The Sun.
London, England, 1840-01-31 00:00:00

EVENING EIJLTION.

could comider himself justified in making it. Upon that pro- '
position the Noble Lord obtained a majority in this House, but
on a doubt being thrown out by my Right Hon. Friend the
Member for Tamworth, though the Noble Lord had a majority
of this Hour% he withdrew the project, and then told
the people of England that he was frustrated by the
Members on this side of the House. In the present Session
the Noble Lord has been asked whether it was his intention
again to bring the measure forward—to which he answered, I
like it very much, I think it is very desirable, but I Ihould
like to knew what Gentlemen on the other side of the House
think upon it, observing, that by that he should
be guided as to whether he should bring it forward or not.
This is the course pursued by the Government which is to
have the confidence of the people !—( Hear, hear.) When I
was in Lord Grey's Administration a measure was proposed by
Lord Althorp for a satisfactory plan of
getting rid of Church-
rates. The measure was brought forward by Lord Grey,
and it is no secret that when I quitted that Administra-
tion, one of the last things said to me was—" Of course, out
of office, as in office, you will support the principle of getting
rid of Church-rates." To which I answered that " I cer-
tainly would." The measure was brought forward, but from
that hour in 1834, up to the present year, MO, not-
withstanding the outcry that has been raised against
Church-rates, no attempt has been made to carry it
farther. But had not the present Ministry attempted to deal
with this question? Oh, yes ! They brought forward another
project, avowedly for the purpose of doing away with Church-
rates, and for supplying a fund out of the improved value of
ecclesiastical property for replacing them. That measure was
brought forward by the Government, and the Chancellor of
the Exchequer supported it. But what happened with respect
to it? Why, it was carried by a small majority, and then it
was seat to a Select Committee. The consequence of which
reference was what might have been expected—the plan was
sifted, and the calculations contained in it blown into
air.—( Hear, hear.) And from that hour to the present
nothing more has been done.—(Hear, hear.) For the last
three years Government have been pressed upon the subject of
Joint Stock Banks—a subject which I consider one of the
greatest importance ; and what has been done upon that ? Why
year after year was allowed to pass away ; the subject was
then referred to a Committee, and there the matter rests at
present. Then with respect to the Charter of the Rank of Ire-
land. The Chancellor of the Exchequer had determined to
renew the Charter of that Bank. He brought forward a
scheme which he said would be desirable for all par-
ties. The subject was postponed week after week,
and ultimately the Chancellor of the Exchequer was
beaten upon that subject by the Hon. Member for Dublin,
who professsed to have such confidence in the present Go-
vernment. By that arrangement, according to the statement
of the Chancellor of the Exchequer, a sum of upwards of
20,000/. had been lost to the country. There are some mea-
sures on which the Government pique themselves, and among
the rest the most prominent is Post-Office Reform. They
. .

pride themselves upon having introduced this measure at a time
when the revenue of the country was in a declining condition ;
whereas it was well known that the pressure from without, and
the idea of gaining a temporary popularity, induced them to
bring the measure forward, and thereby endanger
the revenue of the country.—(Hear, hear, hear. )
Do you know this to be a beneficial measure, or believe that, in
the face of the finances, you could safely undertake it or not ?
If you did believe it to le a beneficial measure, you ought to
have adopted and supported it; to have considered it well
first—not to have yielded to clamour—hut considering it well,
as Government brought it forward under your responsibility,
and if bad, dangerous, and ruinous to the finances of the
country, you ought sooner to have abandoned office—to have
waived all personal considerations—than have been driven to
endanger the resources of the country, of which you were the
responsible Ministers. And I tell you this, that you would have
found you had taken that ground which would have secured you,
as on former occasions, the support of your political opponents.
