The Press. — London, England, 1857-12-05 00:00:00

THE PRESS, DECEMBER 5, 1857. the currency of this country ought to be established. (Hear, hear.) Now, I say without any hesitation that of these three important subjects the one that is bound up in the discussion of this Act of Indemnity is the most important. ( Hear, hear.) You may regain an empire you have lost, you may alter and not improve the constituent body of this house—(a laugh)—but a currency established upon just principles is in its application the most general influence that can possibly affect society. ( Hear, 'near.) It touches all classes, ar.d men who are dull and insensible to imperial grandeur or even to political rights have a very nice and fine interest in the decision we may come to on this transcendently important question. ( Hear, hear.) I say this is a subject on which her Majesty's Ministers ought to have made up their minds. (Hear, hear.) Are her Majesty's Ministers going to stand by the Bank Charter Act of IS-14, or are they not? (Cheers.) That is really the question which the country wishes them to answer. If they are going to stand by the Bank Charter Act of I shall myself hesitate before I can agree to the Bill of Indemnity, because I do not think they were then justified in departing from the letter of the law. If, on the other hand, they are not going to stand by the Bank Charter Act—if they have a policy—if they come forward and tell us they are prepared to make amendments in that act because they are convinced they are necessary, and did not hesitate at a moment of suffering and emergency to recommend the suspension of the law—then, I say, we must not be scrupulous about this Bill of Indemnity, but grant it without reserve or reluctance, and wait with re spect for the propositions which her Majesty's Ministers are going to make. ( Hear, hear.) But if, after all the country has gone through, we are to do exactly that which we were doing before these difficulties and dangers anti all this vacillation occurred, it appears to me that we should forfeit the confidence anti respect of the country. ( Hear.) And if indeed the noble lord wants to lay a good ground fur an extensive measure of parliamentary reform, I think he could have no better than to be able to say that the representatives of the people met in consequence of the summons of the Sovereign to consider a great emergency, and that they could do nothing but follow the same fruit less, bootless ceremony that we wore pursuing before the late events occurred. Mr. Disraeli then referred to our foreign relations, and, alluding to the paragraph in the Royal Speech which declares that our foreign relations are ami cable, said The paragraph is as follows :—" The nations of Europe are in the enjoyment of the blessings of peace, which no thing seems likely to disturb." Now, several of my friends have put upon this passage an interpretation that may be correct, but which I, taking a more hopeful view, can scarcely suppose to be accurate. They seem to think that an expression of regret is conveyed in that paragraph—( a laugh)—as it the noble lord (Palmerston) had said, " I have done all I could, but we are still at peace. (Laughter.) For the first time lam completely foiled. I have done my best, but the turbulent and aggressive policy has failed. We are in for it, and we are all at peace." (Continued laughter and cheers.) I perceive that this interpretation is accepted by the house. But there was a considerable chance of tranquillity in our foreign relations, and I entered into that belief; but about a month ago, when Parliament had been prorogued to the Greek Kulends, and just when her Majesty's Ministers were going to violate an Act of Parliament, there occurred a great anniversary, which in this country is not only of social but political importance, and as such is appreciated by all parties. The occasion is one when all the heal men of the country attend, and which, during the absence of Parliament, affords an oppor tunity for the Minister of the Crown to give that informa tion which in a free land like this ought to be imparted to the people. The right hon. gentleman who is at the head of the magistracy of the City is a member of this house, and fortunately sits on this side of it, and he will correct me if lam inaccurate. When the noble lord at tended that anniversary, I own I shared the pervading alarm that we were about to be involved again in those difficulties in which we have generally found ourselves under him, and from which he has the skill and is so proud to extricate. us. An appeal was then made by the noble lord to all the belligerent passions of the country with that eloquence and emphasis which the noble lord always employs. Since that memorable speech of old Sir Harry Dundas, delivered during the revolutionary war, when he declared that one Eng.ishman could beat three Frenchmen, and which was recorded afterwards as a statis tical fact—(a laugh )—I hardly know any speech which has produced so great an effect, and which was more cal culated to animate the heart of a country on the eve of being tried by exigencies of the most perilous character. It was quite clear that it was a Sovereign, and one appa rently of no mean order, who must have meditated war, and some thought even the invasion of the country. That it was a Sovereign of no mean order there could be no doubt. It was clear there had been an Emperor who had threatened us, and the people of England, seeing no further than their noses, could not make out who it could be. The Emperor of Russia, they supposed, might have had enough of it, and so they thought it must be the Emperor of the French. But the speeches of to-night have dissipated that belief. If there be a king who is going