The Press. — London, England, 1854-02-04 00:00:00

100 rottOin.gs zn Varliamtnt. s THE SESSION OPENED. FEW seisions have been expected with more impa tience or were opened amid a more profound excite ment than that which commenced on Tuesday last. Unusual interest attached also to the royal progress, brief as was its course. and frequent as have been its repetitions, from Buckingham Palace to the House of Lords. The crowd of spectators were numerous and demonstrative far beyond the ordinary average, while recent circumstances had made their demeanour a matter of some anxiety before the event. Afterwards, however, it was evident that all the doubts on the subject had been unfounded. Her Majesty and the Prince Consort were received with a greeting even more hearty than usual on the part of her loyal sub jects. The Turkish Ambassador, M. 11Iusurus, who followed in the train of carriages, was also welcomed enthusiastically. His passage through the crowd was a complete ovation, and on entering the house he received a cordial greeting from many peers and fellow-members of the diplomatic corps. It was no ticed that the Russian Envoy did not make his appear ance at the ceremony. A few minutes after two o'clock the preliminary preparations were complete in the Upper House, the Commons were summoned, and the Queen declared the session of 1854 opened in the following gracious speech from the throne : " My Loans AND GENTLEMEN, " I am always happy to meet you in Parliament ; and on the present occasion it is with peculiar satisfaction that I ' recur to your assistance and advice. " The hopes which I expressed at the close of the last session that a speedy settlement would be effected of the differences existing between Russia and the Ottoman Porte have not been realised, and 1 regret to say that a state of warfare has ensued. " I have continued to act in cordial &operation with the Emperor of the French; and my endeavours,in conjunction with my allies, to preserve and to restore peace between the contending parties, although hitherto unsuccessful, have been unremitting. I will not fail to persevere in these endeavours; but as the continuance of the war may deeply affect the interests of this country, and of Europe, I think it requisite to make a further augmentation of my naval and military forces, with the view of supporting my representations, and of more effectually contributing to the restoration of peace. " I have directed that the papers explanatory of the ne gotiations which have taken place upon this subject shall be communicated to you without delay. " GENTLEMEN OF THE HOUSE OF COMMONS, " The estimates for the year will be laid before yon, and I trust yon will find that, consistently with the exi gencies of the public service at this juncture, they hare been framed with a due regard to economy. " MY LORDS AND GENTLIMEN, " In the year which has just terminated, the blessing of an abundant harvest has notbeen vouchsafed to us. By this dispensation of Providence the price of provisions has been enhanced, and the privations of the poor have been increased ; but their patience has been exemplary ; and the care of the Legislature, evinced by the reduction of taxes affecting the necessaries of life, has greatly tended to preserve a spirit of contentment. " I have the satisfaction of announcing to you that the commerce of the country is still prosperous ; that trade, both of export and import, has been largely on the increase ; and that the revenue of the past year has been more than adequate to the demands of the public service. I recommend to your consideration a bill which I have ordered to he framed fur opening the coasting trade of the United Kingdom to the ships of all friendly nations ; and I look forward with satisfaction to the removal of the lust legislative restriction upon the use of foreign shipping for the benefit of my people. "Communications have been addressed by my command to the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge, with refer ence to the improvements which it may be desirable to effect in their institutions. These communications will be laid before you, and measures will be proposed for your consideration, with the view of giving effect to such im provements. " The requisite for the conduct of the civil service, and the arrangements bearing upon its con dition, have recently been under review ; and I shall direct a plan to be laid before you which will have for its object to improve the system of admission, and thereby increase the efficiency of the service. " The recent measures of legal reform have proved highly beneficial, and the success which has attended them may well encourage you to proceed with further amendments. Bills will be submitted to you for trans- I THE PRESS. fearing from the ecclesiastical to the civil courts the cognisance of testamentary and of matrimonial causes, and for giving increased efficiency to the superior courts of common law. " The laws relating to the relief of the poor have of late undergone much salutary amendment ; but there is one branch to which I earnestly direct your attention. The