The Press. — London, England, 1857-02-07 00:00:00

THE WEEK. THE reserved allusions to the state of our relations with Persia and China, and the absence of any intimation of the future intentions of the Government, do not render the anticipations of a speedy settle ment of the disputes quite so apparent as Lord CLARENDON in the one House and Lord PALMERSTON uin the other freely announced on Tuesday night. The Persian dispute, we have reason to believe, is rapidly assuming a phase of serious gravity and importance. The state of Afghanistan is not assuring. The information of the capture of Bushire, pending negotiations with the Government at Teheran, has produced an unpleasant impression upon the Government of the Shah, and has tended rather to stimulate the Sovereign to some exertion in self-defence, than convince him (of the (hopelessness of resistance ; while the latest intelligence from Constantinople announces as a fact that Russia has demanded permission to occupy the province of Mazanderan. Although this statement at present wants confirmation in point of fact, in point of common sense it requires n one. Such a result must ensue from our present aggressive policy towards Persia A weak country between two powerful States when attacked by one, necessarily leans for supper t upon the other. The arguments sus tained by THE PRESS that the true policy to follow in regard to Persia was to maintain that Power in its integrity, as the most secure frontier for our Indian empire, have received signal support in the debates in Parliament this week. The policy of her Majesty's Government may be deeper and more secret, but its end will be more equivocal. Meanwhile we wait with expectation the result of the deliberations of FEROUK KHAN with Lord COWLEY. With respect to China, the Royal Speech, coupled with the state ments of Lord CLARENDON on Thursday, removes all doubt as to the full and entire responsibility of the Government in the late acts of wanton aggression in the Canton River. Sir JOHN BOWRING left home with general instructions to endeavour to obtain, on the first opportu nity, a right of entry into Canton, although such views were in oppo sition to the opinions of the Duke of WELLINGTON and Sir GEORGE BONHAM. Our intercourse with the Chinese was purely commercial. We had established factories, and were carrying on an extended trade. The petty dispute of the lorcha arose ; and by way of settling the dif ficulty, Sir JOHN BOWRING, after knocking down the river forts, revives this dormant article of the treaty of peace, and takes advantage of this " favourable opportunity" to press for the right of entry into the city. The result is well known, so far as the burning of the factories and the intention to bombard the city. It is open to grave doubt whether, instead of receiving insults from Commissioner YEH , we have not both lowered the national honour and given the Chinese just cause of offence. There was no urgency for hostile action, and, if the full powers accorded to Sir JOHN BOWRING to meet unforeseen circum stances were such as permitted him upon his own authority to involve this country in war, without reference to the Home Government, the responsibility must rest with that Government. In the foreign affairs of Europe but small matter of importance has transpired this week. The able article in the Moniteur upon the union of the Principalities so completely accords with the powerful arguments set forth in a commtnication appearing in THE PRESS of last week, that we are inclined to regard a union of the two provinces as possibly the best security for the Turkish frontier, and most ad vantageous for the material interests of the empire. England, Turkey, and Austria have hitherto exhibited a certain opposition to the prim• ciple of a union. There is now no doubt that the two former Powers have seen fit to modify their opinions. It has at length been definitively and officially settled that the Congress for the settlement of the affairs of Neufchatel shall meet at Paris. An intimation to this effect may be expected shortly to appear in the Moniteur. The evacuation of Greece by the Anglo-French forces will take place immediately. We notice with concern that the Premier was absent from his usual place in the House of Commons at the sitting of Thursday, and also last evening. It is said that his Lordship is laid up with a fit of gout, brought on by the fatigue attending the discussion upon the Address on Tuesday evening. We strongly recommend to the perusal of our readers the striking article in the recent number of the Quarterly Review, upon the existing political situation. The questions of foreign policy and of reduction of taxation are especially handled in a complete and luminous manner. As we have not referred to the Review in our literary columns, we may take this opportunity of saying that its articles are remarkable for solid interest, and for the ability with which they are treated. The most remarkable fact, in connection with the debate upon Tuesday night, was the appearance in the list of names of the twelve peers who voted for Earl GREY'S amendment of that of—the Earl of ABUDEEN! The fact is worthy of iota. SATURDAY, A case of intolerance has recently occurred in ono of the most valuable of the public' institutions of Dublin. In the last century the " Dublin Library " was founded by the Earl of CHARLEMONT. Persons of extraordinary effrontery have lately (made the committee a Catholic clique. A third of the members of the "Library" are Protestant, and only one Protestant has been allowed for some time