The Sun.
London, England, 1858-03-02 00:00:00

which might have been naturally expected upon the
minds of an enthusiastic and aensitive people. The peril
which the Emperor and Empress had escaped doubled
and trebled the enthusiastic feeling and the indignant
loyalty which burst forth upon the instant. From every
quarter were poured in addresses of congratulation and
thankfuleess that lives so valuable to France and to
Europe had been saved. Nor was it by France alone,
but by the British -residents in France, and by the
inhabitants of various parts of this kingdom that these
feelings of thankfulness and congratulation were testified.
But, unfortunately, my lords, it transpired that among
the small band of miscreants by whom this outrage was
perpetrated were some at least who, having been com-
pelled to;.flee from their own country, had for a certain
period of time been enjoying and abusing the hospitality
of England. iHear, hear.) Supposing the circumstances
bad been reversed—supposing that her Majesty, going
among her subject 3 with that frank confidence which
characterises her, knowing as she does that in the
loyalty and affection of her people she has her best and
securest guard, and surrounded by a loyal and devoted
multitude, had been exposed to an attack upon her
Royal person while proceeding to the opera-house in
Londen—what, I ask your lordships to consi ler, would
have been the feelings of the people of this country,
what would have been the indignation of the people of
this metropolis' And if it had come to their knowledge,
as it undoubtedly would in such a case, that that das-
tardly attempt was not the work of any native-born
subject of her Majesty, but the preconcerted design of a
band of assassins who had abused the hospitality they
had received in a neighbouring country, I put it to your
lordships whether you think that their censures and their
indignation would have been very cautious or very dis-
criminating l (Hear, hear.) I cannot therefore wonder,
however, deeply I may deplore, that upon the news
spreading through France that this atrocious deed
was the act of refugees coming straight from England
with the enthusiastic expressions of loyalty and congra-
tulation at the safety of the Emperor there should have
been mingled more especially from the army of France,
some expressions which,leseeing how unworthy they were
as applied to England, must naturally have wounded the
feelings of the people of this country. Under the cireums
stances, my lords, I think that such expressions ought
not to have been too nicely scanned, even if his Imperial
Majesty, with that frankness and candour which he has
always displayed in his relations with England, had net
fairly avowed the regret he felt that such linguage, ac-
companying the manifestations of loyalty to himself, had
been suffered to appear in the public papers, and thereby
to create a just resentment in the people of this country.
(Hear, hear.) But, my lords, I should be sorry, indeed,
to think that those expressions, whatever they may have
been, truly represented the calm and deliberate feeling
entertained towards England by the great and noble
army of France. I will not believe it, my lords, for true
valour never indulges in bombast—(near)—and I should
be surprised to find that those who were the authors of
these intemperate addresses were in reality the most dis-
tinguished among those glorionsisoldiers of France, who,
in many a hard-won battle on 'the fields of the Crimea,
fought and bled in honourable rivalry with their British
allies, and have therefore learnt how to appreciate British
bravery and British ce-operation. (Cheers.) It is now
more than 100 years since we have had in England any
of those civil disturbances which compelled many of the
citizens of this country to take refuge in foreign lands.
We cannot, therefore, judge (out we ought to make
allowance for French feeling) hew annoying and irritat-
ing it must be, and would be to ourselves, if in a neigh-
bouring town on the continent we were conscious that
many disaffected persons were concentrated together,
entertaining the most hostile sentiments towards the Go-
vernment of this country, and bent upon overthrowing it
by the most treasonable designs. My lords, although
the oppression must be most grievous and intolerable
which can justify any man or set of men in exposing
their own country to the horrors of civil war, yet when
that dreadful state of affairs arrives—when the sword
is drawn in civil strife in defence of opposing prin-
ciples, whatever may be our own predilections or our
own opinions, we cannot but regard with respect
and sympathy those to whom fortune has been
unfavourable, on whatever side they may have
struggled. Whether they be those who, from an un-
wavering sentiment of loyalty, stood to the last by an
unpopular and ill-fated Sovereige, or those who, from a
desire to rescue their country from tyranny, have risen
in unsuccessful revolt, if they have fairly and in the open
field maintained their principles by the sword, at the
risk of their fortunes and their lives, public sympathy
will always follow them in their misfortunes and in their
exile. (Hear, hear.) Contemporary history may not be
as indulgent; but posterity will do justice to those who,
from whatever cause, have suffered in defence of doc-
trines which they honestly believed to be sound and true.
