The Press. — London, England, 1858-02-27 00:00:00

HOUSE OF LORDS—MoNDAy. The expectation of hearing the Ministerial expla nations brought down a great number of strangers to the house, and, besides the gallery, the spaces below the bar and round the steps of the throne were filled as soon as the Lord Chancellor took his seat on the wo olsack. The attendance of peers was thin. The Government was represented by Earl Granville, the marquis of Lansdowne, the Marquis of Clanricarde, the Earl of Clarendon, Lord Panmure, and Lord Stanley of Alderley. The principal Opposition peers pre.ent were the Earl of Malmesbury, the Earl of Eglinton, the Marquis of Salisbury, the Earl of Lonsdale, Lord St. Leonards, and Lord Colchester. The Earl of Derby was not in his place. THE RESIGNATION OF MINISTERS. Earl GRANVILLE rose and said : My Lords, I rise for the purpose of making an announce ment to the house, for which probably your lordships are already prepared. It is, that in consequence of what took place in another place on Friday her Majesty's Ministers have thought that there was no other alternative left open to them than most respectfully to tender their resigna tions to her Majesty. Her Majesty has been most gra ciously pleased to accept those resignations, and I under stand that the noble earl who is not now in his place, Lord Derby, has undertaken the commission of forming a Government. I understand also that the noble lord will think it convenient that there should be an adjournment of the house until the time when those arrangements are made. I understand that the noble lord will be glad that the adjournment shall take place from now until Friday. I am informed by my noble and learned friend on the woolsack that it will be convenient to suitors that the house should meet to-morrow for judicial business. I think your lordships will all agree that we should abstain from other public business until the noble earl has an opportunity of taking his place. We in the meantime are only holding our places until his arrangements are made. (Hear.) The Earl of MALMESBURY My Lords, I have been too long and too well acquainted with the noble lords opposite to be surprised at the step which they have taken. I have always known them to be men to whom the sense of public duty and the claims of private honour arc to all things else paramount, and I am not surprised at the step which her Majesty's Government have taken in resigning. (Hear, hear.) I shall not, perhaps, be blamed if I say that I feel a natural and legiti mate pleasure in knowing that men are called to the councils of the Crown whose political opinions are the same as my own, but that satisfaction is exceeded by the feeling that at no time within my memory have any political debates in this house led to any acrimony, and that on this side of the house we have carried on those debates and the divisions following them without any feel ing of faction or personal hostility to her Majesty's Govern ment. (Cheers.) I look back with satisfaction to two periods of great importance and excitement, when we have had the pleasure to support her Majesty's Govern ment. I allude to the Russian war and the rebellion in India. (Hear, hear.) I have only to add that Lord Derby is at this moment employed in fulfilling the task which has been intrusted to him by her gracious Majesty, and that it is his wish, as the noble earl has expressed it, that your lordships should assent to an adjournment. THE LORD CHIEF 'JUSTICE AND THE ATTORNEY GENERAL. Lord CAMPBELL, in reply to Lord Lyndhurst, said that a recent statement of the Attorney General with respect to the alien law had caused him much pain and astonishment. The Attorney-General had said,—" The state of the English law I believe to be this,—that foreigners are able to do in this country that which your own subjects are unable to do, and that which would he a crime in natural-born British subjects is a matter of impunity in foreigners ": Now, that was not the law of England, and it was of the last importance that it should be known to the country and to Europe that it was not the law of England. He appealed to his noble and learned friend ( Lord Lynd hurst) to confirm his statement, that there was no distinc nr whatever between natural-born subjects and aliens loth regard to acts committed within the realm of England. Habeas were in England, within the Queen's allegiance, they were her subjects as long as they remained there, and they were liable to the same procedure as natural born subjects. If they were tried for high treason, or any offence between high treason and the lowest known to the law, done in England, it would be wholly immaterial whe ther they were aliens by birth or foreign subjects, and it would be most disastrous if it were supposed that such was the disgraceful state of English law that they, owing allegiance to England, were not subject to the law which bound English subjects. He said that while they were under the protection of English law they were bound to obey it, and were liable for any infraction of English law, exactly in the same manner as any perron who was born within the sound of Bow bells. }'or conspiracy and every other offence they were amenable to the law of England. It would be monstrous that it should he proclaimed to the world that they who lived here and enjoyed an asylum could commit with impunity crimes for which English subjects might be punished. If a