The Sun.
London, England, 1860-10-26 00:00:00

THE 8 [IN, LONDON, FRIDAY EVENING, OCTOBER 20, 1860.

stringent enactments bearing on traders, and appli-
cable to them, but not to the circumstances and
habits of non-traders, might work great injustice
and injury to the latter. The Attorney-General
said he had considered all that, and he was
quite prepared, if the clauses he proposeddid
not sufficiently provide against these objections,
he should be able so to modify them in the
progress of the bill as to attain the desired
result. I3tit we never came so far as to touch
upon that disputed point. I hope, indeed I am
confident, that, with his ability, and the assist-
ance we should get from all parties in the house,
we may be able to carry a bill sufficient and satis-
factory to all parties. (Hear, hear.) It really is a
bill which does not involve party considerations.
(Cheers.) It is not a question between one class of
politicians and another—it is a question in which
all the commerical and industrial portions of the
community have a common interest—and I feel
confident that ir passing such a bill we should have
the assistance of men of all sides of the house and
of all political parties, earnestly, sincerely, and
honestly endeavouring to shape it in such form as
will satisfy the just expectations of the commercial
interests, without at all working any injustice or
injury to those different classes of society. I shall
be armed next session with the report of what has
passed on this occasion, and which I am sure will
have its due weight not only with the Government,
but I am persuaded equally so with members of
the House of Commons generally. And I hope
that those towns—which, as has been stated, have
taken so great an interest in the question—will in-
spire their members with that zeal—(a laugh)—
which, I am proud to say, members for great com-
munities are very seldom found wanting in—and
that they, on their part, will be in a position to
congratulate themselves, at the end of the session,
upon having been instrumental in carrying a mea-
sure of such great importance to the commercial
interests of the country. (Cheers.)
Sir J. RAMSDEN tendered to the noble lord the
thanks of the several deputations for the kindness
with which he had listened to their statements,
and expressed their satisfaction at the assurance
the noble lord had given as to the intentions of the
Government. The constituencies represented he
was assured would tender their most cordial sup-
port to the Government in their endeavours to pass
the measure.

Lord PALMERSTON said a few words indicating
his satisfaction at meeting the deputation, and re-
ceiving personally the views of gentlemen so prac-
tically acquainted with commercial questions.
After a few words from Sir J. Crossley, intimat-
ing that a committee had been appointed that morn-
ing to draw up a statement of the points of differ-
ence from the Government Bill, which would be
communicated to the Attorney-General,
The deputation withdrew.

