The Sun.
London, England, 1859-05-30 00:00:00

SIRJOHN PA KIN G TON ON THE P OLIVY
OF NON-INTERVENTION.

The •anniversary of the Worcestershire Society
was, celebrated on Saturday last 'at the Albion
Hotel, Aldersgate-street, on which occasion some
important political speeches were delivered by Sir
John Pakington, Lord Lyttelton, and Viscount
Elmley, M.P. Mr. J. C. Dent presided, and was
supported by the Right Hon. Sir J. Pakington,
M.P., First Lord of the Admiralty; Lord Lyttel-
ton, Earl Beauchamp, Viscount Elmley, M.P., Mr.
J. H. Foley, M.P., the Hon. and Rev. T. Coventry,
Messrs. R. P. Amphlett, L. Jones, I. Capel, J.
D. Alleroft, etc.
The usual loyal toasts having been drunk,
The CHAIRMAN gave " The Army and the NaVy."
He'said, they were extremely fortunate in having
among their guests a noble•lord (Earl Beauchamp),
who worthily represented the army, and the right
hon. Sir J. Pakington, upon whom perhaps more
than any other man depended the efficiency of the
other branch of the service. In the present state
of the Continent he was sure he only spoke the
sentiments,of the country generally when he said
that the army and the navy'of England should be
'maintained in the most effective condition, ready
for any emergency which niight arise. (Cheers.)
It was all very well to.talk of neutrality, but in his
opinion we ought to be able to go in at any time
we liked and thrash either side. (Laughter and
cheers.)
Earl BEAUCHAMP responkled on behalf of the
army. As neutrality was the order of the day, he
hoped we should be enabled pa adhere to the policy
of non-intervention, but wilily maintaining neutra-
lity we ought to be armetWand. ready for war.
(Cheers.) In Italy at the present time there could
not be less than.half a million of men, within a small
compass, engaged in war, and it was scarcely p9s•
sible to imagine the amount of waste and devasta-
' tion that must be occasioned by the conflict. Not-
withstanding his great desire for the neutrality of
England he hoped that if any insult were offered to
our honour or' our trade we should be prepared to
enter into the contest with cordiality and unani-
mity. (Cheers.)
Sir J. PAKINGTON, in returning thanks for.the
navy, observed that he was much gratified in wit-
nessing the enthusiastic manner in which the
British public always received the toast of the
navy, which was regarded as our pride, our boast,
and our best defence. (Cheers.) The moment he
ventured, in the performance of what he esteemed
his political duty, to take charge of the British
navy, his principle of action had been. to devote
all his best energies to the restoration and mainte-
nance of the naval power and naval, supremacy of
this country. (Cheers.) He entirely concurred in
the opinion which had been expressed by the chair-
Man, that we ought to be able to go in and thrash
any number of our opponents, whoever they might
be. (Hear, and laughter.) He did not think that
any one occupying the high and honourable posi-
tion in her Majesty's councils of First Lord of the
Admiralty would do his duty who should for a mo-
ment tolerate the idea that any single Power or
combination of Powers would be able to dispute the
supremacy of England on the sea. (Great cheering.)
With regard to the present aspect of affairs, it
might and probably would be very difficult, if the
war which had unhappily broken out in Europe
should be long protracted, for England to preserve
her neutrality. He could, however, assure them
that the policy of her Majesty's present Govern-
ment was really and truly neutrality. (Cheers.)
Nor did he know of the slighest reason at the -pre-
sent moment why that neutrality should not be
preserved. (Cheers.) He was sure that it was the
interest of England to remain at peace, and he most
earnestly hoped that her Majesty's Government
would be able so to conduct the business of the
nation as to allow England to continue in that
peaceful condition in which all true lovers of their
country desired it to remain. (Hear.) They had
nothing whatever to do with the quarrels of the
Continental Powers. (Hear, hear.) It was a most
unhappy quarrel, and had led to a state of circum-
stances which was already most disastrous to con-
template. It was shocking to reflect upon the con-
dition of affairs in the North of Italy, where at that
very moment hundreds of thousands of armed men
were gathered together for the purpose of imbruing
their hands in blood, for the destruction of human
life, and who would spread desolation, wretched-
ness, and barrenness Over-some of the most fertile
plains in the whole world. (Hear.) He believed it
would puzzle any•man's brain at this moment to
say why all this misery was occasioned. (Hear.)
