The Press. — London, England, 1855-06-09 00:00:00

538 in which both Count Buol and the French envoy saw the elements of adjustment. Rumour had asserted that their rejection was due solely to the English Government. He thought the present moment favor able for peace, and declared that if the honour of England was to be consulted, so was that of Russia. If peace were proclaimed to morrow, the lesson war would have taught all parties would be worth its sacrifices. This done, the great test, he considered, of future statesmanship would be to make adequate provision for the fall of the Turkish empire in Europe. Lord JOHN RUSSELL, admitting the magnitude of the concessions of Russia, and the alteration in her tone, repeated the opinion which he had already expressed at Vienna, that her reverses had not yet been of sufficient magnitude to compel her to agree to what they were bound to demand. The negotia tions were begun in accordance with the under standing with Austria. He defended the policy of the terms offered to Russia ; but said that the arrangement on the fourth point was by no means so certain and easy as Sir J. Graham had assumed, and he pointed out the practical difficulties which it would have encountered in its solution. As to the third point, it had at first been proposed to neutralise the Black Sea as regarded vessels of war altogether; but as Russia's acceptance of such terms was utterly hopeless, the limitation proposal was adopted ; and what other, he asked, could have been chosen to cause the cessation of Russian preponderance? The first proposition of Russia, to throw open the straits, VMS out of the question. To accept that of the 26th of April, to permit the Sultan when menaced to call in the fleets of other nations, would have been prac tically to revert to the original position, leaving the Russian preponderance untouched. Count Buol had himself pointed out its inadmissibility. He acknow ledged the difficulty of defining the exact terms calculated to give security to Turkey. He cited Napoleon and Wellington as testifying to the danger to the world of a Russian occupation of Constanti nople, and said that in the terms to be proposed we must be guided by circumstances and the events of the war. He denied that the question was one of honour to Russia ; it was the abandonment of the projects entertained by Catherine and Nicholas, and almost avowed by the present Emperor. He de fended himself from the charge of carelessly exciting hopes and passions in his former reference to Poland, the facts connected with which, as an in dependent man, he was at liberty to use. He concluded by asserting that we should still make the four points our object so far as they provided material guarantees fur the security of Europe. At this stage of the debate Mr. Roebuck moved its adjournment. Lord Palmerston objected, that the final papers of the Conference would shortly be laid upon the table, when the question might be finally debated. To this Mr. Disraeli replied that these papers had nothing to do with the amendment under consideration, and Mr. Bright asserted the right to answer Lord John Russell, who had, he said, as usual, laid himself open to a conclusive reply. The debate was then adjourned accordingly until Thurs day, when— It was resumed by Mr. ROEBUCK, who commented upon the speeches of Mr. Gladstone and Sir James Graham, contending that after, as Ministers, having commenced and vindicated the war, they now urged the country to a course which would appear in the eyes of the world an acknowledgment of weakness and defeat. With respect to the general question, he argued that having embarked in hostilities it was discreditable as well as unwise to accept peace on the basis offered by Russia, which allowed the armies of the enemy to retire undefeated and undiminished behind the Pruth. The conduct of Lord J. Russell he declared to be unworthy the envoy of a free people, especially as regarded his consent to terms which would have deprived the inhabitants of the principalities of all control over their own affairs. Austria, he believed, could have been brought into an active co-operation with the Westetn powers by the skilful use of three spell-words—Poland, Italy, and Hungary. Exonerating the Prime Minister from the charge of vacillation, Mr. Roebuck exhorted him to persevere in a vigorous policy, and to remem ber that while crippling Russia we were fighting the battles of the world. Mr. SIDNEY HERBERT defended the course adopted by the ex-Ministers, urging that they had aided in carrying on hostilities so long as the war was strictly defensive, an'! were justified in opposing it now that its character was changed. He described the con fusion in which the whole question had been enveloped, and the different shades of opinion which existed on all sides. He contended that we had underrated our successes, and enumerated the several reverses and checks of Russia. Adverting to our late successes , and admitting their importance, he argued that if England obtained any signal triumph the public would care nothing about terms in the midst of their satisfaction. He