The Express.
London, England, 1851-02-26 00:00:00

THE EXPRESS, WEDNESDAY EVENING, FEBRUARY 26, 1851.

nation of • or even for legitintatising the children.
to the motion of the noble esrl that the bill be read a second
(Hear, bear.) I e should therefore move as an amendment
time that day six ionnths.
The Bishop of EXETER said that after the able and
convincing speech which had just been del.ivered by the
moat rev. prelate, it would not be necessary for him to
trespass at any length on the time of the house. But some
mattes fell from the noble earl which made it peculiarly
his duty to address • few words to their lordships. The
noble earl asked how he could have culled these marriages
incestuous and yet have given his support to the act 01835,
commonly called Lord Lyodhuest'a Act. In designating these
marriages as incestuous he simply expressed an opinion which
it was his duty as an English bishop to 'sprees., for that
they were ineestuoue, and that they were prohibited by
God, was a distinct and exprees declaration of the church in
which he was a bishop. lie should, therefore, be ashamed
of himself if he hesitated fur an instant in declaring his ad-
herence to the doctrine of the church on that important
question. That he concurred in the act of 183.3 was quite
true, but he concurred in it for this reason—that that net
-armed all future marriages of this kind which the
of the church considered to be incestuous to be
and void ' • whereas before that act passed they
only voidable. All that the act of yeti did was to
:vent divorces in those canes which preceded that act,
and to give the children born of such union the benefit
they would have had if either of the parents had died. But
if proceedings had been taken against them for incest they
would not be exempted by that statute from the penalties
against incest, and he had thi. authority of the judge who pre-
sided over the hialeeet ecclesiastical court in the kingdom.
There wan no inconsistency, therefore, in his calling these
marriages incestuous, and yet consenting to the act of 1835.
He would tell the noble earl and he would tell the house
that he consented to that act because he thought them
incestuous, and because he thought that it would
have prevented in future those dreadful eounex-
ions ',Web had for too long a period been endured.
He (the Bishop of Exeter) found in referring to a case laid
down by Chief Justice Vaughan, that a prelate was ques-
tioned by the high commissioners for marrying his wife's
niece, sentenced to p nonce, oordered to leave her company,
but yet was not dieoreedid rinagio ntafrinsonti. The right
rev. prelate having cited several passages from Bishop
Taylor's " Law of Conscience," hook 3rd, page 327, in re-
futation of the arguments put forward by the noble earl
(St. Germans), proceeded to say that the noble earl had
next referred to the Mosaic lan'. for the purpose of ques-
tioning whether or not it was binding on the conscience of
Christians. Now that was a question of the greatest moment.
The noble earl (Earl St. Germans) had refernel to and
given an interpretation of the 18th verse of Leviticus ; but
if he only looked at the 17th and 18th verses toge-
ther, he would see that they very clearly prohi-
bited these incestuous marriages. To bo sure the
noble earl was perfectly correct in asserting that
polygamy was very much tolerated amonget the Jews.
The 18th verse of Levitiene ran to this effect a—" And a
woman unto her sister thou shalt not take to her annoy
to uncover her nakedness upon her in her life." Tl.' noble
earl in his argument applied himself altogether to the de-
seendina line, unmindful, it would appear, altogether of the
collateral line : fur surely though there was no descending
line, but a eollato ral relationship, between brother end
sister, the noble earl would not take on him to assert that
in that ea.. also th. re should he no prohibition. (Hear,
bear.) 'The noble earl next proceeded to assert that Use
New Testament contained no prohibition against these mar-
riages. Now he (the right rev. prelate) was certain that
the noble earl felt convineed of his own accuracy in putting
forward that assertion ; and for himself he held that
there could he found sera" important references to these
marriages in the New Testament. Holding that the prohi-
bition of marriage with a brother's widen was laid sloven by
the Almichty in the Pith Verse of Leviticus.' he (the right
rev. prelate) also held that it was repeated in the New
Testament. There o. as, for instanee, the came in which
John the Baptist proclaimed }lend for living in incestuous
intercourse with Ileronline, the widow of his deceased
brother. (Hear, hear.) Therefore he asse end there was
a direct repudiation of these marriages in the New Testa-
nom. (Hear, hear.) Ile also might cite various passages
in the "Arts of the Apatite.," anal in the " Epistles to the
Corinthiane," which strongly referral to such incestuous
*Banco., and reprobated them fur their indecency. (Hear,
hear.) The noble earl haul wisely excluded Scotland alto-
I gather from his bill ; hut what then became of the alleged
principles of right and justice on which the measure was
said to be founded ? Was the law of nature and justice to
be mail,' an affair of geography ? (Hear.) Against
who!c bodies of clergy in Scotian.' and Ireland the
opinion only of Beale few individuals was to be
placed. But what of the church of England? By
her !pith canon, agreeol to in solemn efOlVoeatioll, ehe had
pronounced these marriages contrary to the law of God.
The noble earl alleged that the law of God nowhere ex-
joneely forbade them ; but would he Rut up his opinioon
against the church at large, thus solemnly declared ?
Though the late Bishop of Llawlatf was entitled to all the
homier which that teach could confer, he derived none of
that hemmer from giving the 'auction of his high name to
the conclusion of these commissioners. One portion of the
report world lead to the coin lesion that there was an abso-
lute negation of all moat fee ling on the subject of marriage
anionjtet certain classes; lout, strange to say, this was totally
rontradieteal by the evidence. In Scotland, such marriage.,
it hail he en shown, were regarded with abhorrence ; and in
Inland the mind, of the people had never been polluted
with such doctrines as were now sought to be inculcated.
The rommiseiooners themselves admitted that if parties could
hut be coining...l that these marriages were contrary to the
