NEWS OF TIIE WEEK.
THE recess has set in with such unusual severity that we might almost imagine the country to be devoid of political in- terest, almost sterile in domestic events of any kind. ; and the interest of English politics now centres in some continental city, or far away in the extreme East. Among the most interesting events is one which we know nothing about, except reports that are at present without authentication. The Paris Conferences are concluded, and our Minister has sustained our views and our interests after a fashion that has not yet been reported, to us. In fact, according to the reports which are current, Lord Cowley has shown a peculiar solicitude in preventing the English peet)le from learning what has really happened at an assembly which so powerfully bears on our interests and on our standing abroad. It is said that the plenipotentiaries have arranged. the future con- stitution of the Danubian principalities ; of which each is to have its own Prince, its own House of Representatives and its own electoral body, the latter on a liberal scale ; while there is to be a federal Senate and a federal supreme Court of Justice, or some- thing of the kind ; and the Porte retains its protectorate on all questions of peace or war, with the appointment, we infer, more or less direct, of some public officers. Effectively, however, this country does not seem to have secured any very remarkable conces- sion to the integrity of the Ottoman Empire in that part ; while Russia has conquered us in this more pacific war of the con- ferences.
Turkey, too, has gained another victory which has infringed her "integrity." The frontier between Montenegro and Turkey has been settled ; the claims of Turkey, unsettled and undefined, being overridden in order "to draw the line," on the common idea that it "must be drawn somewhere."
Indeed, Turkey seems in a fair way to be killed by her doc- tors. Some faithful subjects of the Western Powers are de- bating whether it would not be good policy to assist the Sultan in carrying out the Hatti Hamayoum, which Lord Stratford de Redcliffe dictated, by means of an armed occupation of the Turk- ish Empire. The idea is suggested by the success of Captain Pullen, in obtaining satisfaction for the fatal injuries inflicted on certain Christians at Jeddah ; thus the exhibition of powerful doses of iron having proved. to be so good for the constitution of Turkey in that quarter, it is supposed. that the same kind of treatment to encourage the Mussulmans, would materially aid the Sultan in diffusing the blessings of good government throughout his empire. Whether the plan will be adopted by the Western Powers or not, is not stated ; but the very existence of such an idea is an amusing commentary on the support which the Western Powers have been giving to Turkey in her conflict with Russia.
Another event is confidently asserted to have happened, and yet we are entirely without authentication. It is not only said the English and French ambassadors are to return to Naples, but that the differences with that power have been actually set- tled. Now, without being prepared to deny the report, we should be rendered uneasy if we supposed the settlement to have taken place without any official announcement, for then we mIght infer that it was not of a kind to justify boasting. We trust indeed that the report is not correct, and for various rea- ms. It is no doubt inconvenient to be without recognized di- plomatic relations, but we have already remarked how incon-
venient such relations may be with a government like that of King Ferdinand, and there is no evidence whatever that Naples has improved its demeanour ; on the contrary its cruelty to poli- tical opponents is still carried to an excess which violates the law of Naples as well as of humanity : the confinement of Ni- cotera is enforced with an ingenious contrivance to render it al- most intolerable,—he is supposed to be imprisoned in a dark place, commonly used as the abode of capitally condemned pri- soners in their last hours ; one of his counsel is still under re- straint, simply because he was counsel to the accused in the late trial, and some paltry act which is scarcely a violation of Nea- politan customs has been the pretext for harsh treatment of an English subject. Naples therefore is still lawless, cruel, and un- courteous to strangers, and after late events no renewal of diplo- matic intercourse could be satisfactory unless it were preceded. or at least accompanied by some signs of amended behaviour on her part.
An event almost as English as it is French is the speech de- livered by the Count de Persigny as President of the Council General of the Loire,—a grand apology or vindication of the Napoleon dynasty and the position which it has regained. There are two passages of the Count's speech which are able and impressive. He excuses the suppression of freedom for discus- sion by explaining that while the people of a country are not agreed as to the very basis of their government, the freedom to arouse particular feelings and interests affords an opportunity for faction more than for party, and not only imperils the Go- vernment but the whole State. The argument is not new, but it is put with' great point and directness. Again, he explains with the clearness of a man who knows both countries, the sort of misunderstanding that arose in England, and in France, re- specting the attempt of the 14th of January,—the English ut- terly ignorant about the refugees among them, and. utterly un- able to account for the manner in which the French identified the movements of the refugees with the English people. The Count is one of Napoleon's most faithful, frank, and energetic supporters ; he is a clever peacemaker ; he is an influence near the French throne.
Russia has made herself the medium for announcing the com- plete success of the Anglo-Gallican expedition to China. Ac- cording to this report Lord Elgin and Baron Gros have obtained the most ample concessions, not only reversing the policy main- tained by Yell at Canton, but extending the concession to the whole of the Chinese empire. The ports are thrown open—in itself a great concession. The Christian religion is to be freely practised, another concession,—which we have taken for our- selves where we have been able to establish our footing ; but this imperial extension of the freedom may have an important influence on the intercourse between the natives and their visi- tors. Foreign Consuls and Diplomatic Agents are admitted to Pekin ; the greatest concession of all, for it reverses the heredi- tary and traditional policy of the Chinese empire. The indem- nity payable to England and France is a concession of minor importance, except in so far as it may be taken to attest the sin- cerity and earnestness of the Chinese Government. The medium by which this information reaches us is remarkable. Russia has, as we stated long since, completely established herself in the northern part of the Chinese empire on the Amoor ; she has been supposed to seek something like an exclusive intercourse with her ultra-oriental neighbour ; but the manner in which she has now conveyed the intelligence appears to imply that she would give up that supposed policy of the Czars.
