The Press.
London, England, 1857-08-08 00:00:00

THE PRESS, AuGusT 8, 1857.

THE MILITIA.

WE are heartily glad that the Government
are, however slowly, beginning to foresee a
necessity of calling out our national reserves.
We are too happy to see these symptoms of
conversion to care very much for the conduct
that preceded them ; vet we must not omit to
state that the remarks both of Lord HA RDWICKE
and of Lord DERBY on Monday last have
been entirely misrepresented in the daily
press. What they did say was, not that Go-
vernment ought to have called out the Militia
in the middle of the harvest, but that Govern.
ment might very well have come to some de-
cision on the subject earlier than the month
of August. This is merely a question of con-
venience and courtesy to the Lords Lieute•
nant of counties, and even more, perhaps, to
the officers of regiments. We do not mean to
say that the country will suffer by the delay,
or the reduction of our revolted provinces
will be thereby protracted ; but we think if
Government had not been so exceedingly
anxious to underrate the magnitude of events
in the East, they might with propriety have
taken the subject of the Militia into considera-
tion at a somewhat earlier period. As it is,
we are quite sure that the offi :ers of militia,
more especially those who wish to make their
service a reality, will feel grateful to Govern-
ment for shortening their period of suspense
as greatly as possible. This would be but a
fair acknowledgment of their services during
the late war, and some slight set-off against
the rigour of the rule which Government felt
itself compelled to adopt, of refusing compen-
sation to all officers, on their disbandment,
higher than the grade of lieutenant. The
officers have, therefore, every claim on the
forbearance and generosity of Government ;
and we sincerely trust that, whatever addi-
tional force may be required in our present
emergency, the embodiment of the Militia
may be the first step taken towards supplying
it. This is only a fair and just acknowledg-
ment of their claims upon Government. recog-
nition ; and public indignation is not likely to
be small should it appear that there is any in-
tention of looking elsewhere for military re-
inforcements while our own countrymen re-
main neglected and unemployed. At such a
crisis as the present the feeling would be
peculiarly strong. As we daily read of the
murder. dishonour, and torture of our country-
men and countrywomen, every Englishman
will feel that to allow a foreigner to aid us,
however indirectly, in our vengeance, while he
remains idle, would be to rob him of a rightful
privilege, and to degrade him in the eyes of
Europe. The Militia, we assert, have claims
upon the Government as militiamen ; they
have doubly strong claims upon the country
as Englishmen—as fathers or brothers, per-
haps, of some of the unfortunate victims of
barbarian ferocity. So plain and so powerful
is this claim alone, that we cannot but treat
the rumour of a new Foreign Legion as an idle
and baseless report.
We have invariably pointed to the Militia as
the true legitimate resource of a monarchy
like England, which, while not professing to
be a great military power, holds within its
grasp an empire of such enormous extent. To
hold our own under such circumstances, it is
absolutely necessary, as was pointed out by
the Duke of CAMBRIDGE, that, our small regular
force should be hacked by an effective re-
serve. His Royal Highness is accordingly a
warm advocate of the measure under contem-
plation. But, supposing Government to have
made up its mind on this subject, and to have
resolved on turning the present Bill to some
account, another question will arise upon the
particular regiments to be embodied. On this
point, at least, we do hope that no favouritism
will be permitted to interfere, and that those
regiments who distinguished themselves in
the late war, either by superior discipline or
foreign service, shall now be rewarded by the
privilege of the earliest embodiment. Foreign
service constitutes an especially strong claim ;
for by it there can be no doubt that the tie
between officers and men is strengthened, and
the whole regiment rendered more united and
soldierly. This selection would again be but
a simple act of justice. And we trust that the
aspirations of many excellent officers now lan-

guishing in obscurity may not be doomed to
disappointment, or condemned to a period of
anxious and needless suspense.

lortign 6orrEsponbentt.

