trinsic value, but because it contains nothing in itself which can by any possibility be hostile to the interests of the other Powers of Europe."

Mr. Gladstone intimated to the House that the treaty would be laid on the table in the course of the following week.

Mr. Horsman renewed the complaint that the Reform Bill had been postponed to so late a day as the 20th February, intimating that the fate of the Government might in the mean time turn upon a vote about China or the Congress. The country, he said, required an early settlement of the question.

Lord Palmerston justified the course pursued with respect to the Reform Bill. He thought there would be ample time to discuss it during the Session. The motion was then agreed to.

The lively interest taken at this time in the progress of events in Italy, and also the anxiety caused by the expected annexations by France of the territories of Savoy and Nice, gave rise in the early part of this Session to some important debates in Parliament. On the 3rd of February Mr. A. W. Kinglake inquired of Lord J. Russell whether the Government had received any information as to the naval and military preparations of the French Em peror, and, if so, whether it could be made known to the House.

Lord John Russell said, he had to remark that this country had an able Ambassador at Paris, and other officials, and from none of them had the Government received any information as to extraordinary military preparations by the Emperor of the French. He believed there was no foundation for the statement that the Emperor of

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the French would have 600,000 men ready in the spring. did not believe that there was any desire on the part of either Austria or France to renew the war. France was certainly making great naval preparations, but he did not think that that was a subject ou which this country need be jealous. He expected that the ratification of the treaty would take place on the following day. The persons entrusted with the negotiations were Lord Cowley and Mr. Cobden.

On the 7th February the Marquis of Normanby, who distinguished himself during this Session by his active exertions in behalf of the deposed Governments in Italy, brought forward a formal motion in the House of Lords respecting the impending annexation by France. The noble lord moved an Address to the Queen, to represent to Her Majesty that this House has been informed that her Government has stated to the Government of France the objections entertained by Her Majesty's Government to the annexation of Savoy and Nice to France, and to pray Her Majesty to direct her Government to use their best endeavours to prevent the transfer of those territories to France. He prefaced his motion by observing that he was impelled by no desire to impute blame to the Government for the course they had pursued. It was only his desire to place upon record the dissent of their lordships from so important a measure. He proceeded to descant upon the discrepancy of the statements made upon this subject in July last by Count Walewski, and the rumours afloat and confirmed by the French newspapers at the present moment.

No one believed on the Continent that a compact for the annexation of Savoy and Nice did not exist between the Emperor of the French and the King of Sardinia. It would be most satisfactory to hear that no change in the intentions of the French Government had taken place on this subject since the 18th of last March, when Lord Cowley wrote to Lord Malmesbury that the Emperor of the French contemplated no increase of French territory. The question, however, almost entirely depended upon the public opinion of Savoy, and he could not say what that opinion was. Great changes had taken place in the feelings of the Savoyards towards their King since 1814, partly brought about by the increase of taxation, the oppressive action of the conscription, and other causes. He considered the question in its geographical and strategic aspect, and came to the conclusion that the annexation would be injurious to the balance of power in Europe, to the interests of Savoy and its inhabitants, and, by adding a discontented population to its sway, to the interests of France itself.

Lord Granville stated that he had no further information to add to that which he had formerly given to a question upon this same subject to Lord Normanby. Her Majesty's Government were still in communication with the French Government on the matter. Her Majesty's Government had been assured that, although there had been formerly a question of the annexation of Savoy and Nice un der certain contingencies, as those contingencies had not arisen, there was no question of annexation at the present moment. At the same time France did not deny that the

creation of a powerful Italian kingdom on her frontier might give occasion to the consideration of such a question. The information from Sardinia was also to the same effect-that no compact existed between France and Sardinia for the cession, exchange, or sale of Savoy and Nice to France. He assured the House that the Government of this country had represented to the Government of France all the objections which in an European sense would arise from the contemplated enlargement of French territory, and proceeded to consider the question of an extension of the French frontier, and pointed out that the arguments used by the French for the extension of their frontier to the Alps might with equal propriety be applied to the frontier of the Rhine and of Germany. At the present moment our Government was in communication with France, Sardinia, and Austria on the Italian question. The policy of this country was not one of nationalities, but the avoidance of any armed interference in the affairs of the Peninsula, and to secure to the Italians the privilege of choosing for themselves. Considering the present circumstances of the two countries, and the friendly feeling existing between them, he considered that Lord Normanby would best consult the public interests by withdrawing his motion.

