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Leader (1850-1860), 26th July 1851, Edition Country of 2, Page 6, Lord Palmerston, in reply to a question ...

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      French Politics-Defeat Of Ministehs Th^E...

      retorts . It was a great speech ; the wrath which it provoked only showing the cap fitted , and how securely the majority relied upon its numerical strength . The remainder of the dehate was less stormy . M . Baroche , of course , spoke in favour of revision . But he received a bitter lesson when he ventured to call in question the authority of the Constituent Assehibly . It was not , he said , the representative of France .

      So great was the agitation that the sitting was suspended . When it was resumed he insinuated a retractation . The other speakers were M . Dufaure and Odillon Barrot . Both these statesmen confined themselves with more closeness than the preceding speakers to the technical question—shall there be a revision ? Dufaure concluded against , and Barrot in favour of , revision . Then , although Jules Favre demanded to be heard , the majority closed the debate .

      The division lasted two hours , and the issue was that there were

      —For revision , 446 ; against it , 278 . Legal majority against , 90 . The terms of the constitution require a majority of three-fourths of the total number of voters , or 543 ; consequently the revision is lost . The principal members who voted against the revision wtre , in Tiers parti—Generals Cavaignac , Lamorciere , Bedeau , and Leflo ; Messrs . Dufaure , Come , Creton , Monet , Valette , St . Beuve , Oscar Lafayette , and Ferdinand de Lasteyrie ; in the

      Orleans party—Messrs . Thiers , Baze , General Changamier , Jules de Lasteyrie , Delessert , Desmousseaux , de Givre , Hernoux , De Mornay , Piscatory , de Remusat , Roger du Nord , Mispoulet ; and in the ultra-Legitimist party—Messrs . La Rocbejacquelein , Leo de Laborde , Raudot , Bouhier de l'Ecluse , Oomberel de Leyval , Favreau . Also Messrs . Napoleon Bonaparte , Pierie Bonaparte , De Lamartine , General Fabvier , and M . Dupin himself , voted against the revision .

      When the Assembly next met a second defeat awaited the Ministers . M . de Melun presented his report upon the petitions for revision , and in it complained strongly of the conduct of some prefects and subordinate functionaries in getting up petitions . Thereupon M . Baze and Colonel Charras moved an order of the day , censuring Ministers , which was carried by 333 to 320 . The same night Ministers resigned , and Louis Napoleon refused to accept their resignation . The Moniteurdu Soir says : —¦

      " M . liners is positively expected at Vienna in the month of August , where he will remain ten or fifteen days . M . Thiers has demanded and obtained from the Assembly leave of absence for a month , commencing on the 25 th of July . He is immediately to leave for England ; on the 25 th of August he is to return to Paris . " It is stated in diplomatic circles in Paris that the Sovereigns of the minor German States purpose visiting Vienna in the course of the present month , and that the visit is connected with politics .

      698 &T)T Vleatjev. P9a*Uiu>A*,

      698 & t ) t VLeatjev . P 9 a * uiu > a * ,

      Lord Palmerston, In Reply To A Question ...

      Lord Palmerston , in reply to a question put by Mr . Anstey on Tuesday night , in the House or Commons , stated that her Majtsty ' s Government had , in common with the Government of France , protested against the admission of the non-German provinces of Austria into the Germanic Confederation , and that the Government of her Majesty could not regard that question as one purely German , lie added that , as yet , the Government had received no reply to that protest .

      In its sitting of the 17 th instant the Frankfort Diet deliberated on the joint protest of France and England . According to the (' olotjnc Gazette it unanimously decided that it would not permit any foreign Government to interfere in this affair , which it regarded as exclusively German . Letterd from Lugo , in the Romagua , state that a commissary of the Itonian police , named Ualdani , has been found to have been an accomplice of Passutore , the celebrated brigand ; he is at present under trial . The arrest of this man is said to have released some

      twenty young men from captivity , they having been incarcerated on account of an imaginary Alazziiiian plot , invented by this Roman oilicial . Such facts as these serve to throw a light on the state of things in that part of the peninsula . The Roman police always had a bad name , and deservedly so , as the above serves to show .

      Persecutions Of Freiliorat1i . - Our Pru...

