The Sun.
London, England, 1855-07-16 00:00:00

' 'THIRD READINGS.

On the motim •of Lord REDESDALE, the follo, ring
bills were read a third time and passed :—Wavvney
Valley Railway .; Barrow Harbour ; Furness Rail% 'ay ;
England and I raland Improved Communication Bir-
kenhead and I verpool Docks (Trust Property of Bir-
kenhead Dock Trustees) ; Haddow's Divorce ; Sitm-
ners' Divorce ' - ztnd Jones' Divorce.
The. Earl of SHAFTESBURY presented a patitilmi
from a meeting held in Freemasons' Hall, and signed by
the chairman o a behalf of the meeting, in favour of tile
Religious Wor ship Bill Bow before their lordships.
Earl FORT 'ECUE presented a petition fronq
the governors o f Exeter and Devon Hospital against the
Charitable Trus is Bill. •
The Earl of ) )EItBY presented petitions for the total
abolition of Chi irch-rates- and far the better observance
of the Sabbath. •

On the moti. 3n of Lord REDESD..A.LE, Lord and
Lady Raglan's Annuity Bill, was' read a first time.
Lord BROD./ 3-HAM, in reference to the subject of
slavery, paid a high compliment to the Earl of Malrhes-
bury, when Se n.etarY for Foreign Affairs, for the able
manner in whi. he conducted the correspondence on
the subject of k Javery.
The Earl of 41,LBERMARLE presented a petition
from the inhab it ants of the Presidency of Madras pi ay-
ing for a redrer is of grievances, and that the administra-
tion of the Bri ti sh territory in India be transferred to
the Eastlndia C lompany or the Crown. The petition
was signed by 1 4,000 persons, and complained of never
having receive rd any redress of the many grievances com-
plained of in. a petition presented by the Earl of
Ellenborough. The petitions particularly referred to
the salt and to: bacco monopoly, in inflicting great mis.
disease, and irs covenience upon the natives. The ruble
earl then pros 3eded to enumerate several other subjects
of taxation wl ich were most oppressive and vexatious' to
the people. T 1 ere was a tax called the matourfa, leviied
upon trades as id professions, which was most bitterly
complained d No trade, however humble, was err-
ceptecl from it s operation, and the manner in which it
was levied ca used great discontent, being in one case
only is. an i in another case 10s., while thelwhole
amount reef ied from the tax was only 115,5191. fr.)m
a populatiori .of 22 millions. Another prominent gritv-
ance was a k ind of land tax—the ryotwary—that acted
most seriotvii r upon the cultivators, and was most detri-
mental to th le improvement of the land. The noble earl
then entered. at length into the other evils complained ot,
and stated t h at torture in some instances had been re-
sorted to to collect the hateful impost.
LLEFT SITTING.]

HOUSE ol COMMONS.-(THIS EVENING.)

The SPEA ER took the chair at four o'clock.
Lord J. ill JSSELL entered the house about half-pant'
4 o'clock, a u I took his seat on one of the back bencaes,
between Sir. tG. Strickland and Mr. Duncan.
Mr. G. B E RKELEY took the oaths and his seat for
Cheltenharn„ in place of Mr. Craven Berkeley deceased.
The Lord amendments to the Honiton Road Bill and
the Dagenh: cm Docks were considered and agreed to.
The Crom strty Estate Bill and Pedder's Divorce Bill
were read a -third time and passed.
Bray's E 5 ;Late Bill and Harvist's Estate Bill were r3ad
a second tin 2 e.
M :SSAGE FROM THE LORDS.
Mr. PUI MAN, Yeoman4Jsher of the Black Boa,.
appeared at the table and summoned the house to att.3n d
in the Hous 4 , of Lords to hear the Royal assent given ky,
commission to several bills (lor which see our Lords
report).
The SPEI3 :Elt, and several members of the house its -
mediately r eyaired to the House of Lords.
THE HOP DITTY.

