The Press. — London, England, 1857-03-07 00:00:00

MARCH 7, 1857. rrationin this instance; but as the practical advantage which .could be derived by British trade from free access into the Jute friOr firCenton is probably not very great, while the effort to ob. 7tais the immediate fulfilment of the Chinese engagement in this eespect would be costly, and might lead to a great loss of life and destruction of property, and to a considerable interruption to British trade iu that quarter of China, and might, moreover, seriously stoat the trade at the other ports, her Majesty's Govermneat are of opinion that the general commercial interests of the country are beet consult d by not pushing matters to ex tremities on the present occasion. Now, ray right hon. friend (Sir G. Grey) tells yon that you trios'. make no distinction between Sir J. liowring and Sir M. Seymour, because Sir M. Seymour was consulted throughout. Bra the question is, if the admiral was brought to a decision by these means, was he not induced to come to that decision by something like false pretences (Hear, hear.) When my right hon. friend (Sir G. Grey) .puke so 'keenly about omissions from the despatches, , what does he say of the suppression of a whole despatch? ((Cheers.) And for what purpose can this have been done 'if not , te induce a humane man to use the gigantic force at 4ile command against a defenceless commercial city? He thought Sir John Bowring had acted a most turiNise part, even if he had had instructions, in tlaacing this question upon the Chinese:— We know that the Secretary of State approves the judgment, the firmness, and the moderation of Sir J. Bowring—(loud cheers )—and especially of his respect forlife and property. (Hear.) When my right hon. friend told us we were•entirely mistaken, that Canton had not been bombarded, ho could not have read the despatch of Sir M. :Seymour in which he says," I am now shelling the city." In another place he says he is dropping shot at moderate intervals. ( " Hear " and laughter.) That is the modem. Con which has so pleased the Government. This is, how 'ever, too serious a subject to joke upon. After all,when you have said the Chinese are a rascally set, and that as bar barians they are not to be dealt with in the same way and with the same regard and forbearance as Europeans—when you hare said all this, of which I give you the full benefit, and alsolhat you must defend your servants wherever they may 'be, there then remains this fearful case, that in a miserable quarrel, which was not worth half an hour's diffi culty, which might have been settled by reprisals—( Hear, bear)—for if one junk was not sufficient you might have :seized fifty—you suddenly turn round upon a new pretext, and, after destroying forts, you proceed to drop in shot and :shell, in order, as my right hon. friend has described it, to disperse a crowd a proceeding in which, of course, neither age nor sex could be regarded, and all this for some rascally Chinese whom you wish to call British subjects. (Hear, hear.) The right hon. gentleman concluded : I know what is the public opinion of England and throughout Europe ; I am not anxious that we should go on piling up year after year fresh offences against that public opinion, until some day we may reap the consequence to our detriment. Above all, I confess I see with the deepest sorrow, force exercised with so little mercy, upon a pretext so transparent—l will not say so transparently fraudulent —in a manner E 0 destructive to the character of this country for truth, justice, faith, and mercy, that I shall give my hearty add honestsupport to the resolution, and, as my sight hon. friend has observed, irrespective of consequences. I cannot believe that the House of Commons upon such a matter will allow the miserable question of party ties or party feelings to interfere—( Hear, hear )—when asserting the great principle of relieving ourselves, and, I trust, re lieving the country also, from the responsibility of these transactions by the honest reprobation which the resolution conveys. ( Loud cheering.) Mr. Sergeant SHEE should support the Govern ment Mr. ROUNDELL P.kutzn and Mr. J. PHILLIMORE rose together, and the former moved the adjourn ment of the debate. There were several exclama tions from dif f erent parts of the house in favour of the continuance of the discussion, but ultimately the adjournment of the debate until Tuesday was assented to. Some unimportant business having been disposed of, the house adjourned. HOUSE OF LORDS.-TUESDAY. DIVORCE AND MATRIMONIAL CAUSES DILL. The LORD CHANCELLOR moved the second reading of this bill, which, he said, was substantially the same as the measure which was passed by their lordships last session, and which was based on the recommendation of the commissioners appointed to inquire into the subject, who agreed that a court should be constituted with the power of granting divorces a vinculo matrimonii au well as a mensti et thoro. The bill of last session proposed the creation of such a tribunal, to be composed of the Lord Chancellor, the Lord Chief Justice of the Court of Queen's Bench, the Lord Chief Justice of the Court of Common Pleas, and the Judge of the Court of Probate ; to these high dignitaries the pre• sent bill proposed to add the Dean of the Arches, and, with one or two trifling exceptions, that was the only addition that had been made to the bill of last session. That