The Press.
London, England, 1854-04-15 00:00:00

anticipated on the occasion, and if the conduct of her
Majesty's Government with respect to other measures
which 1 shall deem it my duty to oppose be influenced by
the same feeling and regulated by the same policy, I can i
promise the noble lord that he will experience from me
opposition as mitigated as on the present occasion.
(' Hear,' and cheert.) Although sitting on this aide of the
house, I shall never shrink from exercising my best efforts
to vindicate the opinions of my friends upon any measure
they msy think obnoxious to the public welfare, if brought
forward by the noble lord. And I can assure the noble
lord I am little disposed, after the address he has made, to
Yew in any spirit of acerbity his present conduct. ((Ceers.)
Althoug'i it is usually my duty to be seated opposite to the
noble lord, no one in this house 1 can say most sincerely
has a more heartfelt respect for him. I think his character
and career are precious possessions of the House of
Commons, which I am sure the members of this house
will. always cherish. (Cheers.) Ar.d wherever he sits he
will be accompanied by the respect of every member of
this house, and I think the manner to-night in which he
has made what was evidently a painful communication to
the house is in every way worthy of the noble lord. But
although perfectly satisfied with the course her Majesty's
Ministers propose to take with respect to the bill, and
although the feeling which I have endeavoured imperfectly
to express with regard to the noble lord is most sincere,
still I feel it my duty to express my conviction that all that
the noble lord has said to-night has not met the real
difficulty of his position. All the influences which he has
informed us to-night have induced him to take a course so
opposite to that which he originally contemplated were in
existence throughout the whole of the session, and, there-
fore, I. am obliged to ask the noble lord how it was, that
yielding now to these influences, the noble lord and his
colleagues felt justified in bringing forward this bill for
parliamentary reform ? The noble lord has expressed to-
night a variety of causes which have induced him to adopt
this final step. Did they not exist when Parliament met?
Did they not exist on the 13th of February, when the noble
lord, in spite of every warning and remonstrance, deter-
mined to place that measure in detail before Parliament
and the country? Why, on the first night of the session,the
noble lord was met by general appeals not to pursue the
course he had indicated. He was told that a state of war
was one which rendered that period the most inopportune
to discuss a measure of organic change in the constitution
of the country. The noble lord would not listen to those
appeals, and even with good-humoured ingenuity main-
tained, by instances and arguments, that a state of war was
particularly well qualified and adapted for such discus-
sions—that, the public mind being distracted from ques-
tions of parliameutery reform, it was possible to devise a
measure without being so much influenced by popular
opinion as under ordinary circumstances. Not content
with laying down the principle that being in a state of war
was anything but objectionable under the circumstances,
he frankly showed us that war with Russia was peculiarly
a condition favourable to a state of things for discussing
and deliberating on a measure of this kind. The noble
lord to-night said there was some force in a remark of
mine in a former debate, as to the inconvenience of laying
on the table of the house a measure of importance, and
then not proceeding with it—a measure which brands,
may say, almost one-siath part of the members of this
house. In a country like this, where so much depends on
prescription, the noble lord must feel that for her
Majesty's Ministers to bring forward a measure which
shakes the influence of prescription is a hazardous
enterprise, and one not warranted, unless there is a
fair prospect of succeeding with the measure, and of
substituting for the power and influence you destroy
or abrogate the new power and influence whieli, in
your opinion, was beneficially to operate on the Go-
vernment of the country. Now, what is parliamentary
reform? We are in the habit of so familiarly using
the phrase, that we are too apt to forget its exact meaning.
Why, after all, it is a measure fur the reconstructing
Parliament, and to effect a change in the principal de-
positary of power in the State. A measure of parliamen•
tarp reform virtually says to large classes of the people,
Yon do not possess political power—you ought to possess
political power. and this is a measure to give it to you.'
On the other hand, it says to other extensive classes, ' You
do possess political power—you ought not to possess
it, and we are going to take that political power you now
wield from you.' These are grave questions. if such a
measure were introduced by an independent member, it
would be merely a simple political thesis for a debating
society, and it would not affect public opinion. But when
brought forward by a minister, and a minister of the great
reputation and renown of the noble lord, every person who
is told that, not possessing political power, he ought
to
possess power, and that Government propose to give it to
him by their measure, if he does not receive it feels from
that moment he is a person aggrieved and deprived of his
rights. You are thus producing a disaffected class from
this proposition of the government. On the other hand
every one whose franchise is threatened by such a measure,
every corporation and every individual who is threatened,
that man and that corporation, when told that Government
does not intend to proceed with the measure which is to
deprive hint of a power he has long exercised, will look
upon the Government as his enemy. in fact as
.a set. of
persona who, when they have the power, will deplt rive him
of a right of franchise he so much values. is clear,
therefore,. when her Majesty's Ministers make a proposition
of that nature, and do not proceed with it, they are creating
disaffection amongst some, dislike amongst others. The
Ministers are, in fact, weakening the constituted rin
authoes
institutions
of the country and enfeebling the established
of the land. That I hold to be an unwise course. (Hear,
hoar.) The noble lord complains of the apathy with which
the country received his measure of re form. lin we have
always been told that we should legislate on this question
when there was no excitement, no passion in the country,
and that the proper time for amending our reprenta that
country,
system was when the public mind was tranquil, so

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