divine law th. sy would al otain fmm them. Every one admitted
that nature forbade marriages breween brothers and sisters:
it was known that the world had been originally peopled in
this nay; i ..mcquently that degree of union was not then
unlawful ; and the quo -time ought, therefore, to he con-
sidered with reganl to the editing state of society, and by
th.• light of Christian principle. This bill sakes) parliament
to make valid certain marriages which it distinctly declared
to he incestuous and contrary to law. The third clause
reserved the rights of the ecclesiastical courts, and declared
that nothing therein contained Amulet affect the doctrine
of the ('hutch of England with regard to theyee mar-
riages, that doctrine being that they were incestuous. It
hall been argued that if the divine law was not quite
Clear, the doubt ought to be given in favour of these mer-
riest, a lent it should be remembered that, ever sines the
oyond century of Christianity, such had been haat...be the
olivine law. believing that God hail declared three mar-
riages to be sinful, let their lordships beware of giving their
*auction to such a measure. Ity doing we, they could not
make that which was invest not incest. If the house was
sitting in its judicial capacity, they moonlit he bound to de-
clare such marriages incestuous, as tie y were held by the
are hoiamical law and the judger of the land. lie exhorted
them, then, mot to yield to any feeling in favour either of
the.. of their own rank, or others who had fallen into error,
but too beware of infrone. by any act of heirs, that which
laud always been regarded as the law of God. (Hear.)
The Bishop of St. DAVID'S said that had he been able
to coinciole entirely with the views taken on either side on
this question, he amulet lint have felt it necessary to explain
the reasons of the vote he should give. Ile was compelled to
t. a certain length with the uoble earl who hail
brought Lateran' this measure; on the other hand, he agreed
in many of the arguments .of the right reverend online who
bail just spoken. But on tine point he was compelled to
differ from him, and that a point of gnat importance, being
that on which the chiefed stn.'s, was Laid. Ile was happy
to know that the Views which he entertAintil were not pe-
culiar to himself, though it had bean suggested that such
amiaion. were seamely consistent with the views held by
the church of which they were ministers. Against such
suggestions he felt himselt bound mod emphatically to pro-
test, and to claim for himself and others, who were not a
few, the liberty of differing even from theme who had made
the law by which the church was governed in their
interpretation of a passage Of scripture. This was not
such a lavish range of liberty that it need be restricted
or denied to any one, whether layman or minieier
of the church. Ile had not been able to con-
vince himself, on the matured refleetion, that he could
take such high ground on this question as was taken by the
most reverend and the right reverend prelate. He was not
satisfied, to say the halo, that the prohibition which existed
was immediately and directly founded on the law of God.
He die' not with to speak dogmatically, but it did appear to
him that such marriages as this bill intended to legalise
were not only not prohibited by, but were tacitly permitted
by, scripture. Ile believed he was acquainted with all the
interpretations of the. pessage which was supposed to pro-
hibit there marriages. At all events, he could safely say
that none had been quoted in that debate which he
had not considered, anal he must my they indicated a strong
desire to interpret scripture in accordauee with a pre-
, conerived openicm, and that but for such preconceived
opinion they would not have adopted that construction.
He considered that this law, which he was no
lees anxious to preserve that; the most reverend
and the right reverend prelate who had preceded
him, was a law of that mixed description, and It was on
that account that he should wish it to he maintained. He
believed there Wad a great majority in the church in favour
of the present law, and therefore, whatever he might think
about at, that was an important matter, and ought to have
great influence with their lordships, not merely because it
was the opinion of the clergy as a body, but also because he
believed it was the opinion of the great mass of the
laity also. He believed, in spite of all he had heard from
those who protested azainet this law, that it could not be
said to he an ineffective and inoperative law. Those were
merely relative terms. Perfectly effective and perfectly
operative no low was; but the simple question he appre-
hended to he, not whether that was the faSe• but whether it
was so for operative and effectual that it did bud a respouse
in the hearts of the community at large. His own firm
conviction was, that it did so, and, that those in whom it did
find an echo Were upon the whole the best part of the cos-
munitLand that their opinions ought to prevail. Ile thought
there illkee strong grounds before their lordships—palpable
grounds -fur that opinion. They found that the voice of
Ireland was in favour of the present law; that the voice of
Scotland, with inconsiderable exceptions, was loud. unto ,
uicanue. and emphatic in its favour; and he should like to
' know, if they were to select any portion of that empire ,
a safe example of alonieetic morality, whether they would
think there was any part at this kingdom winch was
superior in that respect to that part of it which wan north
of the Tweed. Thes law had been called inoperative, but
hew could a law be called so reader which the frame of our
li Matti& society had grown lip. It was not inoperative
' because there might be some
through ignorance or miaguideareTrns who, whether
udgment,
or from
' whatever cause, might have been led to transgress the law. ,
Ile did not wish to say anything against those persons, he
deeply sympathised with them. He believed that theirs
were eases of suffering, but he denied that they were come
of hardship. He was quite sure that the measure, IT
carried, although it might bring relief to a number of tail-'.
'ideals who had leen led to take an unadvised course,
would bring distrust, andjaaloany, and alarm into thousand;

law
wall
were

of other families who had hitherbi remained pure sad
happy. On these grounds he, for one, would never comsat
to share the responsibility of the measure introduced by
the noble earl.

