The Sun.
London, England, 1852-06-15 00:00:00

teranit
_

LONDON, TUESDAY, JUNE 15, 1852.

Thensyesterday will be remembered in
Hard discussionasthe of
most interesting, if not the most
important, that has taken place since the advent to
a
power of the present Government. It called forth
several of the liveliest as well as many of the
weightiest debaters in the House of Commons—and
pitted against each other in sober earnest the pro-
minent leaders both of the Treasury bench and of
the benches of the Opposition. Lord JOHN Rus-
SELL has seldom surpassed his speech of last evening
either in point or perspicacity. His statement in re-
ference to the cutiage perpetrated in Florence,
and subsequently in reference to the; corre-
spondence conducted by :the Chief Secretary for
the Foreign Department, possessed lucidity such as
cannot fail to " tell" rather frightfully against
the reputation of the Earl of MALMESBURY as an ad-
ministrator. Not all the rhetorical ingenuity which
was afterwards displayed with so much gallantry
in defence of his colleague by the Right Hon. Gen-
tleman the CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER could
allay the indignation inspired by the recital of facts
not merely damaging, but absolutely damnatory
to the political character of the Foreign Secretary.
The scrupulously unimpassioned tone in which Lord
PALMERSTON referred to the subject under discussion
rendered only the more formidable his calm but reso-
lute expressions of condemnation. Later on in the
debate the conduct of Lord MALMESDURY was
in some particulars yet more searchingly
considered by the ever-vigilant humanity of Lord
DUDLEY STUART, and by the ever-exhilarating
vivacity of the Honourable Gentleman the Member
for Middlesex. Enlivened by these speakers, the
discussion extended far into the night, although re•
lating to what apparently was nothing more than a
private transaction, but what the incorrigible blun-
dering of the officials has transformed into a matter of
public interest and almost of national importance.
The circumstances of the case were related with
admirable clearness by the Noble Lord the represen-
tative of the city of London in the exordium of that
elaborate and protracted address which, unfortu-
nately, wandered off towards its conclusion from an
indignant protest against the incapacity of the
Foreign Secretary into a party attack (singularly
inappropriate considering the occasion) upon the en-
tire bcdy of the Administration. Lord JOHN briefly
reminded the House that the documents recently
submitted, by order of her MAJESTY, to the conside-
ration of the Legislature, consisting, for the most
part, of letters, signed, respectively, by the British
Consul at Florence, and by the Chief Secretary for
the Foreign Department, originated in one of the
grossest outrages ever perpetrated upon an English-
man. An unarmed stripling, named MATHER, one
of the subjects of Queen VICTORIA, while cross-
ing a street in the capital of Tuscany, is, with-
out any provocation whatsoever, struck successively
by two Austrian officers, one with a weapon and the
other with his fist, the first assailant subsequently
cutting him down in a cowardly manner with his
sword, while the unfortunate youth was staggering
and confused under the effects of that abrupt on-
slaught. Very different, indeed, from the brutality
of this lieutenant in the service of the Red EMPEROR,
was the feeling displayed by the English butcher
mentioned yesterday by Lard PALMERSTON, as having
been assaulted while engaged in the labours of his
avocations, according to the fine old anecdote, and
who thereupon reproached his assailant by exclaiming,
",What a mean and cowardly fellow you must be
to strike a man with a knife in his hand, and who,
therefore, can't return the blow !" Very different
also was the incident described by the same
Noble Lord as having occurred to the
colonel of an English cavalry regiment who,
although he had lost one of his arms, was
gallantly leading his men into battle, when a French
officer, who had ridden towards him to cut him
down with uplifted sabre, lowered his point on ob-
serving that his antagonist was mutilated, and gal-
loped off to seek, on more equal terms, another
opponent. " That is French feeling," exclaimed
Lord PALMERSTON, on relating the circumstance, as
he had previously exclaimed, in allusion to the other
anecdote, " that is English feeling." GOD forbid
that we should have to accept the conduct of the
officer who, with his sword, laid open the skull of
Mr. MATHER in the streets of Florence
as an evidence of " Austrian feeling ! "
A more brutal or a more unprovoked
assault was, perhaps, never before made under equally,
aggravated circumstances upon an unarmed English-
man. Yet it is in reference to this monstrous
act of brutality that Lord MALMESBURY has
written to Lord WESTMORELAND, that it was
simply an affair " caused by a concourse—
[Query, "concurrence ?"]—Of fortuitous and unfor-
tunate circumstances." Previously the Foreign
Secretary had written to Mr. SCARLETT, designa-
ting the occurrence as a " wanton and unprovoked
insult." So that the English Minister could call that
wanton when addressing the Consul at Florence,
which he termed merely fortuitous when speaking
to the Ambassador at Vienna! He could talk
in a subdued manner, indicative of a
Willing-
ness to concede when applying to Austria,
and in a lofty tone of pompous indignation when ap

plying to Tuscany ! The contrast is remarkable,
and, surely, also sufficiently significant. It betrays
a weakness in the policy [if policy "it may be
called," which policy " has none"] of the Foreign
Secretary truly lamentable after the energetic
and patriotic course to which the Government
had been. accustomed when that depart-
ment of the public service was presided
over by a daring and comprehensive intellect
like that of Lord PALMERSTON. The whole
transaction, debated at such length during
last evening's discussion, betrays a weakness,

an incapacity, an indecision, and a trickiness such as

cannot do otherwise than seriously injure the reputa-
tion of the present Government. Although the
matter was necessarily slurred over yesterday at
the close of this memorable debate, we feel
a'''urecl that the revelation of the doings of
Lord A
IALMESBURY will not be lightly lost
referig.ht of by the electors of the United Kingdom. In
reference
to their foreign policy at least, her MA-
JEsTI's Ministers have disclosed a truly lamentable
inferi°?itY to the most distinguished of their
Preciecesa'rs• In several other particulars the
Cabinet has blundered scarcely less deplor-
ably, insomuch that the CHANCELLOR of the
EXCHEQUER hag
had to rush to the rescue rather fre-
quently of others amongst his Ministerial colleagues
of MALIIESEURY. Whatever may
bte besides
the
result a rof
the
approaching elections, it must
at any
rate Continue
Pon record that what the
his associates the
of mortal could accomplish to rectify the
Right Honourable Gen-
done—transtleman has lyinting _
himself, in his Pro-
m ingenuityistakes of
yr into the shield
and the qcime•
Government.
ter of the DERBY
tean coursc) alternate

tn
was in
actures
The National Exhibition a the „t 3
and natural productions of Ireland, which'
anufEn . 1.
augurated in Cork on Thursdaylest -
'nth such un•
equivocal succes!, will undoübtedly
e an im-
portant influence on the future fo:tunEa of th© sister
kingdom. it is at all times valuable to
nation a neutral groundwhich me ain an,
on n of all
cla J
creeds, and parties may lay aside their :n
jealousies and divisions, and co-operate togeth.r
zealously and efficiently for the good of their common
country. But it is peculiarly so in Ireland, wber,,, the
demon of civil and religious discord has 11,50
so frequently evoked, and has so lone.
reigned paramount, where almost every suggestion
of general utility, has been viewed through parti-