The Sun.
London, England, 1855-03-27 00:00:00

lord had told the house that we went to war with a
peace eatabiishinent, but whose feult was that ? (Hear.)
Why, the Government of the day. The war did net
come upon us suddenly—it had long been anticipated ;
and in spite of negotiation the preparations should have
been going on for open hostilities. A long time ago
the Government of this country became aware
of the private intention of the Emperor of Russia with
regard to Turkey, and they ought to have taken the ad-
vice of the Opposition, and called out the Irish and
Scotch militia at least a year before the war commenced.
After war was declared the noble lord lost no means for
the development of our defences, by organising the
militia, and it was not until midsummer that the noble
lord had recourse to these measures which, if he had ap-
pealed to them before, might have been at once forth-
coming. This showed a want of confidence in the spirit
and resources of the country. (Hear, hear.) He
should not at present oppose the measure of the noble
lord, but he would not allow it to pass in silence ; he
could not pass it by without remark, that in the first
year of a war we were obliged to have recourse to foreign
subsidy, simply because we had neglected the national
means at our disposal. He hoped the house also would
not allow it to pass in silence, and that the house would
proclaim that if war was to be carried on, it ought to be
with our legitimate national resources. The hon. gen-
tleman resumed his seat amidst cheers.
Lord PALMERSTON said as the hon. gentleman
who had just sat down had expressed his intention not
to oppose the measure very little would be necessary for
him to say. But he could not allow the hon. gentleman's
remarks to pass unnoticed inasmuch as they dis-
played so little confidence in the discretion of the
Government in voting so comparatively small
an amount of money in order to strengthen our military
resources. (Hear, hear.) The hon. gentleman told
them that when we were now engaged in war we ought
to abstain from making preparations for war whilst
peace negotiations were pending, on the principle that
we had not done so before when we were in the height
of the struggle. (Hear, hear.) With reference to the
calling out of the militia, he hoped the right honourable
gentleman and the party to which he belonged would
make their own defence on that point. Ile acknow-
ledged fully the merit of the Government to which the
hon. gentleman belonged in reorganising the mi-
litia ; but could it have been embodied in a
time of peace, when such a threatening operation would
have appeared very ominous, and was, moreover,
unnecessary ? (Hear, hear.) On the other hand, there
was no power to embody the militia without a fresh
legislative act. ; but when war did at length manifest it-
self—when the Black Sea was blockaded, and a naval
force had been despatched to the Baltic—thou was the
time for the embodiment of the militia ; and the Govern-
ment accordingly obtained a fresh act for its embodi-
ment. (Hear.) Therefore, he conceived the want of
foresight was ascribable to the Government to which the
hon. gentleman belonged rather than to the Administra-
tion with which he (Lord Palmerston) was connected. (No,
no, and counter cheers.) At the same time, could it be for
one moment said that the militia could have proved a
proper and effective force for the purpose for which the
Sardinian loan had been proposed. They never could
have been regarded as a substitute, although every cre-
dit was ascribable to them for their gallantry and self-
devotion in volunteering their services for duty abroad,
and for enlistment into the regular troops. (Cheers.)
Therefore he thought the charge brought forward by the
hon. gentleman of want of foresight and negligence of
duty must inevitably fall to the ground. (Applause.)
Mr. E. DENISON regretted that if no opposition
was intended to be given to the vote of this loan it
should be given in any way grudgingly. (Hear.) In
Sardinia, although a Roman Catholic country, they had
found out the value of religious liberty, and had respected
it ; and he congratulated the Minister at the head of
affairs in that country for having conducted the nego-
tions with this country so successfully, and he
trusted the union which would be cemented between
the two countries by those negotiations might long con-
tinue, as it source of pride to this country and admira-
tion to the world. (Hear.)
Mr. BRIGHT, in the course of a luminous address,
said lie did not regret that the loan was voted to Sar-
dinia, though he should much rather the security had
been anything else than 15,080 men. He did not think
the progress of civil and religious liberty in that country,
of which the house had heard so much of late, wenld
be materially benefitted by Sardinia embarking in a war
in which she could have no possible interest. (Hear,
hear.) He should not, as the hon. gentleman (Mr.
