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Leader (1850-1860), 9th April 1853, Edition 1 of 1, Page 343, Untitled Article

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      Untitled Article

      side , sand on the other side the despots , the hangman , and the gaoler . ( Applause . )" Antagonism between England and Austria was inevitable—so long as the one advanced in its liberal course , » nd the other continued in its despotism . It was essential : it was simple self-defence that England should resist the encroachments of despotism in this matter of Turkey . The maintenance of Turkey was our last chance of peace . Lord John Russell had said , ¦ with reason , if the dismemberment of Turkey took place we should have an European war . This country must keep Russia where she is—she must not advance . It was said that Turkey was weak and must give way . The more weak she was the more necessary was it that we should be firm in her support .

      " If we lived at a place like Holmnrth , where so many had recently been swept away by an inundation , and were told that the dam was weak and likely to give way , and that the water was rising , what would we do ? We should strengthen that dam . Now , in the same way , the waters of Eussian invasion had been gathering and swelling from the north during a long period . Poland and Hungary had already been overwhelmed , Austria was involved in the vortex , and now they pressed upon Turkey , and if Turkey should be broken down the waters -would desolate the world . ( Sensation . ) He , therefore , considered It ne-« essary as a matter of prudence we should to the last uphold Turkey as the last barrier that remained . "

      Oar present policy was to keep things as they are * If England and France were united Turkey was safe ; but tliey could not rely on the present Q-overnment of France . The people of France were with them , and the time would come when Napoleon should aid revolution , or be swept away . Then there would be a hearty alliance between England and France , and the danger would be " past . All who urged the Sultan to liberate Kossuth were bound in honour not to forget him now that he was in difficulty . The memorial he would propose should be signed throughout England .

      He believed that the men in different towns of England who were most hearty and forward in the movement for the liberation of Kossuth were men of conscience—he appealed to their consciences , and he called upon them to do as , with triumphant success they had done before , to convene public meetings , to call upon their members of Parliament for their support in the way ours at Newcastle do . ( Applause ) He called upon the men of Birmingham , of Manchester , Liverpool , Sheffield , Leicester , NottinghamLeedsBristol , Bradford , Glasgow , Edinburgh ,

      Hali-, , fax , Paisley , Northampton , Eochdale , of Padiham , and of Keighley , in all of which towns meetings wore held for the liberation of Kossuth , and he * said if they did not come forward they were disgraced . ( Applause . ) He told them that their old enthusiastic friends would again rally round them in this movement , and that they would have many now friends besides , as we have found here . Bankers , merchants , manufacturers , men of large business and influential connexion would join them , and they would evoke a formidable expression of opinion .

      Mr . Crawshay then read the memorial . It expresses deep concern on the snbject of Montenegro , anxiety for the independence of Turkey , and an earnest hope that England would prevent any aggression by Russia and Austria . Influence acquired by these two powers in the East would be used against British trade in India , which , with the English trade in the districts of Asia , accessible through the Dardanelles , owes much to the liberal commercial policy of Turkey . Civil and religious liberty are on our side—priestly authority and military despotism on the other . We inevitably offend the despotisms by sheltering the refugees ; they have shown themselves hostile to our principles by the Russiaii intervention in Hungary , and the present conduct of Austria in Italy . Ifc is , therefore , the natural duty of England to maintain the independence of Turkey , and to resist tho advancement of the two great

      despotisms . The Memorial wan unnnimously adopted . Mr . Blackett , M . P ., Mr . Henry Turner , Mr . Henderson , and Sir John Fife also addressed the meeting . The whole proceedings seemed u happy beginning of a new lesson for Englishmen—the lesson of grave concern in tho affairs of other countries , whoso interests aro , in truth , not foreign to the interests of England .

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      LETTKK 8 FROM PARIS . [ FltOM OUR OWN COIIKKBPONDENT . ] Lkttjcu LXVIL Paris , Thumuay , April 7 , 1853 . liTTTTiTC or nothing bus occurred worth noticing since my lnst . Wo have been amused , however , by a letter of M . < lc Montaleinhort ' s protesting agaiiiHt tho transformation of tho Corps Jjtyislatif into u Corps de Ballet . I subjoin this letter , with tho corrections and amendments it received from tho writer before

      publication : — "MONSTKUH 115 MAIKK 1 ) 15 BlSSANOON , *—" I have the honour to transmit to you n sum of a thousand francs , which I l >«' tf you to employ on behalf

      of the poor apprentices de Besancon . This offering is intended to represent my share in the contribution demanded of my colleagues to meet the expenses of the ball which has lately been given to H . M . the Emperor in the name of the Corps Legislatif . I did not associate myself with that demonstration . Indeed , the promoters did . not consider it to be their duty to solicit an official decision of the Assembly in that behalf . . I cannot think that it falls within the province of political bodies , even salaried bodies , to provide dancing for the Court and the town . At least , I have