foreigner in a foreign conory committed a crime and came to England we could not punish him for what he had done in a foreign land. It would be contrary to the law of nations to attempt to do ao- lint we could legislate for our own subjects all over the world, and make them amenable in an English court for anything which they had committed abroad. With rega r d to a foreigner who committed a crime abroad, we 414 no jurisdiction over the offence, but for everything THE PRESS, FEBRUARY 27, 1858. done within the realm of England he was equally amenable as a native-born British subject. He had heard with astonishment that it was made a question whether it was any offence in England to conspire to murder the consort of the Emperor of the French at the time she was about to give birth to an heir to the throne. He was shocked that there could be the smallest doubt upon the subject. To conspire anything which was maluin in se in England WAS an offence to the law for which the conspira tor would be liable to be prosecuted, and if it were to mur der one of the lowest subjects in a foreign country, such an offence would most undoubtedly be committed. With regard to the consort of a sovereign there was the instance of Lord George Gordon, who was found guilty of libelling Marie Antoinette. The bill which had been brought in elsewhere did not create any new offence—it only altered the punishment; and if it had been introduced as an amendment of the English code he should most willingly have supported it, because he thought !here ought to be uniformity of punishment in every part of the United Kingdom. He would advise any future Government to go on with this bill, and if it came up to that house he felt certain their lordships would support it. Lords Lyndhurst, Brougham, Wensleydale, and St. Leonards entirely concurred in the views of the Chief Justice. The house then adjourned until Friday. HOUSE OF COMMONS—MormAy. The Speaker took the chair shortly before four o'clock, by which time there was an unusually large attendance of members. The front bench on the Ministerial side of the house was for a brief space unoccupied, save by Mr. Fitzroy, Mr. Wilson, and Sir B. Hall, but the back rows presented a solid phalanx of members, and the earnest conversations in which they engaged indicated the interest with which they awaited the anticipated statement from Lord Palmerston. Mr. Disraeli entered the house alone at five minutes to four, and there might then be noticed in their customary places below the gangway on the Ministerial side, Sir J. Graham, Mr. Bright, Mr. Gibson, and Mr. S. Herbert. Mr. Disraeli was fol lowed at brief intervals by Mr. Walpole, Mr. Henley, Sir W. Jolliffe, Mr. Napier, Mr. Baillie, Mr. White side, Sir J. Pakington, and Lord J. Manners, who took their places on the front Opposition benches. Lord Palmerston arrived at a quarter past four, succeeded in a few minutes by Mr. Labouchere and others. Lord J. Russell and Mr. Gladstone did not enter quite so early. NEW MEMBER. Colonel CARTWRIGHT took the oaths and his seat for South Northamptonshire. Mr. ROEBUCK, agreeably to notice, presented a peti tion complaining of a breach of privilege by a mem ber of the house (Mr. Isaac Butt), in having entered (as alleged) into a corrupt agreement with Ali Moorad Khan, under which a sum of money had been paid by the Khan to Mr. Butt; and he moved that the petition be printed. Mr. Burr protested against the course taken by Mr. Roebuck. He denounced the charge as false, and was prepared, he said, to prove that it was the result of conspiracy. He demanded of the justice of the house an immediate investigation of this odious charge by a public inquiry at the bar, or if the house objected to this course, that a select committee be forthwith appointed for that object, to sit this day. He then withdrew. Mr. ROEBUCK having withdrawn his motion for printing the petition, after a long and rather embar rassing discussion respecting the proper course of proceeding, it was agreed that a select committee of seven members, named, should be appointed forth with, and the members were nominated. The petition was ordered to be referred to the com mittee. CIHNA. Lord Pia.3tEitsrox presented to the house, by com• mend of her Majesty, certain papers which, were understood to be the correspondence which has recently passed between Lord Elgin and Commis sioner Yeh. The noble lord also presented a despatch from her Majesty's ambassador at Paris. These documents were ordered to lie on the table. THE RESIGNATION OF MINISTERS. Lord PALMERSTON, who was received with a faint cheer by his supporters, then rose aid said : I wish, air, ti make a short statement to the house with respect to the course which her Majesty's Government have thought it their duty to pursue in consequence of the vote to which this house came on Friday night. I think it can scarcely be necessary for me to say that that vote led her Majesty's Government to feel that there was only one course which they could pursue with a due regard to their own honour) and with a due respect to this house. W. therefore on Saturday humbly tendered to her Majesty the resignation of our offices, which her Majesty was grteiously pleased to accept, and consequently we now hold our offices only for the purpose of carrying on the business of the country until our successors are appointed. Under these circumstances I am sure the house will feel that it would be