The Press. — London, England, 1858-06-05 00:00:00

then defended the policy of the late Ministry in in troducing the Conspiracy Bill, not at the dictation of the French Government, but, by the advice of the l aw officers of the Crown, for the purpose of reme dying an evident defect in the English law ; an d t he object and principle of the bill were strongly a d v ocated by Lord Derby himself when in opposi tion, Lord Clarendon did not wish to deprive the present Government of any credit for its conduct in t he affair of the Cagliari; but he reminded the house that the late Ministry, up to a late period, was kept in ignorance of the real state of the case. He denied that the two engineers were neglected ; it was in consequence of strong remonstrances from the late Government that their friends and the Consul were allowed access to them. The Chancellor of the Exchequer would have done well not to indulge in a eon of triumph till he had ascertained whether the Neapolitan Government would consent to an arbitration, and grant the demanded indemnity. The allusions in the speech to a policy of " massacre and confiscation" Lord Clarendon denounced as an ungenerous attack on Lord Canning, made as they were four days al t•:r the despatch explaining his proclamation bad been published, a,id after the conduct of Lot d Ellenborough, in giving publicity to what was very far from a message of peace, had compelled that Minister to an act of self-immolation. He warmly eulogized the courage, ability, and mode ration ot Lord Canning, and denounced the repeated Official misrepresentations of his policy in India as calculated to confirm the worst opinions of the enemies of this country, by representing it as habitually cruel, unprincipled, and despotic. As to the assertions of the speech that the House of Counnons had defeated the intrigues ot a cabal, con spinng against the Government, and possessing sources of information " that were not " constitu- Until," if a mere postprandial pleasantly it might be passed over; but the wend and the comparison were drawn from the very worst period of English history, and the public mind ought to be soothed by a frank avowal of what was intended by them, and who were the parties hinted at; the Government ought to release the corps diplomatique fiom the charge implied. In concluding, Lord Clarendon disclaimed any intention of embarrass;ng the Government by calling attention to the speech of the Chancellor of the Exchequer. The Earl of DERBY thought if the speech of his colleague had been deemed indiscreet, Lord Claren don had committed a much greater indiscretion in his present address, by which he had revived topics that were better forgotten. He begged, however, to thank the noble lord, since his intimation of bringing the Chancellor of the Exchequer's speech before the notice cf their lordships had caused him to have the great gratification of again reading with more attention the whole of that " very able and amusing discourse." He would not criticize every word and phrase in the speech at Slough, but all its main points he was prepared to defend. The allusion to the danger of war with France he ex plained only meant that peace between the two countries was endangered, when the present Govern ment took office, by the impossibility of passing the Conspiracy Bill, as a concession to the just irritation of the French people at the attempt on the life of the Emperor ; and he asked whether the peril of a war with France, in case Mr. Milner Gibson's motion were carried, was not held out to deter members of the House of Commons from voting for it. The preservation of peace he attributed in a great degree to the Emperor of France, who, having a more inti mate knowledge of England than most of his countrymen, abstained from pressing claims to which he felt the English Government could not accede. Ile compared the results of the action of the present Shiastry, in the case of the Cagliari, with the very Might concessions obtained by Lord Clarendon, stating that the Cabinet had made the claim for in demnity, and intended to support it. He thought if such speeches were to be made the subject of de hates, equivalent to motions in both Houses of Parliament, the members of the late Ministry were 310 . 1 . Justified in complaining of the language of a Minister of the Crown, even on post-prandial oe ea,iuns I could point (said the noble lord) to one or two in stances--one more 'emote aria the other not very distant —ia which language has been held which, if subjected to the test of severe criticism and parliamentary investigai tion, and if the speeches in which it occurred had been treated as State papers, as that of my right hon. friend has been by my noble friend opposite, would hove been found not to be such as was best calculated to secure and maintain perfect harmony between this and other Countries. ( Hear, hear.) My noble friend opposite has cleverly and ingeniously coloured some portions of the speech of lay right hon. friend. I certainly should not have expected him to make more than a passing allusion — from which it was impossible to refrain—to that gradually 4 18 'leing view—to the bunting of that guest babble—to that breaking up of the ice of the Neva, which took place w.lth sudden v iol ence , u f ter var i ous crac ks and groans and indication s of what was going to take place—the gradual lalthdrawal, one by one, of single cards from that carefully " 1141 110ltal edifice of pasteboard, maid at last that which THE PRESS, JUNE 5, 1858. it had cost some persona so much pains to build up col lapsed in a single moment, came