The Sun.
London, England, 1855-11-13 00:00:00

THE RIGHTS OF REFUGEES.

A public meeting, very numerously attended, was
held yesterday evening in St. Martin's Hall, in reference
to the above subject and the apprehended Alien Bill ;
Mr. E. Miall, M.P., in the chair. The advertisement
convening the meeting included another topic, namely,
"the present war policy," hut as will be seen from the
chairman's speech before the commencement of the pro-
ceedings, it was determined not to introduce that sub-
ject, and it was evident from the tone of the meeting
that had any peace views been put forward, they would
have been met with strong opposition.
The CisainstaN said—Gentlemen, a very few words on
my part will suffice to put before you the occasion and
the objects of the present meeting. You are well aware
that in a neighbouring island, under the dominion of the
crown of Great Britain, a certain publication was lately
issued, containing an address to the Queen, respecting
which I feel bound personally to say that neither with
the matter nor with the style of that address do I at all
sympathise. (Cheers.) The inhabitants of Jersey seemed
to have felt it due to their own charact:-r to convene a
public meeting and disclaim all participation in the sen-
timents contained in that address. So far I could heartily
go with them. But, not c mtent with disclaiming their
participation in the sentiments which the document
contained, they called for the suppression of the paper
in which it appeared, and for the expulsion of the pro-
prietors of that paper from the island. You are like-
wise aware that a protest, drawn up by Victor Hugo,
and signed by thirty-six of his compatriots, was pub-
lished in some of the London j urnals against this
arbitrary mode of dealing with the liberty of speech
supposed to belong to political refugees in this country.
It is not necessary for me—nor is it necessary fur
this meeting—to discuss the propriety of that docu-
ment, or of any of the statements which it may contain ;
but this meeting has been convened for the pnrpose of
defending from all encroachment the right of sanctuary
which Great Britain has maintained from ancient times.
(Cheers.) The subscribers to the document I have men-
tioned have been forcibly deported from the island of
Jersey. Twenty-two of them, I believe, have taken up
their abode in Guernsey, and the rest have come to
England. This expulsion, if we are rightly informed,
has taken place through a demand made upon the Lieu-
tenant-Governor of Jersey by our own Government at
home, and—unless report and rumour sadly belie the
occasion—at the instigation of a neighbouring potentate.
(Mingled cheers and hisses.) If this were simply an iso-
lated act, the consequences of which would end with the
occasion, it would still be worthy of calling forth the
indigettet protest of the people of England. (dear.) But
we are lad to bel.eve—especially by correspondents cf
the daily journals who reside in foreign capitals—that
this act foreshadows an intended policy—(hear)—that
there is to be a pressure laid upon our own Government
by f Teign courts, and a pressure brought to bear by that
Government upon the houses of Parliament for the re-
enactment of an alien bill for this country. (A. Voice—
"We wont have it.") What may be the intended pr-
visions of that measure—if, indeed, it be contemplated
by the Government—it is of course impossible for us to
do more than conjecture; but of this we may be certain,
that the object of it will be to restrict the liberty which
is now enjoyed by political refugees in this country, and
to give them less freedom than is possessed by every
British subject. Now, the simple object of this meeting
is to protest at once, and indignantly, against both the
past and the future—(cheers)—against the expulsion of
the refugees front Jersey without charge, without proof,
without trial—(hear, hear) —and also against the enact-
ment of, or any attempt to enact, an alien bill for politi-
cal exiles. We not on'y object to that which has been
done, but we shall, I trust, enter to-night our emphatic
protest against that which is inteededto bedone. (Hear.)
We claim on behalf of political exiles in this country the
right of asylum, and we claim it on the simple ground
that they are political exiles ; their misfortunes suffice to
• secure cur sympathy, and ought to suffice to obtain our
protection. (Hear, hear.) We asls nothing about the
politics which they profess ; we want not to know what
may be the political party in their own country to which
they were attached. We would make no distinction what-
ever between prince and plebeian— (cheers) we would
give the riolit of sanctuary to all who touch these shores.