In the evening the noble viscount presided at the
annual soiree of the Leeds Mechanics' Institution
and Literary Society. The soiree was held in the
Town-hall, which was crowded in every part, about
two thousand persons being present. The tickets of
admission ranged in price from 10s. 6d. to 2s. 6d.
each. The society, in behalf of which the soiree
was held, are making efforts to procure funds for
the erection of a new building, and it is probable
that it will realise from £2OO to £250 from the sale
of tickets amongst the distinguished persons pre-
sent. Besides the noble lord, were Lady Palmer.
ston, the Countess of Essex, the Hon. Earl Fitz -
william, and Countess Fitzwilliam, Marquis de
Fontenello ; Hon. W. Cowper, First Commissioner
of Public Works; the Hon. Lord Wensleydale, Sir
J. P. Kay Shuttleworth, Sir J. Emmerson Tennent,
Sir J. W. Ramsden, M.P., Mrs, Ramsden, Sir P.
Fairbairn, J. G. Marshall, Esq., F. Crossley, Esq.,
M.P., R. M. Mines, Esq., M.P., E. Baines, Esq.,
M.P., G. S. Beecroft, Esq., M.P., E. Childers, Esq.,
M.P., T. Salt, Esq., M.P., &c.
Mr. W. BECKETT, of Kirkstall Grange, intro-
duced the noble lord to the assembly amidst en-
thusiastic cheers.
Lord PALMERSTON rose to address the meeting
amidst loud applause. Silence having been ob-
tained, the noble lord proceeded to deliver a very
felicitous speech, which was frequently interrupted
by warm applause. He commenced by expressing
the pride and pleasure which he felt at having been
allowed to preside at a meeting of so numerous and
distinguished attendance in one of the first towns
of this great empire, and for purposes so honour-
able to the town, and which he had no doubt would
be attended with success, and would confer great
and lasting benefits on the town. (Applause.)
After passing a warm eulogium on Dr. Birkbeck
and Lord Brougham, as the founders of mechanics'
institutes, and adverting to the efforts of the
latter (Brougham) for the abolition, first of
the slave trade, and for the promotion of civil
and religious liberty all over the world, he said
that it had, fallen to the lot of the noble lord
(Brougham) to do more than other men to promote
the diffusion of education amongst his fellow-coun-
trymen. He had passed a life in acquiring—not
in acquiring only, but also in diffusing—knowledge
and thereby conferring great benefits on others.
(Cheers.) There was one important difference be-
tween the present time and the past. In the past
ages there have been many men eminent for know-
ledge and for their discoveries in science and philo-
sophy ; but then the greatness of the nation was
obscured by comparative ignorance, aild long after
the days of Newton and Bacon the absurd notions
of astrology and witchcraft prevailed. Now know-
ledge was spread greatly throughout every class of
society, and not only has individual happiness been
much increased but the greatness and welfare of the
nation have been greatly augmented. (Hear, hear.)
One of the most useful of the means for spreading
this knowledge was mechanics' institutes. (Ap-
plause.) Yet some persons had objected to these
institutions chiefly on the ground that the men for
whom they were designed to benefit could only ob-
tain from them a superficial knowledge, and the
trite aphorism came into play—a little knowledge
is a dangerous thing—for a little knowledge was a
bad thing, that was, that it was a bad thing that a
man had only a little learning ; but what was still
worse than having a little learning was having no
learning at all. (Hear, hear.) His lordship pro-
seeded to speak of the value of mechanics' institu-
tions„' and gave some hints how such associations
might be made most useful to their members. He
spoke of the proper place which works of the ima-
gination ought to occupy, of the importance of a
knowledge of chemistry, and of the importance of
an acquaintance with the fundamental principles
of science as applicable to the ordinary avocations cf
life. It was an interesting study, said his lordship, to
witness the diversityand infinite variety of the animal
creation, beginning with man and descending to
animals which required the power of the micro-
scope to render them visible to man. The contem-
plation of these organic beings, said his lordship,
must fill the mind with admiration of the creation,
of the power, of skill, and wisdom which had
directed the great Creator from whom they owed
their origin. (Cheers.) The contemplation of the
descending scale, no doubt, tended to make man
fancy that he was lord of the creation, but he hoped
that the institution would also direct the mind to
the upward scale. He trusted that they would not
only tread the elementary principles of geology,
but also the general outlines of the planetary
system revolving round the sun. They would then
see what a comparatively insignificant portion of
that planetary system was this earth, which the
ancients used to think almost the whole of the
created universe, which would abate those feelings
of pride which perhaps the contemplation of the
descending scale might have been calculated to in-
spire. (Applause.) There was no reason why the
working classes should not learn the general out-
lines of a still further science, and be taught the
main principles of the organisation of the universe,
and learn that the innumerable bright spots which
perplex the sky of a clear starlight night were not
simply ornaments to the Heavens, but that they
consisted of millions of suns, many of them fat
larger than this earth, and each surrounded by a
planetary system like our own. (Hear.) While
on the other hand these contemplations, by enlarg-
ing the human mind, must tend to abate the pride
and vanity of prosperity, so on the other hand they
must tend to calm and console those who might be
labouring under adversity, by letting them see
that the affairs of this world formed but a minute
part of the general dispensation of the Almighty,
and that all those great arrangements, whatever
might be their partial and temporary effect, were
destined in the main for ultimate and permanent
good. (Cheers.) The noble lord dwelt upon the
advantages of lectures in promoting instruction
—lectures led men easily and usefully to results
which had been acquired by deep study ; but long
labour was necessary, in order that those
who attended lectures might derive the full
value which they were intended to impart.
To effect this object a valuable system of
voluntary competitive examinations had recently
been established in connection with mechanics'

