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    object of the bill was to reduce ^ Sheriff ' s expenses ; but the police must be paid , and if out of the police rate it would in some counties operate unfairly . -tie had no objection to an inquiry into -the subject . — Mr Henley remarked that the Sheriff , who was responsible for order , had now . no control overthe police He should vote for the amendment . —Sir br . -V / ° observed that some objections had been made to the bill to which it was not justly liable . Its object was not to diminish real authority , but a pageantry , the reason for which had disappeared . No additional police would be required in the absence of the javelin-men , except , perhaps , in the smaller counties . The real difficulty had been adverted to by Mr . Henley—namely , the legal anomalies . arising fromthe relations between the High Sheriff and the Chief Constable of Police . —Upon a division the amendment was carried by 115 to 112 ; so the Bill is : i ¦

    lost . The House then went into Committee upon the Municipal Corporations Bill , the clauses of which were agreed to . On the order for going into a Committee of Supply , Sir C . Napier renewed his motion for an address to her Majesty to appoint a Commission to inquire into the management of Greenwich Hospital . —Mr . Whitbread opposed the motion . If during the autumn , after the Government had had an opportunity of thoroughly investigating it , they found themselves unable to deal with the subject , then would be the time , he said , to move for a Royal Commission . —Sir C . Napier ' s motion was negatived by 142 to 82 . . . ^ ^ Z The House then went into committee of supply , and passed several votes .

    On the grant of . £ 15 , 985 for the National Gallery being proposed , Mr . Coni ^ gham and Mr . Spoonjeb successively moved reductions in the amount , the former wishing to retrench the sum allowed for travelling expenses , and the latter hon . member proposing to withdraw the £ 10 . 000 appropriated for the purchase of new pictures during tlie current financial year . Both reductions were discussed and carried to a division , but in each case rejected by large majorities . The vote was ultimately passed in its original form . _ The House having resumed , the Income Tax Bill was read a second time .. Other bills were advanced a stage .

    The chairmen of the committees appointed to examine into the elections for Wakefield and Dartmouth reported that in both cases the returns were found void on account of bribery . — Mr . Collins moved that in all cases where an election was declared void for bribery or r . orruption no new writ should issue until two days' notice had been given in the votes . —The motion was agreed to . The House adjourned at six o ' clock . Thursday , July 28 . In the . House of Lords yesterday , the Divorce Court Bill was passed through committee , after a prolonged discussion on its clauses . The Diplomatic Pensions Bill was read a second time . Other bills were advanced a stage , and their lordships adjourned . The House of Cosimofs , at the morning sitting , went into a committee of supply , and proceeded with the discussion of some further votes belonging to the scries of Civil Service Estimates and

    Contingencies . The Galway Harbour and Port Acts ( 1 S 53 ) Amendment Bill was read a third time and passed . Qn rosuming at six o ' clock . Sir C , Wood , replying to Mr . Buight , stated that ho should move a format resolution to the effect that the House , on Monday next , would go into committee for the purpose of enabling the Secretary of State for India to raise a further loan for tho service of the Indian government . When that resolution came forwurd for discussion , it was , he added , his intention to make the annual statement respecting the financial position of our Eastern empire . " In reply to Mr . H . Bruce , the IIqmjs" SutiRETAny announced that he did not intend to proceed during the present session with the Highways Bill or the City of London Corporation Reform Bill .

    STATE OP ITOREIGN AFFAIRS . Lord J . Russell made his promised statement respecting the present condition of foreign affairs . He could have wished , ho said , to postpone this state- ' went until some doflnlto settlement had boon arrived at j but in the present position of affairs ho did not think it right to withhold the statement from Parliament , lie was glad to find in the Monitew of that day mi announcement that the Emperor of the * ronoh waa about to place his forces by soa and « ind upon a peace footing 1 . The peace lately conoluaqdjwcl , ho observed , been accounted for by both belligerents , as prompted by the conduct of the neutral powers , a reason which was , ho believed , rather founded upon prospective considerations than acnvqa from any present and practical proceeding

