The Press. — London, England, 1856-11-15 00:00:00

THE PRESS. 1088 peen affairs. He thought the late war might have been avoided, and deprecated the quarrel with America, though he admitted our Minister had been disgraced. Mr. ItoEnumi, who was very warmly re ceived, said that he thought Mr. Hadfield's view of a non-interference policy was mistaken : I will explain my view of non-interference, for I am for non-interference for England. I don't want her to be eternally meddling in the quarrels of Europe. I want her to consider her own interests, for those interests happen to be the interests of mankind. But she has a mighty power to wield and a great destiny to fulfil. She cannot move without the world feeling that she moves. If she moves in error, woe to mankind ; if she moves in the right path, glory be to her, and happiness to the people who constitute her whole population. I believe we ought not to interfere in the internal affairs of other nations; but while we abstain we must see that nobody else does so interfere. I beg of you to remember that we are at the head of the great Liberal party of the world. Despots banded together may oppress humanity, and therefore we have the duty to see that humanity is not oppressed. 'Therefore I say that England should, if she can, ally her self against the despots of Europe—against the despotisms which oppress humanity. With respect to the Russian war, he thought if we had merely entered our solemn protest against the Russians crossing tho Prutb, England would have been disgraced by acting upon such a principle of non interference; but, with regard to the Neapolitan affair, we militated against our own rule by interfer ing between a sovereign and his people : Now, if the Austrians had marched their troops into Naples, then, I say, we might fairly have declared war against Austria. But Austria has dove no such thing. We have said to King Bombe—as I think he is called in derision—" You oppress your subjects; you must not do so any more." Though I lament as much as any one that there should be such an animal upon this earth as King Bombs, yet between him and his people I think it is our duty not to interfere. The moment any other power interferes then we can step in. With our mighty fleet, that can cope with all the other fleets of the earth, and our gallant army, of which nothing can be said too high, we could put down the Austrian as we might, if we had been wisely guided, have put down the Russian. We have been the friends of freedom, of good government, of humanity ; but if we had narrowed our minds to the con sideration simply of making money, of spinning cottin, of hammering iruu, and weaving cloth, I think we should have been a despidiable people—not Englan I filled by' El:lg liFfnen. Upon this point my hon. friend and fib's& differ. I don't know whether he will take the interpreta tion I have given you of non-interference, but sure I am that we shall be called upon to make this application very soon, for 1 believe that the world is now upon the eve of gnat events. On the. American question he agreed to some extent with Mr. Hddtield : With her I should be loth, more loth than with anybody else, to enter into war; but even with her I would go to war if she did an injustice to us. It is not the time to wince matters; and I like straightforward speaking on all occasions. There is at this moment—and 1 use an Ame rican term—a filibustering spirit in America, and if that leads them beyond their own boundary—if that leads them to attack foreign nations—we, in the fulfilment of our non interference principle, should be bound to interfere also. I ssy that a war between England and America would be almost the greatest calamity that mankind could suffer. We have everything that can bind us to that nation; they are of the same blood, they have the same language, they have the same literature, laws, and institutions; they are bone of our hone and flesh of our flesh; they are English men on the other side of the Atlantic. But if they should do an injustice, are we to stand by and see it done ? (Cries of "No !") No, England's great destiny makes her the protector of mankind, and we should be derogating from our own dignity if we allowed any nation, however great, however nearly allied to us, to do aught that would bring discreli•. upon the great principles of humanity, if we could prevent it. I say, though I would have us bound to America by everything that can bind—though I would by every tie unite us to her, and would not interfere one iota with her riternal transactions, though I look with great sorrow upon them—l will not express in public my opinion on the matter,—yet rather than see her oppress mankind I would oppose her, and oppose her to the death. The hon. member then expressed a strong opinion against secret diplomacy, and, leaving foreign affairs, he came to the question of domestic policy, and re asserted his reasons for his opposition to all church endowment, but objecting to put down Maynooth, and permit the Irish Church Establishment. As to the Maine Liquor Law, he did not wish to see any one protected by law who could protect himself, arid he thought education a better. preventive than legis 'talon for drunkenness arid vice. LORD TALBOT DE MALAHIDE has been created by the Queen a peer of the United Kingdom, by the same style and tide which he bears in the peerage of Ireland. rtimolitan. THE WINTER COURSE OF LECTURES AT EXETER• HALL for the Young Man's Christian Association was commenced on Tuesday evening by