The Press. — London, England, 1858-03-13 00:00:00

THE PRESS, MARCH 13, 1858. THE WEEK. 'Nit grand question of all—our relations with France—is, we trust, set at rest by the communication from France announced by Mr. DIS RAELI in the House of Commons last night. That which the Palmerston► Ministry left undone has been accomplished by the present Govern ment, and accomplished successfully. A despatch has been received from Count WALEWSKI, clothed in amicable language, and reflecting great credit on himself and on Lord MALMESBURY for temper and discretion. A thoroughly good understanding now exists between the two Courts of St. James and the Tuileries ; the Conspiracy Bill is finally dropped ; and when the trials now pend ing have been carried to their termination, if it is then made clear by actual experience that the law of England as affecting conspirators is defective, no one, we feel assured, will offer any objection to a remedy being supplied by the enactment of a short Act, simply to meet a want actually proved to exist, by regular proceedings in a British court of justice. The speech of the CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER on Monday last deserveb particular attention as a foreshadowing of Government in tentions. There can be no question whatever but the maintenance of the French alliance ought to be prominent in every man's mind. Both on public and on personal grounds there is every reason to desire a con tinuance of that good understanding which we have hitherto main tained with France. As was well put by Mr. DISRAELI, Er.gland and France now stand shoulder to shoulder as the champions of European liberty, and the pillars of Western Europe. Common sense alone would dictate to us, if policy did not, that a great kingdom separated from us by so narrow a space, and with whom we nowhere come into rivalry, is our natural ally. Accordingly, many of England's greatest statesmen have made peace with France the keystone of their policy, and none more so than the great Tory leaders of the eighteenth cen tury. But whatever arguments told in favour of the French alliance a hundred years ago, tell with redoubled force now. Then France was our rival in America, in India, and in the West Indies. Now she touches us nowhere, and were we to fight till both nations were at the last gasp we could only leave off as wo are. It is therefore with no small satisfaction that we understand from the statement of her Majesty's Ministers last night that a most conciliatory and placable despatch has been received from Count WALEWSEI, and that all difficulties with our neighbours will shortly be smoothed down. On the subject of Reform Mr. DISRAELI said all that it was possible to say—namely, that the Tory party was the last which had now any reason to shrink from a new Reform Bill, and that, although averse to a needless disturbance of the representation, the Conservatives could not be blamed if they seized the opportunity that was forced upon them of righting themselves in the political scale. The Whigs may remain perfectly well assured that public opinion no longer looks to them for that redress of grievances which was once fondly deemed the privilege of certain great patrician houses. The public has found out the length of the Whig tether, and no amount of braying will make them believe it longer than it is. The new elections, consequent on the recent Ministerial change, have all passed off without even a contest. This fact is the more re markable, as in some of the constituencies in question the Liberals had not long since a following justifying a contest in any vacancy. The counties of Buckingham and Oxford, the northern divisions of Wilts, Stafford, and Leicester, and the eastern division of Suffolk, have all chosen members of Lord DERBY'S Cabinet without the show of opposition. In the sister country no seats in former times have been more hotly contested than those belonging to the county of Dublin and the borough of Belfast, and no opposing candidate ventured in either case to put forward his claim. We do not remember any re elections taking place on the change of a Cabinet with so complete an acquiescence, and the result, as an evidence of public opinion, can scarcely be unobserved by the House of Commons. The division on Lord Jouu Russztt's Oaths Bill cannot be taken on Wednesday next. Her Majesty having been pleased to appoint that day for a levee, at which some twenty or thirty of the leading members of the House of Commons will be forced to attend, it is obvious that, if there is any House at all on that day, it must be chiefly made by the Noble Lord and his supporters. Hence to take a division on that day would be to place the question in the most disadvantageous posi tion possible. The amendment, therefore, that will be proposed, in order to make the Bill such as the Lords can accept, must be de ferred till the bringing up of the Report, which may be just before Easter, or shortly after the recess. Nobody would ever suppose that Mr. VERNON SMITH would set up for the part of " a thinker " even if he were to shake his head as often as Lord Burleigh in The Critic. Yet on examining his evidence before the " Butt Committee " it is plain that Mr. VERNON SMITH must be addicted to holding a dialogue with himself, and repeating the Car. tesian formula of Cogito, ergo sum. When Mr. SMITH was giving his evidence, he expressed himself in the following way : I hid conferences with Mr. Butt, but I think not in 18.58. I think he told me in the House of Commons. I think Mr. Butt spoke to me about bringing forward a motion. I think Mr. E. Coffey was present. I think I gave Mr. Butt a copy of the telegraphic despatch. I don't think I knew Mr. Coffey's name then. I think it was about May, 1857. I thought the cue was in Sir F. Kelly's hinds. I don't think Mr. Butt was present on any occasion. I think it very likely the Ameer asked. I think I received the Ameer officially before Mr. Batt. This iteration of Mr. VERNON SMITH s