Current:

Leader (1850-1860), 13th August 1853, Edition Town of 2, Page 770

Page 770
Page 2
2 of 24

On this page

  • Text (2)

      Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.

    • Untitled Article

      Untitled Article

    • Untitled Article

      Untitled Article

  • Transcript

    • Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.

      Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.

      Untitled Article

      reform of the land tenure in Ireland , so elaborately prepared by Mr . Napier , so shabbily opposed by his quondamcolleague , LordMalmesbu ^ , sqgetierously taken up by Ministers , have fofeM r&Mjf a second time and abandoned , upon the undersjf&ding that next , session they shall be revised and jessed . It is not a little remarkable that the ^ coherence

      between the' members Jbt the J jjite Ministry increases . Mr . Disraeli did not show fight on the Succession-duty Bill ; Sir John Pakington and the congenial Malmesbury did . Mr . Napier is anxious to pass his Land Tenure Bills ; but Lord Malmesbury , his late colleague , acting under Lord Derby ' s orders , blocks the way .

      The India Bill , not without some mutilation from the persevering efforts of Lord Ellenborough , has passed through nearly all its stages . Odd is the fortune of amendments . Sir John Pakington puts an end to the salt monopoly ; Lord Ellenborough strikes out Sir John ' s clause , and renews the monopoly ; so that the unpopular Governorgeneral will be more unpopular in India than

      ever . The Charitable Trusts Bill has passed . Durham is fatal to Lord John Russell . It is the Bishop of Durham who keeps back his incomie from the Ecclesiastical Commissioners ; it was to that notorious prelate that Lord John wrote a famous letter ; it is in trying to get the University of Durham from the exemption clause of the Charitable Trusts Bill , that Lord John got his Government beaten by ten majority . He has however succeeded in exempting the Roman Catholic trusts from the bill for two years . This

      exemption is necessary as otherwise a great many trusts , partlydedicatedto " superstitioususes ' -would be illegal . The law of superstitious uses therefore will be amended . Some progress has been made by Lord Palmerston towards clearing the London atmosphere" of smoke , and executing indispensable drainage ; while Government prepares a plan for representative Government in the metropolis . The Transportation Bill is making sure advances . The last Committee of Supply has been taken ; and to-day Ministers eat white bait at Greenwich .

      Beyond Parliament , there is little doingexcept of the naval and military order . Mrs . Chisholm has had an ovation , and the Christians of the London Tavern have offered her their heroine worship , and several hundred pounds . The faintest political agitation ripples the calm of Palace-yard , in the shape of a Committee to get

      a reduction of the wine duty , who are going to fight under the banner of Mr . Oliveira . And the Bishop of Durham has defended himself from the charge of deceiving the Ecclesiastical Commission , by boldly asserting , in a charge to his clergy , that the railways bred a surplus over the sum fixed by the Commissioners , which he kept back for his own private works of charity .

      But the records of justice have supplied a trial which , with the fleet , has divided the public curiosity . A stupendous trial , beginning with the romance of an early lost and late discovered son of a deceased baronet , supporting his claim to great property by documents , seals , jewellery , portraits , respectable witnesses , and a marvellous tale—and ending in the most complete substantiation of conspiracy—forgery—perjury ! The case of Smith , alias Provis , alias " Sir Richard Hugh Smyth , " will take rank among the causes ceUbres of criminal history .

      The London City police have held an interview with Mr . Commissioner Harvey , to ask for a rise of wages , and they have represented that they cannot support their families respectably ; on the sums allowed , now that provisions and rent are rising . The Commissioner favoured thorn with a littlo oasiiy on political economy , representing that the price of wages docs not depend upon the price of provisions or rent , but upon supply and demand . However , ho was in favour ruthcr of reducing the force , and rawing its piiy ; nn idea which is , perhaps , superior

      to his political e $ Jhomy . The policemen , even by his own descllfnion of their duties , &s thought ? jfyl servants * &pe hot like ordin&ry labourers , bt $ they stand i % the ligjnt , to use fttt apparent IHsnisttii of private servft ^ ts to the public ; and it is as reasonable Jfoi * then ! to ask for pay , ift proportion to tin's pric 6 . of fqjii $ and lodging ; as it is to in--0 ease the arinjr fSite , when its cdni # iissariat M 4 barrack expenses are enhanced . One principle upon which we have insisted , however , was proved by this meeting . Mr . Harvey met the men in a fair , straightforward , and friendly spirit , and he found the natural return . When he asked

      the men if they intended to resign on refusal of their demand , they replied— " They should do nothing so disrespectful to him or to the City . " " We counsel them to do nothing disrespectful either to Mr . Harvey or to the City , and not to resign if they can avoid it . But we do say that their demand is justified both on their own ground , and on the ground of the general rise in the value of labour . One proof of that is the surrender of the manufacturers at Stockport , with every reason to avoid surrendering .