Disraeli) had just said, oppose the resolution before the
committee, but lie could not allow the opportunity to
pass without expressing his dissent to any measure
which had for its object dragging Sardinia into a stiug-
gle from which greater countries than she might reason-
ably have shrunk, when she might have been much more
advantageously employed in proceeding quietly, as she
had done hitherto, in the beneficial arrangement of her
internal affairs. ("Oh, oh," and hear.)
Mr. BOWYER bore testimony from observation of
the courage and fidelity of the Sardinian army ; but he
regretted that the Government should have been se hasty
in concluding a treaty without first ascertaining what
were the resources of that country as to repayment and
security for the money. He contended that Sardinia
was not in a position to afford reliable security. He
could not bring forward actual statistical tables
to prove the correctness of this assertion, but
he maintained that the reasonable inference for
what had transpired between the two countries was
as he bad stated.. (Hear.) He could, however,
inform the house that there was an annual deficit of
revenue in Sardinia, rand the taxes—especially the income
tax—were neavy. uommerce num 'leen stimulated to
the utmost, speculation was rife, and he feared was
based on an unstv end foundation. So far from
any economy being e. xercised the expenditure was most
profligate ; and then ;there was a disproportionate stand-
ing army. His hoe. friend bad believed he (Mir. Bright)
had alluded to the absurdity of engaging in war, especi-
ally under present cis cumstances. (Hear, hear.) Now
so far was that true, that the Genoese
merchants found themselves materially injured by the
present war, because their trade lay chiefly in Russian
ports ; and he mentioned this fact to show the want of
caution in the Government in not placing beyond all
doubt the question esf security before inducing Sardinia to
join in the war. He aiiked were the financial affairs of that
country managed in so unexceptionable a manner as to
afford the Govern went reasonable satisfaction that
the security offer ed . was firm and reliable 1 He
should not have mentioned these circumstances
at another period, as we had nothing at all to
do with the internal. affairs of other countries ; but when
the grant of a loan. :from this country to another came
before the house, it behoved them, he thought, to con-
sider well the securiit.ie which they should have for their
money. (Hear, heair..)
Mr. GLADSTONE was anxious that the question
before the house should be placed on a proper footing,
and trusted that no comment in another form would
place it in an unjust light. (Hear, hear.) Sardinia had
peculiar claims met ,n our sympathy and respect.
In times far more fav ourable to the freedom of consti-
tutional Government , at times when other coun-
tries had as it we re freedom within their grasp
and lost it again—iv lien retrogression marked other
nations, Sardinia, as country amongst difficulties
almost insuperable, succeeded in establishing the bless-
ings of a free Go.vernment. He thought his hon-
ourable friend the 'member for Malton was quite jus-
tified in commenting upon the happy union between
that country and our own, while he thought the case
attempted to be set up by the hon. gentleman who had
just sat down against the financial character of Sardi
nia had not been by any means clearly established. He
admitted that all questiores of this nature ought to be
regarded with jealousy by this house ; but he held that
the present was a loan and not a subsidy. In answer
to Mr. Bowyer's calculatione, lhe would only ask in
what instance that country had ever failed in fulfilling
its obligations ?
Mr. ADDERLEY objected to the resolution, and
could regard this money in no other light than as a loan.
It would be much better to draw auxiliaries :from our
Canadian and other colonists than any foreign country
whatever.
Mr. KINNAIRD complained that hon. gentlemen
opposite were now pursuing the very course of riispa-
reging foreign aid which had already ruined the forma-
tion of the foreign legion.
Mr. DISRAELI denied that the neglect in embodying
the militia was owing to the Government of which he
was a member, and reiterated his former arguments,
that it was owing to the mismanagement of the Govern-
ment, the disregard of the militia, and the neglect of the
regular army, that these foreign troops were now wanted.
After some further personal explanations from Lord
PALMERSTON and Mr. BOWYER respecting the militia,
Mr. J. BALIa controverted the statements of Mr.
Bowyer respecting the finances of Sardinia, and stated,
from his own knowledge of the country, that though
there were at present some financial difficulties they
were of a purely temporary character, and were rapidly
disappearing.
