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    £g4 THE LEADER. [Saturday,

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    I Contend, A Right To Know From The Nobl...

    ^ re ; maintain an ambassador ; they are needed for the sake of communication with the sovereign * The effect of reducing the salaries of our ani ^ isters abroad would be to prevent their being on terms of easy , social intercourse with influential perlisonages ; and this would be prejudicial to our interests ; It would also be very hurtful if we were to dispense with ministers at the smaller German states . A minister at Frankfort would not be sufficient ; for the delegates who meet at that city are not governments , and we could not lay before them any complaints with respect to Bavaria , or Saxony , <^ Hanover , which might arise . The same remarks which have

    apply to the three Italian States at we ministers . As regards the example of the United States , the government there has been obliged to revise the whole of the diplomatic and co nsular establishments , and that not at all in the way of redaction . Then again , with respect to the question of fitness , it is a great mistake to suppose that in the higher appointments the selection of persons to fill them is not made with a view to efficiency . It is much more to the interest of the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs to appoint efficient persons than to oblige any political friend . In conclusion , he had to state that on the previous day an order in council was made with a view to establish a system of examinations of persons to be appointed to diplomatic offices . . > . 14 x . Wii-mams supported the motion , expressing his deep regret that a professed Liberal Government

    should continue extravagances which have been condemned by a Parliamentary committee . —Mr . PhiijlijtoRB suggested a rule interdicting our consuls from carrying on business as private merchants , which would prevent a conflict of private interests and public duties . —Mr . Whiteside complained that some of our diplomatic agents are' deficient in the knowledge of public law ; and Mr . Otway asserted [ that they are selected because they are either rela-Jtives of Cabinet Ministers or persons of high standing , or because they have some Parliamentary influence . —Mr . Wise offered to withdraw his motion ; jbut , Mr . Bailuce objecting , a division took place , when the motion was carried , in spite of Mr . Wise , jby 112 to 57 . —The announcement of the numbers was received with loud cheering .

    THE BALLOT . Mr . Henry Berkeley renewed his annual motion for leave to bring in a bill to cause the votes of electors to be taken by ballot . To the arguments which he has hitherto adduced , he now added a fresh consideration arising out of the disasters which have attended our Crimean campaign , contending that , before the Government can be brought into a healthy condition , the rottenness at the heart of the House of Commons itself must be removed . Preceding acts had done little . The corrupt Practices Prevention Act was a pompous pretence . Whatever in that bill was calculated to put down bribery was carefully

    erased in committee : Everything referring to the upper classes was struck out . The House of Commons is mainly returned by peers ; and what attention will be paid by them to any recommendations which might have the effect of reducingthe monopoly of power now enjoyed by the aristocracy ? It might just as well be asked what would be the effect if a criminal at the bar were allowed to change places with the j udge , and to pass sentence upon himself . The right of the elector to a free choice of the member who is to serve him has been wrested from his possession by the oligarchy , squirearchy , and the moneyed

    interest ; and it must be restored . The answers to certain questions framed by the Ballot Committee show that bribery and intimidation exist still to an extent almost incredible ; and undue influence is brought to bear upon poor electors to such a degree that three hundred tenants may be moved by their landlord as by strings or wires , they being perfectly passive in his hands . Mr . Berkeley then quoted the opinions of Mr . Disraeli , Sir Edward Bulwer Lytton , Mr . Macaulay , David Hume , Blackstone , Benthain , Mill , Buller , and others in favour of the ballot ; and , returning to the question of the aristocratic constitution of our army , reminded the House that , in days gone by , an English army , led by the king , and officered by the flower of the nobility , formed no officered

    match for one commanded by a brewer and ' by men of low degree—that the Life Guards were not equal to the Ironsides of Oliver Cromwell . —The motion was seconded by Mr . Fiiblden , and opposed by Lord Seymour , on the ground that publicity is the essence of the representative system , and that it would be dangerous to entrust secret voting to the hands of the trading classes , after the revelations Which the Lancet had made of the universal fraud and dishonesty of those classes . —Mr . Gordon , in a maiden speech , supported the motion , not so much because he thought it likely to prove a panacea for all the evils of our electoral system , but in the hope that it might tend to eradicate , or materially diminish , evils which all at least profess to deplore , l > y checking corruption , the direct and scandalous truffle Ih voted , and a utill greater ovil—intimidation . In

