EUROPEAN NEWS TO THE 26th JUNE.

Marlborough Press, Volume I, Issue 35, 1 September 1860, Page 3

EUROPEAN NEWS TO THE 26th JUNE.

GENERAL SUMMARY. [From the Home News.~\ A “ collision ” has taken place between the Lords and Commons on the subject of the Paper Duty. But the people take very little interest in the matter; and public opinion is so unwilling to encourage a dispute between the two Houses of Parliament on a point of casuistry, that all the efforts which have been made to get up an agitation have made hardly any impression on the country. It will be remembered that the repeal of the Paper Duty was earried in a pretty full House by the narrow majority of nine. This certainly could not be admitted as an argument for the rejection of the measure by the Lords ; but wc mention it as serving to show that the opinion of the Lower House was not expressed very strongly in favour of the bill. Under these circumstances it went to the Lords, who rejected it by the large majority of 89. _ The grounds upon which the Lords arrived at this decision were wholly independent of the abstract question, whether the duty ought or ought not to be repealed. The debate took a different route; and many of the

peers who voted for the rejection of the bill arc known to be favourable to its provisions. Lord Derby declined to discuss the repeal of the Paper Duty as a separate proposition, regarding it only as part of a financial scheme, which, in order to make up for the loss it would entail upon the revenue, increased the income-tax and retained the tea and sugar duties. His opinion, and we believe, the opinion of th e great bulk of the people, is that it would have been better to have continued a duty which does not materially affect the interests of the community at large, than to have augmented the weight of the most unpopular of all our burdens, and to have kept still in force two duties which interfere directly with the comforts of the middle and lower classes. It seems, indeed, to be generally thought that a time when it was found necessary to increase our imposts was ill chosen for the repeal of the Paper Duty. It is not, however, in reference to this matter of taxation merely that the proceedings of the Lords have awakened unusual public interest, but mainly in reference to the constitutional question opened by the rejection of a Money Bill. Have the Lords a right to refuse their sanction to such a bill ? Nobody denies that the right of taxation is vested exclusively in the hands of the representatives of the people; nor does anybody venture to affirm that the Lords can originate taxation, or that they can even modify or alter any existing tax, or any tax proposed by the Commons. The theory of the constitution on these points is simple enough ; the Queen asks, the Commons grant, the Lords assent. How, then, can the Lords, without violating the fundamental principles upon which the action of the two houses rests, refuse their assent to a Money Bill? The answer is as simple as the theory to which it refers. The Lords have no power to originate or alter. They have no power but that of assent, which, of course, brings with it the right of dissent. They can assent or dissent to a money bill as a whole, but they cannot alter or originate a money bill. If the Lords have not the right of dissent, it would be a pure fiction to send up bills for their assent, which, in that case, would not be assent, but submission to the will of the Commons. Now, how does this exposition of the relations of the two branches of the Legislature apply to the case of the Paper Duty? It is alleged, on the one hand, that by refusing to repeal a duty which the Queen and the Commons had already provided for, the Lords have, in effect, put an additional burden upon the community, and that such refusal is, consequently, equivalent to the imposition of a new tax. On the other hand, it is answered that the Lords have in reality done nothing at all, the actual result of their decision being to leave the duty exactly where they found it. The Lords deny that there is any power resident in two branches of the Legislature to make a law : and while they fully accept the right of the Commons in reference to taxation, they insist upon considering Money Bills as coming within the general rule of legislation, subject only to the special condition that they shall not be altered in the Upper House. The Commons have taken the matter very philosophically, and Ministers have already signified their intention not to make the verdict on the Paper Duty a ground of dissension between the two Houses. A committee of inquiry has been appointed to search for precedents; but, notwithstanding the imprudent zeal of sundry indignant members, it is not at all likely that any serious result will follow. Several “ indignation ” meetings have been held on the subject; but until the committee shall have furnished their report it is felt on all hands that it is useless to agitate. After the recess of the Whitsun week, Parliament met again for business on the Blst of May, when nearly the whole of the debates were on military topics, cropping up out of the motion of going into committee of supply on the Army Estimates. The question of Colonial defence was touched upon by Mr. Adderley, who insisted on the propriety of compelling the colonies to defend themselves at their own expense. Independently of the rank injustice and folly of such a demand, it is open to the additional objection of assuming the whole question as if it were exclusively an Imperial question, in which the colonies themselves were not entitled to be heard. Mr. Sidney Herbert did not make quite so much of this objection as he might have done ; but he took care to let it be understood that Government does not intend to settle the matter of defences, without consulting the views of those who are directly interested in the arrangement. Sir Charles Wood’s motion for leave to introduce a bill to repeal an act passed last session, giving powers to the Secretary of State for India to raise men in this country for local service in tho East, has been

