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hubst said the law , as at present existing , is confined ta the -wealthy ; the poor man 5 s debarred , owing to the 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 four cases of adultery provided for by the hill ; 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 her obligation to him . The marriage ceremony of our 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 * cf which , the law condemns her to a long , dreary life of unhappiness . Ho 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 lave an opportunity to consider Lord . Lyndhursfs suggestion , took his stand , in opposition to that suggestion , on the Scriptural sentence , " Whom God
hath 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 marrj' 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 . cnnld reneive th « monov so
obtained . What he proposed was this : make the offence 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 , lie 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 seemed 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 WensFvIsydale supported the second reading of the bill , observing that the clauses might be considered in committee . —The Earl of Derby ¦ warmly commented \ ipon the fact that only two
members of the right reverend bench ( Oxford and Exeter ) thought the subject worth their attendance . After adverting to the " disgraceful and odious actions for crlm . con . " the noble Earl supported the second reading of the bill . —The Marquis of Lansdowne said that the 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 . ( Jfmr , hear . ") —Earl Gkut felt himself bound to oppose the bill , and support the amendment ; but , while he did so , he wished to observe that ho by no means supported the'existing State of things , ( ITear , hear . ) He believed the bill to be most imperfect , and incapable of safe working . (// ea ?\) —After a few observations from Lord IiEdksdalk in opposition to the bill , tho Loun Chancklloji replied , and their Lordships divided , when the second reading was affirmed by 25 against 10 .
The House then went into committee on the TIioii Constables Bir . r ,, which ultimately passed that sta ^ e .
Tnrc AvAmtAXT of titb Gtii of ocToni : n , 185-1 . In the Ilors :. ; of Commons , Colonel Lindsay moved that an address be presented to her Majesty , praying that she will be pleased to take into consideration the injury indicted on those lieutenant-colonels 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 the warrant of the Gth of October , 1854 . —Agreed to .
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 . Duncombe availed himself of the opportunity again to bring- 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 the Crimea , and thought themselves unfairly treated . lie asked for the p ' roduction 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 Ordar in Council .
THE CHINESE AFFATB CONCLUTWNG DEBATE . Mr . Roundell Palmer resumed the adjourned de bate , 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 Herbekt 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 conduct 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 Parkes . 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 . lion , members were threatened with a dissolution ; but what was to be the motto for the hustings ? Was Lord Palmerston ' a name to be the tower of strength ? Was the old motto , " Peace , economy , and reform , " to give place to that of " The bombardment 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 Yeli ; but the Government , having commenced hostilities , had rendered it impossible for the Emperor to do justice to this country , if it had an y legitimate cause of complaint against that monarch . As to the legal part of the question , he read the opinion of Dr . Lushington , which was in favour of the resolutions .
Mr . Bernal 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 , he 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 . Milner 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 one 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 and toll them that they were making war upon a refined and harmless people ? If the House agreed to a vote of censure , and Sir John Bowring were what would be the
Hag 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 and unoffending population ; it had been tarnished , not by Commissioner Yeh , but by tho English representative in China . ¦ Mr . Gladstone rose to answer the appeal made up oft him with regard to the appointment of Sir John Bo-wring . Lord John Russell had only considered that gentleman , from his commercial habits , a fit person to nil the subordinate office of consul at Canton ; but , with regard to the appointment to the 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 Chinese 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 or 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 . Mr . Jar ~ dine was well known to the Chiuese , who gave him a sort of nickname , which , translated into-English , ' means " the iron-headed rat . " ( Laughter . ) Mr . Jardine , in hi 3 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 xeallv indefensible . ( Jlear , hear . ) The Chinese residents in ' Hong-Kong -were not ( as the Government-partisans" alleged )'' handed over by the Emperor of China , at the time of the treaty , to the authority of this country . Moreover , -we 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 . Bentixcic having in vain endeavoured to speak ,
Lord Palmekston rose amid loud cheers , and commenced by vindicating the character of Sir John Bow ring . 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 Palm ersten ) , 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 the character of Yeh V He was as savage a barbarian belonging to as savage a race as ever disgraced a nation upon the face of the eaith . Sir John Bowring was a member of tho Peace
