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    TSTn. M3. September 18,1858. 1 T H E Ii ...

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    LORD STRATFORD DE REDCLIFFE. Lord Sxkatf...

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    „ SG&.lia&SM^T^IA-^^^^ Ix is not often t...

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    The Press In Belgium And Piedmont. Since...

    misleading , light has been all but hidden ; and in its absence the lesser luminaries of Brussels and Turin have naturally attracted more regard . We must do o Belgian brethren the justice of saving that they have shown themselves in every \ ray worthy of the task that has devolved upon them . Writing as they have done dur ing the last seven years under the muzzle of the imperial guns , they have seldom , if ever , been wanting in courage or candour . Again and again they have beeii insolently menaced by the authorities of the Tuilencs ; but they have met such menaces with calm intrebluster hav

    pidity , and without petulance or they e pursued the honest tenour of their way . They nave seen their dearest privileges , nay , the very guarantees of their existence itself , put hi jeopardy by the rash violence of men who , driven from their own country , have sought in Belgium the means of weekly or daily denunciation of the authors of their exile . These organs of the ostracised are vehemently republican , and , as may well be supposed , vindictively anti-imperialist . But their principles find no echo in the native Belgian press , which is emphatically temperate , with few and obscure exceptions . The confidence which has

    been generated in all classes of the community in the loyalty of the King and the adequacy of the constitution is reflected , in the moderation of tone which characterises the most , influential journals , whether Liberal or Conservative . L'E }> iancipalio ? i is , perhaps , the ablest organ of Catholic and Conservative opinions , and enjoys deservedly much influence among the opulent and educated laity ; but while the sympathies of its party tend towards imperialism , it adheres unswervingly to the national faith in self-government ; and though many of its supporters are disposed to favour a protectionist

    policy , it undeviatingly maintains the wisdom and policy of free trade . L'Econoitiiste Beige , L'Eloile , and Sanolio ( th . eC / iarivari of Brussels ) may be cited as similar instances , though in- a different way . But tlie most remarkable , and , in many respects , the most admirable proof of skill and enterprise in continental journalism , is L'Independence Belge ^ which , without abandoning the maxims on which it was ori g inally Touiided as a watchful and fearless sentinel of national rights , has aspired to play a cosmopolitan part , and has succeeded for a considerable time in doing so with spirit and dignity .

    It was m 1845 , if we mistake not , that , under the advice of M . Rogier , the present head of the administration , its proprietors were induced to assign to it this new role , and to undertake the large additional expenditure which such a venture entailed . By degrees it has come to have separate editions for Germany , for France , for the Baltic , aud . for Belgium . AM these require to be separately edited ; and in addition thereto a great number of correspondents contribute to its amusing columns political and personal information from every country in Christendom . That it is sometimes misled cannot be denied , but it is not the less true

    that many of the plots of diplomacy and the treacheries of despotism have been first revealed in its f > agcs . Its annual expenditure , literary and poliical , inaepondcut of paper and type , is said to be as great as that of many oi pur own London daily journals- Nothing can bo more cautious or measured than the language it habituall y employs , and nothing in phraseology less provooative of tho hostility of the prohibitory post-ouicc . But how efliciently it performs its duty to public liberty is indicated by the froqucut seizuro at tho frontiers of eveu the edition . prepared for the French niarkut . . Tq . offer , its . JFroficU subscriber ' ^ copies of the same imprint that is intended for tho free readers of Brussels , Copenhagen , or Amsterdam , would bo simply absurd . Not one of them would over penotrate through the literary lazaretto which Louis Nanoleon has

    cstabhshed at every border town and village of tho empire . Tho two or three thousand subscribers in Franco to L'Iud ( fjtouda / ico Beige uro but too thankiul to have nino-tcuths of its news and comments , which they would not bo allowed to have if the obnoxious tithe wore not omitted . Instead of tho impossible excerpt being out out , something that ia I " " ! " ff 0 C nu 4 JP f W int . n .-nMl . i . n ,. ^ -l , t—TC ., » » . ) voiffleTsis lnsevtod , aud thus in general tho edition lnad p up for Franco is pormittcd to oU-culato t he . re binulur earo and tact is used regarding that which w intondod for circulation in Germany nud Kussia and will ) Uip like ciroct . ' ¦ The disprotion und good tompor , as well as high ability , ovinood by tho Bolgiau press has had its own reward—it has ensured tlio preservation of its trcodow . Under pressure uuprooodentod and