to make war upon England, it must be the noble lord's old friend the King of Naples ; and if an emperor is going to invade our territory, it must be the other friend of the noble lord, the Emperor of China. I will not stop a moment here to remark upon the situation in which our plenipotentiary in the Chinese waters is now placed. (" Hear," and a laugh.) Still, one regrets that that deep and eternal stain upon the. lionceir of the flag of England" has not been washed out. (Hear, bear.) When that ruffian and miscreant" still presides over the city of Canton—and I MU surprised to find he still holds that office, notwith- 1175 standing the invectives of the noble lord from the hustings of Tiverton—l can easily perceive that the quarrel in China has served some one else besides Commis sioner Yeh. (Cheers.) Adverting to affairs in India, Mr. Disraeli, passing a glowing eulogium upon Havelock and Wilson, and upon the "intrepid Nicholson and the fiery Neill," said, " What these men have done cannot be calcu lated until some time has elapsed. What has been neglected to be done by others can only be estimated when some months also have passed away." Alluding then to the total unpreparedness of the Government at home and in Calcutta to meet this terrible rebellion, acknowledged at length in the Royal Speech as " a widely-spread revolt," Mr. Dis raeli observed that in the course of his remarks last year he had pointed out the annexation of Oude as a primary and proximate cause for the insurrection. Ministers ridiculed the notion. "But I ask the house now, are they of opinion that the annexation of Oude had nothing to do with this widely.spread revolt?" He complained of the ambiguity of the paragraph in the Speech from the Throne which recommended the affairs of India to the earnest consideration of the house, and called for a frank avowal of the intentions of the Government with regard to the future admi nistration of India:— This is no trifling matter. Is it the intention of the Government to legislate for India? Is it their intention to propose a new form of administration for that country ? We have heard a great deal about the double Government and its evils. In l&3 a noble friend of mine made a motion, not asking you to condemn the double Govern ment, but asking the Ministers not to establish that double Government, without previous inquiry. I can hardly believe, therefore, that, having established the double Government, her Majesty's Ministers in IRO, after all these great events, are only going to do that which my noble friend recommended in 1853. Everybody knows the evils of a double Government, Its weakness is con tained in the very phrase itself, but the faults of the double Government have not been particularly displayed in the recent transactions. (Hear.) lam not aware that any one has alleged that that form of Government has been the cause of the recent events in India. What has occurred in India has been produced by policy—by the conduct o f those who had the government of India. It has not been an affair of administration, it has not arisen from the mode of taxation, nor from the way in which justice has been administered, at least not primarily and particularly; but in the first instance by policy, aggravated by the great neglect of those who are responsible for the Government. I am not at all aware that the double Government is par ticularly responsible for these great calamities ( though I trust we shall find out at some time who is responsible for them )—( Hear, hear)—but really if the double Government is to be abolished I, for one, should hesitate before I agreed to commit the powers which it still possesses to the hands of those who in the exercise of their present amount of power have shown neither discretion, sagacity, knowledge of what was going to happen, nor readiness at devising remedies for evils after they had happened. (Hear.) On the subject of Parliamentary Reform, the scheme of which must, he thought, be perfectly matured in the Cabinet, he urged Lord Palmerston to introduce the bill forthwith, before the Christmas recess, in order to afford ample time for its considera tion : I do not expect that he should solicit the immediate and precipitate decision of Parliament upon it; but I say, let us have it introduced at once, and let us have the ad vantage of the Christmas recess and during the holidays of becoming acquainted with its provisions —( Hear, hear ) because nothing is more unwise, and nothing can keep public feeling in a more fretful state, than the constant idea of a Parliamentary Reform Bill being held over the heads of the people of this country. ( Hear, hear.) We want to know, if there are to be changes in all the most important of all our institutions, what those changes are to be. That is a feeling which is not confined to this side of the house, or to what is called the Conservative part of the country; but I should think that all men must be of the same opinion, and that all must feel the great impor tance, now that we have a Reform Ministry, a Reform Minister, and a Reform Bill, that we shbuld have the bill at once. t Cheers and laughter.) Lord PALMERSTON, in a jocular tone, defended the course pursued by the Government in the commer cial crisis, though he admitted no Government ought to do what Ministers had done without grave reasons congratulated the house upon our " friendly "; foreign relations ; and, referring to the heroic deeds of our commanders in India, announced his attention, at an early day, to bring down a Message from the Crown upon the subject. The Address was then agreed to, and the house adjourned at a quarter to eight o'clock. Mr. FJX and Mr. Biqa were introduced, and took the oaths and their seats for Oldham and Middlesex. On