institutions, (Applause.) The three sources of
knowledge—the lecture given in the general way,
the subsequent study carried on by the individual,
and the test put to them by the examiner—was a
complete system of instruction, which, if carried
out, as he had no doubt it would be, not only in
Leeds, but in other parts of the country, must tend
rapidly to improve the intellectual condition of the
population of the waited empire, and, by improving
their intellectual condition, add to their happiness,
and promote the greatness and prosperity of the
empire to which they belong. (Cheers.) After cor-
diallywishing success to the scheme for erecting a
new building for the mechanics' institution in Leeds,
his lordship
lordship
sat down amidst loud cheering.
lt was subsequently
announced that the noble

viscount had subscribed £5O towards the fund for
building the institute, the total subscriptions
amountin 5 to £5,000.
Sir J, h. SjIIITTLEWORTH, the Hon. W. COW-
PER, and several other of the gentlemen mentioned
above addressed the meeting, which terminated
with a cordial vote of thanks to Lord Palmerston.

out of 5 or 6, 6 out of Bor 9, and 6 out of 10 or up-
wards, and to other married non-commissioned
officers and men at the rate of 8 per cent. of the
whole number on shore of married and single men,
as well as all men who may happen to be in gar-
rison belonging to other divisions. The remaining
non-commissioned officers and married men are to
receive the 2d. a day lodging allowance as at pre-
sent.

" By command of their Lordships,
" S. ROBERT WESLEY, Deputy Adjt.-Gen."

FRENCH POLICY 1N ITALY.

The following is a full translation of tha article
under the above heading in the Constttutionnel, a
summary of which has already appeared in our
columns :
" The policy of the Emperor in Italy is attacked
with the same energy by the two extreme sides
of public opinion. Let us first consider how these
attacks are made. We shall reply to them with
the less embarrassment, when we have frankly
made them known.
" On the one hand it is said to the Government
of the Emperor,—
" You have nobly sacrificed your programme, so
as not to disturb the peace of Europe. By halting
at Villafranca you endeavoured to stop revolution,
to save the Pope, and reconcile Princes with their
subjects. All that has been written, but not car •
ried out. Your signature affixed to the treaty of
Zurich has been cancelled by the ambition and bad
faith of Piedmont, which discarded its own. The
Princes, whose rights were reserved, are in exile.
The Papacy, which you declared it was your wish
to consolidate in its temporal power, has lost the
greater portion of its possessions. Revolution
overruns the Peninsula; it has invaded Sicily and
Naples ; perhaps, a few months hence, it will attack
Venetia; everywhere it destroys your work, and its
very boldness is a proof of your impotency.
" The disavowals you make to Piedmont are of
not one-tenth more avail than your counsels, and
by disavowing her you do not seem to free your-
self, for you seem to approve that which you
tolerate. Thus, before public opinion, you are
the accomplice of a policy which you are obliged to
blame. As no one believes in the weakness of a
great nation like France, and of a Sovereign bear-
ing the name of Napoleon, you are suspected of
duplicity.
" Europe, which was accustomed to trust you,
begins to doubt you ; even the Church suspects
your protection, and the sacrifices which you make
in the interests of the Sovereign Pontiff do not
allay the mistrust of the Catholics. Throw up this
false and humiliating position. Do not be taken in
tow by Sardinia ; do not be revolutionary against
your inclination. With a firm hand uphold the
treaty of Villafranca ; intervene, so as not to be mis-
led ; restore to the Pope his provinces, to the Princes
their thrones, to Italy the conditions of her poli-
tical existence, and you will soon regain the
confidence of Europe, which you have lost, and the
gratitude of the Papacy, which you have alienated !
" On the other hand we hear quite different lan-
guage. It is said to the Government of the Em-
peror :

