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acting on behalf of England , and not , like lord Palmerston , oh belialf of Austria , declined as an innocuous , though ingenious novelty in the game of war . It was , therefore , impossible to maintain the sham any further , and accordingly , in the words of the report , " the learned counsel stated that although the accumulation of riuch stores was sufficiently dangerous in itself to justify interference , it was not pretended for a moment that the Government had been actuated by this consideration only . " Then came the witnesses , detectives—whose duty it is to obtain evidence by means of falsehoods and
disguises , and whose peculiarity it is that in subsequently detailing it they invariably forget their business habit of inveracity—and Hungarians , who , being under obligations to M . Kossuth , naturally abhorred him . Mr . Hale was of course forgotten , and the magistrate , for whom we anticipate a judgeship , was absorbed in the interesting but irrelevant details given by " an officer in the Prussian artillery , " and others , with regard to that simple-minded refugee whom Austria unnecessarily hates , and who , if we are to put faith in our Ordnance Board , does not knovv a bad firework from an effective infernal
machine . BLossuth , who was not present , was in effect put upon his trial ; an ingrate , for whom in his indiscriminate , instinctive charity , the noble exile had obtained employment , did the work of thfc Home Office ; and the statement of the Times , the accusation of Lord Palmerston , was supported by a recently emancipated convict . " The officer in the Prussian artillery " came fresh from Maidstone gaol vid Carlton Gardens and the Treasury , to tender the
Government his sympathies and his support ; the magistrate who puts faith equally in Lord Palmerston , in adetective , and in a gentleman found guilty of theft , hastened to say that he—who might have dismissed the case , or might have convicted summarily—should not be doing his duty unless he sent it to the Sessions ; and Mr . Hale , the scapegoat of M . Kossuth , was committed for trial in fact for knowing Kossuth , and ostensibly for making harmless , but illegal rockets .
Last night Sir Joshua Walmsley asked Lord Palmorston whether this magisterial investigation into the seizure of warlike stores at Hotherhithe , had resulted iu substantiating the charge that Kossuth was connected therewith . The noble lord referred him to the newspapers . Mr . Bright—all honour to him for it —rebuked the noble lord for his evasion , reminded the House that Koasutli had been slandered by the Government organ , and insisted upon knowing whether the proceedings against the Hales had been instigated by the Home Office .
Lord Palmerston waa politely surprised at Mr . Bright ' s " ignoi'ance ; " assured that gentleman that it was the constitutional duty of the Home Secretary to " lake steps to obtain information " if he " had reason to believe" that any man , foreign or otherwise , waa contemplating a violation of the law , and stated that the proceedings against the llnk' 8 were authorized , initiated , and directed by him . J 3 ut the noble lord , who is fond of generalities , said nothing about Kossuth . Mr . Cobden came to Mr . Bright ' s assistance , hoping , perhaps believing , that three plain questions would elicit one straightforward answer . Ho asked on what information the noble lord
had set spies to watch Kossuth , and whence that information came . Meanwhile the opposition shouted disapproval of these anti-Austrian inquiries , and became enthusiastic for the Home Secretary as they grow certain that his liberalism was of precisely the same shade as theirs . Lord Palmerston responded , explaining the secret of his diplomacy , but , of course , not replying to the thrico repeated interrogation . Ho knew nothing about Kossuth whoso name he had never mentioned , Jtnd ho was not responsible for anything that might appear in any of the newspapers ! Mr . Phinn aslcod the noble lord whether it was intended to proceed against Kossuth .
Lord Palmerflton ( apparently mistaking the tense ) said , —No proceedings had been taken against that distinguished refugee . Lord Dudley Stuart then pointed the moral of the debate , and tho Houho which finds honesty , like other excellentpolicion , very seldom adopted , passed on to another subject . Hut tho public will pause- at this . WalaiHloy , and Cobden , and Bright will bo ocoguiaod aa Bonaothing more thau Manchester
men , and Lord Palmerston . as something very considerably less .