inconvenient that we should continue to meet, and therefore, as is usual on such occasions, I venture to propose that this house should adjourn for a few days. I have ascertained by private communication 199 --•— from a noble lord, who, I believe I may venture to say, is at present engaged in constructing a Government, that it will be convenient that the adjournment should be until Friday next. I therefore propose that the h3use at its rising should adjourn till that day. The motion was agreed to, and it was further resolved that all committees should have leave to sit notwithstanding the adjournment of the house. EAST INDIA LOAN BILL. On the order for going into committee on this bill, a conversation arose, in the course of which Sir H. WlLLountiey pressed for some explanation respecting the condition of the Indian revenue, which, he contended, could not stand additional charges or be materially increased ; how the interest of the loan was to be met, and whether the English Ex chequer was secured against being called upon to pay any part of the debt. The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER said be would give the required explanation in the committee. After some remarks by Mr. AYRTON and Mr. Wm.ror.,E, the house went into committee upon the bill ; when The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER said the bill merely enabled the East India Company to raise money, either by debentures or by bonds ; that it involved no new principle, and it was doubtful whether the Company now needed any parlia mentary authority for this purpose. He stated the estimated deficit of the Indian Exchequer at the end of the financial year 1839.9 at 7,500,0001., and that the Company had exhausted their powers of borrow ing in the Indian money market. He then prc ceeded to argue from the gross amount of the Indian revenue, the amount of the Indian and hon e debt, and the charge upon the revenue, that there was no reason to doubt that when the revolt was quelled, and the country had been restored to its ordinary state, the Indian Government would be able to defray all the expenses of its own goven meat. There was nothing in this measure, he said, to bring any prospective charge upon the British Exchequer. The clauses of the bill were agreed to after much discussion, the amount of the loan being limited to 8,000,0001. _ _ _ The house, after some further business, adjourned at half•past eight o'clock till Friday. CONSPIRACY TO MURDER BILL. HOUSE OF COMMONS, FEB. 19. CoNseraAcr TO MURDER BlLL.—Order for second reading 6, read ; motion made, and question proposed:—" That the bill be now read a second time." Amendment pro posed, to leave oat from the word " that " to the end of the question, in order to add the words " this house hears with much concern that it is alleged that recent attempts upon the life of the Emperor of the French have been devised in England, and expresses its detes tation of such guilty enterprises ; that this house is ready at all times to assist in remedying any defects in the criminal law which, after due investigation, are proved to exist, yet it cannot but regret that her Majesty's Government, previously to inviting the house to amend the Law of Conspiracy by the second reading of this bill at the present time, has not felt it to be their duty to make some reply to the important despatch re ceived from the French Government, dated Paris, January 20, 1858, and which has been laid before Paths ment,"—( Mr. Milner Gibson)—instead thereof:— Question put, " That the words proposed to be left out stand part of the question :"—The house divided; ayes, 215, noes, 234. Adair, H. E. Fitzgerald, W. R.S. Moffatt, George Adams, W. H. Forestcr,llt.ElnCol Montgommy,Sir G. Adderley, C. B. Forster, Charles Morgan ' Gamins Akroyd, Edward Forster, Sir George Naas, Lord Alcock, Thoinu Fos, W. J. Napier, ltt. Hon. J. Annesley, Hon. H. Fraser, Sir W. A. Napier, Sir Charles Archdall,Captain M Galway, Viscount Newdegate, C. N. Ayrton, A. S. Gard, it. S. Newport, Viscount H. J. Garnett, W. T. Nicoll, Donald , Ball, Edward Gaskell, J. M. Noel, Hon. U. J; Baring, Thomas Gilpin, Charles North, Colonel Bernanl, T. T. Gladstone, Rt. Hn. Packe, C. W. Bass, M. T. Graham, Rt. Hn. J. Pakington,SirJohn Baxter, W. E. Greenall, Gilbert Palk, Lawrence Beach, W. W. B. Greene, John Palmer, Robert Beale, Samuel Grenfell, C. W. Paull, Henry Bective, Earl of Griffith, C. D. Peahen, Sir G. B. Bennet, Philip Grogan, Edward Peel, Sir Robert Berkeley, Hn. H. F. Hadfield, George Pevensev, Viscount Blackburn, Peter Hamilton, Lord C. Philips, .R. N. Bolder°, Colonel Hamilton, G. A. Pigott, Francis Bovill, William Hamilton, J. H. Pilkington, James Brumley-Moore, J. Hamilton, Captain Powell. E. S. Bridges, Sir B. W. Hardcastle, J. A. Price, W. P. Bruce, Major C. Hardy, Gatborne Ricardo, J. L. Buchanan, Walter Headlam, T. E. Robertson, P. F. Buller, Sir J. Y. Heatbcote, Sir Wm. Roebuck, J. A. . _ Bunbury,W.B.3l`C. Henley, Et. Hn. J. Roupell, William Bury, Viscount Herber., Bt. II n. S. Russell, Lord John Itlyng, Hon. George Hodgson, Win. N. Scliolebeld, Wm. Caird, James Holfurd, R. S Sclater•Booth. G. Cairns, H. M . C. Hope, A. J. B. B. Scott, Hn. Francis Carden, Sir It. W. I lopwood, J. T. Seymer, H. K. Cardwell,Rt.HonE. Hursman,Rt.Hn.E. Shelley, SirJ. V. Carnac, SirJ. R. MAIM, Lord Sheridan, H. B. C ec il, L or d Robert Hume, W. W. F. Sibthorp, Majur Cheetham, John Hunt, G. W, Smith, J. B.