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

Vroretbings arliament. HOUSE OF LORDS-MONDAY. ORANGE SOCIETIES. The Val of DERBY, replying to the Marquis of Londonderry, stated that the present Government did not intend to continue the arrangement made by their predecessors, under which members of the Orange Society were considered to be disqualified from holding commissions of the peace in Ireland. FRENCH DESPATCHES. The Earl of MALMESBURY laid on the table despatches relating to the Orsini plot and late vote of the Commons on the Conspiracy to Murder Bill. The most cordial understanding was now, he said, established between England and France—that happy result being mainly attributable to the frank and friendly conduct of Count Walewaki. DUBLIN POLICE RIOT. The Earl of RODEN called attention to the accounts that had been received of an affray between the Dublin police and HOMO students of Trinity College. He complained of the conduct of the police on that occasion. The Earl of DERBY said that the affair was under going a strict investigation. The Earl of CARLISLE remarked that the late Go vernment had prepared a bill for the better regula tion of the Dublin police force, which they intended to present during the present session. The India Loan Bill was brought up from the House of Commons and read a first time. Their lordships adjourned at six o'clock. HOUSE OF COMMONS-MONDAY. On the motion of Sir W. JOLLIFFE, a new writ was ordered to issue for Dublin University, in the room of Mr. Napier, who bad accepted the office of Lord Chancellor of Ireland. The India Loan Bill was read a third time and passed. DUBLIN POLICE RIOT. Mr. GROGAN inquired whether the attention of the Irish Government had been called to what he desig- nated as a gross outrage, which had occurred at College-green, Dublin, on the entry of the Lord Lieutenant? Lord NAAS stated the steps which he bad taken ss soon as the matter was brought under his notice, and that it should receive the careful attention of the Government. THE " CAGLIARI." The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER said he wished to remove from the public mind a misconcep tion with reference to the case of the Cagliari. When the present Administration entered upon office they found, in their opinion, that the jurisdic tion of the King of Naples in the matter had been absolutely admitted by their predecessors, and that they (the present Administration) were precluded from taking any steps contravening that jurisdiction. It appeared further that, after their knowledge of the circumstances stated in the debate of Friday, the jurisdiction of the King of Naples in the matter had been still recognised by their predecessors, and that it was not open to the present Government any longer to impugn that jurisdiction. They had then to consider what, under the circumstances, it was beat to do in order to assist our countrymen, and they had instructed a person of character and influ ence to urge their immediate trial. But on Friday Lord Palmerston stated that the late Government were considering the whole question again previous to their retirement from office. He (Mr. Disraeli) felt bound to say that a careful examination of docu ments offered no clue to that statement. But he accepted without hesitation a declaration made in Parliament by the late First Minister of the Crown, and it was impossible for himself and his colleagues not to perceive what must be the inevitable conse• quence of such a declaration : It entails upon us a great responsibility—a responsibility perfectly unexpected as well as great—but a responsibility tram which we do not shrink. (Cheers.) We have there fore felt it our duty, under those new circumstances for which we were quite unprepared, to submit the case to the present law advisers of the Crown. We now deem our sttives perfectly free from that engagement which we appre hended bound the Government and the State of England, and when we have obtained the opinion of the law officers of the Crown, and deliberated upon it, our duty will be to do what we think best for the interests of law, of right, and Of justice. (Cheers.) We shall act without fear or favour, whether we may deem it our duty to recognise the rights of a sovereign, or to vindicate those of our fellow subjects. (Cheers.) We have given directions that all the papers connected with the management of the Cagliari case by our predecessors should be prepared and laid with all reasonable despatch before Parliament. They are more voluminous and considerable than the house perhaps imagines, but no unnecessary delay will take place in their production. ( Hear, hear.) It is also my duty to state that, after the greatest deliberation, while perfectly aware of the inconvenience which under ordinary circumstances would accrue by submitting to Parliament the opinions of the law officers of the Crown, we have arrived at the con- • 1 I A a t C t t 7 THE PIItSS, MARCH 20, 1858. elusion that in the peculiar and exceptional circumstances of the present case we ought to lay the opinions of the law officers of the Crown before the house. (Hear, hear.) 1 hope the house will understand tha' in our judgment there are circumstances in the case of the Cagliari which render it expedient that an exception shmild be made to a rule that ought to be generally observed. The remarks of the noble lord the member for London were perfectly just so far as they related to the mode by