On this page
-
Text (3)
-
Untitled Article
-
Untitled Article
-
Untitled Article
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.
-
-
Transcript
-
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.
Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.
Untitled Article
hie lord ' s doctrine that the extension of trade ndered it necessary to increase our naval force . The increas e of our shipping , and of the number of lore made the facilities for manning our fleet neater in » case of Budden emergency . But war is 1 as 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 . Thecommitteehaving divided , thenumleia were : — For Mr . Hume ' s amendment 61 Against it J 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 Expenditure 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 , hut the country members had a strong objection to the mode in which Mr . Milner Gibson proposes to carry the principle out . Sir Johi * Pakingxon 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 aTe an extension of the period during which masters and mistresses are 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 .
Untitled Article
The Kaffir 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 tbat , 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 could call
that style , but no one would believe that he on the colonists for the payment of a single shilling . The papers iu 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 manage their own affairs , but they were not allowed to manage them . Sir H . Smith had been left at the Cape as 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 Orey ^ would Bink any administration with which he remained . ' Mr . Labouchere defended the conduct of Government to
the colonists , und affirmed that " a foundation had been laid by the Government of this country which would insure to the Cape Colony free institutions of the largest and most liberal kind . " Mr . Adderley remarked that British Kaflraria was not a part of the Cape Colony . It was a separate British possession , under a separate administration , fiscal and political ; and therefore neither Lord Grey nor the First Minister could call on the Cape to take any part of the charge of defending Kaffraria . The whole of the expenses would fall solely on the imperial government .
Untitled Article
T H E CONTINEN T . The Popo can no longer enjoy quiet slumbers "Within the walls of the Vatican Palace . The French garrison is < dl quartered in the Custlo St . Angelo , und , perhaps , the Pontifical residence was subject to the unnoyuueo of their early drumming . Perhaps , nl « o , it wuh plueed too inconveniently within reach of the CuHtlo ' a protecting guns . By suggestion of the Russian und . Austrian Ambassadors , his Holiness is about to remove to the Quinnal , where hasty preparations are made for hit * reception . The King of Nuples has issued orders for the prosecution of now Beta 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 Corso , hemmed in with double and treble rows of infantry , so as to bear all the appearance 6 f 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 inTJmbria , at Spoleto and Foligno , and Terni , and Neapolitan receive the most
troops on the borders at Rieti , 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 of 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
ubiquity . 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 , Pcschiera , 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 Piedmpntese seem determined to make the most of their constitution while it lasts . The Chamber of Deputies at Turin concluded , on the 4 th , 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 the 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 at Turin . The most liberal views on liberty of commorce have always enjoyed great popularity throughout Italy . The constitution , nn we said , in no dead letter for the Piedmonte « e . We have roiiHon to be surprised at the excellent use the Italians make of their unlimited freedom of the press . There is greater talent and
nciisc developed in the Piedmontese papers than could have been thought to be Intent even in that proverbially-gifted Italian land : and this not in Piedmont merely but in Tuscany also , and even in Loinbuvdy , under the very frowns of Kadetzky . Wo have a few numbers of the Statute , a very uble Florentine paper , now once more on its legs , after a month ' s suspension . We find in it a leading tirticlc on English politics , the work of a man thoroughly conversant with the subject . Wo would look in vain
for such a valuable effusion out of the whole mass of the Parisian press . Another paper , 11 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 say no good of him and bis 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 Austtiane , 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 foT 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 has come into operation 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 .
The 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 . 'Ihe 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 of 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-making * ihan the bilious Sicilians . The Government , however , put a veto on their plans and arrangements , and the guy season passed off oh the Rhine with almost lenten duln <» ss .
The great German question is absolutely on the same terms us we left it last week . No plenary meeting or" the Dresden Conferences has taken p lace on the 8 th , as had been announced . Prince Sch . warzenberg issued a circular to all the Austrian agents at the different German courts . It beard tlie date of March 2 , and was first published in the Berlin papers on the 8 th . 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 hi nee have set at rent all disputes on that complicated subject . The prince , at the same time , indignantly rejects the idea of any foreign power ' s interference in German matters , either us an interested party , or even us a mediator and adviser . The sanio high , independent tone is assumed by Manteuffel at Berlin ; and the French note or protest ugniimt the intended annexation of the non-German provinces of Austria into the Bund has been received with cold
contempt . . This non-interference of foreign powers , however , only applies to Frimce or Hnglaud . Ru-sia does something mure than mediate , it dictates nt Dresden , uh il did nt Oimutz , Krfurt , and Warsaw ; eollars , of a million value , are nor . given away to independent and self respecting princes . In the midst of all these endless bickerings the German fleet has foundered ere it ever quitted harbour Tho aeheino i » altogether abuuuoned , and
Untitled Article
March 15 , 1851 . ] © t > * -& *****» 239
-
-
Citation
-
Leader (1850-1860), March 15, 1851, page 239, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1874/page/3/
-