The Express.
London, England, 1860-05-12 00:00:00

THE SICILIAN INSURRECTION.

Mr. GRANT DUFF, in rising, pursuant to notice. to ask
the Solicitor-General whether his atttention had been drawn
to an advertisement which appemed in the Times of the
9th of May, announcing that a subscription had been
opened in London in aid of the Sicilians, and whether per-
sons in this country who contributed to the fund which it
was proposed to raise would render themselves liable to any
legal process, said it had been suggested that if he asked
this question he should be Baked in return why the
recruiting which was going on in Ireland for the
government of the Pope was not put an end
to. He supposed the reason to be that govern-
ment, knowing that other governments were getting
rid of the refuse of their gaols in that way, thought they
would do the same. But the Sicilian insurrection was a
very different affair. The Sicilians were fighting in a good
and holy cause, and he did not wish that that cause should
be damaged by any illegality.
The SOLICITOR-GENERAL said he hoped he should
not be considered wanting in respect to the house if he con-
fined himself to a precise answer to the question, and de-
clined to follow the hon. member into the observations in
which he had thought proper to indulge. His attention
had been called to the advertisement by the question itself
which the bon. member had put. He had read the adver-
tisement. It solicited subscnptions in aid of the Sicilians,
and requested that the money, which persons in this country
Ott be disposed to subscribe, should be paid into the hands
of certain perwus living in this country whose names were
the proposal was that this money should be
=lifted to Genoa, and be there disposed of by a com-
' mates stated to be presided over by General
Therefore, the question was whether the subscription of
money by one of her Majesty's subjects in this country, by
paying it into the hands of another person who was a
foreigner living here, for the purposes and with the object
that he had described, came within any rule of common law
or within any statute law of this country. Now it ap-
to him that so 'long that which was done was
=ias d
within the boundary of • mere subscription in this
country as the advertisement limited it, no law of this
country would be violated. The only statute which in
any way bore on the matter was the Foreign Enlistment
Act. That act prohibited two things • it prohibited the
enlistment of and it prohibited the fitting out of
vessels of war for service under or against foreign govern-
ments. As far as he was able to form an opinion, no one
who thought proper to put his band in his pocket and take
out money to pay it to • person to send it to Genoa, to be
them disposed of, by General Garibaldi—he did not suppose
that any person, in the exercise of such benevolence, would
violate either the common law or the statute Law of this
country. (Hear, hear.)
INDIA.—RECALL OF SIR CHARLES TREVELYAN.
Mr. DANDY SEYMOUR, prefacing his question by ob-
servations upon the views developed by Sir L. Trevelyan in
his minute, and upon the motives which had prompted its
publication, inquired whether it was true that he had been
recalled from the Governorship of Madras. He eulogised the
character of Sir Charles, and the reforms he had e.irried out,
and characterised hie recall, if it had been sent out, as a
hasty step. The views of Sir C. Trevelyan were shared, he
said, by others, and he read the opinions of Mr. Maltby,
one of the ablest civilians of Madras, eodorsing those views,
and condemning the financial isdicy of Mr. Willson.,
Wu C. WOOD said he should abstain from following Mr.
Seymour into the details into which he had entered, and
from disewising any plan of taxation for India. The around
for the recall of Sir C. Trevelyan was quite independent of
the merits of his scheme; it was simply his most improper
act in publishing his minute. That minute was • most
able and excellent document ; but it was quite another
question whether it should be published to the world.
He thought it was a seemly position for Mr. Wilson
to take, to obtain the opinion of the provincial
governments, but it was nut seemly that Sir C. Trevelyan,
as the governor of a subordinate dependency, should invite
public discussion in opposition to the central government,
and proclaim himself the head and leider of that opposi-
tion- (Hear, hear.) It was quite clear that the authority
of any government could not be upheld and maintained if
such a system of insubordination were tolerated. There had
been mischief enough arising from insubordination in India
not to allow it to extend farther. There hail been a mutiny
in the army, native end European, and now there was a
mutiny of one governor against another—(hear) ; —and her
Majesty's government at home would have been wanting in
their duty if they bad delayed for a moment taking notice
of an act so insubordinate and so dangerous to the
_

maintenance of our rule in India. (Hear, bear) They
might certainly have reprimanded Sir C. Trevelyan, but
in that awe they must have sent a reprimand in
terms so severe that no man could have remained under
it. But that would have been a shabby course, and he
thought it was more just and more kind to Sir C. Trevelyan
himself that they should take the responsibility on them-
selves of recalling him tither than to place him in a position
in which he would have been driven in a currier, and had
no alternative but to resign. (Hear.) He (Sir C. Wood)
therefore ilkl not hesitate for a moment to take the re-
sponsibility of bringing the subject before his colleagues in
the government, sod by his advice it was determined that
Sir C. Trevelyan should be recalled. In order that the autho-
rity of the supreme government of India might be sup-
and niaintaineil no other course was open. (Hear.)
Wee.d could not sit down without saying, that with much that