to nothing, and fell to the ground, to the utter and irretrievable confusion of its authors. (A laugh.) I did not expect the noble earl to comment on that part of my right hon. friend's speech. I do not know whether he read it with so much amusement as I slid ; but greater than my amusement was my con viction of its truthfulness. I felt eminently convinced that, great as was the wit, great as was the cleverness, great as was the humour of that most graphic descrip tion, that which most peculiarly appertained to it. was undeniable truth. (Hear, hear.) There was no exag geration even of colouring, for no exaggeration could be applied to that matchless scene at which-1 shall remem ber it to the last day of my life—l had toe good fortune to be present. He taunted Lord Clarendon with omitting all allu sion to the description of the breakup of the Oppo sition in the House of Commons, which, though exceedingly graphic, was also exceedingly true; ani with having equally forborne any reference to the explanation of the financial policy of the Ministry and the Budget:— My noble friend will certainly recollect that the late Government were about to enter upon the discussion of the budget with Ito very sanguine anticipations as to the resources of the country, or as to the view which might be taken of the measures which they intended to submit to Parliament. If I em correctly informed, no mode of rectifying the disorder of the finances occurred to them better than that which would not have been a very popular measure—a considerable increase of the income tax. The late Government, and—if there are such persons as the members of a cabal—the cabal, or those who, in the house or out of the house, Englishmen or foreigners, were looking fur ward to the destruction of the present Ministry immediately on its formation, anticipated that the budget would be the inevitable destruction of this incompetent Government. (Hear, hear.) It was said, " They have succeeded by an accident in ousting the late Govenirnent and getting into place for a moment, but it is only for forty-eight hours." (Cheers.) That was the language held, "Don't he alarmed, this is nothing serious, it is but an affair of forty-eight hours." Eight and forty hours elapsed, and then it was, "You will see that the whole thing will fall to the ground, and then will be that glorious and much longed for restoration " which is the main object of noble lords opposite. (A laugh.) Weeks elapsed and there was no indication of the desired con summation, and then it was said, " But there is the budget, they never can get over that. We know the state in %hie!' the finances were when we left office. (Renewed laughter.) We are very well out of it, leaving our successors to deal with the budget, which we know that we should have found an insurmountable difficulty." We did deal with the budget, and dealt with it in such a manner that, without violating public faith, carrying on the promised reduction of that most obnoxious income tax.—which the late Government had intended to main tain, if not to increase,—we, by the addition of taxes, not large in amount, not very important, and to which few persons took any objection, made such an arrangement as to secure for ourselves a fair surplus for the year. He refused to go into the question of the "cabal," and passed to the Indian policy of the Government. which he described as one of moderation and clemency, as opposed to the violence counselled by some of those by whom Lord Canning was sur rounded. The noble lord concluded a very spirited address in the following terms : I thinK I have gone through all the topics contained in the statement of toy noble friend to which it is necessary or becoming in me to refer. I must say that, although have not shrunk from explaining and vindicating the state ments matte and the language held by my right hon. friend, not in every particular term, but in substance and fact, and although I do not deny that the language of public men holding high office is to be more carefully and closely watched and criticized than the language of those holding less responsible appointments, yet I do think that, although the language used and the opinions expressed by my right hon. friend might have called forth some casual criticism, and a passing notice from those who disapproved them, a great deal more has been made of this speech than is consistent with the dignity of either of the houses, or with the importance of the questions to which it refers. (Cheers ) I have rot, however, shrunk from vindicating an absent friend, and I think my noble friend might have done well to recollect that that right hon. gentleman on two successive evenings has been attacked on the same subject in his place in Parliament, where he had a right to speak, and that he has there given to his opponents, first one and then the other, such an explanation and such an answer as neither they nor the country will speedily forget. (Loud cheers.) - - - Earl GRANVILLE justified the notice that had been taken of the speech, and characterized the reference to the budget as vainglorious, since the financial policy of the Government had only been the negative one of not " muddling away money in paying debts," but postponing liabilities they bad better have met in a bolder manner. To the charge of conspiracy by a "cabal," no answer whatever had been given. As to India, Lord Canning was supported by the opinion of the country, ami required no aid from such speeches as that delivered at Slough. Lord Clarendon was entitled to their thanks for the able and conclusive manner in which he