The Sun.
London, England, 1860-04-24 00:00:00

CHURCH RATES.

The Bishop of OXFORD presented a number of peti-
tions against the abolition of church rates, and against any
alteration in the law of marriage.
COMMISSIONS IN TJIE ARMY.

Lord VIVIAN said a question stood upon the paper in
his name for that evening, but as the question had been
so fully answered in another place he should
not further trouble their lordships. The discovery
of the illegal sale of examination papers for candidates for
commissions in the army had been made, and he hoped
stringent steps would be adopted to prevent such a circum•
stance again occurring.
PRIVATE DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE.

The Marquis of NORMANBY rose to move the follow-
ing resolution :—That it appears by the papers lately laid
before Parliament, and especially by a despatch from Earl
Cowley to Lord John Russell, dated sth February, that
the French minister had stated, and truly, that the intention
of the Emperor of the French to take possession of Savoy
under certain contingencies had been made known to her
Majesty's ambassador at Paris, and by him communicated
to her Majesty's Secretary of State on more than one occa-
sion between the 12th of July, 1859, and the 25th of
January, 1860, in private letters. That while this house
fully recognises the necessity of a private correspondence
between the Secretary of State and her Majesty's represen-
tatives abroad, it is of opinion that all facts of international
importance ought to be made matter of official correspon-
dence, and as such to remain on record for the use
not only of the Government of the day but of their succes-
sors in office, to be produced to or withheld from Parlia-
ment by the ministers of the Crown on their responsi-
bility. That the absence of any such record, more " espe-
cially if such private correspondence is referred to in public
despatches," is injurious to the public service, unjust alike
to the Foreign Minister who made the communicatiot
and to official colleagues at home, and calculated to withhold
important matter from the full and free control of Parliament.
The noble marquis having alluded to the circumstances
which had induced him to place the resolution on the
paper of their lordships' house, said be did not ir tend it as
a vote of censure upon any party, but merely as
a declaration of a principle. lie had since he had
given his motion taken the opportunity of examining
the papers that had been presented to Parliament, but
on the subject the information was so meagre that lie
felt right to proceed with his resolution ; and, in doing so,
it was not his intention to raise another debate upon the
Italian war. His lordship then alluded to the correspon-
dence between the Governments of England and France, and
also to certain despatches written by Lord John Russell on
the annexation of Nice and Savoy to France, and read
extracts from them, and went on to refer to the different
questions he had put to the Government in the early pelt
of the session on the subject. He had been blamed for
wasting their lordships' time, but the facts
now showed that the information on which
he had acted was true in every particular. On one
occasion he had asked the Government whether any
information had been received relative to a secret
treaty between France and Sardinia for the annexation
of Nice and Savoy, and he had been told that no such
information had been received, when it now appeared that
Lord Cowley had in a private letter to Lord John Russell,
the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, sent him infor-
mation on the subject. On the sth of February a despatch
had been written by Lord Cowley, but it was endorsed as
having been received on the Bth, and he should like some
explanation of the extraordinary circumstance of a letter
taking three days to travel from London to Paris, unless
there was some object to gain by the letter not arriving at
its destination before that time. He trusted that their
lordships would adopt these resolutions, not as casting a
censure upon any one man, but as convoying the general
impressions of the house. He felt all the responsibility of
introducing to their lordships a question of this importance,
but he could assure them that he was only anxious to have
so much attention called to it
_as he sincerely thought it
deserved.

Earl COWLEY.—My lords, before I make any comment
on the resolutions which my noble friend has just submit-
ted to your lordships, I beg to thank you for the courtesy
shown to myself in postponing this discussion till my re-
turn. (Cheers.) lam sure none of your lordships will be
astonished at my wish to take part in this debate. (Cheers.)
When I first read the resolutions proposed by my noble
friend they appeared to me to contain so distinct and so
specific a charge against myself—(cheers)—of being some
way or other the instrument of keeping back from your
lordships matters of great importance that I felt it neces-
sary to ask permission of the Secretary of State to appear
before your lordships and answer the charge. (Cheers.) It
is perfeetly clear that it is somethingwhich I have done, or
rather that I have left undone, which has induced my noble
friend to move these resolutions—resolutions which, in spite
of what he says, appear to me to convey a vote of censure.
(Cheers.) The best way in which I can meet this charge
is by stating simply to your lordships all that has taken
place with reference to these transactions. (Cheers.) In
the month of March last my noble friend then at the head
of the Foreign Department—
The Earl of DERBY.—In March, 1859 ?
Earl COWLEY.—Yes, I mean in March, 1859. In that
month I received a communication from my noble friend
the Foreign Secretary stating that he had received infor-
mation of a treaty signed in the January preceding between
France and Sardinia for the cession of Savoy, and desiring
me to make inquiries on the subject. I instituted those in-
quiries, and I was told that no such treaty was in existence.
On the 4th of July a communication was addressed to me
by the Swiss Ambassador, in Is hid, on the part of the
Federal Council, he expressed apprehensions lest there
should be an arrangement of that nature between France and
Sardinia. Without waiting for instructions from her Ma-
jesty's Government, I went to Count Walewski, and he
then told me that there had been discussions between the
Governments of those two countries, and that it had been
laid down on the part of France that if the event of
the war were to make territorial additions to Sardinia,
France would think it right for the security of her frontiers
to demand some extension. I conveyed this information to
her Majesty's Government, and on the following day, the
sth of July, I received the instructiens which are included
in the papers that I hold in my hands ; and I may say, once
for all, that up to the time when the question took a more
serious shape these instructions guided my conduct and in-
fluenced the conversations which I held with the French
Government. On the sth news arrived of the armistice ; and
on the Bth Count Walewski, in a conversation which I had
with him, of his own accord, and without any provocation
on my part, made a declaration that if at any time the idea
of annexing Savoy to France had been entertained it was
entirely abandoned. This declaration was made unequivo •
cally and without any reserve whatever. On the 11th the
treaty of peace was signed at Villafranca. Your lordships
are aware that those preliminaries were ill-received in gene-
ral by the populations of Italy; they thought they would
benefit by taking part with Sardinia, and they preferred an-
nexation to that country to the arrangements made under
the provisions of that treaty. You lordships are also aware
that Count Walewski, from the noment those preliminaries
were signed, was most anxious tocarry out the•stipulations
which they embodied. It is perfectly true that in various
conversations which I had with lira, but particularly on the