    either on the part of England or of Prussia . A more immediate influence was , in his opinion , exercised by the terrible sacrifice of liuman life during the course of the war , brief as had been its duration , and with regard to which both so \ - ereigns had shown themselves not inaccessible to the ordinary feelings of humanity . Adverting to tlie conditions on which the peace of Villafranca . was based , the noble lord remarked that the cession of Lom ^ bardy to Piedmont involved no serious change in the relationship of European states requiring any interposition from other powers . With respect to the other question—namely , the settlement of an Italian confederation—the case was , he submitted , very different ; . and on this point he could not agree with the opinion set forth in a resolution which Lord Elcho had placed on the paper , to the effect that England had no call to interfere in the congress by which such a settlement was to be definitively arranged . The peace of Europe was too vitally involved in the solution of this problem to justify the abstinence of England froni the discussions in which it would be debated . After citing a despatch from Count Walewski , in which the great Powers were invited to confer respecting the general terms whereon the new position of the Italian States was to be consolidated , Lord John stated that to that missive no positive reply had as yet been returned , her Majesty ' s ministers waiting , among other things , to ascertain the extent and the means by which the new treaty between France and Austria was to be carried into execution , and whether the latter power would consent to participate in the proposed congress . It remained also to he seen , whether the position which England would assume at the conference was such as gave such weight to her advice as the honour and dignity of the country required . On several points , he remarked , the peace just concluded was so hastily arr ranged as to leave many doubts and uncertainties as to its practical success . Of these the most questionable related to the realisation of the proposed confederation of Italian States , respecting which the noble lord pointed out various anomalies and incongruities which , as he contended , must utterly frustrate all attempts to bring the system into harmonious working . Another point related to the means by -which the treaty was to be carried into effect . By one brief but significant clause the Dukes of Tuscany and Modena were to be restored to their states , granting an amnesty . How was this to be accomplished ? If force was necessary would it be employed ? And though persuaded that neither the Emperor of France nor Austria would employ their forces in such a service , still , so long as the issue remained uncertain , it -would he unadvjsable for England to assume any diplomatic responsibility in the affair . If , for example , the Tuscan population unanimously determined not to receive back their Duke , it would , he submitted , be impossible for an English Government to become participators in any policy which might lead to coercive measures against them . Similar difficulties , in an aggravated form , arose with relation to the temporal administration of the Papacy , which had for centuries constituted the chief obstacle to any permanent settlement of the Italian question . The two kv \ - perors had undertaken to recommend the Pope to accomplish some necessary reforms ; but this advice seemed not likely to be accepted , and if refused there were no means of actually compelling assent from his Holiness , and yet , if it were lef t unattempted , the difficulties of the position must be enormously increased . In Naples , Lord John stated , a beginning of improvement hail already been effected . The great object to bo attained was to secure free and independent government for the Italians . With this object ho believed that the Emperor of Austria himself concurred , while the Emperor of the French was most anxious to achieve that consummation . Her Majesty ' s Ministers wero also sincerely desirous to contribute all that in tliem lay to that end , us being a result most desirable in itself , and best calculated to secure the peace of Europe . How this result could bo best , attained was not at present ascerfcainable ; but , in the mean time , he called on ¦ the House not to place on record any premature determination so as to fetter the discretion of the government . —Mr . Disuaem commontod upon tlur ambiguous terms in which tho recently concluded treaty had been spoken of by tho Foreign Secretary , in relation to tho terms oflorod to the Emperor of Austria by his natural nllies , and which were , in the Emperor ' s opinion , more severe than those ho obtained from his enemy * He wished to havo clearer information upon this point . Had i her Majesty ' s Government come into possession of i such a schcmo , and was it , with their sanction , placed before tho Emperor of Austria ? It had reached ] him ( Mr . Disraeli ) , though tho statement might i bo unrounded , that tho scheme for the cessation oi < hostilities , which the Emperor of Austria doomed i so unfavourable compared with tho terms offered by I hie euemy , reached the Emperor through tho ugonoy g

