The Express.
London, England, 1851-02-05 00:00:00

IMPERIAL PARLIAMENT.

ROM OF THE SESSION.

nousE OF LORDS.—TCESD.tY, FED. 4.
The session of 1841 was opened to-day by her Majesty
in person. The dour* of the Howe of Lovell' were thrown
open at twelve: o'clock, and shortly after the
and .uh,r ladies who h. 4 M^n fortuniee enough to obtain
orders (mil the Lori (treat Chamberlain hett.sn to arrive,
sad continued to do so omit the house was crowded by a
vilely of beauty and fashion, greater and more diversified
than we have aver witnessed on a similar occasion. There
was also an unusual number of peen, judges, and foreign
• nilaist. I.- present.
tslor:ev hernia, 2 o'clock, the Lord Chancellor took his
teat nn 'he •coolsack, r.nd •onn after the booming of cannon
announced toe aerie..: of her Majesty.
H. r Majesty, who wan attired in a white satin limeade
• 111VV, tue.roiclert- I *Ali awl wore a splendid tiara of
diamonds, cno red the hone at 20 minutes past 2 o'clock,
being led by the Priam Consort (who wore a field marshal's
uniform, with the Order of the Garter), and accompanied
by the officers of state, heralds, pages, 4.c. Iler Majesty
tipmarsd in elnikrit health and spirit*, and whilst waiting
for dr• islauca of the Commons entered into convents.
tins with the Iluehe-. of Sutherland, by whom she was
att. laded. The Marquis of Lansdowne bore the crown, the
bake of W.llington • 'IC ...reed of state, and the Marquis of
Wine": s•,r the cap of maintenance.
The Prince Consort wore trope on hie left arm as mourn-
ing for the go.en of the. Belgian..
When her Val say had extended the throne. the whole
bows: r•-e, and remained standing until her Majesty mo-
tioned the house to by crated. At the. period the scene pre-
sented was of a wet brilliant and dueling character, and
• tear selich might justly cause the heart of an Englishman
he..t ith pride and exultation. The sun who so often
knits hi• rays to Mid these sorrous spectacles, shone with
imnsual aiderelour l.or this season of the year, and heightened
• the 4 4111 the scene.
Mr. Tolman, the deputy usher of the black rod, having
sommuned the Commous to the bar of their lovelships•
house, the dignified silence which for some minute, hail
reigned in the nia.m:ficent hall, in which were assembled
the greatest of Ens:lands nobles and the Elite of her beauty,
lOW hrulus by the uiterrstuunious rushing and jostling of
• the mashers of the loser house, who, headed by the
tips r, dressed in his robes of state, iii but fought their
way to the bar. After onkr lead lain with some difficulty
net. r tl, her Nlajo .ty. with a el. ar suirr and distinct accent,
read the, Royal Nysech, which was given in yesterday's
f.rpress.
Her Majesty and attendants, at the conclusion of the
• apes h, mind M the order in which they had entered, and
• the house enlivens, II during ph asurs.
The home nomad at h o'clock, when the LORD Cuan-
tl.ll...lt tools kis v4tRDR the woolsack.
st./41.1 VESTRIES.
The Marquis at LAMM% NE laid on the table a hill
for i.e. !steer regulation of select vestries.
THE ADDRESS.
- - -

'f! LORD ellAliall.oiCt:eUread the speeeb from
thc thomr, wbith h4‘iog been übm nid by the clerk at the

. _
ra—lde,
The F..rl of EFFINfiIIAM, in moving the *Mimes
In rejly, Yet roll. il the attention of the house to those sub-
jects la the sic cell from the throne which afford, el matter
for waning!, el ninsratulation. Such were the settlement
of the ititnoh nu...eion on the Insis of the pence of July ;
the maintenance of general le ace ; the announe, meet that ,
the Ifir cells a r. eland to adopt la a... •Mormi• mosimres for
the , etir;ntion of the shire intik i arid the sati‘factory state
of U. re smuts aft. r the reductions elfocted in tartatlem
desi:.g 'tie last v -aiim. Ihe noble lind thee went Oil to
regret attic eatit, ore of coned& rabic distress among the
erne* owl occeipiers of Lout, remarking. however, that it
'win end niahle th It the labouring population in the acri-
oulturiel districts had lover been letter off than they wen,
at tie go pmt moment, awl I xpressing his conviction that
the . ii. en, and belit•try of th. British Earner would ulti-
mo ly I. ar liim through all hi- ditticulti... Turning lastly
to the iptceion of papal aggression, be de-eland that the
step la: 'y tiken by the: Pops wes such we would never have
he en toirated in this country in Roman Catholic tilers,
nor v.,,dit lw narrated in any Roman ratiodie country in
the pre..ent dry. It was wee wary, then f. il-s, that this le-
wdest r.,semptlon of supremacy should be erpreaciad,
and hr was glad to ham that a measure would
be lent before thew, arhie'a, while it did not violate
tin priori:... of religion• tolerafam, would extin-
amid, tLe attempt to iestnelitet a Roman catholic
bi, net y into England with L rrihirial deeignations.
