The Press.
London, England, 1857-03-21 00:00:00

THE PRESS.

He is not content with being the Janus Biceps, he is
a Janus Centiceps—a political chameleon which
offers a different hue and colour to the spectator
according to the side from which he gazes. (Cheers
and laughter.) I defy any man, even the most
ardent of his supporters, to say, when he professes
confidence in the noble viscount, what, upon any
great domestic question of the day, is the policy to
which he pledges himself. Some cries have been
raised within the last few days which I think must
astonish the noble viscount when he reads them.
Thus we hear, " Palmerston and Liberalism !" " Pal.
merston and Protestantism !" " Palmerston and

down with Maynooth !" "Palmerston, the only
Christian Premier !" " Palmerston, the true Protes-
tant Minister !" and blasphemously, or at least irre-
verently, "Palmerston, the man of God !" The last
cry appears in a clerical newspaper, where the noble
viscount is announced as " the man of God."
(A laugh.) Many of your lordships will recollect a
caricature of 1832, in which the late King William
IV. was represented as staring at an inscription in
large letters on a wall, forming the title of the
Reform Bill. The words put into the mouth of his
Majesty were, "Can that mean me ?" Or your lord-
ships may, perhaps, remember a story of still older
date, in which a little elderly lady, suddenly aroused
from a long sleep, finds her dress somewhat strangely
disordered, and " Sure," says the little woman,
"this is none of I!" (A laugh.) 1 think the noble
viscount, when he sees the various cries with which
his name is connected, must doubt his own identity,
and say with the old gentlewoman of the anecdote ,
"Sure, this is none of I!" (Cheers and laughter.)
It is remarkable that, notwithstanding the number
and variety of the war-cries which have been attached
to the name of the noble viscount, there are three
with which I have never heard him associated, and
yet they are both important in themselves, and have
been the watchwords in past times of a great Liberal
party. I have never heard " Palmerston and Peace !"
" Palmerston and Retrenchment !" " Palmerston and
Reform !" (Cheers.) It is possible, even probable,
that the noble viscount, having supported the Reform
Bill of 18:12, may think that in the path of organic
change and parliamentary reform we have gone far
enough; but " pexce " and " retrenchment " are sub-
jects not of temporary but of general application, and I
am afraid their absence from the Government pro-
gramme may be accounted for by the consideration
that without peace we can have no " retrenchment "
and that with Palmerston we can have no peace.
(Hear, hear.)

I saw the other day in a newspaper which warmly
supports the noble viscount and asserts his claim to
the confidence of the country a statement of the
opinions to which every man professing to be a
Liberal ought to adhere. "Yo man," to use the
words of the newspaper in question, " deserving the
name of Liberal, ought to wince while catechised
upon each of those subjects :—the ballot, extension
of the franchise, especially Locke King's motion ;
the Batik monopoly, church rates, abolition of pur-
chase in the army, and promotion by merit ; a gra-
duated income tax." The writer of the article ob-
jects, he says, upon principle to exacting pledges
from candidates upon the hustings ; but these are
the A B C of Liberalism, and no man ought to
hesitate for a single moment while being catechised
upon them. I should like to see, for the amusement
of the thing, the noble viscount, as the head of a
Liberal Government, going through his catechism
upon these points. (A laugh.)
Take the ballot. There is not a man in England
who has pronounced himself so strongly against
the ballot as the noble viscount. I need say nothing
about Mr. Locke King's motion, because of it we
have had recent experience. The Government of
the noble viscount have sent the subject of the Bank
charter to a select committee, but with a very dis-
tinct intimation that the changes they contemplate,
if any, are of the slightest and most trivial kind,
certainly, not amounting to an interference with what
is called the " Bank monopoly." The noble viscount
has expressed himself quite as strongly with respect

