The Press. — London, England, 1858-09-04 00:00:00

THE PRESS, SEPTEMBER 4, 1858. 858 of the unfortunate. We will that England still be the sacred shrine of liberty in the western sea. We will not abandon that glorious prerogative at the voice of any foreign► sovereign or potentate." Gentlemen, of the many votes that I gave in the last sessicn of Parliament there is none of which I am more proud, none which I more rejoice to own before you than the one which I gave on the first division on the Conspiracy to Murder Bill. There were, as you will probably recollect, two divisions upon that bill, and on the second 209 members went down to the house and hurled the Palmerston Govern ment from power. But three weeks before there was another division, when a small body of ninety-nine walked into the lobby to protest against the introduction of that bill. Now, I might have been satisfied if I had only been one of the 299, and I might have been glad of the solid results. 1 trust, however, that I have sufficient under standing of the meaning of things to have been enabled to have reconciled first to myself and then to my friends how it was that, being one of the 209 who voted against the second reading of that bill, I was not one of the ninety nine who opposed its introduction. That would have been the case if I had only been in the majority on the second division ; but I was also in the minority on the first division, and, more than that, I was one of those who stood up in the house and entered a protest against that un• patriotic and most nefarious measure. I did not merely vote against it because I saw that the consequence of that vote would be the defeat of the Ministry, but I raised my voice against the bill when the prospect of turning out the Government seemed utterly hopeless, and when all I could do by giving that vote was to raise one voice to Heaven for our old laws, our old constitution, and the maintenance of the old spirit of freedom in true and honest England. In giving that vote, did I give a vote for bloodshed, for rapine, fur war? Phi I move a finger towards breaking the al.iance with ttur next neighbour—an alliance which all who value the peace of the world and the prosperity of empires hold most dear? I deny that I did, and I assert that if any men more than the rest in the land came forward to strengthen and support the French alliance, it was those ninety nine men who in the British House of Commons said " no" to the first reading of the Conspiracy to Murder Bill. I make this assertion because I sin deeply convinced that that alliance is not one which rests on dynasties, or which depends upon the breath of colonels of regiments looking for favour and promotion. It is an alliance which is based upon the solid convictions of a great and glorious nation. In the path of peace, in the path of liberty, in the path of mutual confi.lence, in the path of commercial intercourse, lies the true way to love and friendship. If we had passed that Conspiracy to Murder Bill we might have pleased the present Government of France, but we should not have pleased the great French nation —that great French nation which has so often changed its form of government and shifted its rulers. No good neighbours ought to interfere with the internal concerns of another country; it is for them to decide what firm of government they choose to accept ; and so long as the French nation likes to keep the house of Bonaparte upon the throne it is our duty to keep good friends with Louis Napoleon, not because he is on the throne, but because he represents the French nation. We are not at peace with the French nation because it is ruled by a Bonaparte, and that is the great distinction we ought to draw. In rejecting the Conspiracy to Murder Bill we did not interfere with the gteat commercial French nation or the great commercial middle classes of France. Things may have been done, and no doubt were done, which were displeasing to the rulers of France ; but, after those events had occurred, all that we did was to make a grave protest in the sacred cause of liberty by declaring that on the shores of the Atlantic, with England and the United States and our colonies all speaking the same lan guage, all governed by free institutions, no state of things amid be endured in which the right of asylum was not maintained in its true and proper position. I am sure, if the present dynasty of France does get con. solidated on the throne, it must sooner or later come to this condition, and govern consti►utionally, and the first great impulse to that will have been given by that faithful and energetic action of the British Parliament which in one moment vindicated the honour of the people, and at one blow hurled Lord Palmerston and his Ministry pro. strate to the ground. This brings me to a great fact which has been present to the thoughts and almost to the eyes of every one who now hears me. What I say with respect t r Cherbourg is, let it be a lesson to us to mind our own affairs. A nation, doubtless, has a right to build dockyards and forts at its pleasure, and to cast heavier cannon than it ever before possessed. But what are these forts erected for? What are the cannon pointed at? Why do we see these great excavations, those enormous works, recalling to our minds, as their ruler proudly remarked, the mar vels of Egypt? Why do we see those forts bristling with 1,000 pieces of ordnance? The answer is plain. They are placed there to maintain the supremacy of the county which has erected them. It is for us to say whether that supremacy shall be offensive or defensive. The do ekyard of Cherbourg points towards England—the cannon look across the Channel. We are told that France is our best and truest ally. I do not deny it. I will gladly admit the fact in the face of and in spite of Cherbourg; but if Cher bourg is to be to us no moron for doubting France, still less should it lie a reason t t France fur doubting England if, in consequence of Cherbourg. we augment our national defences, and