With n 5 none to aoothir oloertation in her Majesty's
ape' ch. mow ly. the is gistrution of in-trust* Tat. for Mc
tniisier of imsperty, then. could h • no doubt that it would
he a ti ry solvareserisms seensure, and be hoped it would
mss i.e :lac assent of their lordships when it was proposed.
In ..,41clii isai, h. was confident that th, it lordships would
all unite with her Majesty in thanksgiving to Almighty
God, for the traiii,uillity and ha ipinim which prevailed
thisiughout the. country. (Cheers.) The noble, earl then
Twat the address, which, as usus., was a mere echo of

tbe
Lord eItEMOIZNI.:, in meerroling the motion, reeapint•
tato, tine same tot i... He believed that the English
eath,lic, would join in maintaining the royal prerogative,
. and that the miootry would se. toe inviolate the
principle of toleratioo. Upon referring to the eon-
humour, of agricultural distress, he expressed his
beli, f that the yrosperity enjoyed by other classes
' %mild ultimately re-art main the cultivators of the ...l.
With T. good to 1rt611.1, speak from
• p•romMl olorevallon. and be could bear...dm... that in that
. part of the Uninil Kingdom there was mush ran* for con-
. gra: al dom. The numh.r of poor in the workhouses wa.
much Ins, whit: is. a proof of the diminution of dishes.
It the riontry, and the nvluea..n in tin anemia of the poor
rat,a b a: ikon • much to lighten the 'bora, it. 011 property
• and It, n .t.se• ntik. owe among the 144 unlit tame..., a large
prop, rim' if vilenit, he kart.' he might ...iv ti,, greater
Loop ,than, were a .Mort time •
•a so de.padtut :Into biol.
-ig to 1. nation alone a. a memo et 1,, to ring their condition.
Am.:l3.e to. in. of implonment feel been the satiefre-
ton 14.110.1't in which 1111 f %%%%% Fealltrn Act
had work“l. by tin gradual int nsbartion of new
elm... of ..:Yeut proprittor., where circumstances en-
abled them to 414....te an adequate portion of capital
to the num...mem of their props rte and the employment
of the I..paliati .n. It might he said that this prosperity
had b-
.v ohtained at the expense of the old landlords. That
W.O not hi. opinion. It wa. his opinori that hoot had sold
quite its Walt WI could he t•ipeettal, when the recurrence of
the mato failure for several years and the dittnitihed value
of till agricultural la(13111.• Via', taken into ionsideration.
thi.. ear .WM4 of mangy which would otherwise
hur•• hots nosoll in litigation had h en used; and the
rspiility with which .des had been effected had prevented
:ruinous merit. of interest from accunrilating. That them
Wean' qr.- wen appreciated was maninm from the
rircum-
dine.e that so many, 'gown:kir. had !,come petitioner.
Arr 4W• salts 44 thc.r own estate.. In conelu•ion he
eusseurnd ha anticipating great hem fit, front the pro Pored
law reform.
Lord STANLEY smia he was of opinion that, unless the
opsech from the throne tmulained principles or language
whi•lt it was "v. :look, it wa. more ropectful
to the crown, and more advaittagtou. to, the public bOrtICO,
that tit...slap.. iii reply to it .hould be voted with unani-
'WlT. Although, then•fore. he W.. not alto; ether satialied
with the speech, he would at On.' declare that it wits not the
intention ..f hinvelf or hi. (heeds to pmpose ate hostile
anointment at, the present OCCSOIIan. lie would simply con-
tent himself with w observations on ton,, of the points
ineutiotied in the *pets h. As far a. the foreign relativism of
tbe country were onnernell. it 'rented that the Foreign-
sage, had nein less nett, ely employed than was WOW in the
Tin W. 1., W11114.1C14.ry to learn that the
• Danish divan. wise in, ttle Ott of adnottnent, but rhapr
that happy'r,ult'vras either to be attfillnani to thu lino
attitude 0.011111,11 by the Enika•rors of Austria and Ruoia
than to the intervention of her blajt aj`s go, ernmeut.
