TOPICS OF THE DAY.

MOVEMENT IN FAVOUR OF PEACE IN THE MANUFACTURING DISTRICTS.

TIIE country is at last beginning to speak out on the subject of the hostilities in which we are involved on the coast of Syria and the threatened war with France. The manufbcturing districts— as we wished rather than hoped—have taken the lead.

On the 30th of October, the Town-Council of Bolton unaui- measly agreed to petition the Queen " to take such measures as will have the effect of securing to her Majesty's subjects the in- estimable blessings of peace." The Common Council of Bolton takes up the ground of non-intervention in the domestic affairs of other countries; declaring, " that were any foreign power forcibly to interfere in the domestic affairs of this country, your petitioners believe that such is the attachment of your Majesty's subjects to your per and government, that they would rise as one man to repel the aggressors"; and "that common justice and true national honour equally demand that this country should avoid pursuing towards any other nation a course of aggression which it would so strongly resist if practised towards itself.'

On the 4th instant, there was a large meeting in the Town-hall of Manchester, summoned by a requisition to which the most in- fluential merchants, men of all parties, appended their names. This meeting took up the ground that wars and conquests are in- compatible with the principles which ought to regulate a commu- nity priding itself upon the pursuits of honest industry. " We are the advocates of a perfect freedom of commerce between all the nations of the world : what benefits, then, can wars or conquests

confer upon us e The meeting agreed to an address to the French people, reminding them, that in 1830 the men of Man- chester sent delegates to congratulate them upon the conquest of their internal freedom; assuring them that their feelings towards them remain unchanged; reminding them that if war arid con- quest were considered by their ancestors as their especial task, the men of this generation had a more elevated duty to fulfil—the advancement of enlightenment and civilization by moral means; and calling upon the people of France to unite with the people of England in the use of every honourable means to preserve peace and friendship.

At Leeds, Sir WILLIAM Mor.liswmern has invited his consti- tuents to meet for the purpose of expressing their approbation or disapprobation of the opinions he entertains regarding the present state of our foreign relations. " In a representative government," says Sir WILLIAM, " where the people possess a portion of the sovereign power, it is their duty to make their voices heard and respected on a matter so deeply important. Your opinions so- lemnly proclaimed will be listened to with respect throughout the manufacturing districts of England." The meeting was to be held this day at noon.

These expressions of popular opinion we regard as among the most gratifying and important that have ever been uttered in this country. They are a declaration not only against the paltry hostilities in which we are engaged and the war which seems in- pending, but against the false policy which has involved us in those troubles. The parties to these movements have taken up their ground upon broad and unassailable principles. They have solemnly recognized two great truths—that the industrious portion of the community are entitled to demand that government shall act for the benefit of' all; and that meddling with the internal afihirs ofother nations, and involving the country in wars when no specific. injury calls for redress, are ha ompatible with this priinary duty of government. These are truths which the mercantile classes, of all others, have been placed in the most favourable relations for dis- covering, and which it is not much to their credit that they have not discovered long ago. Even yet, the meeting,: and declarations to which we arc adverting, compared with the extent of our terH- tories and the amount of our population, can be considered as but the faint dawning of a wiser term But they are the unequivocal indications of progress in sound and clear thinking in polities, and as such we hail them.

Fain would we hope that the movement which has been so well begun is not to be allowed to stop here. We believe that it is not, because we see that the Government journals have already taken the alarm. The publication of the resolutions of the Town-Coun- cil of Bolton, and the announcement of the intended meetings at Manchester and Leeds, have elicited from the ..1Loadeg Chrosiete a deprecation of any expressions or public opinion, and something more like an argumentative defence of the Ps LNIERSTON policy than we have yet seen from that quarter. The tone in which the Chronicle sees fit to address "the Liberals," and " the wise men of the North," is edifying as coining from the organ of a Govern- ment placed in office by the public meetings of the time of the Re- form Bill, and replaced in office by the public meetings of the time of the Lichfield House compact. " Madness is contagious. if a number of our Itor:i1 t up meetings If the nahlre (phut of the 7inert-emweil Bolton, fresh toil may be given to French excitement, now on the point f dying out. The wise nu n of the North are too lote in the field to prevent interkrenee in the addrs ■d• turkey and Egypt and Syria, but they may be in time to continue hostilities longer than they would otherwise be continued. Having been patient so long, to their own credit be it spoken, it might be as well to continue lett ient a little longer. We consider the agitation of these km.s or peace d tent prix, any thing but seasonable."

