The Sun.
London, England, 1862-02-18 00:00:00

METROPOLITAN IMPROVEMENTS.

Lord FERMOY asked the First Commissioner of Works
whether any plan had been adopted for the formation of the
road to connect Bayswater with Kensington ?
Mr. COWPER said that the road in question would
pass through Kensington Gardens. There were three
modes only for the committee of Bayswater and Kensing-
ton. One of those was by a tunnel under the river, anew
bridge over the river, or an enlargement of the present bridge
ever the Serpentine. The ,carrying out of any of the plans
would involve a lage expense
OUR POLICY IN .REGARD TO AMERICA.

On the motion for going into committee of supply,
Sir H. WILLOUGHBY said that he understood the
house was about to be asked to vote the sum of £973,000 by
way of supplementary estimate for the army and navy. It
appeared to him they were in some little difficulty, because
they did not know how the accounts stood for the present
year. Last year they, voted £12,179,000 for the navy, and
3,609,000 for the army, making a total of above 26 mil-
lions three-quarters. The house did not know in what
position it stood in regard to those enormous votes—whether
they were sufficient or whether it would be necessary to take
votes in excess. He should therefore wish to know whe-
ther there was likely to be any supplementary estimate
either for the army or navy, or whether there had been a
surplus, or was likely to be one, on those grants ?

Sir G. C. LEWIS said he understood the hon. baronet to
ask whether the two supplementary estimates now on the
table would be sufficient to cover the entire excess beyond
the expenditure voted last session and appropriated, or whe-
ther some further votes would be required. When the ex-
peditions were recently sent out the accounts came in im-
perfectly, and it was impossible for the Government to say
at the present time what would be the exact amount of the
expenditure for the Ist of April next. So far as his infor-
mation went the supplementary estimates then on the table
would be sufficient to cover the whole of the excess both
for the Admiralty and the army. With respect to the
state of the law as to the transfer, of accounts from one
branch of the estimates to another, the hon. baronet was
well aware that the practice which he objected to was in
accordance with the existing law, and that in cases
of urgency the Treasury were entitled to resort to it. Ms
right hon. friend had a measure in preparation with refer-
ence to the recommendation of the Public. Monies Com
mittee. Ile (Sir G. C. Lewis) concurred in thinking that
those recommendations were extremely valuable, and he
trusted that those not already carried out would receive the
sanction of Parliament.

Mr, DISRAELI hoped the Secretary of State for War
would state whether the item of £ll,OOO for extra pay and
allowances was for extra pay and allowances for the service
on the whole year or referred only to Canada ?

Sir G. C. LEWIS—It refers to Canada only.

Mr. W. WILLIAMS, while he approved of the course
adopted by her Majesty's Government in taking prompt
measures for the protection of Canada, said he was glad to
learn that the amount of the two estimates, which nearly
amounted to a million, was sufficient to cover all the ex-
penses.