law of settlement impedes the freedom of labour ; and, if this restraint can with safety be relaxed, the workman may be enabled to increase the fruits of his industry, and the interests of capital and of labour will be more firmly united. " Measures will be submitted to you for the amendment of the laws relating to the representation of the Commons in Parliament. " Recent experience has shown that it is necessary to take more effectual precautions against the evils of bribery•, and of corrupt practices at elections. It will also be your duty to consider whether more complete effect may not be given to the principles of the act of the last reign, whereby reforms were made in the representation of the people in Parliament. In recommending this subject to your consi deration, my desire is to remove every cause of just com plaint, to increase general confidence in the Legislature, and to give additional stability to the settled institutions of the State. " I submit to your wisdom the consideration of these important subjects ; and I pray God to prosper your coun sels, and to guide your decisions." THE ADDRESS. In the Upper House the Earl of CARR/AVON moved the address in reply to the speech from the throne. Touching first on the great question of the day, the Russo-Turkish war, his lordship sought to vindicate the conduct of the Administration by depicting the various blessings which peace had secured to the country, and thence arguing that everything which they had done or attempted in order to avert war was to be approved of, when we considered the vast importance of the object for whose sake it was designed. Lord Carnarvon after wards embarked upon a series of congratulations ; felicitating the country upon the results of various measures passed last session, the prospect of various measures promised for this, and the general tokens of progress and prosperity which he discovered on every side. The Earl of DUCIE seconded the motion. The Marquis of CLANRICARDE dissected with much minuteness the foreign policy of the Govern ment as tested by the course pursued towards Turkey, and characterised it as vacillating, weak, and unsuccessful. Throughout the negotiations the course adopted by the Administration had been studiously concealed, and even in the royal speech he could find no precise intimation either as to our present position or our future policy. The character of England had sunk immeasurably among con tinental nations through the conduct of the Govern ment in this affair. The sneer went round that we were " afraid; " and, from a careful examination of the successive incidents of the dispute, he arrived at the conclusion that either the courage of the Ministry must have been deficient or their penetration sadly at fault. This conclusion the noble lord after wards strengthened by alluding to the celebrated Vienna conference note, upon which he offered some caustic comments. The Earl of CLARENDON defended the concealment system, on the plea that as ministers were responsible to Parliament they were not called upon to publish their acts before the Legislature met, in imitation of those Governments who had no Parlia ment to which they owned responsibility. Revela tions also might, on certain contingencies, have been inconvenient, damaging to the cause of peace. He denied that the Administration had shown cowardice. What they had done was under an intimate convic tion of the value of peace, which they considered worth any sacrifice except that of the national honour or the faith of treaties. This position the noble earl illustrated by a minute detail of the pro ceedings and negotiations on either side, pointing always to the dexterity with which at every turn Russia had contrived to hold forth such prospect of a peaceful solution as warranted the British Govern ment in carrying on the negotiations without com mitting the country to the terrible hazards of war. By way of consolation he urged that the delay in pushing forward active measures had been serviceable to the Turks, who had thus obtained much valuable time to complete their warlike preparations, whereof they had made excellent use. The Earl of MALMEBBURY forbore to comment upon the state of foreign affairs, and their serious entangle- ments in Russia and Turkey, until the official papers had appeared, and the subject came fully on for dis cussion. His lordship, however, recapitulated and censured the secret and mysterious manner in which ministers had conducted the negotiations. Some of the consequences he pointed out, such as despatches appearing surreptitiously in the papers, and informa- SATURDAY, tion respecting the movements of the British Minis• try reaching this country by - • from the foreign journals. These results, he contended, were disrespectful to the house and prejudicial to the public service. Another injurious consequence fol lowed indirectly from the same source. Ministerial secrecy prevented the expression of public opinion in England, and thus stopped one of the most powerful influences that might have induced the Czar to adopt a pacific course. On this point