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    miicH ?-, 1857.] THE LEIDER. 219

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    ' I1pekeal Parliament. • ¦ —¦—?—Monday, ...

    hubst said the law , as at present existing , is confined to the -wealthy ; the poor man is debarred , owing to tifcte expense of procedure , from obtaining redress . What then , it was asked , is to be done with the poorer class ? The answer he made to that was , that it did not follow that the expenditure of the procedure should be great . There were feur cases of adultery provided for by the bill ; he would add a fifth . When a man , after a certain number of years , abandoned his wife , broke his marriage vow , and went to a distant country , the wife should be released by law from lier obligation to him . The marriage ceremony of bur Church is beautifully impressive , both parties making- the solemn declaration to continue faithful , in health and sickness ,

    prosperity and adversity , till death part them . Surely , when the man broke that solemn contract , the woman was entitled to "be absolved from her part of it ; instead of which , the law condemns her to a long , dreary life of nnhappinoss . He therefore introduced the addition which he had mentioned , and which he commended to their Lordships' most serious attention .- —The Bishop of Exeter , in moving that the bill be read a second time three months hence , so that the Lord Chancellor might have an opportunity to consider Lord Lyndliurst ' s suggestion , took his stand , in opposition to that suggestion , on the Scriptural sentence , " "Whom God bath joined together , let no man put asunder . " —Lord St . Leonards , while on the one hand

    advocating an equal measure of relief for the poor and the rich , would not sanction a proceeding which would lead women to rush upon slight grounds to a court to obtain relief . The bill , he considered , required some amendment . He must agree with the Lord . Chancellor in this respect , that a man should be at liberty to marry the woman whom he had corrupted ; and there was nothing more disgraceful than actions for obtaining damages for a wife ' s dishonour . He could not conceive how a man . could receive the money so obtained . What he proposed was this : miikj & the oiFence a misdemeanour , vest the husband with the power of prosecuting for it , and make the punishment a fine , payable to the Crown . Upon the whole , he thought the bill

    deserved the sanction of their Lordships . —The Bishop of Oxford opposed the bill . All legislation on such a subject should seek to maintain the sanctity of marriage ; but the animus of the present measure scorned to be to invent the largest possible means of escape from the inconvenience of violated marriage . He could not perceive the propriety of admitting the poorer classes within the range of the court ; it would only lead to collusion and misrepresentation . —Lord Wexslkydai ^ e supported the second reading of the bill , observing tliat the clauses might be considered in committee . — -The Earl of Derby warmly commented upon the fact that only two members of the right reverend bench ( Oxford and Exeter ) thought the subiect worth their attendance . After

    adverting to the " disgraceful and odious actions for crhn . con ., " the noble Earl supported the second reading- of the Dill . —The Marquis of LAXswowsia-said that tho bill , if passed , ought to be immediately followed by another , having for its object the abolition of that great national Stigma— actions for criminal conversation . ( linen ; hear . ') —Earl Grey felt himself bound to oppose the bill , and support the amendment ; but , while he did so , he wished to observe that he by no means supported the existing State of things . ( I / ear , hear . ') He ¦ believed the bill to be most imperfect , and incapable of safe working . ( Hear . ) —After a few observations from Lord Kki > ksi > ai , ic in opposition to the bill , tho Loud CiiAxciiLr . on replied , and their Lordships divided , when the second reading was affirmed by 25 against 10 .

    The House then wont into committee on the High Constables Bill , which ultimately passed that stage .

    THIS WARRANT OK THE UTII OF OOTOIIER , 1851 . In tho I-Iousrc of Commons , Colonel Lindsay moved that an address be presented to her Majesty , praying that she will bo plaased to take into consideration tho injury inflicted on those licutenant-coloiicLs of the army who attained that rank before the 20 th of June , 185-1 , and who have been suspended by tho retrospective action of tho warrant of the ( Jth of October , 1851 . —Agreed to .

    rJEUSIA . Mr . Verno ?? Smith , replying to somo questions put by Mr . Gladstone , said that " the financial year , " in his letter of the 9 th Deuombor , had precisely tho mime meaning as the ensuing financial year , " in Sir Charles Trcvelyan ' s letter of tho 2 nd December . An estimate for tho Persian war for tho ensuing year had been proscnted by tho East India Company to the Board of Control , and had been transmitted by ' tho Bo : » nl of Control to tho Treasury ; but us it was based on what he hoped would be found an crroncoun supposition , viz ., that tho war with Pordia would continue ! to December , 1857 ; and , as it contained matter which in tho event of the

    continuance of the war it would be inexpedient to publish to tho enemy , it would not be presumed to Parliament . With regard to tho third question , ho had to state that no supplies or munitions of war , the properly other MajiiHty , had been despatched in aid of the Persian expedition . Tho ^ vliole oxyfjuso would bo defrayal by tho Hunt India Company , and would afterward * form the subject of an account between tho Eust India Company and tho Government .

