The Sun.
London, England, 1856-07-02 00:00:00

Law Commission bad made its report. That report had
been made; nothing was done, and since then legislation
was getting worse on the subject. Hebad waited already
`four months to redeem his pledge that he would bring
the question before the house, and now found himself
deprived of the opportunity which offered itself.
Sir G. GREY said it was quite impo.sible the motion
of the right bon. gentleman could be passed without a
debate. The Government had opposed the adjournment
of the debate on the previous night for the purpose of
giving the right hon. gentleman and other bon, members
the opportunity of proceeding with their respective mo-
tions, and the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster
would have been ready to state what bad been done, as
a member of the C3mmon Law Commission, if the ques-
tion could have been brought on. If, however, the
right hon, gentleman would on any future evening ad-
dress a question to the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lan-
caster, his (Sir G. Grey's) right hon. friend would be pre-
pared to state the position of the question and the pro-
bable course of the Government in regard to it.
The motion for postponement was then agreed to, and
the adjourned debate was proceeded with.
Mr. M. GIBSON said he had moved the adjournment

of the debate on the preceding night, because whatever
doubt might exist as to the pr)priety of the motion,
no doubt could exist on the proposition that once the
discussion of the question was entered on it ought not
to be prematurely concluded. A forcible appeal had boon
made to the hon, member for Mayo not to bring on the
motion, and doubtless the conviction which actuated those
who made that appeal was that no good could arise from
the discussion of the question at this moment, but pro-
bably some evil. He (Mr. Gibson) was himself averse to
the motion on other grounds, but he could not admit
that there was any Parliamentary ground hr shrinking
from its discussion, betas re when the Minister of the

Crown laid papers before the house relating to negotia-
tions with any foreign powers, pending or concluded, he
invited Parliament by that act to express an opinion on
the subject, and any member was therefore at liberty to
elicit an expression of that opinion. The Government
could not therefore complain of the question brou4ht un-
der discussion, because if publicity was deemed by them
to be injurious to the cause in band, they ought not to
have courted publinty, and because having, as it were
invited Parliament to discussion, silence on the
part of the house might ise taken as acquiescence in their
course of policy. As the motion stood, therefore, it was
impossible for any hon. member to shrink from recording
his vote, The motion involved the questions, first, whe-
ther the operations carried on by her Majesty's Govern-
ment in enlisting soldiers for her Majesty's service in the
United States were wise and politic ; secondly, whether,
supposing them wise and politic, they were prudently
and judiciously conducted ; and, thirdly, whether the re-
sults were such as to enable Parliament to approve of
the policy of the Government and of its mode of proceed. icg. He (Mr. Gibson) had been opposed to the principle
of the Foreign Enlistment Act from the beginning, be-
cause he felt that any attempt to carry it out would lead
this country into international disputes of a serious
character. He should not, however, permit his opinion
upon that measure to bias Lis judgment in the present
else ; because the bill having been adopted by Par-
liament it became the duty of the executive to give
effect in some form or other to the intentions of
the Legislature. The Secretary of State for the
Home Department had thrown out an insinuation to the
contrary effect as regarded the supporters of the motion ;
and he had stated that the speech of his (Mr. Gibson's)
friend the hon. member for Inverness might have been,
and probably had been, delivered in opposition to the
Foreign Enlistment Act. There was another statement
of the right hon. gentleman in reference to the contents
of the blue book, an 1 the papers laid before Parliament
on the subject, in which he (Mr. Gibson) could not con-
cur either. The right hon. gentleman bad said that the
friendly feeling of the British Government, and their un-
willingness to give any just cause of offence to the United
States Government, was evident on the face of every des-
patch which bad been seat from the Foreign Office, and
and that they had done nothing whatever to place them in
the wrong with the United States Government. He (Mr.
Gibson), however, found passages in those despatches of
Lend Clarendon than which, in his opinion, nothing could
be more insulting to the United States,or better calculated
to produce irritation and bad feelinc, between the two
countries. In the despatch of November 10, 1855, Lord
Clarendon informed Mr. Crampton that Mr. Buchanan
bad called on him to inquire why such large reinforce-
ments bad been sent to the We,t Indies, as he was ap•
prehensive it would create excitement in the United
States ; and that be had told Mr. Buchanan there was
no intention on the pelt of her Majesty's Government
to attack or menace the United States • but as they had
reason to believe that ships were fitted out in United
States ports for Russian purposes—as there was a great
conspiracy in progress in the United States to create an

insurrection in. Ireland—as a United States ship had
recently been engaged in taking soundings in the ports
of the West Indies—and as there had been a note from
Marcy to Mr. Crampton, indicating a fixed purpose to
promote a quarrel, her Majesty's Government thought
it fit to be prepared for the course of events which it
had done and would da nothing to provoke, and which
they would still do their utmost to avert. (Hear.) He
(Mr. G.) denied the accuracy of these statements. As
regarded the first of them—namely, that ships were fit-
ting out for Russia in the ports of the United States—
that charge, which had been made by Mr. Barclay, our
consul, was made under false information, and it was re-
tracted by Mr. Barclay himself in a published apology in
the newspapers. To sta'e, therefore, that this was a rea-
son why an increased force was sent out to the West In-
dies, was to assume tbo truth of the allegation without
waiting for inquiry, and to act on that assumption was to
insult a friendly nation. Then as regarded the great non•
spiracy to promote insurrection in Ireland in the United

