Part 20

NOTE 21, p. 213.--Here is omitted a minute elucidation of the British Government’s share in the tumultuous and confused Italian politics of Lord Palmerston’s time. The speaker mentions and defends the following cases of British influence: 1. After vainly trying to dissuade the King of Sardinia from taking up arms against Austria in the troubles of 1846–48, England did not feel obliged forcibly to prevent such action. She considered that, ethically wrong, his action was nevertheless practically forced upon him by the appeal of Lombardy and the overpowering sentiment of his own subjects. She also refused to propose to the people of Lombardy (acting for Austria) a compromise which she felt was less than Lombardy would accept. 2. The Earl of Minto was really summoned to Rome by the Pope. Although the English law did not then permit the sending of a regular Minister to the Papal Court, the Pope wished to have by him an adviser and _quasi_ moral representative of England. In Palmerston’s words, he wished that this person “should be entirely in the confidence of Her Majesty’s Government; that he should be conversant with the conditions of this country; that he should be a man of rank; and, if possible, a person who could combine with these qualifications diplomatic experience.” Palmerston adds: “If a form of words had been devised which should exactly describe the Earl of Minto, it could not have been done more correctly.” He was accordingly requested by his Government to include Rome in a trip taken ostensibly for recreation. The Earl found plenty to busy himself with in distracted Italy. While he was at Rome, a civil war began between Sicily and the King of Naples; and the informal representative of England was asked by both parties to effect an arrangement of their differences. While the Earl was in Sicily, however, the news of the fall of Louis Philippe arrived, and after that the hotheaded Sicilians would listen to nothing short of independence. 3. The third case of English interference was the announcement made to the King of Sardinia that if the Duke of Genoa were chosen and actually enthroned as King of Sicily, the English Government would acknowledge him. This promise was based on the theory, then generally accepted, that the King of Naples would be unable to recover Sicily. The contrary happened; and the English proposal, actually made by the Sicilians to the Sardinian Government, was rejected by the latter.

These things being so, the speaker concludes: “I am justified in denying that the policy which we pursued in Italy was that of exciting revolutions, and then abandoning the victims we had deluded. On the contrary, I maintain that we gave advice calculated to prevent revolutions, by reconciling opposite parties and conflicting views. Ours was a policy of improvement and peace; and therefore the Government deserves not condemnation, but praise.”

NOTE 22, p. 214.--The Treaty of Unkiar Skelessi, so called from the palace in which it was signed (July, 1833), by Russia and Turkey, was in many respects an epoch-making document. Its influence was long felt in the world-forces that thrill with every new agitation of the Eastern Question. The causes that led to its signing were the revolt and highly successful campaigns waged against the Sultan by Mehemet Ali, Viceroy of Egypt, and his son Ibrahim. After the fall of Acre, Ibrahim overcame the Turkish army sent against him in Syria, advanced to the north, overcame another army, and had the way clear for a march to the Bosphorus, when the terrified Sultan called in the aid of Russia. At his request a Russian squadron came to Constantinople. It is needless to say that this event was highly unwelcome both to England and France. France threatened to recall her ambassador, Admiral Roussin; but the Sultan only appealed to Russia for troops and more ships. Finally, through the agency of France, a peace was patched up between the Sultan and his Egyptian enemies. Although really relieved of his fears by France, it was to Russia that the Sultan showed the fullest gratitude. The outcome of this was the Treaty of Unkiar Skelessi, which arranged for nothing less than a defensive Russo-Turkish alliance. As for Russia, she had not only signed a treaty, but executed a _coup_ of the most important nature. For, by a secret clause, which was soon made public, Turkey agreed to close the Dardanelles to the warships of the world when Russia was at war. And, by the very nature of the clause, Russia, in such a predicament, could use Turkish waters as her own. The gates of the Dardanelles were to be unlocked for her; for all others they continued closed. The Russian advantage is obvious. From this moment the English distrust of Russia increased daily; and England and France were single in their aim to diminish Russian influence with the Porte. And the feeling thus aroused had for its eventual outlet the Crimean War. But at first French indignation found expression in a marked display of friendly feeling towards the old rebel, Mehemet Ali. The Sultan had died; but against his successor the Egyptian now took up arms again. Some signal victories having been gained by him, the French and English fleets appeared in the Dardanelles, chiefly as a menace against Russia. The latter saw that she would have to abdicate from her singularly advantageous standpoint as the sole protector of Turkey. When negotiations were opened again between the new Sultan and Mehemet, the rebel refused to conclude a peace upon reasonable terms; but France was the only power that remained favorable to his pretensions. Thus, in the settlement of this matter, France and England were brought into decided opposition: the former proposing that to Mehemet and descendants all Syria and Egypt should be given, a yearly tribute to be paid to the Porte; the latter insisting that Mehemet should have Egypt alone, that he should evacuate Northern Syria, and that he should hold Palestine only as life-governor. Lord Palmerston not only held firm to this, but persuaded the other Powers to acquiesce in it. Accordingly, on July 15, 1840, a treaty was signed by the consenting Powers. France, thus left out in the cold, worked herself into a jealous frenzy, which, however, did not lead her into actual hostilities. The Allies now proceeded calmly to crush the bone over which all the dogs of war had been snarling. With expedition Ibrahim was expelled from Syria; and Mehemet, at Alexandria, was compelled to compound with Sir Charles Napier, the English Admiral, by formally submitting to the Sultan; by accepting merely the hereditary possession of Egypt; and by restoring to the Sultan the Turkish fleet, which, by the double-dealing of its captain, had gone over to him. To this arrangement France at last decided to yield. And now, about the _crux_ of the Dardanelles, a _modus vivendi_ was arrived at. Russia could not hope to retain the predominant privileges conferred at Unkiar Skelessi. Along with France, she joined in the general understanding of the Powers that no warship of any nation should be allowed to pass these mooted straits--save and only if Turkey were at war. Thus she had to give up her hope of sea-power in the Mediterranean; but at the same time her Euxine shores were safe from all but Turkish attack. And so the flags of Europe to-day float off Constantinople only from the so-called “guardships,” the small gunboats which each Power may maintain there as the moral emblem of its fleet.