In reply to Mr. PELLAT;
The CIL INCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER sta.•,eil
it was not the intention of the Government to alter sr.;
present the rate of duty chargeable on foreign hops.
Mr. E. 13.1 LL asked the Chancellor of the Excl te-
quer if he h 1 taken into his consideration the inconve-
nience and loss sustained by the =Aster from his le-
ing obliged to find securities for the payment of ma It
duties, and the great hardship that persons so beconiiiig.
securities musk° their entire property responsible for i
said duties, and are prohibited from disposing of a cy
portion oft heir estate in land or houses ?
The CHA3TCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER said he
bad made inquiry into the present state of the law, al iil
should be pi •epared to propose an extension of the reg a -
lations intr, xinced with regard to bonds given to th,,e
Board of Cu stems by the act of last session, but one e
which he thought would remove the grievance coim
plained of. _

AUSTRIAN SUBSIDY.
Mr, S. Tr' gOX asked the First Lord of the Treasfl ry
whether, at
an 3, time during the recent negotiations at
Vienna, a st tbsidy to the Austrian Government had evi ?.r
been entert: tined by the Government of this country I
(Hear.)
Lord PAKLMERSTON—No, sir ; never. (Hear wad
laughter.)

LORD JOFIN RUSSELL'S
RESIGNATION.

On the (;kirk proceeding to read the orders of t hey
day,
Lord J. frUSSELL said—Sir, my noble friend 1 .as
given notice •of motion for the postponement of the ore PTS
of the day, allow the hon. baronet opposite, the m an-
ber for Hert fordehire, to brin,-, on the motion of wt. ich
he had given t notice. As the motion refers both to 11137
conduct at Vienna and my continuance in office si. ice
my return, r -think it right to state to the house wL tt
has occurred bearing on that motion the hon. baron ie t
wishes to lon ng under the notice of the house. 1(

have first :to state that, having on Thins(' lay
evening declared to the First Lord of the
Treasury jity wish to retire from the service of the

Crown her Majesty was graciously pleased to accept my
resignation of office, and therefore I only hold office till
my successor is appointed. I might be disposed to rest
satisfied with this declaration were it not that recent
events have been of so complicated a nature in them-
selves, and have likewise been perverted by malice—
(hear)—that I think it is highly desirable to place be-
fore the house some account of my conduct in those
recent and very difficult negotiations stated in the
circular that has been so often referred to—that I in-

formed the Austrian Minister for Foreign Affairs, before
I left Vienna, that I would use any influence I might
possess for the acceptance of certain propositions that
were to be an ultimatum. Sir, I do not dispute the

general correctness of that assertion ; but it is not true,

as has been stated, that I engaged to state to the Cabi-
net the views I entertained. It is true that I promised to
lay before the Government in the most favourable manner
I could the proposition that had been made, and I did so in
conjunction with other persons of great weight and au-
thority. Besides the three resident Ministers of France,
Great Britain, and Turkey, there were at the time in the
capital of Austria Ministers of Foreign Affairs of France
and of Turkey. After many and repeated discussions

there was at length a proposition made to us, and 'both

the Ministers for Foreign Affairs for France and Tur-

...
key, persons less known in this country, but men dis-
tinguished for intelligence and sagacity, and they both
thought it might be accepted as a foundation of proposi-

tions to be made and accepted. I concurred in that opinion,
and after a conference and several interviews with M.

