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March 15, 1851.] Wfrt ^LtahtW 239
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The Kafpik "War.—A conversation took pla...
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T II K CONTINEN T. ie Pope Cftn no longe...
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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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Parliament Of The Week. The Defeat Of Mi...
• oble lord ' s doctrine that the extension of trade rendered it necessary to increase our naval force . The increa se of our shipping , and of the number of sailors , made the facilities for manning our fleet ereater in a case of sudden emergency . But war is Jess likely to arise with our increased foreign trade . The free-trade policy introduces a tie of mutual interest among nations , which is the strongest guarantee for the maintenance of peace . The committee having divided , thenumters were : — For Mr . Hume ' s amendment 61 Againstit 169
Majority 108 Attempts were made to reduce some of the other votes proposed , but none of them were successful . Colonel Sibthorp raised a laugh by proposing to reduce the salary of the First Lord of the Admiralty from £ 4500 to £ 3500 , on the ground that fish , meat , and other provisions were now cheaper owing to free trade , but only 34 members voted with him . The County Rates and Eicpenditure Bill was read a second time on Wednesday , after a short discussion . The House was quite willing to admit the principle on which the bill is founded—that the
ratepayers should have a voice in the expenditure of the rates , but the country members had a strong objection to the mode in which Mr . Milner Gibson proposes to carry the principle out . Sir John Paktngton said the measure , if it became law , " would create a complete revolution in the manner of conducting county affairs . " The bill would take away from the justices all control over the police and the gaols . He warned the House to beware of tampering with the principle of such an institution as the unpaid magistracy of England . " The bill was unjust , uncalled for , and mischievous . If he stood alone he
should protest against it . " He moved that it be read a second time that day six months . This amendment he afterwards withdrew on hearing from Sir George Grey and Lord John Russell that they were favourable to the bill being committed . The second reading of the Apprentices and Servants Bill passed without any discussion . . Mr . Baines , in moving it , explained the provisions of the bill , of which we gave an outline a few weeks ago . Its main provisions are an extension of the period during which
masters and mistresses tire made liable to provide food for the sustenance of servants or apprentices . By the law as it stands they were liable only in the case of "infants of tender years . " By Mr . Baines ' s bill this liability is extended to all young persons under eighteen . Provision is also made , that until a person has arrived at eighteen , and so long as he remains in the Union in which he has been hired , regular visits shall be paid four times a-year to ascertain whether there is any cause of complaint against the master or mistress .
March 15, 1851.] Wfrt ^Ltahtw 239
March 15 , 1851 . ] Wfrt ^ LtahtW 239
The Kafpik "War.—A Conversation Took Pla...
The Kafpik "War . —A conversation took place in the House of Commons , on Monday evening , on the war in Kaffraria . Lord John Russell read a portion of a despatch from Earl Grey to Sir Harry Smith , written on Saturday , in which the Colonial Secretary warned the Governor that , whatever sums he might be compelled to draw from the military chest for the payment of the force he had raised , or " for any other expenses not incurred on account of her Majesty's regular troops , must be regarded as advances on the colonial treasury . " Mr . Hume said it was all very well for Earl Grey to write in that style , but no one would believe that he could call on the colonists for the payment of a single shilling . The papers in his possession showed that the colonists had nothing to do with the expenses of the late war . They said they were willing to protect themselves , provided they were allowed to mannge their own affairs , but they were not allowed to manage them . Sir H . Smith had been left at the Cape aa a military despot . He could not understand why such a despatch as the one they had heard should Have been sent to him . The truth was , that Earl Grey would sink any administration with which he remained . " Mr . Labouchere defended the conduct of Government to tne colonists , M 11 d affirmed that " a foundation had been iaid b y tile Government of this country which would insure to the Cane Colony free institutions of the largetit and most liberal kind . " Mr . Adderley remarked that JoritiHh KafFruria was not a part of the Cape Colony . It was a separate British possession , under a separate administration , fiHcal and political ; and therefore neither ** ott \ Urey nor the First Minister could call on the Cape «> t"ke any part of the charge of defending Kaffraria . * 'ie whole of the expenses would fall solely on the imperial government .
T Ii K Continen T. Ie Pope Cftn No Longe...