(Hear.) Hitherto we have been impartial enough in the
distribution of our favours. We have sheltered, under
the name of Louis Napoleon, the roan who now occupies
the imperial throne of France—(cheers and hisses)— rid
we have opened our aroma to a fugitive monarch under the
name of John Smith. (Hear, and 1 tughter.) We have
had here, under the protection of our laws, and enjoying
British liberty—doing according to their own pleasure,
so long as they only kept themselves within the limits
prescribed by the law of the land—we have had Orleanists
and fusionists, royalists and republicans, and our national
hospitality has given a welcome to them alt. We have
cherished him whom the Times has recently called, quite
in opposition to its ordinary tone in reference to that
individual, " the illustrious Magyar, Kossuth"— (cheers)
—and we have also given the shelter which he sought to
Mazziiii. (Cheers.) We have not thought it necessary to
inquire whether these men's political views were in ac-
cordance with our own ; it has sufficed for us that they
were, from political can-es, exiles from their own country;
their misfortunes were a sufficient passport to our protec-
tion. This is what we claim for the Jersey refugees.
(Cheers.) This is what we claim for exiles in all coming
times ; and we will not abate one jot of our national
hospitality at the bidding of any. (Much cheering.) And
we claim this right of sanctuary without any diminution.
(Hear, hear.) We would that those who come to our
shores shall be welcome to the full enjoyment of British
liberty, and not merely that they shall come here to be
secured in a gaol. We must have no registration of
foreigners who have fled from their country from politi-
cal causes. We must have no surveillance of the police.
(Cheers.) We will not put the freedom of these people
in the hands of any Minister of the Crown ; we wish
them to be partakers-of our own privileges ;we assert
for them that whatever a British subject may do in con-
tormity with British law, that also shall they be able
to do who appeal to us for our national hospitality ;
and, gentlemen, we claim and extend this hospitality to
exiles at any and every cost. (Hear, hear.) We have
so long maintained and cherished the right of sanctuary
in this c wintry—it has been so uniform and so constant
a practice, whether of our sovereigns or of the people, to
give a secure asylum to those who have fled for refuge
to this country on account of political offences, that it
has become, as it were, part and parcel of our own con-
stitutios. We have hold of this right as the proudest
boast of Britons in the face of the nations of Europe—'-
we have stood by it even when it has been assailed,_son some-
times times by the whispers of calumny, and sometimesby2ll
creatures of foreign courts—and I hope this meeting.l237,yl,
unite as one man and protest that, coui!
nwtw"
constitu-
they will not allow this feature of our ancient
shall tion to be touched, but that which has
conti-
nue to be. (Cheers.) I feel confident
be, as it professes to be, represented_ in
thatParliament,bee it e nation
Par-
liament will scorn the motion of a
cßurrittaisilh:ltriystreers,pdeicdt
he dare to make one, to abridge ort
Gentlemen, I be-
the right of asylum in this
which are dear to
have that this is one of thoseting'''.
whatever may be his pe-
the heart of every
culiar position. I believeEnglishman,t the alacrity with which the
people of England undrtook the war with Russia sprang
the high admiration with which they ,
in a great degree from
—an
had beheld the firmness with which Turkey maintained her
right to shield the exile—(hear, and cheers)
d stoo d
forth, braving -
; the wrath of despotic courts by whom she
cor ance with the was surrounded, determhainth
that sheaccordanced
never
would betray those
prin-
ciples of her religion,
who had cast themselves on her protection. And are we
to occupy a lower position in the scale of nations than our
? (Cries of No, ns )
ally Turkey t may be said, and it
is said virtually, that this is, one of the sacrifices that we
must make in order that the war with Russia may be
carried on with vigour. Gentlemen, I deny that any such
sacrifice is uecessary—(hear)—and I contend that if it
were necessary, the object for which the sacrifice would
be made could not comport with the liberties and the
civilisation of Europe. (Hear, and marks of disapproba-
tion.) We may be told that the request has been made
by foreign courts to an English Minister that the right
of asylum may be abridged in this country, because
when enjoyed to the full extent it is a practical inconve-
nience to certain governments. Well, but I remember
Lord J. Russell's saying of Lord Palmerston that be was
the Minister, not of Austria, not of Russia, not of
France, but of Great Britair: (Hear.) From whoelso-
I ever the proposal might have come, Ido think that it
would have become the Prime Minister of this country