Druyon de l'Huys, we decided on forwarding it . to our

respective Governments. I will not now enter into the

nature of their thoughts. I might have something to say

about them by and by. I brought this proposal on the
night of the 29th April, and on the 30th a Cabinet
Council was held on the subject of my recent mission.
I have already stated that the result of the discussion of
the Cabinet was that these propositions were not adopted
by the Government of this country ; but I think I
might state that it completes what I then said,
that there were circumstances which arose in the course
of these discussions which made it appear to my mind
impossible to urge the acceptance of these propositions.
There was prior to the end of that week—the first Cabi-
net being on Monday. At the end of the week the con-
currence of all the members of the Cabinet was, that the
propositions could not be accepted. I might say that
the circumstances to which I allude were circumstances
quite independent of the merits of the propositions, and
did not alter my opinion of- their merits. This agree-
ment having been come to, Lord Clarendon wrote a
despatch, dated Bth May, with regard to the merits of
these propositions. Not that I wish to enter into
them entirely, but I do so in consequence of obser-
vations made by the hon. member for Buckinghamshire
He said that these propositions were such as to convince
the people of this country, that if they could be received
there was no great issue at stake which justified the
great exertions this country was making in carrying on
the war. Now, sir, it was because I thought the war
necessary, and that these exertions should be made, that
I was the bearer of these propositions, and thought they
were fit to be accepted. I conceived the magnitude
of the peril to Turkey, and the power and prejudices of
Russia to be such that it was necessary, if possible, to
unite all the great powers of Europe out of Russia
against her efforts in war, and afterwards given Turkey
security in peace. Such, therefore, is the foundation of
my opinion, an opinion not formed certainly upon the
merits of the earlier of these propositions, because the
house will find, and those who have read the recent
papers laid upon the table with :reference to these
negotiaions, that I objected to that which is
the main principle of this proposition, namely, the
principle of counterpoise, when they came to be enforced
—which they were, the day before I left Vienna. The
Emperor of Austria, through his Minister, stated his
readiness both to present this ultimatum, of Si.
Petersburgh, and, should a treaty be concluded,
to enter into a defensive alliance with
France and Great Britain to prevent and arrest any
future aggression on the part of Russia against Turkey,
I did think that thereby security would be obtained for
the future peace of Europe, which, whatever might be
the success of the arms of France and Great Britain,
—however glorious their efforts might be—would be
scarcely able to place Turkey in a secure position if
Austria did not combine with us, or should at any
future period partake of the designs of Russia. In stating
these opinions I hardly expect to hear they differ from
the views entertained by the hon. bart. the member for
Hertfordshire, because, speaking as he always does with
great ability and eloquence, he, on a former occasion,
pointed out to the house the advantage of
having Austria as an ally, from her impor-
tant position, being situate in the centre of Europe.
Such, then, were the general grounds upon which I
acted ; and, acting upon the assumption that the propo-
sition would not be proceeded with, I supposed the de-
spatch of Lord Clarendon would contain a rejection of
the whole subject. The noble lord then went into de-
tails of some of the facts that had taken place at the
Conference, and proceeded. At that time, therefore, there
was an end of all negotiations and to any ultimatum,
and no doubt could be entertained that the war must be
continued. The noble lord, after referring to the third
point in the Conference, said.—lt hes been made
a reproach to me by the right honourable gentleman
the member for Buckinghamshire (Mr. Disraeli),
that in that discussion I had been the uncompromising
advocate of war ; be that so. Under the circumstances
I would ask the house what other course I had to adopt.
(Hear.) It appeared to me tlaat neither the first nor the
second propositions afforded the elements of peace, and
therefore I had no alternativ-e but to support her Ma-
jesty in the prosecution of the war. Now it has been
said that the house has not been informed of the propo-
sitions of Austria. I certainly was not answerable or
responsible for that communication—that duty devolved
upon the Foreign Secretary ; but I cannot entertain a
doubt that the Government acted most properly
in not making that communication, because it would
have given Russia an opportunity of sending her forces
wherever she pleased, and to -those parts where she
thought they would be most effective. I can conceive
if the Government bad come forward to propose a mo-
tion in this house upon the subject they might have been
met by a statement that the house would not entertain
it until the papers were laid on the table ; but such a
course had not been left open to -the Government in the
prevent instance; they were obliged to enter into it as
well as they could. The right hon. gentleman has said
that I was the uncompromising advocate of war I doubt
very much whether the assertion can bo borne by facts.
To say that because we are engaged in a great war with
Russia, there were no terms in which we can accept
peace, was qeite an absurdity. Her Majesty's Govern-
ment had taken no such view--they had conceived a
plan of limiting the Russian fleet, on which basis they
would have made peace. He had never said other-
wise, than that that security was a very imper-
fect one, and that was his present opinion. Peace and
war were not abstract matters by any means. Being
on the Ist of May of opinion that terns might, with the
consent of the Emperors of France and Austria, be pro-
posed at St. Petersburg which might lead to peace. But
when these terms could not be proposed, he had
fallen back upon his previous position. (Hear, hear.)
With regard to the subsequent portion of his conduct
on the occasion of the motion of the right hon. member
for Becks ho bad counselled the vigourous prosecution
of the war, and such was still his personal feeling upon
the subject. The noble lord then referred to the personal
attack made upon him by the right hon. member for
Manchester, and to the speech he made in reply to it ;
and observed that on looking back to that speech his
sentiments as than expressed were now identically the
same. With regard to the motion of the right hon. baronet
opposite (Sir E. B. Lytton), the noble lord remarked that it
was a most strange and unjust conclusion to arrive at,
that because he had on the 21st of April considered the
Austrian propositions might be accepted as a
foundation of peace, he should thenceforward be
incapable of serving his country uprightly and conscien:-.
tiously. (Hear.) Reverting to the period when he had
accepted office under the present Administration, he
traced the course of events in connection with it until
his return to this cauntry, and stated that he had twice
tendered his resignation to Lord Palmerston, but that
the noble lord would not receive it, considering it to be
a great disadvantage to the public. (Rear.) But at
length the misrepresentation to which his conduct was
submitted had induced him no longer to consult the per-
sonal feelings of his noble colleague, but at once to place
his resignation in the hands of her Majesty, who had
been graciously pleased to accept it. (Hear, hear.) But
he might be allowed to say that he was in no way dis-
satisfied with the position in which he now stood,
because he had always done that which he believed to
be for the benefit of the country. (Cheers.) He had every
reason to thank his late colleagues fo their extreme
kindness towards him, and the confid e they had on
\
all occasions displayed towards him. i had, however,
been slandered and calumniated in a manner which his
conscience assured him his actions had hot merited ;
but at the same time, though such was the case, he did
not, as he had said, feel in the least degree dis-
satisfied with the circumstances under which he ;tool
in that place when be remembered that one of England's
best and noblest generals and virtuous and able men—
he alluded to the late Lord Raglan—had during his late
yrolaiAent pubic career been venally as Frouly slAnd. •

