The Sun.
London, England, 1854-07-14 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, FRIDAY EVENING, JULY 14, 1854,

for a number of years had somehow or other contrived to
carry on the Government of the country, personally speak-
ing, with admirable ability ; he was a ripe and skilful de-
bater, and, in his opinion, no uncommon orator; and yet
the secret spell of his administration was in always avoid-
ing questions of difEculty. (A laugh.) This question
might be a difficult one, but after their professions in
1846, he insisted that the Government were bound to do
something with regard to the tenure of land in Ireland,
and he hoped the hon. member who had put the question
would press for au answer. The noble lord had attempted
to meet the difficulty by reading a passage from a private
letter of the Lord-Lieutenant, but the noble lord had
never yet had a difficulty upon Irish politics which he did
not attempt to solve by reading a passage from the letter
of a Lord-Lieutenant. (A laugh.) The right hon. gentle-
man having justified the support which he and his party
gave to the second reading of Mr. Sergeant Shoe's bill, al-
though they disapproved of its provisions, on the ground
that as at the time the whole question was about to be
referred to a select committee it was only fair that all
sides should be hoard in the committee, he went on to ob-
serve that the hon. and learned sergeant had been described
by the Chief Secretary for Ireland not exactly as a fol-
lower of the opposition, but as one who repudiated the
claim of the Government to his support. The right hon.
baronet said the hon. and learned gentleman was not one
of those who honoured the Government with their sup-
port. Well, he (Mr. Disraeli) confessed at this advanced
period of the sex-ion he would not enter into the inquiry,
of who were the gentlemen who honoured the Go-
vernment with their support. (A. laugh.) It was
one of those questions which might lead not only to a de-
bate but even to adjourued debates, as there was
hardly a question of the present day which was more
susceptible of breadth of treatment or more capable of
giving rise to interminable discussions. (A. laugh.) Whe-
ther after the longest discussion it could be satisfactorily
proved to the country that unbounded support which, of
course, the Government would desire, was a question they
need not now settle ; they must still leave it to be one of
the many vexed questions that agitate the political world.
On the present occasion he wanted the committee to do
justice to his right hon. and learned friend, who had taken
up this question long before he ever anticipated being in a
responsible position, and who, when he found himself in a
responsible position, pressed it upon the attention of the
Cabinet with earnestness and energy. (Hear, hear.) He
wanted the committee distinctly to understand what they
were talking about. The honour of his right hon. and
learned friend was at stake, and that being so, the noble
lord (the President of the Council) could not be allowed to
stifle the expression of Parliamentary opinion by simply
moving that the chairman should report progress. (Hear.)
The noble lord had fixed this evening expressly for a state-
ment from a member of the late Government upon the
most important subject connected with the Government of
Ireland. That statement having now been made had evi-
dently produced a deep impression upon the whole com-
mittee; but it was followed by a statement of a very dif-
ferent character, and it was quite plain that the speech of
the Secretary for Ireland had produced a very different
effect to that of the speech of his right hon. and learned
friend. He was unwilling to speak of this latter statement
with any great severity ; it was made at the twilight hour,
which, according to Dante, softens the heart, and might,
perhaps, soften the brains too—(a laugh)—but he that as it
might, the right hon. baronet could hardly expect the few
measured sentiments which he uttered upon this subject
should carry conviction to the minds of a committee of the
House of Commons, or be at all satisfactory to the country
upon this vital question. (Hear.) It was most surprising
that the noble President of the Council, having in the most
formal manner fixed this occasion for hearing the statement
of the late Attorney-General for Ireland, and having
listened to that statement, should get up and move that the
Chairman do report progress. That appeared to him to be the
most singular, the most unauthorised, and most unadvisa,ble
course that was ever yet taken by any Minister, because what
was the motive of his right hon. and learned friend in ask-
ing permission of the house to make this statement? Why,
his right hon. and learned friend, actiaatedfrom an impulse of
public feeling which was always respected by gentlemen on
both sides of the house, had thought his personal honour
was injured, and that the public interest was affected
by the course which Government had chosen to take upon
these important bills; and from a sense of honour and self-
respect, which, after all, was a most important stimulus
to men in public life—(hear, hear)—he had been
induced to bring the whole subject finally before the com-
mittee with a view to his own exculpation in the eyes of the
public. He had not, however, made this appeal merely for
the sake of obtaining a common-place official answer; on
the contrary, he had made it for the purpose of eliciting the
opinions of the house upon the question of whether he had
acted in an unworthy manner with regard to these bills,
or whether they beliered that the government of the coun-
try had trifled with him in a most unjust way. (Hear.)
