The Sun.
London, England, 1855-06-27 00:00:00

I:q PER lAL PARLIAMENT.

HOUSE OF LORDS-(YESTERDAY.)

The Royal as,,ent was given by commission to the
f,flowing bilk viz. : The Consolidated Fund
(10,000,0001.) Bill, Education of Poor Children, Insur-
ance on Lives, Abatement of Income Tax, Continuance
of Ecclesiastical Courts, Stamp Duties, Repeal on Ma-
triculation and Deo:sees (Oxford), Grants of Land, Public
Libraries and Museums, Spirits of Wine, Water-
ford and Limerick Railway, St. Helen's Improve-
ment, Cromf, rd and High Peak Railway,
Limerick and Castle Connel Railway, Newcastle-under-
Lyne Railway, Limerick and Foynes Railway, Mary-
port and Carlisle Railway, Newport Gas, Weston-super-
! Mare Gas, Alford and Boston Road, Wigan and Preston
Roads North of Yarrow, Lands Improvement Com-
pany; Charlbury, Witney, &c., Roads; Lyme Regis Roads,
Newtown and Os westry Railway,Dundalk and Blackrock
Railway, Gloucester Water and Local Board of Health,
London and Blackwall Railway ; Manchester, Sheffield,
and Lincolnshire Railway (Lincoln Branch) ; Notting-
ham and Newhaven Road ; Warrington Water ; Caledo-
nian Railway ; East Kent Railway ; Regent's Canal
(Hertfordshire Canal) ; Glasgow and South-Western
Railway ; Newton and Makerfield Improvement ; South
Wales Railway Consolidation ; Newcastle•upon-Tyne
Improvement.

The Lords' Commissioners were the Lord Chancellor,
the Duke of Argyll, and the Earl of Harrowby.
Their lordships adjourned during pleasure.

Tho LORD CHANCELLOR took his seat on the woolsack
at five o'clock.

The Duke of BUCCLEUCH presented several peti-
tions in favour of the abolition of Church Rates.
In reply to Lord VIVIAN,
Lord PA NMURE expressed his regret at the delay
which had taken place in the distribution of the honours
of the Bath amongst those officers who had dis-
tinguished themselves in the military operations in
the East. The delays, however, were unavoidable,
it being necessary to seek for precedents for such dis-
tribution for military operations. He trusted, however,
that that delay would soon be put an end to. The noble
lord then passed a high and glowing eulogium upon
several gallant officers who had rendered valuable ser-
vice during the winter campaign.
Lord BROUGHAM presented a petition from Bar-
badoes praying their lordships to prohibit the importa-
tion of slave-grown produce, and dwelt at some length
on the evils arising therefrom.
SECOND READINGS.
_ _

On the motion of Lord REDESDALE the fallowing
bills were read a second time :—Hartlepool Pier and
Port ; Torquay Tor and St. Mary Church Gas.

THIRD READINGS.
On the motion of the same noble lord the following
bills were severally read a third time and passed :
Cork and Youghal Railway ; Metropolitan Railway ;
Gomersal and Dewsbury Road ; Basingstoke, Stock-
bridge, and Lobcomb Corner ; Dundalk and Enniskillen
Railway, Lightfill and Birdlip Road, Peterborough and
Wellingborough Road; Stroud, Cairncross, and Minchin-
hampton Road ' • Stroud and Chariford Road, Rhymney
Railway, and Carlisle and Silloth Bay Railway and
Dock.

FRIENDLY SOCIETIES BILL.
Lord PORTMAN moved that the house go into corn
mittee on this bill.

The house having gone into committee,
Lord RAVENSWORTII moved the omission of the
proviso in the Friendly Societies Bill which brought
building societies under the operation of the Stamp Act.
After a short conversation, in which Lord PORTMAN
defended the proviso, the house divided, and the amend-
ment of _Lord Ravensworth was carried by a majority
of 4.

Tile proviso was therefore struck out.
The bill then passed through committee.
The Unioa of Contiguous Benefices in Cities and
Towns Bill was reported with amendments.
The Accidents on Railways Bill was then read a
second time.

The National Gallery, &c. (Dublin), Bill was read a
second time.

Carnegie's Restitution Bill was read a third time and
passed.

The Weights and Measures Bill was read a third time
and passed.

AUSTRIA AND THE WESTERN POWERS.