pot Portsmouth, Plymouth, Milford Haven, a „,l a b o ve all the island of Alderney, in a proper condition to resist any hostile movement on the part of a foreign nation. It would he well to put those places in a proper position of defence, but far better would it be than fora. tying Portsmouth, Plymouth, or Alderney, if we were to send out into the Channel, bold, erect, sturdy, uncliallenge able and majestic, those mighty symbols of our great nation, the wooden walls of our land. Cherbourg has been made, the Queen has been received with peace and honour, and tiod be praised for it; but let us, as tits results of what we have seen, send our workmen swarming into the dock yards ; let the axe and the hammer ring, let the rigging be spun, let the sailcloth be woven, let the number of our men be doubled, trebled, and even quadrupled from the merchant service to man the yards of these ships, and let us be in a condition to show these Frenchmen that we are as well prepared to meet all exigencies as they can be, and that it is determined ever to maintain its well-earned appellation of glorious old England, the home of the brave and the free. This is what I have to tell you about France, and I now come to another subject which has occupied very much of our time during the last session of Parliament—l mean the affairs of India. Mr. Lawrence has most kindly alluded to a speech which I made on the Ellenborough despatch, and has given me credit for the spirit in which it was delivered. I recollect very well I said that 1 never had such pain and difficulty in making up my mind as I had upou that occasion, because I thought both sides were very much in the wrong, and I am glad to think that the independent course which I then took, so far from lowering me, has tended rather to raise me in your estimation. Hut to throw aside the whole qnestion of the Canning pro clamation, with the rejoinder, and to coins to the general question of India—we have had three India Bills, and heaven knows how many resolutions. The debates upon those bills and the resolutions were, I believe, almost as numerous as are the people here to-night. We had one thing one day, another thing another, and heaven knows what the day after. Now, what is the line I have taken? It may not be one in accordance with the popular feeling, but i am satisfied it is a wise one, because Parliament has, after all these debates upon propositions which were varied almost every day, come as near to it as its honour and con sistency would allow it to do. That line was to stand up and by my vote—for I did not think, seeing so many mouths open, that I ought to add much to the gabble of tongues on Mr. Cardwell's motion itself—to endeavour to keep things as much as possible in the same condition hi which they were. i saw that great old Company, which, whatever might he its faults, had splendidly and nobly administered the affairs of India for many years—that Company, which had consolidated civilization and paved the way for the introduction of Christianity, and which had raised a mighty empire in the East mainly by the exertions of the middle classes of this country. 1 saw that great old Company attacked in what I conceived to be a must unfair manner. I certainly do not think it very fair, when a man is falling, to give him a push down bill ; but that seemed to me to be the way in which Parliament attacked the East India Com pany when in its difficulties, and when it was fighting its way and straining every nerve and muscle to save India to England. It was a manoeuvre originally got up for the sake of tiding over a session and avoiding a reform bill. If a Minister had been permitted for such an object to have abolished the East India' Company, it might have consoli dated the rebellion in India by making those superstitious and rebellious sepoys imagine that they had right on their aide. When I saw this I was determined to do all I could to support the East India Company, and, when that was hopeless, to keep things as nearly in their old state as I could ; and in this 1 triumphed. The night before the division on the Conspiracy to Murder Bill there was a motion by Mr. Baring to postpone legislation on India. Lord Palmerston had a majority of 143, which seemed to strike the Company to the ground. But then came the change of the Cabinet, and afterwards Mr. Disraeli's bill upon the top of Lord Palmerston's, and that did not seem to go down very well either. Before the time came for its second reading Lord J. Russell's suggestion of proceeding by resolutions on which to found a bill was agr.q-d to, and then in discussing these resolutions we got into such a tangle that it does not seem to me that Solomon himself would have been able to set us right. At length up jumps a private member and proposes at one fell swoop to undo half the change, and to appoint an Indian Council, which shall be as like the East India Company as two eggs are like each other. Ministers and the Opposition alike get up and embrace the same scheme, the bill is postponed for the time, and eventually the suggestion is embodied and incorporated in the bill, and so it is passed. The East India Company line been struck to the ground, but in its place there is a Council and a Minister: many of the fea turesof the government by the Company are retained, and the majority of the persona appointed to form the new Council of India are taken from the Court of Directors. That is the history of the great change in the goverment of India. I hope it will prove successful, and that through the noble exertions of Havelock, Nicbolson, the Lawrences, and Mr. Frere, in another year the Indian difficulty will take its place among the records of the past. After a few remarks upon the Galway Disfranchise ment Bill, the hon. gentleman concluded as follows : In this country people have found out that there ere many points on which differences of opinion must neces sarily exist, and that there are many questions about which they have fought for many a long day, and