The Press. — London, England, 1855-03-17 00:00:00

MARCH 17, 1855. Vrottcbigs znVarlianunt. SECRETARIES AND UNDERSECRETARIE OF STATE IN THE HOUSE OF COMMONS.S TI AD second reading of this bill, which permits, contr ry to the existing law, three Secretaries and Under-Secretaries of State to sit at the same time in the Commons, was moved in the Lords on Tuesday by Earl GRANVILLE, who simply stated that it was rendered necessary by the separation which had taken place between the War and Colonial Depart ments. Earl GREY took the opportunity of criticising at length the Government plans in the arrangement of the War Department. It is, he said, acknowledged by her Majesty's Government that the present con stitution of the military departments is unsatisfac tory, and they, as they have stated, intend at an early period to bring forward some plan to place those departments on a more satisfactory footing. Then it did appear to him to follow, as a matter of course, that it is highly inexpedient, while these de partments continue in their present state, to adopt any measure of a large character, involving a large expenditure, which has not reference to the imme diate wants arising from the war. To what might be necessary for the war no one could object, but when plans were brought forward involving a heavy expenditure, which were not to take effect during the present war, but had reference to the permanent wants of the country, he thought that an expendi ture of this kind during the present state of the mili tary departments ought to be avoided. On this ground he objected to the ordnance estimates which had been laid before the Commons. A plan for the construction of large barracks in the place of several small ones had been proposed, involving great ex pense. The principle of this alteration he approved most decidedly, and gave several reasons for his ap proval, but this was not the moment when measures of the kind should be brought forward. On the same grounds he objected to the new fortifications in our principal ports. The time when there was least danger that these ports would be attacked was the pre sent. He argued, from the example of Sebastopol, on the facilities for throwing up earthworks and rapid defences in cases of sudden emergency. These fortifications could not now be calmly and duly con sidered. He then alluded to the mismanagement of the Ordnance Department, entirely coinciding in the opinion of the public, that the largest share of mili tary deficiency was due to that department. He instanced several cases of waste and want of pru dence, especially in the erection of barracks. He then asked who was responsible for the large esti mates so brought forward. They were arranged before the accession to office of the present War Minister. He could fix no responsibility except on the Clerk of the Ordnance, and, with all respect to the talents of that gentleman, he thought that so large an expenditure should not have been proposed till some of the higher and more responsible servants of the Crown had satisfied them selves that they could with confidence recommend the details to the country. It was advisable, when the war called for such heavy expenses, to enter into no other expense not absolutely necessary. It would, besides, be withdrawing large numbers of men from the labour of the country at a time when they were all wanted. He regretted that the other house had not interposed some check to these expenses. The Commons were at present in a wild and extravagant temper, which would be succeeded by a fit of economy equally injurious. He trusted that whenever new improvements were carried out, the Government would look, not to engineer officers promoted by seniority, but to those whose talents had distinguished them in civil enterprises. Lord PANBIURE, agreeing in much that bad been just said, declared that, as respected the new works, all that could be suspended had been suspended, until the plans for the reorganisation of the ordnance had been laid before the house. He could not, how ever, allow that this would not be the proper time for establishing our coast defences. What would be said if the danger arrived and found us unprepared? The Government would be responsible for their com pletion in the most approved manner, on the newest principle, and with the utmost economy consistent with their efficiency. He himself had examined into the plans for the barracks --they had been adopted after much inquiry—and he had given them his full approval. He hoped in a few days to lay before their lordships his promised measure for the future ma nagement of the civil establishment . ; of the army. He then entered into the defence of some details in the arrangements, more especially with regard to the temporary barracks. The Earl of MALYESBURY , approving likewise of the creation of large barracks, discussed the actual merits of the bill before them. Many departments, the Treasury, the Home-office, the Colonial-office, the India Board, were