      It has been a custom of employers to assure the working hands that strikes invariably fail . During the present year the experience of the men has refuted that dogmatic presumption ; and the obstinate resistance of the masters being at last overcome , exhibits the fact of the very strong power on the side of the working hands . We have alread y shown that these wages movements are continued . The grand thing is , we repeat , even for the twentieth time , that the working hands should ascertain the facts upon which they act , and make no demands that . they cannot enforce .

      Untitled Article

      THE WEEK IN PARLIAMENT . EUSSIA . The oft-repeated interpellations on the Eastern question and the Russian answer were revived on Monday in the Houses twain , the characters in the little drama being nearly the same as before . First came a statement of facts and a declaration of their character , by the Marquis of Clanricarde . After recounting what Russia had done in the Principalities , his lordship said : — "I hope I shall be told that there is very little reason to doubt that , at the moment when I have now the honour of addressing your lordships , the combined fleets are at last before Constantinople , on the other side of the Dardanelles . ( Cheers . ) If I ask , then , my lords , what has been done at home , I hope and expect that I shall be told that either long before this intelligence was received in thia country , or , at all events , Bince it was received , there has been , not a mere request for explanation , but a categorical demand that the Danubian Principalities shall be immediately evacuated by the Russian forces . ( Loud cheers . ) Wo were told when the Russian forces © ntored these provinces , that it was not to make war upon Turkey . Why , what I havo described is itself War . It is either war or piracy ; and if it ia not war it ia piracy . ( Loud cheers . ) And are we in this position , that wo are to suffer war to bo waged upon our ally upon such pretences as are hero put forward , or aro we to stand by and seo thia act of violence committed upon Turkey without interfering P If wo aro to bo told that it is a question of treaty whothor tho fleet shall bo inside or outside tho Dardanelles , I say thoro is now such a state of war as abolishes all treaties so far as Russia and Turkey are concerned . Thoro docs not exist a single treaty binding on Turkey after tho aggression which has been perpetrated upon her by Russia . Thoro can bo no reason whatever , then , for not acting . And what is tho state of things told by tho answers wo have recoived from tho Govornmont in cither Houho of

      Parliament P That wo havo sent notes . Ayo , but you havo sent other notes , and wo wore told thoro was another note to bo oont from Vienna last Sunday or Monday ; but whilo you aro sending notes , tho Russian forces aro advancing , and , boyond tho Principalities I havo named , aro taking possession of another territory . It may bo said , ' Good news has boon received , and appoars in tho papers of to-day , ' and I shall bo told probably , if that news is truo , that the proposal which has boon Bent from Vienna lias boon received favourably aft St . Petersburg . But wo do not know what that proposal is , and before you can

      oxpeofc that tho fact of its 'uccoptanco can give unqualified satisfaction , wo must know what is tho naturo of tho proposal which has boon made . It is clear , howovor , that it in not tho proposal which was alluded to last week in tho JTouso of Commons , for wo wore thon told that tho messenger would leave Vienna with a proposal from England and JJYanco on tho Sunday or Monday , whorouH this news dates from St . Petersburg on tho 3 rd instant , and it ia utterly impossible that leaving Vienna on tho 1 st , it could havo roachod St . Petersburg on tho 3 rd . Thcreforo this news must rolato to uomo previous Austrian proposition . Wo do iiot know * then , What tho proposal vthkk ha » boon

      accepted fav Bjit t ^ iay , after what has occurred , your lordship ' s House ykvl not consider , and the countrywi ] i not consider , aiiy proposition satisfactory if it be not for the immediate ana complete evacuation of the Turkis h provinces . ( Much'cheering . ) But under this , which I call good news , there is riews of a very different quality re . qeived to > day , for it is therein stated that the Russian flotilla , which commenced operations at Ismail , is in pOs , session 6 f the whole of the upper part of the river , and consists of 200 vessels , of which 150 are gun-boats . Thus while we are passing notes and sending couriers , we have not only the occupation of the principalities of Moldavi a and Wallachia , but the invasion of Bulgaria , and t he whole of that great river , tEe most important to the commerce of Europe , in the possession on both sides of a Russian force . "

