improvement on the idlo Rtreet-keepors and the superannuated old watchmen . The guardians of tho street by day exorcised their principal utility by keeping little boys in check ; and tho watchman by night served only two purposes—to awaken invalids
by telling them what it was o ' clock , and to be tho sport of fast young gentlomen returning homo late at night , and wandering in search of victims . A bundle of great coats with an old man in it , was a favourite toy with the spirited youth in those days . The now polico , we say , was a great improvement ; but some of tho purposes to which it has been put lately , confirm the suspicion with which wo view the greater extension of a centralized force . It is used moat op-
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There is nothing so revolutionary , because there is nothing" so unnatural and convulsive , as the strain to keep tilings fixed when all the world is by the very law ot its creation in eternal progress . —Ds . Aeitolb .
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SATURDAY , APKIL 30 , 1853 .
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42 fc THE LEADER . tSATTrttftlY ,
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Leader (1850-1860), April 30, 1853, page 422, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1984/page/14/
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