    almost unparalleled the Government and people it has served so faithfully and so well have stood true in its defence , and have resisted at no ordinary perilevery attempt to fetter or subvert it . It were a very bad compliment to a sober or enlightened nation to ascribe such resistance to an abstract sentiment of pride rather than to a practical sense of justice and of policy . Had ; their newspapers been reckless and vituperative in their mode of dealing with great public questions , instead of logical and persuasive , firm and dignified , the duty of self-preservation would have long since been heard pleading against the duty of preserving them . But it is iust because the Belgian journals have

    with a clear instinct discussed the true path of the national interest , and have steadily abstained from deviating therefrom , that their preservation has come to be habitually bound up with that of national existence , and that no party or section of weight or worth pretends to distinguish between the two . They are not regarded—as in some other countries thoughtless and intemperate journals have deservedly been—as a sor t of Ba & hi-Bazouks equally dangerous to friends and foes , but as the recognised standard-bearers of the national defence , round which individual patriotism trustingly rallies , and to which those in command continually point . We find that we have not room to-day for any comparative notice of the . Sardinian press . We shalf resume the subject in another number .

    Tstn. M3. September 18,1858. 1 T H E Ii ...

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    Lord Stratford De Redcliffe. Lord Sxkatf...

    LORD STRATFORD DE REDCLIFFE . Lord Sxkatfobd be Redcliffe , after a brief sojourn at Paris , has at length set out for Constantinople . What is his purpose in going thither ? and in what capacity is he gone ? Our French neighbours , who have always looked on him as the incarnation of national jealousy , and the very embodiment of th e inappeasable spirit of anti-Gallicanism they impute to John Bull , are extremely curious to know what the testy old gentleman is really about ; and failing to glean any reasonable account of the matter from English newspapers or English gossips , they have busied themselves during the past week in . fabricating and retailing conjectural explanations of the ex-Ambassador's

    on . But has he a mission of any kind that can be termed official , after all ? Everybody who knows anything of the usages of diplomacy must be aware that when a sovereign has aii accredited representative at the court of another , a second envoy of similar rank can only be sent for some special object with the capacity and with the title of Minister or Ambassador Extraordinary , as the case may be . It was with such functions and powers that Lord Minto was sent to Italy in 1 S 47 ; and it was thus that Lord John Rus 3 ellwas sent to Vienna in 1 S 55 .

    In the latter instance , Lord Westmoreland , the ordinary representative of Great Britain in Austria , was not , indeed , superseded , but he took for the ¦ time a secondary position , and in all matters of moment was bound to defer to the judgment of his temporary chief . When the special negotiations wero over , for which Lord John ( unluckily for himself ) was induced to visit Vienna , " old hum-drum , " as tho musical carl was commonly called , resumed his former part , and continued to mutter on in a low , inarticulate manner , as he had done before . If Lord Stratford had undertaken any special mission

    to . the Porte , ho must , therefore , assumo precedency of Sir'Henry Bulwcv during his stay at Stamboul . Tho mystery would then bo at an end , ' and the diplomatic riddle read , But as this is not seriously anticipated by tho most gullible of ' gobo-mouc / ion , some other version must bo devised , and an equivocal character invented in which perfidious Albion 1 ms scut forth her trustiest envoy . It is to no purposo that his Lordship repudiates all responsibility and authority . His curt disclaimers are not ; believed , lie travels with a brilliant : suite . He is

    loo haughty a man wantonly to visit the scene in a private and powerless capacity where for twenty yeui'a-liG-oxevoired ^ Tr tmrirclTfl ^^ aversion ho has so frequently expressed for his successor , and tho inoil ' ablo air of superior knowledge , aldl ) , and inllucnoo ho lias always assumed whenever t )| cy wore brought in | o contact , noiulcrs it , no doubt , somowhatditllcult tp imngino how ( hey could got on amicably toftolhor , of all places in the world , on tho banks of the Bosphorus . With all his good qualitios , tho veteran diplomatist has novor been able to restrain tho arrogance aud irritability of his

