The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1853-02-22 00:00:00

THE CASE OF THE MADIAI

Mr. KINNAIRD moved an address to her Majesty to
take steps for bringing under the notice of the Grand
Duke of Tuscany the strong feelings prevailing in England
in consequence of the persecution in Tuscany of those
who profess the principles of the Protestant religion. The
case of the Madiai indicated a religious reaction and a
determination on the part of the hierarchy of the Church
of Rome to put down Protestantism by force wherever
the civil power enabled them to do so, and on this ground
he asked the house to call upon her Majesty's government,
in concert with the governments of Prussia and Holland,
to remonstrate, not dictatorially or menacingly, but in
the name of religion and humanity, with the Grand Duke.
He gave the details of the arrest of several Florentines
for no other offence than reading the Bible, to show that
the persecution was systematic; thousands, he said, living
in Tuscany under a reign of terror.—Mr. L'ucAs opposed
the motion. He said, admitting, for the sake of argument,
that the Tuscan government were to be blamed for punish-
iug the Madiais for the ctime of proselytism, what hadbeen the conduct of this country in respect to Romanists
persecuted in different parts of the world ? Who ever
heard of our Secretary of State remonstrating with the
Emperor of Russia for persecuting and torturing Roman-
ist nuns ? Had not Lord Palmerston actually re-
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was,
he contended, exactly parallel with that of the Grand
Duke of Trz-scany. At this moment acts of persecution
were going .em against Romanists in Protestant countries
quite As desetving of our interference as the case of the
Madiai, and he should bring some of them before the
House. 'The ,tlyetua of law in Sweden was quite as per-

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frontier for the crime of saying mass in private.--Llt:
JoHrr RUSSELL said his conclusion was, that 11.5
Protestant state should condemn persons because theY nal.l,
become Romanists, or taught others to become so, 51l
conduct was morally wrong, Mr. Lucas had said iv e
were not justified in considering ourselves friends or
gious liberty while we were indifferent to perseco
against Romanists. But it could not be maintained that
such was our general conduct ; in no part of our &Voce'.
nions were persons punished for endeavouring to
Protestants to become Romanists. Persecution for ret.
gious opinions was odious and detestable, and the Govern
~
m ent of England was justified in raising itsvoice against
Holding this opinion, he recommended the house to leave
this case in the hands of the Government. Its voice I'7
been heard, and he trusted that, although the Madiei aid
others might suffer, the general opinion of theworld w0?,,7
secure religious liberty.—Mr. BOWYER said the -*als
had been convicted not of a spiritual but of a civil offence.
—Mr. DRUMMOND observed that religious persecution,
even by the Inquisition, was always justified by the P,l ~et
that the offence was against civil society. Before '-
bald
Romanists were condemned, however, Protestants s
look a little at what their own conduct was. They le
the Romish priests had by their: authority put down 'l,
,
Scriptures; and so they had. Protestants had taken t"
Bible, and by it they destroyed the Church. Now, the,
fr
might as well begin to mend their own ways first, Of
they had not gone the length of persecution of the nri
holders of the Church, it was simply because they enli`f
not do it, and the language that had been made use °
towards such men as the Bishop of Exeter and others'
who had upheld the authority of the Church, showed *4st
was at the bottom, and what Protestants would do if diet,
could.—ln the course of the further discussion on 1
sul ject, Lord PALMERSTON defended himself from the°l;
accusations of Mr. Lucas. The motion was ultimately
withdrawn. MANCHESTER EDUCATION.
A select committee was appointed to inquire into the
state of education in the municipal boroughs of Manebe of
ter and Salford, and in the contiguous townships "
Broughton, Pendleton, and Pendlebury.

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 18.
Sir Charles Wood, President of the Board of controlr
took the oaths and his seat on his re-election for t"
borough of Halifax.

