The Sun.
London, England, 1857-02-28 00:00:00

THE MURRAIN.

t did not.
Mr. STAFFORD again called the attention of the
h oklis
re. to
Ltoh ewcEa t 1 Jsdaii sdea set
hoant t htehceon titinteinetc.
come within his department, and he could give
noother answer as to th 3 measures that had been taken
to prevent iti spreading over this country. If the hon.
gewlemau wouli give him notice of what he really
wanted he would du ids bast to give him the informa-
tion.

Lord NAGS informed the house that all the
cuitinental states had prohibittd, the importation
of cattle from the diseased districts, and cAatended
that the Gorernmei:t ought to ad pt a similar
precaution. Ile reminded the house that in 1745, when
they had the catlls disease in this country, it lasted
eight years. It then aroma from the importation
of two di-eased cattle, and they were yesterday
informed that a diseased calf imported from Amsterdam
had been destroyed on the Thames.
Mr. PACKE addressed the house on this
important subject. It affected not (1
the
breeders and feeders of cattle, but the consumers 1-Y
also.
Lord PALMERSTON said that Enquiry should
- rbje
made relative to the disease, and that precautionary
measures should be adopted.
Al) UOL SlLmuza said that he understood the disease

Was in this country. He had heard of a person who had
lost 29 head of cattle out of a herd of 60.
After some further remarks from Sir J. TYBELL,
The subject dropped.
CRIMEAN MEDALS.
Colonel GILPIN asked the Under-Secretary for
War when the medals were to be distributed to the
families of the British soldiers who died in the Crimea!
He understood that 600 of the families of the Grenadiers
alone had not had their medals.
Mr. FREDERICK PEEL said that the distribution
would shortly be completed.
CHINA—ADJOURNED DEBATE.
The adjourned debate was resumed by
Mr. WARREN who rose and said that, as one of the
representatives of the people, he was anxious to express
his sent meats on the momentous question on which the
verdict of the house was fairly challenged, and in doing
so he should endeavour to display that calm and dispas-
sionate temper which befitted the discussions of a great
deliberate assembly. The motion which had been read
from the chair was now disembarrassed of that second
branch to which the hon. member for Cardigan (Nlr. L.
Davies) had referred ; and, consequently, the hon. mem-
ber and all who agreed with him were at liberty to vote
on the general question embodied in the resolution. He
(Mr. Warren) solemnly assured the house that he
utterly disclaimed being to the slightest extent influenced
by party considerations. That mighty mouthpiece of
public opinion, the Times newspaper, this morning said
that it happened in the progress of these debates in
both Houses of Parliament that noble lords
and honourable gentlemen came to conclusions
and expressed opinions somehow or other marvellously
in accordance with their political inclinations. That was
not the case with him. (Laughter.) This time last year,
and before be obtained a seat in that house, he publicly
stated that he intended to offer the noble viscount (Pal-
merston) a guarded but gererous support while sustain-
ing the immense responsibilities under which he then
laboured. That pledge he had kept. He had never given
a factious vote against the noble lord ; nor would he do
so at this moment. But when he found that her Ma-
jesty's Government had deliberately identified themselves
with and ratified the serious transactions now under in-
vestigation, it became a matter of infinite consequence
that there should be no mistake as to the judgment of
both Houses of Parliament. In her Majesty's gracious
speech at the commencement of the session the occur-
rences at Canton were thus spoken of :
"Her Majesty commands us to inform you that acts of
violence, insults to the British flag, infraction of treaty,
rights committed by the local Chinese authorities at Can-
ton, and a pertinacious refusal of redress have rendered it
necessary fur her Majesty's officers in China to have re-
course to measures of force to obtain satisfaction."
Now, the house anl the country had before them in the
poed, roes blue b..oks the materials by which to arrive at
a clear deciiion on the merits of the case. He would not
go so far as the hon. member for the West Riding, and
say that these documents were garbled, but would assume
that they were fairly put together for the purpose of giv-
ing a l the necessary information, and the impression
which they made upon hen was that the whole affair of
the Arrow had been a pretext for the purpose of carrying
into effect long cherished designs. If that were so, then
the responsibility of her Majesty's Government became
very serious, for it could not be supposel Sir J. Bowr-
ing would have ventured to say, write, and do what he
had unless he had been perfectly certain that he was
acting with the full concurrence of the Government, and
that what he had done woull be approved at home. The
legal part of this vestion, he contended, bad been com-
pletely disposed of by the luminous and unanswerable
speeches of two noble and learned lords in another place.
Another noble and learned lord, who had spoken there
in defence of the Government, indicated that he had very
considerable misgivings on the legal aspects of the case,
and the Lord Cuief Justice, who was present at the de-
bate, was completely silent, from which it might be
augured that he had nothing to offer against the argu-
ments of Lord Lyndhurst and Lord St. Leonards. Ia
1840 we were on the eve of hostilities with China, and a
resolution condemning the conduct of the Government
was moved by the right hon. bar's, the member for Car-
lisle. In the debate on that motion the late Sir R. Peel
used the following language :
" I beg the house to remember that, although no mes-
sage has been sent down to the house it appears from
the distinct and intelligible declaration of two Ministers of
the Crown that_ we are on the eve of hostilities with a

