BROMPTON CEMETERY.—QUESTION. scholarships. All statutes passed under ing mediation between the two contending this Bill were to be submitted to Her parties. Majesty in Council in the same manner as required by the University Act. The 12th section simply gave power to the Vice Chancellor to make rules for the MR. H. BERKELEY said, he wished regulation of his Court. to ask the Secretary of State for the Bill read 2, and committed to a Com-Home Department-Government having mittee of the Whole House on Monday next. RED SEA AND INDIA TELEGRAPH purchased the Brompton Cemetery in the year 1850, on the strength of a decided opinion expressed in a Report of the Board of Health, that it was one of those which for sanatory purposes ought to be closed, Why has Government kept that Cemetery open, when twelve years have added to the density of the population and the consequent danger? Order for Committee read. THE DUKE OF ARGYLL explained that this Bill was intended to give the sanction SIR GEORGE GREY said, the Cemeof Parliament, not to the arrangement tery was purchased at the time mentioned between the Government and the new com- by the hon. Member, but not at all with pany, but only to that limited arrangement the view he had assumed. It was purbetween the Government and the old com- chased by the then Board of Health, in pany under which the latter would transfer order that it might be made available as a to the new company their property in the substitute for certain Churchyards which cable upon payment of a sum of £36,000 it was desirable on sanatory grounds to a year by way of interest, such sum being now converted into the more negotiable form of annuities charged upon the Consolidated Fund. UNITED STATES-THE CIVIL WAR— MR. HOPWOOD said, he would beg to ask the First Lord of the Treasury, Whether Her Majesty's Government and the Government of France intend to offer to mediate between the Federals and Confederates; and, if their friendly offices are not accepted, whether they would be prepared to recognise the Southern Confederacy? VISCOUNT PALMERSTON: Sir, IIer Majesty's Government have received no communication from the Government of France upon the subject of mediation; and we have at present no intention of offer close. A very full Report was made in 1853 and again in 1856 by Dr. Sutherland and Dr. Holland, from which it appeared that for a considerable number of years burials might be conducted with perfect safety there under the regulations which had been enforced, and no apprehension could arise from the continuance of interments in that Cemetery. ARMSTRONG ORDNANCE.- QUESTION. SIR FREDERIC SMITII said, he rose to ask the Secretary of State for War, Whether any steps have been taken towards the construction of a 600-pounder Armstrong Gun, or any other Gun of greater calibre than the 150-pounder smooth-bore Gun with which experiments have been made at Shoeburyness; and, if so, when it may be expected to be finished and ready for proof? SIR GEORGE LEWIS: Sir, a 200pounder Armstrong rifled gun has been constructed. It has been proved within the last week, and experiments will be immediately commenced with it. A 600pounder Armstrong gun is now in course of construction, and it is promised that it shall be ready for proof in three months. I will also add that a wrought-iron rifled gun is now being constructed by Mr. Lydell Thomas, to throw a projectile of 400 lb. weight, which it is expected will be ready in three months. lieutenant in the naval service, also wrote to say he had no doubt, that if Mr. Taylor paid the Vice Consul his fees and all costs, he could get him out of the scrape. The House would see that Mr. Taylor was placed under great disadvantages; for, his labourers being included in the charge, it was not possible for him to examine them as witnesses; he nevertheless determined to take his chances on the trial. About this time a Piedmontese general officer of the staff appeared in Monte Cristo, to examine the state of the harbour. Mr. Taylor invited this gentleman to his house, and in conversation with him the Piedmontese General spoke of the prosecution as absolute nonsense, and expressed his opinion that the Government had no intention of continuing it. Mr. Taylor, however, fully made up his mind to go to Elba. He therefore set out for Leghorn to consult Mr. Macbean, and was advised by him to go to Turin and lay the facts before Sir James Hudson. On the 23rd of August he saw Sir James, who told him he had already made two ineffectual applications to the Piedmontese Government to stop the prosecution; but that if he would call the following day, he would make a third. Mr. Taylor did accordingly call on the following day. Mr. Taylor desired him (Mr. Bentinck) to say that he could not account for the following statement contained in the despatch of Sir James IIudson, dated August 26: of Count Cavour. Mr. Taylor's statement of what took place was "When Sir James Hudson had for the third time been refused by the Government any interference with the proceedings, I asked his advice as to whether I should leave Sardinia, and he advised my doing so, and gave my passport for England." Mr. Taylor left Turin with his passport, and on the 5th of September the trial came on. The result of the inquiry would be found in the report made by Mr. Macbean, at the request of the Foreign Secretary. Mr. Macbean stated that it was elicited at the trial that musket-shots were fired on the island of Monte Cristo on the evening of April 28, 1860, near Mr. Taylor's residence, accompanied by cries and cheering, the meaning of which the witnesses could not understand; the accused under trial maintaining, however, that