States, he (Mr. G.) not only denier] the fact, but he con-
demned the terms as totally inapplicable to the Irish
population, subjects of her Maje-ty, in the United States.
A great conspiracy, to be followed by an armed invasion
of Ireland ! Was there a man in the house who would
say he believed it ? It was consequently an insult to im-
pute it to the United States, and to charge the United
States Government with knowing it was in progress. As
regarded the American ship taking soundings in the
West India ports, that was a sheer absurdity; charts,
accurate charts, of all the ports in the West Indies,
could be had in any of the shops for the sale of such
commodities without any trouble, and at a trifling cost.
The cry about " soundings " was a periodical cry, hav-
ing been absurdly got up on many occasions in this
country, more particularly just before the French Re-
volution, but without the least foundation for the alarm
that was supposed to be felt. The tone now adopted
by the Government was that what they bad done in the
United States was what they were entitled to do, and
nothing more. Buf had not the Government made mis-
takes in the Hanse Towns, and had not the Prussian
Government taken our consul, and not only roughly
handled him, but thrown him into prison ? And if they
made one mistake might they not have made an-
other ? The Government wished the world to be-
lieve that all the British Government had done in
issuing their proclamation was to "give informa-
tion "to the American people. But upon that ground
every law might be broken. A man might say to an-
other, "I wia give you 10/, if you will vote for me,"
and say, with just as much reason, that that was only
"giving information" to the voter. Tee right hon. gentle-
man the Secretary for the Home Department had told the
house that nc persuasion had been used to induce the men
t leave the United States ; but Lord Clarendon, in his
despatches, maintained that the Government had an indis-
putable right to use persuasion and offer inducements to
American citizens. If that were the opinion of the Govern-
ment why should that denial have been put forward ? If
the British Government had power to do that, they had
power to do all that the American G ,verument itself
bad power to do. But ho (Mr. Gibson) thought it was
highly necessary to inquire whether the recommendation
of Lord Clarendon in the despatch of July 16, that there
should be no concealment from the American Govern-
ment, had been followed up or not. Now Mr. Crampton
bad had but one conversation with Mr. March (that of
March 22) until September, and on that occasion in
March, he told Mr. Marcy that numerous applications
had been made, and Mr. Marcy said that persons
might of course leave the United States, but he should
enforce the neutrality laws. (The right hon. gentleman
then read the rnieute of this conversation as read by the
Attorney-General on the previous evening, in which Mr.
Crampton said he had intentionally abstained from in-
forming Mr. Marcy of the means adopted by the British
Government to induce Americans to join the British
army.) Now that was really and truly the only impor-
tant matter that Mr. Marcy had any interest in know-
ing, because upon the exact means employed depeuded
the legality or illegality of the proceedings of the British
Government. It was now denied so very forcibly that
anything wrong had been done, that he supposed the
Government were prepared to do again that which they
had done. He could see no reason for desisting from that
which we had a perfect right to do ; but he believed that
bad there been no United States municipal law at all, the
British Government bad no right to make treaties with
agencies of questionable character, but to communicate
with the Government itself. He believed, after reading
the works of the most eminent writers on international
law, that no Government had any right to operate in the
territory of another without the consent of that Govern-
ment. It had been stated in a pamphlet, the writer of
which was prepared to verify his statements, that the
operation of our Government there had cot about
40,0001., and that the net proceeds of the whole transac-
tion were 37 Germans who were now creating mutiny
and disturbances in our garrisons at Plymouth. These
men had cost about 1,00./. a-head, and could not be
trusted with arms in the public streets. How any Bri-
tish Government could imagine that the English people
would sanction their sending across the Atlantic in pur-
suit of Germans at that price he could not tell. [The
right hon. gentleman then read some further passages
from the pamphlet, stating that payments had been
made to those persons who had gone to America, and
returned after a fruitless journey.] Now when appli-
cations were made to the Government for situations, it
was not usual to compensate the applicants who
were refused, and he believed that some arrangement
bad been made between those persons and the British
Government. [ln support of that opinion the right hon.
gentleman read a letter from the Hon. Joseph Howe to
a Major Smolenski, promising him the colonelcy of the
regiment when it was formed, and four dollars a man for
every recruit he shipped from Boston.] Now there was
an answer to the letter from Smolenski himself, who
said—" I have received the annexed letter, and I under-
take to serve her Majesty the Queen as therein ex-
plained." This letter was signed "Joseph Smolenski."
Ile (Mr. Gibson) maintained that if ever there was a con-
tract that was one, and if the thing had been legal it
would have been a contract between two parties in the
fullest sense of the word. It would have been a hiring
and retaining. He found that Mr. Mathew, the con-
sul, admitted that be had paid money to Mr, Hertz