The Express.
London, England, 1861-05-17 00:00:00

PRINCESS ALICE'S ANNUITY BILL.

Bees Mr. Justice Will.. and Mr. Justice Keating ap-
peared at the her in their robes, and advancing to the table,
accompanied by the Deputy Serjeant-at-Arms, Mr. Justice
Wilke informed the Speaker that the House of Lords had
speed to the Princess Alice's Annuity Bid, without any
amendment.

Sir W. HEATHOOTE, en the departure of the two
learned judges, proceeded, and said he had the honour of
sitting on the committee of last year with regard to the
unfortunate dispute between the Lords and the Commons,
and be came to the same conclusion as that which the noble
lord at the head of the government bad so ably elated to
the house, that the House of Lords had exercised a
legitimate sod proper authority is the mune they pursued.
He believed there was DO departure on the present comics
from the course which had been established by president.
General PEEL said the meatier' whether there was a
balance of revenue depended as much upon the accuracy of
the estimates of expenditure as upon those of income, and
he suggested grounds for doubting whether all the items of
charge had been taken into account, and asked for explana-
tions regarding those iterns.
The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER furnished
the desired explanations, and, naming by matters of per-
mord controversy, proceeded to discuss the constitutional
question sad the subject of " tacking," replying to the ar-
gument of Yr. Naodonough, who, he said, had been
misled by an old case in 1576, overlooking modern cases,
est.nblishieg the practice of parliament. He referred
to • gnat variety of precedents, showing the power
of combination of different provisions in the same financial
measure exercised by the House of Commons to a wider
extent than in the present bill. The practice, he observed,
was not only justified by precedent, but by reason and
convenience, the several matters in the bill, essentially
homogeneous, being items of one and the same amount.
That to originate mattere of finance was the exclusive right,
and duty, and burden of the House of Commons was the
doctrine of the constitution, and to divide thin function
between two distinct and independent bodies would lead
to utter confusion. Did that house claim the right to
adjust income and expenditure? If it did, the course
token by the government was, he insisted, the most
advantageous and the most respectful course.
The right honourable gentleman continued :—The
power of this house must always remain greater than that
of the House of Lords, but I believe that the infringement
of the privileges of the House of Lords or of
its functions, would be as fatal to the constitution
as would be the leas of the Ovaries of this house itself.
But do not let us resort to mere vague expressions. Let us
know what we DM about. As I understand this bill, it is
a bill which, without being intended to revive even the re-
collection of any irritating question, is intended, and is
also calculated to give to the House of Commons security
is the possession of those powers which are absolutely
wee /au for the discharge of one of its primary duties.
That 1 think is a fair description, at lout so far
as I am concerned, of what is intended by
thin bill. Do let us have • similar description
of what is intended lay those who object. Do let us know
if you say there is no distinction between matters of legisla-
tion and matters of finance, sod that it is as much the
duty of the House of Lords to revise and Liter the financial
legislation of the House of Comm" as it is to revise
and alter any provision in any common act of parliament.
That is the question. That would bee mode of procedure
which would enable us in some degree to know what we
are about, because I must observe that except
my right honourable Mead the member for
Strand, who certainly excited, I believe, great senti-
ments of satisfaction in those who perhaps entertained the
same opinions but who had not the courage to avow them—
except my right boo. friend the member for Stroud the,.
was not a man in the House of Commons who during
the discussions of last year questioned the doctrine that it
' was the exclusive duty of the House of Commons to regu-
late the income and efiargeo of the country, although they
contended that the House of Lords exercised last year a
right given to them by the oonstitutioe. I see my
right hon. friend the member for Stroud. This budget,
unfortunately, finds no favour in his eyes. He rye this
budget gives a mortal stab tithe constitution. Now 1 wont to
know what constitution it gives • mortal nab to. (longliter.)
In my opinion it gives no stab at all ; but, as far as it
alters, it alters so as to revive and restore the good old
coostitutioe which took its root in Samoa times, which
groused under the Plantagenet', which endured the hard
nibs of the Tudors, which resisted the Stuarts, and which
had now come to maturity coder the House of Brunswick.
I think that constitution will be all.the better for the opem
Um (Cheers.) As to the constitution lehl down by my
right bun. friend, under which there is to be • division of
function and office between the House of Commons and
the House of Lords with regard to noise the income and
charge of the country from year to year, both of
them being equally responsible for it, which means that
neither would be responsible, as far es that constitution is
concerned, I cannot Delp saying that In my humble opinion
the sooner it receives nmmia stab the better. (Cheers.)
As to the form of the bill which has bees presented by the
government to the house, I cannot conclude without ex-
pressing my full conviction that, both in numbers and in
authority, it will be found to have the very general assent
of the house, and I am convinced likewise that it is sot less
likely to receive the spproval of the couotry. Nor do linear
simply of temporary or paining favour but it will be ap.
proved by the deliberate judgment of the country, as being
conducive to its best and permanent interests, and as bring
a proposal and a plan conceived io the true spirit of the con.
et tutien......(Cheete.) -

Mr. HORSIIAN said be was not prepared to blame the
Chancellor of the Exchequer fur the course he had adopted •
but in his argument be had narrowed the imue to one of
precedent. It was not, however, so much a question of
precedent as of principle and policy. There was a motive
in the proceeding, a predetermined necessity to limit the
pretensions of the other house ; the form adopted was
chosen in order to correct something that was amiss. But,
while correcting the pest and providing for the future, they
wens indirectly reversing the judgment of the Howie of
Peers, and in reality passing a censure upon it. proceed-
ings. Yr. Harman dwelt upon the dangers attending an
inordinate growth of power in the House of Commons,
arguing that it tended to the concentration of authority in
a single chamber, which would become a tyranny ; that the
poorest beggar in the land had as great an interest in
maintaining a second chamber as in upholding a House of
Commons, because, without a second chamber, there must
be either a despotism or a republic. The speeches in sup-
port of the bill, he remarked, had attempted to connect
it with the resolutions of last year; but, to prove that
this was an afterthought, he appealed to the speech of
Lord Palmerston, in supporting the resolutions.
The noble lord's speech was in fact a justification of the
Lomb, and the Chancellor of the Exchequer made no secret
of his treatiug the resolutions as a mere formula and
Candwork for future w-tion. They had no complaint spinet
Clianoellor of the Exchequer, who supported his opinions
manfully and bad obtaioed that mastery in the cabinet
which • man who was willing to sacrifice hie place for hie
convictions would always obtain over feebler men who were
equally ready to mcrifiee their convictions for their plea,.
(Cheers and laughter from the opposition.) He must ro•
epect the victor in such &struggle, whatever he might think
of the vanquished. The noble lord bad last 0114100 pledged
!Oman that there should be no fresh action nukes the
Lords gays fresh provocation. He wee sorry to Ind now
that that implied, if not expromods pledge wee not le be