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

NOVEMBER 15, 1856.

THE MAIN DRAINAGE SCHEME submitted last
week by the Metropolitan Board of Works to Sir
Benjamin Hall was returned by him to the board on
Wednesday, with a letter stating that, as re-
garded the outfall, the scheme was at variance
with the intentions of the Legislature and con-
trary to the spirit of the statute. The letter was read
before the board on Wednesday, after which Mr.
Thwaites, the chairman, entered into an explanation
of a private discussion he had held with Sir B. Hall
upon the subject of Government aid, and he recom-
mended the hoard to send a deputation to discuss
the question privately with the First Commissioner.
The letter of Sit B. Hall was ordered to be printed,
and was considered yesterday. Shortly after the ad
journment a further communication was received
from Sir Benjamin Hall approving the plan for the
formation of a new street in Southwark, as submitted
to him ou Wednesday, the 24th ult., and requesting
plans and sections to be deposited in the office of the
Board of Works.
A MEETING OF THE HIGH CHURCH PARTY, Con-
vened by the London Church Union, was held on
Tuesday, when the sentence upon Archdeacon Deni-
son was discussed. The meeting resolved that they
would not enter at present into a full consideraticn
of the doctrinal questions involved in the decision,
inasmuch as " the remedy to be obtained by law has
not yet been exhausted ; " and because " they hoped
that some more authoritative and powerful tribunal
will yet do justice in a suit where they did not
scruple to say they thought justice has hitherto been
found lacking."
THE NEW READING-ROOM in the British Museum
will, it is anticipated, be opened to the public in
June, 1857. Notes and Queries states as a rumour
that the room will be open by night, and lighted with
gas for the convenience of evening students.
A MAN, on Tuesday morning, about one o'clock,
having paid his toll to the collector on Waterloo-
bridge, walked to a recess and threw himself into the
Thames. A constable at hand hailed the Thames
police, who directly put off in their galleys, but after
a long search could not find the body.

THE WESTMINSTER IMPROVEMENT BONDHOLDERS
held a meeting at the London Tavern on Thursday.
Mr. Ogle and Mr. Baxter entered into some details
relative to the proposed formation of the West
minster Land Company, for which an act was
obtained last session, with power to raise 40,0001. to
purchase land from the Westminster Improvement
Commissioners. Mr. Baxter thought the preferential
interest on the money raised should be six per cent.;
Mr. Ogle seven per cent. In reply to questions, Mr.
Baxter stated that the Westminster Land Company
was, under its special act, a limited liability com-
pany, in 101. shares. It was not proposed to go to
Parliament for another act, nor would there be any
necessity for doing so. Mr. Smith said he should
not advise the bondholders to have anything to do
with the scheme proposed until they had got satis-
factory accounts of the mode in which the com-
missioners bad expended their money; they had
better form a committee to support Mr. Beaumont in
prosecuting the suit in chancery. Mr. Beaumont
addressed the meeting warmly in opposition to the
plan recommended by Mr. Baiter and Mr. Ogle; he
urged the bondholders to appeal to the law and
expose the monstrous swindle of which they were
victims, hut not to involve themselves in any new
complications. The meeting separated without
coining to any resolution.
"But BEN," the hell of Westminster, was tested on
Thursday morning with great success. The magni-
ficent tones of the bell will drown all competitors in
future.