The Express.
London, England, 1848-05-24 00:00:00

he would remind hint that a distinguteht d ',tend of his in
the other house, Ire pet silent of the Agricultural Protectien
Society, had toimpleineil of economaida musing tor long re-
turn., and cau•iug great public expense, with the view of
becomi. g popuser with their constiturtits." Unduub•eoly,
the noble lore would repuoiate the title of ao economist ;
and with his enemies to restore direct bastion, and add to
the price of the peer Moles Alger and tea, and all articles t f
c.•neumpti•m, he could not lay claim to the title or the poor
man's friers.. And haring let the coin laws slip thee. h his
II gets, he mart not cell himself the f trnier's trued; for the
farmers would ttttt thank him for mintopelies in which they
had no titer at, nolo* he would ensure them the reenact-
ment of the omen law.. ( Hear.)
Mr. HENLEY congratulated the hon. gentlemen who
had last sp,k. it in his having changed his seat from the
ministerial beech*. Hr had been amazed 'o hear the hon.
gentlemen enlarge un the waste of time in the t oat e; end
so must every one who recollected how that hoe. gentleman
a til Ilia friends used to rs turn again, mei again, and a alt,
to their favourite topics, until they got what they canted.
(L eel cheer. front the free traders.) Now he 'rancid to
prevent those who opposed his views rout doing the same—
(hero., hear)—jut 14.44 r that he and his friends. might di-cues
Nome atettract polluted questions, and thee divert. the winds
of the peep-e tram the real causes ul their distress,. But
hon. members on his (Mr Ilenlty'a) aide held their opinions
hentoth , and were nut to be put down by twaddle abut
waste of time.
600 U. BENTINCK wished to sive an explanation with
rote renca to ~,,, thug( that hod alien from the right hon.
uentleman the member for the Usiv.nsity et Oxlord ( Mr.
Gl►dstone). Ile hod charged that right hon. gentlens
and he now repeated the charge—with having Butted and
misled the hove hy a return of the home coesuinotion or
silk for a perisel of 10 years down to 1843, purposely 1.-acing
out 1841, in which year there was a large increase. He had
done this, in oriter to chow a great increase in 1846 and
1847, with which two years he bed cowered the dt-ot node'
period telt reed to This was not a track and msnly state-'
in+ jut, bu' ohe celestial, d to mystify and mid-ad. On the
au'•Ject of ,iinber, sec whole of hi. (Lord George'.) argument
had referred to 1848, set the right lioneurehle geed man
had met it by referring to the cri.i• of 1847.
Hu rs (titillated the charge of the right honourable
gentleman upoositr (Mr. Gibson) as to his wish to make
sugar dear, end said that he had heen struggling in committee
upstairs to get th duty on colonialsug sr seduced a halfpenny
a pound, in which he had been opposed by the right bon
:entlimen. He (lend George) had also been charged with
waati.•g time, by mikiog a speech on an unopposed return ;
but it *as only slice he hod made his speech that the return
had seen corm-wed tn. Alter this was done the right hose
gentleman (Mr. Gibson', had risen in his plate, and waved
the time of the house, not by discussing the question lie lore
it, but by discug.ing whether it was right or not the' the
house should have i. holiday next de)/ to see the Derhy.
(Hear.) Ile (Lev.' George) was at a loss to ilts-
oover why the right hon. gentleman should have
tak. n such an abhorrence to the Downs at Epsom,
utiless it were that he had been proposed by
Sir Thos. Gooch lor the representation of the county of
Eaffolk, as the most privatising prorectiosist vote—(leughtir)
--and the right hon. gentleman knew what a choltine hilt
the re was at Room for wilts that were disposed to run Jody.
(Laughter.) Ile (L•ord Orange) denied that he looks d tin .11
breign imporboion. as of ; hut it was a greet evil that,
whilst the rioters of our own colonies ware paying a du y
♦.ryong from 60 to 127 per cent , foreign production•, whe-
ther agricultural or us snuractured, should not pay at least an
equal tea. (Hear.) Alter thanking the house tor the petience
wall which+ it he tad him. the returns were ordered.
WALSALL ELECTION PETITION.
The SI'E ul El. int•-rmed the heir that he had received
notice that it war rot the intention el the twines...re its the
case to petite. d with the petition against the return for the
borough of Weigel'.
PARLIAMENTARY REFORM

U ME said that he was very sorry that at that late hour
he could not proceed with the motion of which he had given
notice. (Cries of "Go on, go on.") It woe then peat l t
o'clock. (" Go on.") lion. members who cried "Goon "
would allow him to judge wh .t he thought he-t to do. Ile
knew the duty be had undertaken, and that it would lie
im-
possiole for him at that hour to state what he thought roniht
to be stated with respect to so important a question. ( Hear,
hear.) And to leave the matter in doubt would he the worst
of all courses. (Hear, hear.) lie had been waiting the
whole evening in order to bring the quer ion forward, and
no person was more disappo.nted than he was a• not being
able to do no. lie found that the first open day would be
the 20th of June. (" Rear, hear," and I tighter from the
opposition benches.) Ile would fix the motion for that day,
an I he hoped he would then meet with no impediment.
(Laughter.)