      Lord Clarendon ' s answer expressed agreement with Lord Clanricarde ' s opinions , official ignorance of his facts , and hopes of a satisfactory termination to the question . The pith of his answer was the assertion that the question has now assumed an European character , —that Austria , Prussia , England , and Prance are united to check the designs of Russia , and that no arrangement will be accepted " except that which will secure the independence of Turkey . " On the part of "the Opposition , " Lord Maimesbttby said a few words . He took credit for "the

      patience" with which the Opposition had consented to the reserve of the Ministry , contrasted the publicity of the French and Russian diplomacy with the secrecy of the English proceedings , hoped that a debate on the subject would soon take place , and asked Lord Clai endon directly what conditions respecting the immediate evacuation of the Principalities had been included in the proposition sent to Vienna . Without exactly answering the question , Lord Clabendon made a distinct pronouncement on the point , and then made a bold assertion .

      "I have no hesitation now in informing my noble friend , without waiting for any further discussion , that we look to the immediate and complete evacution of the Danubian provinces as a sine qua non bfrany agreement whatever . ( Cheers . ) With respect to any discussion , or any statement which it is desirable to make , I hope your lordships will bear in mind that the Government have not wished to shrink from , thia discussion or to lay "the fullest information before Parliament of what has been done . ( Expresmend to

      sions of surprise . ) I did not even ask my noble postpone the motion of which he had given notice for a previous evening . I felt that if your lordships and the country were pleased to ask for it , you were perfectly right and justified m so doing , and the noble marquis , yielding to the request of the noble lord , did so independent of the Government , and without even giving the Government notice of his intention . " His lordship added : " I hope , therefore , it will be remembered that the Government do not shrink from

      any discussion . " In the Commons , on the same evening , Lord John Rttssei / I . said ( in reply to Sir Joshua Walmsijey ) : " I have to state that before the prorogation of Parliament , I will give such information with regard to the relations between this country , Russia , and Turkey , as may be consistent with my public duty . With respect to tho second question , I cannot say that I think it would be consistent with tho public interest , in the present state of tho negotiations , that any day should be fixed for a public discussion of this question . " Again , ( in reply to Mr . Layabd ) Lord John said : " So far as the Government are concerned , it is not our

      opinion that there should bo a discussion . " With reference to tho news of the day stating tho Emperor of Russia ' s assent to the Vienna proposition , ho said : " Wo havo received from her Majesty ' s Minister afc Vienna a despatch which is of a satisfactory oharacter . The answor received is in reply to the iirst proposal , which was agreed to at Vienna : and tho messenger who was to go to Constantinople , and who was to leave Vienna on tho 31 st ult ., did not loavo it until tho 2 nd of August , so that a reply cannot bo recoived from Constantinople so soon aa was at first oxpected . " Subsequently Lord John ( in reply to Mr . Disbabm ) declined to state tho naturo of the propositions which

      havo been made to the Emperor of Russia . Lord MATiMESHURY led on a debate last night on this question . Ho moved for a translation of the two circulars addressed by Count Nessolrode to tho dipl ° " matic agents of tho Russian Government , and published in tho St . Petersburg Gazette ; and also for any answer which her Majesty ' s Government may havo sent to tho statements therein contained . Ho entered into a lustory of the Eastern question ; complained in strong in

      terms of tho courBo which this country hftd tukon the matter ; muintuincd that tho crossing of the 1 ruth «> y Russia was a distinct casus belli , and that this country Hhould havo advised Turkey to consider it so ; « J assorted that by ho doing they would hftvo prevented tho question from arriving at ite present unsatisfactory Nfcato . Tho peoplo , ho aaid , had a right to know , » nd might know with wfofcy , what lino of policy the Government wore following . Withholding thin information had oxcitod , and was exciting , dissatisfaction ft *

      homo , and miutrust abroad . Tho Eurl of Cmhkndon mud , ho must adhero to tho practice observed by all Govornttiont » - ^» of Hot irtm *"

      Untitled Article

      770 THB L || SER . [ Saturday ,

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), Aug. 13, 1853, page 770, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1999/page/2/