The direct reference made to Turkish questions in this speech, delivered as events were gathering for the Crimean War, is to the incident of the Hungarian refugees. Following the insurrection in Hungary headed by Kossuth and others, the leaders had fled (1849) to Turkey. Kossuth himself was among these refugees; and his children were taken care of at the British embassy. Austria and Russia directly demanded of the Porte that it should give the refugees up. Strange to say, the Sultan, in a new rôle for an Ottoman Emperor, refused. The public opinion of Western Europe rallied to a position of the Porte so sympathetic, and, as recounted in the text, fleets, English and French, were ordered to the Dardanelles. With these Powers behind the Sultan, there was only one thing for the two Emperors to do: they withdrew their demand. Thus closed another incident in that problem of problems, the Eastern Question.

NOTE 23, p. 233.--The “committing” of a Bill followed its second reading. The House constituted itself as a Committee to consider the details of a Bill: the Speaker temporarily abandoned the Chair to another member; and the Bill was then discussed clause by clause. The House failing to agree on any point, a Division, or poll of the members, was taken. The majority vote decided. Mr. Sheldon Amos (“Primer of the English Constitution and Government,” London, 1877, p. 46) conveniently summarizes the Parliamentary history of a successful Bill:

“1. _Motion_ for leave to bring in the Bill. _Order_ to bring it in.

“2. _Motion_ to have Bill read a _first_ time. _Order_ that it be read a first time.

“3. _Motion_ to have Bill read a _second_ time. _Order_ that it be read a _second_ time.

“4. _Motion_ to have the Bill committed. _Order_ that it be committed.

“5. Committee on details of Bill. Report of Committee.

“6. _Motion_ that Bill be read a _third_ time. Motion that it be _passed_. Passing of a Bill and sending of it to House of Lords.”

Passed by the House of Lords, it then receives the assent of the Crown--the latter now a mere formality.

NOTE 24, p. 235.--How crying the need of reform had been before the great Reform Act of 1832, a glance at the previous state of England will show. It was only in name that England was ruled by a representative government. A majority of the House of Commons were actually the creatures of the peers, or of other personages high in power. Like Church livings, the great lords had seats in the Commons to dispense. Some seats were openly for sale. The value of the two seats of the town of Gatton, which had only seven electors, was commonly estimated at £100,000. At a time when such cities as Leeds, Manchester, and Birmingham were actually without representation in Parliament, the paper borough of Old Sarum, which had no inhabitant at all, had two members accredited to it. Scotland was even worse off. One example of the conditions there will suffice. The county of Bute contained but one voter, who--irresistibly suggestive of Mr. Gilbert’s _Pooh-Bah_--at elections was at once chairman, proposer and seconder of his own return, recorder of the successful vote, and unanimously elected candidate! The criminal absurdity of these matters, so completely patent, long before 1832 had stirred the people and even some of the statesmen of England. Among those who had written or spoken for reform were the great Chatham, and the younger Pitt; so too had felt John Wilkes and Sir James Mackintosh. And then came the French Revolution, which England hailed as the harbinger of her own reforms. When the French had won so swiftly the battle for freedom, what could not the English do? All the world knows how, in the days of the guillotine and the Terror, these English illusions faded. Forthwith, and for nearly a generation of men, England’s whole energies were turned from her domestic troubles to crush the child of that Revolution in which she had thought to see the breaking of a new day. Napoleon at last conquered, all the old social unrest swept back. But against the reformers there were arrayed all the conservative elements of a most conservative country,--the classes and professions, and a Government confirmed in tenure by the victories of a Titanic war. It was a long struggle. Again did the example of France, in her expulsion of the Bourbons in 1830, give renewed heart across the Channel. As has so often happened, the people found their successful leader in the class which contained their natural opponents. Not even the prestige of the Duke of Wellington, still the national hero, and head of the anti-reformers, could avail against Earl Grey, the man of the hour, who at last won for his country real reform.

