The Sun.
London, England, 1840-01-29 00:00:00

tonctlinta, as they did, very briefly on them, because, where 1
little has been alleged, little remains to be answered—
(Laughter.
) —and I think the next point upon which the House
of Commons are called upon to exercise an opinion hostile, is
their patronage. Upon this point I have little more to do than
to re:er to statements made by the Right Hon.. Baronet the
Member for Tamworth, who, I think, stated, and such
statement was received with the general approbation of this
House, that in the distribution of the patronage of the Govern-
ment it was a common rule, and a sensible one, to give the pa-
tronage which falls to the Government to your friends, and
not to your opponents. I believe if Admiral Fleming had been
a Tory, we should have heard nothing but of his merits ; not
the slightest hint could be suggested that he was not a perfectly
fit person for the situation, looking at his rank, his station, and
his ser,se s. --(Oh, oh, and cheering.) I don't know whether
: Lerman is aware of the duties of this. office—pro-
. • • lot, if his inquiries have not besu more extensive
to. t than on others. A worn-out veteran would not
have ;seen able to have discharged the duties of it—worn-out
veterans are entitled to rewards and pensions, and this House
has awarded distinctions and rewards to those who have served
their country. The post of Admiral Fleming is an active post.
It is not one that ought to be given to a worn-out veteran—a
worn-out veteran is not the character of the person
appointed to it, and looking at the charges made on this sub-
. ject, as well as on some others, I can conceive no other motive
for them but the bitter disappointment of seeing the filling up
• o; those appointments fall into the hands of their political op-
ponents.—( Cheers.) Then as to Sir John Newport, would
I the House, after the public services he had performed, make
I air granting of a pension to him a ground for withholding their
confidence from the Government ? I can hardly imagine why
this is brought forward as a subject of complaint. lion. Gen-
tlemen may be anxious to assume the reins of office, and the
failure of their attacks on isolated portions of Ministerial po-
licy, their dis ippointment and chagrin at seeing the patronage
of the Government still in the hands of their political oppo-
nents, may prompt them to tiring forward these charges. But
in the absence of the sligligaka. charge of corruption, it is not,
1 think, fit to be introduceTS7an item in the indictment now
to be preferred, and which is to settle this" momentous" and
important question.—(Cheers and laughter.) The next point
the Hon Gentleman alluded to was the Ballot. It has been
imputed as a charge against her Majesty's Government, that
after the Speech which was delivered by my Noble Friend last
year, who was sincerely opposed to the Ballot, a place has been
offered to and accepted by the Right Hon. Gentleman the
Member for Edinburgh. If a justification were required for
making that question an open question, it might be found in
this, that if the refusal of making it an open question deprived
the Government of the services of the greatest and most dis-
tinguished glen to be found in the ranks of the most zealous
and constitutional men that this country possesses, that would
have formed the strongest argument for making the question of
the Ballot an open question. I must say fur myself, that
although I am now in favour of the Ballot, I did at
one time oppose it. I had that confidence in the public virtue
which led me to deprecate it so long as the slightest hope re-
mained that public opinion would check the increasing evil
that was felt at elections from the arts and intimidation and
serruption which was unhesitatingly and unblushingly exercised
in order to bring back the representation of this House, by
indirect means, because it could not be done by direct
:maw, to the same state that it was in before the pass-
ing of the Reform Act.—( Great cheering.) I was a reluctant
convert to the Ballet, but I must confess, at the same time, that
I am by no means satisfied of its sufficiency.—(Cries of " Oh.")
The Hon. Gentleman went. on to say that he had stood upon
a popular hustings, and had been asked if he would support the
Pallet, and he had been asked if he could point out any other
measure by which the position of the lower classes in that
country would be benefited, and he had at once admitted the
force of that reasoning. He had moved for a Committee, and
it had sat during the last two Sessions (although from his
' necessary attendance upon other matters he could not, during
the last Session, devote much attention personally to it) to in-
' inquire what means but that of the Ballot could be devised to
satisfy the demands of the country to put down the abuses to
which Parliamentary elections were liable. He (Sir G. Grey)
had seen that in most cases the ablest and most successful men
were those who resorted to bribery and intimidation to the
greatest extent. He was bound, then, to admit the force of
the reasoning, and the Ballot being an open question, without
being convinced of its sufficiency to remedy the evil, in deference
to the wishes of his constituents, and heing convinced that no
evil of any magnitude could result from it, he had recorded his
vote in favour of the Ballot.—( Loud cheers.) The majority
of that House was divided upon the question of the Ballot--
public opinion out of doors was divided upon it, and was the
