The Press.
London, England, 1858-06-05 00:00:00

THE SPEECH AT SLOUGH.

On the order for going into a Committee of Supply,
Lord PALMERSTON rose and said that, as the Chan-
cellor of the Exchequer, on Friday, in his absence,
had made an appeal to him, he felt it to be his duty
to take the earliest opportunity of answering the
appeal. In the speech made by Mr Disraeli on
Wednesday before some of his constituents, which
bore evidence of studious deliberation, he had stated
that Lord Derby, when he took office, succeeded to
innumerable difficulties; a statement contrary, he
observed, to the declaration of Lord Derby himself,
who had said that he found the country in a satis-
factory condition. Mr. Disraeli had further stated
OM the question of peace or war was a question aot

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then defended the policy of the late Ministry in in-
troducing the Conspiracy Bill, not at the dictation of
the French Government, but, by the advice of the
law officers of the Crown, for the purpose of
remedying an evident defect in the English law ; and
the object and principle of the bill were strongly
advocated by Lord Derby himself when in opposi-
tion, Lord Clarendon did not wish to deprive the
present Government of any credit for its conduct in
the affair of the Cagliari; but he reminded the
house that the late Ministry, up to a late period, was
kept in ignorance of the real state of the case. He
denied that the two engineers were neglected ; it was
in consequence of strong remonstrances from the late
Government that their friends and the Consul were
allowed access to them. The Chancellor of the
Exchequer would have done well not to indulge in a
eon of triumph till he had ascertained whether
the Neapolitan Government would consent to an
arbitration, and grant the demanded indemnity.
The allusions in the speech to a policy of " massacre
and confiscation" Lord Clarendon denounced as an
ungenerous attack on Lord Canning, made as they
were four days al t•:r the despatch explaining his
proclamation bad been published, a,id after the
conduct of Lot d Ellenborough, in giving publicity to
what was very far from a message of peace, had
compelled that Minister to an act of self-immolation.
He warmly eulogized the courage, ability, and mode-
ration ot Lord Canning, and denounced the repeated
Official misrepresentations of his policy in India as
calculated to confirm the worst opinions of the
enemies of this country, by representing it as
habitually cruel, unprincipled, and despotic. As to
the assertions of the speech that the House of
Counnons had defeated the intrigues ot a cabal, con-
spinng against the Government, and possessing
sources of information " that were not " constitu-
Until," if a mere postprandial pleasantly it might be
passed over; but the wend and the comparison were
drawn from the very worst period of English history,
and the public mind ought to be soothed by a frank
avowal of what was intended by them, and who were
the parties hinted at; the Government ought to
release the corps diplomatique fiom the charge
implied. In concluding, Lord Clarendon disclaimed
any intention of embarrass;ng the Government by
calling attention to the speech of the Chancellor
of the Exchequer.

The Earl of DERBY thought if the speech of his
colleague had been deemed indiscreet, Lord Claren-
don had committed a much greater indiscretion in
his present address, by which he had revived topics
that were better forgotten. He begged, however, to
thank the noble lord, since his intimation of bringing
the Chancellor of the Exchequer's speech before
the notice cf their lordships had caused him to
have the great gratification of again reading with
more attention the whole of that " very able and
amusing discourse." He would not criticize every
word and phrase in the speech at Slough, but all its
main points he was prepared to defend. The
allusion to the danger of war with France he ex
plained only meant that peace between the two
countries was endangered, when the present Govern-
ment took office, by the impossibility of passing the
Conspiracy Bill, as a concession to the just irritation
of the French people at the attempt on the life of
the Emperor ; and he asked whether the peril of a
war with France, in case Mr. Milner Gibson's motion
were carried, was not held out to deter members of
the House of Commons from voting for it. The
preservation of peace he attributed in a great degree
to the Emperor of France, who, having a more inti-
mate knowledge of England than most of his
countrymen, abstained from pressing claims to which
he felt the English Government could not accede.
Ile compared the results of the action of the present
Shiastry, in the case of the Cagliari, with the very
Might concessions obtained by Lord Clarendon,
stating that the Cabinet had made the claim for in-
demnity, and intended to support it. He thought if
such speeches were to be made the subject of de-
hates, equivalent to motions in both Houses of
Parliament, the members of the late Ministry were
310.1. Justified in complaining of the language of a
Minister of the Crown, even on post-prandial
oe-
ea,iuns

I could point (said the noble lord) to one or two in-
stances--one more 'emote aria the other not very distant
—ia which language has been held which, if subjected to
the test of severe criticism and parliamentary investigai
tion, and if the speeches in which it occurred had been
treated as State papers, as that of my right hon. friend
has been by my noble friend opposite, would hove been
found not to be such as was best calculated to secure
and maintain perfect harmony between this and other
Countries. ( Hear, hear.) My noble friend opposite has
cleverly and ingeniously coloured some portions of the
speech of lay right hon. friend. I certainly should not have
expected him to make more than a passing allusion—
from which it was impossible to refrain—to that gradually
418'leing view—to the bunting of that guest babble—to
that breaking up of the ice of the Neva, which took place
w.lth sudden violence, ufter various cracks and groans and
indications of what was going to take place—the gradual
lalthdrawal, one by one, of single cards from that carefully
"1141110ltal edifice of pasteboard, maid at last that which