couxtry which, in point of poitilati;n:ezceedeiat"jiall
the continental countries of Europe."

The cases were exactly parallel, e zcept that we were now
actually at war, and both cases showed how just was the
remark of the hon. and learned member for Sheffield, that
the control of Parliament over the exercise of the preroga.
tive of declaring war was a complete farce. We were
now actually at war, and the question for the House of
Commons to decide was whether we had a just cause of
quarrel. The Government had the assistance of two
eminent lawyers in that house, one skilled in equity
and the other in common law, and he would challenge
them to show that we had either equitable or legal
grounds of quarrel. The Attorney-General would not
need to be reminded of the maxim of his courts,
" He who wants equity must do equity ;" but where
was the equity of our proceedings ? (Bear, hear.)
Tae Solicitor-General was well acquainted with criminal
law, and knew that the question of guilt or innocence
was one essentially and purely of intention. Actus nom
facii rcuns, ma; moms sis rea ; and the question was, what
was the intention of Sir J. Bowring, in directing the
proceedings which are now the subject of discus:ion ?
He thought the correspondence indicated most distinctly
that Sir J. Bowring had seized an opportunity to assert
a right for the purpose of saying that it had been vio-
lated, and then exacting a bloody revenge. (Hear.) He
(Mr. Warren) disclaimed all intention of reMecting upon
the naval and military services, and he gave full credit
to the Government and to the noble lord who was at its
head for their generosity in supporting a public servant
who was called upon to discharge a most harassing and
responsible duty in a distant region; but by ratifying
his acts the Government became responsible for his po-
licy. The house wasignorant of the secret instructions on
which Sir J. Bo wring= was acting, but they must presume
tie would not have ventured to pursue such a course if
he had not relied upon a complete indemnity from the
Government. They were sternly and severely scruti-
nising thu conduct of the Chinese, as if they were a re-
fined European nation, but he would ask whether the
Chinese had not reason to charge upon this enlightened
Christian country the guilt of corrupting the morals,
ruining the health, and destroying the eternal happiness
of the Celestial empire ? He wished to extract thisgreat
question from the meshes of mere commercial significance
and importance which some hon. gentlemen sought to
involve it. Commerce was certainly of vast importance,
but was it to be placed in comparison with the mainte-
nance of public morality and the preservation of the na-
tional character. (Hear, hear.) He had no sympathies
with the peace-at-all-price party, for he thought the
attitude of this country ought to be that described in the
line :

"Lovers of peace, lint not afraid of war."