Lord Malmesbury said : " I can perfectly understand that there may be occasions when it may be very inconvenient to be constantly placing papers before the house, and before Parliament ; but I be lieve that upon this occasion the Government would have gained by taking a more open course, and that, if they had been more candid in their explanations, the people, with their natural sagacity, seeing what the objects of Russia were in this dispute, would have shown what their feelings were upon the subject, and that such a display would have assisted and armed the Government, and would have pre vented the Emperor of Russia from being deceived into the belief that this country, during forty years of peace and prosperity, had degenerated into a state of indifference in regard both to treaties with its allies, and to its own honour and character, and would be glad to purchase peace at any price." But the Ministry had misled the Czar at an earlier period. By depreciating the efforts made to consoli date the French alliance during Lord Derby's Ad.. ministration, and by their speeches at the commence ment of their own, several of the present ministers had given Russia reasonable cause to believe that England and France could never act cordially to gether, and thus induced the Emperor to venture upon attacking Turkey. The noble earl proceeded to examine the various stages of the dispute on all sides, eulogising the intrepidity displayed by Turkey, and showing abundant cause for ascribing heavy blame to the English Government, " not for endea vouring to avert war, but for vacillating in their conduct, and not taking the right steps at the proper moment." Earl GREY admitted that the conduct of the Government stood in great need of vindication. Respecting Turkey, he thought the course they had pursued was open to two serious queries. First, whether we had any call to interfere in her support at all. Secondly, if so, why we had not interfered earlier. But if, as he feared, war was inevitable, it should be carried on with vigour and unanimity; and he trusted, to find the detects in the service which a long peace might have fostered promptly removed, and the naval and military forces organised upon a system of the highest efficiency. For this purpose he indicated the necessity of appointing younger officers to higher commands than were at present found them. The noble earl then adverted to the Reform scheme, chiefly for the purpose of recom mending the Government to postpone it to a more appropriate season. The Earl of DERBY touched upon all the subjects introduced in the speech of the Sovereign, and no ticed some omissions to be observed in it. He con curred in desiring some reforms in the universities, but doubted whether a commission was the fitting machinery for obtaining the requisite information, and pointed out the directions in which improvement should be sought. On the subject of popular educa tion he regretted to find no promise made and no notice taken in the royal speech. Respecting foreign relationships, there were also some important matters passed sub sitentio, among which were the questions pending between England and the United States, and the treaties effected through Lord Malmesbury's efforts with various _states in South America, whereby the waters of the River Plate and its vast adjacent district were opened up to British commerce. Ad verting to the Turkish question, Lord Derby abstained from opening the whole controversy, but remarked upon the indefinite and indescribable condition in which the diplomacy of the Government had placed the country at the pending juncture:— "We are left to mere conjecture as to whether, at the moment that I am speaking, we are at peace or at war. For I presume that, if I were to hint that we are actually at war, not only would such a conclusion be repudiated by her Majesty's Government, but they would state that the Government mean to persevere in their efforts to preserve peace; yet I would suggest a little modification in this, and say that, before peace is preserved, it had better be restored. (A laugh.) It is intimated to us, however, that a state of warfare has ensued from the failure of all our negotiations. A state of warfare with whom? Are we engaged in that warfare? Are we belligerents? Are we partisans? Are we earning on war openly and boldly, or are we carrying on that which is tantamount to war, but a war carried on in a pettifogging manner, and , I might almost say, in a manner discreditable to this great country ? I know not ; but I hope that, when the papers shall have been submitted to our consideration, we shall at least know what is the precise occupation in which our fleet is engaged at present ; that we shall know precisely under what orders it has been sent, and that those orders have been given in the most distinct, and positive, and formal manner by her Majesty's Government here to the admiral in command of the squadron. I shall rejoice to see what is the exact state of affairs; but at the present moment I confess it is involved in obscurity. We are not at war— ER 1 _NIL. renecuon logr7'