which Parliament becomes acquainted with the opinions of the law officers of the Crown, or with so much of them as Ministers may deem it expedient for the public service to publish ; but the noble lord will recollect that in the present instance there is no diplomatic machinery, from the cessation of diplo matic intercourse with Naples, by means of which the desired information could be imparted. Under these cir cumstances we think it best to place the opinions of the law officers of the Crown before the house. No time will be lost in so submitting them to the consideration of Parliament, and meanwhile I beg to assure the house that, freed by the declaration of the noble lord the member fur Tiverton from the engagement by which we considered ourselves botmd, we hope we shall exercise the utmost energy and prudence in the management of an affair that undoubtedly demands our most serious attention and our most earnest solicitude. (Cheers.) Lord PALMERSTON said one important point which had remained doubtful was whether, supposing the Cagliari was taken on the high seas, the crew were forcibly seized, or voluntarily surrendered. The late Government were advised that there was not such a forcible seizure as would entitle them to make a forcible demand upon the Neapolitan Go vernment, and with that advice they did not feel justified in taking a course which might have led to extreme measures. In mentioning that the question of jurisdicticn was still under the consideration of the late Government on quitting office, he referred to the expectation of their receiving further papers of the Sardinian Government in support of their demand for the restitution of the vessel; because, if the Neapolitan Government acceded to the demand of Sardinia, the case of the two English engineers would assume an entirely different complexion. THE POLICY OF THE On bringing up of the report of supply, Mr. BERNAL OSBORNE, amid the laughter of the house, rose to call attention to the course pursued by the present Government in abstaining from an intelligible declaration of their principles and policy. Adverting sarcastically to the expositions of that policy given in the House of Lords and upon the hustings, the Government, he observed, had come into office with an acknowledged minority, and they called for three things—for time, forbearance, and money. But before the house granted these three demands it was bound to ask what were their claims, and to inquire what their conduct had been. When in opposition they had resisted all the measures of the late Government, yet when they got into their places they ransacked the pigeon-holes of their pre decessors. The Conspiracy Bill, for instance, had been first supported by the present Ministry. The amendment by Mr. Kinglake was compelled to be withdrawn, and the first reading of the bill carried triumphantly Ten days afterwards my right hon. friend the member for Ashton-under-Lyne (Mr. M. Gibson) moved another amendment, which was singularly ingenious --(a laugh)— but which if you, sir (addressing the Speaker), had not decided it to be parliamentary, I should have said was highly irregular. (Laughter from the Ministerial stde.) The right hon. member for Ashton had hitherto taken a different course. He had always been the eloquent and able advocate of principles which are supposed to be symbolised by the lamb—( a laugh)—but on the occasion to which I refer he mountel the lion. (Loud laughter.) The opportunity was too tempting to the right lion. gentleman opposite and his party. He lost no time in getting up behind the right hon. member for Ashton—(a laugh )—and by good management and considerable address —aided, I am sorry to say, by the somewhat careless con duct of the noble lord lately at the head of the Government —(loud laughter and cheering)—he deceived, I was almost going to say jockeyed, the noble lord. (Laughter and cheering.) Now, I don't charge the hon. gentleman who did this with irtrigue, but I do say that it was a manoeuvre discreditable to a party, and will not add to their reputation. (Cheers and laughter.) I will not detain the house toy going into any discussion of the Conspiracy Bill. For my own part I lament that the noble lord ( Palmerston) did not send an answer to the Walewski despatch—(general cheering)—but I look upon that as a venial error, and, however strong my opinion may be, I do not think the omission called for the withdrawal from the noble lord of tho confidence of this house. Mr. Osborne then quoted largely from the ex pressed opinions of the members of the present Administration upon all the great questions of the day. Referring to the India Bill, he proceeded to quote the speech of Mr. Whiteside against it, when he was called to order by the Speaker for quoting speeches made during the same session of Parliament:— Mr. B. OSBORNE : i quota these speeches as they appear in print out of this house. (" Hear, hear," and a laugh.) The SPEAKER : Certainly quotations from newspapers of speeches made in this house during the same session of Parliament are not according to the rules of this house. (Cheers.) 