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was one . " Sir Frederic Thesigcr , one of the committee , took Mr . Coppock in hand : — How could you have had a more distinct or direct qaestion than this , " Have you been aware of any compromise ?" - ! daresay , if you had been examining me , Sir Frederic , as counsel , I should not have escaped from vou as I did there . The committee were not quite so anxious to ascertain the truth , perhaps , as you may be now . Neither was there any party in the room desirous to do it . I am quite aware that many of these uiquirics are merely made to satisfy public appearance , and I hold myself perfectly justified in answering as 1 did . Do you mean to say you Avere not aware of any compromise ?—I do not mean that I said anything ot the sort . _ .,-,. ! . _„ had taken
You were perfectly aware that a compromise place ? I was . Will you point out one single particle ot untruth in my answer ? . 1 . 1 n •»* - i « . Untruth ! Is not concealment untruth?—My duty , as a professional man , to my client , is superior to everything else . Sir Frederic : ' you must pardon me , Mr . Coppock . There is a higher " duty that that to your client—there is a duty to truth—Witness : Pardon rue if I say that in election committees the feeling which actuated mo is shared in by all , from the lowest to the highest . I was perfectly aware that there had been a compromise , so was everybody in the room , counsel , clients , and every one else . What is the whole practice of election committees but concealment on the one hand , and exposure on the other ?
This examination proceeded for some time , until Sir Frederic got warm , while Mr . Coppock remained quite " cool . " In again explaining the theory of compromises , Mr . Coppock added : — "Sir Frederic Thesiger must know it well , hay ing been concerned in many similar cases of compromise , when counsel before committees . " Sir F . Thesiger ( with great warmth ) : What do you mean by that ? It is now thirteen years since I have appeared before a committee . Will you mention any case in which I made a statement that there was no compromise wb . cn I knew that there-was one ? Mr . Coppock : Are you cognizant of no compromises in election matters , Sir Frederic ?
Sir F . Thesiger : I do not think I know of one . This is so serious an imputation upon mo that I must call at once upon Mr . Coppock , as he seems to have something in his mind , to state it . I put myself in the place of a witness . Mr . Coppock : I ask you , then , sir , if you arc aware of any case in which you yourself entered into a compromise on" condition that certain proceedings should not take place , and in which you , when written to on the subject , stated that the compromise which you bad made related to yourself alone , and to no other person , with reference to the borough in question ?
Sir F . Thesiger : I beg leave most distinctly to answer that question . I supposo Mr . Coppock alludes to the case of Abingdon . I bog leave to say that . I went down to Abingdon , and that when I was there a gentleman who had opposed me on two former occasions was on the ground . My friends made some arrangements with him , by which he agreed to withdraw from contesting the seat upon that occasion , on the understanding ( hat , I was not to oppose him ut a subsequent election . Afterwards , in July , Colonel Dixou wrote to me to ask whether tbo arrangement entered into was personal to myHclf , or extended to the
party . My answer was that tho arrangement had been entered into by other parties for me , but that I understood it was binding only on myself ; and so entirely was I ot that opinion , that 1 nhould not have been surprised if I had been opposed at that election at which General Cuulfield withdrew . In answer to another question from Mr . Mitchell , IMr . ( . /' o |)]) ocJi said : I think it must have been apparent to every one that there had been a compromise . Tho committee saw it . Counsel managed it rather awkwardly —not an Sir Frederic Thesiirer would have done
it—Sir F . Tbenige , r : I must beg you , sir , not to allude to me again . Mr . Coppock : You cannot suppose that I am ignorant that 11 Htrong attack Iiiih been made upon me personally ; and as 1 heard before 1 came in that you intended to have " a Held day" with mo—Sir K . Tlu : niger : J never mud ho . Mr . Coppock : 1 wuh told ho last night . Sonm one must have wiid no . I think you pressed mo very unkindly . Sir F . Tbesiger : 1 never said so . Mr . Comiock : I have concealed n great many facts lien to-day . I have been considerate of other persons , and I think the name ) courtesy might have boon shown to me . "
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L 10 TTKRS FKO 1 Y 1 PARIS . [ Fuom oun own Ooiiuhhi'onijiont . | LkTTICK JiXXV . I ' uriH , 'I'liuiHilyy , June U , lH . ill . Alili thin week again the political world has been absorbed by tho lOuNfein question . It appears that negotiations ai ' e finally broken oil" between Itussiu and tin : I ' orte . Prince Mensehikoll" has returned to Odessa to take the command , in his character of Admiral , ot
the Meet stationed there , and of tho invadnuj ; force of : U ) , ( K ) O men . We expect , to hear every moment , of the entry of the Russian troopu into Moldavia , and of hostilities commenced . A panic lias seized the I 5 our . se of Paris , ihhI has hciiI , th <( funds down five francs . All uiVaivH arc in suspeiiNe ; tho Government functionaries and agents are in u Htute of nervous anxiety . As for Do Morny \ w tulkn like n ruined mini , wees civil war treading on tho IiooIh of Kimminui urnminentn , ami tlio
scaffold in the "background of the agitated picture . Bonaparte remains as ever—impassible and dumb ; he lets every body say his say , and holds his own tongue . Lately he has been beset by his disquieted adherents , and by diplomatic detectives anxious to sound his thoughts . The Russian Charge d ' affaires himself , M . de Kisseleff , has been assuring him more warmly than ever of the good interitious of his roaster Nicholas . Russia , indeed , has played a singular part in Paris these last few days . I cannot but call your attention to these double-faced manoeuvres .