T II K CONTINEN T . ie Pope Cftn no longer enjoy quiet slumbers wuiun the walls of the Vatican Pulaee . Tho French a 1 i * H aU l lUB « wed in the OuHtlo St . Angclo , th « ' |) erlm P » the I ' ontincul residence was subject to wio ' annoyance of their earl y drumming . Perhaps , „ . ' 'twas placed too incnnvimimit . lv within rench
* mo L , a « tlo a protecting guns . By suggestion of the r " " «« i and Austrian Ambassador * , his llolincsH in uoout to remove to the Quinual , where husty me-P £ "" ure mttde for hi » reception . Ko 7 , ! l ® ^ Ntt P » *»«» issued orders for tho pro-OUUon ot n « w s « t » of political offenders , Efforts
will be made to convict citizens in various classes , of the heinous crime of having hailed . Ferdinand as the Constitutional King . " The Neapolitan Government has carried the Carnival at the point of the bayonet . In Sicily , and especially at Messina , the people having peremptorily refused to be merry , a few carriages , with military and civil officers , drove up to the Cor so i hemmed in with double and treble rows of infantry , so as to bear all the appearance of a convoy of prisoners .
King Ferdinand has decidedly withdrawn his countenance from . Hyde-park . The great mart will be the Exhibition of the Industry of " all Nations but one . " Not a single Maccarone will the Two Sicilies contribute : the police-office will issue no passports for England during the whole period of the exhibition . Some people think the measure arises from the King ' s fears of the " burning eloquence " of Father Gavazzi . The fact is , however , that the Bourbon at all times evinced the same dread of similar national and international meetings . None of his subjects was ever allowed to attend the scientific Congresses that even Austria patronized . The Two Sicilies are kept in a state of Chinese Celestialism . All intercourse is contagion .
The Duke of Parma is on a visit to the Grand Duke of Tuscany . The latter , with his family , will embark at Leghorn for Naples . Who is there at the present day that does not apply for lessons of Neapolitan statescraft ? Is not Baron Antonini , the Sicilian Minister , the oracle of Legitimists and Orleanists in Paris } . Does M . Thiers draw his inspirations from any other source ? New troops are pouring down into Lombardy , from all parts , in hot haste . The Government of Vienna seems yet to labour under the greatest uneasiness with respect to Italy , and especially the Roman States . All the news of Austrian forces condensing in Umbria , at Spoleto and Foligno , and Terni , and Neapolitan troops on the borders at Rieti , receive the most ample
confirmation . It is possible , yet , that all these movements are merely of a defensive character : that the Austrians wish " to bring great masses of troops to bear against that poor influence that the French still flatter themselves with exercising at Rome . We have not forgotten that in the heat of its dissensions with Prussia , Austria found it necessary to borrow some of its best troops from the army ot Radetzky . The great influx of soldiers into Italy at the present time , may , perhaps , be explained as the mere return of the Italian garrisons to their posts . By rapidity of motions those troops are actually multiplied in the eyes of terrified nations : forced marches and countermarches give the Austrians all the prestige of
ubiquitv-To secure the advantage of this all but instantaneous locomotion , Austria is sparing no expense in the rapid construction of railways . The line from Venice to Vicenza is now open to Verona and Mantua ; a branch will stretch up to Roveredo and Trento , in the Tyrol ; another is to come down to the South , as far at least as Ferrara . The French never understood that these iron arteries are the most efficient of fortifications ; they wasted in their detached forts round
Paris what would have enabled them to reach the Rhine , the Alps , or the Mediterranean with almost the speed of thought . Austria , however , is not neglecting the strongholds that proved the real Acropolis of her empire in 1848 . New and extensive works are carried on round Mantua , Peschiera , and Verona . Padua , Vicenza , Milan itself , are hastily fortified . Really it will be no material strength that ever drives the Northerners from Italy .
Happily there is another and a mightier instrument of deliverance at work . The Piedmontese seem determined to make the most of their constitution while it lasts . The Chamber of Deputies at Turin concluded , on the 4 thr the discussion of the general budget of the treasury and its additional articles . The following day was kept holy throughout the monarchy , being the third anniversary of the promulgation of the fundamental statute . There was high mass at the cathedral , a review of 4000 National Guards in tho morning , a brilliant illumination in the evening . There , as well as at Genoa , the festivities passed off without the slightest disturbance .
