The Press. — London, England, 1858-03-20 00:00:00

year, and they might do a power of mischief in the meantime:— He doubted the inclination of right hon. gentlemen opposite to do mischief. He could not refuse to ad mit that the present Government comprised in their party very much of the intelligence, wealth, and character of the country. Their leaders were men of high honour and undoubted patriotism, and, so far as great actions were involved, the leaders of that house were equally to be trusted from whatever party they might be taken. Power at present was apparently deposited with the Oppo sition. He believed that the Opposition could control and dictate every measure, and that their power as a party was greater on that side the house than where they sat six weeks ago. He believed that the interests of truth and of progress would be more surely promoted by real liberality in an Opposition than by sham liberality in ofti2e. While it would be a most desirable state of things to see a popu lar Administration in power, with its adversaries in Oppo- . • sition, vet lie was sstistied that the most unsatisfactory, the most unsafe, and the most unwholesome of all condi tions was a state of things in which there was neither a too on the other. on one side nor a Liberal Opposi- He would not say that the house ought to be satis fied with the cry of " measures, not men," for he agreed with Mr. Canning when he said, " When you say I am to look to measures and not men, you might us well tell me I am to look at the harness and not at the horses that draw the coach." Lord JOHN RUSSELL, with considerable gravity of demeanour, reminded the house that he, at least, had, during the many years that he had been in the house, pursued a policy which he considered reform. ing, and that upon all the great questions of religious and civil liberty, upon questions relating to the Roman Catholics, the Protestant Dissenters, and the Jews, and upon the questions of reform and commercial liberty or free trade, he had been opposed to the views of the Conservative party. Lord John Russell then disclaimed any wish to embarrass the present Government, and believed that they ought not to be urged to make a premature declaration of their policy. He was prepared to wait for, and judge upon their merits, the measures which the Ministry might bring in. Mr. DRUMMOND considered that the exclusion of the Whigs for seventy years from office was the real key to the Reform Bill of '32. Lord PALMERSTON, speaking in the name of "those who sit on these (Opposition) benches," dis claimed any intention of offering to the present Go vernment a factious opposition. The noble lord then passed to the circumstances of his recent defeat, and in reply to Mr. Horsman said he was glad to receive support from any part of the house in favour of measures for the public good : We regretted when measures had not the support of those 14 ho sat on the same side as ourselves, but we rejoiced to find that any portion of the house approved of the course which we thought just. And I must say that I think the occasional support which we received from members who did not habitually act with us was as credit- able to the Government as it was h,nourabte to those who gave it ; and undoubtedly, if again it should be our lot to be responsible for the conduct of affairs, I should not think myself acting otherwise than in accordance with the interests of the country merely because our measures might receive the support of those who did not generally act with us. Lord Palmerston then endeavoured to explain his principles : Now, sir, when my right hon friend seems to imply that am not a Liberal, but a Tory, I beg leave to remind him that in all those measures of domestic policy which my noble friend the member for the city of London has brought forward, and in which he takes, and justly, so much pride, I acted with him, and gave him all the support in my power. Ho then reviewed in detail the measures he had proposed and passed during his Administration, which he declared lie left with confidence to the impartial verdict of the country. The report was then agreed to. The house then went into a Committee of Supply upon the Supplementary Army Estimates and Revenue Estimates. After some further business, the house adjourned at five minutes to nine o'clock. HOUSE OF LORDS—ThEsnAy. FREE IMMIGRATION OF NEGROES. Lord BROUGHAM presented a petition from the Anti Slavery Society, complaining of She results of the free immigration of negroes into the Island of Guadaloupe under the sanction of the French Government. 