Vice-Chancellor Sir W. Page Wood with a lecture on " Truth and its Counterfeits." The Vice-Chancellor commenced his lecture by pointing out the', the author of all truth was undoubtedly God himself, and truth was no other than whatever was the will of God. He then indicated several tests by which the counterfeits of truth might be detected. The first principle was that truth,since it came from God and not from ourselves, must be something which existed independently of our own minds and imaginations. The second prin ciple was that a truth must be constant and uni form in its operation, and exhibit always the same characteristics. The third principle was that a truth must be consistent with all other known truths, since they all emanated from the same Divine source. The fourth principle was that, since the Divine wisdom has made nothing without a design, nothing could exist except for a definite purpose. The filth principle was that, as the Divine mind, from which truth proceeded, was full of infinite benevolence, nothing could be a truth which militated against the welfare of any sentient being, whether brute animal or man ; and the sixth was the agreement of the proposition asserted " with the Word and the testi mony." The right hon. and learned gentleman then referred to some instances of the "counterfeits of truth " which had been accepted by mankind at different times. He mentioned astrology and alchemy, the errors of a past age, and clairvoyance, table turning, and spirit rapping, the follies of the present day. He touched on quackeries in medicine and quackeries in literature, but only in very general terms. In politics also, he said, there were some frightful counterfeits. One was the paternal system of government, as it was called ; the notion that a government ought to be like a good father, taking care of its people as of children : The truth is, you cannot find in the external world any thing analogous to such a system, as far as respects the constitution of mankind. I apprehend that the constitu tion of man is an instinct of self-assertion— to a certain extent a right one—and an instinct of self-preservation, and for that they don't need any protection at all. The only thing they want is a certain degree of restriction— restriction that will prevent them from being hurtful, to prevent any man using fraud and violence to his neighbour. But I now get into that worst form of government—that form which often springs from internal revolution—the despotic system of government, which often arrogates to itself the name of truth, and as belonging to the order of things provided by Providence. I never think of the despotic system of government without re-echoing with my full concurrence the words of Algernon Sidney :—" I will believe in the right of one man to govern a nation despotically when I find a man born into the world with boots and spurs, and a nation born with saddles on their backs." On tie other hand, there were some desperate coun terfeits of liberty, equality, and fraternity—three names, which represented great and blessed truths, if rightly understood, but the spurious applications of which involved the grossest practical absurdities and the most dangerous delusions:— The principle of equality tried by the test of consistency which I Lava laid down would prove to be a mere counter feit of truth. It amounts to this, that everybody must be allowed to do as he pleases, and in a very little time it would reduce society to a state of brute force. That is the practical result. The principle of fraternity was more serious : It is a new development of the law of Socialism, which in plain language means that everybody ought to have everything in common. That is the first principle of Socialism. Now, if you try that by comparing it with externals and the experience of the world you have a very safe test. There was a time in the history of every nation, and even now within the meraory of man, when that coveted state existed. That was iu the savagi state. That is the period when men have all things in common, at:d that is the state to which the doctrines of Socialism would again reduce us. But in proportion as men advance in the social scale a change ensues; they choose a chief, they allot him land, and hence they create the idea of property. By and bye they find that one man is more expert in forg ing arms than using them, and the trade of the black smith becomes separated front that of the warrior. The man who can work up the fleece of wool into garments no longer finds the occupation of a shepherd suitable; trades arise, and division of labour becomes necessary. So societies advance, and the idea of property becomes rooted, while the right to possess it is inviolable. How can we conceive anything but a system of property? Two men make coats, but one much faster than the other. Is the more skilful man to sit idle, that the remuneration may be equal ? If this hardship would arise between two men of irreproachable conduct, how much greater would it be where one was idle as well as incompetent? But to carry out the idea to the extent to which it had been attempted to be carried, what would it result in but one vast work shop, and that to a worse evil, something more dreadful still—namely, monopoly ? But if liberty, fraternity, and equality conjure up a frightful phantasm, what a hideous apparatioa rises at the name of universal philanthropy, which a celebrated man said could never be established till 30.000 heads had fallen. To aetopt such horrible