In his “Nineteenth Century” (p. 109, London, 1880), Mr. Mackenzie tells what the Act of 1832 had done: “The Reform Act bestowed the privilege of the franchise in towns upon occupants who paid a rental of ten pounds; in counties, upon those who paid a rental of forty pounds. In England, fifty-six burghs with a population under two thousand, and returning one hundred and eleven members, were disfranchised; thirty burghs with a population under four thousand, and returning each two members, were reduced to one member. Twenty new burghs received each one member; twenty-two received each two members; the county members were raised from ninety-four to one hundred and fifty-nine. Scotland received an addition of eight burgh members.”

A great step had been taken. Briefly, there had been abolished the monopoly of government which the aristocracy and landed gentry had enjoyed; and the middle classes had been admitted to a share of things. But the right of the working people to representation was still ignored. It was not in reason that agitations to secure this representation should not continue. At intervals from the reform year until 1866, the unrest that had not yet been allayed found vent in many measures, of which the more notable are the Bills of 1852–54, introduced by Lord John Russell; that of 1859, a Conservative Bill, introduced by Disraeli; and that of 1860, again proposed by Lord John Russell. All were unsuccessful.

NOTE 25, p. 243.--The House of Commons draws its members from counties, boroughs (or burghs), and the universities. County members are understood to represent the country population and their interests; borough members, the cities and towns. The members from the universities are few. The Reform Act of 1867, passed the year after this speech, thus allotted the representation to the House of Commons (Amos, “Primer,” etc., p. 24):

ENGLAND AND WALES.

52 Counties 187 Members. 197 Boroughs 295 ” 3 Universities 5 ” ---- 487 ”

SCOTLAND.

32 Counties 32 Members. 22 Boroughs 26 ” 4 Universities 2 ” -- 60 ”

IRELAND.

32 Counties 64 Members. 33 Boroughs 39 ” 1 University 2 ” --- 105 ”

NOTE 26, p. 245.--Lord John Russell.

NOTE 27, p. 265.--Dryden: “The Medal,” ll. 119–122.

NOTE 28, p. 268.--That is, the suffrage to be extended to all householders and heads of families. Under the Act of 1867, the suffrage was also extended, in boroughs, to the “resident occupier of lodgings of the yearly value of £10 at least if let unfurnished.”

NOTE 29, p. 270.--Lines 807–810 from Dryden’s “Absalom and Achitophel,” Part I. The first line is loosely quoted. The text is really--

“At once divine and human laws control.”

NOTE 30, p. 272.--“We, the three hundred, have sworn the same.”

NOTE 31, p. 275.--Another futile attempt of Lord John Russell--this Reform Act of 1860. The county franchise was to be based on so low a rental as £10; the borough franchise went down to £6. Lord Palmerston opposed the Bill; and the country was apathetic. In the House, the measure dragged a serpentine length of dull speechmaking. Nobody--not even the Liberals--took it very seriously; and with the Tories the Bill got to be a joke. Finally, on June 11, 1860, its sponsor withdrew it.

NOTE 32, p. 276.--Shakespeare: “Henry IV.,” Part I., Act i., Scene iii., ll. 201–207.

NOTE 33, p. 278.--Samuel Butler: “Hudibras,” Part I., Canto 3, ll. 1047–1050.

NOTE 34, p. 278.--Shakespeare: “Henry IV.,” Part I., Act v., Scene i. An extract from ll. 128 _et seq._

NOTE 35, p. 284.--A rough paraphrase of Isabella’s speech in “Measure for Measure,” Act ii., Scene ii., ll. 83, 84: “To-morrow! O, that’s sudden! Spare him, spare him! He’s not prepared for death,” etc.

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