The Bishop of NORWICH mid, as it was his intention
to vote against this bill. It was well known that the
Scripture which was supposed to contain the prohibition
was originally given to the Israelite people. Now it was a
remarkable fact that from the time of that Scripture !wing
given to the present day, as far as we could ascertain, the Jew-
ish people themselves had never interpreted that Scripture as
prohibiting these marriages. And they had the evidence 1.1. the
Rabbi of the London Synagogue, in respect of the interpre-
tation which the Jewish authorities put upon it. And let
him remind their lordships that in another part of the
Scriptures, that which was here supposed to be prohibited
was permitted, end it was ineonceisable that the author of
scriptural law should, on a subject of moral purity, in one
place permit that which in another place he prohibited.
They all knew that when this very cos., a wife mar-
rying a deceased husband's brother, was brought under the
notice of one for whom they claimed a higher authority
than that of Scripture, he administered no rebuke, and did
not make a remark even on that conduct. He (the Bishop
of Norwich) was ono of those, therefore, who said,
that in Scripture there was 00 prohibition of these
marriages. lint there might be scriptural authority. to
which they might appeal in questions of this kind.
Whatever had a tendency to immorality was, no doubt,
prohibiter' 11V scriptural law, and there was no doubt that
if they legisfated in favour of these marriages such a le-
gislation would tend to encourage immorality. But,
setting aside scriptural authority, he saw independent of
that a great awl serious objection to making this bill
into a law. They were not now in the position
of originally legislating on this subject. For many
years tiny had had a statute prohibiting these marriages,
and if they now repealed that statute the effect would not
be as if they were now legislating for the first time im the
subject. They could not my that they pronounced an
opinion upon it, but by repealing the statute they would
give a positive and direct sanction to these marriages. And
he must observe that he hardly thought their lordships
were the list judges in this question. This was a cpu-tion
for the women of England. There WIN no doubt that the

women were most deeply affected by this question, and he
believed their lordships would bear him out in swing that
99 out of 100 women in England were against it. They wens
hound to listen to the women on this/abject.
After some observations from Lord GAGE in support of
the bill:

Lord CAMPBELL, who was imperfectly heard, con-
gratulated the house upon the tune and temper in
which the discussion had been carried on, referriug
particularly to the [perishes of the bishops. Those
right reverend prelate,, he said, had treuted the ques-
tion in a milliner, and with a spirit, which must meet.
sarily produce an impression upon the mind of this
nation; and he trusted would have the effect of allaying
and bringing to a close the agitation which had prevailed.
He slot expressed his admiration of the manner in which
the subject had been viewed by the noble earl who had
introduced it to their lordships' house, who in his address
had shown great research, great learning, and erudition,
and most powerful reasoning. He believed that this was the
first time that societies had been instituted for the purpose of
changing a law resembling that of marriage, directly affect-
ing wield affections and family relations and personal
interests, and the first time that so great efforts
had been made to change the public upiuion upon
such questions. From the evident..., before their lordships
it clearly appeared that this agitation had been begun by
those who had themselves violated the law—(hear, hem).
and carried on by those, who had entered into engagements
for violating the law—(hear, hear)—earried uu b solicitors,
by retained counsel, by sending lecturers all over the
country, by writing articles and pamphlets, and by calling
and holding public meetings. In all these proceedings the
same ground had been adop:ed, that these marriages were
perfectly la.eful, and we the law lull occasionally been
broken they brought forward these caws of breach of
the law us an excuse, and in justification of their
own violation of that law. (Hear, hear.) They positively
averred that the law permitted these marriages from the
century when Christianity was first planted in England
down to this hour. They solemnly asserted that these
marriages were lawful, and they urged this point in the
Court of Queen's Bench. In that ease the question arose
as to whether sorb a marriage was lawful or not, and by
the decision of his noble anti learned friend Lord Denman,
and the unanimous decision of the whole Court of Queen's
Bench, Heise marriages were declared void and in-
cestuous. Ile trusted that their lordships would not
alter the law, anti if they would express that deter-
mination by a large majority the agitation on the sub-
ject would die assay. In his own humble opinion, it' the
marriage of a man a ith his deceased air's sister was not
against the low, a law ought to be made against it; and,
putting the question on the ground of social purity and
social benefit, he would say if there were no such law of
prohibition, that such iutermarriages ought to be forbidden
by the law. He ulna sled to them whether they could
derive the benefits and happiness of domestic life, unless
these connexions were looked upon with horror, us being
at once against the law of God anti the law of man.
It was nly by this feeling being imprTetlupon the mind

until it hessime a sort of instinct "upoii all who.came within
its operation, that men could hare a full senile of this
us affecting the purity and happiness of domestic life. The
noble and harried lord then referred to certain returns from