For the noble lord the President of the Council to meet
that appeal by moving
that the chairman should report
progress was ungenerous, nay, it was unwise, because it
was contrary to Parliamentary precedent and usage. Why,
the noble lord might have left it for the hon. member for
Salford (Mr. Brotherton) to make that motion. (A laugh.)
Why did he not ask the hon. member for Salford to make
it for him ? It might have been consistent conduct in that
hon. member, but it certainly was not in the noble lord.
(Hear, hear,) The right hon. gentleman then proceeded
to contrast this conduct of the noble lord with the treat-
ment which the noble lord met with from the opposition
on a similar occasion, and asked what the house or the
country would have thought if, when the noble lord had
made his appeal to the house on abandoning the Reform
Bill, anybody had got up and said the best thing they
could do was to move the previous question, or ask leave
to report progress ? (Hear.) Instead of that course being
taken, however, the house felt that the individual who
appealed to them was not only justified in making the
nbzutat hparteciitsely wasp
ahriasuel dutycasteo,
hedo so
pre-
sentappeal, but
askedand
dt
h the
house
whether they would deny to an individual member the
saute j ustice that they accorded to a Minister of the Crown.
To see his measures, after all, thrown over scarcely with
respect, ho might well express his opinions, and he was jus-
tified in doing so. But, in behaving thus to him, the Go-
vernment had only followed a rule which, with strict im-
partiality, they applied to themselves. 'This was only the
same process of treatment which the Reform Bill had un-
dergone. (Hear, hear.) Mr. Napier ought to have consi-
dered this before making his appeal to the committe, which
had been made without consulting him (Mr. Disraeli), as it
was his wont to do. Ho should have dissuaded hum from
taking that course, on the ground tliat the Government was
made of such singular materials that they were constantly
compelled to withdraw their own bills, and that the busi-
ness of a coalition Ministry could not be carried on without
continual perfidy. (Hear.) Such appeals to the house
were inconvenient at this moment, when it was essential
to present to Europe the appearance of having a great and
united party at the head of affairs. (Laughter.) Had the
Government proposed to exclude strangers from the house
for the remainder of the session, it would, perhaps, have
tended to consolidate their strength. As the appeal had
been made he hoped the house would respond to it. (Hear.)
Lord J. RUSSELL said that the question, as at first
submitted, was a very important ono. He had appointed
an important bill (the Bribery Bill) as the first order of the
day, but had postponed it to give Mr. Napier the opportu-
nity of making any charge or giving any explanation he
wished. (Hear, hear.) Ho was fully heard. Sir John
Young offered his explanation ; and he then thought that
the house would consent to proceed with that other impel-
tent measure. Other gentlemen spoke, and protracted the
debate ; but Mr. Disraeli had taken another course—that
of making a party attack upon the Government, not merely
with reference to this bill, but to their general conduct.
