The Express.
London, England, 1853-07-13 00:00:00

LONDON, WEDNESDAY, JULY 13.

THE Earl of CLARENDON Wad loudly cheered in
the House of Lords, last night, when he said " that
the Government did not consider that the presence
of the British and French fleets in the Bay of Bebika
was at all similar, or could in any way be compared
to the occupation of the Danubian Principalities.
And certainly no condition with respect to the de-
parture of the one, or the evacuation of the other,
would be made." Small intimations of minis-
terial views are better than none at all.
The less disposed the Ministry is to give the Par-
liament and people of Great Britain an opportunity
to declare their sense and feeling about the proceed-
ings of Russia, the more earnestly must the people
qualify themselves to form their judgment and ascer-
tain their own predominant feelit.gs in regard to the
great questions when peace or war are in the balance.
We do not speak of choice, beeause we are irrevo-
cably convinced that, if Turkey is despoiled by Rus-
sia, there is no choice for us. From time to time, ever
since the independence of Turkey was secured by
the Five Powers, our Ministers have de-
clared in Parliament, that we were bound
by all considerations, national and international,
to guard that independence, and assert it under any
circumstances. We are, therefore, bound ; and any
hint, in any form, of a doubt whether we shall keep
our word, and hold to our engagements, will be re-
ceived by the intelligent part of the nation with
indignant astonishment. There is probably no man
among us who would venture to propose, directly.
that we should desert Turkey in tho very crisis con-
templated in our whole eastern policy. If dishonour
is proposed at all, it will probably be in some indirect
manner—there is no saying what; for we do not
care; to follow the discreditable windings of a dis.
honest policy. Instead of puzzling our vision by
prying into such dim recesses, it is better to be look-
ing ahead, and refreshing our memories about the
elements of conflict in Eastern Europe, and about so
much of Asia and Africa as may be involved in the
engrossing question of the day.
The CZAR calls upon his people, by his proclama-
tion, to follow him to a religions war—" to move
forward on behalf of the orthodox faith." He holds
his position by a religious, as well as a political
tenure; and it is impossible for him to tolerate di-
versities of faith within his own dominions. The
dreadful treatment of the Jews in 1843 is not for-
gotten by us, it is to be hoped ; nor yet the memo-
rable fact that the haughty NICHOLAS had to listen
to such remonstrance and rebuke as monarchs

seldom hear when he stood before the old POPE
in the Vatican in 1844, to give or hear an
account of his treatment of the Latin Church
in Poland. He had made the most oppres-
sive attempts to bring over the Polish Christians
to the Greek faith ; and the aged and timid GRE-
GORY XVI. was roused by the cruelty of the propa-
gandism to speak to the despot, then standing un-
covered before him, as he had probably never been
spoken to—since his childhood. Now, if the Turks
retained in full vigour the old fanaticism of their faith,
rendering the probable war a simple crusade, with-
out immediate political object, it might be a question
whether such a war came within the description of
any existing treaty ; and it might, perhaps, be said
with reason, that England and France had nothing
to do with a war between Mahometanism and the