bill, after having been referred to a select committee, in which a proviso was inserted t hat the adulterer should not be allowed to marry the adultress, was sent down to the Lower House, and ultimately withdrawn. He now reintroduced the bill, omitting the proviso referred to, and inserting a clause by which separation deeds were legalised by positive enactment. Lord LYNDHURST said he wished to add a fifth cam for divuroe to the four which the bill coh- THE PRESS. tained ; this was, for wilful desertion of a wife by a husband. He objected to the new clause which was to give to voluntary separations the force and power of law. Against such separations the highest judicial authorities had invariably set their Nees. They were opposed to the principle of law, and the Lord Chancellor, in introducing this clause, was not main taining, hut altering and violating the law, to the great peril of public policy. The Bishop of EXETER moved the postponement of the bill for three months, in order to give the Lord Chancellor time to amend it. Lord ST. LEONARD 3 declared that the bill left the law of divorce exactly where it found it. It only proposed to give to a court the great power at pre sent possessed by Parliament. He should give his assent to the bill if it ultimately assumed the shape he wished it to take. The Bishop of OXFORD felt himself bound to vote for the Bishop of Exeter's amendment. In his opinion the object of all legislation on these points ought to be to fence marriage with as many safe guards as possible, but this bill proceeded on a diametrically opposite principle, when it allowed man and wife to dissolve the marriage tie altogether on the occurrence of any slight disagreement. Lord WENSLEYDALE thought the measure ought not to be postponed, and declared his intention of voting for the second reading. _ _ The Earl of DERBY Rh()llia adhere to his intention of voting for the second reading, but he should only do so on the understanding that it was to receive the meturest reconsideration in the committee. The LORD CHANCELLOR replied. Their lordships then divided, when the numbers were For the second reading Against it lO Majority The hill was accordingly read a second time. HOUSE OF COMMONS.-TUESDAY. HOSTILITIES WITH CHINA. The adjourned debate was resumed by Mr. ROUNDELL PALMER, who maintained that it was indispensable that the Government should show that the Chinese had committed a violation of their treaty with Great Britain. Now this had not yet been achieved. It had been admitted that the British flag by itself was wholly irrelevant to the question as to the nationality of the .4rroto; it must be shown that by the treaty she was an English merchant vessel, and if this were not done there was no justification whatever for the hostili ties. A British lorcha without a British register was not a British vessel ; for he denied the position of the Attorney General, that the vessel was British because the owner was resident at Hong Kong. If this were true, by a parity of reasoning, an English man residing at Canton or Shanghai might impart a Chinese character to his ship, a doctrine which, as he argued at some length, would lead to absurd con sequences. Then, was there any other ground besides ownership? The British character could be impressed upon the vessel only by the Colonial Ordi nance, and, assuming that ordinance to be legal, the register granted under it had expired, and he main tained that the expiry of the register was absolutely fatal to the case. There could be no mistake ; Sir John Bowring must have understood the matter ; ho knew and confessed that the protection under the register was gone. Upon the general question, much, he observed, had been said of the crimes of the Chinese, the vexations suffered by Englishmen in China, and the vices of the Chinese Government ; but the true bearing of these remarks, in his opinion, was not that we should persevere in the course we had taken, but if we dealt with a people who were misgoverned, imperfectly civilised, and easily pro voked to outrage and violence, that we should be more careful to exhibit an example of humanity and moderation in our conduct towards them, instead of asserting our power, and, after obtaining reasonable reparation, insisting upon further demands. Colonel HERBERT supported the motion. Mr. KENDALL opposed the motion, principally upon the ground that if carried it would displace Lord Palmerston, to whom the country was grateful for his late episcopal appointments. Mr. MILNER GIBSON said that nothing gave him so much confidence that it was right to support the present motion as the general support accorded by the Conservative party. That support was a great proof of the propriety and justice of the motion before the house. The hon. member then referred to the reported meeting of the Liberal party at Lord Palmerston's, remarked upon the absence of Lord .Tohn Russell and other distinguished Liberals upon that occasion : He read in the newspapers that one thing stated at the meeting was that the noble lord at the head of the Govern• mentwas a man of extraordinary luck—(laughter)—and that it would be well for those present to give him their support. Well, now, he ( Mr. M. Gibson) should think that the Canton and the Persian difficulties were no proof that good fortune had attended the career of the noble lord. He believed that the cause of these foreign couirlications was 223 to be