The Sun.
London, England, 1852-03-24 00:00:00

-before they could repeal it they must be prepared with
some substitute for it.—(Hear, hear.) Well, then, he
was at a loss to usiderstane whet tax could be suggested
which the people would accept as a substitute for
,the malt-tax, far there was a large class who
advocated the tax on the ground that it had the effect
of diminishing drunkenness, and they certainly would
.oppose its abolition —(l.l.sar, beer.) The hop-tax, how-
ever, was not viewed in that light; it wee a tax in fact
aPon the wholesome beverage of the poor man,
,ate having had some experience in the House of the
difficulty of carrying large questions, he could tell those
who advocated the repeal of the tax they must per-
severe, in spite of the temporary difficulty which it
e might impose open the G evernmen tse—( Hear.) He
" therefore hoped this motion would be pushed to a divi-
' aii on, and then the poor man would see who were his
• ifisnds and who were not.—(Hear.)
Mr. FREWEN was quite satisfied with the answer
that had been made by the Chancellor of the Exchequer,
'and under those circumstances he should not put the
e House to the trouble of going to a division.—(Hear.)
Mr. BASS admitted that a good deal of distress had
Prevailed of late years amongst the farmers of Kent and
'Worcestershire, bat it did not result from the growing of
boes, but of wheat, and he recommended them to
more attention to bops than corn. He denied that the
' use sof gentian had increased in proportion to the
recent increase in the con,unaption of bitter ale, as was
alleged by one Hon. Gentleman who had taken part in
s dtbate.—(Hear, hoar.)
• -After a few words from Sir E. FILIHER, the motion
eswas withdrawn.
'' • FOREIGN REFUGEES.
Mr. M. MILNES rose to move fur an address for
Copies of the correspondence between her Majesty's
Government and Foreign States, respeotieg the protec-
tion afforded to refugees (in continuation of the corre-
e apondence already presented to Parliament). The. Hon.
Member said, that at the commencement of the session
he had applied to the Noble Lord who had then been at
the head of the Government for the purpose of ascer-
-"tainiug whether he intended to lay before the House the
correspondence between the British Government and the
Governments of certain foreign States with respect to
„foreign refugees; and the Noble Lord said that he would
produce that correspondeece, and it had accordingly
,-been submitted to the House. Those papers concluded
. with a dispatch'of Earl Granville and certain communi-
cations which had arisen out of that dispatch. The
,Earl of Westmoreland had stated that Prince Schwart-
z .nberg, at the time Earl Granville's dispatch had
reached him, had been occupied with important business.
and that he could not therefore give an immediate re-
p, But a short theealter the date of Lord Westmore-
, and's letter, it had been stated in the public press that
a certain dizpatcli had beep forwarded, by- >Prince
• Schwartaenberg to the Foreign-office in this country.
I NON he
.(Me. Milnes), tuought it very important that
that dispatch should be laid before the house, for the
'tone of it, as it had appeared in the public journsls, was,
to say the least of it, of a very peculiar and painful
Character. He bad asked his Right Hon. F. iend the
Chancellor of the Excht pier shortly after the accession
eof the present Government to office, whether he would
..have any objtction to lay those papers before the House,
but his Right Hon. Friend was unwilling to produce
themon the plea that the correspondence had not at
',Tat time been complete. But he would permit his
'Alight Hon. Friend to say that such a plea merely meant
that he did nut find it convenient to produce the papers.
Ile would again ask his Right Hon. Friend whether he
1 M any objection to produce the dispatch addressed to
Lord Granville by Prince Sohwartzsnberg, and any
;gnawer which Lord Granville might have made to that
s'uispatch? If his Right Hon. Friend should find it con-
evenient to produce, also, any correspondence which
'eight have taken place on the same subject since the
accession of the present Government to office, the House
Would, no doubt, gratefully receive that addition to its
stores of information.
:1,, The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER said his
on. Friend seemed to belong to that school of politics
Which believed that the essence of diplomacy was mys-
' t.4113' for he evidently thought it quite impossible that
whenever a diplomatic interest was concerned a Minister
leukl give a straightforward answer. His Honourable
fiend had some partial knowledge of the correspond-
-roe to which he bad referred; and he had the other
• 111 Y asked him (the Chancellor of the Exchequer) when
would lay some further ,papers before the House.
34-e had then told his Hon. Frieud that the correspond-
a was not complete, but that when it should be corn-
, tl ate he would produce it. He bed at present to inform
i
Hon. Friend that the correspondence was not only
'"ytuelete, but that it was nearly printed, and that when
it
should be fully printed, which would probably be in a
.7
or two, it should be laid before the douse.—(Hear,
saes) He could assure hie Hon. Friend that his ques-
t;'°o was in no way embarrassing. He could not sup•
'roe that his HOD. Friend would then press his motion
a division; and he believed that he bad himself en-
. '11), fulfilled the promise he had given upon the subject.
'Mr. M. MILNES said he did not accuse his Right
c,
7;20, Friend of having indulged in any mystery in that
• 117 e. He only hoped that on every other subject
a answer of the Right Hon. Gentleman would be
equally distinct.
Lord J. RUSSELL said he took it for granted that his
0. Friend would not press his motion to a division
°after the statement of the Right Hon. Gentleman.
The motion was then withdrawn.