In so far as the public is concerned, the sneer in this extract at

its previous apathy has not been undeserved, and the personal ap- plication may be allowed the whole force that a pope ever can have. It ought to stimulate the friends of peace to make up for lost time. We have no doubt that the Chroni:.k, and the warlike section of the Cabinet, are quite sincere in thinkieg the meetings in the North " wry thing but seasonable." But we trust that " the wise men of the North" have not only too much spirit to be rated in this way by a Ministerial mouthpiece, but to teueh sense to acquiesce m the false policy of involving England ht the paltry in- trigues of a semi-barbarous c.surt and breaking-up mpire, at the hazard of finding the nation continually involved in I:estilities about matters which nowise concern it.

The Chronicle prefitros its arganient on the nee-intervention principle with a few WO via abO:lt " attempts to get up petitions against the administret:on of our foreign affleirs," — a form of speech adopted front the edvocates of old Tory Governments, to which the Chroeicle in days of yore would have shown no mercy. It then proceeds, with a jimmy airectatiou or non-intelligence, to say- " As far as we pm onderstand the drift of th

the parties, it is this : Our posltion is hisalar. ••• interfering with tlh: ;ants uf any other country. arc able, and shall be to d.rfend ourselve:; employed by

• nut justified in :mucked, we ;1.1 self-defence, its

no case ought we to have recour-.: to arms. \Vlii i . CIA Turkey is either torn by intuit-floe war., 1.1.ntioned. by ..s:. us? what is it

to us tie dacrent mea.■ , almid the a:ol the Conti- nent is imadred ii r ;role, and 'ight: It :night not be t., thot. , •,.. •,1! t!. vulgar eco- nomy, (1 'do .,5 ;A! . ••• , despised. Would the .• •!, • • ••.t / v.!"

The C10:1 t•I l't,!: „•::'t t ht. 1:1,1 that the non- intervention reconnuea le :1 is' -11.1:-interveuti_m in the domestic concerns of other nations "; that " onr in-ular position" is adverted to net as a reeson foe edeieg that pulley, but as a cir- cumstance that feeilitate, its adoption. It is not pretended by the

policy, that, mixed up as most ardent f !ends of non-intervention

this comas,: has ha,en in the mgled aditirs of European dmplo- rirircy, she can be extricated all at once. But it is maintained that isolation, to the extent we have mentioned, would be our wisest policy ; that its adoption %vou:d be the necessary consequence of the adoption of sound vie..vs of the true nature and ends of go- vernment among all mition,; and that a real Reform Govern- ment" would task its eilei.gies to place this country as soon as possible in a situation to make non-in:terve:it:on the rule of her in the do- foreign policy. The advocates of' " non-intervention mestm concerns of other netions," know better than to begin with that general position in order to infer from it the impolicy of our interference in Syrian affairs. They know that the public mind is not sufficiently enlightened tedon this point to see the truth and importance of' the general leinciple they argue the impolicy of the intervention in the atiiiirs Of Syria up,.‘n the merits of

that individuel case, but they :.1-e eyed edves of so

tention to the general principle ,•rvc:t :1 to call at. striking an example of the da,..g,

that they

record their prot...st iri;ain-t the p

this precisely because they think tlea e. roe of 'Eng- Thee do

thertfime of Opinion, " that even on th,.. they are

af the moat land would surfer by a general war -;

vulgar economy, arram.,,,aaents h Is 1: 1 .-..eveatcd are not to be despised.- T! 11 t , .wernment dious exercise of ,1.:i.lematie helm ,lee. t::e more bisi- ,truggle for

to another in mat tL ascendancy in the weds of nil . airy in these pursuits enkindles great powers, a ti.rth unnecessary wars, ulLli could ho eIreetircly cut t! Lst&alishment of the non-intervention princlide, and NV I lobcan be cut WV by no other means.

