The Press.
London, England, 1857-02-14 00:00:00

SECONDARY PUNISHMENTS.

.... ..,..,.
The Marquis of SALISBURY moved for the appoint•
ment of a select committee to investigate the ques-
tion of secondary punishments. The noble lord
enforced the necessity of finding some efficient
substitute for transportation, and commented upon the
deficiencies and anomalies in tho present system of
prison discipline.

FEBRUARY 14, 185 T.

The Earl of CARNARVON seconded the motion.

Lord CAMPBELL admitted that the existing state of
criminal legislation required improvement on many
points, but saw no prospect of useful result from the
appointment of the proposed committee.
The discussion was prolonged by the Earl Fits.
william, Viscount Dungannon, the Earl of Ravens.
worth, Lord Stanley of Alderley, and other peers, but
ultimately the motion was put and negatived without
a division.

HOUSE OF COM MONS.—TitunsD
THE SECRET TREATY.

Lord PALMERSTON, referring to the explanation
which had taken place on Tuesday night, regarding
the convention of 1854, said he wished to set himself
right with Mr. Disraeli upon that subject :

I said that I had been informed that that convention
had not been signed, and my belief was that it had not
been signed. but I think it right to state that, on further
inquiry, I find that, in point of fact, it was signed—(loud
cheers from the Opposition benches)—but that, being in
its nature more of a military than a political convention,
and having for its object the regulaton, the mutual regu-
lation, of the French and Austrian troops which might
be in Italy in the contingency of Austria declaring war
against Russia, and, Austria never having declared war
against Russia, that convention, although signed, became
a dead letter, and never had any application or effect
whatsoever.

Mr. DISRAELI reminded the house that on the
opening night of the session his announcement of
the existence of this secret treaty was characterised by
Lord Palmerston as " a romance." A week elapsed,
when, in an explanation of the previous state-
ment, Lord Palmerston admitted that there was
some such written document in existence, but
it was "a convention and not a treaty," and more-
over, "had never been signed; therefore, as it was
never in operation, he (Lord Palmerston) was
justified in his previous statement, that the whole
thing was a romance." Now the noble lord admitted
that, after all, he had reason to believe the convention
" had been signed" :

After these two admissions from the noble lord I stand
here (said Mr. Disraeli) to state again that which I stated
on the first night of the session. I say it was not a con-
vention, it was a treaty; I say it was not only signed, but
extensively acted upon ; I say that every expression the
noble lord used in describing that instrument so little
applies to its real nature, as it has been represented to me,
that I really believed at the end of the debate the other
night that there must have been some military convention
in existence, founded upon the treaty, which had not been
signed, and that the noble lord was entirely misleading
the house. (Cheers.) I state again that there is a
treaty—a secret treaty—between Fiance and Austria, the
object of which is to guarantee the security of the Italian
possessions of Austria—that it was executed on the day I
mentioned—that it has been extensively acted upon—that
to the best of my belief it contains, on its surface, no limits.
tion of the period of its operation—and that the character
given of it by the noble lord the other night is entirely in•
correct. (Loud cheers.)

Lord PALMERSTON, in an ebullition of temper
rarely exhibited in the house, replied that, notwith-
standing the " vapouring manner " in which Mr.
Disraeli had been pleased to follow up his statement,
he (Lord Palmerston) maintained that Mr. Disraeli
had been grossly imposed upon, and was entirely
misinformed as to the facts of the case. It was a
military convention, not a treaty, and, though signed,
had become—from those circumstances which formed
its basis never having occured—inoperative, and
never would take effect.