'flontah he looked with some faint hope bi the exerllti.V4 of
the th ants cubit 41 into by 'basil for the supp,...ion of the
otlase.tradt , be could not refrain from calling their lordships'
attention to the let that this country could apply a more
pewerful engine than any trcatie. for its prevention, by the
abrogation of the commereial rceulati.m. which coriu-
m:A that abominable traffic. The noble lord thou went
on to sae— I rejoiee to find that the important
tri I;ntlowite•r• and occupier of land, in this country
art 4,olten of with mire n•speet—l had almost maid with
kse. i.i.respect than formerly. It is a melancholy satiefac-
Sot to u., annoy the ruins of this.• connected with latel,
owners or commute,. and I will god, also, labourers--(pro-
• lectiouk elteer.)—it is
know that at length the reasonablent:m of our complaints.
the extent and the reality of our is acknowledged
by her Majesty's in,,croutot. List year her 3lajesty had
beard with regret- not of the distress, hut of the ‘' emu-
plaint, of a r..rtain portion of as airs and occnpiet., of land
but her Majesty aus totool4tl be the reflection that the great
body of the ;nook. feint the abundance that existed, were
pestalsior largely of the emitforts of life. Now, thi.ciar
we art told that her 31.nedy laments the ditbculties which
are .till felt by that important body, no longer a small frac-
tion whoa' otter, os were dissever...l from the rest of the
country (hear. hi AO. but the important body who
are conuetted with tho cultivation of the land. Of all
with the noble lord who seitondcd the uddrem, that of all
flame • in this country. of all the mantinuturers in this
connt• y. the mow important Mu nit. the me-t deeply and
vitally connected with the well-being of the country. Is the
gnat ell. of the manufacture,. of human fod. *We are
grit. ful for the sympathy which het Majesty ha. exprered
for tlit rid, rings of that important clam. that On-
pwtant. Pitt fornu•rly wealthy, that still local, throats
deeply iolfering portion of the emernanitt. lint I emir..
that I should knee received this speech with mere satisfac-
tion if I haul men held out anv hope, how.
est r feeble. Ow tar diminution of those .fielcultits. We
AM tad OA gnat and general prosperity
timenehout the countryy that the manufacturing chives
aro preof..rina, and I *hall have a word to say
on that presentle : but that concurrently with
!wooperiiv 44 the hulk of the pc..ple, an hamst
the Tao.: irui.ortant of all inter...tit, i. sneering: and at the
mime time thus notwitiotanding the reduction that has
been eft [cif in taxation, the state of the revenue Is Wain.
famory, by s inch I apprehend, putting it into lon, reserved
language. the. re is at tlp.• dimptral of government a very
large surplu. applicable to the redaction of taxation. If it
be the fart, that all other CLOW.% are very prover:on. and
that the meet important of all interests is suffering ; ((them
be air relief to he given in the -hope of remiaion of taxa-
tion, I ash her Majesty'm goveranont what is the interest to
whisk that retniiiion of timotion can be most justly applin.?
is it to be applied to the relief of those who, in the far.-
psis of government, are In a state of 1112parilleledpri•

Verity, or those who are suffering und.tr great distress ? I
may ask her Maj..sty's Fovemmont to what it is that they
attribute this long continual diStrir ? I ask whether any
tea can d..ny that the distress among the owners and occu-
piers of land is Attributable to that system of legislation
which, be it right or wrong, be it for the general advantage
of tIL community or not, yens have introduced within
the last few years, and which Us borne
.he icily on the agri-
cultural portion of the community : I ask, can any
of them deny that the prang dietreas—not the temporary
but the permanent distress (hear, hear)e—is owing to tlie
course of legislation which you hare adopted, and, if it be,
how can you obstinately refuse to relieve that distress? I
mk, is this what you call an exceptional state? I ask
whether the circumstance+ are exceptional? The year
before lest it was exceptional, because the grain is this
country was very inferior, and it was necessary that there
should be a large introduction of foreign corn. List year
the cause of distress wee the reverse of this. We had an
abundant harvestconcurrently with an abundant harvest in
other parts of the world. Last year at this time prices were
far below that which we were ridiculed for anticipating at
the time the corn laws were repealed. We anticipated a
price of 4.55., and an import of three or four millions' of
smartens. Last year the price was something like 42v. We
were told, nay it was proved tom, that foreigners could not
continue to import on terms that left them no profit, but a
dead loss ; that we had seen the lowest point of the depress-
Bien in the price of agricultural produce. I am nut quite
sure whether it was not said the re-action would be so vio-
lent that we should have extravagant prices. And when
there happened to be a rise of a penny we were told that
the re-actiou bad set in. Well, the 4.15. last year dwindled
to 42.., to 415., to 38e., and, I believe that, at the momelit
I am addressing your lordships, the average price of
wheat is 375. 2d. And during this time you have
had poured into this country a continued stream, increasing
in amount to four millions and a half quarters of wheat
alone, and so far (rem finding that foreign importers cannot
import at these prices, the cry is still they come, and our
markets are swamped with foreign corn. Now I say to
those who auppnrt the policy of free trade that the results
have not answered their anticipation+. I know that many
a man supported that measure in the confident exist station
that, though there might be • serious diminution in the
price of corn, yet that any permanent reduction in the price
of grain was not to he anticipated. I will not in any spirit
of taunting remind the noble lord at the head of the colonies
of his prophecls as to the value of land. Yet I certainly
did think that the noble lord had Neel& some reason to be-
lieve that the value of Land in the market had not risen.
