The Sun.
London, England, 1852-03-16 00:00:00

that P •
arliament need be prolonged.—(Hear.) As regarded
Protection, ha could hardly reconcile the various declarations
shat had been made, but would accept those of Mr. Walpole,
• and avowed himself alike indisposed to the reversal and the
Government what they intended to do in a new Parliament,
but the demand he made was not an unfair one, from those
:Who knew they had a majority and he hoped that Ministers
-raid not drive the Free-traders to a disagreeable alterna-
.ave- It was, he reminded the House, not with demonstra-
en but with a practical issue that they had nnw to do
• They had so to act that, in a few months hence, Protection
- h bespoken of as a thing that was past and gone, upon
e deliberate verdict of a nation.—(Hear.)
•„, M. B. COCHRANE addressed the House for a few mi-
'',_44439, but the noise prevented his being distinctly heard. He
-waft understood to say that Hon. Gentlemen on the opposite
aide had asked Ministers to explain the principles of their
IMicy, but had given no answer to the question put to them
as to the principle on which they grounded their opposition.
.The Hon. member then referred to the conduct of the Noble
Lord, the late Prime Minister, when in opposition,
and having taunted some of the Liberal party for toe
14:,./arse they had pursued, referred specially to the
—"Lath M6mher for Sheffield— the Andrew Marvell of the
Ilouse—whom be accused of " daring audacity and fluent
'acerbity," and concluded by declaring that all he could say
.:r_as, that he knew no more agreeable reading than the " His-
of the Whigs," by Roebuck, unless, perchance the
".History of Roebuck," by Coppock.—(oh, oh.) He should
'.cordially support the Government.
Lord PALSIERSTON then rose and said —" I am anxi-
aus before this debate concludes to state very shortly, and in
4.eiew words, the view which I, as an invididual member of
this House, take of the present position of Government, and
eeof the duty which I think lies upon this House. The Right
'4on. Gentlemen who have spoken from the Treasury bench
have disclaimed any wish to appeal to the forbearance of
this House. I, on the contrary, am willing, on my own
:part, and I think the House ought to be willing on its
Part to show to them all the forbearance which the peculiar
Position in which they have been placed, I think, in the
Present state of things entitles them to. Their position is
• Perfectly anomalous, and in principle unconstitutional. It is
accidental. Therefore, no blame attaches to them, but they
are a minority proposing and intending to carry on the
• business of the country in a House of ,Commons in which
they form the minority. It is obvious that that state of
things could not under ordinary circumstances last for any
• period of time whatever. The course which a Government
sander those circumstances would have properly to pursue
would be, either to advise the Crown to dissolve Parliament
and appeal to the country, or to resign office. They have
recently been placed in power by the resignation of that
party which up to a recent period formed the majority,
and still form the majority of this House. A resignation,
therefore, would not be consistent with the decision which
they formed when they undertook to form an Administra-
. 1101 i. Now a dissolution at the present moment in the
:State of business in this House is avowedly by the
consent of all parties an impossibility. The House should,
i therefore, give them their forbearance until they can conduct
L cn,l? necessary business of the country so as to enable them to
ssolve Parliament. They have stated some measures
Which they think of importance. With regard to some of
' tnern I entirely agree with my Right Hon. Friend who has
aliokfla recently from this bench, but there are one or two
:which are of importance, and they must be carried. The
3lca/lures, whatever- they may be, which they propose to in-
troduce for the internal defences of the country, are measures
• Peculiarly necessary if a dissolution is to take place. The
Very fact of a dissolution being in prospect renders it still
ire incumbent on them to carry a measure of that sort.
with regard to eliancery, the prospect of a Chancery suit is
Ot Very encouraging to those who think that an early dis
aolution is desirable.—(Laughter.) I say, then, the House
*4,4 to show forbearance to her Majesty's Government,
') eil they shall have carried the necessary business of
theef country to a state in which a dissolution can take
place; but I do think that her Majesty's. Government will,
an the principle of good faith to the House and the
tt
tnrYs 'on the principle of regard to their own consis-
s•
eueY, and the principles they have hithert mainained.