So much for the attack made liv the f; rnm t organ upon

one of the argwat tits of the : now look to the argument ellielt it 'es te

" r -

have ear:, t;.! : Oil their c,iast. taineers, and arms i r,al. To tall; ,•!' ! •• , t 1.

lii rals do, is t,, rt- ruining a rich tent of grinding o: itie reveilm., o!!

doubt, got-, ro,•1 •!.; tliat the °Vet': plunged the peol,b; 'The only tit Iv French sohlitI . ,•( mined by drain, ■■.I !!. :-.-rox policy. -!1'.1 of Egypt. troops landeA the mouu- • :. became nni- some of OUT I., met Ali, by by a sys- , .5 coverea by • sC rat.h:1, V. 1tt. imagined

• 'a 7k1,h.-,•t Ali • : . hint , curks.

definition of government : it will recognize no government which bas not for its object the benefit of the people ; and it constitutes its own government judge of what governments are for the benefit of the people. It arrogates to the British Cabinet the power of sitting in judgment upon all governments, and putting them under its ban and anathema if' they do not come up to its ideal standard of excellence, and of encouraging and aiding local insurrections against it with a view to overturn it. This is rank " propo- gandism "—the doctrine that free nations are in duty bound to assist oppressed subjects in insurrection against tyrannical governments. We should like to see Lord PALMERSTON take the opinion of the three powers with which he contracted a closer alliance on the 15th of July. Fancy him suggesting the applica- tion of the principle to Prussia, in the case of Westphalia, or the provinces wrested in 1815 from time King of Saxony, or the Duteby of Posen, or Prussia Proper ; to Austria, in the case of Hungary and Lombardy ; to Russia, in the case of the Caucasus and Poland. It was by this argument that the French Directory justified its intrigues with the disaffected in Ireland and the landing of the French troops 'under Ilociii. We shall be told that this is stretching the application of the doctrine beyond what the Chro- nicle contemplated. We know that it is ; and in the shrinking from its legitimate consequehees, we detect the fallacy of an unnecessary appeal to sentiment in order to bewilder and mis- lead the judgment. The talk about MEHEMET ALI'S tyranny is merely introduced in order to lend a colouring to a course of policy predetermined without any reference to the character or conduct of the Pasha of Egypt. The object is to raise a cloud of dust, under cover of which the awkward admission of the rights of de facto rulers may be shuffled off. Here we aught safely allow the question to rest. Whether the government of Mims:sirs .Am be better or worse than that of his predecessors, has nothing to do with the justice of our proceedings in Syria. But it deserves to be remarked, as an indication of the sincerity of our opponents, that they offer no proof of the accusations they so liberally scatter against the Pasha. It is not enough to say that MEnseerr's government is bad, unless they can show that it is worse than that for which it is a sub- stitute, or that they can give the Syrians a better. What evi- dence we have consulted on this question is in the Pasha's favour. Lord VALENTIA, BROWNE, and BURCHHARDT, give us miserable pictures of the state of Egypt under time Mameluke Beys. NIE- BUHR and BURCKIIARBT Show the state of anarchy in Syria pre- vious to the time of MEnEsiET Am. The opinion of Colonel CAMPBELL, late Consul-General in Egypt, which we quoted in the Spectator of the 10th October, is strong evidence to the fact that MEnEstET Au's government, with all its undeniable defects, is an improvement upon what preceded it. Since we quoted Colonel CAMPBELL, Mr. KINNEAR, who tells us in his preface, "the object of may visit to the Levant was entirely mercantile," has published a tour through a considerable part of the dominions of MEIIEMET ALI, and has recorded his opinion of the Pasha's government in these words—" It is not a good government ; but what is bad in it belongs to the Turkish government also, and what is comparatively good is Mehemet All's." And again—" On the whole, however, I have no hesitation in saying, that the government of Mehemet All in Syria is better than that of the Turkish Pashas ; and I have no he- sitation at all in saying that it has been very much misrepresented in England." The opinions of Colonel CAMPBELL and Mr. Kix- NEAR are the opinions of men who have seen with their own eyes the countries of which they speak : they are uttered as a simple