'fhe Earl of MALMESBURY said that since he had held office no information had been sent home from any of her Majesty's consuls with regard to the cir cumstances to which the noble lord had referred as having taken place at Guadaloupe. Ile quite agreed with the noble lord that the distinction between " free emigration " and the old slave trade was a distinction without a ditferen^e; and her Majesty's Government would use their utmost endea yours to put an end to the practice. But of course they could only interfere in eases where there was a slme-trade treaty in existence. I 0 1 1 1 1 1 1 I I t I if t V 8 II tl r t I I 1 1 THE PRESS, MARCH 20, 1858. LORD CLANRICARDE'S PERSONAL STATEMENT. The Marquis of CLANRICARDE having given notice that on Friday he should put a question to the Government on the course they intended to pursue with regard to National Education in Ireland, pro ceeded to refer to the announcement he had made on the previous night respecting a notice he had placed upon the paper for that evening. The noble mar quis observed that as what he stated had been mis understood, owing, no doubt, to his imperfect utterance, he would now repeat what he said. It was, that having had representations made to him by several noble friends to the effect that the notice he had given, and the statement he had proposed to make, were at variance with parliamentary usage, and that if such a practice were adopted it might lead to much inconvenience, be had felt it right, after such representations, and with the permission of their lordships, to withdraw his notice. The Law of Property Amendment Bill was read a second time. The East India Loan Bill, on the motion of the Earl of ELLENBOROUGH, was read a second time. The noble earl, in the course of the remarks he offered upon the occasion, expressed the following opinion upon the position of affairs in India : The state of India is this. No doubt in the course of the last year, in consequence of the mutiny, there has been a very great loss of property belonging to the Com pany, and a great diminution of revenue ; but let it be recollected that all the revenue of Madras, Bombay, Scinde, the Punjaub, the country near Delhi, and the lower provinces, remains in the possession of the English Government. It is, besides, a great cause of satisfaction that the price of opium is so high, for a very considerable increase of revenue may be expected under that head. There is no doubt, therefore, that even at present the elate of the revenue of India is such as to justify hope. It may be necessary when I am asking for money to state what I conceive to be the present posture of affairs in India. I should distinctly say that what I expect is this—that by the end of this month the commander-in-chief will have de stroyed Lucknow. I think the bodies of rebels who have congregated in that place will have been driven out of it by a fire under which no man can hope to live. I expect, therefore, there will not be in India after the commence ment of the month of April any considerable rebel force remaining in a body. ( Hear, hear.) there will le, no doubt, desultory and predatory movements made in various parts of the country, and a number of men will be required, and great exertions will be necessary, to prevent these movements, or to keep them in check. Some time will, therefore, probably elapse before the country is re duced to a state of complete tranquillity; but I trust that by the beginning of April our troops will be housed for the hot weather in the palaces of Lucknow. I do not state this from any information I have received since I have been in office. I am now only repeating precisely what I sated in conversation two months ago. I have only thought it necessary to say this much because when I ask the house to agree to a measure for enabling the East India Company to borrow a sum of 8000,0001., I think it right at the same time to give a favourable view of the financial position in which I think the Company will be placed in a very short period. (Cheers.) The order that no private bill shall be read a second time after the 20th of July was agreed to. The Earl of ELLENBOROUGH moved that the name of Frederick James Halliday, Esq., Lieutenant- Governor of Bengal, be included in the resolutions of thanks passed on the Bth of February. The motion was agreed to, and the house then adjourned. HOUSE OF COMMONS-TUESDAY. CASE OF MR. HODGE. The CHANCELLOR Of the EXCHEQUER, in reply to Mr. Horsmao, with reference to the casA of Mr. Hodge, who had been arrested in Sardinia, stated that his surrender bad been demanded by the French Government, but under the treaty of extradition between Sardinia and Great Britain it was not com petent to the former to comply with that demand without the consent of England, and a demand had been made upon her Majesty's Government that Mr. Hodge should be surrendered to France : We requested that the papers which bad been seized on the person of Mr. Hodge, and which were the foundation of the demand, should be sent to England. Having examined those papers, and it being our opinion that they were not sufficient to warrant the committal of Mr. Hodge by a magistrate in England, we declined to consent to that demand. (Loud cheers from both sides of the house.) Perhaps I may be allowed to say that there has been a public statement made, which has been very prevalent, that the state of Mr. Hodge's health was of a very dan gerous character, and tLat he was subjected to very severe imprisonment. We instructed her Majesty's Minister at Turin to inquire into those circumstances, and to place himself in communication with Mr. Hodge. It was found that that gentleman was suffering from a pulmonary com plaint; but Sir James Hudson had anticipated our in• structions, had taken care that every becoming comfort was at the command of Mr. Hodge, and demanded from the Sardinian Government that his imprisonment should cease so soon as the observance of the forms of law would permit. (Loud cheers.) VOTE OF THANKS. 