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-No. &d Atb.il 3, 1858.] ( THE LEADER. 3...
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THE POLIO! FOR CHINA. GaBAX Britain, Fra...
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FRANCE AND PIEDMONT. The English press s...
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THE ISLAND OF PERIM. Lord Palmerston has...
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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.
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Turkey Since The War. Three Continental ...
_ j p j that of yielding to pressure ia 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 Dowerful ; 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 Constantinop le , but it has only denationalized its nupils , except where it has instructed them in the Ingenuities of oppression . " We have before us , " writes M . Saint Marc Girardin , " a melancholy and curious 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 Europe should interpose its protectorate , will result in doubling the oppression under which the Greek subjects of the empire habitually suffer . " M . Girardin does not ignore the abases of the Greek ecclesiastical establishment , or deny that , in the Greek Church , confessors intrigue y ith penitents and prosper on the price of absolution . But the Greeks are corrupt partly because the Turks are rapacious , and if the priest be detected in
venality , his sin may he 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 unifonnityof regulations upontheChurch , aud to abolish the temporal and j udicial 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 th «* part of reformers , to pay Turkish abuse and atrocity what iu ' Europe' is paid for justice and for the popular welfare and 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 typical 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 j and in all directions the latest explorers find 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-fashioucd system which Constantinople itself affects to condemn , and the work of decomposition will go on , we are firmly persuaded , so long aa the Porte continues to be numbered among the powers of Europe .
-No. &D Atb.Il 3, 1858.] ( The Leader. 3...
-No . & d Atb . il 3 , 1858 . ] ( THE LEADER . 32 £
The Polio! For China. Gabax Britain, Fra...
THE POLIO ! FOR CHINA . GaBAX 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 be the liberty of ingress from the sea , hitherto refused her on tho grouna that she already enjoys a monopoly of intercourse along -the-inland'frontier . — -Tho-United-Statos-havo-long been surveying , praoticnlly and politically , among the Chinese waters in ecaroh of a naval station and commercial emporium , and they have a clear right to carry out their views . Franco may bo trusted not to neglect her opportunity . Tho course open to Great Britain is not to obstruct tho policy of friendly powers , but to secure her own position on tho coast of China . To retain Canton appears to w a popular suggestion , but ouorjnoua aiifioultica
would have to be encountered . Firstl y ^ 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 it might be superfluous to cress 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 iuto ruins on every side . iNext , 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 . But , as a point d ' appui , a centre , a rendezvous , we should occupy ana retain the island of Cliusan . 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 IIon ^ -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 .
France And Piedmont. The English Press S...
FRANCE AND PIEDMONT . The English press seems recently to have been so occup ied with home affairs that it has been particularly chary of encouragement to a little State which , nevertheless , deserves more respectful attention . Piedmont is now ia the midst of a struggle with French influence , similar to that which England has just terminated tant bien que mat . Count Cavour , whoso Bonapartiat 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 procisely as was Lord Palmerston . He was asked to
ox pel refugees—he refused , but introduced a law which , if passed , would bo far more detrimental to tho reputation of Piedmont than any temporary concession to the exigencies of a powerful State . The whole case is admirably stated in the report presented to the Piqdinontcso Chambers in tho name of tho Commission appointed to examine tho project of law . M . Lorenzo Valerio , who conducts the policy of tho Viritto , one of the ablest and most , con 9 jis . tcjjJLof J ^ Jia ^ j ^ rnaK ^ was charged with tho duty of drawing up flifit r * eport 7 ~~ H & % a &~ dono so with a courage and 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 ot tho country . Tho law proposed by Count Cavour , wo beliovo with tho best intentions , in a moment of exaggerated foar 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 that in
accused of crimes -which are so vag ^ ie reality they ought never to be mentioned in a code ; as , for example , " excitingthe 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 m the Parliament of Turin against this law . The Commissaries appointed b y 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 . Cojrnt 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 stern command . At any 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 . We must not forget to do credit to the attitude 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 Dragron expression , " the eye 3 of all Europe are turned towards the Sardinian Parlia ment . "
The Island Of Perim. Lord Palmerston Has...
THE ISLAND OF PERIM . Lord Palmerston has been fairly attaoked on two grounds , his attempt to degrade the Liberal party into a mere personal following , and the levity of his conduct towards the 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 g lobe has arisen , ho has invariably maintained the interest and the honour of the country . No minister could have acted better than Lord l ? almerston in the Chinese dispute . He was thoroughly honest , cautious , and onortrotic from first to Vast in that affair , onco termed ' unfortunate / but a very happy circumstance , as it scorns to us , since it exposed tho mysteries of Canton , where fo uF 5 fTt 5 ur 'Own ^ countrymon-- 'l » avebcon ^ ainonff-thohuman sacrifices—more ghastly than those of Western Africa—within tho last few years . Another important matter has passed out of his hands into those of Lord Mnlmosbury , and we trust that no national loss may , bo sustained through tho transfer . Wo refer to tho occupation and projected fortification by tho British Government of tho island of Porim . As a question of policy , the retention of
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), April 3, 1858, page 13, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_03041858/page/13/
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