The Press.
London, England, 1857-03-28 00:00:00

THE PRESS.

THE IRISH ELECTIONS.
(From our own Correspondent.)
Duramt, Thursday, March 20, 1857.
SEATS will be gained to the Conservative cause, in
all probability, in the following counties and
boroughs—Carlow County, Sligo County, Armagh
County, Down County, Mayo County,LeitrimCounty,
Newry, Waterford, Carlow, and Cashel.
Among the rejected will be Mr. Ball, Under-Secre-
tary of the Colonies, and notorious as one of the
keenest time servers and place-hunters in Ireland.
Tho electors of Carlow are sick of men of this stamp,
and Mr. Brien will occupy the position his lamented
father held so long, and with so much honour.
Sligo borough is Mr. Ball's harbour of refuge. This
little town is famous as the scene of Mr. J. P.
Somers' eccentricities, political and social. It is
supposed to be considerably under the influence of
Lord Palmerston, and it was as " his bosom friend,
one in a position not only to ask but to command
favours," that the gay Patrick—gay, albeit some-
what antiquated and faded—was a candidate for
Sligo last year, and was defeated by the present
member, Mr. Wynne. Every kind of screw will be
put upon the electors, I hear, in favour of the Go-
vernment nominee, but Mr. Wynne's popularity as a
landlord, as well as a politician, is so great, that his
return is to be expected with reasonable confidence.
The exile from Sligo will be Mr. Swift, one of the
" Independent Oppositionists," who, doubtless, if he
is wise in time, and swift enough, will be able to
settle himself elsewhere.

Colonel Furde is to oppose Mr. Kerr for County
Down. That gentleman, like his brother the M.P.
for Downpatrick, has become so ambiguous a Con-
servative, and seems so disposed to forget all his
political pledges, that the Conservative electors have
resolved to have in his place a worthy colleague for
Lord E. Hill.

Colonel Higgins (colonel since the militia furor
only) will, it is strongly hoped, be ousted from
Mayo. He is a man of no ability, of no property in
the county, and no character in the Senate. At
Tattersall's be is doubtless a sharp hand enough,
and can take care of himself. But Ireland is be-
ginning to perceive that she wants something above
the class to which Colonel Higgins belongs, to repre-
sent her counties in the Imperial Parl►ament. His
colleague, Mr. Moore, though a politician with whom
Conservatives have little sympathy, is, at all events,
an honest independent man, and will be preferred on
that account, if on no other, for Lord Palmerston's
hacks have few friends in this country just now.
Dr. Brady is another of that strange genus of
"County Mirnber " which the Sadleir frauds inflicted
upon Ireland. He is a harmless bigot enough, and
a useful apothecary, no doubt, but not fit to stand
sponsor for a county containing 120,000 inhabitants.
A vigorous attempt will be made to unseat Mr.
George from Wexford County. The Ministerial in-
fluence is varied and powerful here. If the Conser-
vatives fail one whit in their duty they will lose this
excellent representative.

The ranks of the independent Opposition will
receive some accession of strength. Major Massy
will be The O'Donoghne's colleague for Tipperary,
and Cork will free herself from the disgrace and
shame of having Mr. Vincent Scully as her member.
In Kilkenny, too, a vigorous attack will be made
upon Mr. Sergeant Shee's seat. He is another of
the venal gentlemen who are a reproach to Ireland.
The electors remember how placidly he submitted to
the snubbing castigation Lord Palmerston adminis-
tered to him on the question of tenant-right. He
quietly pocketed the affront, but then he hoped to
pocket something else in addition. He is looking out
to be Solicitor-General, and so he throws his shield
over Ministers whenever they wsnt a champion. It
is probable that a disciple of Mr. Moore's school will
supersede the learned sergeant, but a Conservative
introduced amid Liberal disunion and priestly quar-
rels would have a fair prospect of success. In
Waterford County, too, there is some expectation of
a contest. The present members are Whiglings, and
that's enough to condemn them in Ireland. The
gain of a seat to the Conservative cause in the city of
Waterford in the penon of Mr. Hansard would be
doubly welcome if followed up by a similar triumph
in the county.
In Meath and Westmeath, also, there are rumours
of a conflict. Both counties should be represented
by Conservatives if property had its due weight and
legitimate influence. Mr. Urquhart and Captain
Magan, the members for Westmeath, are Ministerial
sheep, and are regularly driven into the lobby by Mr.
Hayter. Sir R. Levigne or Sir F. Nugent are the
men to come forward in this crisis; but then some