traced to what the hon. and learned member for Sheffield salted the mischievous activity of the noble lord, who interfered in all parts of the known world. ( Hear. ) What were they to inscribe upon their banner if they were to go to a general election, as had been threatened in the event of this motion being carried? They must have a political banner of some kind with which to go to the country. They were told that the name of Lord Palmers ton was a tower of strength. He ( Mr. Gibson) doubted that, ( Hear, hear.) Could they put on their political banner the old motto, "Peace, Retrenchment, Reform?" (Laughter.) Would they be able to stand upon the bom bardment of Canton and no reform ? (Laughter.) He con curred with his hon. friend the member for the West Riding in thinking that if they were to ask the country to give the Liberal party increased power, in order to enable them to carry on the administration of public affairs, they would be obliged to pick up some new principles for that party, and to inscribe on their banner something more than was indicated at the political meeting that was held at the residence of the noble lord. He (Mr. Gibson) felt at liberty to make these statements, for lie could assure the house that the pressure —the disagreeable pressure—that was put upon hon. gentle men to induce them to change their votes noon this impor tant question (loud criesof "Hear, hear " ) was of a character that could only be equalled br., the pressure put upon voters at a small provincial contested election in order to compel them to vote in this or that direction. Applying himself more directiy to the main question before the house, the hon. member, referring to the nationality of the lorcha, cited a dictum of Dr. Lush ington delivered in the Admiralty Court, to the effect that it was not competent to any State, by its own regulations, at once to change the national character of a vessel to the detriment of other States, which confirmed, he said, the view taken by Lord Lynd hurst of this question, that this country had no right to convert a Chinese ship into a British ship. _ Mr. BERNAL OSBORNE said the motion resolved itself into two questions,—were our officials on the spot justified in the course they had pursued, and were her Majesty's Government worthy of censure for supporting those officials. He complained of the attacks upon Sir John Bowring, who, he said, had been hunted down, called a liar, a blunderer, and everything but a thief. But it was not Sir John Bowring at Hong Kong who was struck at, but the Minister In Downing-street; the real object was to displace Lord Palmerston, to throw overboad the man who had brought us through the war, who never forsook a friend, and had no enemies but those of his country. Mr. HENLEY was of opinion that in the matter of the lorcha, whether the Chinese were right or wrong, the seizure of the forts was a sufficient reprisal and reparation. But, after this, the case was complicated by another demand, the right of entry, under the treaty, into Canton • and there was not anything in the papers which led him to the conclusion that it was either a justifiable demand or wise policy to endeavour to obtain its concession in the mode that was adopted. Much had been said of the effects which this resolution might have on the other side of the water ; but he must not be asked, be ob served, to approve acts which no circumstances in human life could justify—downright, wilful, and deliberate untruth, and the bringing the horrors of war, without proved necessity and without warning, upon non-combatants. Mr. E. EGERTON should vote against the motion, upon the ground that the practical effect of it out in China would be to endanger British life and in terests. Mr. CocrtuANE supported the motion. Mr. T. CHAMBERS opposed the motion. He bad ar rived at the conclusion that, in point of law, we were right in the matter of the Arrow. But it was almost immaterial whether we were right or not ; it was per fectly plain that Commissioner Ycli did not know that the vessel was not under British protection. But the lorcha was not the cause of hostilities. There was no doubt that it was but the occasion of the breaking out of a storm which had been collecting since 1842. Mr. ROEBUCK accepted the motion as a vote of censure not simply upon the officials at Canton, but upon Lord Palmerston and his colleagues. Why? Because they had approved all the acts of those officials ; they had assumed the responsibility, and the house ought to fix that responsibility upon them. The Attorney-General, he said, had argued, as if ho had a retaining fee, a question which ought to be argued upon the principles of morality and humanity ; and, supposing the law to be as he had put it, were the people of England, he asked, prepared to take upon themselves the responsibility of the proceedings st Canton ? If the Chinese were wrong, they erred in comma) with great luminaries of the law in this country, and why should they be punished, their houses shattered, and their relatives butchered? But we had alleged another plea—the Chinese, it was said, had broken the treaty. He wanted to know if there had been no breach of the treaty on our part. Their refusal to let us enter the city should be dealt with tenderly. Mr. GLADSTONE contradicted the statement of Sir G. Grey respecting 'the (appointment of Sir J. Bowring, for which he (Mr. Gladatone);declared Lord Clarendon