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Leader (1850-1860), 3rd April 1858, Edition 1 of 2, Page 325, Untitled Article

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      Untitled Article

      .-. J ed— that of y ielding to pressure in order to avoid an explosion . The Turks know that the Christian population will never amicably accept their sway ; they feel that to be civilized is to be uovrerfal , but , incapable of adopting the codes and customs of the West , they have abandoned the fiery traditions of the East , and are content to receive lessons from Europe in the science of governing Europeans . Diplomacy has opened its school at C onstantinople , but it has only denationalized its pupils , except where it has instructed them in the ingenuities of oppression . " We have before us , " writes M . Saint Marc Girardin , " a melancholy and rurious example of the facility with which the

      Turks apply the maxims of European civilization in order to aggravate their tyranny over the rayahs . I allude to the reform of the Greek clergy recently undertaken by the Porte , which , unless Euro p e should interpose its protectorate , will result , in doubling the oppression under which the Greek subjects of the empire habitually suffer . " JL Girardin does not ignore the abuses of the Greek ecclesiastical establishment , or deny that , in the Greek Church , confessors intrigue with penitents and prosper on the price of absolution . But the Greeks are corrupt partly because the Turks are rapacious , aud if the priest be detected in

      venality , his sin may be generally traced to its source in the exactions of Constantinople . Now , the Turkish policy of ' reform' means a readiness to destroy the independent organization of the Greek Church . The Government announced its intentions last November "to harmonize the privileges and immunities granted , to the Greeks oy successive sultans with the progress and enlightenment of the age , " in other words , to inflict an administrative uni ^ formityof regulations upontheChurch , and to abolish the temporal and judicial authority of the Patriarchate —ajurisdiction which now stands apart from the lawlessness of the Ottoman tribunals , and is of

      inestimable value to the rayahs . M . Girardin adds : " To discover in the European methods of procedure the means of creating new imposts , to satisfy Turkish cupidity while affecting to play the part of reformers , to pay for Turkish abuse and atrocity what in Europe is paid for justice and for the popular welfare aud security , is the new Ottoman system , and it is in this disguise that it endeavours to dupe the Western nations . But the Western nations are not duped . They affect to be deceived , in order that they may enjoy the privilege of being indifferent . " Thus , the West lends itself to this Eastern -, fraud , and while the cry is still "

      Regeneration ! " Turkey becomes more essentially Turkish than ever . Pictures from Cyprus are deep perspectives of ruin , yet Turkey has been ostentatiously regenerating in that island for twenty years . In Famagousta there is not an entire edifice standing , and M . Girardin quotes a traveller who points to Famagousta as typ ical of the Ottoman Empire . " Two hundred livid and sickly individuals—Mohammedans —crouched amidst this desolation like beasts of prey sleeping among the bones of their victims .

      That city is emblematic of the Ottoman Empire . " From Constantinople far into the interior the country is little more than a cemetery ; and iu all directions the latest explorers fiad only decay and exhaustion . The richest provinces of Europe are half desert , and the population most favoured by nature is the poorest , under Moslem rule . The witnesses cited by M . Girardin speak of Turkey since the Peace of Paris , not of the old-fashioned system which Constantinople itself affects to condemn , and the work of decomposition will go on , we are firmly persuaded , so long as the Porte continues to be numbered among tho powers of Europe .

      Untitled Article

      THE POLICY FOR CHINA . Great Britain , France , Russia , and America have united to break down the exclusive system of the Chinese Empire . What Russia may demand on her own part will probably bo the liberty of ingress from tho sea , hitherto refused her on the ground that she already enjoys a monopoly of intercourse along 1 «—r « tho-inland ^ ft ? ontier .-lJTho-TJnitcd . Stato 3 « ha . v . or . lQng . boon surveying , practically and politically , among the Chinese waters in search of a naval Btation ana commercial emporium , and they have a clear right to carry out their views . Franco may bo trusted not to neglect her opportunity . ThG course open to Great Britain is not to obstruct tho policy of friendly powers , but to secure her own position on the coast of China . To retain Canton appears to bo a popular suggestion , but enormous diiuoulties