      in vain sought for an analogous precedent m the history of former Legislatures , even in the time of the first Empire . Our labours , I fear , will scarcely appear important or serious enough to justify tho desire for such recreations in the eyes of the public . Besides , I am quite sure that the electors of Doubs never thought , when they elected me their deputy , thafc the Chamber to which they deputed me would one day substitute entertainments of this kind for the serious intervention of the country in its affairs , or that it would replace the demolished tribune by an orchestre de bed . ( Signed ) Montaxembert . " ¦ Imagine the grimace with which Bonaparte must have read this document . Notice was sent to all the Paris

      journals forbidding them to publish it . The Independance Beige , which had published it , was seized at the frontier , and at the Post . But the noble ladies of the Faubourg St . Germain Lave made up for this scant supply . They imposed on one another a contribution of twenty copies each , and within ten days the town was inundated with more than 40 , 000 copies . Many people think this letter will turn out a serious affair .

      President Billault and the promot ers of the ball want to prosecute M . de Montalembert , but the majority of his colleagues , whowere taxedfor the entertainment without having been consulted on the subject , seem disposed to take part for him . In the meanwhile the 750 francs have been kept back out of M . de Montalembert's salary by the questors of the Chamber . It remains to be seen whether he will claim repayment , and bring an action against the questors for restitution .

      The Corps Legislatif is at present engaged in the examination of the budget . President Billault , in laying the budget before the Chamber , made a speech in which he assured the Deputies that " though ifc was true that the Senatus Consulte of December 25 enjoined them to vote the budget by ministries , they were not interdicted from discussing it by chapters , and he , therefore , invited the deputies to bestow their whole attention upon the examinat ion of the different chapters . " Some deputies replied to the President " that it would be useless for them to discuss the

      budget with scrupulous minuteness , as they were utterly deprived of any authority to carry such reforms as they might consider necessary into effect ; that supposing they found such and such chapters susceptible of reductions , yet as they had no alternative but to reject tho total credit affected to the ministerial department , not a single deputy would bo found to take upon himself so serious a measure ; hence their right was illusory ; consequently they had nothing to do but to vote without discussion the budget just as it was presented to them . "

      Nevertheless , the budget was laid before tho Bureaux , and the discussion immediately commenced . This discussion produced no result ; no committee was formed , and , what is more significant , no one offered to serve . I will explain this unusual occurrence . Ln . st year , the Corps Legislatif , bad as it was , had the good sense to nominate a committee on the lmdjjet , composed , principally , of certain notables of the old Chamber of Deputies ; MM . Chasscloup-Laubat , ( Jouin , Montalembert , Flavigny , etc . The committee on tho budget thus constituted raised a lormidablc opposition to tho Government , forcing it to discuss every chapter of the

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      readers , tho text itself of this pungent letter of M . do Montalcmbert . " MONBIKUK IiK MAI UK 1 ) 13 BlCHANCON , " J ' ai l'honneur do vouh tmnsmetlro uno , nomine < lc millo francs quo jo vouh prio d'ornployer duns I ' mterofc < lo 1 'aMivro < les apprentis do iio * sancon . Cotto oH ' rando est dostinc . o i \ reprenentor ma part duns la contribution < lemamle ' o a mos collogues pour nubvenir mix frnis « lu bill nui vient d ' otro oHerlo i \ S . M . l'Kinponiur an nom du Corps LegiHlatif . Jo no mo Huis pun asHooie" i \ coU . «> doinonntration don I . los autetirn n ' ont pas cm du rente devoir provoquor uno decision oflieiollo do l'As . seinble ' o . Jo no

      ponso ]) iih qu'il enl . ro < larm los attributions thin corps pohtiquos , vihnu > salaries , do Cairo daiiKer la ( 'our oi hi villo . fo choroho on vain un precedent analogue 'duns hi chroniquo don LdgialnturoH antdriouros , inoiiie houh lo premier I < hrq > iro . JVos Iravaux , jo lo crains , no par / Li ( rout , ni nnsoz importniilH niansoz Horioux pour fairo eoinprondro nu public quo nous ayons bcnoiii < lo pareilloH distractions . Jo Hiiin d ' nillourn bion « ur quo los elooteurs do Doiih . s n'ont jainnis soniro on in ' olimint , quo la ( 'hainhro oil iIn in'eiivoyaiontdiU im jour mibstituor < los rojouisHtuicoMclo co ^ onro a Finlorvontion mSriouHO < lu pays tlaiiH boh afluiroH , vt rtimplacer la tribune renverseo par un orchestra do bat . Agrooz , Ac . &c . ( Sign 6 ) Momtaj-kmbkut . "

      budget , item by item . To punish these refractory deputies , the government denounced them to their departments as " revolutionaries , " and " socialists , " and got them hooted by troops of peasants . Now these gentlemen are resolved to " take it out" of the Government ; so they refuse to form a committee on the budget . They begin to understand that the best way of " making opposition" to Bonaparte is , to prove to the country that it is not represented . Consequently they have made up their minds to give up discussing altogether , and to accept everything with their eyes shut . Such are the tactics they have persuaded their colleagues to adopt .

