for he believed even Birmingham would rather support his pacific policy than precipitate the country into a war. Still there was a feeling of uneasiness in this country respecting Turkey; but there was at the same time a growing conviction in men's minds that the integrity and independence of the Turkish empire, as a maxim of policy, had become an empty phrase and nothing more. It was considered that the Turks in Europe were intruders, that their home was Asia; and that the progress of events had demonstrated that a Mahomedan Power could not be maintained in Europe. The independence of a country that could not maintain itself could not be upheld; and a fact had now become prominent, that for every Turk in European Turkey there were three Christians. And what was the feeling of the Christian population of Turkey towards their rulers? He believed that, in the interior, it was not favourable, and, if he were a rayah subject of the Porte, he should say, "Give me any Christian Government rather than a Mahomedan." This feeling of the Christian part of the population in Turkey would become an important part of the subject, and we should have to address our minds to the question hereafter, what we were going to do with Turkey, for we must not think that we could keep Turkey as it is. Mr. Cobden ridiculed the notion of going to war for tariffs, the futility of which policy experience had proved, and he contended that the importance of the trade with Turkey had been overrated. He maintained that all our commerce in the Black Sea was owing to Russian encroachments there. What could a coun try like Turkey, without roads, contribute to the commerce of the world? The balance of power might be all very well, but he protested against its being argued that we were bound, in the interest of England, to maintain Turkey. A good deal was said about the Russian power; but how absurd to talk of a Russian army invading England! Why, she could not move her forces across her own frontier without a loan. If England engaged in war, it would be attended with consequences which the present generation had not reflected upon, or they would not talk so glibly about war. The Government, he thought, had done wisely, for themselves as well as the country, in disregarding the taunts of thoughtless men, and resisting the cry for war, and he did not blame them for adhering to the traditional policy of maintaining the integrity of Turkey. Lord Palmerston, whose speech was received throughout with enthusiastic cheering, said, that he could not allow the speech of Mr. Cobden to pass without one or two observations. He had begun by talking of maintaining the independence of Turkey, and ended with endeavouring to show that Turkey was not worth defending. If he had stood there as an avowed advocate of Russia, he could not have dared to pursue a course more calculated to assist her views. He had never heard a speech more full of contradictions. Mr. Cobden had forgotten the principles of free trade, of which he had been so staunch a defender. Did he not know that the commercial system of Russia was eminently restrictive and prohibitory, while that of Turkey was the most liberal of any country with which we had commercial relations? The resources of Turkey, which were constantly improving, tended to make her commerce every year more valuable to this country. Mr. Cobden, again, was a great advocate of noninterference, and what was the matter which he specially recommended to the Government? What shall we do with the Turkish empire?" Mr. Cobden regarded it as a rotten fabric, and thought it was high time to consider what we should do with the country when we got rid of the Mahomedans. But he (Lord Palmerston) did not agree that the Turkish empire was in a state of decay; he held its maintenance to be not only desirable, but worth contending for. Turkey, so far from having gone back in the last 30 years, had made more improvements in social and moral concerns and in religious tolerance than any other country. So far from going along with Mr. Cobden in that political slang which was the fashion of those who wanted to partition and devour Turkey, he was convinced that, if we only kept out of it those who wished to get into it, as far as the seeds of internal dissolution were concerned, there were many countries in Europe which would not bear a very favourable comparison with it. He trusted Mr. Cobden's speech would not mislead any one beyond the limits of this country; that his language would not excite abroad feelings likely to mar the efforts of Her Majesty's Government; and that the great preponderance of a proper feeling upon the subject in that House would prove to the world what were the real sentiments of the British Parliament and the British nation. In conclusion, he declared his conviction, that if England, united with France, said that Turkey should not be molested by any other Power, this dictum would be enforced. He was satisfied that Turkey had within itself the elements of life and prosperity, and he believed that the course adopted by Her Majesty's Government was a sound policy, deserving the approbation of the country, and which it would be the duty of every British Government to pursue. The debate was closed by Mr. Danby Seymour, who expressed his satisfaction at the proper spirit shown by Lord Palmerston. Prompted, no