Greek Church, beyond seeing that the religious
quarrel did not become a political one, or stepping in
whenever it became so. But the fanaticism of the
CZAR, real or assumed, is not reciprocated by the
Porte, more or less. The war of 1829 was treated in
the first place as a religious war, but ;in its extreme
peril, :the Porte then found that it could
accept Christian aid; and it has been strengthening
in all its resources from the close of that war to this
day—distinctly and unquestionably in consequence of
its Christian alliances. Its recent guarantee of the
liberties and privileges of its Christian subjects is
proof sufficient that it has no desire for a religious
war ; and its dependence for support on the powers
of Western Europe will probably keep the zeal of
the Faithful within reasonable bounds. But what a
scene lies behind and below ! There is Syria, with
its strange aggregation of faiths, no two of which
can meet in the paths of the Lebanon, or in any cove
of the sacred shore, without coming to blows. It is
to be hoped that we do not forget the horrors, spread
over so many years, of the Christian wars in the
Lebanon, arrested at last with so much
pains and cost, and sure to break out
again if Turkey is left unaided to sustain
the pious onslaught of the CZAR. Besides the
old quarrels between Christian and Mahomedan, be-
tween the Latin and the Greek Churches, and be-
tween Christians and Jews, there are the ill under-
stood tribes of the Lebanon, who, in 1841, fought
out the quarrels which had risen up between the
European powers—the mysterious Druses being un-
derstood to represent England, the monastic Maro-
nites, with their antique law of revenge, being re.
garded as representatives of France, and the Greek
Christians of Russia. Every step of llicuokts in
the direction of Turkey is vigilantly watched from
the peaks of the Lebanon; and the first religious
war cry on the banks of the Danube—the first
exhibition of the Cross and the Crescent on
the ridge of the Balkan—will evoke clouds of ex-
terminating warriors from the dells and defiles
of the Lebanon, eager for the pious work of torture
and slaughter. If there were devils incarnate dwell-
ing among us now—beings whose delight was in the
shrieks and groans of slow torture, in the murder
of whole tribes, in the burning of whole villages, in
changing the fair scene overlooked from SoLoMoN's
cedars into a howling wilderness, they would cheer
on the CZAR in his southward march, and bridge
over the Danube for him. If the powers of hell are
ever triumphant on earth, it is in the midst of a reli-
gious war. The wise and humane thing now would
be, if there were no obligation of good faith in the
case, to check the CzAR, betimes and sternly ; and if
there must be war, to take care that it is a political
one—as it will be if Western Europe sustains the
!Ottoman Porte.

The image of Syria recalls that of Egypt. The
fate of Constantinople must decide that of Cairo. Egg pt
may not have made so much social progress as Tur-
key has been making for many years; but the im-
provement has begun, and will go on, if the countiv

be left unmolested. It was Egypt, as British Chris-
tians should remember, that procured safety to the
English through all Syria, as well as on the banks
of the Nile. When Syria was taken from Egypt the
old PACIR warned us that we should never be so
safe there again ; and as long as ho lived he satiri-
cally inquired of travellers how they liked the
change. We have fostered the best tendencies of
Egypt, and facilitated its advance in arts and com-
merce; and we enjoy an advantageous passage
to India through its territory. In a spirit of marvellous

wisdom and moderation the late Nett s kept
tory open for our transit,through all the disturbances
and ill-feeling of the war, and the wrongs (as he con.
sidered them) done to himself and los heirs. Such
moderation and wisdom are not to he looked for
twice over, if the war went well for Turkey ; for the
Mahometan spirit would then be roused in Egypt, ly
the war went well for Russia, and i.ce power ex.
tended into the Levant, what would ht come of the
security and quiet of our passage to 1 ?If there
was ever any reason in our advunc•ing mac north-west
frontier in India; if we really had any national
interest in the Siege of Herat; if a si le word of
excuse remains to be said in &fern., our enter-
prise in Affghanistan ; if the snows i • '• aiva really
smothered projects dangerous to our ha, .at empire;
if our whole view of the relation" of Asia to
Europe, for a century past, has any n Awn in it,
—Egypt must be an important consMoration in
the great question of the hour. It might have been
a matter of strong interest seven years ago, whether
the French or the English diflonuo.st, were most
in favour with the old PACllA—wlictLer the colonisa-
tion of north Africa by France ghoul,; es tend along
the entire coast to the Red Sea, or t::e it.fluenee of
England be found the stronger ;ar • Molter the
dark son of IBRAIIEEM, or the white s should
succeed to the throne, and determine t;t• elations of
the country towards the European t; • :a. But a
far more serious and comprehensive i !ion a,ises
now—whether Russia shall wall up tn:r portal to
Asia, and engross the easiest p.:.5.7..;e to our
dominions there. This question itmiudes much
more than even the vast consider ,•' a of our
eastern possessions remaining ours. !: eludes the
alternative of European civilisation !ding Asia
from our territories as a centre, or of .t ,tic barba-
rism gaining ground in Europe the, ugti that vesti-
bule which the CZAR will have thrown open to it
whenever he can do what he will with his own,
from the White Sea to the Greek Archipelago.
That time, however, will not come. Tile peoples
of Europe are not asleep, nor paral3 sfA, nor bound
hand and foot—however some of Okra may appear
to be so in regard to their domestic poatics. The
ground gained by humanity is not goiog to be lost.
The privileges of Representative Government have
not come to bo undervalued in our happy
islands, nor elsewhere; however they may
be repressed by the strong hand of the
well-wishers of the CZAR. The industrial
spirit is a spirit, and not a slavery : sod it will be
found, if need be, to animate and not disv.urage our
determination to keep our national Lith, and hear
our national testimony, and do our n duty, oa
behalf of the life and liberty of all moms. We
should have been glad if our hlinistees hod given us
the opportunity we have a right to &mar,' of speak-
ing our mind and will betimes through our l'arliament.
But there are other ways of declaring ams& Ives. Our
duty—to check Russia, is clear; and 'A( mean to do
our duty. The circumstances of the hour re.:all the few
words—the only ones that could be ex ,sited from
him—uttered by the Turkish Wezeer cn that Sep-
tember day of 1827 which seemed to !cave his coun-
try wholly at the mercy of the CZAR—words
which were painful to England thee but are
purely animating to us now : " God and my right,"
said he, calmly; " Such is the motto of England.
What better answer can we give when you intend to
attack us?" Those words are sent across the Danube
now; and, if need be, they will be sent hack, in that
echo which the world knows so well, from the banks
of the Thames.