past to be on the committee ! At length a Protes tant gentleman, for forty years a member of the Society, ven tured publicly to call the committee to account. He was at once ex pelled from the " Library." Neutral politicians and sincere Roman Catholics have in vain pleaded the cause of fair play and toleration. The public press has had vigorous reclamations against this miserable bigotry. But the clique of jobbers and bigots who have almost ruined a once noble institution, show no sign of relenting. They treat all remonstrance with insolent contempt, and have peculiar notions about " opinions lacy of the soil." In short, their real design would seem to aim at crushing out the Protestant Members, and turning " the Library "into a " Catholic Club" of a low kind to the special conve nience of persons who would be blackballed at other societies. The Dublin Library is sacrificed to the tyranny of a majority, and its fate is not without warning for still greater and graver institutions. We believe our readers will be gratified by the Supplement we publish to-day, containing a full report of the speeches of Lord DERRY in one House, and Mr. DISRAELI in the other. We think it right, however, to say, that we cannot vouch for the literal correct ness of those speeches. They arc copied from the columns of the leading journal, with such correotions as tho reports of other daily papers have enabled us to make. The public acknowledgment of Mrs. HAYDN that during the last six years of her husband's life he received 2001. from the Literary Fund, and that she on his death received a further donation of 251., sufficiently exonerates that excellent institution from all charge of neglect. Lord PALMERSTON displayed less than his usual felicity in th e lan guage chosen by him to deny Mr. DISRAELI'S allegation of a secret treaty on Tuesday last. The Noble Viscount's sneer at the Right Hon. Gentleman's powers of imagination and celebrity in " another depart " went" would have been more pungent had they not been second hand. On a previous occasion, when Mr. DISRAELI had detected a secret understanding between the Government and the Irish Mem bers, Lord JOHN RUSSELL, then Prime Minister, complimented him on his talents for fiction. which on that occasion, as will probably be the case now, unhappily turned out to be fact. The point, however, is one exceedingly difficult either to prove or to disprove ; witnesses cannot be subpoenaed, and put upon their oath. And even were the text of the treaty published, it would be easy to proclaim it a forgery. The assertion of one gentleman is, pro import', as good as of another. And so long as Lord PALMERSTON knows he can reiterate his own without risking exposure, he is not very likely to shrink from doing so. Ho has never been famous for scrupulousness in availing himself of all those manoeuvres which diplomatists consider fair. And we are far from saying that he is deserving of any especial censure for endeavour. ing to throw around his late policy such a veil as diplomatic usage may justify. But if we come to discuss the probability of this treaty, we shall see at once that Mr. DISRAELI'S affirmation is far more likely to point towards the truth than Lord PALMERSTON'S negative. Is it not probable, that, if there were a secret agreement between Austria and France relative to the Italian provinces, there would be a secret document corresponding to it? So far, then, the case stands in this way :—On one side we have a distinct assertion of a fact ; on the other, a distinct denial of that fact, but coupled with an admission which leaves the affirmative by far the more credible statement of the two. In Mr. GLADSTONF.'S speech upon church extension at Stepney on Saturday last, we are glad to observe the recognition of a fact com mented on hi this journal some few weeks ago ; namely, that accom modation for the poorer inhabitants of the metropolis bears no pro portion to the daily increase of those spacious and splendid streets and squares appropriated to the wealthy classes. Yet the extension of this class of buildings necessitates a certain proportionate increase in the lowest class of population,—such as the workmen and servants attached to the shops which spring up rapidly in the neighbourhood of a new suburb. What, then, becomes of these? They are driven to swell the feverish mass of crowded life with which the eastern districts of London teem, and which is gradually sinking into the state of savage degradation which renders the mission of the London clergyman peculiarly difficult and oppressive. If some of the leading men in Church and State, whose antecedents specially qualify them for this work, would come forward and manfully put their shoulders to the wheel in the task of extricating our poorer fellow citizens from the physical moral pollution with which they are sur rounded, they would do more to revive a love for our institutions and respect fur the higher ranks of society than all the declamation of all the Radicals in the country could do to undermine them. The discussions in both Houses of Parliament on last Tuesday were of uncommon interest. It is not often that "so meagre a bill of fare" (as Lord DERBY called the Queen's Speech), provokes such weighty observations. Both Foreign Policy and Finance, under the present aspects of the country, received detailed attention, and it cannot be denied that the views promulgated by the Conservative leaders, in both Houses, obtained an extraordinary concurrence front opposite quarters. Lord D4apit and Mr. rtguALLI, let it be observed, THE PRESS. 132