    LAND TRANSPORT CORPS . On the motion for the postponement of the notices-of motion and orders of the day until after the adjourned debate on the China question , Mr . Duxcombe availed himself of the opportnnity again to brings forward the grievances of the Land Transport Corps . He stated that 8000 men did not know that they were to be disbanded till their return from tho Crimea , and thought themselves unfairly treated . He asked for the production of the Order in Council under which the disbandment took place . —Mr . Frederick : Peel explained that the disbandment of the Land Transport Corps did not take place under an Order in Council .

    THE CHINESE AFFAIR CONCLUDING DEBATE . Mr . Rouxdejm , Palmer resumed the adjourned debate , and contended that the lorcha was not British , and that the license had expired . Our operations were therefore quite unjustifiable , and he must support the motion . — -Colonel HKRBERr followed on the same side . — Mr . Kendall opposed the resolutions . Mr . Milner Gibson , in speaking against the Government , observed that , as regarded the allegation that the conduet of the authorities in China had received the approval of the merchants of this country , the only intimation he had received from that seat of commerce and manufactures , Manchester , had been a memorial to the Queen condemnatory of the war , and urging the recal of Sir John Bowring , Admiral Sir Michael Seymour , and Mr . Consul PaTkes . That memorial had been agreed to at a public meeting , held in the city of

    Manchester , and it proved that the mercantile interests in this country are opposed to the war . Hon . members were threatened with a dissolution ; but what was to be the motto for the hustings ? Was Lord Pahnerston ' s name to be the tower of strength ? "Was the old motto , " Peace * economy , and reform , " to give place to that of " The bombftrdnient of Canton , and no reform ? " Reverting to the question of the Arrow , he contended that , if a complaint had been made to the Emperor of China , it was not improbable that that monarch might have reprimanded and removed Commissioner Yeh ; but the Government , having commenced hostilities , had rendered it impossible for the Emperor to do justice to this country , if it had any legitimate cause of complaint against that monarch . As to the legal part of the question , he readr the opinion of Dr . Lushington , which was in favour of the resolutions . "

    M » . -Uernal- Osborne complained that the House had been worried by the legal part of the case , and he therefore invited members to discuss the matter on simple , plain , and broad principles . For the edification of Mr . Cobden , ho would read a literal translation of a Chinese document , in which was offered to any one who would capture a barbarian ' s ship a reward of 18 , 000 dollars . ( " Hear , - ' hear / " from Mr . Milncr Gibson . ) To any one who would murder a barbarian English officer , 5000 dollars . His lion , friend the member for Manchester did not cheer that . To any ono who would murder an English seaman , 1000 dollars ; and for the murder of an official , 200 dollars . With all these facts , how could Mr . Cobden get up aud tell them that they were making war upon a refined a nd harmless people ? If the House agreed to a vote of censure ,, aud Sir John Bowring were recalled

    , what would be the consequence ? Why , from letters he had received from China , he was assured that no person ' s lifo in Canton would be safe . Mr . Osborno proceeded to ridicule tho designs of the opponents of ( jo veniincnt , whom-he accused of being a motley crew of Conservatives , Pcelites , and Liberals . It was by them that the lorcha of the Government they hoped to establish was to be manned . For Lord John Eussell he entertained the p . rofoundcst respect ; but ho thought that on this occasion he had boen used as a catspaw . Ho was sure his motives were pure ; but his present supporters wore his hereditary opponents . He did not believe that a coalition would bo successful or popular iu that House , nor did he think that the people out of doora would over give their consent to a conspiracy whoso object was to displace tho noble lord nt the head of tho Government . { Loud cheers . )

    Mr . Mknlev supported , and Mr . Eokutox opposed , the resolutions . —Mr . J . G . Phillimork condemned as unworthy of such a solemn inquiry the speech of Mr . Iternal Osborne , which was composed of a species of wit almost approaching to buffoonery , and was deficient of all reasoning qualification . The English flag , it wan said , had been insulted . Yes ; but it was by those who had bombarded the defenceless , and shed the blood of tho innocent . —Mr . Uaii . luq Cochrank spoke to tho same effect . —Mr . TiroM . vs Cham nuns opposed ( he motion , and naid' that , if the allegations against Sir John Howring contained in Mr . Cobden ' s speech were true , the terms of the resolutions were absurdly inadequate and fee bio . Hut our authorities at Canton had acted on

    every man placed under the same circumstances must have acted . —Mr . Kokbl-ck asked whether these proceedings would have been thought just if enacted in tho river Mersey . Jf not , they could not bo just iu the Canton waters , though lie whs a ware thut some peoplu lu-hl one . set of morals for the Kaat and another for tho West , (/ fear , // car . ) It . wns said that the Chinese wen : l >; iilur < . us ; lull they hn < U civilisation of a peculiar sort , and , in the corrmfjonrto . mie . in the Blue-book , they Hurpasisod their anragonints in language , in feeling , and in Immunity . Much hud been said abont the English