SATURDAY,

assurance must be given that the abominable inter-
ference of the priests at the last election will be kept
in check by the presence of an adequate military
force, otherwise no candidate's life is safe.
Messrs. Grogan and Vance are quite secure in
their seats for Dublin. The respectable Roman
Catholics refuse to vote for Alderman Reynolds—
they have not sunk quite as low as that yet. As for
Mr. Brady, his pretensions to represent a great com-
mercial city consist in his being the son of the Lord
Chancellor, and a barrister, with no reputation either
for legal or political learning. The electors of
Dublin are not very sweet upon the Lord Chancellor
or his notions of equity, and they certainly don't
think his eminence sufficient to compensate for the
insignificance and feebleness of his son.
Messrs. Hamilton and Taylor will be returned for
the county, but the contest will be a sharp one. The
Castle is doing its worst to bring itself into in-
creased odium with Ireland by its intrigues and its
chicanery.
Mr. Lawson, who is !a candidate for Dublin
University, is an able lawyer and an amiable man.
He has just obtained his "silk." His political
opinions, however, are crude and indefinite. There
is a waiting on Providence air in his address which
produces suspicion and creates d►strust. If he is
anything he would seem to be a Palmerstonian, and
that is comprehensive enough in all conscience.
His chanc's of success are very remote; but, then,
Lord Carlisle will remember him, and his co-aspiring
brother of the bar, for the service rendered—and
tl at's something !
The Independent Roman Catholic organs declare
that every honest Roman Catholic will vote for Grogan
and Vance in preference to such Whig tools as
Reynolds and Brady ! There is a talk of an inde-
pendent candidate being started for Dublin. He
can't be as ridiculous as the alderman and the brief-
less barrister.

Lord Palmerston's manifesto has produced a strong
impression here that he is conscious Or a weak case,
and endeavours to conceal his chagrin by an air of
affected triumph. It is pronounced on all sides a
tissue of falsehood and deceit. Dr. Blackwood,
who puts himself forward as the champion of a Mr.
Wilson (who has addressed the electors of Dublin
University), has written a long letter in defence and
eulogy of Palmerston to Saunders. It is so like
the address of the Premier in many respects, so
fall of gross misrepresentations and palpable un-
truths, that it would seem to have been written
under his dictation. Dr. Blackwood is an ignorant
fanatic, and just the material out of which the un-
principled partisan is made.

LORD MALMESBURY'S LETTER TO
LORD PALMERSTON.

TO THE RIGHT HON. VISCOUNT PALMERSTON, K.G.

My Lord,—l am one of those who thought it
their duty to vote against your Government upon the
China question, and who have, in consequence, been
exposed to your public invectives and misrepresen-
tations on the subject. You have uttered and
written these at a moment when we are unable to
reply to them in Parliament, and I therefore adopt
tl.e less usual course of answering you through the
press.

The invective is of comparatively little conse-
quence, but it is important that the public, who are
now occupied with the primary causes and proceed-
ings of the Chinese war, and who have never read
the Blue-book except in extracts, should know
exactly what they were. That Blue-book was Sir
Juhn Bowring's justification of his acts.

It became our indictment against him, and the
House of Commons, upon its evidence, gave a verdict
against the defendant.
Now, that verdict was founded simply upon what
appeared in the Blue-book, as having occurred up
to the time it was produced, and when the events
were related according to their respective dates.
But this undoubted evidence lives in direct contra-
diction to the statement which you make to your
constituents at Tiverton.

T.) them you write—" An insolent barbarian
wielding authority at Canton had violated the Bri-
tish flag, broken the engagements of treaties, offered
rewards for the heads of British subjects in that part
of China, and planned their destruction by murder,
assassinations, and poisons. The British officers,
civil and naval, on the station, had taken those
measures which appeared to them to be proper and
necessary to obtain redress."
Now, my lord, the inference which must be drawn
from these lines is, that all these outrages preceded
our seizures of ships, shelling forts, and bombarding
Canton itself, and were the provocations to our
aggression. This inference isnot true, for, with the
exception of the first one—namely, the supposed
violation of the British flag on board the Arrow—all
the others were subsequent to and in retaliation for
our operations, conducted without any declaration
of war.