the community of the- Roman catholic,, in Lancashire and
Stalibrdshire, in which counties there were many of that
religion, and quoted a passage from one of them,in which
Llr.olllall fully and expressly admitted the illegality of
thew marriages, and that they were void; but that nvver-
theless he had the power, and had exercised, and would
continue to exercise it, of granting dispensations for those
marriages. Thus, therefore, the noble and learned lord
continued, the law of the land might be entirely
abrogated and set aside by the dispensing power
of the Roman catholic church. But was it to be
said that the violation off the law was any reason
fur an alteration of the law ? With regard to these
marriages, which he would call incestuous marriages' h.'
had been assured in the most positive manner, and by
those who had taken the best means of ascertaining the fact,
that they were nut more numerous than instances of bigamy
—an offence which he knew from his own experience as a
judge was exceedingly common in every county in England;
not MI assize was held in which a prisoner WWI not tried for
bigamy. Well, would they say, therefore, that the law
should be alb red ? Would they, therefore, 1631101,12 poly-
gamy, and thus confess that all they had dune to confine
one roan to one woman was utterly ineffectual, and quite
contrary. to the natural propensities of mankind ? Iu nu '
country in the world was the marriage tic regarded with sink
sanctity as in England: their lordships were now called upon
to diminish that sanctity. In other countries, where the 1.
usarriage law was more lax were permitted such
between uncle and niece, which wee held in abbot-re' nee.
The passing of such a measure as this would spread alarm
in every family in the United Kingdom. Ile believed that
were the women of England polled, ninety-nine out of
every hundred would petition their lordships against the
contemplated measure; and they would in this obey the
natural tendency of the female mind sad their pure per-
ception of what was just and pious. But a main objection
against this bill was, that its purpose was to legalise marri-
ages contracted, not only in violation of the law, but by
persons who knew that they were outraging the law—by
person: who were content to live in a state of coucubinage,
and who were aware that their children would be born ille-
gitimate. Their lordships would not forget the argu-
ments which might be adduced from the Royal
Marriage Act. If ever there was a case in which

it would have been right to render valid a doubt-
ful marriage it was the case in connexion with
the Royal Marriage Act, with which they had had u
few years ago to deal. In that case a marriage had been
contracted which the law did not recognise. The lady, of
illustrious descent and of immaculate virtue, was led to
the altar by a prince of the blood of this country ; and
they believed, and others believed, that that was a
valid marriage. But notwithstanding the evidence of
that belief and the powerful wpm mts which were
beard, their lorilhips had come to the unanimous
conclusion that the marriage was void. Now in
this instance they were asked to legalise marriages
contracted with the full knowledge on heath sides that
they were violating the law. He would, in conclu-
sion, only express a hope that this bill would be
rejected by a large majority. As to its being read a
second time, that noble lonls might consider it in com-
mittee, nothing—he paid it, he hoped, without presump-
tion—would be so idle. This measure rested on a principle,
and did not enter into matters of detail ; and every noble
lord who now voted for the second reading stood pledged to
passing it into law. (Hear, hear.) lle, theretore, hoped
that it would be rejected at once, and by so large a majority
as would preclude the hope of its being again, in any ether
amnion, introduced with success.
The Bishop of LONDON would not, after all that had
been said, and so ably said, on this question, have intruded
himself on their lordshipie attention, were it not for the
circumstance that the belief had gone abroad among persons
whom he should be sorry to deceive, that his opiuions had
within the last ten years undergone a considerable change
in reference to this matter. Ten years ago, on Lord
Wharnelitfe presenting petitions on the subject, he (the
Bishop of Loudon) had expressed his opinion very fully, and
bail strongly deprecated any change in th. 2 marriage
law of this country. Since then, it was true, a slight change
had come over him: hut that change was in the contrary
direction attributed to him by the persons to whom he had
referred. Ile had then expressed a doubt whether the
unlawfulness of these marriages might be sustained on the
ground that they wen:expressly prohibited by the law of God.
His mind had not then been so completely made up that
not a shadow of doubt rested on it. But now, having carts- I
fully reflected on the whole subject, and haying read much
of What had been said on both sides, he was much more
inclined to think than he had been at the former period
that these marriages were entirely and expressly prohibited
by the law of God. Whatever growing :feeling thee.
Might be in sonic parts of the country in favour of the re-
peal
of existing marriage restrictions. he believed it was
confined to populous manufacturing districts. He ventured
to assert, without fear of contradiction, that no such feeling I
pervaded the agricultural districts; in proof of which he
read a letter from the incumbent of a diatritt in North
Essex, to the effect that the people there were strenuously
opposed to the new bill, and that all classes of them had
crowded im to sign petitions against tt. Ho (the tti.hop
London) could assure thcir lordships that, so far as his
own obrervation went, he had never met a single female
who had not expressed herself in the strotiget terms
against the passing of the proposed measure ; and he had
lately read a very able tract, writtm by a lady, in which
she declared that she was fully impressed with the convic-
tion that any alteration of the law of Marriage would
interfere with domestic felicity and social comfort, and
then prayed their lordships as fathers, husbands, and

to oppose the passing of the bill.

