EUROPEAN INTELLIGENCE. SUMMARY.

Otago Witness, Issue 346, 17 July 1858, Page 5

EUROPEAN INTELLIGENCE. SUMMARY.

(From the Home News of April 16.)

The short time that has elapsed since the new Ministry entered upon their duties, offers a sufficient explanation of the comparative barrenness of the Parliamentary proceedings in measures indicative of the policy of Government.

The India Loan Bill and the Havelock Annuity Bill have passed both Houses, and received the royal assent. The Select Committee, moved for by Mr. Ewart, on Colonisation and Settlement in India, has been nominated. Amongst the principal topics of debate, the Oaths Bill, introduced by Lord John Russell, occupies a prominent position. By a single clause in this bill, which simply proposes the omission from the Parliamentary oath, of the obstructive words, "on the true faith of a Christian," the admission of the Jews to the House of Commons is quietly provided for. The discussion upon the measure was of the usual character. The objections were of the usual variety. A certain number of members, differing upon everything else, agreed on the necessity of excluding the Jews, each for his own reason : one, because the Jews are aliens by tradition ; another, because the Jews are not Christians ; a third, because it would be invidious and unjust to give free entry to the Jews, while the Roman Catholics are still required to take a special oath, and so on. It generally happens that when a number of people agree upon a particular question for different reasons, their opposition is ineffective. It wants unity, and the moral power that comes of unity. Hence the rapid progress which this question has latterly made, and the success which attended Lord John Russell's bill. The main resistance was, of course, made to the clause providing for the omission of the obstructive words : and the division taken on that clause disclosed a very remarkable accession of strength. The numbers in favour of the clause were 297 to 144, a shade more than 2 to 1 in a house of 441 members.

A nearly similar result, arising from nearly similar causes, took place on Lord Bury's motion for introducing a Bill to legalise marriage with a deceased wife's sister, when the numbers in favour of the bill were 105 against 62. It would be hazardous to venture a prediction of the ultimate fate of the measure from this small but marked majority on the first reading; it may be observed, however, that the reasons alleged against the measure were various and discordant. Moral, social, and Scriptural grounds were differently and indifferently urged by its opponents, who, on some points, were as much opposed to each other as to the bill itself. This is, no doubt, a natural dilemma when a proposal is made which may be regarded in one. aspect as a question for what Mr. Lygon called " the instincts of mankind," and in another as a question of theology. But the ordinary consequence of such a diversity of views directed against a particular measure, is the final success of the measure. An opposition which is deficient in a common principle of union generally yields at last to the force of a compact perseverance. And the perseverance in this case has been compact and energetic in a very remarkable degree. We understand that even in the Upper House the promoters of the movement anticipate, if not a majority, at least a weighty minority, and that important accessions in favour of legislstion have been obtained from the heads of the church.

The one measure, in which alone the Government have taken a positive initiative, is Lord Ellenborough's bill for the future government of India, brought forward by Mr. Disraeli on the 26th March. There are features of a very striking kind in which 'Lord Ellenborough's bill differs from that of his predecessors. The fundamental principle is, of course, the same ; the differences arise in the details by which the principle is proposed to be worked out. The council has been enlarged, and rendered partly representative, and partly elective. The number is to be 18 instead of 8 ; one-half to be nominated by the Crownj

the other half to be elected ; and all to be, to some extent, what are called "representative men ; " certain qualifications being required of all persons appointed or elected to sit upon this council. The Bill has met the fate which might be anticipated for it from the common sense of the English people. It was introduced just before the Easter recess, and the holidays afforded an excellent opportunity for examining it, and collecting public opinion. There never was so unanimous a verdict of condemnation pronounced upon any public measure. The dilemma in which Ministers were consequently placed on the re-opening of Parliament on the 12th of April, would have been very serious if Lord John Russell, always out of season, had not stepped in to save them. Assuming, what was perfectly obvious, that the measure could not be carried, lie suggested that the best mode of legislation would be to proceed, in the first instance, by way of resolution, and even offered, if Government hesitated, to bring in resolutions himself. Mr. Disraeli eagerly accepted the suggestion, and even admitted the helplessness of the Administration, so far as to express his desire that Lord John Russell would take the matter into his own hands. The House, however, would not consent to such an arrangement, and the result is, that the Government, virtually, although not formally, abandoning their bill, intend to bring in resolutions, upon which the whole discussion will be taken. The immediate effect of this procedure will probably be to posU pone legislation upon India for the present session. Perhaps nobody will be sorry for this, and Ministers least of all, since it will enable them to tide over their first great difficulty.