they will lose no time in taking theo t sense of the
• Qountry on the great principle of our commercial policy,
Which they have avowed their intention at some time to
2, ":Itee Then, Sir, I think more, that, having taken the sense
,
'"0 the country, it is their duty to call Parliament together
' fs, again at an early period, so that in the course of the present
e„naaon the next House of Commons may ceme to a final de-
ee',don on this grave question. If this question is to be
L'unTeed to hang up until the ordinary meeting` of Parlia-
ment in the commencement of the ensning,year, it is my firm
7oviction that such a course would be attended with the
"tiniest inconvenience to the public interests. And there-
fore. Sir, it seems to me that the Government ought not only
take the earliest possible opportunity, consistent with the
course of Parliament.. to dissolve the House of Commons
rd appeal to the country; and, further, that there should
s•
ee a clear understanding between the Government and this
~_-'°nae. that so soon as in the regular course of things the
'"el► Parliament should be assembled, the sense of that
tt
assemblage should be forthwith taken on this great
s.';, lead insportant question.—( Hear, hear.) Sir, what
'"e result of a general election will be, I myself
can entertain not the slightest doubt ; because
I am convinced that the great mass of the
:intelligence of this country has long ago made up its mind
an the question at issue between the two sides of the House.
''(Hear, hear.) It might, no doubt, have been a matter of
argument tit the time when the sliding scale existed whether
'a compromise might not have been effected in a moderate
fixed duty, which might have lasted for many years, and
~'.Satisfied the feelings and interests of all classes of the com
. ev„
,I,:hunity. But it is quite a different thing when the question
!lais been settled and decided six years ago; when the feel-
-1 flings. interests, and hopes of the community have been
„714dapted to the present state of things.—(Hear, hear.) It is
'quite a different thing to propose that the policy should be
reversed, and that a duty should be placed on the food of the
,Door.—(Hear, hear.) Sir, I should hope that the untie-
• °tied prospect which has been held out to us of the
possibility that in a new Parliament that question might not
• brought forward, I hope, I say, that that prospect. may be
realised, because I would think it a grave and most mu-
, "tons proposition on the part of the Government to re-
, :Pose a duty' on the importation of corn, even if the attempt
dO SO was unsuccessful, firmly believing that the effect of
Would be to array the feelings of the poorer classes of the
' • runtry against the superior orders, in a manner that would
,' nlost destructive of that harmony and good feeling which
),„7 'aught to prevail between all classes of the people of this land.
~'(Rear.) I am satisfied that nothing could be more detri-
-4 natal to the real and true interests of the country, than to
• 'tempt to raise the price of food on the poor, in order to add
view
to 'the incomes of the rich.— (Hear.) Sir, the
g_eW which I entertain is strictly this: that the House of
• _‘qrtmons ought to assist the Government in carrying such
!eeasures as may be necessary preliminary to the dissolution
• °I Parliament, and that the Government ought to hold them-
lielyea bound to dissolve as soon as the state of business
admits of their doing so, and as soon as the elections are
• o.yer they ought again to assemble Parliament, in order that
the
controverted questions of commercial policy, on which
‘.. Late two sides of the House are at variance, should be at once
70mitted to and settled by the decision of the House of
`"atimons:=—(Hear, hear.)
• , axr. G. BERKELEY contended that instead of there
; being a greater demand for land than before, as had been
aanterted in the course of the debate, the value of landed pro-
t. VLY had greatly deteriorated under the present system.
With yegard to their West India policy, all that they
• red was that slave produce should not be admitted to
country on the same terms with the produce of free
labour.
_ Mr. M. GIBSON said the question before the House was
ilaidently that of urging upon. Government the propriety of
l
1: whom,
dissolution of Parliament ; and on the part of those
40r11,1re represented he begged most strongly to impress
'Pon the Government the necessity of a speedy appeal to the
e9antrY, in order to obtain the verdict they stated they de-
sired upon the subject of their commercial policy. Lot if he
• th properly understood the Chancellor of the Exchequer and
Home Secretary, they seemed to have chalked out
business enough to detain the House until July or August.
when he (Mr. Gibson) spoke of a " speedy dissolution," he
meant that the House should go through the army and navy
animates and the Mutiny Bill, and that then the Gavern-
luent shOuld at -once dissolve Parliament. When a dissolu-.