(Hear, hear.) He had taken the opportunity of referring
to a course to which he was a party when in office,
to which ho (Lord John Russell) not wishing to rouse
angry feelings in debate, had very lightly adverted. But
he thought himself obliged to refer again to that sub-
ject, that Mr. Disraeli's explanation might be valued at
what it was worth. (Hear, hear.) Mr. Sharman Crawfod,
when a member of that house, had been in the habit of
proposing to introduce bills which the members of his ad-
ministration thought contained principles that ought not to
be countenanced by the house. They always fairly declared
their sentiments, either on the proposal to introduce such
bills, or on their second reading. Mr. Disraeli, when a
member of the Government, had thought fit to pursue a
different course. Other bills were introduced by the At-
' torney-General of that Government, and then they gave
leave to an hon. and learned gentleman (Mr. Serjeant
Shoe) to introduce his bill. That was evidently not only a
surprise, but a great gratification to the supporters of the
bill. That bill was referred to a select committee, who, it
was supposed, would fairly consider its provisions, whether
they were just to the landlord and fair to the tenant.
Great alarm was excited in the other house of Parlia-
ment; the supporters of the then administration felt that
property was endangered by this bill, and a noble lord
having asked a question on the subject, Lord Derby de-
clared that he utterly disapproved of the principle of the
bill, that it was not intended seriously to consider them,
and that he for one would never sanction such principles.
Here was deception in the first place of those who had pro-
posed the bill, who were gulled with the notion that their
bill was to be fairly considered, and then were told that it
lied only been sent to a committee in order to be rejected.
A course more disreputable and discreditable to a govern-
ment had never been pursued. (Cheers.) Such was the
conduct which Mr. Disraeli had thought fit to bring under
the notice cf the house ; and he had brought it forward in
such a way as to render it necessary that he (Lord John)
should remind the house what was really done. If that
bill was a fair bill, and contained provisions which
really deserved the attention of the house, it ought to have
been fairly considered in committee. If it contained pro-
visions an
(-Igerous to property, the Government should
have declared against it at once, and not have allowed it
to proceed till they found it had excited alarm, which it
was necessary to allay in the membersf the other house.
o
(Hear.) Mr. Disraeli had found great fault with the
conduct of the Government during the present session ;
but he was in a. very peculiar position with regard to the
party he led, and the Opposition often induced him to pur-
sue a course different from what he otherwise would pur-
sue. He was the leader of a party who attached impor-
tance to their credit and character, and to the historic
traditions which belonged to them, and to the maintenance
of certain principles, whether sound or not. (Hear.)
It consequently followed, when there were any great pies-
tions before the house in which the principles of conserva-
tism and progress were fairly at issue—any of those ques-
tions on which that party had always been afraid of inno-
vation—ally question in which it appeared to them that
the honour of the country was concerned—that party
would always, whether the right hon. gentleman wished it
or not, assert those principles ; and if those principles led
them to the support of the Government, they gave them a
fair and support. (Hoar, hear.) Therefore Mr.
Disraeli found himself disabled from pursuing the course
naturally taken by a leader of the Opposition, namely, that
of bringing to au issue the conduct of the Government on
some question or other, and asking whether or not it was
deserving the support of the House of Commons; for the
support which the Government had on many of those
questions would be such as to strengthen the Government
which he wished to damage. (Hear, hear.) There
was another course—to lie in wait for motions that
were made by independent members ; and, whatever
was the character of those motions, provided there
were no great principles involved, and no immediately
disastrous consequences to ensue from their adoption,
the right hon, gentleman pursued one undeviating
course, that of endeavouring, whatever the question might
be, to put the government in a minority, and thou take his
chance of saying that their measures had failed, and that
motions which they opposed had been adopted. (Cheers.)
That was certainly a conduct somewhat new to him, for he
had been opposed by such leaders as Sir R. Peel, and others
who preceded him; and when their opinions led them to
oppose the government, they naturally and fairly, and jus-
tifiably did so, but they never thought of coining down to
the house merely to take up any motion that might be
made. (Cheers.) If it was a question which did not affect
the public interest or the transaction of the public busi-
ness, they thought it their duty either to abstain front op.
posing or to support the Government. (Hoar.) But Mr.
Disraeli recognised no such duty as incumbent ou
e §e'dale4 to consider question* in which too gteAlat