The Sun.
London, England, 1863-04-25 00:00:00

thisers in this country who had gone to Mr. Adams with
addresses, represented the feelings of this country, the hon.
member said that it behoved that house to takecare and pre-
serve the country from the stain of such misrepresentation,
and to make it known to all parties in America—especially
to those who were raising a still timid voice for peace—that
the apologists for despotismand bloodshed amongst us repre-
sented but an infinitesimal portion of the sentimentof Eng-
land—(hear)—and that the great mass of our countrymen,
of all creeds and classes, were united in one common feeling
of abhorrence and condemnation of the suicidal war that was
destroying the Union and disgracing the nation. (Cheers.)
The SOLICITOR-GENERAL deprecated the tone
which the discussion had taken, and expressed doubt
whether the tenor of the speech of the hon. member for
Stroud was quite so peaceful as he des:red it to be. In
that, as in other assemblies, the expressions of individual
members must not be taken as an expression of the
opinion of Ihe assembly Heel. lie had heard with very
great pleasure from the hon. member for Belfast that in
his opinion there was no question about the policy
of the Foreign Enlistment Act, or about the duty
of enforcing it. It would be a great support to the Govern.
meat if that were generally understood throughout the
country. He denied that anything he had said in recent
debates had been inconsistent with enforcing the provisions
of that act. The Government had all along stated their in-
tention of enforcing it in all cases in which sufficient infor-
mation, supported by sufficient evidence, could be brought
to bear. With regard to the case of the Alexandra, the hon,
and learned gentleman denied that the Act of Parliament
required that the Government should give the grounds upon
which they seized vessels under such circumstances. The
Government had proceeded on the evidence—on which they
were bound to proceed—that the vessel was being built for
persons exercising government in a foreign State against a
State at peace with this country. The law advisers of the
Crown said that the evidence before them was sufficient to
meet the requirements of the Foreign Enlistment Act, and
in discharge of their duty they were bound to act upon it,
especially if they wished to fulfil the pledges given to the
country. But it was asked, "Why not sue for penalties be-
fore the magistrates ?" He would say that though we are
not to go out of our way to comply with the unreasonable
demands of any Powers, they were not to go out of their
way to put themselves under the imputation that they were
not in earnest. Had the Government acted on this advice,
and gone to the magistrates, the vessel would have sailed
out of port as in the case of the Alabama. It was the duty
of the Government to act on its own responsii ility under the
guidance of the Foreign Enlistment Act. Th. hon. member
for Liverpool referred to a system of espionage. He (the So-
licitor-General) disclaimed on the part of the Government
having to do with such a system. Their sole object was to
enforce the law of the country, and this they sought to do
in a fair way ; but if any person not connected with the Go.
vernment resorted to such practices the Government was
not responsible for them. Far be it from him by any rash
word to diminish the chances of maintaining peace and
goodwill, which he was always anxious to maintain. But
it was the duty of Great Britain in the interests of peace
and goodwill between the two countries not to plead guilty
to offences which they had not committed—(hear)—and that

they should not suffer, without remonstrance, charges to be
made against them of offences of which they were not
guilty. If by any unfortunate circumstances there should
be a rupture between the two countries, they must not by
any admission that it was their duty to do that which they
were not bound to do—they must not, by any deviation from
that position which they were entitled to hold under the
law of nations, give colour to any one to say, " You your-
selves have admitted that you were wrong." This was the
object he had iu view in laying before the house on this oc-
casion the position of this seizure. They were most anxious
to prevent violations of neutrality by their Subjects, but
were determined not to accept responsibility which did not
belong to them, or to admit to the United States that they
had been guilty of breaches of international law. Care must
be had to distinguish between acts of hostility and breaches
of the municipal law of Great Britain. (Cheers.)
Sir F. KELLY pointed out that the Government had
pursued the harshest possible course to the owners of the
Alexandra. They might have indicted them, and thus had
an opportunity of testing the truth of the information, or
have commenced an action for penalties or gone before a
jury; but instead of either of these courses, they seized the
vessel, and left the owners no opportunity of knowing the
character of the evidence given against them. He urged
upon the Government to let the owners know the nature of
the charges against them. He would call the attention of the
hon. gentleman the Under Secretary for Foreign Affairs,
and of the noble lord at the head of the Government, to a
subject closely connected with the matter before the house,
and of which he had given notice. The question he wished
to put was, whether the Government had adopted
any measures to facilitate and protect postal communi-
, cation between this country and the different ports near the
Gulf of Mexico. He had been prepared for vigilance on the
part of the noble lord the Foreign Secretary more espe-
cially when he was under the guidance of the noble lord at
the head of the Government. His surprise was, therefore,
all the more when he found that the Foreign Secretary,
upon application having been made to him by the owner of
a vessel, the Sea Queen, for protection in carrying a sealed
bag of letters from the Post-office, a department of the Go-
vernment, thought proper to relieve the vessel from the
obligation of carrying the mail bag, fro fear of something
that might be done by a nation in amity with this country.
It appeared to him that this was a humiliating course for a
Minister of the Crown to pursue—and he was afraid the
result would be that the merchants connected with the
various ports of the Gulf of Mexico and the West India
Islands would henceforth be unable to carry on their cor-
respondence. (Hear, hear.)