then -took place in June, 1831, the new Parliament on its
assembling passed a resolution for taking up all the private
business at the point where it was dropped by its predeces-
Sor; and by following that precedent on this occasion he
thought the difficulty raised by the Home Secretary might
, be
comple.:ely got rid of. He denied being actuated by tac-
tious motives; and advised. Honourable Gentlemen who re-
Presented the rural districts not to practise again upon the
credulity of thelenant-farmers, or to hold themselves up as
_
, armees' friends; for let them rest assured that though
they m' ht,
that) thet new Parliament, make some effort to show
Pc9arae had-been honourable, and that they had
- maintained a cons
-; • rate fail in theie,tneY in their conduct, they would at any
'lt if they were holt;rnitst to re-impose a duty on corn. And
' giving rise to expectationshenhopes to the tenant-farmers, and
fulfil, then, from that they would be unable to
were not acting the part of he would say that they
the farmers' friends, but doing
• all that in them lay to arrest the progress of agricultural
. improvement and conntment among the occupying tenants
of the land (Ilear, te
and Oh),
Sir J. TYR LL congratulated Lord John Russell upon
the wonderful unanimity which seemareoduntdo prevail amongst
the- Hon. Gentlemen who then sat
recollected that it was only a short time ago n'T•
mar:tblteNkhsethNeonfohhhliees
Lord committed the mistake of dismissing the
.colleagues in the Government, and that the
• Majesty's Ministers were placed in. their presentue and her
lereason of the Noble Lord having dissolved I:7ition
Cabinet far want of the necessary amount of w.
that House, he' owned that the combination whieshriPbPparrwOttliesitnn-. I
-hefted that night struck him as one of the most extraordi-
Ie rtarY that had ever occurred in the history of
Honourable Gentlemen opposite had endeavoured. to excite
- the feelings of the country; but he believed that the good
sense of the peeple of England would give her Meajestra
Ministers a fair trial, and that they would not suffer the
l*kloTernment to be displaced by a combination of heteroge-
- t neous parties.-- (Hear, hear.)
Mr. OSWALD said that the speech of the
lion. Baronet
'Who had just sat down had disappointed him very.
the'
• because he had expected he should have found
ar3eele of a plain country gentleman something he
could
understand. He thought that the country ought tobe
Balled upon at the earliest possible moment to decide upon the
411e0rnentous question at present at issue. He thought that
ll"sou. Gentlemen opposite ought to let it he known whether
• ;,,_aY meant to palter with the country as they were palter-
,
''%. with their followers. The agriculturists of Scotland had
• surmounted the present crisis ; and be did not see why the
aitTicalturists of England should not also surmount it, with-
, '1,41t the re-enactment of bad. laws, for the maintenance of bad
larrning.---(Heae,)
k , es
ue
f, r. NAWDEGATE said if they were in such hot haste
. °r a dissolution, they had it in their own hands—they had
4 Majority in that House. They did not fear delay ; but let
..ineasures first pass which were necessary for the
country, and let them have their dissolution as soon as they
Ilted- But let provision first Le made for the safety of the
country If the Noble Lord insisted upon a dissolution be-
, • fore that was done, he would risk his character as a states-
an.la,,, He did not forget what the Right Hon. Baronet (Sir
e
raised it
had said—that if the question of free trade was
'lulled it might tamper with the loyalty of the army.. They
40ught no violent measures, but justice to the great interests
of the country. They would not be allowed to narrow the
question to a fixed duty on corn. His party had proved
• . anaselves Protectionists of the interests of the poor.
: • he majoritiesfor the Factory Bill were of their party.
lee
• ei`.laY had protected the Christian character 'of the State.
• ,to Party had proved Protectionists of the Protestantism of
bee_a State, British iedustr andrish caitl, whether at
"we or on the ocean. They did riot p seek toaenrich them-
.' 'tea at the expense of those they employed. These were
• e great questions at issue whenever the question of
was raised. The Right Hon. Baronet had said
air corn-laws were abolished, and my rentals had not
—2l.eted• Why, as a landholder, I should be ashamed to re..
• hear.)
the same rents as the Right Hon. Baronet.—(Hear
6 , ,
0114 Had not the Duke of Buccleuch suffered ? Their
• eat farmers and their best labourers were emigrating. The
production of corn in the United Kingdom was less in 1851
than_ 1845 by 2,000,000 quarters. He would give another
'mane* of the effect of the late policy. The exports from