    temper ; and his almost feminine jealousy of everj one , whether English , French , Austrian , or Russian , who has in his time presumed to advise the Sultaii on affairs of weight , has been the theme of ridicule and reproach amongst all on whose self-love he has trodden . When Lord Clarendon used sometimes to ask for an answer to some suggestion made in a solemn and verbose despatch , six months old , Lord Stratford would coolly intimate that he had not had leisure at the time of its receipt to enter into explanation of the reasons why the suggestion from Downingstreet was obviously inapplicable or inopportune . . *

    His rivals of the corps diplomatiquewere treated with as little ceremony . He despised their comparative ignorance of the affairs of Turkey , and was too much engrossed with the really honest and cordial anxiety for their extrication from ruin , to waste time in vindicating his own arbitrary mode of procedure , or instructing others how to help him if inclined . No English Minister of the present century ever sriubbea so many personages of note at home or abroad . As for Sir Henry Bulwer , he made no disguise of his contempt for that feeble and frivolous make-believe of a gnat diplomatist . He told Sir Henry , on his arrival at Constantinople as special commissioner , to arrange the affairs of the Principalities , that he was not to be duped as

    to the ultimate aim with which he had come thither ; he knew , he said , that the plausible petit maitre was come to supplant him as ambassador , but that he did not intend to permit the guardianship of the Porte to fall into such incompetent hands until they were in a better condition . And . it i 3 no secret that , anxious as Lord'Clarendon was to get rid of him , he dared not supersede him in the post he had filled so long with matchless energy and ability . At length , weary of the ingratitude ancl spite of Downing-street , and somewhat prematurely confident , perhaps , that the perils of the Porte were passed , he resolved spontaneously to offer his resignation ; it was eagerly accepted , and Sir H . Bulwer , having more family interest with the present Administration than he had with that of Lord -Palmers-ton , and being quite as ready to fall in with the views of the one as with those of

    the other , was appointed in his room . It is said , and not wholly , we believe , without foundation , that expectations were at onetime held put to Lord Stratford of the portfolio of foreign affairs in Lord Derby ' s Cabinet . As the relative and friend of Mr . Canning , there would have been a peculiar grace in such an appointment by the present Premier , whose first nomination to office was in 1 S 27 , when he was made Under Secretary of State by that illustrious man . But in politics there is little room for gratitude or sentiment of any kind . Lord Derby thought , in all probability , that he was

    running risk enough by taking one unmanageable man of genius into his Cabinet ; and his experience of Lord Ellenborough , who stood regarding Indian affairs in pretty much the same position of pecu-: liar aptitude as Lord Stratford did respecting those of Southern and Eastern Europe , was not calculated to encourage him to repeat the experiment . Our own belief is , that however timely the visit of the ex-Ambassador may be to Constantinople , he has no diplomatic mission there , either official or secret . We fear that his presence in the Turkish

    capital has been necessitated by the meanness of the Foreign Ofiiee , which is accused of having refused to pay certain liabilities contracted by him without direct authority for the publjq , seryjeo ., during the war . TheT utility of some of the expenditure was questioned by Lord Clarendon , and Lord Malinesbury hesitates to run , counter to what his predecessor did . To make out a formal case for payment , the presenco of Lord Stratford once more among tho agents aud jobbers of Pera , who formerly obeyed his every behest with alacrity , may possibly have been rendered indispensable .. But if so , tho necessity rellcots little credit on those who have compelled tho old man to make- such a journey .

    „ Sg&.Lia&Sm^T^Ia-^^^^ Ix Is Not Often T...

    „ SG & . lia & SM ^ T ^ IA- ^^^^ Ix is not often that the Scottish legal oilicers ap pointed umler successive ministries gain for themselves , in the short parliamentary career which precedes their inevitable elovation io tho houoh , any wider reputation than their professional labours have given them beyond the Tweed . Tho English public know only tho olllees known by the designations " Lord Advocate" and " SoUoHor-GonoHJ fpr Bootr

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), Sept. 18, 1858, page 15, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_18091858/page/15/