Mr. BRIGHT—Sir, before you leave the chair I should
like to make two or three observations upon this vote. I
am, of course, not going to object to the vote. I have had
too much experience in such matters to dream of such a
thing. But after the prodigious sums voted in the last two
years it may be worth while perhaps to consider whether the
expenditure of an additional million is necessary or wise or
not. lam not about to find fault with the course adopted
by her Majesty's Government with regard to the recent
transaction wi h the Government of the United States. So
far as I see anything, or expect to see anything, in the blue-
books and in the correspondence between the Foreign-
office in England and the Department of the State at Wash-
ington—so far as the despatches which were sent by Lord
Russell go—l make no complaint about them. It does not
appear to me that the request made of the American Go-
vernment was one to which they could reasonably object,
nor that the language was such that they were entitled to
complain of it. Therefore, ao far as that goes, I have no
charge to bring against her Majesty's Government, but it
does appear to me clear that there was a great inconsist-
ency between the conduct of the Foreign-office, as exhibited
in those despatches, and certain other portions of the con-
duct of the Government. It is not customary in ordinary
life for a person to send a polite messenger, with a polite
message to some friend, neighbour, or acquaintance—at the
same time send some man of portentous strength handling
a gigantic club, and making every kind of ferocious gesti-
culation, and still professing that all this is done in a most
friendly and courteous manner. That was precisely what
was done by her Majesty's Government in this particular
case, and I am anxious to explain to the house how I think
that this million is worse than thrown away, and, besides,
leaves behind the consequences of much more value, or
much more harm, than a million itself. The house will
recollect that at the very time when it was said the Cabinet
was sitting for the purpose of framing the despatch to be
sent by Saturday's boat from Liverpool to America, there
appeared in the newspapers, which were especially the
organs of the Government, language of the most violent and
offensive character, and instantaneously, probably on the
very day when the despatch itself war wr tten, steps were
taken both with regard to the army and navy, exactly such
as would have been taken if the despatch itself had been,
not a courteous demand for a just object, but rather a de-
claration of war. -Now, the effect of that upon, this country
was very obvious. It created almost an universal impres •
sion that there was something which the Government knew
and which the country did not know. Though nobody but
the Government could imagine that a cause of war could
arise out of that question, it was supposed that the Govern-
tnent either knew that war was all but inevitable, or in-
tended war, if_ war could by any possibility be made out of
it. Judging from the statements made at the time, I suppose
the answer I shall receive will be based on two theories,
which I will undertake to say are about as false and igno-
rant as were ever offered to Parliament in justification of
any public proceeding. It is said. by certain organs which
affect to represent the Government, and which are sometimes
the slave of the Government and sometimes its master, that
the Government at Washington, and Mr Seward especially,
were anxious to get into war, or into the difficulty with this
country, in order to enable them with something like credit
to get cut of the difficulty of war with the South, and under
cover of a war with England to make peace on some terms
—I presume on the terms of & separation of the North
from the South. That was one of the theories. Nothing
in the world was ever offered to a practical man more
absurd or more impossible. Mr. Seward cannot make war;
the President himself cannot make war. Mr. Seward
and the President together cannot make war, but the
President and the Congress of the United States can make
war. We may be perfectly certain that it does not rest in
the brain of any one man, however eminent or however in-
genious, to consent to thedissolution of the American Union
under the cover of a war with this country. Well, the other
thing was that the Government at Washington was so en-
tirely under the direction of the mob, that the courteous de-
mand of the English Government would not and could not
be listened to by that Government—that, in fast, all this
display was not made for the purpose of overawing the Go-
vernment of Washington, but overawing the wish of the
United States, who rule the Government at Washington.
(Hear.). I see I have exactly hit the point which hon.
gentleman no doubt imagined to themselves. Hon. gentle-
men know, if they have observed the course of the United
States from its earliest history to this hour, that probably
there never has been a great nation in which what may fairly
he frrrnod mob Irian has been loco knuwu 17r has loco in-
fluence. (Laughter.) Where every man has a vote, rash
law and club law must necessarily disappear. (Oh, oh,
and laughter.) Understand, I confine my observations to
the Free States of the North. (A laugh.) If any gentleman
think that lam not fairly describing the case, I ask him to
look to the circumstances which have occurred, and he must
come to the conclusion that the Government of Washing•
ton, whether in the removal of a Minister or the recogni-
' tion of the fairness of the demand of England and: tho sur-
render of two men perhaps more hateful to them than any
' other men who exist. in the world, ha . o not been influenced
by the motives attributed to them. A man must bo preju-
diced beyond all power of conviction to say that the Go-
vernment of -Washington in this matter, or in any other
during the last few months, haft been influenced by the
action of the mob to any extent which exceeds that' which
is found to prevail in almost every country in Europe The
noble lord at the head of the Government and his sup-
'porters will of course have the advantage over me. They
will say, and I cannot prevent them saying so, that what-
ever may be wrong in the noble lord's policy, that policy
has been crowned with a:certain success—but that argu-
ment is not conclusive to show that the policy itself
was right. I have not the smallest doubt myself that the
only thing which made it a question whether these men
would be surrendered was not the tenor of the despatch
from the Foreign .office, but the tone of the organs of the
press of this country which are known to represent a sec-
tion of the Government, and the moving regiments and
ships in a manner which must have operated as a menace