ered and misrepresented than he (Lord J. Russell) had
been. (Cheers.) During bis long political career he
had the sati=faction of knowing that he had been
enabled to I)romote by measures which lie had
been adopte], the welfare and advantage, the liberty
and prosperity of the country. He had possessed many
as warm and attached friends and of as noble natures as
any man, and whatever errors he had committed, and
whatever mistakes he had made, he had always endea-
voured to satisfy his own conscience, and therefore he
had no reason to be discontented with the results which
bad now taken place. Whatever, then, may be the de-
cision of the house, he was satisfied to abide by it.
(Cheers.)
Sir E. B. LYTTON said as the noble lord had retired
from office he felt bound to justify the reason why he
intended to pursue his present course. Though the
noble lora had retired a second time in one campaign—
though he had left the field—and this time he thought,

" Parmula non bene relicts,"
Yet, as he had entered at such length into a vindication
of his previous conduct, he trusted the house would
not consider it ungenerous or vindictive in him
if he also vindicated some of those reasons which led
him to think that the conduct of the noble lord
such as to shake the confidence of the country
in those who administered its affairs. (Hear.) The
position of the noble lord was this : Here was a great
statesman, formerly the chief minister of the Crown,
who was sent to Vienna to negotiate terms
of peace, or to support honestly the necessity of the
continuance of the war. He had just before broken up
a Government by his own desertion. (Hear.)

[LEFT SPEAKING.]

THE DISCLOSURES.

