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Leader (1850-1860), 26th February 1859, Edition 1 of 2, Page 259, ^ iHifaltf rtff liti» ffift&flh.jXpWWW'.Xtfl UW ALMlVil* ?——-

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      Shadows of coining events are falling duskily athwart , the Ministerial benches . Lord Palnierston —likened by the Economist to the stormy petrel , a bird whose wild cry presages the coming storm- ^ - is getting ready to make his long-deferred onslaught , and other hard-hitters are preparing for a set-to on the N " avy Estimates , on the Ionian imbroglio , on the question of Reform , or , in fact , upon any subject that will afford a pretext for attacking the holders of much-coveted " Office . " There have already been several little

      sparringbouts , in which the men showed what a trifle it would take to warm them for the niore serious impending struggle . Sir John PakLngton is Irritated , and on Wednesday evening threatened that if Lord Palmerston with his " State of Europe " questions should prevent him from making his statement on . the USTavy Estimates by . eight o ' clock oii Friday evening , the Reform Bill , " which stands for Monday evening next , will have to be postponed . The House appeared to enjoy this little interlude , and cheered and laughed when Lord Palmerston said , in his frankest and most ingenuous manuer , that " of coui * se he couldn ' t answer for other people , but that , as far as he could judge ,

      his own proceedings would not interfere with the arrangements of the Right Hon . Baronet . " To drive Ministers into putting off the pi-oduction of then * Reform measiwe , and so to involve them in discredit with the country , which such a Preceding on their part would be certain to entail , would be a glorious hit for the Cambridge House circle ; . but Lord Palmerston , course , is too frank , too " Ejiglish , " to think of playing such a game , even though the Premiership were staked upon it ! But while the storm-clouds are gathering over Downing-strcet , Ministers are not loft wholly without hope of bearing up against the storm whenever it bursts . The unanimity with which

      tho House voted Lord Stanley his 7 , O 00 , 00 OJ . loan for India Avas a real homage , to tho respectability of one very important member of the Cabinet ; and no Small credit has been given to it on account of the Solicitor-Gonera . l \ s bill for the settlement of titles to land . It must further bo admitted that they have shown a degree of moral co \ iragc , as commendable as it was unexpected , in their voluntary'recognition of tho claims of a nonprofoasional improver of war materiel . They Wo knighted Mr . Armstrong , the inventor , or

      perfector , of rifled-cannon , presented him at Court , and , in defiance , . of the prejudices of United Service Clubs and of fogeys in ofllce , have made him Chief Engineer to the ) War Department for Rifled Ordnance . Tho act is a romnrkablo concession to the representations of tho Administrative Reform party , which -were disregarded equally by tho autocratic Whig Government , and by that of Lord Aberdeen 5 ana whether Lord Derby a policy 1 ms been simpl y to advance a great engineer , or to « onoiliate , the manufacturing interest , it is not tho toss . remarkable and statesmanlike .

      . The week has been ia busy ono , and largo interests have been dealt with by both Houses . If signs may be ti'ustod , tho settlement of tho Church Wntos question ( which Sir Roborfc Pool , a quarter ot a oentury ag 0 , said no Ministry could avoid ,

      the same ! religion as his landlord ; and that dissenters shall be permitted— " not as a matter of right , but as a favour "—to claim ¦• exemption , upon signing a declaration of conscientious objection . Discussion has been postponed upon this nieasui ^ e until the second reading of Sir John Trelawny ' s further-going bill on Monday next ; but the subject is clearly ripe for settlement on a liberal , not perfect and final basis . . Another question also affecting conscience has and

      but which still stands for settlement ) will be dealt with , not finally , at least in such a way as to satisfy both parties for a time . The Government proposals , brought forward on Monday evening , are intended for a liberal compromise , and hold in view the assumption that " religion "—id est , the " Church "—must not be left without the support of law . The main features of Mr- Walpole ' s measure are , that landowners may charge their estates with the average amount of the rates ; that the rate maybe done away altogether by an Order in Council ; that the tenant shall be allowed to deduct the rate . from his rent , when he is not of

      to be finally disposed of ; Mr . J . Fitzgerald , on Thursday evening , made a move towards reopening it for renewed discussion . He moved that the House should go into Committee on the oath required to be taken , instead of the oaths of allegiance , supremac y * and abjuration ; his object being to relieve Roman Catholics from the degradation to which they are now subjected in being compelled to take a special form of oath . Lord John Russell went to the very heart of the matter when he said that it is unwise to keep up

      an oath in a form which is offensive to any party . He suggested that the House should consider " whether it is not fi t , from time to time , to review the oaths which are taken , to see if any pai-ts of those oaths are unnecessary , if any parts are insulting , if there are any parts of them which might be removed without removing any security whatsoever . " This , we take it , ia the true principle upon which this and all questions of conscientious scruple should be dealt with . ^ A majority of one hundred and twenty-two , against one hundred and thirteen , decided to give Mr . Fitzgerald tho inquiry he has very properly asked for .