._____„
. (Hear.)
Lord BROUGHAM thongs that all the arguments which
were not connected with the question of divine sanction
—he meant, all the arguments which were of a social !
description—went, in his opinion, more strongly against
marriages with a deceased wit' 's sister than they
did against that which was more clearly prohibited by the
Seripture, namely, marriages with a deceased brother's
wife. (Hear.) Ile thought the act of 1835, commonly
called Lord Lyndhurst's Act, had removed a very great de-
fect in our law. That act had certainly undergone consider-
able alterations in the House of Commons; so much so, that
Lord Lyndhurst was not, strictly speaking, answerable for
this manner in which it was finally passed ; still it removed
111111111 y. glaring and absurd defects in the law by making
marriages with a di ceased wife's sister not " as
it was designated for shorfni,s, hut void. His lordship
concluded by expressing a hope that the decision of the
house that night upon this most important subject would
have a most beneficial effect upon the country.
The Bishop of OSSORY said the measure was pregnant
with danger to the morals of the country, and that
it would be impossible for that social friendly in-
terconrie which now subsisted between a husband and
his wife's sister to continue if the bill passed. The neces-
sary result of a relaxation of the existing law would be to
bring sin and sorrow into many a pure and happy home.
(Hear, hear.) It appeared to him that almost the same
I relationship existed between the husband and his wife's
sister as between a brother and his sister, and he had
always thought that one of the happie-t features of our
social system was the extension of the fraternal tie to the
sister-in-law. In his opinion the light of the gospel should
he brought to bear upon the law : and if they followed that
light, they could not pa• et law like the present.
The Earl of ST. frililtlANs replied, and stated that he
had received a communication from Lord ISettinan, express-
ing his regret at his inability to attend to support the bill.
Mr. Justice Coleridge, al.°, on a resent occasion, stated his
opinion in favour of an alteration of the law.
Their lordships then divided, when the numbers
were--_

Content%
IC on-contt nts

Majority against the FCCOTIIi re:ldiom.... 34
Their lordships adjourned at a quarter past 12 o'clock
until Friday.

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LONDON, WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY M.

A STANLEY ministry, and of course a di,:solution—
the country fairly asked, will it have protection or
free trade it have a 30/. or 101. suffrage ?—wil I
it have a House of Commons to register and to do
the will of the House of Lillis, or a parliament in
which popular ideas are expressed, and commercial
interests fairly represented?—Shah the taxation of
the country be laid upon property or upon industry,
upon the rich, or upon the poor?—who shall pay tfie
interest of the debt, the squire from his rent, or
the artisan from his wages—these are questions
about to be put to parliament first, and then to the
country. And if' there be any delay in putting them
to the country, it is merely that the ultra party may
gather strength, and make surer preparations for
carrying out the principles by which they must even-
tually stand or fall.
Me think it best that these questions should be so
put. nay, that the tories should have all fair play
and advantage in putting them. For if the country,
with the experience it has had, cannot answer them,
and with a shout so unanimous and appalling us to
make those political coxcombs shake in their shoes,
that dare conic forward to ask them, then let Jolts
Hen be written down a poltroon and an ass, let a
cheap loaf never be his, and may he be taxed to
eternity on all he eats, and all he drinks, for the air
he breathes, and the light he enjoys, without mis-
giving, consideration, or respect.
What has happened, however, is in the main the
best for the liberal party. Constituted as it was,
every parliamentary battle was fought under the
greatest disadvantage. The list of official men in
truth resembled that much criticised roll of Admirals,
of whom there were three hundred receiving pay, but
of whom not fifty were sea-worthy. The turning them
all to the right-about, nay, letting oblivion cover
them a little, will make the reconstructiou of a liberal
party and u liberal ministry more equitable, more
feasible, more efficient.
The testing of the protectionists, of the scope, value
and sincerity of their opinions, together with their
cohesion as a party, will be another valuable gain.
The humbug of protection, and nll the fiction of op-
position, must cease; and 'if Lord tirssaxv and Mr.
DISRAELI come forward with those ingenious Ina-
nceuvres to trick their own foolish followers, which
they themselves denounced in PEEL, their own want
of principle will render them powerless, as the eh-
', surdity of their acting up to their own principle would
prove them insane.
No doubt the country must pay for this brief
term of power. All useful reform will no doubt be
stopped, the universities confirmed in their present
privilege of nullifying education, or of rendering it
a succursal to Itomc. Law reform will halt, and
ecclesiastical efficiency and re-distribution of wealth
be blighted; the bench of bishops and that of
judges will receive their alloy ; Ireland will
see again its Orange functionaries and its
repeal associations ; England will want more
troops and more police to keep down the
clamour for cheap bread. Canada is lucky in
having got its clergy reserves; it might ask in vain
for them now. As to thancellor MERRIER, the House
of Commons will take care to tie that old gentleman
hand and foot, so as to render him comparatively
harmless. But what pranks Secretary DISRAELI
may play in Europe, he who defended SCHWARZEN-
BERG and HATNAU in the midst of their despotism
and atrocities, passes as yet the imagination of the
novelist.

A STANLEY cabinet cannot, however, make a com-
promise with papal
.aggression : that, at least, is im-
p ossible. It may sin the other way ; nay, it must,
if it remain true to its allies and supporters. bale-
moo and promotion cannot be refused to them in
Ireland and in England. Ireland can have
no chancellor like BR tor, no more judges like PER-
RIN and PIGOTT ; and the Roman catholic prelates,
who turned their backs upon Lord CLAR EN DON, may
announce their names and titles at the levees of the
Duke of IttenvoNo or of RUTLAND. Sir UOBERT
INGLIS will no doubt succeed RICHARD LALOR
tintit. at Florence; and Moto: O'FERRAL alone
he received into favour, on the credit of his kindred
bigotry.
'We must own that all this will be just retribu-
tion. No one can doubt that the true chara-
4ion, the general who routed the whigs, and
fitlig Lord JOUN RCASSLL from his seat,
1 was no other than Cardinal WISEMIN. He and
Scnw.uuENßEßc. and the Pores minister, planned
'the campaign, furnished she means, and the manner
of invasion. And thus, in the middle of the nine-
teenth century, the Papal court has not only divided
the country into bishoprics, but convulsed parliament,
stopped the business of the country for a year, its
progress nix several years, and has tjected n ministry
of tried liberals, and handed over the government
to a retrograde party, which, but for the Italian
priests, had not a chance of obtaining it.
Lord STANLEY owes his premiership to WISEMAN ;
and no doubt, however hostile his lordship may be

