The Sun.
London, England, 1863-05-29 00:00:00

millions would be necessary to complete the works in con-
templation. He wished to see the country placed in an
adequate state of deience, but he desired that the money
spent should be laid out to the best advantage. Mr. Osborne
next referred to the Armstrong guns, which he believed
o oerthe regretted pain
would, after all, prove to be very costly failures. Sir Wm.
Armstrong had di iven an exceedingly good bargain, and,
after putting the country to an expense of three or four mil-
lions, had retired Irons the directorship of the Ordnance, for
which he was to receive £2,000 a year, and £90,000 for
c conduct
d ut c
breaking his contract. We took up these things in an enor-
mous hurry, paid an enormous price, and found that we had
been fools eor u
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say
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Sir a ti o
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T(the House of Lords) from which no traveller returned," he
Russell,id he thought h
domestic policy had been fitly characterised by the term of
" expressive
appear capable even of settling the question of church rates,
which was
not
a difficult and masterly
n
r e lialweny d y
did nat
t
last been obliged to abandon it, notwithstanding the talk
which had been indulged in about the British lion not sub •
mit(ing to this obnoxious tax. If the question was to be set-
tled at all it must be settled by the Government, who might
introduce a wise and moderate measure that would satisfy
both parties, But the people might rest satisfied that while
they remained so apathetic they would have no reform in this
or in any other matter. The measure which the Government
might and ought to take up was the question of reform in
the criminal law. Sydney Smith had said that railway re-
form would never be brought about until a bishop was burnt;
and it was not until a member of Parliament had been gar-
rotted near the ugly monument in Pall-mall that the Legis-
lature had seriously directed their attention to the necessity
of dealing with those hardened villains who had been let
loose on society by the ticket-of-leave system. But, instead
of dealing with these ruffians, and acting on the evidence
at hand, the Government has merely appointed a commis-
sion, the result of which would be an inquiry and the
publication of two or three blue-books ; after which the
matter would be forgotten. (Laughter.) Under the present
system criminals were treated with a degree of consideration
that made the gaol a rather desirable place of abode ; and, in
ruffians experienced
of the maudlin sympathy that existed, these
experienced a degree of comfort that was unknown
to many honest and hardworking poor man. (Applause.)
Commissions had also been appointed to inquire into the
systems of promotions in the navy, and another had been ap-
pointed with respect to the Ordnance, but "commission" was
only another word for " procrastination." (Hear.) He had
been disappointed on one subject ; when Sir R. Bethell was
appointed Lord Chancellor he had expected to see some use-
ful and much wanted measures of legal reform introduced ;
but accession to the woolsaek seemed to have brought for-
getfulness of the past. There was one man in the Govern-
ment to whom the country might look with hope—he meant
Mr. Gladstone, whose efforts in the way of financial reform
entitled him to the gratitude of the country. It was an
agreeable thing to find that Mr. Gladstone in his last bud-
get had reduced the income tax; and he (Mr. Osborne)
thought that by judicious management the tax might be
dispensed with altogether. He applauded the courage of
the Chancellor of the Exchequer in bringing forward the
subject of the taxation of charities, and believed that, al-
though opposition was shown to it now, the time must come
when this question will be dealt with on its merits. The
only complaint he had to make against Mr. Gladstone was
that after having made out such a good case against the mis-
management—the swilling and guzzling that went on
under the name of charity—he had not brought in a
bill for the reform of all the charities throughout Eng-
land. (Applause.) Mr. Gladstone was a man to whom
the people might look with confidence to sway the financial
destinies of the country. He would eventually rise to a
higher position than he had yet done, and if he pursued his
present course, as a practical reformer of expenditure and
finance, he ought to receive the support of the country.
(Hear, hear.) The hon. member, after regretting the death
of Sir C. Lewis, glanced at the recent changes in the
Ministry, and expressed his objection to the policy of placing
so much of the Ministerial power in the House of Lords.
The Secretary of War and the First Lord of the Admiralty
had both great funds at their disposal, and, as the House of
Commons voted those funds, those two officials ought to be
in the lower house. (Applause.) The effect of the Reform
Bill, so far as it concerned the Liberal party, had been to
throw the great Ministerial power into the House of Lords
—and we had now probably the strongest aristocratic Minis-
try ever seen. He did not decry the aristocracy, and thought
it a good thing that the wealth and the nobility of the
country should be adequately represented in the councils of
the nation—but he thought that the Government had
thrown too much of the power of the Ministry into the
House of Lords. He thought Lord Ripon well qualified for
the situation he held, but would have preerred to ate him
as Lord Goderich in the House of Commons. Coming back
to the state of parties, the hon. member proceeded in a
humorous vein to describe the effete Tories and Whigs of
the old school. We no longer raw any specimens of the old
gentlemen who were formerly de2icted in yellow leathers
and drab- coloured tops. They were extinet—poesibly,a spe-
cimen migh t be found in the red sandstone of Devon— (laugh-
tee)—possibly,the jaw bone which had recently created such
a sensation in France might have been the jaw bone of an
aboriginal Tory. (Great laughter.) The Whigs pure,but not
simple, were also extinct. A few might be found. In the
Ashmolean Museum at Oxford there was a rare specimen of
a bird—the dodo—Which had neither wings nor tail, and
possibly a few u ondering dodos might be found in the House
of Lords—(shouts of laughter)—but the great Whig party
was extinct. He might be asked, and ho would like to
know, what bad become of the great Liberal party—the
party that had introduced the Reform Bill. They were like
the great Federal army on the Rappahannock—they were
well provisioned and well supplied,but were without leaders
—the consequence was that they were dispirited and disor-
ganised, and their policy was one of retreat rather than of
advance. The leaders were performing a kind of Dutch
concert, each man playing upon his own particular in-
strument—(laughter)—Mr. Berkeley performing an annual
pipe upon the ballot, and Mr. Bright upon. peace
—(laughter)—and while the country remained so apathetic
we might take it for granted that no useful measures of re-
form would be carried. He did not see why the two races
mentioned being extinct, a new one should not be created
in which the best elevation of the political spirit of the age
should be blended, and which would be pledged to carry on-
ward the cause of progress and reform. The great thing
to be grappled with in this country was the taxation. The
taxation was too great—it had increased, and was increas-
ing, and ought to be diminished—(cheers)—but it never
would be so long as the people were content to back up the
Ministry in being frightened of foreign Powers and in in-
curring enormous expenses in armaments. (Applause.)
Let the country be properly prepared for defence, but he
implored them not to be led away by foolish ideas of inva-
sion into spending excessive sums which would burden not
only themselves, but their posterity. (Applause.)
A vote of confidence was passed in the hon. member.