      Tho aspect of affairs abroad has certainly not changed for the bettor during the week . The sudden visit of Lord Cowley to London , and his equally sudden departure upon a mission to Vienna , have by no paeans helped to produce a mpro hopeful anticipation o the uture course events . Nothing is positively known as to tho nature of Lord Cowloy ' s mission 5 but tho general belief is that its object is to induce the Austrian Government to modify its Italian policy to suoh

      an extent as will deprive the Emppvor of I < ranee of any excuse for maintaining the warlike attitude which lie at present holds . This is , most likely , very near to the truth , and the successful issue such good offi ces would probably not be unwelcome to the Kinperor Napoleon , who can have no great wish to fight for fighting ' s sake . But thore is little to be hoped for from diplomacy in dealing with Austria , wihioh has , fio long doggedly , and in tho ftico of a thousand reasons , ro-FuHea to modify in tho smallest degree her tyrannous Italian polioy . In Franoe the reeling of the people , as far as

      it can be ascertained or guessed at by passing sio-ns , is strongly against war . For the first time in its history , France is tasting the blessings of peace , marred and perverted as the fortunes of the country are by the instability of its political institutions . The voice of the French people will not be loud enough to drown the warcommand which may now , at almost any hour , issue from the Tuileries . It may cost Napoleon his throne , but he may will to give the word that that

      would convulse Europe . There is little doubt he is pledged to the King of Sardinia , and a letter , purporting to be written by that Sovereign , is printed in the German and Italian papers , upbraiding his Imperial ally for the lukewarmness he has ° latterly appeared to display . The King : ( supposing always that the letter in question is genuine ) even goes so . far as to threaten to . abdicate , if his new relation does not afford him a more earnest support in his defiance of Austria . Austria there is evidentl

      On the side of y no confidence in the maintenance of peace . She is rapidly perfecting her defences in Lombardy and distributing her forces . The note , reported to have been sent by Count Buol to the -minor German powers , appears to have been actually sent with the object of ascertaining the policy winch those States would adopt towards her in the CA'ent of hostilities ; and it appears that in not addressin ^ it self to Prussia , as the head of the Germanic confederation , the Austrian Government was acting in accordance with its knowledge of the real feelings of the Prussian Government towards Austria . England , it appears , is not alone in her efforts to make peace . Letters from Berlin speak of + 1 ^ 0 . T ^ iro nf Sn ^ fi-OckVmvar Gotha busvinn himsel f

      as a general pacificator . He is reported to have gone to Vienna with some scheme for the " godly thorough reformation" the Papal States by means of a great European Congress ; but the report altogether needs confirmation . But , meantime * 'the work of the Paris Conference which is to assemble shortly , is increasing at a great rate . The " state of the East " appearsto be as bad , or worse , than it was three or four years ago , when the " sick man , " in whom all the evil centres , was said to be at death ' s door . The course taken by tho Principalities in direct contradiction to tho arrangements arrived nt by the Western Powers at the former Conferences at Paris , points a moral , over an d over again practically suggested by the course of events in

      tho East , that it is impossible to-bring I ' uncor , 111 its present barbarous condition , into tho circle ot the Great European Powers . The condition of tho Government at Constantinople is hopeless ; ami it is an insult to civilisation that suoh u /» tato [> t things should exist as townrrantour ambassaddrui remonstrating with-tho Sultan on the extravngimoo and financial disorder of his Government . I lie peace of Europe ought not to bo Jolt at the mcroy of such a Government ? tho " sick innn , V 1 , 1 u lupeu whom it would be merciful ns well ah ; ) iint to remove . At the present moment ( hero ih as much , if not inoro danger to the peace of tho world on account of tho stiito of nfluirs in MnWo-Wnllnchntho Sultan ' s ill-aovomod bordor-lunds-r-tluui thoro 1

      b on account of the state of Italy . Imnuc , who was won from tho position which pho had taken up at tho hist Conference in favour of tho union of tlio Principalities is s « ' 4 to by doterminud now U >

      Untitled Article

      THE LEADER . '

      Untitled Article

      REVIEW OF THE WEEKHOME lNTBIiI . IGENCE . PAGE Imperial Parliament ............ 260 Gatherings from Law and Police Courts ....... 202 Criminal Record 202 Ireland 2 " Accidents and Sudden Deaths .... 202 Naval and Military 262 Foreign Intei ^ igence . Continental Notes ... 263 ORIGINAL CORRESPONDENCEFrance .... ; . 2 <} 3 Germany 270

      LITERATURELiterary Chronicle of the Week 260 Memoirs of the Court of GeorgelV . 206 The Armies of the Great Powers 208 Oceola 1 260 Russia 269 Adam Bede . 270 A New Poem by Schiller 271 FINE ARTSMajolica Wares ••; 277 Crystal Palace Art Union ... 278 THEATRES AND ENTERTAINMENTSMusical Society of London .....: 278 Palace of the People -.. . ...... . 278 ¦ ¦

      Vocal Association 278 Improved Electrical Cable . 278 Postscript ... ¦ 273 PUBLIC AFFAIRSEngland ' s Foreign Policy 273 Titles to Landed Estates 2 / 3 . Manning the Navy 273 Russian Trade . —Struggles and Bubbles 274 Claims of Public Servants 27 o Schleswig-Holstein 275 Epilogue to the Biography of German Princes 275

      INDIA AND INDIAN PROGRESSLord Stanley on Indian Finance 279 Arrival of the Bombay Mail .... 270 Notes on India . 270 COMMERCIALShares and Stocks . 285 Reserve or Dividend ... i . 280 Profits of Joint-Stock Banking .. 2 S 0 General Trade Report 280 Home , Colonial and Foreign Produce Markets 2 S 1 Money Market \ ....... 282 Miscellaneous . 204

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      3 Jtotew , «! tht Mnh *

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), Feb. 26, 1859, page 259, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2283/page/3/