The Press. — London, England, 1853-07-23 00:00:00

268 could not safely be entrusted with power, and, in the case of Ireland, this ignorance brought a superstitious people into abject slavery under the domination of an uneducated priesthood. To raise the people intellectually up to or above their priests was the only mode of con ferring upon them a power of free political action. Any education is perhaps, in so ex treme a case, better than none ; for, by stimu lating thought and giving a eapability of in quiry wherever there is an inclination for it, the barren soil is at least broken up and pre pared to receive seed. Though the necessity of education in Ireland was obvious, the diffi culties which stood in the way of any general system seemed almost insurmountable, and Lord DERBY . B scheme was as bold in the face of great opposition as it has been finind effec tive wherever honestly worked out. The great obstacle lay, as might be expected, in religious differences. Had the decision been left to the leaders of the sects, separate grants to be used in antago nist senses would alone have found favour, and to obtain these they have been struggling ever since the system commenced. But, how ever agreeable to many this adjustment might be, it could expect no favour from a statesman whose object was to assuage the violence of factions and the bitterness of religious animosi ties. A compromise upon some ground where as many as possible could be got to meet—to expect all were hopeless—was therefore the plan clearly seen by Lord DERBY, and deve loped in what is now commonly called the mixed system. According to this, children of all religious denominations were to be assem bled under the same teacher, and receive together as much secular and religious educa tion as was possible. Small the amount of the latter undoubtedly was, for bigotry soon takes fright ; still it was the very keystone of the system " that the religious instruction should, to a certain extent, be imparted during the hours of combined education." The importance of this principle cannot be overestimated. It taught at an impressible age the great truth so often forgotten, that there is a common groundwork of our faith which may yield fruits of holiness if not made the battle-tell of sects. The noble truths which they learned together as boys would be less likely to be used as war cries of religious feuds in manhood. Ditferences of opinion would be found compatible with friendship and respect ; and, instead of parties in Ireland always dividing, they might sometimes com bine for the common good, or at least agree to differ without acrimony or The importance of the recent resolution of the Board of National Education does not rest upon the character of the books excluded from use during the hours of simultaneous instruc tion, so we have not thought it necessary to dwell upon their eontents. The object and necessary result of it is to render any religious instruction, except of a sectarian character, impossible in the schools : to obtain this end, Presbyterian intolerance leagued with Papal bigotry, and the result is, that they have secured that which was fought against by all libe ral men, and have rendered it necessary for the ablest men at the Board either to resign or to consent to administer a totally different system under the old name. OCEAN PENNY POSTADE OFFERED BY PRIVATE ENTERPRISE..--A few months ago Lord Aberdeen stated to a large and influential deputation that if any of their number connected with the shipping in terest were willing to convoy letters across the ocean under the fourpenny charge, for which the Govern ment proposed to perform the transit service be tween Great Britain and its colonies, he was sure the Post-office would gladly accept the offer. And since that declaration Lord Canning has intimated the intention of the 6oviTliment to put up the con veyance of the mails to some of the colonies to the competition of private enterprise. These official statements have been widely published in the United States, and have elicited from a new steam-packet company in New York, called the Glasgow and New York Steam Ship Company, an offer to con vey any quantity of mail-bags at the rate of one penny sterling per letter. The company expect to have vessels enough to enable them to establish a fortnightly !Ailing from each side a the Atlantic, THE PRESS. WHAT IS FREE TRADE? Dear Mr. Press,—l hear from all sides, " Why rake up the ashes of the dead ?" "Why disturb the now peaceful ghost of Protection?" "Why blunt your antiquated arrows against the solid bulwarks of free trade?" "Why attempt feebly to renew a fight finished conclusively ?" " Free trade is now an ac complished fact—not in the sense of accomplished villain—but it is un fait accompli." I'm not raking up the ashes of the dead—Truth cannot die—and, whether Protection is truth or