had criticized that address, and cleated up many points on which serious misconceptions existed. The Earl of ALthempiuriv thought it absurd for any one to ask explanations of it speech from those who never heard it ; I suppose, my lords (said the noble earl), we ought to be extremely thankful for the lesson on the necessity of cultivating habits of public discretion which we have this evening received ; but I would beg the noble lord at whore hands we have been favoured with so much good advice, to bear in mind for the future the common maxim which says that those who live in crystal palaces should not throw stones. ( A laugh.) (A noble lord : "In glass houses.") My noble friend may live in a glass house, but f am not quite sure that it may not with more pro- • priety be said of the noble lord at the head of the late Government that he lives in a crystal palace, for he is absolutely upon all sides surrounded by glass. (" Hear, hear," and laughter.) I recollect a time, and that nn very distant period, when that noble lord seemed completely to have forgotten—l should, perhaps, rather say despised —those rules of discretion which have to-night been so emphatically recommended for the adoption of public men. (Hear.) We must all remember how that alliance upon which the noble viscount to whom i allude sets so high a value was greatly imperilled by the indiscreet lan guage which he used, and how some t.vo years ago, at a Lord Mayor's dinner, he made a speech which called for explanation on the part of the French Government. ( Hear, hear.) Fortunately for the noble lord, the French Ambassador happened at the time to be absent in Paris, and was not present at the dinner; for if lie had been, he must have felt it to be his duty to walk out of the room. (Cheers.) There was also another occasion upon which, if I mistake not, the noble viscount showed an equal contempt for those rules of discretion of which the noble earl opposite is so earnest an advocate. Your lord ships have seen that addreas—worse than a speech, be cause it was written—to the electors of Tiverton, in which so much good taste and good feeling were displa3etl, and in which the noble viscount thought proper to brand the majority of the members of both Houses of Parliament as men who were ready to make the disgrace of their country a stepping-stone to office. (Cheers.) Now, I cannot help thinking that a noble earl who serves under a leader who is accustomed to make use of such language as that might very well have refrained from inflicting upon us that severe castigation which he has this evening ad ministered. (Cheers.) For my part, I run of opinion that nothing has been said by my tight hon. friend the Chancellor of the Exchequer in the speech in question which, taken line by line or word by word, can, either in tone or taste, or in its tendency to prodnce grave public consequences, be justly charged with being equally open to reprehension as much which has fallen Irom Lord Pal merston himself. (Cheers.) After a few word@ from Lord CIANCARTY, their lordships udjourned. HOUSE OF COMMONS—TUESDAY. AMERICAN DIFFERENCES. Mr. S. FITZOERALD, in reply to Mr. Lindsay, stated that of the occurrences referred to on the preceding night—namely, of American merchant vessels haying been fired into, boarded, and detained by British cruisers—the Government had no official knowledge, and he explained the tenor of the orders sent ont to • the commanders of the cruisers by the Board of Ad miralty. MR. WASHINGTON WILKS. On the order for the consideration of the petition of Washington Wilks, Mr. M. GIBSON moved that Mr. Wilks be dis charged from the custody of the Sergeant•at.Arms, as he had withdrawn the particular imputation of corrupt motives. Atter a short discussion, The SOLICITOR•GENERAL, considering that the re tractation in Mr. Wilks's petition was guarded and limited, and the apol-gy illusory, moved, as an amend ment, that the order for the consideration of tbe pe tition be discharged. This amendment, after further debate, was agreed to, with the understanding that Mr. Wilks might, if he thought flt, present another petition, containing a fuller and less restricted retractation of the charges. MILITARY ORGANIZATION. Captain VIVIAN called attentim to the necessity of • more clearly defining the responsibility and duties of the various military departments, and moved the following resolution : That, although the recent consolidation of the different departments of Ordnance, Commissariat, and Secretary at-War has, to a certain extent, improved the general ad ministration of military affairs, a divided responsibility . . still exists ; and that, in order to promote greater efficiency, the departments of the Horse Guards and War Office should be placed under the control of one responsible Minister. After adverting to the old system of military admi nistration, and to the suggestions mado by the Royal Commissioners in 1837, he described the alterations affected in our military organisation in 1855, by the consolidation of depar tments, which, be con tended, did not go ter enough, having left the great office of Commander-in•Chiet intact. He entered into details to show that functions properly belonging to this office were performed by the Secretary for War, while others of a civil character were executed by the Commander-iii-Chief, so that the duties of the two departments were so jumbled up that there was a divided or uncertain responsi bility, and great public inconvenience as well as ex pens were the restilt of such a system and the want Pill of oao bead W cootrol the whole l —it Alioistvc who, ip