in religious leanings, the Cardinal in all probability
counts on his sympathy as an enemy of popular free-
dom, and as a friend and patron of the despots of
Europe. We have no doubt that on the news of
Lord JOHN RUSSELL'S fall, a solemn thanksgiving
will have been offered up at Rome, a Te Drum sung
at Vienna, and that in all convents and nunneries
of France MONTALEMBEET will ordain the due cele-
bration of so glad an event. It will gladden and
encourage all the reactionists and tyrants, political
and religious, in Europe.
The religious reactionists, however, may, nay
must, be disappointed •, and as to the Irish and
English cathohcs, they have got iid of Johnny 1.09,
we opine, and will 'have to compound with Ned
Stork. We regret this, as repression of the papal
assumption should have been proportioned to the
offence, not allowed to degenerate into persecution,
nay, been tempered by that impartial favour,
Fenerous consideration, and gradual elevation
in the social and political scale, which was
always the policy of the late ministry towards the
Roman catholics. Gratitude, however, is not in the
dictionary of the Propaganda.
It is painful to think that these machinations of
Italian priests should not only have shattered a
liberal government and party in England, but pre-
eluded the possibility of its being reorganised.
Sir JAMES CattllAM not being popular in
England, indeed only popular on the credit of his
being a slashing economist and a daring adminis-
trator, irrespeetful of men or of things, durst not face
unpopularity in Ireland. It is to be feared that the
announcement will render Ireland ungovernable for
a very long time, if not for ever ungovernable by
England. The proof and the experience that the
Roman catholic party can break up any liberal
government in England, even that government
which would be strongest on all other questions of
policy, this experiment and conviction will have
effiried more towards a definitive repeal of the union,
and a consequent separation between England and
Ireland, than all O'CONNELL'S efforts put together.

LORD STANLEY has at length the opportunity
afforded him which his follower* have so frequently ,
affected to desire. The noble lord was summonel to
the royal presence in the afternoon of yesterday, and
again invited to attempt the task of forming 'a
mi-
nistry. lie asked until to-day to complete his list. As •
a matter of personal interest the result will doubtless '
create no ordinary degree of curiosity. But as a
thing. of permanent importance, this capricious epi-
sode in our constitutional history is not likely to be
hereafter dwelt upon as one containing mud; either
of significance or mettniniz..
The gate of the political orchard has suddenly
been left open, and the turbulent and covetous crew
that have been in the habit of threatening to scale
the walls, find themselves unexpectedly tantalised
by seeing the golden pippins within their reach. The
old gate-keeper. of whom they were mightily afraid,
is dead; and his successor has, in a tit of vexation,
forsaken his post. Shall they rush in, nyonine
and proceed to appropriate what their boyish souls
lust after? Or will the consciousness that after all
they have no honest business there restrain their im-
petuous leader and his unruly band? For their own
sakes, some of their friends may be disposed to hope
the latter; but should the former occur, it will only
be necessary to take quiet and peremptory measures
for turning the intruders out again, when the proper
time comes. _ .

....
For any sober es useful purpose, a STANLEY admi-
nistration properly so called is n mere absurdity.
Think of n great, busy. exigent, and elear-headed
community like this having the direction of their
vast affairs committed to the hands of a knot of
dilettanti writers, distressed squires, and delicate
lordlings--a band of fops, fanatics. and fox-hunters!
• One might as well imagine a man of sound mind
selecting for his domestic establishment a set of ser-
vants unfit to work, although to beg for unearned
wages not ashamed. Conceive the amazement, incre-
dulity, and scorn which the first play-hill of the
Carlin theatre must create throughout the kingdom!
As far ns the mutes in the court pageant are con-
cerned, we doubt not the parts might be tilled up as
well by tory grooms and ladies in waiting, as by
those who have enacted those highly an-important
characters for the last three seasons. But pageants,
however well "put upon the stage," don't draw. A
discerning public insists upon having something
more for its money than mere masquerading to the
tune of "Gnu save the Ormx." Vt c are a business
people, and appreciate subjects of serious interest.
If the " Merchant of Venice" is advertised, we want
to know who is to play Shylwk ? And in the comi-
cal fam• of "A Nabob for an hour," we wish to learn
who is positively to play the impostor. Already lists
are handed about each more grotesque in grouping
than the rest. In one, the oddest jumble
of Puseyites and evangelicals may be seen ;
in another, trimming frettraders who are ready
to vote for a fixed duty, and protectionists
who are ready to cushion protection. Believe some
folks, and Messrs. Gtsnsroxt: and Ns:Arum:Arr. are
willing to form parts of the same heterogeneous
cabinet ; while Sir E. SVC DEN and Sir F. TUESIGER,
who held office under Sir Itonsar PEEL, are to
figure along with Messrs. Srrscr and WALPOLE iu
the array that is to be made against the policy
of 1816.