no, it cannot be pronounced dead, so long as foreign butter (so much desired in quantity by a large party in this country) pays half-a-crown per cwt. more im port duty than the same article from the colonies ; and so long as Messrs. Bright and Cobden's Man chester friends maintain for their fabrics a protected preserve in our colonial markets. Truth is neither dead, nor antiquated ; it is im mortal, and always in season ; and, like genius, it "repeats itself, and repeats itself, and is ever new." Ay, and it never has signed, and never can sign, an abdication of its right to assert, reassert, and main tain its sovereignty. A few regiments of human heroes may be routed; the royal general never quits the field. But, surely, he is not to be accounted an enemy to free trade who merely inquires where it is to be seen, and what it is, in a friendly way ? I cannot see free trade at present, and I hardly understand the principles of those who profess them selves to be its exclusive friends. But lam a sincere lover of freedom in all things ; and, therefore, an ad mirer of all those safeguards for freedom which are essential to its existence to healthful growth in this evil world. When the millennium arrives, and we owe no man anything individually or nationally—when everybody will be peacefully inclined—then taxation will be nearly, if not actually, at Zero ; and then the sword will be turned into a pruning-hook. Then all speech and all writing will be good and agreeable, and free trade will participate in the universal free dom, and all mankind, in one brotherhood, will plea santly labour for the common good. This I believe. Till then we must have armies, navies, magistrates, and police, and we must pay for these necessaries. Till then parents must protect their own children, and rulers guard and protect their own people. The only question among rational Protectionists to honest Free Traders is, how shall we manage the burdens on British industry, so as to foster trade and prepare the way for progressive freedom ? "In vitium ducit culpae fuga si caret arti." Let us see whether such caution is now aimed at. For the present I am, dear Mr. Press, yours respectfully, A WOULD-BE CONSISTENT FREE TRA.DER. CONSTANTINOPLE.—The Councillor of Legation, Baron Schlaissing, who proceeded to his post by the way of the Danube, had a conference with Prince Gortschakoff relative to the entry of steamers in the Black Sea. DECISION OF THE TURKISH ULEMAS.—III Turkey the corporation of the Ulemas, at whose head is the Mufti, or Schisch ul Islam, occupies an important place. not only as chief interpreter of the Koran, but also in its opinion on state acts and state duties. If any subject is brought before the tribunal of the Ulemas, the Sultan and the Divan have to abide by it. It is stated that the Ulemas have declared that the Russian ultimatum and ultimatissimiim are in admissible, as they are incompatible with the Koran. The last decision of the Mufti (Arif Ackmet Bei Effendy), which the Ministers received with their arms crossed on the breast, was that pas sage of the Koran, " Heaven declares that war is the best and holiest remedy of the faithful against the infidels." ROME.—The Pope is about to publish a new bull, on mixed marriages between Catholics and Pro testants, more stringent than hitherto. DARKSTADT.—The importation of clandestine wea pons, stilettos, &c., by working men, has hem pro hibited here. WARSAW.—The Emperor is expected to arrive here in a few days. IIERMANSTADT,-OMCI Pacha has concentrated his troops between Nicopali and Rustschuk. On the opposite bank of the Danube, at Giurgiewo, are 8,000 Russian troops. The new harbour at Holyhead is now continually affording shelter to large numbers of vessels which run in for protection, the works being far advanced. When com pleted it will form the largest harbour of refuge in the kingdom. An area of 31(1 acres is being enclosed by a breakwater three quarters of a mile in length, with a sea pier :LOW feet in length. and depth of water upwards of thirty feet. Millions of tons of stone have been deposited to formthe foreshore and la eakwater,and the daily delivet y iutu the sea has been at the Me of 4 : 000 tons. SATURDAY, V arliammt, V rotetngs in Ifi THE TURKISH QUESTION. Interpellations on this subject were on Monday renewed in the House of Lords by the Ea.l of MsuiEsetav, who referred to the various notes and manifestoes which had emanated from the Russian Emperor or Ministers, and to which formal replies had already been addressed by the French Cabinet. He disclaimed all intention of embarrassing the Government, but submitted that the time was come when the British Legislature and public ought to know what they were doing, or whether they were -- i dong anything " I think it is now time for the dignity of this country— " think it is fair on the part of the Opposition—to ask her Majesty's Government now whether they have made any reply to those notes, and whether, if not, they intend to reply and publish their reply in the same manner as the Russian Government adopted when they circulated those documents? 