The Sun.
London, England, 1852-06-16 00:00:00

Christmas-day Mr. Edwards received a peremptory no-
tice to leave Lemberg. His wife at the time was within
four weeks of her confinement; there were other.ehildren
in the'. family; eindin a most irelewent season of the
year they were told that within six days they must
travel 500 miles, 'and that if they did not set out force
would be used. - Mr. Edwards proceeded to Vienna and
saw our ambassador, the Earl of Westmorland (who-re-
ceived a princely income for doing nothing), but he re-
fused to interfere. L was not without great difficulty
that this unfortunate gent/man was able to get back to
Lemberg at all, to escort' his sick family and his wife to
the frontiers of Prussia; and they had no stoner crossed
the frontiers, after a journey of no ordinary length and
severity, than Mrs. Edwards gave birth to a dead child.
That was the case of Mr. Edwards; and to this day no ex 6
planation had been given of the sentence against him—
an illegal sentence, because it was the effect of a single
mandate issued by the cointnand of Prince Schwarzen-
berg, who was now answerable elsewhere for the-deeds
done in ".the flesh. Messrs. Smith and, Wingate, on the
sth of Jantiary following, received a notice to quit' the
Austrian dominions within five days. They too, appealed
but in vain, to the English Legation, and to the tender
mercies of the Austrians. The common- precautions
which humanity might have suggested' to mitigate their
lot was' denied them. When Mr. Wingate (whose
youngestehild was in danger of death) asked permission
of the military Governor of -Hungary than the child's
nurse shculd be' allowed to accompany them, he was
flatly refused. The order went forth that no one should
be permitted to attend them, and it was only at half
'past twelve at night, at a ball where the military Gover-
nor of Pesth was present, 'that Mr. Wingate
was able to obtain• permission for A journey which
was: to :b'egin' at the dawn of day.- In all those cases
no reasons for the expulsion had been so much as hinted
at; and opportunities of explanation' were denied
`theta. • Neitherlhe Earl of Westmorland nor his em-
bassy did` What was their duty; .bat at the, time they
were in Vienna the Americau Athbassador, when the
Earl of Westmorland would do nothing for them, gene-
rously placed his purse and his House at the disposal of
theee diatressuld then. Those gentlemen had property
which, with the-exception of one etrifling article, they
were obliged to abandon to the inob or to the dishonest,
andipoliating Government of the country. The Go-
vernment of Great 'Britain, unless it was a coward and a
bully, should act on the principle it bad adopted in the
case of Mr. Finlay. Vete% Grotins, and • others laid it
down, that duo notice should always be given to one na-'
den' of the abolition of any custom in another. But here
notice was given, and there was a forced sale of their
goods; and yet Lord Malmesbury said they had no
right to expect any redress. The final letter of his Lord-
ship stated, that the reply of the Austrian Government
was--

An HON. MEMBER hero moved that the House be
counted; and, it being found that only thirty-seven Mem-
bers were present. the House stood, adjourned, at a
Quarter to Eight, to Twelve o'clock this day.

HousE OF LORDS, June 15.
Their Lordships assembled at Five o'clock.
PETITIONS.
The Duke of BUCCLEUCH presented a petition from
Kelso praying for the free importation of guano.
The Earl of ENNISKILLEN presented a petition from a
place in Ireland, praying for grants for the construction of
rail Ways in that country.
The Duke of NORTHUMBERLAND presented a peti-
tion from Newcastle-on-Tyne praying that lights be re-
quired to be introduced into third-class railway carriages.
BET IILEM . HQ SPITA L.
In reply to. Lord MONTEAGLE,
The Earl of DERBY said certain charges of a very serious
nature had been made to the Goternment in reference to the
management of Bethlern Hospital, and the subject was at
Dpreepsaenrttmuenndte.r the investigation of the Secretary for the Hotne
ADMISSION OF JEWS INTO PARLIAMENT.
The Earl of CARLISLE presented a petition from the Cor-
poration of London, praying for an alteration of the oaths
taken by Members of Parliament.
BURGHS (SCOTLAND) BILL.
This Bill was read a third time and passed.
THE MILITIA BILL.
- - -