read some confidential despatches to Admiral Dundas from himself, with the view of exculpating himself from the charge of indifference, and explained that, from THE PRESS. strategic reasons given both by the French and Eng lish generals, Admiral Dundas omitted to attack Odessa. Recurring to the third point, he argued that the adoption of Turkey into the European family was wrung from Russia, and that the Russian proposition for opening the Dardanelles were the popular terms of peace with ourselves a year ago. He admitted the objections to it, but argued that limitation was equally open to objection, and believed that this mode of determining the question was now defunct. He alleged, in excuse for Russia, that she treated Turkey as an uncivilised and Asiatic power, and only followed our own example and that of France in so dealing with Eastern nations. In de termining what was to be done, he reminded the house, with various significant hints, that France was nearer making peace than we were. He did not think Austria would be frightened out of her present course by whispering the ominous words to which Mr. Roebuck had alluded. Turkey was likely to disappear altogether in the struggle. Under these circumstances, and believing that the object of the war had been obtained by success, he was now favorable to peace. Mr. DRUMMOND confessed to a change of opinion, but in the reverse direction to that experienced by the late Secretary-at-War. Having begun by depre cating war, he now felt convinced that we must con tinue to prosecute it. Proceeding to criticise the conduct of Ministers, the professed objects of the war, and the opinions propounded by different mem bers, he found proofs of incompetence, futility, and inability on all sides. Whatever might be the for tunes of the conflict in detail, he believed that the inevitable result of the war would be to destroy Mahometanism, and to leave the French masters of Constantinople. Mr. SERGEANT SEES having spoken, Mr. ALcocic followed, objecting to our mode of con ducting the war, and our mismanagement of our relations with Persia. Sir H. WILT OUGHBY argued that no one proposition could secure Turkey; it must be done by a variety of conditions. Sir W. CLAY said that the limitation provision would have been useful in itself, but yet more useful as showing the world that Russia could be con trolled. Lord R. CECIL argued against the limitation plan as utterly inefficient, observing, besides, that Con stantinople was threatened by attacks from land rather than from sea. He approved of the second Russian proposition. Mr. BRIGHT began a laboured peace harangue by defining from the admissions of the debate what were now supposed to be the objects of the war. They had got rid one by one of the question of nationalities. It was condescendingly allowed that they were yet to permit Russia to remain a great empire. They were, then, fighting for the independence of Turkey alone. No man pretends that the security of Turkey could be absolute—it must be partial and conditional. He thought the three propositions—the territorial guarantees, the Christian protectorate, and the Black Sea project—gave such securities to Turkey as the condition of Turkey would permit. It was idle to talk of destroying the Russian preponderance in the Black Sea, while it was covered by her commerce. The limitation proposal could not have been ac cepted by Russia; it proposed to give twenty ships to the allies, and eight only to that power. An inde pendent power could not limit its own power of action in this way. He admitted that the allies might get better terms—that they might even dis mantle Russia : but at what a cost ! He declaimed with great force, not only on the sacrifices we had made, but on those we should make in a six-years' war—the desolation of families, the misery to the poor, the danger to our own preponderance, when our great rival, the United States, would be running the race unweighted, and with an expenditure of 75,000,0001. a year less than our own. He ridiculed the notion of our making war for the interests of the world at large—of our standing forth as the general cham pion of Europe and of humanity, adverting espe cially to our buying a German legion to fight the battles of Germany, amidst the indifference and hos tility of the German authorities themselves. He declared that he had no confidence in the Ministry, and, amidst the amusement of the house, stated his reason by quoting the precedents, inconsistencies, and follies of some four or five of them. The debate was again adjourned on the motion of Mr. SCOTT, Lord PALMERSTON expressing an earnest hope that it would be brought to a close the next (last) night. MAYNOOTH. The adjourned debate on Mr. Spooner's motion was resumed on Wednesday by Mr. SERGEANT O'BRIEN. Assuming that the grant to Maynooth was one of restitution, he asseried that even those who objected to all ecclesiastical endowments had no right to refuse this. He referred to the late report of the commissioners to prove that the doc trines taught at Maynooth was opposed to the civil authority of the Pope, and