The discussion of the treaty of commerce , lately concluded with Belgium , has given rise to parties of Protectionists and Free-Traders in the House of Deputies ut Turin . The most liberal views on liberty of commerce have always enjoyed great popularity throughout Italy . The constitution , as we said , is no dead letter for the Piedmontese . We have reason to bo surprised at the excellent use the Italians make of their unlimited freedom of the press . There is greater talent and
sense developed in the Piedmontese papers than could have been thought to be latent even in that proverbially-gifted Italian land : and this not in Piedmont merely but in Tuscany also , and even in Lombardy , under the very frowns of Radetzky . Wo have a few numbers of the Statuto , a very able Florentine paper , now once more on its logs , after a month ' a suspension . We find in it a leading article on English politics , the work of a man thoroughly conversant with the subject . We would look in vain
for such a valuable effusion out of the whole mass of the Parisian press . Another paper , II Milanese , has been suppressed at Milan on account of some ironical praises bestowed on Austrian rule . Vater Radetzky wages war against the very figures of rhetoric . People , he thinks , can sayr no good of him and his master , except through irony ; and , like the old Venetian Government , Austria is not to be spoken of either for praise or censure . Some executions in compliance with the Marshal's late proclamation against the diffusion of seditious writings , have already taken place . A poor journeyman baker has been shot at Venice , for having
shown to a Hungarian soldier an address of the Hungarian Committee in London . Shooting , by wholesale , is going on in Romagna likewise . There , we are told , it is only robbers and malefactors that fall ; and yet robberies and murders are more than ever rife in the country , and the town of Lugo especially was lately startled by some scenes of horror , such as our age ought only to read in bad novels . An Austrian soldier was found dead with thirty-eight knife wounds in his breast : another with forty-eight such wounds , forty-three in the breast alone . The murderers have escaped , and will swell the ranks of the houseless marauders .
A camp of 60 , 000 men will be formed by the Austriane , between the Adda and the Oglio , early in the spring . The Vienna papers contradict the report that the Government contemplated the reopening of Venice as a free port . Business is very dull at Leghorn , and the harbour nearly deserted . From distracted Italy , it is even a relief to retire for refuge into bamboozled Germany ; though even there , reaction threatens to bring the people back to the
middle ages . Corporal punishment is again to be introduced in the Penal Code of Mecklenburg . It had been abolished in January , 1849 ; but the Government finds that it cannot be dispensed with . No discipline can be maintained without the lash in the prisons , and •? no confessions are to be extorted from the prisoners . " The dear , expeditious , economical stick will also have the good effect of driving " vagabonds and foreigners" out of the country .
The New Press Law haa come into operation in Baden . Newspapers are to be guaranteed by cautionmoney . Every article will bear the author ' s signature . Authors , publisher , printers , the very devils , are responsible for all the contents of new publications . Ordinary courts are competent to try all usual offences of the press ; for graver cases recourse will be had to the jury . M . von Vincke ' s motion for an inquiry into the state of the country , has been negatived in the Prussian House of Deputies by 228 against 41 votes . The commission to which the motion had . been referred reported against it , and , on their recommendation , the order of the day was proceeded with .
Ihe King of Prussia has received the order of St . Andrew from the hands of a grateful and affectionate Czar ; it is a rare distinction , and seldom bestowed out of the imperial family . The chain or collar is worth above 1 , 000 , 000 dollars . The Prussian Government , unlike that of Naples , has thought proper to interfere with the carnival festivities at Cologne . The Saturnalia in the quaint old dirty city were said to be second in eclat only to
those of Rome and Venice ; though a great deal oi drunkenness and debauchery was mixed up with dancing and masquerading . The sanguine Germans were better disposed to forget hard times in the enjoyment of their traditional merry-makings ihan the bilious Sicilians . The Government , however , put a veto on their plans and arrangements , and the gay season passed off on the Ithine with almost lenten dulness .
Ihe great German question is absolutely on the same terms as we left it last week . No plenary meeting of the Dresden Conferences has taken place on the 8 th , as had been announced . Prince Schwnrzenberg issued a circular to all the Austrian agents at the different German courts . It bears the date of March 2 , and was first published in the Berlin papers on the 8 ih . It is full of arrogant threats against such of the minor German potentates as still resist the sovereign will of Austria ; it contends that but for
their jealousies and intrigues , Prussia and Austria would long since have set at rest all disputes on thut complicated subject . The prince , at the same time , indignantly rejects the idea of any foreign power ' s interference in German matters , either ns an interested party , or even as a mediator and adviser . The same high , independent tone ift assumed by Mantouffel at Berlin ; and the French note or protest against the intended annexation of tho non- (» ennaii provinces of Austria into the Bund has been received with cold contempt . This non-interference of foreign powers , however , only applies to France or England . Russia does something more than mediate , it dictates at Dresden , as it did at Olmutz , Erfurt , and Warsaw ; collars , of a million value , are not given away to independent and self- respecting princes . In tho midst of all those endless bickerings tho German fleet lias foundered ero it over quitted hlirbour . The scheme it * altogether abandoned , and
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), March 15, 1851, page 3, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_15031851/page/3/
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