1 think, if her Majesty's Government delay answering those documents, they will run the risk of being misapprehended or misunderstood, for silence proverbially means consent. We have been already told by my noble friend that he does not agree in all the statements in those documents—(" Hear, hear," from the Earl of Clarendon )—but it may be the cause of misappre hension, and her Majesty's Government may be accused of being unable to answer those notes, and even of fearing to answer them, under alarm at the acts of a powerful nation which is now attracting the altention of the whole world. 1 will, therefore, earnestly beg her Majesty's Government to state to the house and the country whether they have answered those notes—one or both of them — and whether they intend, if they have answered them, that the reply should be made public—however unusual that mode of treating diplomatic documents may be—in the same way as the Russian and French Governments have done ? The Earl of CLARENDON admitted the forbearance which the Opposition bad sht,wn, and their ready compliance with his previous requests to postpone discussion on this topic. These requests, be said, were urged from no other motive than that of avoiding all chance of interrupting the course of negotiations and diminishing the probability of a pacific solution. The example of France and other countries, he contended, did not apply to this country, because of the difference in their ministerial system. Abroad the Government acted on its own authority ; here the Foreign Secretary was obliged to lay papers before Parliament and take the sense of the house upon the course to be pursued. That step he intimated would be taken in relation to the Russo-Turkish question in due time, when the whole of the papers would be laid before Parliament. The noble earl proceeded : " With respect to the two notes to which my noble friend has alluded, and the observations which he has thrown out as to the capacity or the courage which we may possess in answering them, with regard to the first point, it is not for me to pronounce an opinion as to the duty which devolves on me, but, as to any fear of answering them, I trust my noble friend will be perfectly satiotied that no such apprehension at any time existed, either on my mind or on that of any other member of her Majesty's Government. (Cheers.) To the first note no regular answer was sent, because the greater part of it alluded to the negotiations which had been originated with the French embassy at Constantinople, and the negotiations to which they afterwards led ; and the remainder of that note had been forestalled by previous communications from her Majesty's Government to the Cabinet of St. Peters burg ; a portion of it, moreover, has been answered in sub stance, but not in the form of a regular answer in a sub sequent despatch. The second circular note from Count Nesseirode was one of a different character, and certainly did require an answer, and it was immediately answered, and that answer has gone to St. Petersburg, (Hear, hear.) I have only further to add, that the answer was in entire conformity with the note uf the French Government, as indeed, I may say, the whole of our proceedings hare been. ( ('heers. )" Lord BEAUMONT inquired the date at which Par liament and the country might expect to receive the promised information. At present they were left in an extraordinary position, possessing the fullest knowledge of all the intentions, actions, and opinions of Russia, to which the utmost publicity was given, while the policy, the proceedings, and even the opinions of the home Government were shrouded in mystery. The Earl of CLARENDON : I can assure my noble friend that it is no small sacrifice to her Majesty's Government to have asked for the postpone ment of the discussion. or to have delayed placing before the house the fullest information on the subject. We feel that Parliament and the public have a perfect right to be informed in the manner in which my noble friend points out, and it has been our desire that there should be no unnecessary delay: but I need not go over again the reasons which have induced us to ask for this delay. In answer to noble friend, however. I will say that I think a very few days will be sufficient to show whether the negotiations that are on foot will succeed or not.: and whether they do succeed or not. as soon as those few days are over, I can promise your lordships that the whole of the papers shall he laid on the table of your lordships' house. (Hear.hear.)" The Marquis of CLANRICAEDE added scme queries touching the extent to which Russia had assumed