.....( Hear, hear.) Had you honestly told us that the condition
of the revenue was such that you durst not hazard a new and
dangerous experiment, you might safely have thrown up the
Government, in the confidence that no set of men durst be
rash enough or dishonest enough to have taken it under such
circumstances.—( Loud cheers.) I have stated my notion
of what are the requisites of confidence in a Government. I
speak with all respect ; but if there be one term in the Eng-
lish language which conveys opposite opinions, it is the term
content—(Laughter)—and if there be, of the not one, but
many epithets which apply to an Administration, one more
contemptuous than another as regards their principles,
their firmness, and their independence, it is the epithets applied
on former occasions by some who have stated their confidence
to-night—that of a squeezable Ministry.—(Laughter and
cheers.) I ask what that epithet means? I will tell you—re t
to hold that which you believe to be right—and not to resist
that which you hold to he wrong.—(Cheers.) The yielding bit
by bit, little by little, inch by inch, as moved by importunity,
andmenace, and the formidable argument " we are seven,
drawing from this position and that position in the course of
o pre,. ,s e-essive refoi ms," and having no principle to shelter
thernselver, in accordance to the Hon. Gentleman, joined with
them in the course of " progressive reform.' —( Cheers. )
What says the Hon. Gentleman, the Member for Sheffield, of
a pregyessive, real, bona fide reform—" We have ob-
tained since last year," mark this, " this important step,
the Ballot is an open question ;" and, says the Hon. Gentle-
' man, •i to this we have driven, or, as some will say, squeezed
the Ministry—they have conceded the principle of open goes-
•
tions." .• An open question," says the Hon. Gentleman, "is
1 a necessary step in a great change"—the Ballot will lead to
Firs nsion of the Suffrage, this to Universal Suffrage, de con-
jexso of the Noble Lord the Secretary for the Colonies."
~ You have conceded this year open questions ; next year,"
says the Hon. Member for Sheffield, " will You not call the
Ballot a Cabinet question ? Of course you wili—it is only one
step further in the cnurse of progressive reform." And, fur-
ther en, "above all—as the climax of all," says the Hon.
Gentleman, " I concur in what is said of the inconsistency of
being a Radical, unless we may be prepared to go
ito tbe farthest point necessary. I can conceive
1 nn resting-place short of absolute democracy." What
ground slid the Noble Lord the Secretary for the Colonies take
oil this occasion ? None at all. If there be inconsistencies
what. is the wretched excuse—the apology deemed all-sufficient
by the Hon. Member for Sheffield, for departing from his prin-
ciples ?—that without such departure they could not keep their
party together. —( Hear, hear.) Now, Sir, let the House and
the country know that the vote of confidence voted this night is
not in ,heirmnes•—not in the character—not in the principles
of the Government—hut entreated on the part of those leaning
to the most extreme opinions, step by step, and inch by inch,'
from one position to another, driven in the course of " progres-
sive Reform." and unable to stop until concession shall lead to
the abolition of :he form of government.—( Hear.) I hold in
my hand, a' another illustration of this confidence—and I hope
I shall not offend him by referring to it—a speech of the Hon.
anti Learned Member for Dublin—there was not in it the
slightest inconsistency. In 1831 this friend and ally of the
G7ernment states that a Reform is necessary in the House of
Lords, and his means for obtaining that end are " Universal
Suffrage." " I am," says he, "for the Ballot—for doing away
with the property qualification," on which the Hon. Member,
is agreed with the Right Hon. Gentleman (Mr. F. Alaule)
who, in the only point in which he answered my Hon. Friend,
expressed the same opinion—" I am for the Whigs, although
they will not go the whole way with sae, but when I get to a
certain point I will bring the rest away with me. "—(Cheers. )
And is there one Member of the Government who will step
forward with the words " Here are my principles, here we
stop as a Government, and will go no farther ?" Not one.—
(Cheers.) Now, Sir, I want to know of what party in this
House or in this country the present Administration commands
the confidence ? Have they the confidence of this side of the
House in the sense I use the word ? I ask have they the confidence
of gentlemen on the other side—have they the confidence of the
landed interest ? No ; they have far other confidence than this.
Have they the confidence of the Corn-law repealers? No;
they merely count noses in the Cabinet, and see them on
each future accession giving something more, and have only
confidence in ultimately obtaining their end. Have they the
confidence of the clergy of the country ?—( A laugh.) Oh !
that is a supposition too monstrous to be entertained.—
( Cheers. 1 Have they the confidence of the constituency of
li;nglend ? The answer to that is, the representation of Eng-
land—where is the representation of England ?—this part of
the representation does not give its confidence to Ministers.
But, says the Government, we have the confidence of Ireland.
Have you that confidence ?—from what organ do you derive that.?
From the Hon. Member for Dublin, the representative of all
Ireland? I will show you how far you have his confidence.
