The Press. — London, England, 1857-02-07 00:00:00

No. 197.—V0L. V. EARL OF DERBY'S SPEECH. Upon Lord AIRME resuming his seat, The Earl of DERBY rose and said : My Lords : I entirely concur in the observations of the noble earl who has this evening addressed your lordships for the first time, that this is not a proper opportunity for discussing in detail the topics re ferred to in the Speech from the Throne, involving, as they do, subjects of the greatest importance, and that this is not a fitting occasion for entering into the full consideration of any one of those topics. There are various subjects adverted to in the Speech now before your lordships, upon which great difference of opinion exists, and on which much discussion must take place. There are matters of the highest impor tance, both foreign and domestic, brought before us, and in due course of time these will require at your lordships' hands the most mature and anxious con sideration ; but for many reasons, and especially considering the importance and multiplicity of the questions involved, I have to repeat that I concur with the noble earl in thinking that this is an incon venient period for entering into the consideration of sny one of them, or even of raising a miscellaneous discussion on the different subjects introduced to our not►ce. It has of late years been the general practice of Parliament that, except on some extraordinary occa sions, the Address to the Crown in answer to the Speech from the Throne at the commencement of the session should pass without a division, and be, in point of fact, the unanimous and respectful expres sion of the deference with which we receive the first communication of the session from the Queen ; that, on the one hand, the Ministers of the Crown should bring forward in the speeches from the Throne a statement of the most material circumstances of public importance which have occurred since Parlia ment separated, and that, on the other, they should shadow forth generally the most material measures which they propose to bring under the consideration of Parliament. Adopting this view of the case, I confess, my lords, I can only entertain a hope that, with regard to the future, her Majesty's Government may be able to perform something more than they have done in the programme now before your lord ships, for a more meagre bill of fare for the coming session, and a more vague and shadowy portraiture of the measures to which our attention is to be directed, I never recollect to have seen than is con- tamed in the few paragraphs of the Speech that are devoted to domestic affairs and future events. There are two questions to which the Speech par ticularly refers—one the general subject of the amendment of the law, which has been brought be fore Parliament on various occasions by members of both houses not connected with the Government, and the other that most important and difficult ques • tion, on which I carefully abstain from expressing an opinion, the renewal of the Bank Charter Act. With regard to the first of these questions, I shall only say that I shall rejoice to see the Government entering into an open and honourable ri miry in the spirit of law reformers with those who have so SUPPLEMENT TO GRATIS. concur in the extravagant amount of encomium which was bestowed upon that budget as an abso lutely unsurpassed financial measure, yet it un doubtedly possessed this great merit—tbat it took a broad and comprehensive view of the state of our national finances. Although 1 dissented from some of the propositions contained in that budget—al though I thought it a grave injustice to maintain taxes which pressed with peculiar hardship upon particular interests—yet there was in it a degree of comprehensiveness which redeemed many of its de fects, and, above all others, one principle was laid down which I hold to be of the utmost importance— namely, a positive pledge that beyond the year 1860 the income tax should not be maintained. (Cheers.) Now, I say that Parliament will not do their duty if they are satisfied with less than the full bona-fide execution of that pledge. (Renewed cheers.) That pledge was ratified by an Act of Parliament now in force, which was suspended during the period of the war, and for such a period as her Majesty's Govern ment thought necessary after the termination of the war, in order to meet the expenses of hostilities; it. was suspended by an act which not only continued, but which very largely increased the heavy burden of the income tax ; and, for the purposes of the war, but with a strict limitation to those purposes, the public generously and magnanimously submitted to all the sacrifices which were required from them, confident in the good faith of the Government that the tax was henceforth to be a war tax—a tax of tremendous power, an instrument of vast energy and effect, exhibiting in the strongest degree to foreign countries the immensity and the power of our resources for war, but a tax which, if not limited to the purposes of war, is an instrument which it would be dangerous to intrust in the hands of any Minister. (Cheers.) Although this subject is not one for your lordships' special consideration, yet, deeply as you are interested in it personally, and deeply as you are interested in it also with reference to the public wel. fare, I could not allow this, the first opportunity of the session, to pass without expressing my confident hope and belief that Parliament will insist upon the full and entire fulfilment of that pledge by which in 1860 the income tax will cease to be imposed. (Cheers.) By far the largest and by far the most unsatisfactory portion of the Royal Speech is devoted to the sub ject of our foreign relations. I cannot read this portion