The Press.
London, England, 1856-11-01 00:00:00

Volitttal.

THE MINISTERS will assemble in London on the
10th inst., on which day a Cabinet Council will be
held.

AIR. COLLIER, M.P., in an address to his con-
stituents at Plymouth last week, expressed his
satisfaction at the terms of peace. He opposed
the views recently expressed by Mr. Laing. He
considered that the war was just and necessary, and
the terms of peace satisfactory. He also considered
that the Times bad done service in exposing malad-
ministration in the beginning of the war. Mr.
Collier then continued :

I believe in the general tendency of human affairs to
peace, because I believe in the progress of knowledge and
civilisation. There are, however, many things in the
aspect of Europe which augur ill for the continuance of
peace. Unhappily Italy, since she fell from her station
as mistress of the world, has been trampled on by foreign
States. It is now governed by a despotic power, and the
elements of strife seem smouldering on the surface, and
the despotic will of the tyrant who is now playing with
fireworks may cause an explosion that may not only upset
his own throne, which nobody cares about, but may con-
vulse the whole of Europe ; and I think we shall be justi-
fied in interfering with him on the same principle that we
should act iu endeavouring to stop a madman who was
going to set fire to his own house. On the other side of
the Atlantic I hope all disagreements are settled, or are in
the way of being settled. In America there are perhaps
more turbulent parties than in any country in Europe.
Let us hope and believe that the good sense and Christian
feeling of the majority of the community will restrain the
turbulent and disaffected, and thus save the two countries
from a fratricidal war.

He approved of the improvement made by Lord
Clarendon of the maritime code of nations, and
alluding to the Jew measures of domestic legislation
passed last session, excused Lord Palmerston's
Government. It might be partly the fault of Par-
liament, partly the fault of the Administration, and
partly the fault of the country :

Lord Palmerston's Government has been peculiarly
situated. Tn some respects it has been a very strong one,
and in other respects'a weak Government. It has been
strong in all those great divisions which have taken place
on questions connected with the war and the peace. Both
sides of the Commons have felt that the State vessel, since
Lord Palmerston has been in office, has had a firmer hand
at the helm. I believe him to be peculiarly the roan to
take the direction of our affairs. The country feels this,
and the Parliament feels it; and for these reasons, when
any of the great divisions have taken place, the Govern-
ment of Lord Palmerston has been very strong. The
Conservatives—to their honour be it spoken—have not
allowed the great questions of peace and war to be de-
graded as party questions. But on other questions, of
comparatively minor importance, the Government has
sustained frequent defeats. I cannot help thinking that
the Governments of the present day are not so strong as
they used to be. It is impossible for us to have a Govern.
ment so strong as Walpole's, because no Government can
now possess such corruption as then existed ; and, again,
Pitt's—he was above the grosser• arts of corruption, hut
there were then in the house such a large number of in•
terested supporters that they would vote black white as he
willed, and the Government was then enabled to carry any
measare it pleased. In place of such a state of things as
this we have now independent members representing im-
portant constituencies, who cannot vote at the bidding of
Ministers, because if they did their constituencies would
not elect them. There is a difference in the constitution
of the House of Commons since the passing of the Reform
Bill; but, making every allowance for this, I still think
that the failure of the Government in so many measures was
not the result so much of the constitution of the house as
the want of a definite and determined policy on their own
part in the last session.

MR. W. MILES, M.P., in the course of his speech
last week delivered the following opinion upon agri-
cultural statistics :

In the year when the subject was first brought forward
in the House of Lords I happened to be President of the

1039

Royal Agricultural Society of England, and was examined
before their lordships. I took the liberty of telling them
what they might ask for and what they might not. I said
they might ask for what every farmer would give them—
the number of acres he had in different cultivation ; but I
warned them not to go one whit further, for I said,
Directly you come to ask for the quantity of wheat,
barley, or oats the farmers have realised you interfere with
the question between landlord and tenant, and by so inter•
fering, instead of promoting, you will disadvantage agri-
culture in the greatest possible degree." I likewise gave
a similar answer as to the statistics relating to animals,
and I ventured to say it would be most unfair to collect
those statistics, because they would not show the stock
the individual farmer had throughout the year, but only at
the particular time at which the census was taken, and
so would be most unfair as between the tenant and the
landlord.

In what I stated to the lords I believe I spoke the
opinion of the farmers of England. I believe it is neces-
sary for the farmers' interest that they should have taken
the number of acres under different cultivation. A vast
quantity of wheat was sown last year where barley should
have been, and with the bad apple crop look at the present
price of barley. I think it necessary, therefore, that the
farmer should know the annual acreage of wheat.

MR. ATHERTON, M.P., addressed his constituents
at Durham on Wednesday last. The hon. member
reviewed the last session of Parliament, which he
did not admit to be barren. He congratulated his
_ _

Its on the maintenance of Loid Palmerston
at the head of the Government :

It is becduse I look upon the Government of Lord
Palmerston as a Liberal Government, that I give it, and
wish to give it, my support. I don't believe that the
present head of the Government would go so far as I
would myself, or even so far as those by whom he is sup •
ported ; but I look upon the noble lord as being the only
person at this time capable of combining and consolidating
the Liberal party, and so impressing upon the acts of the
Legislature the principles of ieform.
He should regard the return to power of the Conser-
vatives as a " national mischief." There was one
thing in the, conduct of the Liberals he observed
with regret :

I tell you that it is a fact which I have observed with
regret, that the Government does not obtain from the
general body of the Liberal party that practical and ordi-
nary support which, if it deserves the name of Liberal, it
ought to receive from the party to which I refer. There
are many honest men in the House (..f Commons who bold
strong opinions, and sometimes confine themselves to
what I might, but will not, call crotchets ; and although it
must be perfectly manifest to them that Government must
be carried on by combination, too many of these men
seem practically to forget that truth, and from time to time,
instead of giving their support to the Government, which
would give it strength in the origination and carrying
forward of measures of real utility, we find them flying
off, and the consequence is that the Government is as
weak in this respect as it is strong when its very existence
is assailed.

THE REPEAL OF THE PAPER DUTY was discussed
at a special meeting of the committee of the Asso-
ciation for the Repeal of the Taxes on Knowledge,
held on Monday night, when it was resolved :

That the excise upon paper is a great commercial evil,
that it also impedes the cheap diffusion of knowledge, and
obstructs education, and that the time is now come for
recommencing active operations for obtaining the total and
immediate repeal of the duty. That Mr. Milner Gibson
be requested, at the earliest opportunity, to bring the
subject again under the consideration of the House of
Commons.