they were only celebrating the birthday of their master, Mr. Taylor. It appeared that the corporal of the guard, Durante, had been removed from Monte Cristo, and that, having been reinstated, he was actuated by not the most friendly feeling to Mr. Taylor. It was alleged that Mrs. Taylor told the soldiers that their King, Victor Emmanuel, was a bullock merchant, and that the corporal was struck on the breast by Mr. Taylor with his open hand without receiving any injury. Mr. Macbean stated that he did not believe the charges against Mrs. Taylor; but she "On the 23rd inst., Mr. Taylor came to Turin; was sentenced to fifteen months' impriand having gone over the case with him, I made sonment, and Mr. Taylor to eighteen a further direct and personal, though unofficial, months' imprisonment, for having inrepresentation of the matter to Count Cavour, cited their labourers to seditious manifeswho regretted that the proscution had ever commenced, and, whilst he declared his inability to tations, which were proved to have had no interfere with the proceedings of the law courts, existence. Mr. Macbean said-"It does added that he should not fail, if judgment were seem monstrous that such a prosecution given against Mr. Taylor, to recommend His should be permitted in a country enjoying Sardinian Majesty to grant him a free pardon." constitutional privileges," and he added, Mr. Taylor assured him that nothing of the that "Baron Ricasoli might have quashed kind ever took place, but thought-and he the proceedings, but took the report of the agreed with him-that in the multiplicity case from others." Mr. Macbean saidof business Sir James Hudson forgot what I understand there have been cases here had occurred. Mr. Taylor was borne out of conduct much worse than that imputed by the letter of Count Cavour, in which to Mrs. Taylor, really attended with pubthe latter statedlicity, which have been quashed or hushed up. The Article 129 in the Tuscan Code, in prescribing the penalty for seditious manifestations, contemplated their commission in a public place; but there could have been no publicity in an island possessing in all only twenty-six inhabitants. He (Mr. Bentinck) ventured to say that the annals of courts of justice did not exhibit a more flagrant denial of justice, or a more "I had no knowledge whatever of the contentions between Mr. Taylor and justice, nor of the circumstances which had led to them. I heard them mentioned, for the first time, when you thought proper to interpose officiously, in order to obtain for him a remission of the penalty which he had incurred. It was quite clear the two statements were inconsistent, and that the statement of Mr. Taylor was confirmed by the official letter 66 T arbitrary exercise of power. The evidence | Codrington, then the Port Admiral, made was the most childish that was ever a strong remonstance against the attempt produced, and the prosecution was so of the Governor to release the men, and monstrous that it amply justified the language in which it was characterized by the Foreign Secretary. t He would now proceed to refer to the seizure of the British steamer Orwell. As the statements made to Her Majesty's Government were not correct, he must first state to the House what the facts really were. In August, 1860, General Garibaldi, having landed in Sicily, sent one of his officers to charter a vessel in Genoa, in order to seize a Neapolitan man-of-war called the Monarca, whose captain had, use an expression which would easily bunderstood, been "made safe." Garibldi's officer, on arriving at Genoa, found t at the British steamer Orwell would swer his purpose, and hired her to carry .rom 80 to 100 people to Sicily. Men, arms, and munitions of war were sent on board, all being supplied by a committee which was sitting at Genoa. One day, while the captain was on shore, the Garibaldian officer went down to the engineroom, held pistols to the heads of the British engineers, and put a portion of the crew in irons. One of the men, in order 0 escape, jumped overboard, and succeeded in reaching a neighbouring vessel. The Orwell was then taken to the island of Monte Cristo, which was completely sacked, a great deal of Mr. Taylor's property was carried away, and the rest was utterly destroyed. The Orwell, which carried the Italian national colours, was subsequently captured at Messina. Messina was in possession of Garibaldi at that moment, and an attempt was made by a General now in the Italian service to obtain the surrender of the vessel from the British authorities upon giving a guarantee that it would be employed in the national service. It would appear, therefore, that the Orwell at that time was considered as a vessel of war belonging to Garibaldi. Admiral Mundy, however, would not give up the ship, but ordered that she should be carried to Malta, where the persons captured were to be tried for piracy. When the ship arrived at Malta, the Governor seemed to have done all in his power to get the men released, on the ground that there was complicity between Captain Sutton and the crew. But that was proved not to have been the case on the part of Captain Sutton, who underwent a trial and was acquitted. Admiral in an admirable letter stated that not only was there an act of piracy in question, but an outrage to the British flag. Admiral Codrington said, "If this proceeding is to pass not only unpunished but even unquestioned, the consequence will be very detrimental to the security of vessels passing over the sea on their lawful vocations, and will very much damage the honour of our flag." In consequence of that remonstrance, the Governor of Malta wrote