Mr. M. MILNES protested against the accuracy of the
facts and the logic of the conclusions of the right hon. gen-
tleman the member for Stroud, and expressed his opinion
that it would be better if that right hon. gentleman would
abstain from making such speeches. One important point
had been overlooked, that whilst the United States had the
means of building their own ships the Confederate States
had not, and must rely upon us for a navy to send forth to
burn and destroy. He expressed a hope that the people of
America would not be led away by the speeches that had
been made by those who found fault with the Government.
It was ungenerous to promote a war between this country
and the United States when we were armed to the teeth
and the United States was in the agony of her destiny.
(Hear, hear.)

Lord PALMERSTON—The hon. and learned gentleman
has asked what security there is for mercantile communica-
tion with Mexico, and communication by letter. With re-
gard to merchant vessels, in the first place, the best security,
and I trust a sufficient one, is that the American Govern-
ment will no doubt observe the law of nations ; and if their
cruisers intercept and capture any merchantman with-
out sufficient cause, they are liable to damages in their courts,
and wo have no reason to believe that their courts will

not act justly. (Hear, hear.)..%Vithr;;;;cl i0...1;g; of
letters that may be carried by a merchantman, if the ves-
sel is captured upon suspicion of being concerned in an ille-
gal voyage, by that order which my noble friend the Sec-
retary for Foreign Affairs read in another place yesterday,
it will be seen what the American Government prescribes
with regard to bags so found. They are not to be opened,
the seal is not to be broken, they are to be delivered to the
consul of the nation to which they belong when the vessel
comes into port, and that consul is bound to open those
bags himself, and if there should be found anything con-
trary to the good faith of nations and against the Govern-
ment of the country, then ho is bound to give that to the Go-
vernment, but the letters in the bags are to be forwarded by
him to the destination to which they are directed. I appre-
hend, therefore, that there is no necessity for any other pro-
ceedings on the part of her Majesty's Government than
that of calling the attention of the United States Govern-
ment to the circumstances, and expressing a hope that they
will act in conformity with the orders which they them-
selves have laid down.

The house then went into committee, but immediately
resumed.

SUPPLY REPORT.

The report of supply was then brought up.

Mr. CONINGHAM asked the noble lord to assure the
house that the Prince Consort memorial would not ex-
ceed £lOO,OOO. Ha had reason to believe that it would
cost near £300,000. He moved that the report be post-
poned till they had a full and reliable estimate before
them.
Sir H. VERNEY seconded the motion.

Sir M. PE E 0 said that, as it was understood that her
Majesty had given her approval to the corm of the memorial,
they were of course precluded from all further discubsion as

to the adaptability of the form selected. But ho must say
he thought the sum asked for by the Government was in..
sufficient, and therefore he would counsel the noble lord
at the head of the 6rovernment to take a day or two to de.
termine on that point.

Lord PALMERSTON said his hon. friend the mem
ber for Brighton had misunderstood the nature of the pro-
posal made by him yesterday. (Hear, hear.) He did
not propose to the house to sanction any particular
plan, but simply that the house should grant a cer-
tain sum, with the distinct understanding that it should
rest with her Majesty to determine what should be the form
of the memorial; but though plans had been exhibited in
parts of that building, he was not aware that her Majesty
had determined as yet upon any particular plan. What
they proposed was that a sum of £50,000 should be tendered
to her Majesty towards the expense of the memorial, in ad-
dition to the private subscriptions, and if it was stated that
any particular design could not be executed for that amount,
he might remind hon. gentlemen that it was easy for a man
of genius either to reduce a plan or the amount of orna-
mentation which it displayed. Under these circumstances
he did not see the reason for postponing the vote, (Hear,
hear.)
After come further discussion,

Mr. CONINGIi A.M. said that, after hearing the state-
ment of the noble lord, ho could not do otherwise than
withdraw his motion, but subject of course to the clear
understanding that the vote was to be a clear gift to her
Majesty, to be dealt with as she might think best.
The resolution was then agreed to, as were also the other
resolutions.

SUPPLY.
The report of supply was brought up and agreed to.
POST OFFICE SAVINGS BANKS.
The Lords' amendments for this bill were considered and
agreed to,