    flag having been tarnished . It had been tarnished , not by the Chinese , but by having floated over the heads of men who carried devastation to a defenceless aad unoffending population ; it had been tarnished , not- by Commissioner Yeh , but by the English- representative in China . Mr . Gladstone rose to answer the appeal made upon him with regard to the appointment of Sir John Bowring . Lord John Russell had only considered that gentleman , from his commercial habits , a fit person to fill the subordinate office of consul at Canton ; btrfc , with regard to the appointment to tho higher office of British Minister and Plenipotentiary , neither Sir James Graham nor himself ( Mr . Gladstone ) was responsible : the

    appointment had been made by the Earl of Clarendon , and accepted by the Earl of Aberdeen ; Referring to the alleged insults by the Chines © to the English , Mr . Gladstone asserted that , during the whole period of seven years embraced in the correspondence before the House , there had only been six cases of insults by Chinese on British op by British on Chinese . So far from habitual insults , they were very rare , and this state of things was corroborated by the evidence of Mr . Jardine , a gentleman who had passed many years of his life in China , and who was well acquainted with its people . 3 Er . Japdine was well known to the Chinese , who gave him a sort of nickname , which , translated into English , means " tho iron-headed rat . " ( Laughter . ) Mr . Jardine , in his evidence before a committee of that House , had declared ,

    while he admitted the anti-social character of the Chinese , that they possess and exhibit feelings of kindness and courtesy towards foreigners . Therefore , the habitual tendency to insult was an unfounded charge . But generalities and technicalities had been resorted to as the only means of defending a cause which was really indefensible . ( Hear , hear . ) The Chinese residents In Hong-Kong were not ' ( as tho Government partisans alleged ) handed over by the Emperor of China , at the time of the treaty , to the authority of this country . Moreover , wo had violated our agreement by not endeavouring to put down the opium trade . It was the duty of England , on the present occasion , to send forth a message of mercy and peace to the Chinese . —Mr . Bentinck having in vain endeavoured to speak , ¦

    Lord Palmbkston rose amid loud cheers , and commenced by vindicating the character of Sir John Bowling . He was essentially a man of the people , and raised himself solely by his public services . He was placed in his first official capacity by him ( Lord Palmerston ) , and the appointment was made solely ' upon his proficiency . He held in his hand a letter which he had been authorized to read , showing that Lord Aberdeen consented to his being appointed to his present position , that noble lord observing— " It is not possible , I think , to find a better man . " What was tho character of Yeh ? He was as savage a barbarian belonging to aa savage a race as ever disgraced a nation upon the face of tho earth . Sir John Bowring was a inembor of the Peaoo

    Society , and , if there were any man less likely than , another to enter upon hostility without ground , lie was that man . ( Hear- , hear . ) There had pervaded t he whole of Mr . Cobden ' s speoch an abnegation of all the : duties which bind it man to his country . Everything English was wrong ; anything anti-English was just aud right . ( Cheers . ' ) The lion , member said tbo Ministers of England , are bullies to the weak , and'cowards to the strong . That was said at tho commencement of the war with . Russia ( cheers )—a war carried on by all the bravory for which English troops arc renowned . The hon . gentleman said , " You dare not have actod in this way towards America . " ( Hear , haar . ) " There was the member of tho Peace Society . jW . s . ) If thev had had in China

    the power of sending to a Minister of Polun , and that Minister could have communicated to the Emperor , no doubt the diuiculties might havo been , settled ; but thoy had not tho powor of communicating even with the local Government . The Chinese know that tho Arrow was an English vessel ; and , with that knowledge , tho boarding thu lorcha was an insult ta England . It mattered not whether by Home legal quibble the vessel could bo proved to bo not strictly ours ; the Chinese believed it was ours , and therefore tho insult was intentional . You said , that time flag could not have been flying , betcauao i t never was allowed to be hoisted , except when tho voasol was about to saU . WolL the Arrow was about to sail . ( Cheers . ) Awaythen , with tho falsehood—tho . " flagitious falsehood " —that no Hag was flying . Oa board tho lorcha was an old raiin , supposed to bo the father of a pirate oIbbwherelie seized

    . was . , upon the Chineso principle that relatives are responsible for tho actn of their fnenda ; and no doubt , if tho real pirate could not be found , the head of tho old man would be , forfeited in his . stead . ( I / car , hear . ) The affair of the lorcha wuh bill tho corollary of a long aeries of outrages by the Chinese on our countryme n , the fo rmer being ' determined not to fulfil their treaties . The right which the Chinese hud now violated is important , an our commerce can oidv 1 ) 0 carried on by Bmall vessels such as lurchut * . It hoi been said in tho course of the debate that Yeh hat caused 70 , 000 heads of Chincso to I . e struck oil wilhu a few mouths That would show the Housu that Yeh i . not that pattern of mildness and justice which honourable gentlemen had k <> atudioiiHly repnwonteil . An honourable gentleman had said that thut . statement waw a Jiicro jolta : but he ( Lord Palmcrston ) had had it confirmed by sc ' verui

    Miich ?-, 1857.] The Leider. 219

    miicH ? -, 1857 . ] THE LEIDER . 219

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), March 7, 1857, page 3, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_07031857/page/3/