      PERSECUTIONS OF FREILIORAT 1 I . - OUR PRUSSIAN ALLIES . In our numbers of the 15 th of February and , 'hd oi May last , we gave Home account of the manner in which the German poet 'F reiligruth wan at that time vexutiously persecuted by the Prussian Government , in spite of more than n year ' s retirement from all political activity . For the manner in whi > h hi * nationality itself was disputed , we must refer to our former articles , merely reminding our renders that , after u complete defeat in their first endeavour to disprove his claim to be considered u Prussian lit all , they referred , him to the police authorities atDusseldort , to tlycido the question of his right to the

      citizenship of that place , to insure which had been the sole aim of the previous litigation ; thus involving him in a repetition before a lower court , of the prolonged and vexatious lawsuit which he had just brought to a successful termination in the higher , for no other purpose than to secure that which by the words of the law was expressly involved in the justice they had been unable to refuse him . This ,, evident endeavour to tire out and disgust him , and to produce either some indignant expression

      which might be made use or as a constructive treason , or so to weary down by a formally legal oppression a resistance that they could not legally overcome , in the hope that a voluntary expatriation would at last become preferable to a continually harassed existence in his native country , produced neither of the desired effects , but simply an indignant refusal to furnish to the police any further grounds in support of his claim to the citizemhip of Dusseldorf , than he had already produced to establish his right to be considered a Prussian under conditions which rendered

      the refusal of the citizenship no longer possible . After a fortnight ' s silence , the police authorities replied , that although he had established his claim in the most insufficient manner , they would no longer offer any opposition , and admitted him as citizen of Dusseldorf at last . This unconditional surrender , after a conflict of so many months , points unmistakably to collateral motives in entering upon the conflict at all . It cannot be supposed for an instant that

      the authorities had any doubt as to the state of the law , or as to what must be the result if the point were brought to a legal issue . It is manifest from this result , that the whole purpose and aim of their proceedings was to tire the poet out , and relieve themselves of a hated presence , either by his imprudence or impatience ; failing this desired end , they suffered ( what they must have foreseen as at least possible ) a complete and ignominious defeat .

      But such conflicts fall more heavily on the victorious party than on the defeated , and leave even to success the thought only of escaping from , such struggles . After Freiligrath had successfully carlied his case through every form of defence , and in this manner done what he conceived his duty to his countrymen , by giving them an example of an oppressive Government defeated by their own laws ; there still remained for him to consider his own future and

      that of his family . A Government which had given such notice of their intentions would clearly bring every future publication of his before their tribunals , with or without hope of conviction ; for whether they were pronounced treasonable or not , the trial would at least place the means of provisional imprisonment at their command , and involve an expensive litigation which must in the long run ruin their opponent , if they should fail of speedier or more brilliant

      success . These considerations induced Freiligrath , about the middle of last month , to apply for a passport for England , which , in the face of their recent defeat , they could not refuse in optima forma .. Since his arrival in England he has published a second volume of Political and Social L 3 rics , and great , no doubt , is the disappointment of his paternal Government , that they cannot at once lay hold of the poet , and imprison him during inquiry into their character . As it is , they have searched the house of a booksellor in Dusseldorf , with a view to find a pretext for imprisoning a friend , whose liberation could onl y be effected by the poet ' s surrender—and this in spite of ttn express notice on the cover of the little volume , that it was published by the author himself .

      1 heir search , however , was ineffectual . After a few days another little army of police favoured the poet ' s wife , who lives alone in a small village lvear Dusseldorf , with a like domiciliary invasion , and were not content till they had examined the very pockets of that lady herself , in the hope of finding a copy of ii work which was openly circulating with the author ' s public acknowledgment on its cover . The purpose of such proceedings seems hardl y to be guessed . A bookseller supposed to be friendly is harassed , and his wife intruded on by men with drawn swords , surely not to establish an authorshi p which is avowed on the book itself . Is it possible that the Government of a great country tan descend to such practices from mere spleen , and vent its anger in such small persecutions ? It seems incredible , but how else explain such supererogatory tyrannies ?

      We have seen in one of the Cologne papers h report , that a . private warrant of arrest is out uguinst Freiligrath , and that shortly he will be formally summoned to appear before the courts , to answer an indictment for treasonable expressions in his late book . These steps , if taken , will of course render his return to bis native country an impossibility ; for though to an English ear there is nothing in his book , that would not pass ns the natural expresHion of an advanced Democrat ( indeed nearly hall its bulk consists of translations from Barry Cornwall , Thomas Hood , and others ) , yet in the present reactionary state of things in Prussia , there can be but little doubt a conviction would ensue , and a consequent imprisonment of years at least . On the whole it docs not seem to us that the Prussian Government at nil hope for laa appearunco

      before the courts ; it would much better answer their purpose , should he remain in England , and lose by his own non-appearance his right to Prussian citizen - ship , and consequent claim to the poor protection of Prussian law , as in that case they could treat him , should he ever return , as a foreigner , and make him live under , the constant surveillance of the police where they pleased , and for no longer in any one place than they chose , ordering him to quit the

      country at twenty-four hours notice whenever their wisdom or ill-feeling should prompt them to do so . Thus at last the Government remains master of the field , for few can hesitate between expatriation and imprisonment , and no one who has a family dependent upon his exertions . That some field may offer itself in England for those exertions we sincerely hope , and that in this country may be withdrawn the sting from the poet's own touching words to his children in anticipation of his present position : —

