The Press. — London, England, 1854-07-29 00:00:00

THE PRESS. JULY 29, 1854. REASONS AGAINST AN AUTUMNAL SESSION. BY A MINISTERIALIST. If haply, as soon as the session is o'er, We help the Turk as we helped him before, If now that we have our " estimates" vote, We should draw up another Vienna note, What would the troublesome Parliament say? Yea or nay? Possibly—nay. Therefore we'll give it a very long day. If confident Gladstone again decries The Turks to his Manchester allies, Or his Peelite friends, like pumps as they are, Are for throwing cold water upon the war, What will the troublesome Parliament say ? Yea or nay? Possibly—nay. Therefore we'll give it a very long day• If, instead of seeking our foes in the gate, We protocol and procrastinate, Or if we trust to winning the day With Reform Club chaff and contract hay, What will the troublesome Parliament say ? Yea or nay ? Possibly—nay. Therefore we'll give it a very long day. If our gallant admirals fill up their logs About Baltic shallows and Euxine fogs, If one of them waits till the Russian begins, And the other goes picking up single Finns, What will the troublesome Parliament say ? Yea or nay ? Possibly—nay. Therefore we'll give it a very long day. If the den of the Bear we do not invade, But only campaign in masquerade, If we come away after all this stir Without a little bit of his fur, What will the troublesome Parliament say ? Yea or nay ? Possibly—nay, Therefore well give it a very long day. If, like the King of Spain and his men, We march to the East and march back again, If the " Talents," in short, turn out to be dull men, And their promised thunder a mere brutum fulmen, What will the troublesome Parliament say ? Yea or nay ? Certainly—nay. Therefore we'll give it a very long day. HOW COALITIONS WORK. REPORT, BY ANTICIPATION, OF THE NEXT DEBATE UPON THE I 700 seemed no objection to the bill, except that it was very obscure, and by no means calculated to carry out its object. The SOLICITOR-GENERAL said that his Honourable Friend's pecu liarity with the slapdash practice of assize courts blunted his appreciation of scientific legislation. The bill was unexceptionable. Lord JOHN Russatt said that he strongly approved every word of the bill, and that it ought to be passed immediately. Sir GEORGE GREY recommended his Noble Friend not to be in a hurry. He was never in a hurry, except in speaking. Lord Joni.; RUSSELL begged to explain. Ho had, perhaps, spoken ambiguously, which he regretted. What he meant to say was, the bill was introduced with a good motive, and that legislation on the subject was desirable. (Cries of " Ole, oh ! " and " Sebastopol !") Mr. GLADSTONE said that he, of course, advocated anything calcu lated to injure Russia, but, as guardian of the finances of the country, he must pause before assenting to a bill which might have the effect of checking expenditure in stamps, receipts, and postages, which iu the aggregate proved an important item in the revenue. He had not had the opportunity of consulting with his colleagues on the subject; indeed, that was not the custom of the Ministry ; but he the ught that whatever was done should be done on full consideration, and, at least, that somebody on that bench should be able to explain what were the views of Government, which lie professed himself ineom petent to do. Mr. FITZROY said that he knew nothing about it, but his relative, Baron Rothschild, had assured him that money matters were very queer things, and that people who did not understand them had better let them alone. Sir CHARLES WOOD said that he must differ with his colleagues on the present occasion, and this upon financial grounds, and his expe rience as Chancellor of the Exchequer—(a laugh)—entitled his opinion to some weight. Now, what was the state of the case? If Russia bor rowed money she would do it in roubles, which are the gold coins of this country. Eh? (A colleague here whispered him.) Oh, silver coins, of course—when he said gold he meant silver. Now, the value of a rouble was five and sixpence. He begged pardon —no, the value of a rouble was four and ninepence. Well. Eh? (A colleague here whispered him.) Oh, three and twopence, is it ? It made no difference ; and, indeed, was the better for his argument. Well, taking the rouble at four and ninepence, he meant two and threepence, it was clear that if the coin were depreciated it would become of less value. (gear, hear.) Just so. But if you were going to legislate for a coin now worth five and ninepence, what became of your legislation when you could not get that sum for your coin? (The Hon. Baronet sat down radiant with triumph.) Mr. HENLEY asked which way the Hon. Baronet meant to vote? Sir C. Woon : 0, for the bill, of course—that is to say, I mean, against the bill. Mr. BERNAL OSBORNE Mad that this bill could not be a good one, because Mr. Baring could not understand it, and therefore it was past Baring ; but, at the same time, lending money to Russia was malting ducks, in fact Russia ducks, and drakes with it. They might call the Czar's bonds securities, but he called them insecurities, and people who took such bonds might fancy they were in Bond-street, but he could tell them they were in Queer-street. The Hon Member adduced a few other arguments on the subject, and, the House divided. and the committal of the bill was carded by 110 kin, five Ministers voting each way, so as not to influence the deci en of the HOWL The bill passed through committee, and the SolioltooGenetel mised to explain its character on the third reading. " ALL THE TALENTS "-•AND RATHER MORE. " The answer which Russia was likely to make to the demands nasally made tiros bag li the German powers must be one of these three—either a n 110, or SD Offifillatito, Of Mk evasive answer."—Vide Lord J. Russell's speech at the meeting of 'Midst members 0% U. 17 tit inst. Gentle Commons! cease your funning; Opposition! be polite ; Only lately we've discovered Why Lord John was always right. Coalition holds a prophet, Telegraphs are passed and gone ; There's " a Daniel come to judgment" With a sibyl's mantle on. Twelve times o'er the street of Downing Cynthia's crescent bath appeared Since this oracle sibyllic Last in Downing's street was heard. Twas a rash one asked concerning Austria's message to the Russ, And the sage's gracious answer Came in Delphic accents thus : " Do I think that Russia's Monarch Means to bow to Austria still? If he won't—doubtless he will not, If he will—perchance he will. One of these things he will answer, Yes or no, or both, or neither; Thus much saith the lore prophetic, You can take your choice of either" RUSSIAN SECURITIES BILL. THE order of the day for going once more into committee on this bill having been read, Mr. WILsoN moved as an amendment that the bill be committed that day three months. It was perfectly ridiculous, in these days of free trade, to say that men should not sell their money in whatever market was open to them. Moreover, so far from its being impolitic to lend the Emperor of Russia money, it was in the highest degree politic, because they all knew that borrowing led to sorrowing. Mr. T. DUNCOMBE : On the part of the lender. (Laughter.) Mr. WILSON: No, on that of the borrower, and it was clearly desirable to reduce the Emperor to that condition. The Hon. Member then read several excellent articles from the Economist, in support of his position, and expressed a hope that this objectionable bill would be rejected. Lord PALMERSTON said that his Honourable Colleague's arguments were sheer nonsense, conceived in a peddling spirit. The idea of putting national honour into a balance-sheet was perfectly detestable He supported the second reading. The SOLICITOR-GENERAL said that neither of his colleagues knew what he was talking about. The Noble Lord was praising a bill which he had not seen, and the Hon. Member was abusing a bill of which he was equally ignorant. They did not seem to know, and it was not his business to tell them, that he had taken the bill in hand, knocked out all that was bad in it, and substituted what was good. Mr. HENLEY would like to know what the Attorney-General, who would have to prosecute under the bill, thought of it. The ATTORNEY-GENERAL said he really knew nothing about it, but , if they would wait two minutes he would read the bill t hrou g h. Having done this, the Hon. and Learned Gentleman said that there 11. L ..~...,,"•y0r, _ •