House prepared to decide that because the Government had
admitted into its ranks men who were known to be the advo-
cates—the honest and independent advocates of the Ballot, from
the conviction that everything else must fail—he asked was
the House prepared to condemn the Government for that, and
call upon them either to resign, or exclude from their ranks the
honest advocates of the Ballot ?—( Cheers.) The Hon. Baro-
net had next alluded to the finances of the country,aad althogh
he had touched the subject but slightly, the Hon. Alddalfian
could not avoid making some allusions, and he thought them
rather invidious with regard to the penny post.—( Hear.) He
was rather surprised to hear the Hon. Gentleman as a commers
vial man, and acquainted with commercial affairs, when com-
plaining of the state of the finances of the country, condemning
a nteasun. which bad been asked for by the almost unanimous
voice of the people of England.—( Cheers.) He thought if his
memory did not fail him, that ha had voted in favour of the
introduction of the Penny-postage with the Hon. Alderman—
(Cheers and laughter)—and that he might be more correct
upon the matter, he had asked for the registered list of votes,
to which they were indebted to the Hon. Member for Shef-
field, and in them lie found the name of the Hen. Alderman
in the majority.—( Hear, hear, from Alderman Thompson,
and laughter.) But that was not all—the Government had
not been reckless in proposing to the House the adoption of the
Penny-post system. They felt that it was a great experiment
—an experiment upon the finances of the country, and before
they pledged themselves to carry out the plan of Mr. Rowland
Hill, they called upon the House of Commons to guarantee the
finances of the country, and pledge themselves to make good
any deficiency that might arise from carrying the measure into
effect.—( Hear, hear.) The Right Hon. Baronet was entitled
to throw ridicule upon that proposition as he had done on a for-
mer occasion. Was it, however, perfectly consistent to vote
in favour of the introduction of the measure, anti against the
resolution which pledged the House to make good the dea-
ciency?—(Hear, hear.) The Hon. Alderman, it would appear,
did not consult the Right Hon. Baronet on that occasion.—
( Hear, hear.) He had no confidence in the Itight Hon. Ba-
ronet.—( Cheers and laughter.) On that occasion he
place f confidence in her Majesty's Government—( A laugh)—
and so great was that confidence at the close of the last
Session that he not only voted for the penny-post measure, but
against the resolution which would guarantee the making good
of any deficiency.—( Hear, hear.) Now, the Hon. Alderman
blaimed the Government for bringing forward the penny post
measure, and among the many questions which had been put
to his Right Hon. Friend, the Chancellor of the Exchequer
that evening for the purpose of founding observations upon
them in the course of the present debate, he was surprised the
Hon. Alderman had hot asked whether his Right Hon.
Friend could bold out any hopes of the finances of the country
escaping their present perilous condition.—( Hear.) Instead of
that he came down and asked the House to pass a censure
upon the present Govern7r.ent for proposing a measure which
had been most strenuously demanded by the country, because
the finances of the country were in an embarrassed state. He
felt ?hat he would be wasting their time, and offering an insult
to tam judg'nent of the House, if he now asked them whether
they agreed with the Hon. Alderman in condemning the Go-
vernment for having honestly, consistently, ant zealously car-
ried out their intentions with respect to the penny post. So
long as it was impossible to carry the plan fully into effect—so
long as the experiment of a fourpenny postage was carried on to
enable the Post-office authorities to complete their arrange-
ments, it was repeated day by day—it was instilled into the
minds of those who only viewed one side of the question,
that the Government meant to abandon the penny post.—
( Hear, hear.) That was not now insisted on or even whis-
pered in the House, but the advocates of the measure—advo-
cates most probably under the pressure of their constituents
--(A laugh )—carne, down and asked the House to pass a vote of
censure on the Government for having carried the measure
into effect.—(Cheers.) The Hon. Baronet had expressed a
hope, as a great landed proprietor, that the landed interests of
the country would know what the intentions of the Government
wet e. He (Sir G. Grey) supposed the Hon. Baronet referred
to the question of the Corn-laws. He had thought that with
respect to that question the opinions of the Government had
been explicitly expressed during the last Session. He was aware
also that it had been made a subject matter of complaint
that the. Corn-laws had been made an open question in the
Cabinet. But, he would ask, were Honourable Gentlemen
opposite agreed upon the question ?—( Much cheering.) Were
they nil prepared to vote with the Right Honourable Baronet
in the course which he meant to take with respect to the
Corn-laws ?—( Hear, hear.) Would the Government whit
the Right Honourable Baronet would form, if the present
motion was successful, cancer :n resisting any alteration its the
:.t I s, ,elaws?—( Hear.) He admitted the question to
~..port ant and momentous one, and before the present
,!, sal the House would be informed what plan was