recognised the validity of SATURDAY, oaths as between Catholics and Protestants. He denounced the assertion that the endowment of a Romanist college was a national see, and asked how those that made it could consent to Romanist en dowments in our colonies. _ Mr. WHITESIDE said that the origin of Maynooth was Conservatism. The Roman Catholics wanted an institution where their priests could be educated without imbibing French revolutionary principles, and this obtained the royal license for Maynooth, to which the Irish House of Commons shortly after voted a sum of money. But it was even then opposed by a large section of the Roman Catholics, who thought that it would perpetuate religious differences. He then proceeded to cite a multitude of facts to prove that Jesuitism, eitheropen or disguised, was professed at Maynooth ; that treasonable doc trines were taught there; that objectionable books still continued to be used ; that its professors had published works containing outrageous sentences against the Protestant Establishment; and that since the grant conventual institutions had greatly increased in Ireland. Amongst others, he quoted Thomas Moore and O'Connell in condemnation of Maynooth. Mr. KEOGH argued that as all religious opinions paid Parliament, which he denied to be a Protestant Parliament, it could not consistently refuse this grant. He defended the report of the commissioners, which testified to so many points in favour of Maynooth. The bishops of Ireland had unanimously refused the proposal of Napoleon to form Irish establish. ments in France. Could it be supposed that Roman Catholicism in Ireland, which had survived so many persecutions, would be extinguished by any parlia mentary measures? Should the Government, allied as it was with a Roman Catholic power, alienate the affections of six millions of Catholics at home, when they were most wanted to meet the common enemy ? Mr. J. CHAMBERS said that to suppose that the feelings of the Irish nobles would be altered by any action on Maynooth was a slanderous imputati'n on the loyalty of that people. Roman Catholicism was diminishing every day, and a few years would destroy all opportunity for such a cry. An institu tion supported out of the public funds for the sole education of a priesthood existed nowhere else ; it was without a parallel in our history. Maynooth, based on charity, produced in consequence an in ferior class of priests, and the Irish Roman Catholic Church itself would be benefited by the withdrawal of the grant. He considered that the conduct of the priesthood within the last ten years was worse than it had ever been. The debate was then adjourned to the 27th inst. CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY BILL. The committal of this bill formed the subject of a prolonged discussion in the House of Lords on Thursday. Many explanations were given, chiefly by the Lord Chancellor, touching the purport and effect of the measure, and some opposition offered to certain clauses. Finally, however, the bill went through the pending step without material alteration. THE annual visitation of the Royal Observatory, Greenwich, took place on Saturday last. From a re port read to the board of visitors by the Astronomer Royal, detailing the labours of the astronomical staff during the past year, it app3ars that, in addition to the ordinary labours of the establishment, which consist in the regular observation of the sun, moon, planets, with the transit-circle, and altazimuth, and the transmission of Greenwich time along the prin cipal railways of England, very important extraneous operations have been undertaken, which tend to add considerably to the scientific reputation of the Royal Observatory under its present able director. Besides determining with great precision the longitude of l'aris by means of the electric telegraph—a work which required some weeks to complete—and also the preparation of a full-size model of the transit circle, which has occupied the time of the executive for a long period, an expedition was formed for the determination of the difference of gravity at the top and bottom of a deep mine, by observations of the os cillations of a pendulum. The spot selected for these experiments was Harton Colliery, near South Shields —a locality suitable from various causes. A band of observers from the principal observatories in England was organised, who made the necessary observations under the immediate superintendence of Mr. Dunkin, of the Royal Observatory. The result is as successful as could be desired, and shows that gravity is in creased at a depth of 1,260 feet by its 1-19,04)0 part. After the hoard had officially inspected the various departments of the establishment, the company present dined at the Crown and Sceptre, Lord Wrottesley in the chair. A CIRCULAR issued by the Board of Health warns all persons in authority to prepare against the pos sible return of cholera this summer. It enumerates the general laws against nuisances and the modes of their enforcements, and reminds the authorities also of their powers for the same purpcses under local acts.