    -answer to Lord Seymour , he said he did not believe that retail dealers are . essentially a corrupt body ; but , if they are , the measure is all the more necessary , in order to take from them the means of being corrupt . —Mr . Bentinok opposed the motion , which was supported by Mr . Patrick O'Brien and Mr . Bland , who both gave instances of intimidation and coercion by Irish landlords , and mentioned the names of Lords Norbury and Farnham and Mr . Nesbit as guilty parties . — The motion was also supported by Sir John Fitzgerald . —Mr . Michell desired to amend the motion by causing divisions in that House to be taken by ballot . This , he said , was quite as much needed as the other reform ; and he hoped he should find some one to

    second his amendment . ;—Lord Palmerston , in opposing the motion , repeated the stock arguments against vote by ballot , and observed with respect to the example of the United States of America , that the object there is not secresy , which is entirely discarded , but the convenience of enabling the elector to give his vote for several elections at the same time . Mr . MichelFs proposal he thought much more logical than Mr . Berkeley ' s ; votes being often given in that House in deference to the pressure of constituencies . But he should be sorry to see such an innovation introduced ; and , in fact , he looked upon Mr . MichelPs proposal as a reductlo ad absurdum . —Upon a division , the numbers stood—For the motion , 166 ; against , 218 : majority , 52 .

    THE NEWSPAPER STAMP BILL . In the House of Lords , on Thursday , Lord Canning moved the second reading of the Newspaper Stamp Bill , and enumerated the reasons which had induced the Government to bring forward the measure . Lord Monteagle opposed the repeal of the tax , as inopportune at a moment when additional taxes are being laid on the people in order to meet the expense of the war . Lord Cannin g replied , and the bill was read a second time .

    THE DANUBIAN PRINCIPALITIES . In the House of Commons , in reply to Mr . Otway , Lord Palmerston stated that Lord Westmoreland had been informed by General Hess that Count Coronini , the General commanding the Austrian troops in the Principalities of WallacMa and Moldavia , had issued an order , which was not strictly equivalent to our martial law , since it applied only to the Austrian troops themselves , and to any persons detected in endeavouring to induce those troops to desert ; that Lord Westmoreland had inquired of the Austrian Government whether the order would apply to foreigners , and the answer was that it was not applicable to any foreigners in the Principalities . THE WAR ANT ) THE CONFERENCES . MR . DISKAELl ' s

    MOTION . Mr . Disraeli moved the resolution , of which he had given notice , " that this House cannot adjourn for the recess without expressing its dissatisfaction with the ambiguous language and uncertain conduct of Her Majesty ' s Government in reference to the great question of peace or war ; and that , under these circumstances , this House feels it a duty to declare that it will continue to give every support to Her Majesty in the prosecution of the war , until Her Majesty shall , in conjunction with her allies , obtain for this country a safe and honourable peace . " Mr . Disraeli began his speech by repeating the remarks he had made on Monday and Tuesday

    evenings with respect to the ambiguous language and uncertain conduct of Government , and to the dissatisfaction which he felt , in common with the country , at Ministers omitting , at the close of the Conferences , to ask the opinion of the House , and to state the course they meant to pursue . It was expected that this would be done when the protocols were laid on the table ; but the public were disappointed , and they received another balk by the withdrawal of Mr . Gibson ' s motion . Mr . Disraeli therefore thought it his duty to bring forward this motion , which was limited to the issue expressed in it . If it involved a vote of censure , or implied a want of confidence , this arose from the peculiar circumstances of the time . He wanted tlie House to

    declare that their views are not changed nor their spirit daunted , and that they arc ready to carry on the war until its great object is eeoured by an honourable peace . The appointment of Lord John Russell as Plenipotentiary at Vienna was an unfortunate one . For nearly two years—while wo were " drifting" into war—the noble lord had been stimulating the passions of people by harangues which were not only fervent , but inflammatory ; and ho had plainly assorted in that House that England ought not to lay down her arms " until material guarantees arc attained , which , reducing Russia's power to proportions innocuous to Europe's liberties , will afford perfect security for the future" This announcement almost overturned the whole of