If we look back to the periods of our own civil war,
when men here contended earnestly and vehemently for
principles truly and deeply implanted in their minds,
and sternly upheld them in the field of battle—if
we revert to those distant times and view them
by the light of history, we can even now sympa
this)" with the gallant and devoted Cavaliers in the
days of their affliction—we can sympathise with the
stern Puritans, whose ardent love of liberty led them to
prefer poverty and exile to the violation of their con-
scientious convictions. There is no man, however
warm an admirer he may be of that great deliverer
W?lliam 111., but looks with sympathy on the faithful
attachment to a fallen monarah of many of the followers
of James 11. And coming down to a later, and happily
the last, period to which I can refer in our own history
for an illustration, even at this day, devoted as this
country is to the House which now so auspiciously reigns
over us, no man can look back without a feeling of sym-
pathy and admiration upon the heroic and romantic
sacrifices made by the supporters of the unhappy Stuarts.
(Hear.) But, my horde, if we have this sympathy for
men whose misfortunes have followed their open and
manly defence of their principles by the sword, no such
sympathy is due, and none is extended either by con-
temporary history or by impartial posterity, to those
who, in order to attain their political ends, resort to
the base and vile means which characterise the designs
of the assassin. (Hear, and cheers.) If there is one
degree of infamy beyond that which attends the man
who wields the assassin's knife, that infamy belongs to
him who, lacking 'the only palliation of the assassin's
guilt, the bold sacrifice of his own life—skulks in safety
at a distance, and, plotting and desising crimes and
assassinations, sends forth his wretched tools to perpe-
trate and suffer for deeds which he has the heart to con-
ceive, but not the boldness to execn:e. (hear, hear.)
And these men call themselves the friends of liberty.
Why, my lords, these men are the bitterest and most
determined foes of liberty. They are those who cause
every right-thinking mind to shrink from connexion with
the purest and holiest cause, because they pollute by
the vile machinery they employ—they are those who in
their own country rivet the chains of slavery and oppres-
sion—they are those who drive from their shores
every upright and every honourable mind— they are
those who compel the treachery of the assassin to be
met by the machination of the secret spy—they are
those who by their dark designs make des-
potic sovereigns have recourse to measures more
despotic still, and by their conduct they do the utmost
to destroy that liberty of which they presume to call
themselves the constituted champions. (Cheers.) Are
men, then, who so conduct theme dees—are man who
thus abuse the hospitality and asylum which E cglan 1
affords them—are these men, whom the law of England
protects and shelters, to commit crime among us with
impunity ? No, my lords, they are not. There's not a
crime of which these persons can be guilty, there's not
an approach to such a crime, for which the law of Eng-
land does not provide. Not only assassination, not only
conspiracye to assassinate, but even an incitement to as-
sass nate, whether by publication or by word of mouth,
is an offence recognised by the law of England whets the
guilt of the accused person shall be proved. But it is
naturally said, " If these things are dor e—if these crimes
are concocted in England and in London, how is it that
the Government of England has not the power to pre-
vent their repetition 1' My answer is perfectly simple ;
but let me say that I can understand that persona be-
lieving that Government had the means of so dealing
with such supposed offenders might consider that we
exercised an unfriendly part in not using those powers.
Still the answer is plain and obvious. Although the
law provides remedies for all those shades and colours of
crime, yet the law cannot be put in force until the crime
is established. (Hear, hear.) Intention, unaccompanied
by any overt act, so long as the intention remains in the
mind of the party alone conceiving it, affords no ground
for prosecution. Of the great number of those whom
misfortune has driven to these shores the vast propor-
tion I firmly believe are honestly and honourably ob-
taining_n a living in this country, and are performing the
duty of peaceful citizens. (Hear, hear.) Others there arc
no doubt, who aro engaged in pursuits which are of a me-
naeineanddangerons description ; but, as I have already
these said,persona are all amenable t ) the law—if even
the law does not
that you have provide a sufficient remedy—the moment
guilt. Brit with us seunst evidence. to satisfy a jury of their
picion is not crime—suspicion does
not warrant thepunishment of crime, and notoriety is
a word which is not recognised
think, owing
in our statute book.