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ENGLISH INTEREST IK INDIAN REFORM . One of the persons at the head of the deputation to Paris for the promotion of peace between England and France , and of railways between Paris , and some other towns , was Mr . John Masterman , son of a respectable gentleman , who is Member for the City of London , banker , and Director of the East India Company . It is to be supposed that John inherits the sentiments of his father , and one may therefore treat this proceeding of the younger gentleman , as if it were sanctioned by the Member , banker , and East India Director . One is surprised , however , that any person possessing the political and financial opportunities of the elder Masterman , should not have perceived how much more prudent and patriotic it would be , if English capital must go a begging , to bestow it upon purposes more likely to be safe for the capitalist and beneficial to the empire , than in adding to the resources of his Majesty Napoleon III . If , for example , the younger Mr . Masterman could have been induced to bestow his investment upon that vast province which his father holds in
co-partnery with twenty-three other gentlemen , it might have been more beneficial to the empire , and we truly believe safer for the persons making the investments than it is now . If France wants railways , India wants them more ; if profit will accrue from French railroads , unquestionably the profit will be greater in India . The only condition to a certainty of return in India is reasonably good government : and Mr . John Masterman's papa could of course secure that . In all countries where labour is cheap and production limited , not by the natural power of the soil , but by access to markets , roads are the true paths to wealth . Even in the wilds of Worth
America a road proves to be , first a path for settlement into the wilderness , secondly a path for produce out of the wilderness into the market of the world . There is every reason to suppose that the same principle would apply to India . In that country a considerable proportion of the population stands idle , not because the land would not repay labour , but because produce cannot find its way to market , and chiefly for want of roads . The Mussulman system has not proved to be a road-building system ; Pontifex Maxiraus , Big Bridge-maker , is still a title distinctive of Christianity as distinguished from the Saracenic rule . If Christian Missionaries have made little
way in India , if development of Indian resources has also made little way , perhaps both shortcomings may be traced to the want of roads . Could we establish the means of transit , English ideas might traverse that empire with far greater effect , and Indian produce might j ) enetrate more completely to this country . It really is desirable that those w ho have material interests in the welfare of India should look about them ; the proprietors for example—that mysterious body which is supposed to appoint the government of India ; and which occasionally holds " courts" to wranerle on questions that are
never settled . The relation of the proprietors to the Imperial Government is this . r J he sum of 12 , 000 , 000 / 5 , sterling is guaranteed to the holders of stock , with an annual charge of 630 , 0 OO £ ., payable as dividend out of tho revenues of India ; tho capital not to be redeemed by the British Government until 1874 .. Now 12 , 000 , 000 ^ . is " an arithmetical expression , " as Prince Metternich would say : that is , it represents a measure without representing the quality , or intrinsic worth of tho thing measured : 12 , 000 , 000 *
of money now is worth more than 12 , 000 , 000 t . of money is likely to be in 1 S 74 i ; and if tho East India proprietors nhould be paid off in 1874 i , literally and according to the terms of the compact , they might in practice receive but half thoir value . Alivo to that possibility , they may insist upon now terms , —iipon a sort of special ropeal for them of the act of 1819 . But
such a revision would entail consequences bo vast in every direction , that no Minister would undertako it . If they wait to bo paid in 1874 ! , they must bo glad to get ton shillings in tho pound , under the rmrno always of tho full pound . But , as Sir Robert Pool said , " what is a pound P " Now suppose they were to imitate Mr . Glud-Btono ' fi policy , and mobilizing their debt , wore to render it available for capital in improving tho resources of th © country with whion they are
nominally connected P Their 12 , 000 , 000 / . sterling is likely to possess only half the present value in 74 ; but by a parity of reasoning , property that would now cost 12 , 000 , 000 ^ . sterling in money , would then be worth double that amount ; that is the smallest calculation . Little England posesses railways that have cost between 200 , 000 , 000 ? . and 300 , 000 , 000 ^ . ; vast India might profitably employ as great an extension of line , though it does not follow that it would cost as much . The sum of 12 , 000 , 0002 ., however ,
would make a good beginning ; especially if a path to develope Indian resources were rendered open and secure by good government . But a body of Englishmen possessing any material hold upon the funds , and possessing workable property in India , would be in themselves a valuable guarantee for improved government , by establishing in this country a public opinion witn . a practical interest . In these suggestions we the lan
have but shadowed forth the outline of p suggested by Mr . John Chapman , the wellknown publicist , who has a local and practical knowledge of the subject which , he treats . If he has a bias in favour of railways as the grand paths to civilization , it is not only natural , but much may be said in support of it , especially for a country like India , which , in many respects , maybe compared to America for the extent of territory and the space to be traversed by produce j with this difference , that the country is already peopled .