It would be idle now to discuss the merits of the Aus-
trian scheme for converting the Black Sea into a dock
for the construction of as many Russian, French, and
English ships of the line as might seem fit to the Rus-
sian Government ; except to observe that such a mea-
sure could be regarded only as the first step towards a
partition of the Turkish empire, the very catastrophe
which the war was undertaken to avert. As the Times
has well remarked, it was the preponderance of Russia
over Turkey against which the third article was intended
to provide ; but Count Buol's scheme left that prepon-
derance not only without limit, but legalised its increase
to any extent. _ _ _

We will not affect to conceal the pain and surprise
with which we have learnt that such terms as these,
which would as little have secured the objects of the war
as those of which the''''rejection was so deeply deplored
by Mr. Gladstone, Mr. Cobden, and Sir James Graham,
obtained the sanction of Lord John Russell's approval.
It is a triumph for the peace•at-any-price party, and their
Russian allies, worth infinitely more to them than the
success of the 18th of June.

Nor have we only to regret that a statesman we so highly
honour and value should have cornmitir.rd what we regard
as a grave error of judgment. In the circumstances and
mariner of disclosing the opinion he had unhappily
formed, an error even more grave was committed. Al-
though not a member of the Government when he under-
took the mission to Vienna, Lord John was a Cabinet
minister when he declared his approval of the Austrian
proposition. As a mere Envoy, he might perhaps with-
out any great imprudence have expressed himself favour-
ably respecting a project of which the reception by the
Government he represented was, to say the least, very
doubtful ; but when to this character he added that of a
member of the Government which sent him, he was no
longer in a position to express any decided opinion with-
out distinctly compromising his colleagues. Whether
or not his communicatien violated the oath taken by a
privy councillor we will not stop to inquire ; but at any
rate the evil was produced against which the oath is in-
tended to provide. The advice tendered by the council-
lors of the Crown has been made known to the Queen's
enemies. The most authentic intelligence has been con-
veyed to them of deliberations which it is justly consi-
dered treason to reveal.

The excuse to be made for Lord John Russell involves
the condemnation of his original appointment. Brought
into contact with some of the ablest and most unscrupu-
lous diplomatists in Europe, he found himself in a com-
pany for which all that was high and generous in his
nature unsuited him. Mais que liable allait.il faire
clans cette galere ? He doubtless thought, as Lord Lynd-
hurst in his late speech said he was bound to think, that
Count Buol was a man of honour. Unused himself to the
artifices of diplomacy, his caution was disarmed, we can
well imagine, by the Count's perfect frankness and cordia-
lity. our English minister believed, in short, that he might
place the same confidence in the Austrian Minister as in
an English gentleman. He communicated his opinion,
he tells us, "at a confidential interview ;" and of course
the Austrian re-communicated it immediately to the
Russians, and subsequently to the world. Lord John
Russell unhappily did not remember that it is the pride
of Austrian diplomatists to be distinguished for duplicity ;
and that he had only very lately seen one of them, and by
no means the worst of his cla,ts, at the same time publicly
denouncing an individual as a traitor, and carrying on
with him a secret correspondence as the most valued
servant of the Crown.

Other excuses to be suggested are of a more general
kind. It is said of some sea-captains that they never
take an observation of either latitude or longitude, but
are contented to ascertain where they are from any
vessel they may happen to fall in with. Such appears to
be the conduct, as regards foreign affairs, not merely of
Lord John Russell, but of almost all other English
statesmen. They perpetually lose their reckoning in
these waters. Unfailingly ready and eager are they
always to seek advice from any one who is supposed to
have given himself some trouble about a subject which
they have themselves systematically neglected. And the
expedient favoured above every other has been a re-
course to the Austrian diplomatist. Par excellence your
Austrian has been thought a safe adviser, the interests
of Austria and Russia in the East, as everbody is aware,
being so manifestly opposed to each other. Lord Aber-
deen openly avowed, and notoriously acted upon, this
principle of navigation ; and, by cruising after a sail,
which, as Lord Lyndhurst has pointed out, can have
been no other than the Flying Dutchman, the ex-Pre-
mier drifted into war.