Mr. COBDEN would yield to no one in admiration
of the constitutional government of Sardinia, whose
progress in civil and religious liberty he had long watched
with intense interest, but he confessed he felt that_ her
present atep was not a wise one. He could not under-
stand why Sardinia, which was always regarded as an
equipoise to Austrian power in Italy, should bo dragged
into the war before Austria fired a shot. But mere than
all, he could riot veld erstand why this convention should
have been entered into at a moment when the prelimi-
nary negotiations had made such progress that within a
week we might have a certainty of peace. He wished to
know whether the noble lord had taken the precaution
of withholding the money if the expenditure was rendered
unnecessary by the establishment of peace ?
Mr. M. MILN ES repeated substantially the same
question.
Lord PALMERSTON said this treaty was made with
sardinia on the supposition that the Sardinian contin-
gent would have to go to the seat of war to carry on
operations in con„ unction with the British army during
the war. This million of money was, by the terms of
the convention, ie) be advanced in two halves—one as
soon as possible natter the assent of Parliament had been
given, and the other at the end of six months. Of course
the Sardinian G•overnment wanted money to meet the
greater expense incurred by an army in the field as com-
pared with that Lncurred by one stationed at home. Some
of this expense must have been incurred in preparing
the contingent 'tor the field. If peace should be made
before the arrn.y had embarked, only a certain por-
tion of the exj sense would have been incurred ; should
it reach the s at of war, a still larger portion of that
expense must be met ; and so on in proportion to
the time for v rhich it serves. The only answer I can
give is, there :Tore, that, if peace should be made
earlier than th a treaty contemplates there will naturally
be a fresh am vagement between the two Governments,
dependent on tlie particular moment at which peace shall
be made. I c ennot imagine that the Sardinian Govern-
ment would v. rish to throw on us a greater burden than

is proportionate to the services that their troops have
been cdied upon to perform. (dear, hear.)
The vote was then agreed to, and the house resumed.
NEWSPAPER STAMP BILL.
Petitions in favour of the abolition of the newspaper
stamp were presented by Mc.. Cowan, from Edinburgh ;
by Sir J. Shelley, from Westminster and other parts of
the metropolis ; and by Mr. Hudson, from the printers
and nowsvendors of Sunderland.
Mr. MILNER GIBSON presented a petition from the
proprietors of the Illustrated London News, praying that
the Newspaper Stamp Bill be passed immediately ; and
another from the principal publishers in London, includ-
ing the Longmans, Murray, Hurst and Blackett, Chap-
man and Hall, and Bentley, praying that printed matter
might be passed through the post at the rate of id. per
four ounces.

The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER moved the
second reading of the bill.
Mr. DEEDES, in rising to move the amendment of
which he had given notice, that the second reading of the
bill be postponed till after the Chancellor of the Exche-
quer had made his financial statement, said that when
the right hon. gentleman introduced to a committee of
the whole house those resolutions upon which he based
this bill, he had not the good fortune to be present, and
had not, therefore, the advantage of hearing the argu-
ments used by the right hon. gentleman upon that occa-
sion; but on referring to the usual channels of informa-
tion to ascertain what had passed he was forcibly struck
by the very slight encouragement which the right hon.
gentleman obtained from those who followed him in the
debate. It appeared to him as if every one who spoke
had some stone to cast at the right honourable gentle-
man, and was exceedingly anxious to point out to him that
his proposed measure was not wanted by the country gene-
rally. If the right hon. gentleman had taken the advice
tendered to him upon that occasion, and had abstained
from interfering in the way of legislation in this matter,
instead of following the course which his predecessor had
laid down for him, he would have escaped the difficult and
delicate task which he had imposed upon himself; both
that house and the country generally would have con-
sidered him perfectly justified in adopting that course, and
he would have lived to survive any attacks which might
have been made upon him from Manchester or elsewhere.