statement of facts, without any intention or wish to support one

line of policy or another. The depreciatory statements in the Chronicle, on the other hand, are made by persons not acquainted with the country, without reference to witnesses, for the purpose of

defending a line of policy which has been attacked, and in a tone that indicates animosity.. The attack upon the conscription comes with a bad grace from a country which still retains its pressgangs ;

and the appeal ad inridiam about " bastard civilization taught by French soldiers of fortune," is unfortunate, seeing that there arc many English civilians in 111Enlisissr Ala's employment, and that he only had recourse to French officers for time organization of his army after English ones had been refused him.

We have directed so much space to time Clisonic/e's anticipatory attack upon the Peace-meetings, not because we think its argu-

ments either very new or very well put, but because we wish to point it nut to the friends of peace, as an evidence of the effect that their demonstrations arc calculated to produce, and of the devices by which it is sought to inspire them with distrust of their own judgment. They may hero see how feeble the arguments that can be brought against their opinions, by those who have time greatest interest in making out a string case against them. And they may also see a confession of' their power to do good, in the eagerness whim which they are begged to desist from their intended move-

ment—in the attempt to spread distrust of their judgment and sin-

cerity before they have been allowed to speak fid. themselves. Their object is a great and good one : their body embraces men of various

stages of (+hike, some with more confined and other with further- reaching views. All of' them are agreed that the object which it is

proposed to saccomplish by the warlike operations in Syria is too unimportant to be for a moment weighed in the balance against

the preservation of the friendship of France and the peace of' Eu- rope. Some of them trace the danger in which we stand to the practice of meddling in the domestic concerns of other nations, and

avail themselves of the _opportunity of drawing public attention to • the efficiency of the non-intervention principle as a means of dimi- nishing the frequency of wars. A yet smaller number deprecate war under any circumstances, and avail themselves of the present opportunity to inculcate their pacific doctrines. There is here no ground for distrust or disunion. All can honestly cooperate in the attempt to conciliate France by an honest expression of the national desire to cultivate its friendship and alliance—a remon- strance against the folly of endangering the interests of' civiliza- tion for so paltry a cause of quarrel as has produced a transient alienation. And the subjects of discussion to which the advocates of non-intervention and the friends of peace under all circum- stances invite attention, are not only important, but such as are at this moment more especially deserving to be canvassed mid likely to be attended to. We hope, therefore, that the men who have appealed to public opinion upon such vital questions will not allow themselves to be diverted from their undertaking either by taunts or by flattery ; and that they will carry on the good work with that temper and judgment which, by avoiding such actions as are liable to misrepreserstation and such expressions as have a tendency to stimulate prejudice into anger, are most likely to pro- mote their praiseworthy object.