agreed to The effect of his speech upon the House generally was to produce an impression that the real meaning of the bill was to tax India for Imperial objects, and to vest in the Horse Guards, for the benefit of the few, that enormous patronage which has hitherto been practically at the disposal of the many. Sir Charles struggled hard for leave to introduce his bill at once; but there was so strong a resistance upon the very threshold, that even the ordinary form was denied to him, and the discussion was adjourned to the 21st of June, when, after an able, but vacillating, speech from Lord Stanley, and some few brief observations from other members, leave was given to introduce the bill. There will, doubtless, be a discussion on the second reading; but the amalgamation of the local and Imperial armies may be considered a fait accompli. The absolute indifference of the country at large to the question of Reform has never been shown so unmistakably as in the reception given to the last movement of Ministers in reference to their bill. Three weeks ago Lord Palmerston was to stand upon the bill, and if it were defeated, or mangled in committee, he was to resign or to dissolve Parliament. While this menace was yet ringing in the ears of listless millions, Lord John Russell relieved the Cabinet from the dilemma in which it was rapidly getting itself shut up, by withdrawing the bill altogether. Of course under this very unexpected change of circumstances, Ministers are not called upon either to resign or dissolve. They have relinquished the contest, and are no longer required to decide what they will do in the event of a defeat. There can be no defeat in the case $ or, if there be any, it is a defeat which they have inflicted upon themselves with their own hands. Should any injudicious supporters of Government, however, claim it as a victory, they must be content with the doubtful honours of a Parthian triumph. It is not to be disguised that the proceeding has greatly weakened the moral weight of an Administration, which is abundantly strong in able men, and wants nothing to endow it with stability but a more consistent and less suspicious policy. It is quite true, as stated by Lord John Russell, and echoed by Mr. Disraeli, that it would have been impossible to pass the Reform Bill this session. On the 11th of J une the bill had not got into committee, and the discussion was still going on as to whether it was to be committed or not. There were no less than 250 members for postponing the question; and there were sixty or seventy amendments to be taken into consideration. Were both Houses of Parliament perfectly disengaged, with nothing else in the world to do but to look after Reform, it would have been scarcely possible to have carried the bill within the ordinary limits of the session. But so far, from beihg disengaged, there never was a moment when Parliament had more urgent business to transact. There are, amongst the prominent topics, the pending discussion between the two Houses, the French treaty, the Italian imbroglio, the Avar with China, the reorganization of the Indian army, and the questions of the defences, supply and taxation. It is pretty certain that, even without being hampered by a Reform debate, Parliament will bo compelled to close the session, as it is, with a hea\ T y slaugher of innocents; and it is no less certain that if the Reform Bill had been retained in the programme, it must have shared the same fate. The excuse, therefore, upon which the bill Avas AvithdraAvn must be admitted to be valid. But this does not exonerate Ministers from the responsibility of having brought themselves into a difficulty from Avhich they had no escape but flight. Their situation, so far as the Reform Bill is concerned, bears a close resemblance to that of a garrison which is obliged to surrender, but is permitted to march out Avith the honours of Avar. The neAVS from Sicily, darkened as it is by horrors, may be set doAvn amongst the greatest marvels of this age of wonders. At the date of our last, Garibaldi Avas reported to have landed at Marsala; but beyond that vague fact we had no reliable particulars. Noav, we know that he has completely routed the King’s troops, that lie is master of Sicily, and that he has already organized a provisional government Our first intelligence came through Neapolitan official channels, and represented Garibaldi as having been defeated ignominiously, one official statement going so far as to say that the patriot general had cut his throat in despair. And, by way of giving greater authority to these falsehoods, the besotted government actually offered up Tc Dcums for the victories of the royal troops, through a rapid campaign in which they were, day after day, suffering a succession of ignominious defeats. What the Avretched King, or his advisers, could have hoped to gain by these attempts to deceive Europe passes all comprehension ; but, we suppose, it must be accepted as part and parcel of that inexplicable Bourbon mystery which is uoav in its last stage.