" You have taken the cause of Italy in hand ;
it is your initiative, it is your support, which have
restored to a whole people the irresistible impulse
of their nationality. You have staked the money,
the honour, and the blood of France in this great
matter. By signing the peace of Villafranca you
reserved the rights of Princes, but did not impose
them, By restoring the Italians to themselves you
made them the arbitrators of their own destinies,
and placed their fate in their own hands. The
programme which you did not think it advisable to
carry out has been taken up and realised by them.
They are now the soldiers of the cause of which you
were the promoter and the support. In vain would
you stop the Italian idea; ideas are like cannon-
balls—once fired off, nothing can stop them. Doubt-
less there was an infringement of international law
—doubtless what is taking place is abnormal and
irregular ; but above written laws in social crises
there is sometimes a higher right. It is this right
which the Italians are now defending in the Papal
States and in the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies.
Their conduct, which must be blamed by diplo-
macy, will be absolved, and perhaps glorified, by
history. What, in fact, is the peculiar interest at-
tached to an unpopular dynasty, like that of the
Bourbons at Naples, repudiated by the people, re-
duced to a tardy resistance in a corner of the king-
dom, and condemned by the opinion of Europe at
the Congress of Paris ? What is the political sove-
reignty of the Pope, which is incompatible with the
independence of the nation, and which can only be
maintained by foreign arms ? What is all that
compared to the great result of the constitution of
Italian nationality, formed under the protection of
France, and as an outpost of its power in Europe ?
That cause is yours. Act frankly where your in-
terests are at stake and where sympathy awaits
you : do not by hesitation lame the generous efforts
in the Two Sicilies, which can neither hurt your
feelings nor thwart your designs. Do not
continue at Rome an occupation which irri-
tates the national feelings of the population with-
out sparing you the ingratitude of the Papal Go-
vernment. Let Italy develope the independence
which you have encouraged and the unity which
will turn to your advantage. Finally, to quote your
own words, ' Let the soldiers of freedom today be-
come to-morrow the citizens of a great country.'
" Such is the whole truth, without curtailment,
of the reproaches and counsels addressed to French
policy by the extremes of public opinion.
" If we were to show that this policy could not,
without compromising its most strict principles and
most essential interests, adopt either of the two
lines of conduct which it is reproached for not hav-
ing adopted, we should have given the beet possible
answer to the accusations we have just stated.
" What do those persons who would wish to see
the Emperor turn 'against Italy call on him to do ?
They ask him to place himself out of the pale of all
the principles he represents and all the rules he
has laid down. They ask him to renounce the mo-
ral authority which he exercises for the welfare
and the peace of Europe. They wish him to con-
tradict himself, and, so to say, to change his nature.
But is that possible ? Can the Emperor forget that
he is the elect of universal suffrage, and the repre-
sentative on the throne of the ideas of the new
society and of all the progress of civilisation ? Can
he betray the origin of his name and of the mission
which he holds from the confidence of the French
people ? His enemies desire it no doubt, but they
esteem him too much to hope for it. And to what
would such a defection serve ? To weaken the pres-
tige of the Emperor without advantage to any one.
There is one thing which the whole world now un-
derstands—even those who regret to see it—namely
that the great influence of the Sovereign of France
is one of the elements of the balance of power and
of the seourity of Europe, and, moreover, one of
the most precious resources she can invoke in
the troubled situation of most States. The Treaty
of Villafranca responded to a high conception,
and it is deeply to be regretted that the
treaty has remained a dead letter ; but the
Sovereigns who signed it never had the pretension
to impose by force of arms the rights which were
reserved in it. That pretension would have been
irreconcilable with the situation which the treaty
was to consecrate. Austria lost at Solferino her
supremacy in Italy, and, except her sovereignty in
Venetia, retained nothing; but ought France to in-
herit the very situation which she has wrested
from the House of Hapsburg ? Ought she to impose
her domination on Italy after having destroyed
that of Austria ? Ought her promises of enfran-
chisement to end in such a falsehood ? In fact,
we could not restore former Governments to aban-
don them on the morrow of their restoration to the
inevitable reaction of the national spirit. After
having restored them it would have been necessary
to protect them by a military occupation of their
capitals and fortresses. We, the liberators of this
people, should become its gaolers ! Rome, Bologna,
Perugia, Ancona, Florence, Parma, Modena, Pa-
lermo, Naples, condemned to live under our pro-

tection, they would be simply slaves with a change
of masters.