The observations which the right hon. gentleman was re-
ported to hare made at the conclusion of the debate fur-
nished a complete answer to the necessity or advisabilita,
of bringing forward the measure which he had now sub-
mitted to the consideration of the house. He based the
necessity of dealing with the question upon certain resolu-
tions passed unanimously during the last session, at the
instance of the right hon. gentleman +Ase eseenebee f Mae-
chestes. Lao era ne easy with regard to the financial
part of the question ? His renearks upon that point were
an answer to any necessity he might have felt for introduc-
ing the measure at the present moment. He said—" If we
had at this time a surplus revenue, and if the expenditure
of the country did not greatly exceed its' revenue, the
newspaper stamp would have a fair claim to enter into
any repeal or readjustment of taxes, and those who ob-
ject to it might claim that its repeal should have pre-
cedence in any financial scheme. This, however, is not
the financial state of the country, and, if the house should
decide in favour of this measure, it would be my duty to
call upon them to provide for the deficiency of the revenue
by some other mode of taxation." (Hear, hear.) The
right hon. gentleman went on to say :—" It is my duty to
inform the house that the estimate of persons of authority
as to the loss of revenue must not be taken to be less than
200,0001. Such a loss of revenue is no doubt inconvenient
at the present moment. On the other hand, the house
will bear in mind that, to refuse to repeal the stamp would
be to recede from the unanimous resolution which it agreed
to last session, and will render necessary the passing of
some measure declaratory of the law." Now, nobody
would argue that any resolution of that house should
lightly be passed over; but every one must admit that
there was a fitting time for dealing with important public
questions, and the great objection to this bill was that it
had been introduced at an improper and inopportune time.
(Hear, hear.) Perhaps the terms of his amendment would
indicate that his objection to the measure was entirely
confined to the financial part of the question ; but he was
strongly impressed with the conviction that the bill was
open to far more serious objection in other respects. He
considered clause 1 to be the very pith and marrow of the
bill. The subsequent provisions referred to matters of
detail, but clause 1 provided that there should be no fur-
ther compulsory stamp duty for any newspaper, that there
shoeld be no farther compulsory registration, and that there
should be no further declarations. All these were matters
which had been enacted for the purpose of preventing un-
fair attacks being made in newspapers upon private charac-
ter, of raising as much as possible the character of the pub-
lications in question, and of offering a remedy if abuses
should exist ; but new they were no longer thought to be
necessary. He confessed that he looked with considerable
dread to a relaxation of the law which would enable any
person so minded to pander to the vices and prejudices of
those whom he might call ignorant and uneducated, and
therefore not able to discriminate between right and wrong.
He had seen, within the last day or two papers and writings
of the description to which he alluded, and he should be
very sorry to see them multiplied in this country. (Hear.)
Again, he objected entirely. upon principle to taxing infor-
mation by the inch ; and because any one paper should
have taken more trouble and gone to more expense to get
information which was palatable to its readers and to the
public, he saw no reason why it should be called upon to
pay a heavier tax than a paper which catered less for the
public amusement or instruction. Was the present sys-
tem so faulty as to require amendment ? If so, was it
immediate amendment that was necessary, or was the
amendment proposed by the Chancellor of the Exchequer
likely to meet the evil. He was quite ready to admit that
there were in the present system faults which required
amendment, and that there were anomalies to which it
would be desirable to put an end ; but he denied that they
existed to such an extent as to render it necessary for the
Chancellor of the Exchequer to devise at present a plan for
the express purpose of removing them. At some future
time they might well be considered ; but he did not think
that the present measure was calculated to remedy those
ee;le e manner that would be fait and :met existing
interests. -1:18 was one of those who ad frequently thought
that the press of this country sometimes overstepped the
bounds of discretion, and had made unfair attacks upon pri-
vate character ; he believed, too, upon a recent occasion that
letters and statement's had been sent from the seat of war
which were highly coloured and exaggerated ; but still he
was convinced that, on the whole, this country was greatly
indebted to the press for the exertions it had made to pro-
vide the public with information from the Crimea ; and
he thought tliey would have reason to regret if the press
should not in future have the power of following their vo-
cation in that respect. In dealing with this question he
could not altogether disregard the general subject of edu-
cation. There were at the present moment on the table of
the house two bills relating to that subject. He under-
stood they were to be referred for consideration to a select
committee, and if, as he suspected, the tendency of this
bill would be to give rise to publications of a licentious
and immoral nature, he should like to have the opinion of
that committee before he ventured to consent to the pass-
ing of such a measure. There was another point which he
considered of great importance—the question of copyright.