271 The CHANCELLOR or the EXCHEQUER then moved that the first resolution of the house of the Bth of February be read, and that the like thanks be given to the Hon. F. J. Halliday, Lieutenant• Governor of Bengal, which, he said, had been inadvertently omitted. He at the same time urged SiriDe Lacy Evans and Sir C. Napier not to press amendments of which they had given notice, extending the vote of thanks to other officers, on the ground that this matter was most properly left to the discretion of the Executive Government. Mr. MANGLES and Lord PALMERSTOg explained the circumstances under which the name of Mr. Halliday had been omitted in the resolution of the Bth of February, Mr. Halliday not appearing to have been intrusted with any very important duties, an error afterwards corrected. Afters short discussion the motion was agreed to, the amendments not being moved. APPROPRIATION OF PUBLIC MONEY. On the report of the Committee of Supply, Sir G. LEWIS asked for an explanation of the vote of 500,0001. for the embodied militia, which was an addition to the army estimates, and what was done with the large savings which must necessarily accrue from the large number of men transferred to the East India Company. The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER said that after the army estimates were voted last year the house would recollect that the bill for embodying the militia was passed, in the end of July or in the month of August. The consequence of passing that bill was, that the provision made for the embodiment of the militia, namely, 200,0001., was exceeded by the sum of 500,000/. ; that was 700,000/. altogether. There was therefore a clear deficiency of 500,000/. to be supplied, and the Government thought they were only taking the proper parliamentary course in asking the house to vote that 500,0001., without seeing whether they could, by availing themselves of the surpluses under other items, meet that deft. ciency under the Appropriation Act : It was their opinion that though they might, under the Appropriation Act, apply the surpluses under other heads to meet the deficiency, that was a power which should not be exercised when Parliament was sitting, and one which ought not to be exercised by the Minister except in moments of emergency. (Hear, hear.) With regard to the probability of supplying the 500,0001. from the source indicated, he should be happy if that turned oat to be correct; but it was impossible that the accounts of the military expenditure could be concluded in time so as to enable them to form an opinion as to the saving likely to be effected under that head. But if the amount of saving was equal to the 500,000/., or even more, they should not be able to avail themselves of it, because these savings were now arranged under the head of acknowledged savings, and formedpart of the consolidated fund. ( Hear.) The right hon. gentleman shook his head, but he had the authority of a right hon. gentleman who filled the office he now held which induced him to believe that the right hon. gentleman opposite was in error. But whether that was correct or not he hoped the house would not disap- prove the course the Government took—of preferring to come to Parliament for the vote. (Hear, hear.) Sir G. LEWIS said he had no objection to the course taken if it was distinctly understood that the surplus of one vote should not be transferred to supply another. But notwithstanding what the right hon. gentleman said, it was competent for the Govern ment, under the Appropriation Act, to transfer the savings under one head to expenditure under another head, and it was to that he objected. For example, if there was a saving of 500,0001. under the head he had mentioned, it might be expended on barracks and fortifications, or some other item of expenditure in the War Department. Mr. HAMILTON said that if there was a surplus it would be a declared surplus, and would fall as such into the ordinary ways and means of the country. Sir F. BARING expressed his concurrence and satis faction with the course pursued by the Government. No doubt there was a power of transferring small savings, but it was never contemplated that so large a sum as 500,0001. should be transferred from the active service to the militia service, or vice versa. This was one of those points on which the house should be particularly careful, and he was glad to find that her Majesty's Government had laid down the principle strictly, and he hoped they would adhere to it. Sir H. WitLottettnv said that last year a sum of 500,000/. was taken from the transport vote and applied to naval purposes, and, 1 a he understood the right hon. gentleman (Sir C. Lewis), he seemed to lament that something of the same kind was not done in the present instance. The Chancelloc of the Exchequer took the constitutional course in coming to the house and asking for a vote. There was no limit to the 27th clause of the Appropriation Act, and under that act the Government might take millions from one service and apply them to another without the authority of Parliament. He thought the 27th clause ought to be amended by limiting that power to 150,000/. Mr. CAIWWELL considered that the Government deserved great 0%14 for taking the course they had