Queen Victoria has been making the Emperor of the French a present of a handsome piece of English artillery, and the French ruler is about to reciprocate the compliment by a similar present to our Queen. There is no doubt that the French army is to be wonderfully reduced to keep down expenses, and that Paris is to be still further embellished, to impress the natives with the national glory. But the French navyis being largely increased, which is exciting some uneasiness in England. Mr. Rarey has created quite a sensation in certain circles by his exploits in taming vicious horses. An anxiety being naturally engendered to possess a knowledge of the valuable secret by which these useful transformations are wrought, Mr. Rarey offered to divulge it if 500 persons could be found to pay down a fee of 10 guineas each. The challenge has been accepted, and most of the money having been subscribed, that gentleman has commenced his classes. Among his pupils are nobles, military men, and frequenters of the turf, by some of whom testimonies of satisfaction have been published. The Camp at Aldershot contains 19,000 men, and the number will be augmented to 20,000, of all arms, ready to take the field at the shortest notice.

The attempt of the directors of the Crystal Palace Company to open their grounds on the Sabbath has been again defeated by a judicial decision upon the appeal of a shareholder, who was opposed to the proposed plan. To do so was pronounced a violation of the company's charter, A late statistical investigation has shown that Sunday trading in the metropolis is increasing. The question of emigration is beginning to be brought more prominently before the public than of late. The unemployed of Birmingham have just presented a memorial to the Queen, praying for the institution of some gigantic scheme of free emigration ; at the sametime a movement is on foot for the establishment of a society designed to aid paupers, or persons in indigent circumstances, to transfer their skill and labour to other lands. Canada and New Zealand appear to be the favourite fields.

The trial of M. Bernard for complicity with Orsini's attack on the Emperor of the French was going on. It seems clear for the prosecution that he was aware of it. He certainly purchased the explosive materials, and conveyed the machines to Brussels. There is a chance that he was only a tool, but it is very doubtful.

By telegraphic dispatch, of April 21, we learn that Dr. Bernard, after a trial of six days, was acquitted. Baron de Brunnow had an audience of the Queen, and delivered his. credentials as Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary from his Imperial Majesty the Emperor of all the Russias. His Excellency was introduced by the Earl of Malmesbury, the Queen's principal Secreof State for Foreign Affairs.

With a Press garotted and gagged by the hand of despotism, no information can be

gleaned from the Paris journals on the actual state of things in the capital and throughout the country. However, as " murder will out," so stray waifs of intelligence will come to hand from various quarters, which serve to illustrate the rigid repression and execrable espionage exercised over all classes. As an example of the extent to which the interference of the police is carried, I give the translation of an extract from a private letter from Paris which recently appeared in an Antwerp paper : —

The severe surveillance of the visible and invisible police is carried to such an extent in the sostyled capital of the civilized world that its inhabitants are no longer free to receive even their triends in their own houses without previously obtaining a permission to that effect. One of the bon bourgeois of Paris, being lately about to betrothe his daughter, applied to the Prefet de Police for leave to assemble about thirty friends at the festive board of a family fete. To this application the Prefet replied that he would willingly grant the permission, provided the applicant increased the number of his guests by two persons to be designated to him. The dinner- room, however, not being sufficiently capacious to admit of such an increase, the Prefet, after having verified the fact, demanded to see a list of the thirty invites, with the view of selecting two whose names could be erased therefrom, but having scarcely cast his eyes upon the paper he politely folded and returned it, significantly observing that all was perfectly correct, two persons already known to him being among the future guests.

The following passage will show the heavy charges which are brought by The Times' writer against the Emperor and the suicidal career on which he is launched : —

The whole policy of the French Government of late is much to be deplored. No one who has watched the career of the Emperor, and has seen his opportunities, can help regretting that he should have allowed those who surround him to entangle him in such a net. He has involved himself in a system which no man can hope to control, and which must every day become more unmanageable. He is striving to take the whole of France into custody. To have every man of wealth, or position, or political note in the Empire — every theorist, or fanatic, or vain-glorious democrat, or reckless desperado under his eye — is the purpose of the present ruler. That he must be unsuccessful we know beforehand, and the question is, whether the only evil will be the failure of his object. Our own opinion must be that such a machinery will tend to create the spirit it seeks to repress. Sedition will be generated by the intolerable omnipresence of the police. Every advance of the new power will necessitate a still further extension, until a crisis arrives on which it would be premature to 'speculate. F

Should no internal convulsion anticipate it, many thoughtful persons believe that the inevitable solution of present difficulties will be a foreign war. The question " with whom?" is being debated both here and in America. England or Austria are the two nations who share between them the honorable distinction. The arguments for either alternative are cogent and weighty, but cannot be dwelt on here. One thing is certain, that the hammer is ringing and the forges sparkling in all the arsenals of France. The army is full of rancor towards England ; while the Imperial Government is becoming daily more and more hostile and bitter towards Austria. "Where the storm is to burst time will reveal.

In Russia, preparations for the work of the emancipation of the serfs are going on with activity. The Emperor is said to meet with secret opposition to his great plans from some of the nobles ; but the lower classes are perfectly well aware of what is going on, and probably would not scruple to avenge any determined antagonism. Indeed, it is stated that already several great serf proprietors have fled to the capital in fear for their lives. It is not improbable that we may hear of the perpetration of some terrible massacres should any of the nobles be found to obstinately resist the new and welcome reform. From Warsaw we learn that a camp of 100,000 men is to be formed there next month. This measure is considered a manifestation against Austria.