then in no way represented in that house. During Lord Derby's Administration THE PRESS. most of the public offices were then represented, but now questions upon all the subjects connected with these departments were to be answered by the President of the Council, who could not be expected to be acquainted with the details of them all. Earl FITZWILLIAM hoped that the present excite ment would not have the effect hereafter, in time of peace, of giving a more military character to the nation at large. Earl GRANTILLE said that the subject was prema ture, but the impression upon the mind of his col leagues was not to increase our military establish ments, but to make them more efficient. The Earl of ELLENDOROUGH hoped that now the military were to be withdrawn from the towns and established in large bodies, a more efficient police would be created for the towns themselves. Lord PANMURE said that the large towns would not be left without p r otection. The Earl of ELLESMERE concluded the deb ate by regretting the injudicious reductions of our army during the peace. COMMISSIONS IN THE ARMY. Earl GREY on Thursday asked for distinctive in formation on the principle by which commissions— some with purchase, and some without—were granted. Lord PANMURE answered that it was the practice to give commissions without purchase—first, to those that had distinguished themselves at Sandhurst; secondly, to the sons of distinguished officers in the army and navy ; thirdly, to suns of poor and de serving officers generally, or of poor clergymen. These classes, on account of the great demand for officers having been exhausted, a certain number of commissions had been given to gentlemen whose names had long been on the list of the Horse Guards, and he had no reason to believe that the distribution had been partial or unfair. Lord HARDINGE said that there would have been more equality in the distribution but for the number of names entered as applicants for commissions with purchase. As the purchase money was necessary for the amelioration of the half-pay list it was necessary to attend to it. COMMISSARIAT. Mr. F. PEEL on Monday stated the alterations by which the system of the Commissariat was improved in the establishment of the transport service, and the better treatment of the scldiers. The most important point of the discussion which followed was raised by Sir F. BARING, who urged that the Commissariat had quite enough to do with out taking on itself the extensive banking and mone tary operations with which it was now charged. All military matters, he said, should be left to it, but the mere pecuniary affairs might well be placed in the hands of the Treasury. Mr. WILSON explained that all the Commissariat accounts were adjusted at the Ordnance-office. LORD LUCAN. This gallant nobleman on Monday, after reading an official notification by which his demand for a court-martial was again refused him, read his reply. He then stated that a great wrong had been done him, and that he would have established the injus tice of the charges against him, by the testimony of French officers as well as our own. He gave notice that on Monday next he would move for copies of his own and Lord Raglan's reports on the battle of Balaclava. Lord Panmure declared the concurrence of him self and the Government in the course pursued by the commander-in•chief. THE COLONIAL DEPARTMENT. Sir J. PAKINGTON on Monday, on the motion for a com mittee of supply, brought the state of this de partment under the notice of the house. He said that there never was a moment when it was of more importance that there should be a responsible and able Minister at its head than the present, when the Colonial Secretary is at Vienna conducting a negotiation. He was aware that the Home Secre tary had promised to give his attention to colonial affairs, but it was impossible for one man to do jus tice to the affairs of two departments of such import ance. He then referred to the alarming intelligence that we had received from th e Cape, where not only the Kaffirs, but our old friends the Fingoes, were stated to be in a hostile attitude. The position, again, of Victoria was a most critical one ; the Con vict Prevention Bill WWI in an unsettled state; and the Australian Constitution Bill was hung up for an indefinite period. The colonies already labour under the disadvantages of distance; and they have a right to find, when they apply, a Minister ready to hear them. This neglect was exhibited just at the moment when the colonists have come forward with their sympathy and assistance to us in the war in which we were now engaged. Lord PALMERSTON denied either that the colonies were neglected, or that. there was no one responsible for their management in Parliament. His right hon. friend and himself were responsible, and if any charge was brought forward against the Government of !neglecting colonial matters, they were ready to meet it. The precedent of Lord Castlereagh had been alluded to, but there was