Society , and , if there were any man less likely than another to enter upon hostility without ground , lie -was that man . ( Jlcctr , hear . ') There had pervaded the whole of Mr . Cobden ' s speech an abnegation of all tho duties which bind a man to his country . Everything English was wrong ; anything anti-English was just and right . ( Cfacrs . ) The hou . member said the Ministers of England arc bullies to the weak , and cowards to the strong . That was said at the commencement of the war with Russia ( cheers)— a war carried on by all tho bravery for which English troops are renowned . Ihe hon . gentleman said , " You dam not have acted m this way towards America . " ( Ifear , huiv . y There- waa the member of the Peace Society . ( C / ieern . ) W thev-huul had iChina the
recalled , consequence ? Why , from letters he had received . from China , ho was assured that no person's life in Canton would be safe . Mr . Osborne proceeded to ridicule tho designs of the opponen-ts of Government , whom he accused of being a motley crew of Conservatives , Peelites , and Liberals . It was by them that the lorcha of tho Government they hoped to establish was to be manned . For Lord John Russell he entertained the profoundest respect ; but he thought that on this occasion he liad been used as a catspaw . Ha was sure his motives were pure ; but his present supporters were his hereditary opponents . He did ' not believe that a coalition would bo successful or popular in that lIonsG , nor did ho think that the people out of doors would over give their consent to a conspiracy whoso object was to displace the noble lord at the head of the Government . ( Loud cheers . )
n powur of sending to a Minister of Pekin , and that Minister could have communicated to the Emperor , no doubt tho iliflioulties . might have beca settled ; but they had not tho nower of communicating even with the local Government . Tins Chines *) knew that the Arrow- was an EnglLsh vessel ; and , with that knowledge , tho boarding tins lorclui was an iuault to England . It mattered not . whether by swne k ffal quibble tho vessel could be proved to bo not strictly ours ; the Chinese believed it was outb , and therefore the insult was intentional . Yeh Huid , tluit the ( lag could not have been ( lying , beuuuao it never was allowed to bo hoisted , except when the voesel was about to sail . W « ll tho Arrow w < us about to sail . ( Cheers . ') Away , th « n , with the falsehood—the . "flagitious falHchood " —that no flag wiw flying . On . board tho lorcha m an old mini , supposed to be the father of a ph-utcs uIhbwhere
Mr . Hknlkv supported , and Mr . EmcitTON opposed , tho resolutions . —Mr . J . Gr . Piiillimoris condemned as unworthy of such a solemn inquiry the -speech of Mr . Bernal C-Hbomc , which was composed of a species of wit almost approaching to buffoonery , and w . ir deficient of all reasoning qualification . The English flag , it was snirt , had bcoa insulted . Yes ; but it was by those who had bombarded tho defenceless , and shed tho blood of tho innocent . —Mr . Bailimk Cochrank . spoke- to the same effect . —Mr . Thomas Ciiambrhh opposed the motion , and said that , if tho allegations against Sir John Bowring contained in Mr . Cobdcn ' s . speech were true , tho terms of tho
. He was seized , upon th « Chine . sn principles that relatives aro resj > onsiblo for the acls of their , friends ; and no doubt , if the real pirato could not be found , tho head of the old man would bo forfeited in his stead . (//«« ,. , / war . ) The affair of the lorcha was but the corollary of a long Hcries of outrages by the Chinese on , our countrymen , the former licintj ' dcLuriulncd not to lulftl their treaties . Tho right , which tho Chinese had now violated is important , as our commerce can only be carried on by small vessels . such a . s lorchn . s . It had ¦ been said in the course of the debate tlmt Yob luul biased 70 , 000 heads of < Jhiuo . so to be struck off within I II ftiAT months . That would show tho Hou . su that Yuhi . s not that pattern of mildness audju . stico which honourable bentlomen hnd so . studiously re . rirom'iitei ] . An honourable , kent . le . mun had said that that . st . atcmunt was a uuir « j . ) lai ; 'but ho ( Load Palmcruton ) had had itcoufirmud by acvurul
resolutions were absurdly inadequate and feeble . But our authorities at Canton hud acted aa every man placed under the same circumstances muat hnvo acted . — Blr . KoKinjorc nskert whether theses proceeding would have boon thought just if enacted in this river Mersey . If not , they could not l . e ju . st in the ( Janton waters , though ho was aware that some people held one sot of morals for the Eaat . and another for tho West . (//< m-y hear . ) It was . said that tho Chinese wen : bnrkiroiiH ; hut tho . y had a civilisation or a peculiar -sort , and , in tho corrcspondcnco in the Bitie-bnolc , they surpassed their ; intiif ? onis | . s in lun ^ nn ;^ , in fooling , and in humanity . Much luul been said about the English
1 'EUSIA . Mr . Vbrnon Smith , replying to some questions put by Mr . ( Ji . auhtonis , said that " tho financial year , " in his letter of tho Oth December , had precisely tho wamo moaning na the " ensuing financial year , " in Sir Charles Trevelyuu ' s letter of tho 2 nd . December . An estimate ' or tho Persian war for the ensuing year had been presented by the Mast India Company to the Board of Control , mid hud been transmitted by tho Board of Control to tho Treasury ; but as it w ; is based on what ho horn-d Would be found an erroneous supposition , viz ., that the
war - with Persia would continue to December , 1857 ; and , as it contained matter which in the event of tho continuance of tho war it would be inexpedient to pub-Hah to the enemy , it would not lio presumed to Parliamen t . With regard to the third question , he had to state- that no . supplies or munitions of war , tin : property 01 her . Majesty , had bvxm de . spatduMl in aid of || K ! Perl > vfi r tMliUo 1 '' Tlui Avhol ° l ! Xl )( " 1 Ml ! woiil'i- hu defra y ed v tno Last India Company , ami would afterwards form iuc subject ( , f an account between tho East India Cum-Pwvy aud tho Government .
Untitled Article
March 7 , 1857 . ] THE LEADER . 219
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Leader (1850-1860), March 7, 1857, page 219, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2183/page/3/
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