The Sun.
London, England, 1852-06-08 00:00:00

PUBLIC BUSINESS.

. - -
The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER then rose
and said,—l promised to-day to state to the House the
views of her Majesty's Government with respect to the
business that is before the House, and in reference to its ex-

peditious dispatch. It was my intention originally to have
selected this day to express these views. I thought that
as soon as we sat after the holidays it would be desirable
that we should come to some conclusion on this subject;

but the reason why I fixed on this day was that I thought
the House would be indisposed to have the explanation of
the views of Government made on the first day after
they met, and that it would be reasonable, instead of
taking the fag. end of the week, to select the first Monday
after we assembled for business. If it had not been my in-
tention to fix on this day, it would not have been possible
for me to consider the dispatch of this duty, in consequence
of the appeal and memorable spech made by a Right Hon.
Gentleman on the re-assembling of the House. That
Right Hon. Gentleman is one who necessarily and justly
exercises a very great influence over the opinion of this
House, and though, indeed, he is listened to with great
respect upon all subjects, on none is his opinion more re-
garded, than in the copduct of public business. The
statement of that Right Honourable Gentleman was calcu-

fated very much to arrest public attention, and to produce a
very considerable effect in the House, especially among those '
not very familiar with the details of the subjects the Right
Hon. Gentleman spoke upon. Certainly he conveyed an impres-
sion to the House and to the country that the state of public
business was extremely unsatisfactory ; that there was a
vast accumulation of business, with a very slender prospect
of its being disposed of, and that at the end of the present
session there would be no possibility of • dealing with the ac-
cumulation before us of business, all of which, as the Right
Hon. Gentleman very truly stated, was of a highly important
and pressing character. The Right Hon. Gentleman said,
on that occasion, that he felt deeply on the subject, that he
viewed it with great apprehension, and that it was with no
ordinary feelings of apprehension and upon no ordinary sub-
ject that he spoke, because it was not the mere reputation of
this particular House which was at stake, in the opinion of
the Right Hon. Gentleman—though the reputation even of
this House, I think, must be dear to him—but it was really
a fear that if we did not take care we should bring represen-
tative government itself into disrepute.—( Hear, hear.) And,
that there may be'no mistake on the matter, I will quote the
words which the Right llon. Gentleman repeated that he
feared :

" This assembly, which has, been the great landmark o
representative government and the great example of repre.
sentative assemblies throughout the world, will be brought
into disrepute.

And that it will appear we are unable to transact our own
businesS. Now, Sir, it would be—it must be—a most serious
state of affairs which could warrant such words from such a
man. The Right Honourable Gentleman did not confine
himself on that occasion—listened to as he was with becoming
attention by the House—to a mere general expression of
the apprehensions under which he was suffering. lie went
into very great detail on the subject; he took a minute re-
view of the state of the business before the House; he called
the attention of the House to the various subjects before
them, grouping the several Bills on all-important matters
in that clear and perspicuous manner which he always
commands ; and he laid down the data from which he
drew the inference ho communicated to us; and which,
in his opinion, warranted the apprehensions he felt. Indeed,
I read in a very great authority on the day following that it

was evidently an herculean task to deal with the -business
before the House of Commons; and that even to form a
catalogue of it, or to enumerate it in detail, required the
colossa power of intellect for which we are all willing to
give the Right Hon. Gentleman credit.—(Laughter.) Under
these circumstances, I felt an unusual responsibility placed
upon me in the position, for which I am every day more
aware lam not calculated, I felt it was a terrible responsi-
bility to incur, that under the guidance which I had been
able to give to the business of the House, assisted by the
kindness of Honourable Members on both sides of the
House, I had brought public business not only to a perilous,
but tree disgraceful position.—(Hear, hear.) Well, Sir, under
that feeling I have examined, with all the assiduity the
circumstances of the case required, the state of the public
business before us. Peeling that I am responsible for its
general position, I have endeavoured to see if I could in
some degree escape from the consequence of neglect of duty,
or from the results of that incapacity with which, though
the Right Honourable Gentleman was courteous enough not
to charge me, he must have felt I was liable to be accused of.
Under the challenge and appeal of the Right Hon. Gentle-
rea
nerl3llL
he referriercle.sp
will examine very briefly the business now before us,
elcwtellainfdolluolwtimthaetenrfdaeter
taken
eanll the Bills to whicho
nowt i
gfahmt
Hon.ili a r
the evening referred to theby the Right Hon.
Gentleman, because it isonus
tGoenthtleemna
particu-
larly
impressed on the House
the importance of the Bills
for legal reform which are before e
On
them—Bills of their kind
probably inferior in importance
House. The Right Hon. Gentlemant nobusiness before the
on Thursday, when the
House assembled, said, with reference to three of these Bills
—first, to the Common Law Proeedu
secondly, to the Equitable JarisdictionrlliliA.mendment Bill;
the Bill for the Abolition of Masters in Chit' and,
thirdly, to
Hon. Gentleman said, to use his own phrase, and the Right
his own language, " Not one step has yet been taken° pursue
nurttes
House with regard to any of these three Bills beyond their
introduction." He expressed a hope on Thursday that I
would on Monday be able to give some information on this
subject, and I have now the pleasure of reminding the Right
Hon. Gentleman, that as to both of the Common Law Juris-
diction ips in 1
Bill for the Abolition of Mastersh* • diction Bills, and the
Chancery, with respect to which not one step had been taken,
very important by '
steps have been taken this time, and all I
three have been re
ad a second time.—(Hear, hear.) But
of legal
other Billsreform beside those to
there were two oth
which the Right Hon.
Gentleman also alluded—the
Suitors in Chancery
Relief Bill, and the Bill respect.
law of making wills. As the Right
ing alterations in the
Hon. Gentleman, so great an authority upon all subjects but
very highest in this
reform, the
On the subject of legal .
was impossible ossible to exaggerate
House, said, on Thursday, it was
' tPce of those questions.
the magnitude, difficulty, and impor an
to inform the Right
Well, on Monday, I have the pleasure .
magnitude, difficulty,
Hon. Gentleman that those two Bills, the
and importance of which could not be exceeded, have en-
tirely passed through this House.—(Cheers.) So much for
these important bilk on legal reform—two of them having
entirely passed the House of Commons, three of them having
been read a second time, and no material opposition being
anticipated to their progress, I think her Majesty's Govern-
ment are not arrogant or presumptuous in saying that they
would pass the Legislature and become law without at all
interfering with that termination of. Parliament which is
now so rife in every one's mouth. Well, the Right Hon.
Gentleman then proceeded, with all the clearness which cha-
racterizes his mature statements, to another group of Bills
which were still on the table—those which he de-
scribed as colonial Bills. On Thursday last, calling
on me on Monday to give an aceount of the intentions of
' Government, with that influence which became his situation,