doubt, by the warlike aspect of affairs in Europe, the Government, towards the close of the Session, introduced in the House of Commons, under the title of the Naval Coast Volunteers Bill, a very important and necessary measure for the establishment of a naval militia. In Committee upon the Bill, on the 1st of August, Sir James Graham gave a general outline of the plan. He first formally retracted an opinion he had held some six or seven months before with respect to the militia. He had not then, he said, been sanguine that voluntary enlistment for service on shore would take place to the extent which had been already witnessed. In France, every seafaring man was compelled to serve in the naval force; but he was desirous of exhausting every means before resorting to compulsion. The Bill before the Committee was based on the principle of voluntary enlistment. There was a very large number of men living upon our shores, such as fishermen, bargemen, lightermen, and men employed in the coasting service, who, he had every reason to believe, would not in a time of peace be unwilling-as the men who had joined the militia had not been unwilling-for a short period in each year to be trained to the use of great guns. These persons having more or less marine habits and experience, such training would be easy to them; it would accord with their habits of life, and would not be uncongenial to their past manners or past tastes. It was proposed in the Bill then about. to be brought in, to hold out to them exactly the same pecuniary inducement which was offered to landsmen joining the militia service, and which had been found to work so successfully. The bounty would be 61., paid in such sums and distributed over such a period as the Admiralty might recommend. The number of men that they propose to raise in the United Kingdom, the Channel Islands, and the Isle of Man, was limited to 10,000; and their period of training was limited to 28 days. That training ought to take place either ashore or afloat, subject to the condition, if they were afloat, that they should not be taken more than 50 leagues from the coast of Great Britain or Ireland. It was proposed that their pay should be equal to that of able seamen in Her Majesty's service. The period for which the enlistment was to take place was not to exceed five years. Power was given to Her Majesty, in the event of an invasion or of imminent danger of invasion, to call, by proclamation, for the services of those men afloat for a period not exceeding one year, except in case of the extension of that danger for a longer period, when, under the special circumstances specified in the Bill, and subject to those circumstances being laid before Parliament, the power of extending that service to two years was given to Her Majesty in Council. In that case, however, an additional pay of 2d. a day would be given to each man. In the event of service afloat, there was a power, by proclamation, to extend the distance from the shores of Great Britain and Ireland from 50 to 100 leagues. In no case would the volunteers be asked to extend their services to a greater distance from their native country. There was also power taken by the Bill, under proclamation, to compel the service afloat of pensioners of the coast guard and of seamen riggers. In the event, which he hoped and believed was far distant, of any such danger as the Bill contemplated being either imminent or apprehended, he believed that a force could be readily provided of somewhere between 18,000 and 20,000 men; which, considering that they would be men trained to arms in the prime of life, and partaking of the national character of British seamen, would, when combined with the advantages of a steam fleet, be amply sufficient for the defence of our native shores. The Bill met with no opposition, and passed through both Houses of Parliament before the conclusion of the session. In addition to the Naval Coast Volunteers Bill, two other measures, of great importance to the maritime interest of the nation, were added to the statute-book during the session, namely, the Pilotage and Mercantile Marine Bills. The main provisions of both were explained by Mr. Cardwell, upon the House of Commons going into Committee, on the 7th of March. He set out by quoting some figures to show the vast increase of British shipping. In 1815 the amount of tonnage was 2,681,000 tons; in 1825 it was 2,553,000. But from the time of Mr. Huskisson to that day there was scarcely an instance of reverse, and no instance of a confirmed and continuous reverse; and if the Committee compared the year 1852 with 1849, they would find, that, while the total amount of British tonnage inwards and outwards in 1849 was 8,152,000 tons, in 1852 it had increased to 8,727,000 tons; and the number of ships built and registered had increased from 121,000 in 1849 to 167,000 in 1852. It had been determined not to effect any change in the constitution of Trinity House or the Boards of Ireland and Scotland, the three light-managing bodies; but to make them accountable to Parliament through ministerial responsibility for their proceedings, and to lay their accounts before the House every session. The views of the Government had been communicated to Trinity House; and it had been unanimously agreed that Government should control the expenditure of their revenues, and