PARTE, August 5.
I HAVE good reasons for saying that the visit of the
Emperor to Osborne is of more importance than is
generally imagined. Great political questions will
be discussed, and it is hoped satisfactorily arranged.
The first subject entered into will be the Danubian
provinces. It appears positive that the Emperor will
not yield in any way to what he considers to have
been the intentions of the contracting powers at the
Congress of Paris. His Majesty will insist that
the voting shall not only be free and unbiassed,
but conducted upon the principle of universal
suffrage, and that all the electoral proceedings
that have taken place up to this day shall be
declared by the Porte to be null and void. Although
His Majesty is determined in his resolution to sea
that the inhabitants of Moldavia and Wallachia are
immediately pia in possession of their just rights,
he will not enforce those rights by any other than
by "pacific means and moral iafluence." Be assured
the Emperor will never endanger the peace of
Europe; while at the same time he will insist that
all treaties be executed to the very letter and inten-
tions of the signing powers. The visit of the
Emperor to Osborne will avoi,l much diplomatic
correspondence ; Lord Palmerston will be made ac-
quainted with the determination of the Emperor;
and the Emperor will know to what extent England
is prepared to go in supporting the Sultan in opposi-
tion to the existing Treaty.
Another question that will be discussed will be
the cementing by the strongest ties the friendship
and amicable relations between England and France.
And here I am enabled to say that thi, Emperor is
most desirous that the entente cordiale should be car-
ried to the fullest extent. Whether Lord Palmerston
is equally sincere is another question. It is true
that all the Clarendon despatches are filled with the
most friendly professions ; but what weight can the
Emperor or the French nation attach to such pro-
fessions when they see the English press, and par-
ticularly the organs known to possess the confidence
of the Prime Minister, not only daily insulting the
Emperor, but by their writings doing all they can to
create a disunion between the French people and
their Sovereign ? What confidence can be placed in
the professions of a Government when it is generally
believed that most of these insulting articles ema-
nate from the pens of persons holding official and
responsible positions?
The Turkish Ambassador at the Court of the
Tuileries, on learning the change of Ministry at
Constantinople, immediately came to Paris from
Vichy, and had several conferences with Count
Walewski, previous to the departure of his excellency
in attendance on the Emperor.
The nomination of Dr. Kerne as the representa-
tive of Sw►tzerland in France has given great satis-
faction to the Emperor, who has a high opinion of
the Swiss Envoy as a prudent and a conciliatory
statesman.

The trial of the conspirators commencing to-
morrow, I think that in justi3e to all parties I
should offer no remarks ; but this much I may say,
that the attempt on the life of the Emperor has
created feelings in his favour from one end of France
to the other. Do not place any faith in all the idle
reports about the demand for the extradition of Ledru
Rollin; the French Government holds no such in-
tentions. All that is asked is, that the English Go-
vernment should keep a watchful eye on certain
turbulent refugees, and prevent them, as far as lies
in its power, from conspiring against the peace of
friendly States.
There .as been much discussion in the English
papers lately about the importation of negroes
into the French West India Islands. Letters
from Marseilles state that Messrs. Regis and
Sons are about sending two vessels, the' Stella
and Clara, to the coast of Africa, to convey to Mar-
tinique and Guadaloupe from 1,500 to 1,800 free
African labourers. It would be difficult to say
whether Messrs. Regis and Sons really mean to
carry out what they profess to do ; but I must
confess that many persons have legitimate
suspicions. These gentlemen are accused at
Marseilles, whether justly I know net, with
having made an immense fortune in the slave trade,
and it is not long since a person connected with
that firm was accused, tried, and acquitted with
dealing in slaves. On that occasion, if lam rightly
informed, the books of Messrs Regis and Sons were
examined and nothing found to criminate them.
All this shows that the Stella and Clara ought to
be well watched.

VrocAings xn V arliantent.

HOUSE OF LORDS—Mosoa.Y.
THE MILITIA.

Lord PANMURE brought in a bill to enable the
Government to embody certain regiments of the
militia, should the requirements of the public same
render such a step necessary during the recess. The
noble lord explained the intentions of the Govern-
ment as follows :

It is necessary to supply the vacuum which is created
by the demand in India for forces from this country. In
order to do that, the Government have determined in the
first place to raise ten new battalions to supply the place
of those that have already left this country, and they have
also determined to raise the battalions of the regiments at
home from 840 rank and file to 1,000, and to raise those
in India from 1,000 to 1,200. All that, however, can be
Anne without going beyond the powers of the present
Mutiny Act, which provides that the charge for regiments
going to India shall fall upon the revenue of the East India
Company, and not upon the revenue of the Imperial Trea-
sury We shall not exercise the power
which this bill gives us unless it shall appear to the Go-
vernment to be necessary to do so; but if it shall so
appear, it will be exercised, and my noble friend at the
head of the Government will lay upon the table of the
other house to-night an estimate for 200,0001. to provide
for the expenses of any regiments that may be embodied
between this time and the 23th of March next.

The Earls of DERBY and HARDWICHE reminded
the Government that it was only a week or so since
that they hail maintained that there was no neces-
sity whatever " for calling out the militia; and that,
though they did not complain of the present course
adopted by the Government, they thought the
Government should have seen the necessity of adopt-
ing it earlier.

'CRY REFORM.

Lord BROUGHAM moved, as a preparatory step
towards the measure of parliamentary reform ex-
pected next session, for returns of the number of
electors in every county, city, and borough in the
United Kingdom. The noble and learned lord, in
the course of his speech, pointed out certain minor
evils 01 the Reform Bill of 1832, such as the neces
sity for re election upon accepting, or transference
from, office. A good deal of improvement might
also be made with respect to that portion of the
present system with respect to revising barristers.
He had very great objection to the manner in which
they were appointed :

It was always bad to give patronage to judges. It was
bad to the judges themselves, to the profession generally,
and to those persons whom they selected. It was supposed
that favour rather than professional merit guided that
selection. He would much rather see the patronage dis
pensed by the Home Department than b 3 the judges.
Anotherstlefect in the Reform Bill was that portion which
related to freemen. That part of the bill was a concession
to some members of the House of Commons whose oppo•
sition might have retarded its progress He timught it
was unfortunate that the whole of the freemen's votes
were not abolished. They were not the best voters in any
respect; in some respects they were the worst, and, gene.
rally speaking, corruption prevailed more among that than
all the other classes of voters.

