The Sun.
London, England, 1849-07-03 00:00:00

which even Honourable Gentlemen opposite are ready to
support?—(Hear, hear.) But the whole chapter of colo-
nial administration is, perhaps, the darkest page in the
history of this country. Besides the consequences of your
econo ,deal fallacies, there are the instances of your
mal-administration.--(Hear, hear.) No sooner are
the sugar planters ruined, having before them, according
to Sir C. Grey, bat a blank prospect of hopeiess
depression ; no sooner was the death-blow given them, ac-
cording to Sir S. Lushington, than the colonists,i e, n the last
effort of despair, commit the heinous sin of wishing to accom-
modate their expenditure to their resources.—(Hear, hear.)
The Government admit that, generally saeaking, it is the.
wisest course they can pursue; but, if the wisest course in
the colonies, why should it not be the wisest course in Eng-
land ? —and those who believe in accomplished facts (and
her Majesty's Ministers are of that number, I understand)
had better set us the example of financial reform.---(Hear,
hear.) No sooner, however, have the colonies shown a dis-
position to act in this wise spirit, when, instead of sympa.
thizing with and supporting them, her Majesty's Ministers
seemed to have had only one object—that of counteracting
all their efforts, and of finding in all their schemes the means
of embarrassments and dissatisfaction.— (Hear, hear.) Look
at the case of Guiana, as well as that of Jamaica. At first
you have the sugar colonies ruined, and then, when any
colony attempts to accommodate its expenditure to its
means, it is made the victim of the Colonial-office, as if that
department had not enough on its hands—as if the insur-
rections in Canada and Ceylon might not have been
sufficient to occupy all their mature considerations, and the
war at the Cape enough to employ all their energies.—
( Hear.) Could they then be surprised that all our colonies
are suffering, and that there is a diminution in our com-
mercial transactions with them; though fio:n 1831 to 1846
there had been in the article of calicoes alone—that great
branch to Which it seems we are bound to sacrifice everything
—an export to the British colonies of 313.000,000 of yards
more than to all the rest of the world. I want to know
whether the policy of her Majesty's Ministers with respect
to foreign powers has not of itself been one of the principal
causes of those continental convulsions which have been
spoken cf ?—(Hear, hear.) When her Majesty's Ministers
acceded to power, they appeared to have adopted a system
contrary to that of their predecessors. We find that the Go-
vernment was in apparent communication with the discon-
tented party in every state.—(" Hear, hear, ' and laughter)
—that party which is sometimes called the Liberal party, but
which consists of secret societies, stimulating disturbance,
chiefly through the aid of an emigrant nobility. What was
the consequeuce of this ? A great convulsion occurs in
Europe. I will not stop to trace in 'any degree
that ccnvulsion to the policy of our Government.
That might not be difficult, but when the hour
had arrived when the influence of England might have been
exercised to appease the discontents and settle the difficulties
of Europe, England was left without power, being only re-
cognised as the comate and colleague of the limited discon-
tented minority in every country.—(Hear, hear.) What
happened next? That minority was supported by England,
who took every opportunity of exposing their power and de-
monstrating their weakness. All the great Ministers of
Europe, who, whatever might be their faults, were at least
the representatives of great ideas and of a great and stable
order of affairs, were treated by our Government as if personal
enmity existed. The Metternichs, Guizots, Narvaezes, and
the Collettis were swept off, or attempted to be swept off,
from the administration of affairs; but the most curious
thing is, that the party with which our Government seems
to be connected never succeeded in any instance in produc-
ing men capable of regulating public busines. What has
been the consequence? Not merely that the great influ-
ence which England should necessarily exercise could no
longer be exerted to preserve the peace of the world, and to
prevent those complications and convulsions of which we hear
so much, but her Majesty's Government appeared to have
failed. in every object which they proposed as worthy objects of
attainment.—(Hear, hear.) I take the case of Italy, as
affording a complete illustration of the principles and effect
of their policy. Her Majesty's Government were so satisfied
that Austria could not hold her position in Italy, that they
expected a new power would assume the lead there, and
that Sardinia would be the chosen one. Her Majesty's Go-
vernment were also so satisfied that the Pope, being a re-
former, and indulging his reformatory views, would be the
only means of preventing the French entering Italy, that