269 Mr. OSBORNE : I bow at once to what you have laid down as the law, but it is the first time I have ever heard it enunciated. (Oh, oh ! ) It was said that Lord Derby would take up the India Bill, bowing to the opinion of the majority of the house. What hypocrisy ! Did Lord Derby pay the same reverence to the admission of the Jews, carried over and over again by numerous and over • whelming majorities? Mr. Osborne then referred to the " conflicting opinions " on the Ministerial bench on the subjects of church rates and education, and a new Reform Bill : The right hon. gentleman the Chancellor of the Ex chequer said the late Reform Bill was a gross Whig job. (Ministerial cheers and laughter.) Yes, but how will the right hon. gentleman reconcile this with the language of one of the makers of the Reform Bill, Lord Derby, who said that it adequately represented the property, intelli gence, and feelings of the country ? I want to know, then, what sort of measure we may expect ; for I cannot believe that the Government intend to carry out the Reform Bill sketched by the last representative of the late Mr. Feargas O'Connor in this house—l mean the present Attorney- General for England. I wish to know what are the princi ples on which the Reform Bill is to be founded—whether on the principle of rational Toryism, as expressed by the noble lord (John Manners), or on the extreme Chartist principles enunciated by the Attorney General? It is true that we have had the speech of the noble member for King's Lynn ( Lord Stanley), who is, I believe, a true and rational reformer. But he occupies a very peculiar posi tion in the Cabinet—a position which I think we should all honour; but, at the same time, I very much doubt whether this Reforming iEneas will be able to carry the Conservative Anchises. No, sir, I much fear that he will find some Dido of Conservatism to olAtruct him in carry ing out his good principles. Well, then. I think lam justified in asking what is the policy which her Majesty's Ministers mean to pursue ? The late Sir Robert Peel, when adopting the mea sures of his opponents, had been denounced as the head of an organised hypocrisy, and accused of stealing the clothes of the Whigs whilst they were bathing. He was the man who bamboozled one party and plundered another, obtained a position be was not entitled to, and then carried out no party questions, but fixity of tenure. Was that to be the cry now ? For my own part I am indifferent to mere party cries. ( Ironical cheers and laughter.) But I at the same time hold that they who when in opposition honestly advocate certain measures, ought to deem it to be their duty when in office honestly to carry those measures into effect. (Cheers.) lam not aware that that is a proposition from which any hon. gentleman in this house is prepared to dissent, and of this I feel assured, that any Minister who assumes the reins of power by a discreditable manceuvre— ( cries of " Oh, oh ! " and cheers )—will advance neither his own cause nor the interests of his country. The CHPLNCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER said that one of the advantages arising from the recent change in the Government was that some voices, which had for a long time been silent, again sounded within those walls. (Cheers and laughter) : I for one must confess that when I listened on Friday last to that wild shriek of liberty which proceeded from the hon. gentleman who has just spoken it was with no feeling of alarm or mortification. (Renewed cheers and laughter.) lie will, however, permit me to observe, now that I have had once more the advantage of hearing his remarkable notes, that the weapon which he was wont to wield so ef fectively has become a little rusty—(great laughter)— although I entertain no doubt that with sufficient practice it will assume that brightness which dazzled us of yore. I may be allowed to add, by way of consolation to the hon. gentleman in his present position, that it is only while in opposition he can find those opportunities which I can assure him it is absolutely necessary he should avail him self of before he can entirely regain that cunning of fence for which he was once so celebrated. (Continued laughter.) Mr. Disraeli then observed that he meant] no dis respect to the house in not having given a formal programme of the future policy of the Government, but the fact was that such a course was unprece dented. Neither Lord John Russell in 1853, nor Lord Palmerston in 1855, under whom Mr. Osborne had been a subaltern for the last Live years witbout opening his mouth, had adopted such a step, and Lord John Russell had expressed his deliberate conviction that such a proceeding was unnecessary. Mr. Disraeli then came to the charges of Mr. Os borne : " What, " says the hon. gentleman, "are you going to do about church rates?" Well, then, I say to the hou. gentle man, " What did you do about church rates?" (Cheers and laughter.) I find that upon the que-tion of church rates the late Government was beuten in this session, and although I may not refer to the speeches, yet I may allude to the division of Wednesday, February 17. I find that an Under- Secretary of State, and a noble lord holding high office in the Household, voted against the Ministerial 'suggestion, while the hon. member for Dover, like most of the other members of the Government, stayed away. ("Hear, hear," and laughter.) Why do I mention these things ? Not to taunt the hon. member for Dover—( a lsngh)—or any of his late oolleagues, but rather to remove ►ome of the difficulties which are apparent to him, and which he considers to be obstacles in the way of the present Government. He will now know how those difficulties may possibly be evaded (" .11ear, hear;" anti a laugh.) But., again says the hon. IN