    European policy ; more especially as tho Vienna protocol of December 5 th , J 853 , signed both by Franco and England , provided that the war should not lead to any territorial diminution of tlto Russian Empire . However , not only Lord John Russell , but Lord Clarendon , dcclurcd , in effect , that England

    would not be influenced by the protocol which she had herself signed ; and , in the course of last JtuV Lord John Russell , in a moment of almost unpardonable indiscretion , revealed the secret intentions of the cabinet , and that the destruction of Sebastopol was the great object in view . But , during the brief period in the early part of 1853 when his Lordship held the position of Foreign Secretary , he wrote a secret and confidential despatch to Sir Hamilton Seymour , having reference to , the propositions made by the late Czar with respect to Turkey ; and in that despatch there occurs this passage : —

    " Her Majesty ' s Government wish to add that in their view it is essential that the Sultan should be advised to treat his Christian subjects in conformity with the principles of equity and religious freedom which prevail generally among the enlightened nations of Europe . The more the Turkish Government adopts the rules of impartial law and equal administration , the less loill the Emperor ofRussia find it necessary to apply that exceptional protection which his Imperial Majesty has found so burdensome and inconvenient , though , no doubt prescribed by duty and sanctioned by treaty . " Mr . Disraeli

    continued" Let the House remember this , for it is important . Not to taunt the noble lord -with an error—probably the most gross ever committed by a statesman—not to taunt him with that one fatal error , for every man will forget himself at times—I called the attention of the House , at the time when this despatch was so much the subject of admiration , to this disastrous admission . The noble lord never gave any answer , for he could not , and I should not have brought the matter forward had it not been for the remarkable reason I am now about to state . The mistake committed by the noble lord was in acknowledging the protectorate of Russia over the Christian subjects of Turkey , which Count Nesselrode himself now says does not exist ; but which the noble lord acknowledged , and says is prescribed by duty , and sanctioned by treaties . "

    The next fatal admission made by Lord John Russell was at the Conference held on the 26 th of March , when he said that , " recalling the declaration made at the opening of the negotiation by Prince Gortschakoff , that he would consent to no condition incompatible with the honour of Russia , in the eyes of England and of her allies , the best and only admissible conditions of peace would be those which , being the most in harmony with the honour of Russia , should , at the same time , be sufficient for the security of Europe , and for preventing a return of complications such as that the settlement of which is now in question . "

    " Well , we shall soon see what the admission of the noble lord led to . The noble lord stated that in the eyes of England and her allies the best and only admissible conditions of peace would be those most in harmony with the honour of Russia . What had he to do with the honour of Russia ? I apprehend the noble lord was not sent to Vienna to take care of the honour of Russia . The noble lord was sent to Vienna to take care of the honour of England . But , having made this admission , he proceeded , on the 17 th of April—to do what ? Why to propose the most humiliating and insulting conditions that could possibly be conceived , and those humiliating conditions were supported by an historical precedent the most unhappy that he could have

    selected . The noble lord appealed to the treaty of Utrecht and the destruction of the fortifications of Dunkirk . Under what circumstances was the treaty of Utrecht completed , and the fortifications of Dunkirk destroyed ? Why after the splendid victories of the armies of Marlborough and Eugene , and after the most humiliating reverses of the once groat French king , who at the end of a long reign found his resources exhausted , and France , high-spirited 'Franco , obliged to undergo the greatest humiliation which history affords . This was the precedent brought forward by the noble lord , who had made the curious admission that lie

    thought the preservation of the honour of Kussia essential to the conditions of any pence . The noble lord must admit that on that day ho made that admission there was a rupture of the Conferences , and that it prevented the Russian court from taking tho initiative . On April 17 , the noble lord said that ' since Russia declined to take tho initiative on this subject , tho chances of success attending the negotiations for peace appeared in hia eyes much diminished . ' Tho noble lord admitted that tho chance of peace waa much diminished ; and , » n fact , wo have been deprived of a peace which we might otherwise have obtained . "

    Tho objects which ho ( Mr . Disraeli ) proposed in tho present motion were , to obtain a definite statement of the position in which we are placed , and to show how ambiguous and uncertain is tho chanuttci of that negotiator who first wishes to respect Uie honour of Rusaia in the conditions of peace , and then proposes conditions of peace which it could » ° *; ^ J expected that Russia would accept . Tho spirit o this country had not been proporly kept up . * J " been said that " the door" waa to bo " left open loi tho entrance of peace ; but tho proper course is to shut tho door , and lot those who want to emu knock , and then thoro will be a chance of a flfttc anu

    £G4 The Leader. [Saturday,

    £ g 4 THE LEADER . [ Saturday ,

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), May 26, 1855, page 4, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_26051855/page/4/