The Sun.
London, England, 1838-08-08 00:00:00

danger. But if their Lordships considered that those powers
had already been improperly exercised—so exercised as to
hazard the interests of the colony—it might undoubtedly be
wise in them to interfere docisively to ;Ater such a course of
proceding. But he did not understand the Noble and
Learned Lord to propose that mode of proceeding ; and
if, then, they did not see sufficient ground for interfering
decisively, there was but one course—to have some con-
fidence, to place some reliance on the responsible otlicer of
the Government, and not to be perpetually interrupting
the course of proceedings by constant complaints and obser-
vations, and not to be weakening the authority of the Go-
vernment by perpetually condemning that which they did not
intend to alter. It was the fault and the error of popular Go-
vernments, and all Governments had their faults and their
errors. All forms of Government had their ingenita vitia,
that in consequence of political strife—in consequence of
the altercation of parties and personal dislike, the enemies of
the country, whether foreign or domestic, always found their
greatest assistance and encouragement in the bosom of the
Legislative Assemblies. That was the case ; and, undoubtedly,
it was a great evil and misfortune. He would say nothing
on the law of this case, for the Noble and Learned Lord was
always taunting him with his ignorance of the law; ana, in-
deed, it was unnecessary that he should say anything, on that
part of the subject, because his opinion could of course carry
no weight or authority whatever ; but he could assure their
Lordships that, with the exception of that part relating to the
island of Bermuda, with regard to which it was perfectly evi-
dent that the Governor-General and the Council had not ad-
verted to the fact that their jurisdiction did not extend beyond
the limits of the province—he could assure their Lordships,
on the authority of those in whose legal knowledge he could
implicitly rely, that the rest of that ordinance was perfectly
warranted by the powers committed to the Governor-General.
Lord EL LENBOROUG H said that he laboured under
the same misfortune as the Noble Viscount with regard to his
want of legal knowledge, but he must take leave to say that
his opinion coincided with that of the Noble and Learned
Lord. The further they departed from Constitutional prin-
ciples the greater must be their danger, for he had always
considered that the smallest departure from Constitutional
principles, on the part of a Constitutional Government, was
fraught with the greatest danger.—( Hear.) Governments
having other origins might venture on other courses and be
safe in despotism ; but a Constitutional Government could
not depart from those principles without danger to itself, and
injury to its subjects. He had pressed this subject on the at-
tention of Parliament, and he should continue to do so, be-
cause he held it to be their duty to supply, by their Constitu-
tional vigilance, as far as they could, the want of that Consti-
tutional Government which they had been induced to take
away. Nor could he at all agree with the Noble Viscount
who deprecated the observation—( Hear, hear)—because it
could not be made without the greatest injury to the Govern-
ment which had violated those Constitutional principles on
which it ought to have acted.—( Hear, hear.)
Lord BROUG HA M—As he had now been told the lawyers
had been found who said that all these proceedings were legal,
he begged to give notice that he should, the next day the House
met, move for a copy of any legal opinions given to the Go-
vernment on the subject ; and he wished to move now for a
return of the date at which Sir C. Paget first attended the
Council. That was an important date, because he did not at-
tend the Parliament, and it was possible that only four instead
of five had been present at the Council when these ordinances
were passed. He never till that night had heard, and he had
not expected that he ever should have heard in that House, the
highest Court of Justice in the realm or in Parliament, the
temple of English liberty, that he ever should have heard the
ears of their Lordships outraged and insulted by such principles
as the Noble Viscount had propounded—that the more extreme
the powers were which they had felt it their duty to grant, the
more necessary was it, the more was it their duty, to confide
in the Governor ; that the more extravagant the authority was
which the Coercion Bill had reposed in his hands the less
watchful ought they, the Senate of England, to be—( Hear,
hear)—in seeing how he exercised those extraordinary powers;
that if he were sent in discharge of an ordinary public duty—
if he were invested with mere every-day authority—if he went
out—if he went out with the law of England, common and
statute, to administer, then indeed it might be their duty to
watch ; but when they armed a man with doubtful powers—
when they said that all law should be silent, except that which
he made—when thus he was invested with the whole legisla-
tive powers with the slightest possible restriction, but not
without some limits—then it became them to shut their hands,
and to fold their arms, and to sit quiescent, without venturing
to inquire whether he had exceeded those excessive powers.
He (Lord Brougham) had hitherto been taught to believe
that the larger the powers the less was the excuse for exceed-
ing that authority—( Hear, hear)—and the greater the vigi-
lance required to prevent any excess.—( Hear, hear.) Then
came some general observations on the evils of popular Go-
vernments —( Hear, hear)—from the Noble Viscount—from
the head of a Liberal Administration—( Hear, and a laugh)—
from one representing Whig principles in the country. That
a popular Government, like all others, had its evils, which no-
dody denied, but he (Lord Brougham) was not prepared to
expect that the Noble Viscount would have set down amongst
its mischiefs thatiwhiels he (Lord Brougham) considered its
greatest benefit—the consummate glory of a popular .Consti-
-
tution, namely, that it abhorred. all arbitrary power---that it
courted publicity and investigation—that it challenged in-
quiry—that it defied opposition—that it stood upon its own
merits—and, above all, that it never sought to skulk in the
recesses of irresponsible power, or to escape from scrutiny, or
to overrule the principles of justice and of kno am law, by
planting in the place that wretched substitute—a vague and
unknown law. If anything more opposed could be conceived
it was that expediency should be pleaded in extenuation of
that which could never be defended, namely, illegal acts ;
and that that expediency should be the more relied upon
as the more ample and extravagant were the powers with
which the wrong doers had for the time invested the facts.