We cannot help confessing that, if Lord ST tNLEV
can make out any decent excuse for attempting so
wild and mischievous an experiment on the patience
and peace of the nation, great allowances may in
fairness be claimed for him on account of the deplorable
lack of brains among his own genuine followers. Desti-
tute of the ordinary materials out of which to construct
an administration, he would fain beg, borrow, or
steal what ho wants from his neighbours. Unless
we are much misinformed, the tory captain is open
to offers just now from any or every quarter. A rare
opportunity is afforded to flexible gentlemen of busi-
ness habits and ordinary capacity. Good wages in
any department will be found to be at their disposal,
and no objection will he made or any questions asked
lon account of past opinions. The only drawback is
that under no eireeunstances can any engagement for
a fixed period be given. Notwithstanding this draw-
back, we should not be surprised at finding odds and
ends of other parties attaching themselves to the
usurpers ; and were we disposed to be malicious we
think we could name some of the worn-out appen-
dages of whiggery and of Peelism over whose deser-
tion we should rather incline to laughter than lamen-
tation.

But will Mr. GLADSTONE, for whom Lord STAN-
LET asked the QrEEN to wait until he should find it
convenient to return from foreign travel—will he
take office in the government that we are told is to
be ? Will he go to sea in so crazy a barque, with
BO giddy a captain, and so untrained a crew ? Halt,
lame, and blind. Lord STANLEY can muster but
three other individuals who have ever been in the
cabinet before—his grace of RICHMOND, Lord
ELLE.NBOROLGII, and poor old Mrs. llEnxiEy. No-
body else will touch the thing. Of course it
seems capital fun for would-be sterol:ll*n hire
NEWDEG ATE, GRANBY, and STAFFORD, to be allowed
to wear real political swords, and to be dubbed
privy councillors. But what inducement cnn the
presence of such personages afford to any man who
has ever had the experience of practical responsibi-
lity ? Our impression is very strong that .Mr.GLAD-
STONE will have nothing to do with the ignorant and
incompetent triflers, who, by their very acceptance
of eminent place, prove themselves to be unfit for
even subordinate power. Neither do we believe
that Lord ABERDEEN, the Duke of AEWCASTLE,
'or Mr. 001:LBCRN, will quit tsrra firma on such a
I cruise.

Had this burlesque upon an administration been
got together at the close of a session, when the busi-
ness of the year was done, we could understand Lord
STANLEY taking what even then would have been an
indecent liberty with the nation. He might think it
excusable to show his raw followers a little sport, at
the risk of committing occasional trespass on forms
and doing minor injury to insignificant persons. But
what does Lord STANLEY mean by pretending to do
the public business with such hands as he has had
the levity to name as his colleagues? Does he
think to bully the nation by the empty threat of a
dissolution of parliament ? Let him try.

TURIN, Fan. 21.
The Official Gazette of Piedmont declares that the
ministerial retreat of M. Siceardi has been occa-
sioned purely by the bad state of his health. This
is accepted as a pledge that no change will take
place in the policy of the cabinet.

FRANCE.

PARIS, TUE3DAY EVEI4INO.

A more effective satire on the weathercock nature
of French politicians could hardly be composed than
has been effected in the columns of the Preys! this
morning, by the relentless scissors of Enid° do
Girardin. That ingenious publicist has presented a
sort of scrap-book of the kebruary revolution, tend-
ing to set in the strongest light the enthusiastic
homage paid in the revolutionary spring of 1811 l to
all those principles of democratic liberty on the part
of men who have since lost no occasion of abusing
and trampling upon the former objects of their
idolatry. In the first seven weeks of its existence
the Constituent Assembly, rising on its legs with ono
accord, unanimously cheered the republic fifty-eight
times. Of the renegades, to whom the mirror of
their strange metamorphosis is presented in a series
of electoral addresses, M. de Montalembert appears
first upon the stage, swearing that " liberty i. the
idol of his soul." As president of the electoral
committee of religious liberty, he volunteers an
oath to vote only in favour of liberty of con-
science, liberty of the press, liberty of 'education,
liberty of association, and other liberties of the
same family, which have been quietly burked by hint
and his compeers sines% M. Leon Faucher &elates
that never did Providence reveal its inscrutable de-
signs in a more signal manner than by the revolu-
tion of February. M. Rouher. who did not hesitate
a short time ago to stigmatise from the tribune the
same revolution as a catastrophe, hails the new era
as the commencement of emancipation from the in-
supportable burthens of an unjust system of taxat
M. de Falloux tells his constituents that fmm that
day Russia, Austria, Prussia are no longer to he
called psissanns efraveres, but isiiimiuttneex Oran-
gPres. General Gemeau, now at the head of the
Roman expedition, being then present at the plant-
ing of a tree of liberty at Strasboug, -Cyst done la
tete haute que je me tourne vers Furbre de la
liberte, que je salue comme noire nouveau drapcan,
et que, Is main stir mon epee. jc jure de la defendro
au prix demon sung." Ile winds up with a cheer
for " Fraternity," which he styles the emancipator of
peoples. Brevets pledges 'himself to defend all
those liberties, which he took a main part in
destroying. Colonel Vaudrey, the President's aide-
dc-eamp and epunletted symbol of imperialism,
declares, that the Strasbourg expedition m which
he was compromised with Louis Napoleon, was
undertaken with the aim of producing the re-
sults which followed the revolution of February. and
inaugurating the sovereignty of the people. S. gar
d'Aguesseau, a red-hut Bonapartist. exclaims. " Plus
de Bonarartisme!" M. Paden, the 'Jlinister of
Public instruction, under whose auspices the famous
Jesuitical law of public instruction was carried. eulo-
gises the revolutions of Berlin, Vienna, and Milan,
and puts up vows for "heroic and unhappy Pi land,
the adoptive sister of France." In tine, reaetionaries
of every party are brought forward protesting their
idolatry of lifierty, the most noted royalists profess-
ing unalterable attachment to republiean institutions.
It is a stage on which every actor displays with pre-
posterous ostentation the principles which experience
has proved to ix, most foreign to his nature.