RELATIONS WITH FRANCE.
t
On the order of the day for going into committee - a
supply,

Mr: DtsnaELt proceeded to call attention to the verl,
important subject of our relations with France. After '
peace of nearly 40 years' duration, it was somewhat start:
ling to find rumours afloat that that long interval of tota
quillity was at length likely to be disturbed ; and he All
.
justified, therefore, in making some inquiries upon the
subject. These rumours had acquired force from the f!°/2
that this country was increasing its armaments,
cou'd be only for the purpose, as was supposed, of rests'
ing some contemplated foreign aggression. He sad
nothing on the part of the present ruler of France coley
lated to excite alarm. It was stated that he was but the
instrument of the army; but he would remind them that'
however much might be dreaded from an army rf;
turning from conquest, there was but little to u"
dreaded from the fact of an army, under other circuta"
stances, being in the ascendant. France might, there'
fore, be under a military government, but it did not fel'
low that it was under a warlike one. He deplored a greai,
deal of what had passed in France, and sympathised ra•11)
the fallen ; but the moral he drew from all that had taxed
place was, that it was extremely difficult to understaV
French politics, and that as long as the French over!
went and people acted properly towards this country °
all our commercial relations, so long we should be sans.'
fled, and leave entirely to them the management of then:
own domestic concerns. He quoted a speech of Lore
John Russell cn the affairs of France, deprecating the
attacks in some portions of the press against the French
President. When that speech was made the noble 10'
was prime minister. He was now one of a new raj/lista,
and his (Mr. Disraeli's) object was to know how far the
sentiments of that speech were still the sentiments of the
noble lord, and how far they were shared in by his col'
leagues ? He then referred to the speech of Sir Jarnee
Graham, who had spoken of the Emperor of France as e
despot who had trampled on the rights and liberties er
40,000,000 of people, and said he would not be so iroPer'
tinent as to speak of such a speech as an indiscretion ell
the part of a minister who was one of all the talents, and
he must therefore assume it was designed. With res Pee
to the speech of Sir Charles Wood, he would say that he
believed he did not mean to say anything offensive;
but he had a habit of saying offensive things withotT
meaning it, which he could only say was a most awkwar".
accomplishment. He concluded a most effective speeeh
amidst loud cheers from all parts of the house.—Lord
RUSSELL said the speech of the right hon. gentletual
was full of party spirit, and notwithstanding the risk a't
raising suspicions as to the integrity of the relations e
the two governments towards each other, he persevered,,
in a course of observations which it would be absurd '",
deny were deeply imbued with faction. He proceeded to
reply at some length to the observations of Mr. Disraeli'
and said the two objects nearest his heart were the fur'
therance of education and the amendment of the repro"
sentation of the people, to both of which he would direct
his attention as circumstances might seem suitable.-31ri
COBDEN said there was great mistrust in the public mind
owing to the inconsistency between the declarations and
the actions of both the last and the present government:
Ile thought by a little diplomatic management that r!"
arrangement might be come to by which this rivalrY'
armaments might be put an end to, and the force of eitbff
country materially diminished.—Sir J. GRAHAM said
that no one could be more desirous than himself for the
maintemance of peace, and denied that he had called CI.
Emperor of France either a despot or a tyrant. It vie
when declaring his opinion that this country was not Pre.
pared for universal suffrage that he referred to France''
which he described as a country celebrated for its etn!
Hence in arts, arms, and science, and which, notwithstane..
,
ing the possession of universal suffrage, had prostrated
„
its liberties at the foot of a single man.—After some fur
ther discussion the subject dropped..

THE NAVY ESTIMATES.
Sir J. GRAHAM, in moving the navy estimates, said
they were not recommended on any ground of a hostile
character towards any fgreign power whatever, but for
reasons which had been sustained by the reports of tcye
committees. He stated that the next aggregate increase
amounted to £399,905, upon the three items of wage'
victuals, and stores, and he indicated the cause of this
increase. He gave explanations of various reductionec
savings, and improvements in the naval departments ; 116
developed the views of the government with relation t 0
matters connected with our steam and general navy ; Emu
tendering further elucidations when desired of the different
votes, concluded by moving a vote of 45,500 men for thrdpe
service of the ravy, including 12,500 marines, and 2,0 u"
boys.

This vote was agreed to after discussion, and also the
following votes, viz., £1,236,000 for the wages of seamen
and marines, and £615,456 for victualling.
The committee then adjourned.
THE JEW BILL.

In answer to Mr. Walpole, Lord J. RUSSELL said if /11
could bring on his resolution respecting the oaths, and
with reference to Jewish disabilities, before eleven o'clocl
on Thursday night, he should do so. If not, he should
postpone his motion to some other day.
The house shortly afterwards adjourned.