THE debate in the House of Lord,-, the second
reading of the Transportation of 01111 .1 rl Bill, was
a useful instalment to the existing ste..; of informa-
tion on an important subject. ltece i t vents have
had the unfortunate effect of limiting 01, area of dis-
mission on this point within very name.. boundaries.
It has been too hastily taken for granted that the
mother country and the colonies have two distinct
and opposite interests in the matter of convict trans-
portation. The gist of the argument was supposed
to be contained in the two propositinns, that Eng-
land had a great interest in the expatriation
of the dishonest portion of her populat:ou, while the
colonies had an interest equally great in the rejec-
tion of convicted criminals. This is, however, a very
weak statement of the case. Many et' I cur colonies
have grown rich by the facilities afliinwd them of
profiting by convict labour. Nobody can deny that
even now there are modern colonies contending with
the difficulties consequent upon the want of labour,
which would be only too glad to avail II emselves of
the advantages of the assistance of con.
'nets, supposing that they were enabled to
make use of these advantages under due
protection. It may be admitted at once that for Eng-
land it is an unmixed good to be rid of her convicts,
and it is not quite so certain that the can only be
rid of them by inflicting a corresponding amount of
evil on her dependencies. There are numbers of
new colonies struggling into existence which would
be willing enough to have the benefit of convict
labour, and it is the duty of a Colonial Minister to
look out for these. It may be true enough that colo-
nies which have passed through the first phases of social
life are thoroughly warranted in rejecting the ad-
mission of doses of moral poison into their body
politic, but it is not so sure that, in struggling com-
munities, where the strong arm of a convict is every-
thing, and his moral influence nothing, our trans-
ported criminals may not be looked upon in the
light of a benefit instead of a curse. England may
be glad enough to be rid of them, and yet the colony
have reason to rejoice in receiving them. BAkftlN6-
TON, the pickpocket, only saw half the truth when
he wrote in the colony to which he was transported!:
We ratriots are, for, be it understood,
We left our country for our country's good.

It is not at all improbable that the colony in ques-
tion, in the earlier period of its existence, profited
more by the presence of the light-fingered gentry
than the mother-country saved by their absence.
Nevertheless, it may be taken as an axiom that no
country will be willing to receive as guests the
tenants of our gaols whenever it can do
without them. We can scarcely imagine any
colony, the inhabitants of which have stir.
mounted the first difficulties of their position, that
would look to the Governor of Newgate as the
person above all others capable of recommending
them suitable assistants in their endeavours, or grant
him a carte blanche to appoint certain gentlemen
placed under his charge to posts of honour within
their territories. The remark of BACON is as
true now as when it was first written :
" It is a shameful and unblessed thing to take the
scum of people and wicked calcimined men to be the
people with whom you plant, and not only so but
it spoileth the plantation." We do not, however,
want to io`,lnt with these people; we only want to
use their physical strength, which has hitherto been
employed io making war against the old society,
to help in building up the new. Convicts should
only be transported to colonies which stand in need
of their labour, and the transportation should only
take place upon the distinct condition that the mos
ment the colonists objected to the importation of
that kind of labour, transportation to the colony so
objecting should cease.
Upon these grounds only ran the continuance of
I the punishment of transportation be defenele,l; but
these are sufficient. Countries which have few out-
lets for transportation, such as France, are ever sub.
jest to the infliction of having criminals east loose