Hero he had the valuable opinion of the late Chancellor of
the Exchequer to stand him in aid. The right hon. gen-
tleman said upon that subject :—" There is another
point which is not a matter of indifference to me—
namely, the question of copyright for the protection
of literary property in newspapers. I don't wonder,
so far as we know anything of the plan of my right
hon. friend from his explanation to-night, that he has not
included in his bill any clauses upon this subject. I think,
iudeed, it is a matter with reference to which it would be
very difficult to devise a plan. At tke seine time lam
under the impression that the proprietors of newspapers,
in many cases, entertain great auxiety that the previsions
of the law with respect to the protection of literary pro-
perty should undergo special consideration, and should, if
practicable, receive somo extension with a view to the pro-
tection of literary property in newspapers. Undoubtedly,
so far as the article that is most strictly called "news" is
concerned—for instance, the communication of facts,
which may generally be comprised within a very brief
space, and the language, the outward shape and form of
which can ho varied almost at will—l de not how you aro
to introduce any further provisions than the law at pre-
sent contains ; but I have understood from some persons
who ought to be well informed en the subject that the
great anxiety of those who think this question worth con-
sideration in the press as it stands, is not so much directed
to the protection of their `news' strictly so called, which,
in point of fact, it would be very difficult to protect, as to
the protection of what may more fairly be called their lite-
rary compositions, for example, the leading articles in their
newspapers, and especially as regards the London press,
the communications of their foreign correspondents. Now,
I for one am very anxious that, either in the plan of my
right hon. friend, or in some other effective form, this
question should be brought to a settlement." If the right
honourable gentleman were in his place he would ap-
peal to him to say whether the question of copyright was
dealt with in the bill before the house. There was no
protection whatever to newspaper proprietors in that mea-
sure. The words with which the late Chancellor of the
Exchequer concluded this part of his speech were so strong
that he could not resist quoting them. They were :—" I
do not venture to prejudge this question, but I would ven-
ture to express a hope that, in endeavouring to carry out
the principle of the freedom of the press, my right hon.
friend will not be ialisposed to take into his favourable
consideration any reasonable proposition which may be
made to him for the improvement of the law of copyright,
in order that we may not run any risk of breaking down
that system under which the highest talent in the country
is largely applied and advantageously devoted to supplying
the public with intelligence, and to the discussion of that
intelligence. I must confess that I should regard the de-
destruction of that system as a public misfortune—a mis-
fortune which I am the less disposed to incur, because I
do not look upon it as a natural or necessary consequence
of the important measure of emancipation which is now
contemplated by her Majesty's Government." In looking
over the present bill he was compelled to conclude that the
misfortune which the late Chancel'or of the Exchequer de-
precated was likely to occur. A great improvement had
taken place in the general tone adopted by the press ; and
for that reason, among others, he thought it ought to be
protected. He remembered when day after day, and week
after week, prosecutions were instituted by the Atter-
nieoyn-
e that
General ,
wereondisgrace
the
er t
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andagainst ho
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should
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er edv iwv eitdh.
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tins to the bill,ottobed h
istue mightrbed.
beasked
why Entertaining
these general objections
he did not move the rejection of the measure altogether.
His answer to that was, that he did not wish to embarrass
the Government at the present moment, when one of its
most distinguished members was engaged at Vienna in
conferences of vital importance to the world. He came
now to the more immediate subject of his amendment—
the financial view of the question. Hero ho must
say that he was at a loss to imagine on what ground
his proposition could be opposed. He had already asked
the opinion of the Chancellor of the Exchequer himself as
to the present condition of the finances of the country, and
the impossibility of abolishing the newspaper stamp with-
out calling upon the people to make up the deficiency by
some other mode of taxation. The right hon. baronet the
member for Portsmouth, who had also filled the office of
Chancellor of the Exchequ aer estimated the probable loss to
the revenue at a quarter of million, and remarked, " The
Chancellor of the Exchequer has fairly told you that if you
pass this measure he must of necessity propose some other
taxation to compensate for the sum it is proposed should be
lost. Well, thee, let us know what is the taxation which
the right hon. gentleman will propose in lieu." Surely that
was a fair and reasonable proposition. These were not
times in which large sums of money should be thrown
away without the
The houseright beinghon. told
baronethow thehe
then
deficiency
dw
to
to be made up.
speak of the details of the measure, and he said :—" I will
not now enter further into details of the plan which the