Now, my lords, I beg to enter my humble protect
against the Ineumbered Estates Act, which may
be a summary mode of getting out of great difficulties, but
which has performed and is performing what noble lords
seem to treat not only with indifference but with approval.
It has substituted altogether those who were the an-
cient proprietors of the soil. It may have been necceeary
in some cases, where the proprietors were mere nominal pro-
prietors. In those cases I have no doubt that the transfer
was advantageous; but as a general rule I say it is not de-
sirable for the interests of this counter ; it is not an object to
be aimed at. I do not say that it is not advisable to re-
move the difficulties and expenses attendant upon the trans-
fer of property ; but it is not a desirable object to break up
the old connexions between landlord and tenant, and to

substitute a new clam of proprietors. I am desirous to
maintain, if it be passible to maintain—l am desirous, at
all events, of doing nothing to accelerate the fall if it he
impweible to prevent the full, of the ancisut land( il pro-
prietors of this country. I lailiere that the ties binding
tiara to the occupiers of the soil is among the gnat eccuri-
ti s for the stability of our institutions and the general cm-
tent of the country ; and it is no eati.fitetion to ale to koow
.that if by your legislation the difficultiee which hare
crowded upon and oppreased the owners and occupiers of
land are found insuperable, a new set of pro-
prietors may step into the places of those whom
your legiscation may have driven from their pa-
ternal home, and that you should find a new
' set of proprietors, without that feeling which connected the
format proprietors with their tenants. There is one
paragraph in the speech to which I hope I shall
not lie called upon to subscribe. I do not join in
the hope that the proepteens condition of other classes of
her Slajesty'a subjects will ham a favourable effect in
diminishing the ditheelties of the ageicuituriste. I am
tautly connected with a manufacturing town, and I I
know that the prosperity will react upon the agricultural
eravaltunity who are not engaged in tle• caltivation of wheat
crops. But with regard to the growers of corn, with regard to
all thou, although previuus to the act of ISPi, it is perfectly
true that the prosperous condition of the manufacturing in-
tenst bore directly upon the amitultural community of this
country, yet that since that period it does not so hear upon it.
lint this prosperity of your manufacturer., this ability to
consume more corn, may be execedingly advantageous to
the airrieulturiste of I, rante—(cheers and laughter)—of
that France which we were ridiculed for considering might
one day become an exporting country—(hear)—may he
exceedinaly gratifying to the agriculturists of Poland, to
the agriculturists of the United States, and to the whole
houndlem continent of America. (Hear, hear.) All
these, in my opinion, will derive from your prosperity
aileantagee in equal proportion with, if not in a greeter
propirtion than, the agneulturiirts of England. (Hear,
ht ar.) My lords, I retain unaltered, nay strength-
ened, mtopinion as to the impoliey ofyourmeasure.inlfilsi.
(Cheers. 1 sin hound to declare that I do
not my
e possibility of the agriculturists obtaining any in-
crease in peeves under the existing law, or without some
eateneive alteration in your fiscal and financial arrange-
ments. (Hear, hear.) 1 will not, therefore, hold out to the
pneluer rs of this country a hope which Ido not share. 1
believe present prices are permanent prices. And I believe
that :it those prices the preoluction of this country
will be greatly diminished, and with a felling off in
the production that there will be a material diminution of
the coml'orts and happier,* of the most important portion of
the population. (Hear, hear.) I believe further that by thus
diminishitio the amount of the real capital of the country.
you will no longer he able to bear that enormous weight of
taxation (hear, hear); that taxation and debt which no
other country in the world could have borne, and which
this country itself would never have been enabled to he tar,
if it hod not been the wise policy of the legislature for a
long series of years to afford encouragement, endued a fac-
titious commitment, to our own produces. (Hear, hear.)