It was, however, the duty of her Majesty's Go-
vernment to take every possible precaution
which human wisdom could devise in order to pre-
vent England from becoming entangled in this
most unhappy and, he would add, this most unne-
cesssry war. (Cheers.) Such a course of condict on
the part of this country would, he was firmly con-
vinced, be one that would pale us respected by
every other nation. He believed that he was justi-
fied in saying that other nations did respect Eng.
land at the present time, and they would respect us
the more if they found that we were determined to
be prepared for any emergency that might arise.
(Cheers.) It was far better for England to bear the
present cost of commissioning and maintaining on a
war footing a large number of ships, and keep in
pay a considerable military and naval force, than
to incur the cost, and with it all the terrible results
which might be the consequence of our neglecting
all precautions and becoming entangled in a great
European war at a time when we
.were not prepared
to take any part in the struggle. (Hear, hear.) In
some previous wars—that, for instance, which this
country, in conjunction with France, waged with
Russia—the principal share of the work, and of
course, of the glory of the dreadful struggle, fell to
the share of the army of England. Never did the
army of England better deserve homage than at Se-
bastopol ; never did British soldiers acquire greater
honour than on the plains of India. In those great
struggles it was true that the principal honour.and
glory fell to the army, but at the present moment
he thought the nation at large looked rather to the
navy than to the army, and probably the best mode
in which they could prepare themselves for coming
events—the best way in which the Government
could show that they were ready for whatever
might happen, was to take care that the fleets of
England were strong and ready to cope with any
force which might behi'cught against them. (Hear,
hear] That, he assured the meeting, was the policy
of her Majesty's present Government. The pre-
paration of our fleets was a duty with which he
had been entrusted, and day by day, hour by hour,
he was exerting himself to make them worthy of
the confidence, and able to protect the interests and
vindicate the honour of the country. (The right
hon. baronet resumed his seat amid loud cheers.)
." The health of Lord Lyttelton," as Lord-Lieute-
mint of the county of Worcester, w3S next drunk.
Lord LYTTELTON, in responding, alluded to the
general establishment of rifle corps throughout the
country, and observed that, as Lord-Lieutenant of
Worcestershire, he had been addressed by the Go.
vernment on the subject. Some remarks had been
made respecting the delay which had taken place
in the formation of a rifle corps for Worcestershire,
although steps had been taken to carry out the
object of the Government in other counties. He
wished now to state publicly his intentions with
respect to the county of Worcester. When the
subject was7first brought under his notice it oc-
curred to him that It would be possible to amalga-
mate a volunteer rifle corps with one of the existing
voluntary bodies of soldiers in that county. As
there was a considerable demand for the supply of
officers for the existing volunteers, there might be
some ,difficulty in maintaining a third and inde-
pendent force. It was, therefore, his intention to
call together the Deputy-Lieutenants, for the pur-
pose of asc:Ttaining what could be done to carry
out the views of the Government as expressed
in the circula- wh'cli had been issued upon the
subject. ' He did not, however, propose to do
that immediately, and for this reason :—They
were now on the eve of the meeting of Par-
liament, and those who had observed the course of
public opinion and the remarks of the press upon
the subject felt some doubts as to whether the Go-
vernment proposition to call into existence and
maintain the proposed rifle corps in their full effi.
ciency would be sufficient. As far as he had seen
the opinions thus expressed he was not altogether
disposed to agree with them; still, as something
might be said in Parliament which might induce
the Government to modify their propositions, he
should defer holding a county meeting until a short
time after Parliament had met. He did not agree
in the strictures which had appeared in the news-
papers on the injustice of Government requiring
members of volunteer rifle corps to pay their own
expenses. In his judgment that was a correct course.