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« A STRANGER" IN PARLIAMENT . The great parliamentary fact of the week is , that Lord Palmerston and Messrs . Walmsley , Cobden , and Bri g ht , have had a quarrel about Kossuth ; that Mr . Bright was very pale while Lord Palmerston was getting tip a laugh against his " constitutional knowledge ; " and that two-thirds of the House of Commons—more particularly the Tory benches—cheered a Coalition Government , while it was rebuking Radicals for questioning
the Great British propriety of introducing the continental police spy system into our glorious institutions . What it all means , nobody knows ; and the cheering of the House shows that nobody cares ; and , ad interim , waiting Lord Palmerston ' s explanations , sensible people will enjoy the spectacle of the presenters of the portrait of Lord Palmerston , assuring one another that the " Civis Brittannicus sum" hero is an Austrian tool . And the enlightened country will appreciate a Coalition Government which does not even leave out Touche " .
But a Government which has got on so well lately can afford to be suspected a little ; and we must keep in mind that with a large party the present Government has to sustain a character for e&er-Aberdeenism , and that therefore the affectation of a little healthy political meanness may be necessary to the obtaining a power for usefulness . A little vice in a young Government , as in young men , is perhaps a good sign ; and the juvenile Whig is just the man to now a eurpl usage of wild oats . Besides , when we accept a Coalition Government , we must expect only average liberalism—a " mean" result , in fact . —and it is our duty , consequently , to take the Cabinet policy , as we take the Budget , " as a whole . " There is a good deal that is
pleasant to balance against tho police system of the pcrquisitioniwg Palmerston . We have to ask , " if under such and such circumstances Palmeraton , who at least has pretensions to sustain , does so and so , what would Mnhncsbury have done ? " Palmerwton mny have yielded slightly to the pressure from within—Malmesbury might have had Kossuth in Vienna by this time . Wo cannot comparo tho present Government with tho possible coming men of an abstract model cabinet : wo muHt calculate whether they are not generally preferable to tho only contingent successors . Fortunately for the Coalition , it is no longer in tho melancholy position painted by Lord Derby , when he retired from office , and when he observed , that as Lord Aberdeen
and be generally agreed on most points , he could not understand what practicable chango of policy there was going to bo : Lord Derby having relieved his old friend from tho difficulty by drawing a bold lino between them—by presenting a tangible distinction for the use of a public who would otherwise have remained puzzled But Lord Derby is notoriously chivalric and goodnatured : and he has done wonders in serving tliOHO
who turned him out . His brink opposition to the Cftnsida Clergy Retterves Rill waft a complete and noWlo oelf-Hacrifice ; for it advanced the Government inoaflculably in tho public estimation . JjorA Derby « ame out aa tho intense , bigoted , irrational , liopeleBS Tory ; and by very force of contrnut , tho Ministers whom bo hud opposed appeared next day to the public to be eoaious and even rather reckless liberals—the ( Biiihop of fixflfcer going iso far as to iroggttt , with * « h « d « ier , -ttiiWt ttay
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424 tf H E tEABS & [ Saturd ay ,
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), April 30, 1853, page 424, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1984/page/16/
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