The manner in which Garibaldi won Palermo is an achievement almost without parallel. While he. was fighting outside the town, the population rose against the troops within, aud, after several hours of close and severe fighting, Garibaldi at the head of his followers, with the national flag in his hand, appeared suddenly in the streets, and drove the enemy before him into the Castle, where they shut themselves up. At this moment the Neapolitan ships and the surrounding forts opened fire upon the town, and the mad King of Naples has to add to the. long catalogue of his, and his father’s atrocities, the heavy guilt of slaughtering his own subjects under circumstances wholly unexampled in the annals of war. The population were mowed down by this barbarous and inhuman proceeding, and, notwithstanding the remonstrances of the foreign Consuls, the bombardment, after the cessation of an hour, was unmercifully resumed. Gut it availed nothing to the remorseless Bourbon. The truth could uot be concealed at Naples; and so great was the consternation, and so profound the conviction that the government had run out its last sands, that the ministers resigned in a body, and abandoned the inhuman tyrant to his fate. The final result is admonitory to all nations. The King who had so recently refused quarter to his subjects was now compelled to sue for mercy, by a formal capitulation. Garibaldi, generous in the hour of victory, consented to the embarkation of the Neapolitan soldiers, with arms and baggage, insisting, as an inexorable condition, to which he is on all grounds entitled as the head of the new government, upon the retention of the treasury, containing a large sum of money. ’ Reinforcements have reached the patriots in various forms, men, subscriptions, and arms; but two vessels have been seized by the Royalists, containing, it is said, 500 volunteers, and 5,000 muskets. The Sardinian government have demanded the restitution of these vessels, on the ground that they were bound for Genoa. The progress towards the establishment of a government of order and security has been as rapid and successful as we had a a right to expect from the genius of Garibaldi and his memorable antecedents in Rome. He has already issued several decrees, organizing all the departments of the government, and directing active measures of defence and fiscal arrangements. The local councils and the old functionaries have been restored all over the country; the public communal lands are to be distributed amongst persons who have taken up arms in defence of the national independence ; and all the taxes imposed by the Bourbon rule are to be repealed. The country is already beginning to wear an aspect of hope and confidence, long strange to its people. But what is to come next ? Garibaldi cannot rest here. He cannot stop at Sicily. Calabria expects him, and Naples is palpitating with hope. The Neapolitans have already established a camp at Reggio, opposite to Messina. They evidently anticipate the movement which all Europe looks upon as inevitable. In the interval of suspense, diplomatic agencies have been put in motion, but without result. The King of Naples, who, crushed as he is, does not appear ashamed of his butcheries, has offered a constitution at last, and sent a minister with instructions to Paris and London, to beseeech the interference of France and England. France and Austria have both declared their intention to leave Naples to the fate she has so obstinately provoked; and Lord Palmerston has spared the Neapolitan ambassador the trouble of coming to London, by announcing in Parliament the nature of the reception that would be given to his mission. The ambassador, consequently, has gone back to Naples, very much after the same manner of a dog that, having suffered the last humiliation to which dogs are liable, slinks away with a pendulous tail. The pleasent brunnen of Baden Baden has just been the scene of a remarkable meeting of crowned heads, coming from all parts of Germany to greet the Emperor of the French. We have some hesitation in recording the number of princes that are said to be gathered into that vernal basin, but with the exception of the Emperor of Austria, we believe they include nearly every potentate, great and small, of the wide Fathei-land. The object of this meeting is somewhat mysterious. The ostensible motive that brings all these royalties together is to exchange friendly pledges, or, in other words, to receive the assurances of Louis Napoleon that he does not intend to make a descent upon the Rhine. But surely there is much more than this ? We shall hear all about it, probably, very soon; for the secret is in too many hands to be kept long or strictly. The state of the weather in England for the last two or three months has not only occasioned great alarm as to the approaching harvest, but, in conjunction with other causes, has contributed materially .to

raise the price of provisions. Fearful storms have devastated our coasts, especially on Whit-Monday, when there was a terrific tempest that strewed the seaboard with wrecks, whole crews of ships perishing in many instances. Inland the high winds were severely felt; houses were unroofed, men, women, and children were blown about at fearful risks of life, large forest trees were uprooted, and considerable damage was done in the agricultural districts. But still worse results are apprehended from the incessant rains which have laid the low lands quite under water, and, it is feared, destroyed large surfaces of wheat and barley.