" What would Italy have said, what would Eng-
land have said, what would all Euror e have said P
They would have looked upon Italy thus protected
as a French Italy. And for the advantage of whom

would the Pmperor have turned his arms against
his old ally, the King of Sardinia, and have placed
himself in flagrant disaccord with England ? For
the advantage of Governments which, according
us neither sympathies nor their confidence, have
no right to demand such sacrifices !

" The lmperor cannot and will not make sacri-
fices, except for a just cause, for Governments
which are not hateful to their own people and are
not the enemies of France.

" Thus, in every point of view, for the mainte-
nance of the legitimate influence of the Emperor
in Europe, for the maintenaace of our good rela-
tion with the other Powers, for the truth of our
policy, for the very honour of France, such con-
duct is not possible.

" Was the other line of conduct less possible or
less dangerous ?
" Italy is passing through a great crisis of her
destiny, and is, in fact, in revolution. A revolu-
tionary situation has temporarily replaced for that
country the regular conditions of international
existence. Hence the profound perturbations, the
infractions of public law, the violent invasions; the
precipitate annexations which we have witnessed !
Could France lend a hand to such wild movements !
At present, perhaps, we excite distrust, but if we
had encouraged Piedmont, instead of blaming her,
what would have happened ? We should neces-
sarily have had to break off with Russia, which has
just withdrawn her ambassador from Turin ; with
Prussia, which protests; with Austria, which feels
herself menaced. • We should have inevitably
drifted into universal war. The fortune of France,
her labour, her industry—all that would have been
abandoned to the hazards of a gigantic conflict.
The Emperor would have changed his part and his
character ; instead of being the moderator of the
revolution, he would have become the leader of it ;
instead of being the pacificator of Europe, he
would be her terror ; instead of being the powerful
arbiter in questions of equilibrium, he would have lost
the very titles of his jurisdiction ; and, though elected
by 8,000,000 of suffrages and representing the na-
tional will, he would have become nothing more
than the instrument of a party.
"Neither of those two attitudes was in keeping
with the interests of our country, with the mission
of the Emperor, with the character of our institu-
tions, with the movement of new ideas which pre-
vail everywhere.

" France could no more assume the part of Austria
in Italy than she could serve the revolution ; she
could no more favour revolutionary annexations
than she could favour absolutist reactions. When
the Emperor called upon the Italians to be the sol-
diers of a great cause, so as to become the citizens
of a great country, he did not mean Piedmont only
but Italy.

" His sentiments, like his mission, have not
undergone any change ; he still wishes to assure
the independence of the Peninsula without en-
couraging anarchy there. A recognised Sovereign
by the whole of Europe, he is not allowed to approve
the violation of international law. A Sovereign
elected by universal suffrage, he cannot make him-
self the support of Kings whose people forsake them.
" Finally, the intervention of France against
Piedmont would be a contradiction ; the interven-
tion of Austria in Italy would be an offensive
return towards a position she has irretrievably lost ;
complicity with Sardinia would be- a defiance to
Europe and a compact with revolution.

" What then is to be done ? What line of con-
duct is to be followed ? Many objections have
been raised against the meeting of a Congress. A
Congress could only be impossible if an agreement
amid not be established between the Powers called
upon to form it. Is that the case ?
" During the last year a very profound move-
ment has taken place in Europe, but it is not suffi-
ciently remarked. When the French Emperor, at
the beginning of 1859, pleaded the cause of Italy,
he had scarcely on his side the opinion of his own
country. But now everything is greatly changed.
England, which then demanded the inviolability
of the treaties of 1815, now favours Italian
unity ; Prussia, in a recent document ema-
nating from the distinguished statesman who
directs her foreign affairs, recognises in Ita-
lion nationality a happy presage for Germany;
Russia, under the influence of a liberal Sovereign,
also shows herself disposed to take into account a
new element in the life of nations ; Austria herself
has an immense interest in escaping from the un-
certainties which weigh so heavily on her, and the
reforms she has just accorded prove that she is re-
solved to enter on a liberal course. As to France,
faithful to the interests which she has defended,
not being engaged to any one, she would in a
Congress derive advantage from the reserve with
which she is reproached and the moderation she
has known how to maintain. Better than any
other Power, perhaps, she would be able to
indicate the points of a compromise between
all divergencies. After having enfranchised Italy,
supported the Pope at Rome, blamed the invasion
of the Roman States and of the Two Sicilies, and
caused the principle of non-intervention to be re-
spected by respecting it herself, she cannot be sus-
pected either by Italy, or by the Papacy, or by.
Europe. We have too much confidence in the wis-
dom of the Sovereigns who would be represented
in a congress not to be, convinced that they would
understand how much the spirit of compromise
constitutes the condition of the re-establishment of
order in the Peninsula. Italy, organised and power-
ful, is henceforth a European interest, and Europe,
in consecrating by an act of her high jurisdiction
that organisation, would prove herself both far-
seeing and just."