home for instructions; but the Attorney General at that time-now a noble Lord in another place-seemed to have advised the Government, on the ground of collusion, that there was no case, and that the men ought at once to be set at liberty. That advice was very incomprehensible when it was remembered that the captain had been tried on the 25th of August and acquitted. Indeed he did not know how to account for that opinion of the Attorney General, unless it was to be considered what lawyers called "a long vacation opinion," given by the Attorney General when he was anxious to get away to more agreeable pursuits. But even if there had been collusion on the part of the master, what difference did that make as far as the crew were concerned? The crew were perfectly innocent of collusion, the person who jumped overboard was perfectly innocent, and the owners were innocent. How, then, was the act of piracy got rid of? Then came the question of the attack on Monte Cristo. If any person looked into the papers, he would find that the Foreign Office, the Board of Trade, and the Admiralty, all had notice of the attack upon that island. But if there had been no act of piracy, still an act had been done for which those parties were responsible to the Government of Piedmont; and if that were so, he could not understand why the Governor of Malta did not write to the Piedmontese Government, and say that he had got the persons who had committed the wrong, and that he held them at their service. But the Piedmontese Government did not want to punish these men; on the contrary, they sent them to join Garibaldi in the Kingdom of Naples, and many of them were among the Piedmontese troops in subsequent battles. In the month of November, 1860, the question was still before the Foreign Office, and the noble Lord at the head of that department appeared to COMMUNICATION WITH VANCOUVER'S ISLAND.-QUESTION. SIR HARRY VERNEY said, he rose to put a Question to the Under Secretary of State for the Colonies on the subject of the means of communication between this country and Vancouver's Island. The hon. Baronet read an extract from a letter written by a passenger on board an American ship on her way from San Francisco to Victoria, complaining, that though licensed to carry only 800 persons, she had on board between 1,200 and 1,300, and would consequently, if caught in a gale of wind, be exposed to great danger. ["Order!"] He would conclude by asking, Whether it is the intention of the Government to take any steps towards the establishment of a line of Packets between Panama and Victoria? MR. CHICHESTER FORTESCUE said, he was fully aware of the importance of the subject to which the hon. Baronet referred; and something had lately been done for the purpose of improving the postal communication with Vancouver's Island and British Columbia. Arrangements had been made for conveying mails and passengers under a subsidy provided by the two Colonies from San Francisco to Victoria. With reference to the larger question of postal and passenger communication in British steamers from the Isthmus of Panama to Vancouver's Island, there was certainly nothing that would promote so much the growth of the Colonies themselves as British communities; but he could not undertake to say that the Government at present thought it their duty to call upon the House to assist them in that object. SUPPLY. Order for Committee read. Motion made, and Question proposed, "That Mr. Speaker do now leave the Chair." THE ALLEGED OUTRAGE ON MR. TAYLOR.-PAPERS MOVED FOR. MR. CAVENDISH BENTINCK rose to call attention to the case of Mr George Græme Watson Taylor, and to move an address for the correspondence relative to the prosecution of that gentleman for an alleged act of sedition, and the plunder of his residence. Nothing could VOL. CLXVII. [THIRD SERIES.] be further from his intention, in bringing forward this subject, than in any way to embarrass the Government of the noble Lord, or to censure the Foreign Secretary; for he thought that where the rights of British subjects were at stake, no party feelings should be allowed to interfere. He should have pursued precisely the course which he was now adopting if hon. Gentlemen on his own side of the House had occupied the Treasury Bench. A rumour had been circulated that Mr. Watson Taylor had out of doors been accused of entertaining reactionary opinions. In his name and by his authority he begged to state that Mr. Taylor never directly or indirectly interfered in Italian politics. For the last two years he had resided in England, and during the five or six years that he had lived on an island in the Mediterranean it was clear that he could have had no means of taking any part in the affairs of Italy. Mr. Taylor, like himself, was in favour of Italian unity; but borrowing an observation from his hon. Friend the Member for Liskeard (Mr. Bernal Osborne), he would say that if that unity were to interfere with the rights and privileges of British subjects, much as he liked Italian unity, he liked those rights and privileges more. The facts of the case were these. In 1852, Mr. George Watson Taylor, being ordered to the Mediterranean for the benefit of his health, in an evil hour determined to invest his fortune in the purchase of the island of Monte Cristo, which was situated about twenty-five miles south of Elba. He entered into negotiations for the island with the gentleman to whom it belonged, and made application through the British Legation to the Court of Tuscany to know whether he would receive encouragement in the event of his expending capital in the improvement and cultivation of the island, which was then