      would have to be encountered . Firstly , if Great Britain proposed to appropriate the principal maritime city of the Chinese Empire , the other combined powers would consider themselves entitled to equivalent annexations , which would amount , virtually , to a partition of the Chinese sea-board , rendering necessary and inevitable the ultimate conquest of the entire realm . Secondly , a great town could not be permanently held without a

      corresponding mass of contiguous territory , unless the garrison maintained a perpetual state of war . Again , the principal objects of the Western combination against China would not be secured , and might be retarded by the retention of Canton . The river channels would not be opened , nor would the lives and properties of Europeans in the interior be guaranteed , and the first renewal of insult would entail a new territorial confiscation . But

      that Canton should not be restored to the Emperor until full satisfaction has been given for the aggression upon British commerce , and until the barbarous restrictions of the empire have been abolished , is so obvious , that ifc might be superfluous to press the point , did we not know that Lord Derby holds doubtful views on the Chinese question . So far as the affairs of China are concerned , every one must regret the absence of Lord Palmerston

      from the Administration . We trust , however , that he will not suffer a policy so triumphantly justified by the event to be warped by his successors in office . It has been discovered that Englishmen have suffered lingering deaths in Canton at the hands of the imperial authorities ; and but for Admiral Seymour ' s squadron these atrocities would have remained among the bloody secrets of Commissioner Yeh and his myrmidons .

      We must now put an end to the possibility of similar outrages , so far , at least , as Canton is concerned . We must lay that city open to free intercourse , and it would be no more than an equitable act of retribution if , before being handed over to a native governor , its walls—the screen of so many crimes against the laws of nature and of nationswere blown into ruins oa every side . Next , we have to remove , either by artillery or by an ultimatum , the barricades that render useless _ to Europe the vast system of Chinese internal navigation . There is no reason why an Anglo-Chinese

      factory might not be safely established nine hundred miles from the sea . Bat , as a point d ' appui , a centre , a rendezvous , we should occupy and retain the island of Chusan . Many years ago , memoirs upon the importance of Chusan were laid before the British Government by British officers of high rank and long Eastern experience , but they were neglected in favour of Hong-Kong , since demonstrated to be inconvenient , insufficient , and less commanding as a strategic position than is necessary to ' keep the coast civil . ' We have sent a powerful and costly expedition to China , and the industrial and commercial public has a right to anticipate some practical result from so ostentatious a demonstration .

      Untitled Article

      FRANCE AND PIEDMONT . Tub English press seems recently to have been so occupied with home affairs that it has been particularly chary of encouragement to a little State which , nevertheless , deserves more respectful attention . Piedmont is now in the midst ot a struggle with French influence , similar to that which England has just terminated tant bien que mat . Count Cavour , whoso Bonapartist tendencies , or rather we should say , whose exaggerated estimate of the present Emperor of the French have been more than once pointed out , seems to have been acted on precisely as was Lord Palmerston . He was asked to expel refugees—he refused , but introduced a law which , if passed , would be far more detrimental to the reputation of Piedmont than any temporary concession to tho exigencies of a powerful State . Tho whole case is admirably stated in tho report presented to the Piedmoutcso Chambers in tho name of tho Commission appointed to examine tho project of law . M . Lorenzo Valcrio , who conducts tho policy of tho Diritto , one of the ablest and most consistent of Italian journals , was charged with "tl ^ dEy ^ flJrawin ^ TCjp ^ hat-reportr-Htte ^ has-done so with a courage ana moderation worthy of all praise ; and shows that the proposed law would introduce perturbation into tho whole of tho penal legislation as well as into tho municipal institutions or tho country . The law proposed by Count Cavour , wo boliovo with tho host intentions , in n moment of exaggerated fear for tho safety of Piedmont , was one such as no