With regard to the necessity of preserving inviolate
the distinction between county and borough electors,
the noble lord observed :

He viewed not only with jealousy, but with the greatest
possible aversion, any measure such as that which had
more than once been introduced into the other House of
Parliament, for letting in upon the counties the votes of
the ten-pound householders, and thereby reducing to a
nullity the franchise of the freeholders and other pro-
prietors. The inevitable consequence of swamping the
counties will' ten-pound householders would ultimately be
to throw the whole of the representation into the hands of
borough members. He knew it was asked whether any-
thing could be more unjust than that persons living in
ten-pound houses should have no votes for towns, because
they did not live in any borough, and should have TIG votes
for counties because they were neither forty•shilling free-
holders nor occupiers of fiftypound tenements under the
Chandos clause. He admitted that these persons com•
plained of a very great hardship and inequality, but our
whole system was full of such hardships and inequalities.
Look, for example, at the West Riding, which only re•
turned two members with a population of 1,500,000, while
the county of Rutland, with a population of 24,000, returned
the same number of members. Such inequalities were
inevitable, bat the alleged injustice was no ground for such
a change as had been proposed. Others had recommended
that, instead of counties or lorctighs returning two mem
bees, the country should be divided into electoral distiicts,
as in France, each consisting of a town and some portion
of the country. But the consequence would be, as in
France, that the town would return the member, and that
the voice of the country district would be lost.

The noble lord concluded by saying that he had
deemed it to be his duty to enter his protest against
any measure of parliamentary reform being proposed,
the tendency of which would he to make our Con•
stitution more democratic than it has been made by
the 8111 of 1832; but, in taking that course, he must
beg to be understood as entertaining no unwilling-
ness to afford the privileges of the franchise to those
to whom it might be safely extended.

THE PRESS, AUGUST 8, 1857.

Lord Gitstivirzz, on the part of the Government,
had no objection to the production of the returns,
which were accordingly ordered.
Some bills were then forwarded a stage, and their
lordships adjourned.

HOUSE OF COMMONS—Mom:I:m
OATHS BILL.

Lord J. RUSSFLL, in moving for a select committee
to consider whether the Act 5 and 6 William IV.,
cap. 62, be applicable to oaths appointed by law to
be taken by members of that house at the table,
previously to their taking their seats, and in what
manner the act can be so applied, made a statement
in order to lay a foundation for the motion. He had
a hill upon the paper, he observed—the Oaths Va-
lidity Act Amendment Bill—which stood for a second
reading that evening; but Baron Rothschild had
informed him that he had been advised that, under
the act referred to, the house might, by an order,
enable him to make a declaration in lieu of the Oath
of Abjuration, and that, if the house took that course,
he was ready to make such declaration. Anticipating
an objection that the declaration must contain the
words " on the true faith of a Christian," Lord John
argued, upon the strength of Mr. Pease's case, and
upon other authorities, that the house might omit
these words. If the house could do so, he was sure
that it would be a great relief to many ; and where
a person had been duly elected a member, and bad
a prima facie right to take his seat, it would be
desirable to find that the law interposed no insu-
perable obstacle.
Sir F. THESIGER said he did not intend to divide
the house upon the motion, although it proposed to
delegate the functions of the house to a committee;
but he argued from the proceedings in Mr. Pease's
case, and in that of Baron Rothschild, that the
omission of any reference to the act, in question was
owing to a belief that the act had no bearing upon
the question. Ho showed what he considered to be
the inconsistency of Lord J. Russell's present course
with his past opinions upon this subject, and he rea 1
the words of the act, contending that it never could
have been intended by the Legislature that the
House of Commons should be comprehended therein.
That house, he insisted, had no power to omit the
words "on the true faith of a Christian" from a
declaration in lieu of the Oath of Abjuration, Mr.
Pease, he observed, having been seated, not by a
resolution of that house, but under the Act of the
22nd George 11., which authorised the omission of
those words.

Lord PALMF.IISTON said he concurred in the mo-
tion, considering the matter to be of sufficient
importance to justify its reference to a select com-
mittee.
The motion was agreed to.

A good deal of discussion then erase upon the
next question, the number of the committee ; and
it was at length agreed that the committee should
consist of twenty five members, to be nominated by
the house, and all gentlemen of the long robe mem-
bers of the house.

The nomination of the committee produced am
other discussion, and, Mr. NEWDEGATE having moved
that the debate be adjourned, lord J. RussELL
consented to defer the motion for the nomination
until Tuesday. The debate was consequently ad-
journed.