You may judge of the complete order observed by
the people in the celebration of the annivermry of
the revolution of February. and of the confidence of
the government in the public tranquillity, from tho
Net that not a single st•rgent-de-ville appeared yes-
terday in the Place de In Bastille.
- -

The number of the processions to the column of tho
Bastille was estimated at six thousand.

M. Bettgrint will propose to-day to the Superior
Council of Instruction, to suspend the lectures on
history of M. Miehelet, at the College of France.
It may he remembered that the lectures of M.
Michela were closed in 1847. and retpened in 18 IS.
The pamphlet published by M. Edouard Lemoine,
entitled "Abdication of Louis Philippe, recounted by
himself," sets in a singularly clear light the ineom-
putibility of that monarch's notions with the prin-
ciples of the constitutional monarchy, which he is
always cited par excellence as having represented.
In fact, one can hardly conceive a more despotic as-
sertion of resistance to the nation and parliament
than these confessions of the ex-King. M. tiuizot
felt the necessity of granting reform. Two ;years
before the revolution of 1848 he announced, m his
address to his constituents, at Lisieux, that he (M.
Guizot) would perform what others were satisfied
with promising. Several members of the ma-
jority had communicated to the king their con-
viction us to the necessity of reform. The king's
own sons deplored his obstinate resistance.
In these notes the exile of Claremont exclaims
with a blind self-confidence, " Everybody was
for reform!" just as if everybody laboured
under sonic strange hallucination. Ile alone resists.
" Reform," he says, " is the accession of the opposition
to power," which for him is the ne plea Ora of dis-
asters; as if the opposition could, under the constitu-
tional regime be for ever excluded from power. And
when one of his" most devoted friends" is astonished
at hearing him say that he will retire if the opposi-
tion come into power, and adds: "Sire, a constituz

. •
tionul king does not retire, he submits to the will of
the majority, und he remains." the king answers,
"No, he does not remain; he retires." The czar
himself could lint lay down a more absoluth preten-
sion than to admit no middle alternative between
imposing his single will upon the nation or abdica-
ting. But is not this the self-same key in which ho
said to Odilon Barrot 16 years before, " I have
a system of polities all settled; this system is my
own and not the suggestion of this or that
minister; and, rather than renounce it, I would bo
pounded in a mortar (je me fends hrorr dons tot
seedier). After the light which has been thrown on
the principles of Louis-Philippe, it is a wilful decep-
tion to represent him as a constitutional monarch, or
to make any distinction so far as rt•spect for prlia-
mentary institutions are concerned between the mo-
narchy which sank and that which rase in July.
The two branches were cut off from the throne for
the selfsame cause, obstinate resistance to the na-
tional will legally expressed.
A curious store is in circulation, the details of
which are so delicate as to oblige me not to name
directly the parties concerned. A near female rt.la-
Ron of an exalted person, married to a Russian
prince, has had the misfortune to lose half her
pin-money, through the displeasure of the
czar, at whose express command the said
pin-money, amounting to eight thousand pounds
sterling, had been hitherto paid to her. It seems
that the father of this lady, whose habits of expendi-
ture have been, probably from the circumstance of
his having once occupied a throne, disproportioned
to the modest income which he receives as the direc-
tor of a hospital, was accustomed to make frequent
appeals to the generosity of his daughter, in orderto
eke out his narrow means. Meanwhile the princess,
whether wearied with the constant repetition of these
claims upon her filial duty, or dreading " that climax
of all earthly ills, the inflammation of our weekly
bills," gradually turned a deafer ear to these paternal
importunities, and finally sent the suppliant ex-king
empty away. The consequence was that a letter full
of revelations, by no means calculated to raise the
character of the princess, whose youth and beauty ex-
pose her to more than ordinary temptation, reached
her husband. This letter was sent to St. Petersburg,
and laid before the czar. Hence the ukase clipping
the allowance of the lady. Such is the talc, winch I
tell as 'twas told to me, without volunteering the
responsibility of its truth.
To-day a series of propositions, among which the
most important was the bill nu opening an extra-
ordinary credit for mivate correspondence by tele-
graph, were adopted by the Assembly.

-rf. Smiler Laroche demanded tointerpellate tho
ministers upon the violation of the electoral law, re-
sulting from a decree dated 18th February, as applied
to municipal elections. The interpellations wero
accepted for to-morrow.
The conversations in the Assembly turned almost
exclusively on the ministerial crisis in England.
M. Crown's motion comes on next Saturday.

To-morrow, or the day after, tho Assembly will
meet in the bureaux to appoint the coMmittee of 30
members on the budget of 1852.
All the news received by telegraph (roan the pro-
vinces is perfectly satisfactory. The 24th February
has gone off quite peaceably at Lyons, Bordeaux,
Dijon, Angers, ite.
I am told by the person who originated the para-
graph in the Assembke Nationale announcing the
death of Mrs. Howard, that this news is not certain.
The report to-day is indeed, that the lady in question
is quite well.