He now moulds you to his purpose, and makes you his instru-
ment, and makes his boast of doily,' so. So far you possess the
ccnfidenee of Ireland. The people of Ireland have so little
cortidence in you, that let him but hold up his finger, and up
start five hundred thousand fighting men—( Hear, hear)—to
resist what? The exercise of the prerogative of the Crown,
if her Majesty should think fit, and the voice of the people of
England call for it. You have boasted of the tranquillity
of Ireland, and speak of it as in a safe position.-- (Hear, hear. )
Do you believe this to be a fact or net ? Do you believe
that any one man in Ireland has the power, and will exercise
the power—to change the Government, by calling 100,000 men
int., rebellion.—(No, no, hear, hear.) I say rebellion—for I
know not how the leader of i 500,000 men is to die in the field
rather than snbmit to Tory domination without rebellion. But
if that is the state of Ireland, that its tranquillity depends on
such a precarious issue, what responsibility to your country have
you incurred, by withdrawing from that country, and boasting
that you had withdrawn the military, who, onder all circum-
s antes, would have continued faithful to the Crown, and leaving
it in the hands of those who have told you through their organs,
they are ready to rise in rebellion against you ?—( Loud cheers.)
The Hon. Gentleman, the Under Secretary of State for the
Home Department, has told us that the people of England
will have confidence in them for the future, when they look to
the past; and on this ground he asks for the confidence of
the people of England and of this House. Let us look around
us and see the position in which all the great interests of the
country are placed. You have now been in power for five
years, and at the expiration of that period, let us ask the
House and the country which of the great and important inte-
rests of the country is in a safe or satisfactory state? Not
one. All the great interests of the country are in a state
alike unsatisfactory and dangerous. Let us look abroad let
us take the department which is presided over by the Noble
Lord the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs.—(Hear,
hear.) Let us look at Spain. What has been the state of
that unfortunate country for the last six years ?—( Hear,
hear.) Why, through the half-and-half interference of the
Noble Lord, the sanguinary slaughter which has deluged that
unfortunate country with the blood of her sons has been con-
tinued during the whole of that period.—(Loud Opposition
cheers.) Ihe last admission of the Noble Lord on this subject
may be taken as a commentary on his whole proceedings.
When he was asked if the British Government had been any
party to the treaty of Bergara, " No," said the Noble
Lord, " not directly a party ; but I must admit that the
officers acting under her Majesty's orders did every-
thing in their power to forward the intentions
of those engaged in negotiating that treaty."—(Cheers and
laughter free: the Opposition benches.) Then let us look at
the affairs of the East. I will not undertake to say that that
question may not be, eventually, amicably settled ; but such at
the present moment is the state of things in that quarter. that
all Europe looks towards the East with feelings of the
greatest interest and alarm.—( Hear, hear, hear.) Now
let us look at India. The Hon. Gentleman the Judge
Advocate tauntingly asked us the other night, why. we had
taken no notice of the affairs of India ? No man in the House
can admire more than I do the gallantry of the troops, and the
signal success which has crowned their desperate attempts.
But although I admire the victory of the gallant troops, and
admirable conduct of the military part of the expedition. I
shall express no opinion as to the policy of the invasion of Aff-
ghanistan—l shall express no opinion as to the policy of occu-
pying Candahar, or as to the policy of leaving our army at such
a great distance from head quarters totally unsupported.
Sir J. HOBHOUSE—Not unsupported.
Lord STANLEY—I rejoice ton hear that the army has not
been left unsupported, but I dread to look at the estimates—
(Loud cheers)—but I doubt the policy of undertaking the ex-
pedition. I doubt if it is of advantage
"Hear,
the frontiers
of the Eastern enspire.—(
Cries of
hear,")immen
violating treaties,
se doubtdistance
lisnne
'
the policy of supporting troops
at such an
from head quarters. I doubt the policy
and you know you have violated yourT ofreaties with Persia by
the invasion of Affghanistan, and you have violated your treaties
with the Ameers of Scinde by the occupation of their capital ;
Russia also has taken a leaf out of your book, and has advanced
her frontier to Khiva ; you have occupied Candahar,
and thus the two great Powers wahllose jealousies airs;
the East are occasioning alarm
over
are approaching within a small distance of each otner
aEnudrope,
situation where commercial jealousies are sure to arise. You
commercial
have overlapped your former ally Persia, and you have de-
stroyed the independent tribes which were formerly a barrier