they favoured his notions; and they were likewise so satis-
fied that the King of Naples could not hold his own, that
they went hunting over Europe to find a King for Sicily.—
(Cheers and laughter.) The result, however, has been, that
Austria is paramount in the north of Italy, and Sardinia,
which was to have supplanted her, is now little more than
her humble ally; the Pope is not at Rome, but the French
are; and the King of Naples is also King of the Two Sicilies
still.—( Hear, hear, and laughter.) I want to know, then,
with what face can our Ministers go to the Courts of Austria,
Rome, and Naples, to tender counsels, and exercise a just
influence, when all these powers know that it was entirely
owing to their own conduct that they have not lost their
thrones, and, if the policy of her Majesty's Government had
been followed, they probably would have been emigrants in
this country, like other crowned heads ?—(Cheers.) We
have a further illustration of how little her Majesty's Go-
vernment are informed as to the state of Europe in their
conduct with respect to Spain.—( Hear, hear.) It is quite
clear that what occurred in Italy never could have occurred
if her Majesty's Government had been well informed; and
how well they were informed of the condition of Spain is
evident from the instructions sent to our Minister at Madrid
to advise the Spanish Prime Minister to show deference to
popular opinion ; for our Minister is no longer in Spain, and
the same Spanish Prime Minister still exercises authority at
Madrid.—(Cheers.) I hear how much commerce suffers
from these continental convulsions, and also great com-
plaints respecting the blockade of the Elbe ; yet I remember
that when I called, on a former occasion, the attention of the
House to the evils which I knew must occur in consequence
of the state of Denmark I could not find a single gentle-
man of the Manchester school to support me—(Hear,
hear)—and I think the Hon. Gentleman for the West
Riding took the opportunity of saying that I was trying
to stimulate war in Europe.—(Hear, hear.) I have no
hesitation in saying that, had the Government acted as they
ought, they might have put an end to those vexatious
blockades, and have prevented those evils occurring.—(Hear,
hear.) It is impossible to understand why they have not
long since terminated, and one is almost tempted to believe
those ludicrous stories in the German newspapers as to
the manner in which these negotiations were carried on,
according to which it would seem that while one post from
Prussia brought satisfactory dispatches to this Government,
another, or the same, brought di-patches to the Prussian
Minister here, tellipg him not to mind the threats of the
Minister for Foreign Affairs, because his colleagues were
quite resolved he should do nothing.—(Laughter.) I am
told that, if her Majesty's Mioisters have preserved the
peace of Europe, that is enough ; but I contend that the
Ministers have no influence in any part of the world except
Paris. They have not, however, more influence there than
their predecessors, and is it possible to conceive any sort of
Government which should not be on a cordial understanding
with France?—(Hear.) It is the necessary consequence of
the state of Europe and the situation of the two countries.
But a good understanding with the French Government is
no compensation for not possessing influence in any other
country.—(Hear, hear.) In what other Court or country
of Europe can Ministers suppose they can exercise influ-
ence, when every authority in Europe knows that Ministers
have been the patross and colleagues of the minority of dis-
turbance in every part of the world ?—(Cheers.) This is
the position in which England is placed, after having encou-
raged movements in every partof the world, and withdraw-
mg only after the insurrectionary party had acted in conse-
quence of antecedent support.—(Hear, hear.) This is the
cause of the diminished influence of this country. I be-
lieve the influence of the country generally was never
less, and in no instance has it averted from our commerce
the consequences of those convulsions of which Ministers are
perpetually reminding us.—(Hear.) I have now attempted,
more imperfectly than I could desire, to call the attention of
the House to the state of this country in all its principal re-
lations. The canvass is so wide that it has been almost
possible for me to do more than to sketch the principal ifea-
tures, but I have endeavoured without exaggeration and re-
lying on documents, the accuracy of 'which cannot be im-
pugned, to lay before the House a true and impartial statement
of our position I will not for one moment pretend that
what I deem to be our calamitous condition is to be ascribed
to: one particular cause. I am ready to admit that in
the complicated transactions of a great country like this, and
in a period of time which in this rapid age of events cannot
be considered as a brief one, many conjectures and casualties
must occur, which the prescience of no statesman could fore.