You would make your constituents believe that the
issue upon which the minority in the Lords and the
majority in the Commons decided, was that all the
outrages which you enumerate could not and did not
justify our hostilities; whereas they only declared
that the original dispute of the Arrow did not justify
the violence of our measures—measures which had
subsequently induced barbarous reprisals and en-
gaged us in a sanguinary war.
That was the real issue and verdict before Parlia-
ment; but you have, both in your address and in
your speech at the Mansion-house, attempted to
mislead the publi?. as to this fact by mixing up the
successive events and confusing the impressions of
your audience. If the Blue book were within their
reach they would find that Sir John Bowring did
obtain or secure important compensation for the
first offence, and might then have stayed his hand
until he received orders from home ; but that the
bloodshed and crimes that have followed are the
consequence of other demands, which you yourself,
in your wiser hours, had officially pronounced to be
dangerous and unprofitable.
You proceed to tell the voters of Tiverton that
we are men " who have endeavoured to make the
humiliation and degradation of our country the
stepping-stone to power." What opinion, my lord,
have you of the memory and credulity of your
countrymen if you think they have forgotten that
Lord John Russell has but lately retired from your
owe Cabinet; and that Lord Derby, having resigned
office on the first hostile division of the House of
Commons in Itss2, has supported yourself and your
colleagues with all the strength of the Conservative
party during every phase of the Russian war?
Such statements may, perhaps, be forgiven in an
address, as electioneering claptrap ; but was it
decent to use the table at the Mansion-house as a
hustings? For I find that at the Lord Mayor's
dinner on the 20th inst. you are reported by the
Times to have spoken thus :—" If those who
voted against us had risen to power, what ought
they to have done as the logical and inevitable con-
sequence of their vote? They asserted that our nro•
ceedings were unjustifiable They
_rust have paid the rewards which had been given
for the heads of our merchants, and the cost of the
arsenic which had been used in poisoning our fellow-
subjects at Hong Kong."
And this is the language of the Prime Minister
of England at the banquet of the first magistrate of
her capital, surrounded by foreign ambassadors and
all the talent, rank, and wealth of his party. What
they thought of this extraordinary insult to some
41,0 members of Parliament is easily guessed and
known ; but what would the most ignorant of our
countrymen have said of your logic had you addressed
them thus on an analogous case of possible occur-
rence? " Two men quarrel, and proceed fr irri
words to blows. One is killed. The survivor is
tried; his counsel pleads justifiable homicide. The
jury give a verdict of manslaughter. Pending the
trial the relations of the deceased take up the tend,
and poison those of the accused. The jury logically
must pay for the poison." _ _ .

Have I not, then, a right to call your lordship's
speech in the City an electioneering claptrap? But
was it the place and the audience tor such a tone ?
The impatience of obscurity or the irritation of
misfortune may sometimes excuse invective ; but you
had on that occasion no such palliation. You are the
popular Minister of the day. You may justly refer
your countrymen to very long, and, I admit, very
useful services to the State. They appear to be
anxious to do you honour, and give you their
confidence, and yet you choose this moment of
pride and prosperity wantonly to accuse those who
have, like myself, often supported you in maintain-
ing the honour of England and defending her best
institutions, of sacrificing these to the basest per-
sonal motives.

If the charge had not proceeded from so high a
quarter I should have despised it. I declare it to
be utterly unfounded as regards myself, and I
believe it to be equally so as regards the gentlemen
with whom I found myself in unusual accerdance
upon the China vote. By its very nature it was un-
connected with any party creeds as to religion,
finance, or polit;cs; and this is the simple and true
explanation of the medley division that ensued.
The country having been committed, my humble
vote will support a war which has now become
necessary to English interests and honour, but
which at first might have been avoided without a
sacrifice of either.—l have the honour to remain,
your lordship's obedient servant, MAIMESDURY.
London, March 27, 1857.