To be told and taunted that party feelings interfered, that
factious strife, as it was insinuated, was the cause of these ob-
servations—that personal feelings were the cause—to be told
at the end of the Session, during the earlier part of which he,
on every occasion, resisted the passing of the Act, and so-
lemnly protested against it, and afterwards told to watch
when it became law, and to scrutinise and take care that the
powers were not exceeded, might surprise him ; but to be
told that personal feeling had any concern surprised him a
great deal more, and for this good and plain reason, that when
lie thought the Noble Earl (Durham) was unfairly attacked
in the last part of his conduct brought before the House, the
appointment of Mr. Turton, and when none of the Go-
vernment, now so sensitive on the subject, and who said
that any scrutiny was unfair, interfered to defend him, he
( Lord Brougham) was the only person in the House who
ventured to say one word in the defence or extenuation
of that Noble Personage. He thought, consequently, that he
might defy all the charges that could be levelled at him for
allowing party feeling or personal influence to guide his con-
duct in this matter. He deemed this question of the greatest,
the last importance, to the peace of the Colony, to the credit
of the law, to the credit of the Government itself, and to the
credit of the Parliament which passed this Coercive Bill. But
if he were told that he did not mean to move any further ob-
struction in the way of the Noble Earl's Government, and
the Noble Viscount (Melbourne).had assumed that he ( Lord
Brougham) would not, there was a wide difference between at
once moving for an address to recal the Noble Earl, and
put a stop to his administration, which might produce conse-
quences fur which he ( Lord Brougham) would not choose to
be answerable, and shutting the eyes and folding the arms, and
doing nothing--( Hear, hear.) He was neither prepared to
remove the Earl of Durham, nor to make him absolute,
nor enable their Lordships to break the Act which sent
him out. He was so far from being against Lord Durham—
so far from feeling that there would b.s. anything hurtful to
him in the discussions which had taken place—as the Noble
Viscount said prematurely, but as he ( Lord Brougham) said
necessarily, indispensably, and unavoidably—that he ( Lord B. )
believed these discussions, by bringing to the attention of the
Noble Earl the fact of his not having vested in him absolute
discretionary powers, would be the best thing, the must whole-
some thing, and the most satisfactory thing that could be done
for the Earl of Durham himself.—( -Hear, hear. )
The Duke of WELLINGTON—My Lords, I understand
there is no motion before the House at present, and that the
Noble and Learned Lord has only given notice of a motion
for to-morrow.
Lord BROUGHAM—I moved for the date of Sir Charles
Paget's attendance.
The Duke of WELLINGTON—I cannot but feel with
the Noble and Learned Lord that those parts of the ordi-
nances which are admitted by the Noble Viscount (Melbourne)
and the Noble Baron (Glenelg) to be illegal, are a fit subject
for inquiry in this and the other House of Parliament ; and
it seems to be not only a fit subject for inquiry, but that it is
one into which it is absolutely necessary, for Parliament to in-
quire, because if Parliament does not inquire, it is impos-
sible to say what may be the consequences.—( Hear, hear.)
A paper has been put into my hands by a Noble Lord near me.
It is a despatch from the Noble Earl (Durham), in which he
states that he has adopted the transportation to Bermuda be-
cause he did not think right to transport those persons to a con-
vict colony. My Lords, it appears to me the Noble Earl does not
know what he is doing. Some steps should be taken in this country
to set the Noble Earl right in these transactions, which, as it
appears, are totally and entirely illegal. I agree with what
was stated by the Noble Viscount and Noble Baron, that it is
not right to attack the conduct of the Earl of Durham night
after night; but when there is a case of this description.
when the conduct of the Governor there has been positively
illegal, it is absolutely necessary for this House and the other
House to take up the subject, and to adopt some measure
which will really set the Governor right on the subject, and
apply a remedy. There is also a paragraph in this despatch
to which I must call the attention of the House. " These
measures have met with the entire approbation of Sir John
Colborne and the heads of what is called the British party' "
(Hear, hear.) My Lords, this publishes the name of a man
as being the head of a party—a man of high station, and one
who has acted in that country with so much credit to himself
and advantage to his Sovereign. He ought not to be dis-
graced in this manner, and certainly the name ought not to be
published on this occasion. My Lords, I hope the Noble and
Learned Lord will bring forward this question. It will be
with a view to apply a remedy, for that is the object for which
we ought to seek; and when that is done there will be no
necessity for attacking Lord Durham day after day, and these
discussions will of course close.—(Hear, hear.)
Lord GL ENE LG said, before he heard the Noble Duke
state it, he believed it had never entered into the head of any
one individual to suppose that Sir John Colborne was at the
head of the British party or any party. He understood that
Sir John Colborne approved of these measures, and that the
heads of the British party approved of them also. He con-
ceived it to be impossible that that gallant officer couldbe con-
sidered as joining with any party at all. He said this because
he knew Sir J. Colborne had kept aloof from all parties.
Lord LYNDHURST said that it was not his intention to