He did not think that every man in the county
oshpoinuilodnbtehecyaloleutgl
iroutptonbteocjoominpotlsieodseocfoinrpen s corps; but his
competent
to meet the very moderate expense of providing their
own arms and accoutrements. Such a course of pro-
ceeding was conformable to precedent, and would be
satisfactory to the rifle corps. themselves. There
would, however, be expenses connected with those
volunteer corps which might be termed establish-

I started the day before yesterday by the 5.30
15. m. train, and arrived at Vercelli by half•past
ei,;ht the same evening. The town was full of
merriment, as our brave Savoia Cavalleria had just
repulsed a reconnaissance the enemy had made on
Borgo Vercelli. I saw, myself, an officer of the
Austrian regiment Grueber, who had been taken
prisoner, brought before Gen. Cialdini, and treated
in the kindest and most courteous manner by Count
Mosti, a nobleman from Ferrara, and one of the
aides-de-camp of this gallant general officer. With-
out troubling myself to arrange my rather disor-
dered toilette, I hastened to the official residence of
the advocate Tecchio, to whom I had the honour of
being announced without ceremonies or difficulty
of any kind. In England the very qualification of
Extraordinary Commissioner would imply the idea
of a stiff and solemn person, almost inaccessible
without a formal demand of an audience, and a
great deal of waiting in antechambers. Things are
altogether differently managed in this country.
Signor Tecchio received me very politely, and
listened with kind attention to the object of my
journey. I told him it was my desire to inspect the
line of the Sesia as far as Casale, and collect facts
and documents regarding the Austrian occupation
of the province. The extraordinary commissioner
wrote at once an order in accordance with the ob-
ject of my application. With this order he enjoined
the military, civil, and administrative authorities
of the province to protect and facilitate my rather
difficult errand, and to furnish me with all infor-
mation I might require. With this document in
my hand I went next morning to the town-hall,
where Signor Luigi Verga, mayor of Vercelli,
gave the necessary orders to enable me to start
at once for Prarolo, a small village two miles
from the Sesia. His kindness did not stop there,
but as my carriage was waiting on the Piazza
he sent for the advocate Marchetti, who was in-
structed to' accompany me on my journey. With
my intelligent guide, one of the town-hall de-
puties, I started at once, as the noise of a rolling
fire of musketry, and a heavier one of artillery,
was borne to us upon the wind. On our reaching
Prarolo, which was formerly a castle belonging to
the Abbot of Santo Stefano, now the property of
the Hospital of Vercelli, we were told by the offi-
cers of the 14th Pieimontese regiment of the line
that on the preceding evening the Austrians had
retired from Pallestro and Robbio, and that they
were concentrating themselves at Castel d'Agogna,
two miles from Mortara, beyond the river of that
name, I went round the village, and my eyes met
everywhere the traces of devastation and plunder.
Cattle not only carried away on regular requisition,
but actually stolen. Fields of, corn trampled by
horses, plants cut to the ground, 'farm walls pulled
down, churches plundered, wine cellars inundated:
the scene was really heartrending.
At Prarolo a cow or an ox is become as rare an
animal as a chimpanzee is in our Zoological Gar-
dens. In the course of twenty-four hours one
party of depredators alone got hold of 24 oxen,
and carriQhem away without leaving. any regular
receipt. What all this means in English language
people at home will judge. These facts were not
only stated to me by Francesco Ferraris, the vice-
sindaco (deputy mayor) of the village, but I took
the trouble of ascertaining them all by going round
the different farms which had been plundered.
From Prarolo we directed our carriage towards
Pezzana, altogether a larger and richer village.
There the same depredations, the game marks of
this shameful northern invasion were manifest.
The Afistrians had occupied the village on the
night of Tuesday, May 3. They went to the house
of Giovanni Fiore, secretary of the sindaco, and
with all kinds of ill-treatment obliged him to escort
their band to Stroppiana, on the road to Casale.
From the very house from which I am now writing
they took away with them the Sindaco Opezzo, and
compelled him to direct them to Pizzarosto, a small
hamlet situated in the vicinity of the Chiusa Sarti-
rana. Arrived there they ordered both Fiore and
Opezzo to find some boys who would cross the Sesia in
an easy place. Tee current of the river was so power-
ful that the poor boys could not stand up, and were
at every moment in danger of being carried away by
it. They, therefore, remonstrated, but the officer
compelled them to try the passage over and over