of the Speech without regretting those good old days when the stereotyped passage of the Royal Speech, containing in a single paragraph all refer. ence to foreign affairs, stated that his Majesty or her Majesty was happy to inform Parliament that he or she continued to maintain the most friendly relations with all foreign powers. Now, I will venture to say that that single paragraph would give more satisfac tion to the people of this country, and would afford a better security for the peace of Europe, than all the multitudinous paragraphs in the Speech which has just been read to us, referring, I ant sorry to say in every instance, to disputes partially or not entirely settled, and to questions more or less complicated. Her Majesty is scarcely able to refer;with unmiti gated satisfaction to our foreign relations with any State, unless, indeed, it be to the important fact that " Her Majesty has concluded a treaty of friendship and commerce with Siam." (Laughter.) Ido not wish to speak with levity of that treaty, or of the consequences which may result from it. I believe the preseut King of Siam to be a man of consider able intelligence and energy, who appreciates the advantages of civilisation, and who entertains the most friendly disposition towards this country. For my own part, I should always rejoice at every exten sion of our commercial relations, so long as they do not tend, as sometimes they do, to place us in posi tions inconsistent with the prosecution of peaceful enterprise. I rejoice, therefore, to hear of the con clusion of a treaty which may promote commercia c4Jbt rt 6,6 LONDON, SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 7, 1857. honourably and zealously, and, to a great extent, so successfully, for many years devoted their attention to this subject. I may venture to express a hope that, among the many difficulties which obviously stand in the way of any great improvement of our system of law, no impediment will be found in any difference of opinion between the high legal authori ties in this and the other House of Parliament. I observed, my lords, with some surprise—and I think it is another indication of the discretion of the noble earl who moved the Address—that, although he carefully but briefly noticed every other topic of the Speech from the Throne, he was altogether and dis creetly silent with regard to the renewal of the Bank charter. I hope that lam justly attributing to the noble earl's discretion his silence upon that impor tant topic. I can imagine the noble lord at the head of her Majesty's Government, when instructing the noble. earl as to the points upon which it was de sirable that he should dwell, informing him that the less he said with reference to the Bank charter. and the more careful he was not to commit her Majesty's Government on that subject, the better satisfied they would be. Not doubting the discretion of the noble earl, I think, however, I may assume that, like Hotspur's wife, he abstained from stating the precise course which the Government intend to pursue on this important subject, because " he could not utter what be did not know." ( Laughter.) In one of the paragraphs of the Royal Speech her Majesty recom mends to our consideration, first, "the expediency of renewing for a further period the privileges of the Bank of England;" next, that we should consider " the conditions imposed on the issue of bank-notes in the United Kingdom ;" and, thirdly, that we should consider " the state of the law relating to joint stock banks." I trust her Majesty's Government have made up their minds as to the course which they intend to recommend to Parliament,—that they are not going again to launch this great and important question into the abyss of select committees, or to invite a deluge cf pamphlets and correspondence from the pen of " Mercator" and his contempo raries —(a laugh)—but I do trust that, acting upon the best judgment they can form, they will, upon their own responsibility as a Government, submit to Parliament such a measure, whether in adherence to or in alteration of the existing law, as they may deem expedient, and that the question may be settled by Parliament upon a plan deliberately sub mitted as the result of the careful consideration of the Government of the day. 'Hear, hear.) I believe I have now adverted to the only mea sures of domestic policy which are indicated by the Government in the Speech from the Throne; but there is in that Speech one paragraph which may undoubtedly lead to very important consequences, although it is not addressed to your lordships, but more immediately to the other House of Parliament, and relates to a subject to which perhaps it is scarcely proper for me to advert in this place. But, my lords, looking to the gravity and importance of that subject, I cannot withhold the expression of my conviction that I have greatly misunderstoo I both what appears to me the duty, and what I think will prove to be the inclination, of the House of Com mons, if the vague and meagre reference to the esti mates in the stereotyped terms that " they have been prepared with every attention to economy, and with a due regard to the efficient performance of the public service at home and abroad," will sufficiently satisfy that house, which is, as it ought to be, the guardian of the public purse. We are now at a very critical period, and the financial statement which may be made this year must involve in its considera tion, in its discussion, and in its consequences, not merely the provision for a single year, but it must be the well-considered and matured plan of finance upon which the country is hereafter to rely. In 1853 a very comprehensive and able budget was sub mitted to Parliament ; and, although I cannot