uncultivated and uninhabited. He had a personal interview with the Grand Duke of Tuscany, who said he was most anxious that Englishmen should settle in his dominions, and promised to give Mr. Taylor every encouragement and protection. That gentleman had desired him to state to the House, as a tribute to a fallen family, that every promise made to him by the Government of the Grand Duke and the Grand Duke himself, had been most faithfully and honestly performed. When Mr. Taylor purchased the island, there was doing duty there a corporal belonging to the Board of Health or Sanità, named been produced. In it Mr. Taylor called attention to the insolence and insubordina. tion of the soldiers, who were constantly pilfering whatever they could lay hold of, and expressed a hope that Sir James would ask the Government of Sardinia to order the immediate removal of those offenders, adding that if he should be obliged to use force for the protection of his property, and blood should be shed, the responsibility would rest on the King of Sardinia. To that letter no answer was received; but some days after it was written, Mr. Taylor received a citation from a court in Elba to appear within a fortnight to answer a charge of sedition. He was very much astonished, but he determined to stand his trial; and on the 18th of July wrote a letter to Sir James Hudson, which was to be found in the Watson Taylor papers. In that letter he said the accusation was wholly false, and then went on to observe— Durante, who was guilty of very gross mis- successor behaved no better than he had conduct towards Mr. Taylor. The latter done. On the 3rd of July, Mr. Taylor made a representation on the subject to the felt himself compelled to address a letter Governor of Elba; the case was investi- to Sir James Hudson on the subject of the gated, and Durante was removed. After soldier's conduct. He thought it a rethat Mr. Taylor virtually suffered no annoy-markable thing that this letter had not ance from the soldiers; for, on a representation to the Governor of Elba, any cause of complaint against the guard was at once rectified. In the year 1859 those changes took place in Italy which brought disaster to Mr. Taylor. Shortly after the Provisional Government was proclaimed, the guard of the island of Monte Cristo, which consisted of four privates and a corporal, became unruly and insubordinate, and these men with drawn swords constantly threatened Mr. Taylor, unless he gave them provisions and money. Mr. Taylor made a complaint to the Provisional Government established at Florence, through the medium of our representative, Mr. Corbet, and other authorities, against a corporal named Ricci, who had insulted Mr. and Mrs. Taylor in the grossest manner; but though the offence was proved, he escaped punishment, owing to his being the relative of an officer. So matters went on until Tuscany was annexed to the kingdom of Sardinia by a plebiscito, or vote of universal suffrage. That took place at the end of March, but the intelligence of the plebiscito was not conveyed to the island of Monte Christo by the post which arrived there in the beginning of April; and, as there was only one post per month, the people on the island remained in ignorance of the annexation during the whole month of April. On the 1st of April, after an absence of five or six years, Durante, the very man who had been dismissed for misconduct, reappeared in Monte Cristo, and assumed the command of the guard. It was an important question how this man came to be sent there. He had been dismissed for notorious misconduct; and it must have been within the knowledge of the authorities that he was most disagreeable to Mr. Taylor, whom they were bound to protect. Mr. Taylor had no doubt that the man was sent there in order to get up a charge against himself. Any hon. Member who wished to learn the details of the petty quarrels that arose on the 28th and 29th of April, would find them in the printed papers. On the 3rd of May the announcement of the annexation of Tuscany to Sardinia reached the island; but Mr. Taylor never received any official notice of the event. Durante left, and his "The whole charge is an entire perversion of the truth, and would seem a plot to drive me from the island; and even the authorities would seem to participate, as they were perfectly well aware that on the 29th of April it was not known that Victor Emanuel was proclaimed King on the island of Monte Cristo, and therefore the pretended offence was very slight, if any offence at all; nor have they given any intimation of the island being under the sovereignty of Sardinia.” The letter concluded in these terms "Your Excellency, after reading these details, will hardly be astonished at my earnest request that these soldiers should be withdrawn, and I some aid and advice in my present position. The most humbly pray your Excellency to give me Vice Consul at Porto Ferrajo is an Italian, and I am afraid is not to be relied upon. The accusation has not been made out in my right name, being Taylor, instead of Watson Taylor, and I ment; but I should rather stand upon my own have had no intimation of any change of Governinnocence, though my case presents some difficulties, particularly when judged in Elba." He thought the House would be of opinion that the letter written by Mr. Taylor to Sir James Hudson was a most proper one. By the same post he wrote to Mr. Fossi, the Vice Consul at Porto Ferrajo, who was an Italian, who replied that the prosecution had been instituted by order of Baron Ricasoli himself, and that he could give him no assistance unless he was paid for his services. A relative of Mr. Fossi, a |