ADMIRAL THE HON. SIR RICHARD SAUNDERS DUNDAS,
X.C.8., who commanded the fleet in the last Baltic
campaign, has been appointed a Lord of the Ad
aniralty in succession to Admiral Richards, now a
Commissioner of Greenwich Hospital. Admiral
Dundas will take rank at the Board after Admiral
Berkeley and before Admiral Eden.

Vuttecbings in rartinincnt.

HOUSE OF LORDS.-SATURDAY.
THE PROROGATION.

The house met at two o'clock for the purpose of
witnessing the Royal assent, by commission, to
several bills, and also of prorogation as a prelimi-
nary to an instant dissolution. There were only
about a dozen peers present, among whom we
noticed the Lard :Mancellor, Earl Granville, Lord
Pan'nure, the Duke of Argyll, the Earl of Harrowby,
Lord Redesdale, the Marquis of Breadalbane, L)rd
Broughton, Lord Overstone, Lord Belper, and Lord
Wensleydale. Ferouk Khan, the Persian Ambassa-
dor, together with his suite, occupied seats in the
episcopal benches in the rear of the Bishops of
London and Carlisle.

The commissioners—viz., the Lord Chancellor,
Earl Granville, the Earl of Harrowby, Lord Stanley
of Alderley, and the Marquis of Breadalbane—were
seated upon a woolsack immediately in front of the
throne.

In obedience to the summons delivered by Black
Rod, the Speaker of the House of Commons, ac-
companied by Lord Palmerston, Sir G. Grey, Mr.
Lowe, and several other hon. gentlemen, presented
himself at the bar shortly after two o'clock.
The Royal assent was then given to several bills,
when the LORD CHANCELLOR read the following
speech in the names of himself and the other com-
missioners :

My Lords and Gentlemen,
We are commanded by her Majesty to inform you that,
in releasing you at this early period from your attendance
in Parliament, it is her Majesty's intention immediately
to dissolve the present Parliament, in order to ascertain
in the most constitutional manner the sense of her people
upon the present state of public affairs.
Gentlemen of the Howe of Commune,

We are commanded by her Majesty to thank you for the
liberal provision which you have made for the exigencies
of the public service during the period that will e!.ipse
before the new Parliament, which her Majesty will direct
i:nmediately to be called, shall have been able to give its
deliberate attention to these matters.

My Lords and Gentlemen,
We are commanded by her Majesty to express the
satisfaction which she feels atyour having been able during
the present session materially to reduce the burdens of her
people.
Her Majesty commands us to assure you that it is her
fervent prayer that the several constituencies of the United
Kingdom, upon whom will devolve the exercise of those
high functions which by the Const,tution belong to them,
may be guided by an allwise Providence to the selection of
representatives whose wisdom and patriotism may aid her
Majesty in her constant endeavours to maintain the
honour and dignity of her Crown and to promote the wel•
fare and happiness of her people.

The commission for the prorogation of Parliament
having been read by the clerk at the table,
The LORD CHANCELLOR formally prorogued Par-
liament until Thursday, the 30th of April next, and
thus prematurely terminated the session of 1857.

HOUSE OF COMMONS.—SATURDAY.
NEW MEMBER.
The OTONOGIME took the oaths and his seat for
Tipperary.

NAPLES.

Lord PALmEnsros, in reply to Mr. T. Duncombe,
said :

No overtures, properly so called, have been received by
the British and French Governments from the King of
Naples since the discontinuance of diplomatic relations.
An indirect intimation has, however, reached us that the
Neapolitan Government was anxious to know whether, if
the King of Naples were to carry into execution the con•
vention made with the Argentine Confederation under
which the political prisoners now retained in the prisons
of Naples were to be banished to the Argentine Republic,
that would be considered by the two Governments as a
substantial beginning of that more moderate system of
government which we wished to see established at Naples.
Speaking only for the British Government, we do not
think that clearing the prisons of Naples by sending the
prisoners into banidnnent in South America, with the in-
tention, no doubt, of replenishing those prisons by means
of fresh arrests, would be such a change of system as could
be considered by us as accomplishing the purposes fur
which diplomatic relations were broken off.

TREATY WITH MOROCCO.

Lord PALMERSTON laid upon the table of the
house the treaty recently concluded between this
country and the Sultan of Morocco.