      " Die Heimath bloss macht heimathlos Die Kinder ihres Dichters . " Note . —In Ernest Jones ' s " Notes to the People , " some of the poems in question are translated with great spirit .

      The Peace Congress At Exeter-Hall. The S...

      THE PEACE CONGRESS AT EXETER-HALL . The sittings of this congress commenced on Tuesday . The hall was well filled ; the attendance of foreign notables tolerably numerous ; and a fair sprinkling of British members of Parliament appeared on the platform . Sir David Brewster presided this year , and his inaugural address was very fine , and his concluding description of the Crystal Palace eloquent . The characteristic act of the first day was the following resolution : — " That it is the special and solemn duty of all ministers of religion , instructors of youth , and conductors of the public press , to employ their great influence in the diffusion of pacific principles and sentiments , and in eradicating from the minds of men those hereditary animosities and political and commercial jealousies which have been so often the cause of disastrous wars . "

      The speakers on the first day were—Reverends Angell James , W . Brock , Athanase Coquerel , jun ., and John Burnett ; M . Jules Delbrook , editor of the New Educational Review , at Paris , Don Mariano Soler , M . Visscher , and Dr . Beck with . The event of the second day was the speech of Mr . Cobden , who proposed the resolution against standing armaments : — " That the standing armaments with which the Governments of Europe menace each other amid professions of mutual friendship and confidence , being a prolific source of social immorality , financial embarrassment , and national suffering , while they excite constant disquietude and irritation among the nations , this congress would earnestly urge upon the Governments the imperative necessity of entering upon a system of international disarmament . "

      He treated the whole question in that quiet , plain , practical style for which his speeches are distinguished . He said : — " All great advances had been carried by a system of propagandism—not by masses going forth , but single men , or a few ; and these few would accomplish their aim in spite of opposition , if they were earnest and their cause was right . " Public opinion was making way on this question . He felt that in the House , which listened to him now more patiently . He pointed out that the Continental powers vvere shy of fighting each other , and he prophesied that their standing armies would fall by their own weight . As to England , her attitude was more aggressive than that of any other nation . She had a chain of fortified posts all round the world . " They would find that in no history was it ever shown that a standing army had achieved liberty for any country . " Just as Mr . Cobden finished , M . de Girardiu entered the hall . Mr . Henry Vincent moved the non-intervention resolution , maintaining that evory state had an inviolate right to regulate its own uffuirs . There was another meeting on Thursday .

      The Late Dr. Linoari) . The Morning Chro...

      THE LATE DR . LINOARI ) . The Morning Chronicle furnishes the following account of the Catholic Historian of England . We cannot hel p observing that it reads as if written by a Catholic : — "He departed at the ripe old age of eighty-two , leaving behind him the reputation of auoi thodox ' and enthusiastic Itoiium Catholic , but one who in his most learned and elaborate writings never wilfully sacrificed candour und truth to sectarian ends and religioniatie narrowness of view . JDr Lingard ' s historical writings were of course to a certain degree influenced by the point from which ho looked , and the corresponding prepossessions with which he wrote . JJut weighty testimony has vouched for tho candour and fairness of his views . Dr . Lingard , while pointing out the udvuntiigeH derived in an early stage of

      civilisation from monachinin , never attempted to wrap up the co-exiutont abuses ; but , on the contrary , candidly acknowled ged that certain evila almost inevitably / springout of ceriuin advantages ; and fairly and truly , and in the moat thoroughly Caitholio spirit , painted the one and the other . Had all ecclcHiahtical writers , indeed , been inspired by the philouophical and broadly tolerant and windy and grandly bimiiocnt spirit which prompted the historical works of Lingurd , many h religious fend would huvu been averted , and many a drop of theolo ^ io blitck blood upurcd . The illustrious deceased wun out- of tho eurlk'Mt to direct public lUlcniiim back into the remote und then little known times of the Heptarchy . Thin was in hi » History of tho Anylo-Xaxon Church . When it was issued . Dr . Lingord wiui an obscure and hard-working

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), July 26, 1851, page 6, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_26071851/page/6/