after all the dif ference between them has been but the shadow of a shade. We have seen in public life divisions of party opening out and healing up every day, but 1 think we have seen the last of the days when those differences of opinion lead to bitterness and strife, because people are more and more willing to believe that those who oilier from them honestly in opinion are like themselves animated by a sincere desire for the progress and welfare of the country in which we all have a stake. We have seen much iii this town (het links us together in one common view, and I am happy to think that the people of Maidstone show themselves so alive to the success of a cause in which they are so much interested. Such are the feelings with which I have been more and more touched on each occasion when I have had the honour and the happiueas of meeting you, and it now only remains to me to thank you for the most kind recep tion you have this day given me, and for the patience with which you have listened to this exposition of my political Connie, Mr. JOT, in a brief complimentary speech , plovcoied the health of Major Scott, which was received •itp loud cheering. Major SCOTT, M.P., thanked them for the kindness they had manifested. As long as the people of Maid. stone wanted a true Conservative to join Mr. Hop e i n the representation of the borough, although he was quite aware that there was no paucity of better ram he should feel most proud and delighted to fill that responsible but honourable position. The CHAIRMAN then gave the health of the Earl of Romney, which was drunk with enthusiasm, and the party adjourned to the spacious grounds of the park, where dancing, old English games, and other spoils were kept up until half-past nine o'clock, when a dis• play of fireworks took place, and the chairmar, and honourable members returned to Maidstone by torchlight procession. EAST INDIA HOUSE. ON Monday last a Special General Court of the East India Company was for the last time held in their house in Leadenhall street, for the purpose of sub• mitting for the confirmation of the proprietors the resolution passed by the general court on the 25th ult., granting an annuity of 2,000 t. to Sir John Laird Mair Lawrence, G.C.B. The Secretary having read the resolution, the CHAIRMAN moved that it be confirmed. Captain EASTWICK (the Deputy-Chairman) se conded the motion, which was supported by Mr. ARBUTHNOT, who eulogized the past government et India by the Company, and paid a special compli- ment to Colonel Sykes, whose name he regretted to see absent from the list of the new Council. Mr. JONES, as before, oppoed the resolution.. After some further remarks from Messrs. Lewin and Cook, and Colonel Sykes himself, the resolution was put and agreed to, with only two dissentients. The CHAIRMAN said the court had been made far ther special tor the purpose of laying before the pro- prietors the opinions of counsel upon certain points submitted for their consideration by the Committee of Proprietors appointed by the General Court on the II th uit. The opinions had been sent iu that morn ing. They had been placed in the hands of Mr. Crawshay, the chairman of the committee, who wculd proceed to make any remarks he might think proper upon them. Mr. CRAASITAY suggested that the opinions should be read. The Secretary then read the following opinions of counsel QUESTIONS SUBMITTED BY A COMMITTEE OF PROPRIETORS Of EAST INDIA STOCK FOIL THE CONSIDERATION OF DM ATTORNEY AND SOLICITOR-GENERAL, SIR R. BETHELL, AND MR. WIORAM, WITH THE OPINION GIVEN THEREON. Question I.—Supposing that the Company under the 13th sec. of the Act of the 3rd and 4th of William IV., cap. 85, should give notice for the redemption of dividend, is Parliament bound to redeem the dividend, the rate therein mentioned, out of the Imperial revenues, without any reference to the sufficiency of the lodise revenues? Answer I.—We are of opinion that the 13th sec. of the 3rd and 4th of William IV., cap. 8.5, constitutes a Parlia mentary contract with the East India Company, and that should the East India Company demand the redemption' its dividend under that section, Parliament would b bound to make provision for its redemption, without reference to the sufficiency of the Indian revenues. Q. 2.—Assuming that the Company does not lire the notice provided for in sec. 13 within one year from us being deprived of the possession and gove rnm ent of the British territories in India, does the Company lose ar such claim to compel redemption of its dividend by Pali ment out of the Imperial revenues, without any reterence , the sufficiency of the Indian revenues? Q. 3.—Assuming, further, that the Company does not give the required notice within the year, will the Compeni entirely forfeit its right to demand redemption, whether out of the Imperial revenues or out of the revenues India alone? A. 2 and 3.—We are of opinion that if the Como! does not, under sec. 13 of the 3rd and 4th of Willis:ell cap. 85, demand the redemption of its dividend within o ne year from its being deprived of the poss ession and gove' ment of the territories of India it will f orfeit its right tit demand redemption of the dividend, and the divideed will become irredeemable until 1874, and then will be mkt , able only at the option of Parliament. had to the pa` Q. 4.—Can the Security Fund be app ment of dividend or to any other purpose without tie, requisition of the Court of Directors of the Can c ino' 1: according to the 3rd and 4th of William IV., esp. A. 4.—We are of opinion that unde r the conjoilit eil, , of the 3rd and 4th of William IV., cap. +.45, sec- 15, 21st and 22nd of Victoria, cap. see . 73, the Salm i Fund can, upon requisition by the Cou rt of Directors, applied to make good any deficiency in remittances fo tor I payment of dividends, but that it cann ot be applied , payment of dividends without such requisition. We el se. think that upon " redemption" of the dividend, the Secure. 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