The Earl of DERBY said he rose for the purpose of mov-
ing the second reading of this Bill, the importance of which
would not be denied by their Lordships. It had already re-
ceived the assent of the other House of Parliament, after
long and persevering discussions, by overwhelming majo-
rities, both with regard to the principle and all the details,
It, was a Bill for re-organizing and placing in a state of com-
parative efficiency the ancient constitutional militia force of
the country, and he hardly entertained a doubt that the
principle of the Bill, at all events, would meet with the
unanimous concurrence of their Lordships.-(Hear, bear.)
In the first place there was an universal consent on all sides,
that for the more efficient defence of the country an increase
of the disposable force of the kingdom was, necessary, and
accordingly her Majesty's Government received the assent of
the ether House of Parliament to a resolution allowing
them to bring in a Bill to re-organize the militia. If
he were - asked whether he grounded his reasons
for bringing in this Bill on any immediate apprehensions of
attack from foreign powers, he should distinctly answer that
he did not. Neither did he rest it upon any apprehension of any
personal hostile feelings of the Prince President of France,
but, he could not shut his eyes to the numerous changes of
Government which had; taken place in Fiance, to the large
class of persons in that country adverse to the cause
of order and tranquillity, and actuated by a feeling of consi-
derable hostility to this country, and he fait that it would be
the height of folly and madness to wait for a contingency,
however remote, of this country being exposed for the first
time for centuries to the danger of a hostile invasion.
The Noble Lord then continued.—My.Lords, when the
proposition of the late Government was brought before
the House of Commons, although there was .a great ac-
quiesence in the necessity for -increasing our military
force, and for the establishment of a militia force, a dif-
ference prevailed in that House to which I 'will not fur-
ther allude.—(Hear.) I do not wish to advert to cir-
cumstances which might be painful to the feelings of
any Noble'Lord.—(lle.ar.) But a difference cf opinion
prevailed in that House which negatived the specific
plan of her Majesty's late Government for providing a
local militia force, and which passed a resolution de-
claring that it was necessary to introduce a measure for
a general militia, or rather for amending and consoli-
dating the law which regulated the • regular militia of
this country. Thus we arrive step by step, first, that
ail parties have agreed 'that our existing means of de-
fence are insufficient. Next, they have agreed that a
militia force was absolutely necessary, and ought to be
raised. Thirdly, that they entertain an opinion that a
militia force should not to be local but general in its cha-
racter, in accordance with former laws upon this subject.
That was the position in which affairs stood when we
were called to take a part in her Majesty's Government.
We took that part in a period of some difficulty. We
were much pressed with regard to the pleasures which
wo would think .it necessary for the service of the
country. to pass previous to the period anticipated by
till, namely, the dissolution of Parliament, and desired
by none more than those who wore charged with the
administration of her Majesty's Government. Wo were
quite convinced of the necessity for a dissolution of Par-
liament
as early a period as was consistent with the
public interest and with the safety of the country. It is
undoubtedly true that we might, had we been so dis-
posed, have declared that we were not bound by any
obligations incurred by our piedecessors, or by Bills
which our predecessors had introduced. We might have'
said that we were not responsible for the position in
which we found the country,,nor for the judgnaent which
pronounced that a militia force was necessary. By taking
that course we might have saved ourselves a considerable
amount of difficulty and obloquy, We might have pro-
veuted risking the popularity of the Administration in
the country at largo. Because we were told that this Mi-
litia Bill, and, indeed, any Militia Bill, was objected to
on various grounds by a very largo proportion of the
population. Objections were taken to it on various and
very different grounds, and there was au appearance, at
least, of a very considerable resistance to any such
burden being inflicted upon the country as , would be
imposed by this Bill. But, my Lords, we felt that we
were not at liberty to enter upon any such personal consi-
derations.—(Hear, hear.) Wo did believe that our pre-
decessors were right in their judgment, that the estab-
lishment of such a militia force was indispensable for the
security of this country against aggression, and im-
pressed with that -opinion 1 took the liberty of pro-
nouncing that whatever other measure might be thrown
overboard, this was one of those measures to which we
thought it indispensable to obtain the sanction of Par-
liament previous to a general appeal to the country con-
sequent upon a dissolution of Parliament. I will add
further, that I thought it a matter of considerable be-
portance that no delay should take place in pushing this
measure through its various stages, so that a militia
force might at once bo organised. This has been a
subject of anxious deliberation on the part of those
charged with the Government of this country. Periods
have recurred—it so happened in 1845 and again in
1848—in which some immediate anticipated difficulty
suddenly called the attention of this country
to our want of means to meet the exigencies of the
occasion. Hasty propositions were made; but from
whatever motive, whether to avoid Parliamentary Ells.'
utbeimm,edainadtenadaanteg:or wwaesri3apassed
oevesrsi°il' as soon a
the manor wass forgotten
to avoid the recurrence of similar dangers.
state of things I saw, and expressed that I foresaw, tatkhent a
se-
rious dangers and inconvenience likely to arise. I ven-
tured to call your attention to theet that the more
peaceful your relations with foreign state were, the more
forcipes powers,
it yeas, without giving occasion of offence to
to take such means as would perma-
nently place your resources upon such a footing as would
save you, at some future period,
from imperfect propo-
sitions, which, being hastily adopted, were necessarily
imperfect, and only tended to increase the alarm which
they were intended to obviate.—(Hoar, hear.) . v
n
a little remarkable that the consolidation of tub__Militia
itself
Bill, which is the basis of the existing law, Z. 9. It
proposed. in an interval of peace between two
llowed
was proposed and carried during the peace which fothee that
prctection
the treaty of Amiens in 1802. wusor 4dEntp-o'u'th, and it
this measure was introduced by 11,?,ttaLd3sezeFox. This
measure for
• was supported, out of office, by Morro-
then is an authority that it l!ace......(f{ear, hear.) Her
of
Majesty's these circumstances,
proposed to
felt,
eeeed at till rieke, and carry
Y for ttPorganizstiOu of a militia which
Plausible and
throught.htohiabe be taken
yv,;4l l'asaksmanetheir
Government
d(n:tu te
least
fbr the purposes
we thought most andriehgihtliabbeleratiosedthae'i t
,ams any de-
osed to be raised. iyLords, I have
• force Pr°l);-
fensi7e
her majosty Government were bound not to
said that i ,on whether !tie
to toe climb ,
sboel iede cohmjuPcitiisohnesd;
measure Was popular
look
country. am be But I
v h th° - to say if it is tin-
pop' r--
a which I have
grEat ,4ouuts, that the greatest
u.a.
credit la due to the Hones of Commons at large, and to
the great majority of that hour e,
tnat they—in tl
ou unPeuding doovlutio v#'kluijoLutat-0-bAYe a" -
i,e fale
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