periodically inspect their accounts. The Elder Brethren, however, prayed the Government not to press for the cessation of pensions and charities out of the light-dues proposed by the Government; but they agreed, pending the final decision, to suspend the grant of any new charities or pensions. Proceeding to enter into details with respect to the other shipping grievances, Mr. Cardwell proposed to institute an inquiry into "passing tolls". -a subject beset with difficulties. It was not intended (he said) to maintain the restriction which required that a British ship should be manned with a crew consisting of threefourths British subjects; but shipowners would be allowed to man their ships with British and foreign seamen in what proportions they thought fit. The system of volunteering from the merchant service to the Royal Navy was not to be abolished; but should any loss fall on a shipowner by volunteering, he would be compensated from the funds of the Admiralty Salvage also would be retained; but arrangements were in progress by which the lien which the law gave upon a ship in such cases might be released, and the case submitted to the Admiralty Court. The grievances of desertion abroad were to be redressed by Bill; and that of Consular fees would be redressed by the Foreign Office. Upon the question of pilotage, it was proposed to amalgamate the Trinity House and the Cinque Port pilots, and to place them under one control, giving the pilots of the Cinque Ports the right to take ships out of the Thames, and the Trinity House pilots the right to bring them in; to confer upon the Board of Trade, in extreme cases, the power of remedying the defects of local acts affecting pilotage in the Mersey; and to invest the Board with powers of a mediatory character in the Severn, both for these purposes and for instituting a strict inquiry into all by laws, rates, and regulations, with the aid of the officers of the mercantile marine department of the Board. It was proposed to reduce the pilotage of the port of London 25 per cent., while the pilotage of vessels tugged by steam would be raised from one-fourth to one-third. Several other Bills, of considerable importance in themselves though not of political interest, received the Royal assent before the end of the session. Such were the Act for the Suppression of BettingHouses, with respect to which the Attorney-General, in introducing it, observed, that there were between 100 and 150 betting-houses in London, and a like proportion in the country, and that in every prison in London or establishment for the reform of offenders abundant and conclusive testimony might be gathered of the vast number of persons-especially youthful per sons -- who had been led into crime by the dreadful temptations held out in such establishments. An Act for the Better Prevention and Punishment of Aggravated Assaults upon Women and Children, brought in by Mr. Fitzroy. Several notorious recent cases and the constant occurrence of others, had unfortunately but too plainly shown that the previous state of the law was wholly inadequate to meet the evil. The Act for the Abatement of the Smoke Nuisance was of great consequence to the health of the metropolis; and the Vaccination Extension Act, the object of which is to render vaccination compulsory under pecuniary penalties, was a measure of great sanitary importance and necessity, as the mortality from small-pox had long been greater in England than in any other country in Europe. On the 20th of August the Parliament was prorogued by commission, and the ceremony was accompanied by the forms usually observed under such circumstances. The speech of the Lords Commissioners was as follows: My Lords and Gentlemen, We are commanded by Her Ma your at jesty to release you 'from tendance in Parliament, and at the same time to express Her Majesty's cordial approbation of the zeal and assiduity with which, during a protracted and laborious session, you have applied yourselves to the consideration of many subjects of great importance to the public welfare. "Her Majesty has seen, with much satisfaction, that, by the remission and reduction of taxes which tended to cramp the operations of trade and industry. you have given fresh extension to a system of beneficent legislation, and have largely increased the means of obtaining the necessaries of life. "The provision which you have made for meeting the demands of the public service, not only in the present but also in future years, is of a nature to give permanent stability to our finances, and thereby to aid in consolidating the strength and resources of the empire. "The buoyant state of the Revenue, and the steady progress of our Foreign trade, are proofs of the wisdom of the commercial policy now firmly established; while the prosperity which pervades the great trading and producing classes, happily without even a partial exception, affords continued and increasing evidence of the enlarged comforts of the people. "The measure which you have passed for the future government of India has been readily sanctioned by Her Majesty, in the persuasion that it will prove to have been wisely framed, and that it is well calculated to promote the improvement and welfare of Her Majesty's Eastern dominions. Her Majesty regards with peculiar satisfaction the provision you have made for the better ad |