Lord LYNDHURST then rose to oall the attention of
the house to the treaty of the 2d Dec., 1854, and the re-
cent conferences at Vienna, with reference to the position
of Austria in her relations to the allied powers. He had
been told that the question to which ho desired to call
the attention of their lordships was a very delicate one,
and must be treated with great caution ; but as ho in-
tended to confine himself to a mere statement of facts,
he did not think that any inconvenience could result
from the discussion. Every person conversant with pub-
lic affairs must be aware that both Prussia and Austria,
but especially the latter, had a more deep and immediate
interest in the result of the aggressions of Russia than
either of the Western Powers. If Prussia and Austria
gad acted in concurrence with the Western Powers with
energy and decisio s in the early period of the dispute, he
believed the effect would have been to have restrained the
proceedings of Russia, and we might not have been in-
volved in the present unhappy war. Ho confessed that be
had no confidence that an active co-operation would
take place on the part of Prussia. He knew well the
history of the last war between Russia and Turkey. He
observed the conduct of Prussia at that period. It was
characterised by complete subserviency to Russia, and
indeed Prussia could then scarcely be considered in the
light of an independent power. But with respect to
Austria he entertained different expectations. The fact
that here was a great empire presided over by a young
and high-spirited monarch, deeply impressed with the
injustice of the proceedings of Russia, and fully con-
vinced of the deep interests which he bad at stake, led
him to hope that some active assistance and co-operation
might proceed from that quarter. It appeared, however,
that cautious and timid counsels had prevailed at Vienna,
and he regretted to say that the actual position of Aus-
tria was in some degree one of humiliation. (Hear.)
He had asked himself several times to what the inaction
of Austria was to be attributed. He ascribed it, as
every trim who looked at the state of Europe must
ascribe it, to her actual position, and he traced that po-
sition to one of the greatest political crimes committed
in modern times—the partition of Poland, or rather the
successive partitions of Poland, to which Austria was
a party, and in the spoils of which she participated.
(Hear, hear.) What had been the result of that pro-
ceeding ? Three-fourths of the extensive territory of
Poland, with its enormous population, had been incor-
porated into the Russian empire, and by the last acqui-
sition, that of the duchy of Warsaw, Russia extended
her boundaries to an advanced position in Europe,
pressing upon Central Germany, and dividing the domi-
nions of Prussia from those of Austria. She had pur-
sued her ordinary course of policy with respect to that
territory, namely, constructing in an advanced position
a series of the most formidable foi tresses along the banks
of the Vistula, and at other points, not for purposes of
defence, but with the view of availing herself of the first
favourable opportunity of continuing her aggressions in
that direction. Any person who looked_ at the map of
Europe, and took into consideration the facts he had
stated, would agree with what was stated in another
place by a noble herd— that the position of Russia might
be considered one of menace to Germany, and in parti-
cular to Austria, corresponding to her menacing position
at Sebastopol with respect to the Turkish empire.
(Hear, hear.) He admitted that Austria could not
have taken an active part in military operations against
Russia without considerable risk. But risk must be
encountered where great interests were at stake and
great objects were to be attained, and he did not believe
that Austria, by her policy of delay and postponement,
had at all improved her position. On the contrary, he
thought she never could have had a better opportunity
of vindicating her rights, and encountering the dangers
to which lie had referred, than by an offensive and de-
fensive alliance with the Western Powers, which had
been open to her at any time since the commencement
of the contest. (Hear.) He did not moan to say that
we had derived no advantage from the policy of Austria.
The large armies which she had maintained in Gallicia,
and at other parts of her frontier, had necessitateda corres-
ponding armament on the part of Russia. That was an
advantage which wo had felt during the whole of the con-
test. But he was sorry to say that there were at the pre-
sent moment symptoms and appearances which led him
to believe that thi: advantage would not be continued,and
that at nodistant period we should find a great diminution
of the power of Austria upon her frontiers, allowing
Russia to detach her forces and direct them against the
allies. The moral support which we had received from
Prussia and Austria bad also been a great advantage.
As far as Prussia was concerned, he believed that moral
support was due entirely, not only to the disposition of
the Pruksian Government, but to the strong feeling of
the people of that country, who were no supporters of
the humiliating course which their rulers had pursued.
With respect to Austria, on the contrary, he believed her
support had been sincere, straightforward, and consis-
tent, arising from a deep sense of the injustice of the con-
duct of Russia, and from a strong feeling of the interest
she had in restraining V e ambition of Russia and check-
ing her aggressions. When he spoke of the moral sup-
port we had received, he referred to the protocols, begin-
ning as far back as December, 1853, extending down to
May last year, stating in the strongest terms the injustice
of the conduct and proceedings of Russia, and declaring
in a forcible manner that the object of the alliance
of the four posses; was, first, to procure 'the evacuation
of the principalities, and next, to secure the indepen-
dence of the Sultan and the integrity of his dominions.
Those documents ended in May last year. About that
time it would appear as if Austria had been conscious
that she was not acting a very bold part, and she deter-
mined to take a step in advance. Towards the close of
May, or early in June, she required Russia to evacuate
the principalities. That demand was made in very strong
terms, with something like an intimation that, if not
complied with, Austria would resort to force, if neces-
sary, for that purpose. Now, we a ere not to suppose
that that demand was altogether a departure from the
cautious course of policy which Austria had pursued.
At that time the Russian troops in the principalities had
suffered ,greatly by disease ; they had been defeated in
several encounters with the Turks ; and they were pres-
sing, nob very successfully, the siege of Silistris. The
allies had advanced to Varna, and a large force of French
troops was at Adrianople. It was under these cir-
cumstances that Austria ventured, for the first time,
to make the demand to which he had referred, and lie
thought, therefore, it could not be regarded as a depar-
ture from the cautious and abstemious policy which she
had attempted to pursue. (Hear.) But what followed ?
Russia refused to accede to the demand, not in distinct
terms, but in a counter-proposition amounting to a re-
fusal. What course did Austria then pursue ? Did she
immediately make an attack upon the Russian forces ?
Did Nile MA attempt tc) enter the PrinciPalitieg Ear :