The Press.
London, England, 1858-03-13 00:00:00

THE PRESS, MARCH 13, 1858.

section—but a measure which, dealing largely and com-
pletely with all those questions connected with the subject
which are entitled to consideration, will, I trust, recom-
mend itself to all temperate, rational, and sober-spirited
men as • measure adequate to the occasion. (Hear.)
Being ready to act in that spirit, I do not think that I am
asking too much for her btajesty's Government that we
may be permitted to give consideration to the construction
of that measure, and that we may have the time for thought
and for labour which the responsibility for so vast a theme
demands. I cannot believe—the hypocrisy is so flagrant
—that any prejudice would be raised against us because
in dealing with this subject we wish to deal with it like
sincere and responsible men, and because in anything
which we do we wish to do that which will be adequate to
the occasion, and which will meet with the approbation of
all sound thinking people in this country. (Cheers.)
I feel that it is unnecessary for me to enter into details
upon a theme which must be brought before Parliament
in due time, and therefore it would be unwise in me to
offer opinions which I might otherwise have laid before
you, and which, indeed, I have expressed in this county
on various occasions, on the various points connected with
this subject—the different franchises, for instance, the
modes of taking votes, and questions of that character.
When the question is introduced to Parliament by the Go•
vernment, that will be the occasion when our opinions will
be offered to the country in a formal and matured manner,
and that will be the occasion when the country will be able
to form its judgment upon them.
RI have only one word to say upon the position which I
now have the honour to fill, and my acceptance of which
you by your unanimous re-election to-day have ratified.
Gentlemen, I read in the newspapers, where we all get
our information now-a-days, that we are a Government on
sufleranco. [A voice in the crowd, "It is quite true."l
An hon. gentleman says that's quite true, but I shall take
the liberty of flatly contradicting him. (Laughter.) I
should think that the last charge which would be made
against a Government of which Lord Derby is the head is
that of being a Government on sufferance. In 1852 we
might have remained in power—we were solicited to remain
in power by our opponents—if we had chosen to be a Go-
vernment on sufferance. (Cheers.) As the organ of that
Government in the House of Commons I said that we
would never be a Government on sufferance, and we
quitted office because we would not be a Government on
sufferance. If a Minister brings forward a measure of im-
portance, and that measure is not carried, if there is a
majority of the House of Commons against it, and he still
remains in office, that is what I call a Minister on suffer-
ance. But if that happens to the Government of which I
am a member we shall not remain a Government on suffer-
ance, but we shall take that constitutional course which it
will be our duty to pursue. Having been summoned by
her Majesty to her councils at a critical moment, I am not
going to assume that the House of Commons is hostile to
us. We have been summoned to power without any
intrigue, by the spontaneous voice of our Sovereign, and
am I to assume that under these circumstances the House
of Commons, and, above all, the present House of Com-
mons, is to array itself in factious organisation against us ?
Far from being a Government on sufferance, I count, under
the circumstances of the case, on what T will call, not a

personal or party confidence, bat a constitutional confi-
dence on the part of the Howe of Commons. I think, if
I know anything, I know something of the House of Com-
mons. lam sure that the House of Commons is on the
whole a generous and gentlemanlike assembly, and it is
not inclined, especially under the circumstances which
have marked our accession to office, to make itself the
ready tool of any political intriguers. (Cheers.) But I
know that the House of Commons, like human beings in
general, is not exempt from fanits and errors. I know that
in 1852 it acted in a vcry different manner. There was
arrayed against the Government of 1852 a coalition of all
sorts of opposite and discordant parties, who by their
united influence threw the Ministry of Lord Derby into a
small minority. But have thecireutristances of those days