a stronger instance, when one individual held for the nonce the offices of all the Secretaries of State. After some remarks by Mr. ADDERLEY on the mis. chievous effects of delaying the bill for the Australian constitutions, Sir G. Oats said that the question was, if such public inconvenience had arisen from the absence of Lord John Russell as to call for reprehension. He thought that the colonists ought to be gratified by the acceptance of the office by that statesman. He contradicted the statement that the colonial business was in any way at a stand. The state of the office certainly had nothing to do with the raising of a regiment in Canada. The state of affairs at the Cape was no doubt alarming, but the accounts were conflicting. The governor was proceeding to the frontier, and did not think that he should have to call for additional force. The Government had the governor's despatch before them, and were taking it into their most serious consideration. The affair at Victoria had been greatly exaggerated ; the tumult was suppressed in twenty minutes. As to the affairs at Newfoundland, they had all been settled ; it is true there was a deputation from an individual, applying for the removal of the governor, but this was a question which the Government could scarcely discuss with a private gentleman. With regard to the constitution bills of the Australian colonies, these bills required the most careful consideration. They had been referred to the legal advisers of the Crown, whose report had not been received till after the prorogation of Parliament last session. He re ferred to the difficulties which these constitutions gave rise to, and reminded the house that it was not easy to introduce measures of such importance when the attention of the country was so exclusively con centrated upon the war. Although the present arrangement of the office would not work well for a permanence, he believed that for a brief period no delay or inconvenience would be felt in con- sequence. Mr. LOWE threw the whole blame of the difficul • ties of thelAustralian constitutions on Sir J. l'aking ton. The Legislature in 18 50 , unwisely in his opinion, delegated the whole power of framing these constitutions to the colonies themselves. After this act, the attitude of the house should have been one of rigid impartiality. Instead of which, in 1852, Sir J. Pakington had addressed a despatch to the Governor of Australia, stating his opinion that the Upper House ought to be nominated by the Crown, and had ever proposed to give the Colonial Legisla ture control over the waste lands in return for this concession. He entreated the Colonial Minister not to let his own private opinion weigh as a grain of dust in the matter, but to look to the will of the colonists. The colonists, under the inducements held out to them, had given themselves powers never possessed by those dealing with the most difficult questions of royal prerogative. These bills, contain ing seventy or eighty clauses, were not to be consi dered in detail by the house, but a short bill was to be passed, confirming them all in a lump. He en treated the Government and the house not to forget their power and responsibilities as to consent to such a course. He trusted that all contracts would be avoided between the Imperial Government and the colonies, and that the acts of the Colonial Legisla ture would not be maintained against the wishes of the majority of the colonists. Sir J. PAKINGTON observed that when the time came be would prove that Mr. Lowe had given an erroneous version of his acts. Mr. J. MArCillEoon thought that the Vienna confer ence would last six months, and that meanwhile our colonies were unjustifiably neglected just, as they were manifesting the most loyal feelings. LOANS AND TAXES. On Tuesday, when the third reading of a bill an thorising 17,183,0001. of Exchequer Bills was moved in the House of Lords, Lord MowTZAOLE drew atten tion to the conduct of the late Chancellor of the Exche quer with regard to these bills. When the increased income tax was voted last session, Mr. Gladstone had said that, as the money on account of this mea sure was wanted immediately, he begged to he allowed an issue of Exchequer Bills to meet present demands, upon the full understanding that, when the money on account of the income tax came in, the bills were to be paid off, and nothing more was to be beard about them. These bills, however, had been slipped into the measure now before them with out a single word of explanation, and had been con verted from short bills of exchange into bills ea in reality to perm anent in their nature. He then p lace, which roceed a rgue in favour of loans in place of crushed industry. He was glad to perceive an al tered state of public opinion on this head. The estimates for the current year were very highwere to , and it was important to know accurately how they be got. No revenue that could be . held umpu shou.ldon to be a b an doned. He proceeded from tbuq aae 4