confidence in his thinking &m i l. ties occurs within less than half a column of his evidence. He deposed that Mr. Burr's letters were marked " private " and "confidential," but Mr. SMITH kept no copies of his answers. Accordingly, in his evidence the Right Honourable Gentleman used the phrase " I don't know " with as much facility as the form " I think," and he gave his testimony as if he wished to show how fast he could conjugate the verbs oogitare and ignorare. The whole evidence of Mr. V. SMITH was given with an entire unconsciousness that he was fully justifying Sir B. LYTTON'S apt remark, that " there was nothing" in the shake of tho head of the late Chief of the Board of Control. Mr. SMITH would, perhaps, have recollected arrangements with his tailor, or st ewar d , with more accuracy than the serious negotiations in which Mr. SMITH and Mr. Burr were such important actors behind the scenes with regard to our immense territory in India. A paragraph appeared in several of the newspapers two or three days ago, intimating that the Primate of Ireland was about to resign his Archbishopric, and that Dr. O'BRIEN, the present Bishop of Ossory, would take his place as Archbishop of Armagh. Now, nothing could be more proper than this whole arrangement, or more honourable to all the parties concerned. The Primate is in his eighty-fifth year, and the Bishop of Ossory is one of the first of living divines. But we believe we must say that, at present, at least, the whole scheme has no other existence than in the brain of the paragraph-writer. The Lord Lieutenant of Ireland has not yet reached Dublin Castle, and cer tainly has not yet begun a correspondence on such weighty matters as these. There can be no doubt that much inconvenience is felt by the new regulations as to passports for France; and it is to be feared that when the season fur pleasure-travelling comes round still greater annoyance will be caused by those regulations. May we suggest that it is worth the attention of our own Government to see whether some new facilities may not be devised, for the more easy andmore liberal issue of passports, under the control of our own Foreign-office. As Mr. Burr's case is now concluded, it may not be uninteresting to our readers to give a' brief résumé of the case. It anpears that in 1856 ALI MOORAD, an Ameer of Scinde, was one of the many Indian princes residing in London with a grievance. He had been deprived by the Indian Government of his turban or hereditary lands, as well as of certain other lands said to have been acquired by forgery. Lords ELLENBOROUGH and DALHOUSIE, as well as Sir CHARLES NAPIER, seem, however, to have thought him, if not innocent, at least ill-used. Still he does not seem to have made much advance ; when in June his agent, Mr. EDWARD COFFEY, introduced him to Mr. Burr. Henceforth things moved quicker. On the 22nd Mr. Burr presented a petition, prepared under his own auspices. In August he endeavoured to bring it before the House on the discussion of the Indian budget—but was stopped on a point of order. Subsequently some doubts as to the pro priety of this course seem to have suggested themselves. He repre sented to tho President of the Board of Control that it would be " very undesirable "to bring the case before the House. The reason of this change of opinion is not stated. If Mr. Burr already recognised the malleability of the President, the confession was at least frank. But whatever was the reason, Mr. SMITH entirely agreed with him, though "on no other ground than the reluctance which every mart " must have to argue a case before empty benches." Then the screw was vigorously applied. Mr. SMITH suggested a compromise. The Ameer had certainly to his mind " committed the gross offence of forgery," but he had behaved well for the last eight or nine years. His sentence should not be " reversed," but " mitigated," and the turban lands restored to him. The Board of Directors, however, had by no means the same readiness to disgorge. They kicked manfully. In June, 1857, there was a talk of referring the whole matter to the Bombay authorities. Mr. Burr said that his per sonal honour was engaged. In July came frequent interviews with Sir J. HOOO and Mr. MANGLES. The President clearly intimated to them that he " was not prepared to contest the matter." At the end of July they gave in; the matter was referred to Bombay, but it was understood that restitution was IQ bo made. And so far Mr. Burr had succeeded; but by what means? Mr. VERNON SMITH is clear that he would not have seen any gentleman who " talked of what is called ' pressure' from the House," and although " he had heard it said, as he supposed the committee had " also, that members who advocated Indian claims received presents " for doing so," he "did not knew it of his own knowledge," and "had " not the slightest idea" of such a thing in this matter. Sir J. HOOO, on the contrary, " was given to understand that if no concession wer? , " made, Mr. Burr would make a motion before the end of the session " of 1857. Mr. Burr replied to this that he had been, he would not say misrepresented, but entirely misunderstood. What he did say was that he had impressed on the President and Mr. MANGLES " the rnis " chief of having such a question discussed before Parliament;" and he added, " unless Sir J. HOOO is a greater fool than I take him to be, " he must have known that it was impossible to have the question dis " cussed that session." In justice to Sir JAMES, we must say that Mr. Burr had moved for papers in March, 1857, and was certainly rather a sharp practitioner; for he admits that he urged the Directors to give a speedy reply to the Ameer's memorial, in order that his friends might, in the event of an unfavourable answer, consider whether they would lay his case before Parliament ; and although " he did not " himself consider that at that time it would be possible, he advisedly " used this language to Mr. MAtioLss." It is to be regretted, also, that II .- MlVaer.