.1 be substituted for the policy of the pres'ent Go-

_ .
:••rticautt: ? On that subject the House could easily infer what
would be the policy of the Right Hon. Baronet opposite,
because a near relative of the Right Hon. Gentleman, who was
lately a candidate for a bo. ough in the southern part of the
couotry—( Hear, hear)—and he thought it important that the
lion. Baronet, the Member for Scuth Devon, should be aware
of the opinions expressed by a Right Hon. Gentleman, adopting
his own views of questions if public policy, and especially upon
that most momentous quesion. What did that High Hon.
Gentleman say at a meeting of his friends. Why, if the re-
port.of his speech was not a misrepresentation, and he was sa-
tis6o that the Hon. Baronet wou!d pledge himself for the
character of the pareri n which the report. appeared, when he
announced its name--the Mist of England Conservative—
( Laughter, and cheering )—if that report was not an erroneous
sne the Right Hon. Gentleman Ird stated, that on the sub-
ject sf tke Corn-laws an attempt had been made by his oppo-
nents to injure him by misrepresenting his opinions. He had
seen swarms of 'children and mothers anxiously asking how
they could feed them. He had seen fathers stating that they
could not supply their wants. All that dissatisfaction and dis-
tress had been occasioned by the Corn-laws, and it would have
been useless in him to attempt to contest the borough if he
hall wit made that statement.—( Great laughter and cheering, )
Well might he (Sir G. Grey) say, as Richard said to Queen
Anne

K Was ever woman in such humour wooed—
Was ever woman in such humour won?"

--(Laughter and cheers.) That was not the first occasion on
which a change—a most important change had taken place in
the seotirnents of the Right Hon. Baronet, because, on the
sane question, which through the whole of his previous political
lice tie had moat determinedly opposed, a similar change had
taken place. The Right Hon. Gentleman to whom he alluded,
at tht*time that declaration was made, stated that he was in
constatt communication with the Right Hon. Baronet, and
that very morning:, subsequent to that speech, he stated that he
had received a letter frcm the Right Hon. Baronet, which
(and that is a very remarkable circumstance) contained a pre-
diction of the present debate.—( Hear, hear.) (c it Robert
Peel here intimated some doubt of the correctness
of the statement.) He (Sir G. Grey) would pledge himself
to show the Right Hon. Baronet the statement in the course
of the debate. His impression was that the letter of the Right
lion. Baronet was not read, but its contents were stated, and
among the rest that the Right Hun. Baronet had expressed the
greatest interest in his snows, and his sense of the importance
of winning that borough from the Government.—(A laugh. )
Pie would admit that it was not stated that the Right Hon.
Baronet had in his letter said anything of the Corn-laws.—
( Hear, hear.) But was it to be supposed that the Right iron.
Baronet, to whom the progress of his Right Hon. relatives
canvass was duly reported, would have been kept in ignorance of
the ways and means by which his success was to be secured ?
--(Hear, hear. )—Did not the Right l lon. Gentlemen pub-
licly proclaim that all the world would be against him, and
none for him, unless he were a Corn-law repealer ?—( (lean )
The public would also infer from the tone of the Right Hon.
Baronet's letter, that on the meeting of Parliament there
would be a great struggle between the Opposing parties, He
thought, under thesecireumstances, that it would be satisfactory
to the House toknow what the views of the Right Hon. Baronet
were on the subject of the Corn-laws. He (Sir G. Grey,)
would not hesitate to say, although he honestly differed from his
friends on the subject, that he entertained a strong opinion as
to a modification of the present Corn-laws, and he should deeply
regret, if the Hon.. Baronet came into power, that he should
',ledge himself to uphold the present system against the expec-
tations which had been excited by the passage in the letter to
ghich he had alluded.—(Hear,) The other points to which
Wttree had been made, were their Colonial Passessicns, and