If, however, they endeavoured by war to accomplish a
siubter object he believed they would draw down upon
their heath the retribution of the whale civilised world.
In the language of Shakepere

" Thrice is he arm'd that bath his quarrel just ;
And he but naked, though locked up in steel,
Whoa° conscience with injustice is corrupted."
_ _ _

. -
The question was to which of these categories they must
o p i
ainstifoacno
at,
ontrthyoenj
.po as
tpHi efiro
aes
wut
ipao ons
forth edt
the
ea
tbvolieo. i
3lf
euaopi ltpe
oado
support
so
heuesrrte
sal
lb
rl
refer the transaction now under discussion, and, in his
aei ajsheoerattyne
,yde
astoalltthorith so far as it was wielded by the Government,
whenever it was exercised honestly and advantageously
to the country, but, as in the present case he could
fonlodr
the not
y
come to that conclusion, he felt it his duty to vote
resolution of the hon. me.ober for the West Riding.
The LORD-ADVOCATE would endeavour to state as
briefly and- clearly as he could the grounds upon which
he thought the motion ought not to receive the sanction
of the house. The sentiments so strongly expressed last
night by hon. gentlemen who supported the resclution at
all events commended themselves to every generous
mind, and he was not surprised that they had produced
considerable effect upon the house. Although he had
himself been carried away, to some extent, as the tide
of eloquence rolled on, he felt that they had travelled
somewhat too - rapidly over difficult and dangerous
ground. It was quite true that the topics upon which
they heard so much last night were most important in
the consideration of a question of thisnature. Peace with
A great nation like China—the respect due to its anti-
quity, its civilisation, and its enormous population the
regard which ought to be entertained by a strong Power
towards one of comparative weaknessm—ithe prevention of
o n —Pp Irtnihone:feßa
ii
est h thisoof f
T these were topics
country intb war without sufficient reason mischievous intermeddlinuregs.ticTwebh_eich
treaties the maintenance of thaell great
and justice
in
oheetr
not
0 was, a so
in,
it
to however,oon.
carefulquestionatwhe of f consideration,
individual
eiderip anotherterntaht
eisoi i id
ae
lt
deserving
been entrusted with great anth
the world. They ought to be urity in a distant part of
men who were not only obsca.ref careful how they condemned
means or the opportunit of ent, but who bad not the
3'defending themselves. Great
consideration was due to
ina representative of
who was obliged to actthis cjiutbnotruti
the possibility of receiving serious
instructionsemergencies without
borne
Government. (Hear.) Much
independence of action
wag necessarily entrusted to plenipotentiaries, and so
lung as they aet e not proved to have done wrong it was
the du yof the Government d
AD- the country to support
tL. eaa. (Hear.) Although it was a most unfortunate
circumstance that they should be inv‘lved in car with
China, they ought not to neglect their duty to those who
were entrusted to their protection. He must warn hon.
0118 a this nature, if they did
gentlemen that, in cliscusi
n,,t, make sure that they.dwaetre accurately dealing
with the facts, vvi at woastht•e- inatiodoaldo. done in that house
might occasion injury t
,e j
(13. interests which it
wi old be imp y• to rem ,y. ear, hear.) He was
ready to adept the maxim quoted by the noble member
tor the Coy oi
1. 8
) • ndon—" Let u be just, and fear not"....(cheers).—but be . id not speak simply ufjustice to in-
dividusl,, for it was the lot of
public servants in this
country that they. must sometimes subinit to injuAies ;
bu: injustice to inoividuzdi in such circumstances was,
neverthdes6, a national calamity. It often happened that
ioditiduals suffered severely from discussions in that
house in consequence of imperfect information, and that
Ithrou6h them the public service suffered also. On this
point he would make no further observations, but would
proceed to call the attention of the house to the more
immediate question before it. There were two questions,
before the Louse—one was whether the proceedings o
Sir J. 13 'wring and his c eidjutors were according to in,
. ttruatiohal law ; the other ties whether, rtippo:irg tb'ey