I now, my lord:, approach a subject of the gravest interest
and greatest importance—of an importance exceeding even
that of the topic on which I have last touched. (Hear,
hear.) It is impossible not to see that by the recent
measures, I will not say the recent measure, hut by
the recent measures, of the head of the Roman catholic
church, there has lx en great danger of, I won't say an in-
sidious, lea I will say an insolent ague: mien upon the
supremacy e.f the crown of England —an aggression
noidenal the mutt, insolent by the manner in which
it has been attempted. (Cheers.) I mtinot indeed charac-
terise those measures in more emphatic terms than they
have been characterised by the noble lord who tills the re-
p, neible, situation of principal adviser of the crown.
That noble, lord, in a letter which I presume can
no longer be treated as a priest,: correspmidenee,
but must he regarded as of great celebrity as a public
document, has produced a serious and lasting impression
upon the public mind. That noble lord tells There
is en assumptiou of power fu all the documents which have
come from Rome—a pretension to supremacy over the
realm of England. and a claim to sole and undivided sway,
which a into ee si . tent with the Queen's supremacy, with the
rights of our bishop: and clergy. and with the spiritual in-
dependence of the nation. as asserted even in Roman cache-
lie times." Now, when the noble lord printed that
sentinel. ; when he sent this forth as the delihe- I
rate opinion of the head of the government; when
he announced to this protestant nation that the Queen's su-
premacy hail been ineadeil : that the civil and religious in-
dependence of the country hail been attacked, and that the
rights of the bishops and clergy of the established church
had been struck at by a foreign power, the noble lord
could never have written, still less have published, that
let ter without h iug prepared for the influence
which it would h. and for the excitement, though
not perhaps to the 'full catent which we have witnessed, it
would be likely to produce. (Lord Stanley wu here under-
stood to my, that while not expressing any opinion so to
the, language, of the letter, he considered it one which the
circumstances had called for and justified.) And when
the first minister (Lord Stanley proceeded to say) thus ex-
premed his opinion. and this called forth so fervent n
protestant feeling—when he thus obtained for himself
that popularity which a sincere and hearty protestant and
religious opinion. and a determination to maintain the
honour and independence of the kingdom, would never, in
the long nod. fail to obtain for ape's& man in this counter.
' the noble lord had, doubtless, calculated carefully the
magnitude of the struggle he was entering on ;
for your lordships were now to deal, not with a
missile net, but with a series of acts of aggression
cm the pert of the court of Rome. What we have to protest
against is, the insolent and the illegal intervention of a
gossip power in the domestic affairs of this country. This
i is, then fore, 110 question of n,ligious controversy. (Hear,
bear.) This is not the time, and I trust we shalrnot find it
tote the re., either in this or in the other house of parliament,
when we can discuses the comparative purity of the doctrines
of the Roman catholic and the reformed churches. (Hear.)
We have nothing to do with ouch questions. God forbid
that, on account of their religious principles, we should
ever attempt to deprive our Roman catholic fellow-coun-
trymen of full, perfect, and uncontrolled religious frecslom,
or that we should ever seek to take from them
rune jot of the rights which we have already
gearanteed to them, (Cheers.) If that be indeed what
is meaut by the proteetant feeling which has been amused,
for one, could not share the triumph or partake the
gall, and such are far from the considerations with which
I I have approached the subject. (Cheers.) But the consi-
deration is. shall a Roman pontiff, shall a Roman
catholic prelate. be permitted to exercise in this
country a mischievou and dangerous interference,
not wish names or titles, not with shadows or idea.,
bat with substantial realities—and, in one word, with the
government of the country ? (Hear, hear.) That is the
question you have to ask ; that is the contest which ,you are
entering on. If th., letter of the noble lord (Lard John
Russell) means one-thing, it means this: o I will vindicate
the enpremary of the crown: I will vindicate the rights of
the bishops and delve : I will vindicate the independence
sad the sway of her Majesty and of the paella-
gust ; and I will not permit any foreign power
whatever to interfere in any manner in the administration
of this gauntry." The aggressive policy of the church of
'Rear has been too often overlooked, and the principle of
unlimited concession may have been carried dangerously
far since 1829. I regret that these aggressions were nut
checked at the outset. Because I find that every act of
concession has been met by new aggression; and growing
with impunity, and encouraged by excess, these encroach-
ments have at last become so formidable that the Prime
Minister has to declare that to tolerate then, longer would
be iseanaistent with the independence of the crown and the