brought no lesson to the people of England—has the ex-
perience of those events brought no wisdom to the House
of Commons? The destruction of Lord Derby's Govern.
ment in 1852 brought on the war with Russia. (Cheers
and expressions of dissent.) I am stating that which J
know to be the fact, and I lepest that that act brought on
the war with Russia—the war with Russia brought on the
war with Persia, the Eastern disturbances, and the Indian
mutiny. (Cheers and a laugh.) A gentleman in the
crowd, I see, laughs at that statement. He is one of
those, I believe, who in this very hall cheered Mr. Cob-
den, and proclaimed him to be the very man to represent
Buckinghamshire. But what does he say to the language
of his favourite statesman on this very point? Mr. Cob-
den is nnt:oubtedly one of the most eminent men who ever
sat in the House of Commons. He was a strong opponent
of Lord Derby's Government in 18.52; he was one of the
majority which expelled that nob'eman and his colleagues
from office. But what did he say a year or two afterwards
in the House of Commons ? Of all the votes, he declared,
which ho had given in the course of his political life, that
which turned Lord Derby out of office in ltia was the one
which he most regretted, for that vote had cost this country
millions of treasure and thousands of more precious lives.
(Loud cheers.) Therefore let the gentleman in the crowd
who laughed just pow reconcile as he best can his own
opinions with those of Mr. Cobden on this matter. I be-
lieve that the present Ministry are not destined to that
ahortlived existence on which our opponents are so eagerly
counting. (Cheers.)
I believe that we shall be judged by our measures and
by them alone, and if the people find that the policy of our
Government is a spirited but prudent policy, if they find
that we conduct the affairs of the country with energy and
wisdom, if they find that under our influence our foreign
relations become peaceable and tranquil, that revolt abroad
is put down, that well-matured schemes for the govern-
ment of dependencies are introduced and established, that
on all social questions which interest the country reforms,

whether they be reforms of our representative assembly or
reforms of the law, so long as they are improvements, are
supported by the existing Government, 1 do not think
that it will be in the power of an 3 combination of factions
to disturb our Government, and if we do our duty to our
Sovereign and our oountry we shall be supported by the
Queen and by the British people. (Loud and long GOA.
tinned cheers.)

The Chancellor of the Exchequer resumed his seat
amidst the hearty congratulations of his friends and
the cheers of the audience.

The usual vote of thanks to the High Sheriff then
ended the proceedings.

THE ATTORNEY-GENERAL.

Essr SUFFOLIE.—Sir Fitzroy Kelly, her Majesty's
Attorney-General, was re-elected on Saturday last
without opposition. Sir Fitzroy Kelly spoke strongly
in favour of an extension of the franchise, and said
that the question of parliamentary reform ought not
to be delayed beyond the ensuing session. The legal
reforms of the new Ministry, he ttnsted, would
meet the wishes and wants of the people :
I hope that, in the position to which you have now re-
stored me as your representative, I shall be enabled, even
during the present session of Parliament, to submit to the
consideration of the Legislature • number of important
measures, in which all of you whom I see before me must
be more or less interested. (Cheers.) We hear in the
important commercial circles of England loud complaints
of the state of the law of bankruptcy and insolvency as
affecting the relations of debtors and creditors. I have
already, during the very short time I have been in office,
directed my attention to that subject. (Cheers.) I ass
in communication with persons conversant with 00111111.101111
and commercial exigencies in all their details in the soma
great commercial cities and towns in Engird, and flume
I shall before long be enabled to submit to the Been el
Commons a measure which at least will remedy the
number of Ulm evils under which the essamer
munity has so long laboured. (Hear, heir.) Aria,
there is a subject to which I alluded when I was WI be,.
fore you—a measure for the registration of titles, mad for
facilitating the transfer of land—( Hear, hear)—a subject
in which every one of the inhabitants of this county
mast feel a personal interest, because the expense atten-
dant upon the smallest transaction in the way of selling
or charging a little piece of land, is such as often to deter
people from taking those measures in their domestic rela-
tions and for personal purposes which may be very essen-
tial to their interests had they been enabled to effect those
transactions, but which would be attended with so great
an expense as to bring upon them embarrassments and
difficulties without end. (Hear, hear.) Let me assure
a class of persons in whom I myself take a sincere inte-
rest—l mean the attorneys and solicitors in England and
Wales—, class of persons I will not say to whom I owe,
bat certainly through whom I have attained, whatever 7
possess of fortune or station—( Hear, hear)—a class of
persons for whom I entertain the sincerest respect—let
me assure them I shonld not willingly become a party to
arty measure which would in any way prejudicially affect
their interests. (Hear, hear.) But I believe that no
such consequences would follow. I believe if we succeed
—and it shall not be my fault if we do not succeed—in
passing a measure enabling the owners of land to transfer
oe charge that land with the same facility as they can
transfer or charge stock in the Fonds—( Hear, hear)—l
believe, so far from injuring the interests of attorneys and
solicitors, it will for many years to come, at least during
the first and primary working of the measure, increase
their occupation without prejudicially affecting the interests
of the community. ( Hear, hear.) There are many other
matters as to which I will not detain you by alluding, but
to which my attention has been directed ; and I can only
assure you that in all that relates to law reform—in all
that relates to the civil administration of the affairs of
this country—in all, more especially, that can affect the
interests of land, and the owners and occupiers of land--
I shall endeavour worthily to discharge those duties which
you have imposed upon me. (Cheers.)