    of her Majesty ' s Government . It would be satisfactory to the House , he said , if it could be assured that no such communication waa made ; otherwise the Government had committed the same fatal mistake as in 1848 . In his opinion it was not necessary that England should not be re--presented at the congress ; he thought it was never the interest of this country to attend any congress unless the balance of power—that is , a change of territory that would increase the power of a State already too powerful—was affected . But it was said , although the balance of power was not concerned by the transfer of Lombardy to Sardinia , there was another consideration which Lord J . Russell called " the future of Italy ; " and he had said that , at the conference after the Crimean war , the Government was committed to a certain policy towards Italy . But what was recommended before war and to prevent war , was very different from what was recommended after a war had broken out and ended . If Lord J . Russell -was at once to attend the conference in order to a-dvance the interests of Italy , in consequence of the Treaty of Villafranca , would he not he bound by all the conditions of the treaty in reference to Italy ? How , then , would he deal with the Duchies ? Was it " wise , then , that we should be drawn into the conference ? He trusted that Ministers would not feel it to be their duty to recommend her Majesty to send any representative to the projected congress . With regard to the French Etnperor ' s declaration of a reduction of armaments , Mr . Disraeli said , There was no wild or monstrous nonsense in suggesting , at a time when bur taxation was greatly raised in consequence of very necessary measures of defence , that our ally should take this opportunity of establishing the sincerity of his friendship , of which I do not doubt—of establishing it by the reduction of his armaments . It seems to me a natural position for the expression of those intentions , and ., which I have no doubt , if he entertains , he will carry out in all sincerity . But the Emperor ought to understand that Parliament sympathises with that policy ; arid that if he pursue it with sincerity — as I have no doubt he will ^— they will respond to it ; but he ought to understand that we suggest that policy from no idle sentiments , but in the most businesslike manner . But we must know what the reductions are , just the same as he will know what are the reductions which we shall make , and which we will give him ample security shall be made . He must not imagine that it is because the peace principle is predominant in this House that such a policy is suggested , and the Emperor must not have that feeling which he has been said to entertain , that we should be treated like children ; nor must he hope by telegrams of unmeaning phrases to lead the opinion of this House . I believe that this great prince is too great a man to hope to do that ; hnt I think it is most proper that he should dp something in accordance with what he haa said . The reduction of armaments is a natural and proper policy , and one which we may fairly expect now that peace is concluded . It is a policy that this country would hear of with satisfaction , and would give any security our ally might require ) but it must be a real , undoubted reduction of armaments . It must not be an affair of vague and fine phrases , and of a declaration of policy , in which , I believe , he is sincere ; but it must be made with real sincerity of will , so as to put an end to misconceptions with reference to the conduct of that prince which I am more than inclined to believe have no foundation whatever . We may then say that he has effected some good for humanity , that the war , though bloody , has been a brief one , and that what lie has done may tend to restore a good understanding between . England and France—Mr . Bowyeb hoped that England would take no part in the conferences , and eulogised the administration of tho Papal States as Uoing just , hu-. mono , and progressive . —Lord Palsieustok , replying to tho question urged \) y Mr . Disraeli , stated that no formal proposition had been transmitted from tho English Governmenti to Austria with respect to terms o * P « fM ™*™ - They had , however , becomo tho channel of intercommunication for some suggestions ° mana . ? JJ ? iS Franco during tlio course of tho war , and mtomioa to put an end to hostilities , but wWio «{ ontoMtag those suggestions with any Hdvicoor opimo « of their own . ifo explained tho positioni of * tf "; y * j ™ J a ^ siii ^ iss to % n « s f : na&x ^ S ^ ZZvSU ^ t ^ : plau / od hoTarlous quostfons likely to ariso at the nrthcomi ff eoiiKTess , and donned the reasons on , itheraide wheroon tlio determination of her Majesty ' s i misters should be founded as to their participation n or abstinence from , tho discussions of the con--ress . Oltlne , in answer to Mr . Bowyor , various

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    No . 488 .. JULy 30 , 1859-1 THE LEADER , 88 .

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), July 30, 1859, page 881, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2305/page/5/