      A question raised by the ultra-montane party in the Clergy has agitated public opinion considerably of late . I said a word or two about it in a former letter , with respect to the conditions assigned by the Pope to his ¦ visit to France . I told you that the Holy See had demanded neither more nor less than the suppression of the Concordat of 1802 , and the abolition of civil marriage . The religious journals , having the cue from Home , proceeded , all of a sudden , to attack the civil marriage , and were replied to by the other journals . Thereupon the clergy incited M . Sauzet , formerly president of the Chamber of Deputies in Louis Philippe ' s

      reign , to enter the lists as a lawyer , and with th « authority of a legal opinion to pronounce almost directly against the civil marriage . M . Dupin , a rival of M . Sauzet , has taken advantage of this circumstance to give his confrere and ex-colleague a rap on the knuckles . His reply , inserted in the Gazette des Trihunaux , is an energetic protest against the ultramontane pretensions , and at the same time an act of courage , of good sense , and of high prudence in the opinion of all who have not yet abdicated , with their dignity as men , the rights of free citizens , of French citizens . The abolition of civil marriage , and of the constitutive articles of the Gallican Church , would be equivalent , according to M . Dupin , to a partial

      abdication of the national sovereignty ; and in that case , both in fact and in right , the Church would no longer be subject to the laws of the State . She would be sovereign in her turn , and above the law even in the temporal order . To this , the Uhivers , the ultramontane journal , has the effrontery to rejoin , that the Church demands predominance over the temporal order : and that , strictly speaking , the State should be absorbed by the Church : a fortiori , the civil ceremony should be subordinated to the religious sacrament . Bonaparte , uneasy at the turn the discussion was taking , inserted in the Monileur a notice , that it had never been the intention of the Government to suppress the civil marriage , or even to modify it , and tluit all Tumours to that effect were erroneous .

      The quarrel of the clergy , however , becomes every day more envenomed . It appears that , at Home , M . Veuillot , chief editor of the Univers , has got the better of the Archbishop of Paris . The latter is highly incensed , and declares that he will bring the question before all his bishops who side with him . On the other hand , the Bishop of Moulinx , who has the impertinence to call the Archbishop of Paris " mon pauvre confrere , " is about to rally under his banner sill tho dissident bishops . The laity arc csihnly expecting to seo these terrible combatants exterminate each other ( for tho love of Christ ) , with si whole artillery of missals , breviaries , and Bibles . It will he si new campaign of

      JJoileau m JAitrui . The Assemble Rationale , and La Mode , two Legitimist journals , luive just received a second warning . Per conlra , ja . great number of arrests have recently been effected in the Republican party . Workmen huvo been caught assembling in tho streets to tulk politics ; others huvt 1 . been arrested distributing letters of FiTix Pyat . A democratic banquet , moreover , has tiiken place sit the ) Hsirriere du Trout ' , of workmen and soldiers combined ; both were arrested . In spite of nil their persecutions , the musses are in course of a complete reorganization . Tho Itepublirtin party , however , is not likely to move until tho bourgeoisie sire ripo to join them .

      On Tuesday next , the affair of the foreign corre-Njiondents is to come before tho Court of Correctional Police . Home of the accused , sih 1 have told you before , are cited for having been members of secret nocieti ' os ; and , afler tho precedent of the Lyons tribunal , if they arc condemned on that charge to one months imprisonment , tboy arc liable to bo re condemned by tho civil authorities lo I en years' transportation to Cayenne . One of them , Uone de Uovigo , is iiIho accused of having distributed , at Tortoni ' s , fivefranc pieces , on which tho efli ^ y of Kouapsirto was ( lcciipitnfcd .

      A rumour is current here to-day that , the ; dinputo between Piedmont and Austria , on the subject of tho Hcqucntration of the property of the Lombards naturalized in Piedmont , has become menacing in tho ox

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      April 9 , 1853 . ] THE LEADER . 343

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      * It is very difficult ( at least wo find it ao ) to transmute tho point and esprit of tho French original into readable ISnirliali . Wo thoroforo give , for tho bonofit of our I < ronch

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), April 9, 1853, page 343, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1981/page/7/