the motion of Mr. HATTER, new writs were moved. for Harwich, Paisley, the Eastern Division of Kent, the Northern Division of Northamptonshire, and for the borough of Thetford. The Address was moved by Mr. W. MARTIN, who commended the course taken by the Government in submitting the decision by which they had authorised a violation of the Bank Act of 1641 to the judgment of Parliament. In reviewing the other topics of the Royal Speech, lie eulogised in warm terms the heroism displayed by the services in India, civil as well as military, and congratulated the house and the country upon the promised fulfilment by Lord Palmerston of the pledge he had given to deal in the present session with the great and complicated subject of the representation. Mr. AKROYD seconded the motion. He discussed at some length the policy of the Bank Act, which he regarded with less favour than Mr. Martin, and was of opinion that the Government would have done well had they interfered with its operation at an earlier period. The first symptom of the coming storm occurred on the 2nd or October, and yet it was not until the 12th November that the Government letter appeared. Mr. DISRAELI, referring to the fact stated by Mr. Akroyd that the first symptom of commercial distress occurred on the 2nd of October, said what the house wished to know was, what was the opinion of her Majesty's Ministers in October and November respecting the state and condition of the commerce of the country ? At the beginning of November members had recommended the prorogation of Par liament to the 18th of December : There is a member of the Cabinet whose peculiar duty it is at all times, and under all circumstances, to study our emimercial c oulition. The President of the Board of Trade, I apprehend, was present at the deliberations of the Cabinet when the prorogation of Parliament was decided upon, and I take it for granted that he communicated to her Majesty's Ministers the conclusions he had arrived at, no doubt by painful investg ition and by deep thought. (A laugh.) I take it for granted the President of the Board of Trade said to his colleagues—" Be easy so fir as the commerce of the country is concerned ; be quite sure of its domestic tranquillity, and be easy respecting the con dition of the working classes. The commerce of the country is established on a sound basis. We have now no old-fashioned protective restrictions to thwart its develop inent—(a laugh)—we have established it on that principle of unrestricted competition which you have all agreed to maintain. It is not only proved by its immense extent, by the increase of our exports and imports, that the principles Of our c oinnercial system are sound ; but I can tell you not only that our trade is extensive, b •. it was never in so healthy a condition as it is at pres. ' That must have teen the recommendation on 17 r Majesty's Ministers acted, notwithstanding all that was occurring in the country —notwithstanding that early in October serious difficulties bad commenced in the commercial world, that in the middle of that month danger had accrued, and that at the time when the Council which fixed the prorogation was sitting occurrences were taking place tending to shake to its very centre the *hole of our commercial system. (Hear.) After pointing out what he considered to be the inconsistency of Ministers with reference to the commercial and monetary system of the country, Mr. Disraeli observed that the house should not agree to a Bill of Indemnity for an infraction of the Act of 184 i without well weighing the circumstances under which the infraction took place. It would appear, lie said, that the Bank had not applied to the Government, hut that the Government had recom mended the Bank to outstep the limit prescribed by the existing law. He recommended the house, therefore, before they passed a Bill of Indemnity, to require the reasons which had induced the Govern ment to take that course. Referring to a notice given by the Chancellor of the Exchequer of a motion to reappoint the Bank Committee of last session, he condemned these frequent inquiries : In 1847 the country was panic-struck and half ruined. Parliament was called together, and the country looked to it for the expression of some distinct opinion. A com mittee was appointed. Ten years have elapsed. The saiie occurrences take place. Parliament is again called together; anti what is Parliament, and what are Ministers —the most influential members of Parliament—about to do ? ( Hear, hear.) Again they are going to evade doing that which is the great ditty of every statesman in this country—to lay down in this house the opinion which they have formed on this subject as to the course which they think is just. and necessary. and to call on the house to maintain that opinion. (Hear.) Instead of that we are t, have another committee on the Bank Charter Act of 1844; and I suppose that in 18(17, after a repetition of the same mischances and the same miseries, the same fruit leas and bootless process will be adopted of appointing a committee on that subject in this house. (Hear, hear.) These are no mean or unimportant subjects that are placed on this paper. This is not a Queen's Speech like some documents of the kind that it has been my fate to criticise from this table, embodying an ambitious enumeration of very petty questions. ( Hear, hear.) You have it expressed in somewhat mystical phrase, but, according to the expositions of the authorities of the evening, we are called on to consult about the form of government of the greatest of our dependencies— ( Hear, Mar )—we are to consider how we can reconstruct the constitution of this house—(" Hear, hear," and a laugh)—and we are also to consider the principle on which