The alarming rumours that have been abroad may be nearly all traced to the Russian embassy , where it has been openly asserted more than once that the Emperor Nicholas was quite determined not to yield . M . de Kisseleff has had a letter handed about the political salons , in which the Czar threatens to punish Turkey for her insolence . An order to all Russian officers in Paris , whether on mission or on leave , has also been in circulation , by which they are summoned to return to Russia without delay . General . Tomini , aide-de-camp of the Czar , and several other officers , have in fact left France , without even waiting to assist at the grand military manoeuvres of the Camp of
Versailles . Certain brokers , too , have been selling stock to an enormous amount for the Emperor of Russia , at a loss , which looks as if the sudden and serious fall were in great part the result of Russian intrigues , as if it were intended to create a pressure upon the public mind , and to intimidate it by a threat of immediate war , and so to react on the Government , and to throw it into perplexity at the prospect of incalculable embarrassments . Now , all the time that Russia has been playing this game externally , the Russian embassy has been exerting- itself to reassure Bonaparte personally , and studying to convince him of t he good intentions of the Czar . For the public the face of Russia has been turned to war—for Bonaparte to peace .
It is not difficult to understand the object of this double-faced policy . France and England are acting in concert at present . As long as they remain united , Russia cannot stir without risking a general war ; but if France could be separated from England , if by a pressure upon the middle and moneyed class interests , which arc all powerful just now with the Government of Bonaparte , it were possible to detach him from the momentary alliance which this Turkish question has forced him to contract , Russia would then have a splendid game before her : England would find herself alone : abandoned to herself , she would be comparatively powerless , and all she could then seek to obtain would be a share of the spoils of Turkey , and no doubt Russia would not be loath to accommodate her in that
sense . But Bonaparte has not yet allowed himself to be the dupe in this matter . Proud to hear the good understanding between the two Governments proclaimed from the oflicial benches in the House of Commons , he has had the solemn declarations of the British Ministry echoed by nil his trumpets of publicity . He lias done more : not content with this real union of tho two Powers , be has invented another alliance to exalt his own position : be has had the audacity to state in tho
Monilrur , that not only England , but also Austria and Prussia are united with his Government on this question against Russia . This may be u capital pleasantry , but it strikes many persons here as too gross a notion to digest . It is strange if Kussia has not got Austria and Prussia too firmly in her gripe to allow them liberty to pronounce against her acts : enough if she , only concede to them neutrality . Bonaparte , however , may havo only designed to give a fillip to the tottering Hourac .
Rumours and counter-rumours spring up , change , and perish daily and hourly . Some are contradicted almost uh soon as born ; others , in \ U modified form , are confirmed by scini-oHicial paragraphs , and then explained away again . For an instance of the current rumours : it wji . s reported a week ago that the French Ue . ut had been invited by u special finnan to jhuss the Dardanelles The rumour was contradicted at the time ; but now it revives again in u continued shape . Only it . is hot a firni ' . in for the French licet only , but for the Knglish squadron , too . Thfr Kgyptian licet of . Abbas Pacha is
also . summoned to tho Dardanelles with IT ) , 000 men . Altogether four fleets ugaiiiHt the Russian . But , Turkey does not , confine her warlike preparations to the sen : she has organized formidable land armaments . Oiner I'aeha ( the rencgado general who lately commanded in Montenegro ) is now at , the head of 80 , 000 lrooj ) N at Sehumla , at the mouth of fhe Danube . Orders have been sent him to form two canipn of 100 , 000 men each , one near Constantinople , | , he other at . Hroussu , in Anatolia . As to the Russians , their preparations imi not , less formidable ; tlio force of 'i 0 , 0110 men , which was quartered on tho I ' ruth , lias been reinlbiced by JK ) , O ( K ) , making a total effective
force of 160 , 000 men , ready to enter into Turkey . Letters from Vienna of the 30 th of May state that this enormous army actually passed the Pruth on the 24 th ult . If this news , which came by Semlm , should be confirmed , all the uncertainties that exist about , the maintenance of peace will instantly be solved . It is reported that the Emperor Nicholas was struck with astonishment when he learned the rejection of his ultimatum , and exclaimed , in the hearing of several persons , that he would make Turkey pay dear for the insult . On it being remarked to him that Turkey
was not acting of herself , but on the formal assurance of support given to her by France and England , he is said to have replied , that in such a case the true policy was to separate France and England ; that after all they were only formidable by sea ; and that it would be easy for him to march by land to Constantinople to demand satisfaction of the Sultan for this insolence ? These ominous inventions , let me tell you , are hatched in the Russian Embassy here ; how far they are designed to operate on weak minds , I need not trouble you with conjectures .