see and some which no minister could remedy. lam not
one of those who ever looked on the Irish famine as a cabinet
measure—(Laughter)—but I am bound to say that taking a
general, but I believe not an incomplete view of the course
of the Government in respect to all that has happened in
political life during the last three years and more, I do re-
cognize one predominant cause to which I attribute the
great part of our calamities; and that is our legislation.—
(Cheers.) Some three years and more ago it appears to me
that we thought fit to change the principles on which the
economic system of this country had been previously based.
Hitherto this country had been, as it were divided into a
hierarchy of classes, each of which was open to all, but in
which every Englishman was taught to believe that he occu-
pied a position better than the analogous position of his order
in any other country in Europe.— (Hear, hear.) The British
merchant's, for example, was most creditable. He was
wealthy and trustworthy; the English farmer was the most
skilful, as was proved by his obtaining a greater produce
than any other farmer in Europe or America. The English
manufacturer was likewise the most skilled manufacturer,
and silenced the looms of Flanders, France, and India. The
ability of the British sailor has passed into a proverb, and
chivalry seemed to have found its last resource in the breast
of the British officer.—(Hear, hear.) In like manner the
learned professions; our physicians and lawyers held a
higher position than the professional men of any other
country.— (Hear, hear.) I have heard it at the same time
stated that the superiority of these classes was attained at
the cost of the last class in the great hierarchy—the labouring
population. But though I have heard in this House something
of the periodical sufferings of that class—as if every class had
not its period of suffering—and though I have beard districts
referred to where their condition was much depressed—as if
a district condition was not essentially exceptional—l have
no hesitation myself in saying, and I shall be surprised to
be contradicted by facts, that no great community has
existed since the fall of the Roman empire where the work-
ing population were placed in so advantageous a position as
the working classes of England.—(Hear, hear.) I speak
not of those civil rights which are superior to those enjoyed
by princes in other countries, but I speak of their material
condition.—(Hear, hear.) I say that they have had a
greater command over the necessaries of life than any popu-
lation of equal size in any community in Europe.—( Hear,
bear.) For the last sixty years their progress, and it can
be proved in detail, has borne a due proportion to the pro-
gress of all other classes ; and for the last twenty years the
spirit of our laws, most important in such matters, and the
spirit of our society, have been to elevate their condition.—
( Hear.) Therefore I will not conceive that the position of
the last class in this hierarchy was relatively inferior to the
others, but I hold that the English working man was in a
better condition than the working man of any other country.
—(Hear, hear.) It was a state of society based on the aris-
tocratical element in its most complete and greatest develop.
ment. You thought you were destined to change these laws.
Instead of accomplishing the best, what you want to do now
is to achieve the cheapest.—(Hear, hear.) I have shown
you that the economic principle which you have acted on is
a fallacious one; and that the necessary consequence of it
is to cause the impoverishment and embarrassment of the
people.—( Hear, hear.) But your policy has done more in-
jury than this, and will lead to greater misfortune. The
wealth of England is not merely its material wealth, for
neither is it the well cultivated acres of England, nor our
havens full of shipping, nor our ingenious arts and unri-
valled manufactures, nor the intrepid industry of our mines,
that formed the sole or principal wealth of this country. We
have, indeed, a treasure more precious than all these; and
that is the character of the people.—(Cheers.) That is what
you have injured. You have destroyed, in destroying what
you call class legislation, that noble and indefinable spirit
of ambition, the source of our greatness, prosperity,
and power.—(Cheers.) I know nothing more remarkable at
the present day than the general discontent which prevails,
accompanied on all sides by avowed inability to suggest a
remedy. The features of the present day are depression and
perplexity.—( Hear, hear.) That English spirit which was
supported and maintained by your old system seems to have
departed. It WM a syatem which tataght mou to aspire,