      reactionary minister would have dared to think of . Not only did it provide against conspiracies to kill or overturn a foreign power in a manner , as the reporter -very appositely remarks , unknown to the other Italian States , to Austria , and especially to France , but it proposed utterly to falsify the institution of the jury . As is well known , all ordinary offences are tried in Piedmont by magistrates , most of whom , by the way , were appointed before 1848 ; and even all press offences that partake of the character of libel . Mr . Truelove and Messrs . Pyat and his co-signers would not have the benefit of a jury in Piedmont . The opinion of twelve honest citizens chosen by lot is only asked when . a . writer is accused of crimes which are so vague that in reality

      they ought never to be mentioned in a code ; as , tor example , " exciting the hatred of one class of citizens against another , " " spreading subversive doctrines , " and so forth ; that is to say , doing what one half of the press of a free country is every day accusing the other half of doing . These crimes are of French invention . We are sorry to see them ever mentioned in Piedmont . Still more do we regret that Count Cavour , in obedience to the threats of France , not endorsed by any real intention of coercion , has thought fit to endeavour to obtain more convictions than are already obtained by having such , offences submitted to the judgment of magistrates , nearly every one of whom regards the principles on which the present Constitution of Piedmont is based as ' subversive . '

      We hear that a very strong opposition exists in the Parliament of Turin against this law . The Commissaries appointed by the bureaux , who may be supposed to represent the real sentiments of the Chamber , voted seven to two against it . Still , its rejection appears by no means certain . Count Cavour , though he has sometimes wavered , is now said to be resolved to use all possible means to obtain a majority , even to threaten resignation in case of failure . Perhaps he acts under stem command . At anv rate , we trust the Liberals and all patriotic

      members will do their duty . Count Cavour has been a valuable Minister , and his career is not yet over , but a short time on the Opposition benches might be of service even to him . He is too identified with the doctrines of progress to refuse his assistance to any liberal measures proposed by a Ministry of which he was not a member . Perhaps ,, indeed , whatever he may say , he would not be sorry to escape from the necessity of imposing this unlucky law upon the country . He must feel that it is in every respect a step backward . attitude

      We must not forget to do credit to the which the Right seems to have taken on this occasion . Its members would , no doubt , willingly return to another regime ; but if essentially anti-Liberal they are also essentially patriotic . The idea of legislating under the dictation of France has roused their national pride . As loyal subjects , too , they are willing to come to the assistance of the King , who is known to be highly indignant , as the representative of a line of eight hundred years ' duration , at the haughty demands of a parvenu . In every respect , what is taking place in Piedmont must be considered as highly important ; and , to use a Green Dragon expression , "the eye 3 of all Europe are turned towards the Sardinian Parlia ment . "

      Untitled Article

      THE ISLAND OF PERIM . Lord Palmjixiston has been fairly attacked on two grounds , his attempt to degrade tho Liberal party into a mere personal following , and the levity of his conduct towards tho independent members of the House of Commons . But he is entitled , on some points , to the highest praise that can be bestowed upon a statesman . Wherever any question of British power and British policy in distant quarters of tho globe lias arisen , ho lias invariably maintained the interest and the honour of the country . No minister could have acted bettor than Lord Polmerston in tho Chinese dispute . He was thoroughly honest , cautious , and energetic from first to last in that affair , once termed ' unfortunate / but a very happy circumstance , as it seems to us , since it exposed tho mysteries of Canton , where ¦ fourof'Our'Own' -oountrjmon ^ have-bccn ,, ftinong . i ^ P . human sacrifices—more ghastly than those of Western Africa—within the last few years , Another important matter has passed out of his hands into those of Lord Malmesbury , and we trust that no national loss may bo sustained through tho transfer . We refer to tho occupation and projected fortification by tho British Government of tho island ol Perim . As a question of policy , tho retention oi

      Untitled Article

      ¦ Wo . 419 , April 3 , 1858 . ] THE ! L 33 A PER . 32 E

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), April 3, 1858, page 325, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2237/page/13/