EGYPT AND THE PORTE.
eoll_:ir. ANDERSON moved an address to the Crown for
, Pies of all correspondence between her Majesty's Gu-
u_elatnent, her Majesty's Ambassador at Constantinople,
end her Majesty's agent and Consul-General in Egypt,
tlnce the Ist day of January, 1850. relative to the at-
:Pitted interference of the Sublime Porte in the internal
administration of Egypt, by proposing to deprive the
„eil!sha of the power to inflict capital punishment on ca-
pitally convicted criminals, to construct railways for the
that country,
improvement of and facility of transit through
oeuntry, and otherwise, and of all representations
rmade by British subjects in reference thereto. He ob-
Pved that the country had a deep interest in the Ties-
-11 now pending between the Ottoman Porte and the
aof Egypt. It was a favourite saying of the late
b,", °a,' Mehemet Ali, that Egypt had become the bridge
be
Ras
en Europe and Asia. The centre of that bridge
• a desert a few years since, but now it was converted
IA great highway of traffic, and numbers of camels
ladenZ with merchandise, specie, and letters, private,
roOltnercial, and governmental, regularly traversed the
lit!'"e• The importance of this correspondence in a po-
re..te_,al, commercial, and social light, the House would
di.1113, appreciate; and he might al-so observe that the
.ibis between Europe and the East was by
C? route shortened about one-fourth in time.
toil! the House consider the inconveniences
of 'ea would be felt if all the advantages
k_Jhis route should be lost to this country. He
rtllo 'red that the British people would never submit to
11:11 a state of things; yet, it the proceedings of the
th?te were allowed to go on unchecked, he anticipated
all events
the traffic along it *ould be nearly stopped, or, at
events, seriously impeded. He would refer to the
or,
of the pretensions put forward by the Porte since
ur accession of the present Pasha of Egypt. The latter
many
some rather sweeping reforms, believing that
3' abuses existed under the former Administration.
"`a found many (state) manufactories established,wbicb
he thought of no use; being of opinion that the proper
manufacture of Eeypt was corn, which might be ax-
e, anged for the commodities of
consequently other countries.
ufa The
broke up several of those manc-
ring establishments and dismissed a number of em-
: P
Constantinople,
many of whom were Frenchmen, who went to
sorititatatinople, and there organized a conspiracy, hay-
tug for its object to deprive the Pasha of the govern-
- tle"
of Egypt, and reduce that country to the condi-
tionth ° ttsi ordinary pashalic. Among other pretensions
of
e Porte was one which struck at the root of all
government in Egyp,.
the Pasha of v and that was an silt met to de-
prive.the rower of inflicting capital
punishments.—(Hear, hear.) such a power
• it would be utterly
tin in the country,r impossible to maintain subordiea-
out tue`uobiseztuare safety to life or pro.
Perty. To carry
which the enemies of
the Pasha had at heart dissensions
had 13, eel iodustrt-
uttsly fomented between the different members of his
family, which, if further excited, mo.,
lead to civil war
because those relatives possessed large
districts of land,
and had great numbers
of
agricultural
also been tenantrysent under
their control. Emissaries had
toEsugrr
Egypt,
and they had created a censiderable feeling of in
dination by persuading the people that the Pasha had-
tilithority, as the Sultan had taken all powerawry
front bins. It might be asked, why could not Egypt
tebe
koverned as well by Turkey as by the Pasha? but, in
reply. he would say that he thought the national honour
of this country was pledged to maintain the present
• Pasha in the position in which Mehemet Ali had been
oed from 1841. To show how impotent the Turk-
ish ti
Government was to protect property and person,
e Would read an extract from a letter received that. day
from Constantinople :—" The • weak administration
tott's Turkish Government as to affordiug protection
life or property, is made manifest by facts
0„.
"" of number. Even in this capital we are scarcely
mere secure from murder and theft than persons
re tiding in the provinces; the only difference being, that
here the acts are perpetrated during the night and by
bitt of organized thieves, whereas those in the country
place during the day and in sight and call of the
o a
re uses of the victims, and frequently within gunshot of
who
ur w are cellol guards. At Smyrna two eases oc-
tie„red not long since of a particularly glaring descrip-
) viz : 1. that of the Dutch Consul, who was taken
oft;L of his own vineyard at 3, r.m., and within call of his
e4l Bs, and kept by the banditti who infest the neigh-
b'uthood of that city until his friends ransomed him f
u,,
tee
equal to about 5001.; and that of Mr. De Youngh,
hire e-lianish Consul-General, who was actually taken
60
"I his house in the centre of a village of upwars of
(4;0 houses, having a so-called military force of 200
strong quartered in it. The payment of a sort of bl ck
rJI by the Smyrna merchants to these robbers for per-
felt6sion to get the fruit and other produce brought there
ahipment exempted from plunder is well known." He
e,2 recalled to the recollection of the House the mas-
sacre of the Christians at Aleppo not long since. With
and
stato of things let the House contrast the safety
ssue't security which existed in Egypt, and then decide
government
there was any good reason for transferring the
Zrlv_erritnent of that country to Turkey. He regretted
I).°_,_Y that there was a general idea prevailing that the
th7ua was not supported in a manner consistent with
ju guarantee which this country bad given, and in con-
% on observed, that though psople had been talking of
French invasion of this country, they might possibly
67; unless due attention was bestowed on the matters he
"4 submitted to the House, a French invasion on the
tPastern shores of the Mediterranean and on the banks of
Nile ,
th:the CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER stated
rut_ the motion of the Honourable Member really had
potato
to one of the most important and delicate
turkey
of foreign politics, namely, the relations between
Quer!, 3' and Egypt; and he could assure the Honourable
ii4enaan that the conduct of the prima Government,