MUNIFICENT LIFEBOAT GIFTS TO

SCOTLAND.

A benevolent gentleman, resident in Edinburgh,
has just communicated to the National Lifeboat
Institution his intention to defray the cost, amount-
ing to upwards of £5OO, of a complete first-class
lifeboat station, including boat, stores, transporting
carriage, and boat-house. The station will, at his
request, be established on the Mull of Cantire, on
the west coast of Scotland, where some fearful ship-
wrecks, with loss of life, take place nearly every-
winter—six wrecks having occurred in that neigh-
bourhood during the last twelve months. Being
mounted on a transporting carriage the lifeboat can
easily be made available for all accessible points
round the peninsula. The donor stipulates that
the establishment shall hereafter be kept up in an
efficient state jointly by the National Lifeboat In-
stitution and the residents of the locality. A lady
resident at Lasswade Bank has also promised the
Lifeboat Institution to pay the costs (1200) of a new
lifeboat, to be planted at Irvine, which is likewise
situated on the west coast of Scotland. Last February
a frightful wreck of a French vessel, named the Suc-
cess, of Nantes, occurred on Irvine Bar, when every
one of her unfortunate crew perished from the want,
as it was believed, of an efficient lifeboat. The insti-
tution forwarded a day or two ago a new lifeboat and
transporting carriage to Thurso,on the extreme north
of Scotland. The costs of the boat is the munificent
gift of A. W. Jaffray, Es, of St. Mildred's-court.
He also defrayed the cost q.
of the St. Andrew's life-
boat, which, during the heavy gale of the 3d inst.,
rendered important services to several fishing boats
from Backhaven. Their crews have subsequently
sent, with expressions of much gratitude, £3 to
help to defray the cost of the maintenance of the
lifeboat. Mr. Jaffray has also, in conjunction
with his father, paid the expense of the lifeboat
which the society sent about a month ago to North
Berwick, near Edinburgh, where again four of
five poor creatures perished last winter from a
wreck through the want of -a lifeboat. The insti-
tution has another lifeboat, the gift of a benevo-
lent lady,ready to be sent to Buckle, an important
fishing town on the north east of Scotland, near
which place, three or four years ago, 42 poor fish-
ermen perished. The institution has now life-
boats at the following. places on
'
the Scotch coast •
s
_Ayrshire, Ayr ; Caithness-shire, Thurso • Banff-
shire, Buckle, Banff; ElginshFiriefeh Lior sesie St , mouth ;
Aberdeenshire, Fraserburgh ;
Haddingtonshire, North Berwick. An-
It is a
singular circumstance that nearly every one of
these boats is the gift of private persons, who,
with one or two exceptions, have no connexion
with Scotland. After a lifeboat
.established in
a locality it is estimated that about .
£4O a year are
required to keep it in an ffi • e cient state and ready
for instantaneous use. 't
10 enable, therefore, the
institution to accomplish and perpetuate its im-
portant and philanthropic objects, it earnestly so-
licits the pecuniary
and the general co-opera-
tion of all humane persons who can feel for, and
a
have the power to aid, those whom it has pleased
Divine Providence to afflict by casting them help-
lessly on our coasts. Contributions are received by
all the London b
institution, 14 J ankere, and at the office of the
John-street, Adelphi, W.C.