(Hear, hear.) It is
atondthine total difference
between the law in thin counts and
respect that some misapprehension has been excited in
Francs in this
Englandio ought
do ~t;2.t
France as to what the Government of
do to meet cases of this description.
hesitate to say that it is the duty of Geyer'', I
as it is in its power, carefully to wpaetcchtedthoenfmplaleenete'eseoiniagr,
of persons who may justly be sus
tines, nor do I doubt that the late Government—orlegalPraarci;'
Government that was ever foimed in this country—would
en its utmost,subject to the laws of this country, topro-
teet friendly
leickeshtlamie,wacul
:aetvion against machinations and attempts
satietyba jaryl.h joßtirfotretrithhuantatlriebvueLyl
the Queen herself is :obnrri7 to plead ; to that tribunal
she appeals for the proteetionl'l'a" Person
y lea ran d t h"a t I
in fact, so incorporated with
70%
cannot for a moment believe th-at'l
it would enter the
mind of any foreign Sovereign to
even
the possibility of alteration in that respe%entgignet'te
prudence of the country. (Hear, hear.) What, thenuwas
r's-
the course taken by the late Government so 130011 as
in-
telligence was received of the attempt,. and of the ba?py
if failure" of the attempt, upon the life of the Emperor
of the French? Her Majesty.'s Governamztjonl
ttohitnhkevceor:y.
properly directed
uestion whether the existing law was
directed their immediate
sideration of the q
Protection of foreign Sovereigns, or
for b
adequate
moreh• view they introduced into Parlia-
e adequate provision might not be
whether some .
called for. With t
g of that bill was eecured by a
went a bill, of the merits of which I shall at present say
nothing. The first rea.ein,
very I think, simultaneoub y i 1
considerable majority of the House of Com_imwonts_l;
but, most unfortunately, as
the introduction of that bill a despatch was read from
Count Walewski which was unanswered at the time by
her Majesty's Government, and which was laid befsre
the public without answer or explanation.
My '
I will not refer to any terms which are cotaineldisn
ri

that despatch. I have no doubt it was the wish and sole
intention of Count Walewski to draw attention to the
state of our law, and to ask whether that la-re was suffi-
cient for the exigencies of the case, and, be ;oral question,
if those views had been founded upon a correct view of
the case, there would have been a serious imputation on
the law of this country, I think, if her Majesty's late
Government bad felt themselves bound to accept this
despatch, that they would have acted more for the inte-
rest of the cause in which they were engaged if—not
entering into argument, controversy, or discussion—
they had pointed out to the French Government the
misapprehension into which they were apt to all.
(Hear, hear.) It is idle to deny that the production
of that despatch did produce a meat unfavourable im-
pression upon the discussion in this country. At the i
same time don't let me be misunderstood. Its most
important to bear in mind that the vote at which the
House of Commons arrived had no reference whatever
to the merits of the bill which was thrown out upon
the second reading, and that they are just as free
as before to pass the second reading if they please. It
is impossible to deny that the introduction of a politic,'
element interfered in a considerable degree with a calm,
impartial, and deliberate reflection upon the measure
itself ; but we must regard these questions in a judicial
spirit. Now, what was the resolution that the House
of Commons came to on the nth Feb. ? Was it a rest).
!lotion hostile either. to the principles or the provisions
of the bill—was it a resolution adverse to all charge in
the criminal law of the country—was it a resolution
which would give the slightest countenance to the atro-
\
cions act of conspiracy ? No ; the resolution was this—

That this house hears with much concern that it is alleged
that recent attempts upon the life of the Emperor of the
French have been devised in England, and expresses its de-
testation of such guilty enterprises ; that this house is ready
at all times to assist in remedying any defects in the criminal
law which, after clue investigation, are proved to exist, yet
it cannot but regret that her Majesty's Government,
previously to inviting the house to amend the law of
conspiracy by the second reading of this Bill at the present
time, has not felt it to be their duty to make some reply to
the important despatch received from the French Govern-
ment, dated Paris, January 20, 1858, and which has been
laid before Parliament."