Perversity could scarcely be carried to a higher pitch than in the ludicrous opposition attempted at the special meeting of the East India Company on Wednesday. The business of the d was to grant an annuity to Sir John Lawrence for his ser*es India—services which have not yet ceased, but are still en buting to maintain the integrity of our empire there. T posal found two opponents, Mr. Crawshay leading " th army" which was formed of one other proprietor. Mr shay's grounds were, that Sir John had violated his obe the East India Company, by recognizing and even favouring Native Christiaps where the Company had. enjoined neutrality in religious matters e an& that he had been guilty of " cruelty," as for instance, in disarming two regiments under cover of cannon, an act which hurt the feelings of the Sepoys. It was an opposie. tion which simply served to bring out, by force of contrast, the unanimity of the Court. But how ludicrous the intellectual position of that man who would drag a great public servant into disgrace because he suspects him of being inconsiderate to the delicate susceptibility of Sepoys, and, favourable to Christianity I
We must not omit to notice the judgment and verdict in a ease arising out of the Liverpool Borough Bank and its crash. It is an action in damages brought by two gentlemen at Liver- pool against Mr. Dixon, one of the managing Dire3tors, on the ground that they had received injury at his hands. The Directors issued. a report, at the end of July, which represented the bank as possessing a capital of one million, with a reserve fund after all bad debts had been provided for, and leaving a profit of 5 per cent ; whereas at that date the reserve fund had. been absorbed, bad debts had eaten away more than one-fourth of the capital, there were no profits, and according to their deed of management, the Directors -were bound to assemble the share- holders and dissolve the Company. The bank stopped in October ; and the two Liverpool gentlemen now called upon Mr. Dixon to indemnify them for the loss which they have incurred in pur- chasing ten shares on the faith of the July report. The Court, Mr. Baron Martin presiding, has affirmed that appeal. It is scarcely possible to overrate the importance of this decision. It proclaims that the directors of Joint Stock enterprises are an- swerable for any damage which may befal persons who have pur- chased shares since the issue of a report, if that report was of a kind to induce the purchase by a fallacious representation. The decision will, in many a fine house, amount to what is called "a thunderclap."
Canada continues in a state of excitement, notwithstanding the formation of a Ministry which, for the day at least, appears likely to stand. Mr. Cartier is the succesful premier, and. he has obtained, the assistance, it is said, of Mr. Macdonald, the late Premier. His Government is understood to have taken a course calculated to supersede the difficulties that have hitherto destroyed one Government and prevented the formation of another. His Cabinet will resubmit the question of the capital and its site to the colonial Parliament, and it will take into consideration the expediency of forming a federal union of the British provinces of North America, consulting the Home Go- vernment on the subject. This course at once removes and en- larges the issues which have kept up ill-feeling between the Executive and the Canadian Parliament.
Meanwhile, the Governor has undoubtedly strengthened the position of the Cabinet, not only by declining to dissolve the Parliament, but by stating his reasons against a second. general election in the same year. There would, he says, be some con- fusion, vast expense and inconvenience, and serious hindrance to business which ought to be expedited, especially the Canadian Parliament has been called upon to consider resolutions respect- ing the Hudson's Bay territory ; and unless those resolutions be disposed of no answer on the subject can be given to the British Government. These are some of the principal reasons amidst many others by which Sir Edmund Head is moved in declining an appeal to the country at the present time. The reasons ap- pear to be admitted, especially that relating to the Hudson's Bay territory ; and the Parliament, which was approaching its prorogation, seems half inclined to prefer the winding-up of measures, and especially the despatch of the Hudson's Bay reso- lutions, to the continuance of the Ministerial Crisis.
The Queen and President Buchanan had agreed to exchange messages by the Transatlantic telegraph, and their missives have been duly despatched. It was almost inevitable that composi- tions thus prearranged and preannounced should be neither novel nor brilliant. The authors were composing, as it were, in presence ; they knew that much would be expected, and were overlaid by anxiety to say something up to the occasion, and also nothing ob- jectionable ; while it is impossible to say anything striking with- out deviating into the objectionable. The Queen is the plainer in her train of thought ; she wishes the Union well, has plea- sure in communicating with the President, and hopes that the electric cable will prove "a link," &c. Whereas James Mr- ohanan makes a claim upon her gracious Majesty and the nations of Christendom,—that the link aforesaid shall be for ever neu- tral, its communications passing even in the midst of hostilities. The desire is reasonable and Christian, but not what folks in general will call "practical." The man that holds the rope will nie it for his own purposes, especially if he is an Englishman,-- or an American.
The Newfoundlander/ keep on calling for "news," while the Yankees have clamoured only for the Queen's message; but the telegraph as yet throws little light upon the events that have happened on either side of the Atlantic. It can only tell the Yankees what Russia has learned about China, and nothing about the Paris Conferences. It helps us to no light upon the events in Canada, and still less upon the settlement of the Mormon dispute, which is vaguely reported. The federal troops are said to have arrived at the Salt Lake City ; but whether they have entered it, or are quartered. in the neighbourhood, we cannot tell, accounts differing. It seems to be ascertained, how- ever, that the military officers are in favour with the Mormons, who, after escaping from their resting place, like flies alarmed, are, like flies, returning.