counterfeits of truth would be to reduce the science of government to the level of brutal leaders and infuriated mobs. THE JURIDICAL SOCIETY held their first meeting for the present session on Monday evening, when Mr. Wm. David Lewis read an interesting paper on SATUANY, "Fictions in Law and Politics." A legal fiction was, he said, a wilful falsehood, having for its object the stealing of the legislative power by a few hands, who could not, or durst not, openly wield it, and, but for the effect thus produced, could not exercise it. By means of this mendacity, usurpation was on each occasion set up, exercised, and established. Black stone, however, in his " Commentaries," defended their existence, and Coke said that they were never used but for necessity and to avoid mischief. Lord Mansfield, too, had asserted that their use was so far under the control of the court that they could never bo allowed to work injustice. Having given these authorities both for and against the system of legal fictions, Mr. Lewis stated that, in his opinion, the chief objection to them was, that in some instances they were too perverse, in others too pliable. He then examined into the origin of them, and stated that, in his opinion, there were three causes to which they might be attributed. There was a natural ten dency in men to speak of what they supposed to exist as a thing existing. It was thus that Grotins and Puffendorf founded their doctrine of civil gove n. merit on the mutual covenant—first, of the consti tuents of a State one with another ; and, subsequently, of the appointed ruler with his subjects. Legisla tion, too, in a measure recognised legal fictions, and some most important recent enactments were founded on them. They had, too, been introduced by the judges as useful reforms, and the Legislature had afterwards recognised them. A remarkable instance of this was the fiction of " common recovery "—a remedy for the relief of landed property introduced by the judges in the time of Edward IV.; and thus, for about four hundred years, the precursor of the Act of William IV. enabling a landed proprietor to cut off the entail. The learned gentleman next referred to the fictions by which the Courts of Queen's Bench and Exchequer assumed to themselves jurisdiction in ordinary civil proceedings as another instance of the Bench being before the Parliament in the reform of the law, and proceeded to show the necessity for fictions in the legal doctrine of relation, and concluded the first branch of his inquiry by stating that the judges never allowed the abuse of them in their being made the facts of imaginary causes. He next dwelt upon the fictions of politics, and observed that the power of the Crown under the British Constitution was built up upon a set of fictions. Convocation and the cottg d'aire were also fictions of the present day, as the Church had no longer the power of synodical action, and the clergy of each diocese had to accept a prelate nominated by the Ministers of the day. These, however, were fictions which he considered ought to be retained as me mentos of the right of self-government in the Church, and standing protests against the usurpation of its independence by the Stato.—A short discussion fol lowed the reading of this paper, in which the chair man, Mr. Best, Mr. Smale, Dr. Waddilove, Mr. Barry, Mr. Westlake, and Mr. Higgins, took part, from which it was gathered that fictions were common and necessary in every system of jurisprudence. THE LAST DAY OF THE OLD MAYORALTY Was signalised by a deputation of the leading bankers and merchants, headed by Mr. Prescott, waiting upon Alderman Salomuns with a congratulatory address upon the manner in which during his magis tracy he had maintained the character and dignity of the City. A SERIOUS FIRE occurred on Sunday morning last in Messrs. Almond's extensive premises in St. Martin's•lane. The sufferers were large army and navy accoutrement makers, and their factory was a large building some 120 feet long, 100 feet wide, and nine flats high. The factory was surrounded by the Parthenium Club-rooms, Messrs. Silk's coach factory, and several other trade premises. The fire broke out about seven a.m., burnt with great fury far some hours, and, in spite of the utmost efforts of a power ful body of engines, destroyed Messrs. Almond's factory, the club-rooms, and a large coach-lace factory, besides severely injuring some fifteen or twenty other houses in the neighbourhood. No lives were lost. THE ROYAL GEOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY held its opening sessional meeting on Monday evening, Rear-Admiral Beechey, F.R.S., in the chair. The meeting was fully attended. Dr. Kane, the eminent Arctic voyager, was absent from illness. The society passed a resolution expressing sincere regret at this intelligence. The papers read were-1. " Proceed ings of the North Australian Expedition under Mr. A. C. Gregory," communicated by the Right Hort. H. Labouchere, Colonial.ottice ; 2. " Notes of a Journey up the Sadong River, Borneo," by Mr. A. R. Wallace, F.R.G.S. ; and 3. " Proposed Exploration of Borneo," by Lieutenant de Crespigny, R.N., F.R.G.S. A conversation on these subjects having taken place, in which the chairman, Sir R. I. Mur chison, Captain Stokes, Mr. Latrobe, Mr. Crawlurd, and Mr. Herman Merivale took part, the meeting adjourned till the 24th instant. THE REGISTRAR-GENERAL'S RETURNS for the week show a mortality of 1,006, an increase of 129 over the previous week. The births amounted to 1,611. r