The Press. — London, England, 1854-07-15 00:00:00

OM F.M!cg . !' • 11*. 7-,i•i.7.c*-wtr.z74•7 777 " .1(1 i►► #4` 4 1 ‘<se- - v - a ) • 4 t• ) kI • . 6 , • $ • • . . z t rt ~y :'~. ~ • l y ". No. 63.—VoL. 11. LONDON, SATURDAY, JULY 15, 1854. PRICE SIXPENCE. 'Ot Virtss. Ti on an h 8 pe th co th to ea ac fu th to of d, ti is ti li tt it ti fi 81 is e tl I 1 LONDON, SATURDAY, JULY 15, 1854. THE secret negotiations which we announced on the 27th of May last as in active operation, and the object and very existence of which have been denied by so many of our contem. poraries, have unceasingly proceeded since that period, and have already accomplished considerable results. The Court of Berlin has signified its opinion that the reply of the Court of St. Petersburg to the'Prussian note 'is satisfactory, and indi cates the basis on which the peace of Europe and the Political equilibrium may be success fully and permanently secured. The Court' of Vienna has declared that if the occupation of the principalities by the Austrian armies take place, that occupation is to be considered in the light of " an act of " armed mediation." It is probabl' that the altered aspect of cir cumstances will lead, in due time, to consi derable changes in the personnel employed at this moment in the transaction of affairs. It is convenient at a period of probable transi tion from that of active, or provisional, hosti lities to one of friendly negotiation and peace, that those who have taken a pronounced part in the prosecution or recommendation of hos tilities should withdraw, if only for a period, from the scene. The retirement of M. Psa- MONY has been commented on in the public journals. The appointment of M. DRouN DR L'Hurs to a post of high responsibility may be expected. The moment the armistice is agreed to, we understand that Lord STRATFORD DE RED CLIFF& will retire from her Majesty's Embassy at Constantinople. We have reason to believe that Sir HENRY BULWER will be his Lordship's successor. The post will require not only previous experience of' the scene and prin cipal actors, which Sir HENRY BULWER possesses, having already been Secretary of Embassy at Constantinople, but those quali ties of conciliation without which the amplest knowledge of affairs is often insufficient. We believe that we may announce that the successor of Sir HENRY BULWER At the Court of the Gra nd Duke of T USCAN Y will be the Moat Noble the Marquis of NORMANDY, K.G. Tux conduct of the House of Lords with respect to the University Bill appears to have equally alarmed and surprised the Conserva tive party throughout the country. To those, however, who are in the habit of scanning the action of political assemblies with more nicety than can fall to the lot of the multitude this behaviour will occasion no astonishment, and much less apprehension. The dislocation of political parties which has of late years rendered the working of our parliamentary government so feeble and so vacillating has told with equally powerful effect upon the House of Lords as upon the House of Commons. While the effect has been equally powerful, it has, from the pecu liar constitution of the Upper Chamber, ne cessarily been more permanent. When Sir ROBERT PEEL, intoxicated with that power which he owed entirely to party, first meditated the design of governing with out party connections, two influences arose which in the course of events were to be sub stituted for that ancient system of Church and State which a free *aristocracy was peculiarly adapted to uphold. •These were Bureaucracy and Tractarianism. The first would have secured centralised patronage, and the second aspired to govern the multitude by a theocratic revival. Both, if successful and united, might have formed a strong Government, though at the •ultimate expense of public liberty and national character. The Newman defection had already opened the eyes of sound Churchmen, however high their views, to the abyss they were approach. ing, when the Papal aggression roused the entire nation ; and that Protestant revival commenced which, if wisely guided, may yet save and secure the liberties and greatness of this country. On the other hand, the fall of Sir ROBERT PEEL was "a heavy blow and " great discouragement" to the developing bureaucracy, although his Whig successors have at times, rather from instinct than de sign, feebly attempted to pursue his plausible projects. Notwithstanding, therefore, the break-up of parties, and the inconsistent and incoherent conduct inseparable in a popular assembly from the absence of traditionary opinions, the tendency of the House of Com mons of late years has been Conservative in the best and widest sense of the epithet. Public opinion has operated upon the popular branch, and, in a great degree, neutralised the evilworking of the exotic influences introduced by Sir ROBERT PEEL and his disciples, and which, if consummated, would have settled England under a constitution combining the peculiarities of the German Chancery with those of the Roman Synod. Thus, amid the parliamentary chaos, a powerful Conservative party in the House of Commons has gradually formed itself, and is each day receiving fresh accessions of strength. Being the only poli tical discipline extant, the session has wit nessed, although in opposition, its accruing power and its frequent triumphs. Though Conservative, it is popular in its sympathies. Faithful to Church and State, it would uphold the Church on a broad and extended Protes tant basis ; and it would maintain the other institutions of the country by party connection formed on traditionary influences and local authority. It is opposed, therefore, to Cen tralisation and Tractarianism ; and in its ob jects, as well as in the sources of its power, it is national. But in the House of Lords affairs are far otherwise. There external opinion has very little, if at all, modified the condition pro duced by the dislocation of parties and the I Peel system. In the House of Lords the forces of the Whig and Tory parties are about equal, while the party which seceded from the Conservative ranks, under the influence of the late Sir ROBERT Past, amounts in number to between thirty and forty, and consequently commands the decision of the assembly. The original features of this connection appear in the House of Lords, not only in their original unpopular form, but perhaps even aggravated, and with less disguise. Here we find Minis ters of State with no following in the country, while ambitious prelates combine to substi tute for the power which political party has hitherto alone supplied in England, the influ ence of the great corporation of which they are the chiefs, and which influence they are seek ing to extend and enforce by means alike audacious and empirical. The statesman, resting on Bureaucracy, will ultimately estab lish centralisation ; while the Bishop, assuming that the whole population of the country is in his fold, prepares for that synodical action which is never for a moment absent from the thoughts of this anti-national confederacy. The Duke of NEWCASTLE may be looked upon in the House of Lords as the model type of the Bureaucratic Minister, while the Bishop of OXFORD is the prelate who is to render the Church in England both catholic and popular. Both individuals act under the jesuitical in spiration of Mr. GLADSTONE, who is prepared at the same time to reform the civil service on Chinese principles, and give the Church of England a Parliament of its own. To establish in England centralised autho rity and priestly domination is not an easy task, and requires no ordinary powers, yet it is one on which the House of Lords, uncon ciously no doubt to many of its members, is now actively intent. So far as regards the constitution of this country, it is a destructive process, a system essentially revolutionary. The relative positions, therefore, of the House of Lords and the House of Commons are now changed. The Conservative spirit, the spirit that would maintain our local government and our free religion, the spirit, in short, that would uphold the institutions of England, has taken refuge in the House of Commons, where it is supported, not by great peers and proud prelates, but by the gentry of England and the middle class. It is necessary to im press upon our readers this remarkable change in the character of the House of Lords, which has for some years been ope rating. Local government and the Protestant cause, the civil and religious liberty of which we have heard so much, the Church and State of the Revolution, must be defended in the House of Commons, if we wish to preserve for our posterity these long-treasured bles sings. The bill for the pretended reform of the University of Oxford will illustrate the views here suggested. The main object of this bill is to place the government of the University in the hands of the Tractarian party, and thus eventually mould the minds and conduct of the clergy of the Established Church to their purpose. With this view, the first object was to get rid of the power of Convocation, the elements of which are miscellaneous and popular. For this general assembly the bill substitutes a confederacy called Congregation, restricted to residents in the University, of which they alone are to choose the governing authorities. The Conservative amendment carried in , the Commons by Mr. WALPOLE, and rejected -