Mr. F. O'CONNOR moved the adjournment of the house
in order that there should be a motion betore the hduse on
which he could speak. lie agreed with the hon. member
for Montrose that he should be allowed to speak for himself,
but he hoped that in future he would not undertake to
'eek for the country. (Cheers from the opposition.) On a
former occasion lie had cane from a g. eat distance in speak
on the motion. lie had deceived him (Mr. O'Connor) a first
time, but it would be his own fault if the hon. member for
Montrose deceit, d him a second time. (Laughter.) Tue
hon. member for Os ford was quite right in saying that the
subject of the hon. gentleman's motion was but " a tub to
the whale." It was an important subject, however ; but it could
hive been brought on that night, and the d. hate adjourned
The hon. m, caber for Monts se salted the working classes to
fraternise with the middle classes, and he lima -It had come
to the conclusion—bat with grew- violence to his (relines—
(laughter) —to abate a great portion of the principles he had
always strenuoivily advocated, and which he would always
continue to savor ate. lie had not been well treated, fur
were it nut for the insurance of the hon. member that he '
would bring the subject forward on the first opportunity, hr
(Mr. O'Ciiiing r) would bring on his motion. Attar the
middle classes making an appeal to the working clas.es for
union, and after having been before deluded by the middle
classes, he asked the hon. member for ilontroee whether he I,
thought it likely that he for one, or that the working Owes,
would confide in Aim' (Cheers from the opposition.) lie
told the hon. gentleman, and those with whom he acted,
that they must make a determined stand. They had jug-
gled the people for the last month, and now they were going
to postpone the question for another month, wh he
might have brought it forward th it night, and the debate I
would be adourned. Ile wu uot surprised that hon.
gentlemen opposite should think they obtained a great
triumph, and that they should smile and treat with derision
the position in which the hon. member bad placed his con-
stituents. (Laughter.) lie would not be a party to such
" a delusion, mockery, and snare." (" Hear, bear "
from the opposition.) lie would not be a party
to coun•elling the working classes to place confidence 1,
in men who he believed in hie soul and conscience only in.
tended to use them for their own purposes. (Loud oppoei-
tion cheers) He believed thet the country would not be
satisfied at the postponement of the motion, and he agree d
with the hon. member for Oxford that it was only " a tub to
the whale." (Laughter.)
Mr. COI3DEN.--1 think there can he but one opinion in
the house and in the mind of every honest and intelligent
man in the country, that my hon. friend the member for
Montrose is blameless for the delay which hits taken pine.
(Hear, hear.) I think no reasonable man will suppose that
any man, having the conduct of so important a question,
ought to bring it forward at 11 o'clock at night. (Hear.)
I object to so important a question being discussed at that
hour, and if it was brought on at five o'clock I question if a
whole evening would suffice for its pro. er discussion. (Hear,
hear ) The hon. gent. man has undertaken to give advice,
not in very courteous or complimentary language, to my hon.
friend. (Hear.) If I might venture to give advice to my
hon. friend. I advise him that in the conduct of this import-
ant question he will out follow the advice and still less the
exam,le of the hon gentleman—(eicers)—who calls him-
self the leader of th • working ammo+, and who for nine
years has been advocating the people's charter.
Mr. O'CONNOR—Fifteen years.
Mr. COBDEN—I believe the hon. gentleman himself
stated the other day at the Convention that, after bin 15
years of leadership, he had but one man in the house on
whom he could depend, in his own absence, to advocate the
principles of the charter. (Name, name.) I believe one I
member was mentioned, but I do not know who be weal
(Laughter.) I think that one fact is sufficient to warn my
hon. friend how he follow the track of the hon. member for
Nottingham ; and if anything can open the eyes of the
working classes of this country to a just sense of the value of
the leadership of the hon. member, it is the position in which
their cause has been placed in this house, and in the country,
by the hon. gentleman, after his fifteen years of leadership.
Sir, I have had a long experience of the hon. gentleman,
and he will not accuse me of any personal hostility towards
him, for certainly no man has lavished so many compliments
on roe as the hon. member for Nottiagham; and,
with my experience of his conduct out of this house,
by contriving to array the working classes against
every man who was disposed to assist them in carrying
forward their objects, if' trey wished them to succeed—l say
the hon. member has done more to retard the political pro-
gress of the working closes than any public man who ever
lived in thin country. (Hear, hear.) I speak after a long
experience of the hon. gentleman ; and no person has •
better right to speak on this subject than I.
For seven years I had directed against me the retention Mo-
tility of the hon. gentleman while advocating what I be-
lieved then, and what I believe still to be, the cause of the
working classes—l mean the abolition of the tax on food.
(Hear, hear.) That hon. gentleman did all he could to array
the working classes against me on that subject, and I had
more hostility to encounter from him and his party than I
had from the Duke of Buckingham and all his followers.
(Hear, hear.) What was the result ? I never fraternised
with the hon. gentleman or his myrmidons-1 never frater-
nised or succumbed to them for a moment. (lieu, heu.)
I always treated him as the leader of a small insignificant
and powerless party. I never identilied.him with the
mass p
ot the working elutes of the country. (Hear, hear.)
I treated him then, as I treat him now, not as the leader of
the working claws of the country, but as the leader of
an organised faction of the smallest portion of the commu-
nit. (Hear, hear.) I never failed to beat him and Ids
followers in public assemblies in every county in the king-
dom. (Hear, hear.) I speak for myself, and only for my•
self ; but in any agitation which I enter upon for the political
franchises of the working classes, as I never have, I
never will, fraternise with the hon. gentleman or his orga-
nised followers ; and, as I said before a hundred times, I
say again, that I set them at defiance now. (Hear, hear.) I
exhort my hon. friend not to be deluded by anything that
fells from the hon. gentleman as to his power with the Sort-
ing classes of the country. As he was weak before, he is
powerless now ; and as to his authority with them, it is
equally unimportant and uninfluential with respect to any
political question. (lieu' hear.) My hon. friend may feel
assured, notwithstanding the unwarrutteble and ferocious
attack of the hon. gentleman, that the people of this coun-
try would not withdraw that confidence which the great
mass of the nation had in him. (Loud cheers )
)44. O'CONNOTX.—When tht 401 L, 1,141 t