In coinnion with most other public men, we repeat,
Lord John Russell has displayed the same kind of error. '
If the creed of foreign politics most familiar to statesmen
in this country contained two articles snore fixed than
the rest, these were that the Turkish empire was in a
state of irretrievable decay, incapable of offering
any resistance either physical or moral to Russia ;
and that Austria was a power of prodigious Conserva-
tive force, which might safely be relied upon as a bar-
rier against Russian ambition in the East. In justice
to Lord Palmerston we must remark that he has more
than once stood almost alone among public men in ex-
pressing a decided dissent from both these propositions.
He has been denounced as a firebrand for venturing to
point out the causes of weakness inherent in Austria,
and as an enthusiast for believing not only that the
Turks were making good progress in the arts both of
war and peace, but that any immediate reinstatement of
the Greek empire at Constantinople was not to be ex-
pected. Those opinions were of course considered de-
testable by all who then swore by the Austrian, Russian,
and Prussian Ministers, whether in Parliament or the
press ; and by their means public opinion in England
was at last brought into such a condition that the Czar
thought he might safely propose a division of the Sal-
tan's dominions to Lord Aberdeen.
In all frankness and sincerity let us add that while
the Vienna disclosures have greatly shaken the faith
we placed in Lord John Russell, they have not a little
increased our confidence in Lord Clarendon. The des-
patches bearing his signature, which were laid upon the
table of the house on Thursday night, are remarkable
alike for moderation, firmness, and good sense. It is
thus that the Foreign Minister speaks of one branch of
the proposal to which Lord John Russell gave his ad-
hesion :
"I then proceeded to state that her Majesties Go-
vernment could not attach much practical value to the
engagement of Austria to make, at some future period,
a casus belli of the increase of the Russian fleet beyond
a given amount, for she had already declared that it was
beneath her dignity to discuss numbers, and that she
could not admit that the question of peace or war should
turn upon eight or ten ships of the line ; and if such
were the case now, when circumstances would enable
Austria to go to war with advantage, what prospect
would there be of her doing so some years hence, under
circumstances likely to be far less favourable, for the
very same cause, though in a lesser degree, that she
would not now entertain."
It thus appears not to have been the fault of Lord
Clarendon, any more than of Lord Palmerston, that the
English plenipotentiary fell in so readily with the views
of his Austrian colleagues. But Lord John Russell has
of late very frequently taken occasion to declare that
England would not seek assistance in this war against
Russia from the nation she oppresses ; and supposing
that the refusal of Austria to join the Allies might render
necessary a resort to this effectual but dreaded expe-
dient, he seems to have determined on making any sac-
riffice to avert so great a catastrophe.—Examiner.

EXTRAORDINARY OCCURRENCE.—A few days since,
while one of the ordinary passenger trains was travel-
ling from Bristol to Exeter, the guard, on returning to
his box at one of the stations, found a parcel directed
"E. Weller, Culinstock, to be left at the Callompton
station till called for." On his way down a most offen-
sive smell was emitted from it, and as he threw it out at
the Cullompton station he remarked on the unpleasant-
ness of its odour. In compliance with the direc-
tions, the bundle was placed in the office, but the
smell became so bad that it was deposited in a horse-
box near the goods station. Here, however, it became
worse, and at last it was so bad that it was taken to the
station-master, and it was opened, when it was found
to contain the body of a full-grown male infant, which
was rapidly approaching a state of putrefaction. An in-
quest was hold upon it, and the guard stated that he
Was unable to give any explanation as to how the parcel
came into his box. Under these circumstances the jury
returned an open verdict.
ASSIZES AND SESSIONS BILL.—A bill brought from
the Lords on the 9th of July provides for the more fre-
quent holding of assizes and sessions of the peace, by
allowing the
Queen in Council to order adjoining
counties and cities to be united for the purposes
of the act—that is to say, for trying in one of
such counties, at any sessions of oyer and terminer and
gaol delivery other than the sessions of oyer and ternoi-
ner and gaol delivery usually held in the spring and
summer of
committed
dneachyear,any persons who shall be charged
with any indictable offences in the
other or any of the other of such counties.