In home affairs there is scarcely a breath stirring . The Corps Legislatif closed its session on the 28 th ult . It votjfe the project of law for the re-establishment of the political guillotine ; but with a modification of the second article of the Bill , which , instead of punishing with death any attempt to upset the Government , restricts the penalty to imprisonment in a state fortress . This modification of the Government measure is another victory of the Legislative over the Executive ; it is about the eleventh or twelfth rap on the knuckles Bonaparte has got in one session only from his own legislative body , which he had taken so much trouble to pack with his most devoted partisans .
Imagine , then , his displeasure , and that of the pure Bonapartists : in other words , of some twenty-five or thirty men , who are the architects of the edifice that towers above us , and who tremble every moment lest it crumble and crush them . Bonaparte has done all he could do to reduce to insignificance the influence of the legislative body , and to diminish the publicity of the debates . Secret orders have been given to prevent the printing of the speeches of the deputies . On the other hand , the deputies seem resolved to enter next year into the plenitude of their prerogatives . The first step they propose to take is to nominate for the Presidents of tho Bureaux the members who havo
distinguished themselves by asserting the independence of the body . So that , if Bonaparte lasts till next year , he may possibly find himself , like Frankenstein , face to face with a monster , but one disposed to dispute the ground with him inch by inch . If so soon as next session this result should be obtained , there is little doubt that in the elections of 1855 , tho people will have resumed at least a portion of their sovereigntyenough , at least , to send an Opposition to the Chamber . But it may be that tbo status qu 6 will not last long enough for so gradual a transformation . It can scarcely be by Parliaments of this fashion that France is to rise up once more in the fulness of bur liberty and of her sovereignty .
For some time past a deep discontent has prevailed in the army . Daily new facts occur to betray tho secret tendency of feeling and opinion in the troops . Not a week passes but some officers are packed off to Africa . Now two generals are dismissed the service ; one a man of the Second of December—General Dulac ; the other , General Wntrin . Tbo Bonapartist party , nevertheless , dreams , in tbo intervals of auspicious and alarniH , of power everlasting . Again is the fifteenth of August rumoured to Imi the day fixed for the coronation . The EinpresH is not going to the baths in the Pyrenees , it seems ; but only to Fontainebleau- -to Fontainebleuu , the scene , whispers scandal , not malevolent , da ties premieres amours !
Tlio marriage of the Due de Brubunt with the Archduchess Marie Anne of Austria bus been notified to Bonaparte by the King of Belgium bininelf . By way of a reply , I'onuparte has demanded of KeJgium fitly millions of francs ( 2 , 000 , 000 / . ) as indemnity for the siege of Antwerp . These filly millions of francs Belgium had acknowledged as a debt years ago , but after this marriage of Leopold with Loui . s Philippe ' s daughter fhe debt was hushed up . 1 am not quite prepared to way how far , according to the conv / tuaticax of royalties ' ,
lSonapurte is justified in redeinandiiitf these fifty millions of francs . He him by a solemn act recognised the letfitimncy of all fhe Governments which preceded him . Surely , then ; he ought to have no objection t wi . se against the net by which Louis Philippe gave up thiri indemnity , a veritable dowry for hid daughter . Meanwhile , the claim Iiuk been olliciully made , and it must be allowed , under exisung ciminintancofl , it ih u marvellously ill-timed piece of vi < dudr <\ ssc . It leaves the Hpito that dictated it too truiibparoal—it hIjowh the cloven hoof .
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- _ THE LEADER . [ Saturday ^ VOIJ "
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Leader (1850-1860), June 4, 1853, page 536, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1989/page/8/
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