SATURDAY,

to church rates. lam not sure that be has pledged
his Government upon the system of purchase in the
army, while I should certainly be surprised to hear
it announced that a Go vernment measure will be
proposed in the new Parliament to abolish that sys-
tem. It is certain that the noble viscount, as well
as every important member of his Administration,
has protested against the possibility of introducing
anything like a differential—which I suppose is what
is meant by a graduated—income tax. I will not
say that the Government may not contemplate the
introduction of measures upon some of these ques-
tions, but I am quite sure that in the sense in which
they are regarded by the newspaper to which I have
referred—as tests of Liberalism—one and all will
meet with the determined opposition of the Govern-
ment so far as they act upon their own views and
principles. (Hear, hear.) I may even venture to
say that, should any one of these questions Ibe
brought forward in the new Parliament by some
more and ent Liberal then is to be found on the
Treasury benches, the noble viscount, in order to
defeat it, will no t hesitate to seek the assistance of
that very Conservative party which be now accuses
of entering into an "unprincipled combination" to
upset his Government. (Hear, hear.)
Here it may be said, " If that is your opinion, why
do you withhold from Lord Palmerston as a Conser-
vative that support which, upon your own showing,
he cannot receive from any consistent, well-judging
Liberal?" M y answer is an easy one—because, in
the first place, I do not know what the principles of
the noble viscount at this present moment are ; be-
cause, in the next place, if they are such as I sup-
p ose them to be, then the noble viscount is in a
false position at the head of a Government profess-
ing Liberalism, and a large number of whose sup-
porters are avowedly of extreme hadical opinions;
a nd because, in the third and last place, I have not
that confidence in the steadiness and firmness of
the noble viscount which would induce me to believe
that in a moment of difficulty and pressure he would
stand up in vindication and support of his own
principles, whatever they may happen to be.
(Cheers.) I give him credit for many good qualities.
Nobody can be insensible to the charms of his
manner and conversation, and his perfect good
humour, an d everyone must admit the great adroit-
ness with which he manages and steers his course
in a popular assembly ; but if I am asked whether
I have that confidence in the noble viscount which
consists in the firm conviction that, under all circum-
stances, he will maintain and act upon certain fixed
political principles—that from what be did yesterday
one might foretel what he will do to-morrow--that

he has those higher qualities which are essential to
the character of a British Minister—l must reply in
the negative.

What has happened in the course of the present
session? When :the Chancellor of the Exchequer
made his financial statement we were told that it
was absolutely necessary for the sake of revenue to
raise the tea duty to ls. 7d. Opposition was
threatened. Mr. Gladstone proposed that the duty
should be fixed at Is. 3d., and Lord John Russell
suggested Is. 4d. Well, my lords, in the face of
their own declaration made shortly before, that Is. 7d.
was absolutely necessary for revenue, the Govern-
ment reduced the duty to Is. sd.

But there is yet a much stronger case in point. If
there is any one thing upon which it is the bounden
duty of the Prime Minister to preserve inviolate the
prerogative of the Crown, it is that which concerns
the advice that he shall give to her Majesty as to the
distribution of honours, irrespective of parliamentary
influence and parliamentary support. (Hear, hear.)
I will not express any opinion on the merits of the
particular case to which I am about to refer, but it
is notorious to all men that, with the sanction of the
noble viscount, the noble baron opposite addressed
to Sir J. M'Neill and Colonel Tulloch a letter offer-
ing them pecuniary remuneration for their services,
and indicating that as the amount and the form in
which the Government thought their labours could
most prorerly be requited. Well, the noble viscount

MARCH 21, 1857.

is asked in the House of Commons whether he
intends to propose to the Crown to confer any mark
of honour upon these gentlemen. He answers
" No ;" that he does not deem their services such as
would entitle them to a mark of honour, and that
he does not think such advice ought to be tendered
to the Sovereign. A motion is given notice of ;it is
brought forward ; but before it is so brought forward
the question is repeated to the noble viscount. He
repeats his answer that it is not consistent with his
duty to offer that advice to the Crown. He, there-
fore, opposes the motion ; the debate goes on ; he
feels that there is a pressure of the house against
him, and on the eve of a dissolution of Parliament,
upon the pressure of the House of C ommons, in a
matter deeply touching the honours bestowed by the
Crown, he consents to give the Sovereign that advice
which, a few brief moments before, he had declared
to the assembled Legislature that he felt it in-
consistent with his duty to give. (Hear, hear.)
I say, then, " Can I have confidence in the Minis-
ter who so readily gives way before the slightest
pressure and I will venture to say that, on that
occasion also, had the matter gone to the division to
which it was about to go, and in which undoubtedly
he would have been defeated, we should have heard

that a factious combination and an unnatural coali-
tion had led to the overthrow of his Government ;
and this' too from him who served the purpose of
this " coalition " by conceding the very point at
issue, and conceding it in a manner incompatible
with the dignity of the Crown and with his duty to
his Sovereign. (Cheers.)
I know, my lords, that I have grievously trespassed
on the patience and kind indulgence of the house ;
but I shall not detain you for many minutes longer.
If I am asked what course I think it desirable
should be pursued in the next Parliament by those
who do me the honour of consulting me, I should
say that I hold it to be their bounden duty to adhere
to their own principles and their own convictions,
irrespective of the quarter from which any proposi.
tion may come. My lords, if we find that the noble
viscount—avoiding and resisting all dangerous inno-
vations and organic changes—maintains stedfastly
the great institutions of the realm, and seeks only
such reforms in our social system as may safely and
properly combine the exertions of all true lovers of
their country—in that case I take the liberty of
assuring him most confidently that from the Con-
servative party he shall meet with no 'factious oppo-
sition—from them ho need dread no " unprincipled