Lord Grey thought the statement made by Lord Granville showed the necessity of bringing forward this motion. Nothing could be more unsatisfactory than the conduct of the Government of France upon this subject, especially when coupled with the language of the French newspapers. The annexation, he thought, would

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the most, in his opinion, by the annexation, would be the two countries immediately interested; for, if the annexation should take place, it would belie the whole of the proclamations of the Emperor of the French and the King of Sardinia, which were so worthy of admiration on account of the disinterestedness of the policy they had announced, and which were totally inconsistent with the rumours of the compact for the mutual aggrandizement of the two Powers. There was, however, another reason why Savoy should not be annexed to France. mont was bound by a specific treaty to Switzerland never to cede Savoy, aud Piedmont could not set aside the treaties with Europe, nor the specific treaty with Switzerland, without a violation of the international law of Europe. The language of Piedmont to France ought to be that it was impossible, owing to her treaty with Switzerland, that she could yield on this question. If Piedmont held this language, France would surely not be so unscrupulously violent as to take these provinces by force. Such a step would be fatal to France in her relations with Europe. All confidence in the steady policy and peaceful character of the Emperor of the French would be lost, and it would be said that Austria had been expelled by France from Italy, not for Italian independence, but for the furtherance of her own selfish ends. The present was a great opportunity for the Emperor of the French to establish a character for peace and moderation, by declaring that he entertained no idea of extending the French frontier beyond its present limits, or of destroying the balance of

power in Europe, but that, on the contrary, he would maintain a policy of non-interference in the affairs of other countries, by which declaration he would establish a moral power throughout Europe as great as the material power now wielded by France.

Lord Stratford de Redcliffe expressed his thanks to Lord Normanby, for bringing forward the motion, and entirely concurred with the remarks of Lord Derby. The noble marquis, after a few explanatory remarks, withdrew his motion.

On the 14th February, Lord Normanby again brought the affairs of Italy under the notice of the Upper House of Parliament, by a motion intended to convey a strong censure upon the newly-constituted authorities in Tuscany, and upon the acts of the Sardinian Government. The noble lord moved for a copy of the instructions from Her Majesty's Secretary of State to the British Chargé d'Affaires at Florence to attend the official reception, on the 1st of January, of Signor Buoncompagni, now acting as Governor-General of Tuscany: also for a return of the dates of all communications between the Secretary of State and the British Ambassador at Paris on the subject of the annexation of Savoy and Nice to France, up to the 1st of January, 1860. He prefaced his motion with a strong attack upon the Sardinian Government for their conduct in Central Italy, which had been characterized by measures of the most arbitrary nature, perfectly inconsistent with the high-sounding pretensions to freedom which they had put forward. He denied that the present Government in Central Italy and the Duchies was the choice of the

population, who were in a state of discontent, and pointed out the manner in which the respective Governors of the Duchies had been elected. He expressed his opinion of Signor Buoncompagni in the strongest terms of reprobation, and asked if it were fitting that Her Majesty's Chargé d'Affaires at Florence should have been directed to pay his official court to such a man, and why a departure from the usual line of proceedings in such matters should have been ordered in this particular case.

Lord Granville defended Signor Buoncompagni and the Italian people from the attacks of Lord Normanby, and asked whether Lord Normanby, from the cases of outrage he had cited, supposed that Italy was, under her new Government, to return to the golden age, and that no crime was to exist; and whether the British Parliament were to be guided by the opinions of his anonymous correspondents, who, of course, were no more unbiassed in their views than others. The state of Italy was at the present moment most satisfactory, and he thought that the moderation the Italians had exhibited was highly creditable.

Lord Malmesbury hoped that nothing would induce the Government to abandon the policy of nonintervention, and regretted that no official transactions of the Government in Italy, except fragments obtained in discussion, had been made public since the retirement of the late Government. It was his sincere wish that Italy should be made an independent nation, strong enough to repel aggression and to assume a place among the great European Powers, but he did not wish to see that end

compassed by the annexation of Savoy and Nice to France. If that annexation should take place, the formation of a strong kingdom in the north of Italy would not be feasible, as that kingdom would be open on both extremities, by the Alps to France, and by the Mincio to Austria. He should much prefer to the establishment of a kingdom a confederation of States free from the influence of the foreigner. The only way, however, to secure Italian independence was to leave the Italians to themselves, and to induce the Emperor of the French to withdraw his armies from Italy, as Italy, under her present circumstances, had merely exchanged an Austrian for a French master. He regretted extremely that any mark of respect not absolutely necessary had been paid to Signor Buoncompagni, whom he described as one of the most active conspirators in hurling from his throne the Sovereign to whom he had sworn allegiance.

Lord Clanricarde thought it would be impossible, in the present state of European feeling, to effect the annexation of Savoy and Nice to France. He proceeded to examine in detail the speech of Lord Normanby, and from his own experience contradicted the statement that the feeling of the Italians was one of discontent with the present state of things. The atrocities of the Italians, which had formed so fruitful a source of vituperation to Lord Normanby, were not entirely without a precedent, for the Austrians had committed cruelties which were not to be forgotten, although Lord Normanby had thought fit to pass them over.

The fiscal burdens under which the subjects of Sardinia groaned, according to Lord Nor