In connexion with this subject, we may be pardoned for noticing a pretty strong personal appeal made to tile Spectator in the Morning Post of Wednesday. " The Spectator is too well-informed not to know, whatever it inny sal', that the Opposition is for peace," observes that journal. This is an imputation of insincerity unlike the usual measured and well• bred language of the Morning Post; and it is, we must be allowed to say, altogether undeserved on our part. We know nothing of the inclinations of the Opposition beyond what is revealed in its public acts and words. We have indeed beard, upon good authority, that one sagacious Conservative chief disapproves of the PALMERSTON policy; and we have read with pleasure some powerful and statesmanlike articles on the subject which have appeared in the Times. But the Times and time nobleman to whom we allude do not constitute " the Opposi- tion." We are quite aware that the Opposition journals " said several weeks ago," that " the question at issue is after all but a few leagues of territory more or less, and that this is a miserable pretext for involving two great nations in the miseries of war." But we think we have noticed during the interval which has elapsed since " several weeks ago," a slackness on the part of " the Opposition journals" in urging this great truth, just at the moment when it might have most profitably been urged. It may be that we are wrong—we should be happy to find that we are—but we must confess that there are some passages in the very article of the Morning Post to which we are referring, which tend to confirm us in our error, if error it be. There is ail attempt to escape from the consequences of time admission of the unimportance of the dispute in Syria, something after the fashion of the Morning Chronicle's attempt to back out from the consequence of its ad- mission of time rights of de facto sovereigns- " But it is said by some of the Radicals, that while we, the Conservatives, censure the French fbr threatening war, we support the carrying into effect of the treaty of the 15th of July; that is, we support war itself now carrying on upon the coast of Syria. Timis is merely sophistry. It is an endeavour by the use of the same word to make different things seem similar. War, it may be said, is war ; but every one of common sense must see that the measures of force resorted to on the coast of Syria are very different from time military and naval strife of nation against nation in Europe."

Well, if it is not war, what is it ? The Post says- " Strictly speaking, the force used mm time coast of Syria is not a war' at all. There has been no declaration of war. There is no strife of nation against nation, but merely assistance given to a Sovereign in alliance with the great Powers of Europe, to relieve part of his territory from the sway of a rebel chief. The European Powers would gladly have done this without strife or bloodshed. They did not hastily, nor wantonly, resort to measures of force. They gave ample time for compliance with that which they had resolved upon; and then, when it was found that 7iothing else would answer the purpose, they resorted to fiecilde measures for the attainment of a specific end. They have sought no conquest, but merely the accomplishing of a mutual agreement. This is very difierent from war ; and to compare this with a war between rival nations in Europe, is nothing but rhetorical trick and imposture. But these are the ordinary weapons of revolutionists, whether mild and mitigated as in England, or mad and militant as in France."

If' this is not war, it is something worse. It is the holy Alliance

principle of' sovereigns combining to put down insurrection in each other's territories; a doctrine recently revived by the Morning Chronicle, and equally objectionable with the propagandist doc•

trine of supporting "time sacred right of insurrection" by foreign aid, which that journal finite] it convenient to promulgate on Wed-

nesday last. It would appear too, from the stress laid by the Post

upon there having " been no declaration of war," that in its estima- tion time declaration makes time war ; and that battles, sieges, and

bombardments, are mere inconsequential trifles. If' the Post is

right in this its last conclumion, it does not consider the operations in Syria as a mere question of a few leagues more or less. It con- siders them as the enforcement of a principle which it sincerely

believes to be just, but \YMCA] we with equal sincerity believe

to be fidsc and mischievous. If the Whig Government act upon this principle, their interference in Syria is not merely foolish but criminal, for it is in direct contradiction to the pro- fessed principles of their party. The Conservatives arc con- sistent in holding this principle ; but as acting upon it must in-

evitably lead to wars, we cannot look to them to advocate. pence. Their place is among time defenders of the Ministerial policy. We have no wish to bandy epithets with the Post—" rhetorical trick and imposture"—" weapons of revolutionists," and the like ; because they only serve to irritate disputants not to promote the attain- ment of truth. But we do not think that so long as this country

acts upon the principle of keeping down rebellious subjects for sovereigns who cannot do it for themselves, it has any right to be offended at violent language provoked by its own injustice.