The Sun.
London, England, 1841-05-29 00:00:00

as the Conservative. Party would not, at all events, de-
lude the country with false promises. —He had before
given his vote against the Ministry on a motion similar
to the present ; and as that was the last time he might
have an opportunity of addressing the House, he had no
hesitation in saying that he felt himself bound to give
a similar vote now on the motion of the Right Hen. Ba-
ronet the Member for Tamworth. He would retire from
the House with a deep conviction, and a sanguine hope
that the dynasty of the Noble Lord opposite was near
about to draw to a conclusion.—(Hear, hear.)
Mr. INGHAM said that however much he might
have agreed in the general policy of the Right Hon. Ba-
ronet the Member for Tamworth, he felt himself unable
to vote with him on that occasion.—(Hear, from the Mini-
sterial Benches.) He understood the cheers of Hon. Gen-
tlemen opposite, but he feared he would not equally meet
their approbation on all the grounds which influenced his
vote upon the subject. A Member like him, not belong-
ing exclusively to any party, must look to the merits of
any proposition on which he may be called to ex-
press an opinion.—(Hear, hear.) If he thought that the
Government, after their recent defeats, were determined
on continuing in office without appealing to the country,
he should certainly vote without hesitation for the pro-
position of the Right Hon. Baronet. But the members
of the Government had expressed, if not in worgs, at
least by implication, that it was their intention, after
they had submitted the entire of their policy to the con-
sideration of Parliament, to appeal from the House to
the people. Now, he could not say that a Minister en-
joying the confidence of the Crown, and finding himself
opposed, even oa important measures, to the sense of
Parliament, should not have the right of appealing to
the country.--(Hear, hear, from the Ministerial benches.)

lie could not call it unconstitutional of a Government to
state their sentiments to the House, and afterwards ap.
peal to the elective body. He thought that the case of
Mr. Pitt, to which the Right lion. Baronet, the Member
for Tamworth, had referred so ingeniously, did not bear
him out in his resolution; and for his (Mr. Ingham's)
part, he looked on the conduct of Mr. Pitt as an in-
stance of a heroic determination to stand by the
Crown, and afterwards ask for the approval of the
country. lie could not say the course about to
be' pursued by the Government was unconstitutional,
although he felt that if they were to dissolve Parliament,
and to find public opinion arrayed against them, they
would have a heavy responsibility to answer for.—
(Hear, hear, from the Opposition benches.) No Govern-
ment, however, could now expect a preponderating ma-
jority in that House ; and, therefore, he did not think
that a casual vote or two should compel them to resign
office. His own opinion at the same time was that the
Ministry would be disappointed in the expectations they
entertained from an appeal to the country.i--(Hear, hear.)
lie thought, too, that it would be' wrong to dazzle the
country with promises which it was not expected could
be realized. These,
_however, were considerations for

the Government in their future policy ; and he did not
think that in the present instance they were pursuing a
course which could be considered unconstitutional. He did
not, .therefore, find himself at liberty to votefor the pro-
position of the Right lion. Baronet.—(Hear, hear.)
Mr. HUTT said that it was with great satisfaction
he had heard the speech of his lion. Friend.—(Hear,
hear, and laughter on the Opposition benches.) He had
often differed from his Hon. Friend ; but he was happy
to know that he coincided in opinion with him on this
_ _

most important motion of the Session. With respect to
the resolution of the Right Honourable Baronet, he
thought a sufficient answer to it might be found in
the . notorious fact that Government, after having
brought forward the measures which they deemed essen-
tial to the public service, were determined on appealing to
the country. After being beaten fourteen times Mr.
Pitt's appeal to the country was considered a sufficient
justification of his course. If the present Government

had in any degree lost the confidence of the public, it
was because they had not brought forward those great
measures of commercial reform which were opposed on
the other side of the House. They were told that the
monopolies under discussion were essential to the pro-
sperity of the country. It appeared, however, that there
was a difference of opinion, even on the other side, in
reference to these monopolies. From the latter part of
the speech of the Right Hon. Baronet he was led to the
opinion that the Right Hon. Baronet intended at some
future period to propose a modification of commercial
duties. He admired the talents of the Right Hon. Ba-
ronet ; but he could not help saying that he had been
prevented by party connections from proposing measures
which, in reality, he thought would be beneficial to the
country. He (Mr. Hutt) believed that the measures
proposed by the Government were far more important
to the social welfare of the country than any that had
been proposed for centuries. Unrestricted commerce
was the ancient policy of this country, and it might be
expected to flourish in proportion as it returned to that
policy.
Lord SANDON said that, however satisfied the Hoe,
Gentleman might be, the House had shown that they did
not concur in the sentiments expressed by the preceding
speaker.(lfear, hear.) His Hon. Friend (Mr. Ingham)
had shown throughout his address much of that subtlety '
of reasoning which he had displayed on former occasions,
admitting most fully that the Government were unable
to carry measures which they considered essential to the
welfare of the country, but justifying their retention of
office by the uncertain result of a dissolution. He (Lord
Sandon) had no hesitation as to the course which he
should pursue. He had a thorough want of con-
fidence in her Majesty's Ministers on almost every
particular, but especially that at a time when
commerce was confessedly labouring under great
difficulties, they had brought forward measures which
they never expected to carry.—(Hear, hear.) This re-
mark applied both to sugar and to timber ; and with
regard to corn, they had the confession of her Ma-
jesty's Ministers themselves, that when they proposed
the measure they never expected to succeed.—(Hear,
hear.) Was it common sense, or common honesty, to
to embarrass the monetary and commercial affairs of the
country, by throwing down this bone of contention
among different classes, in the face of their own declara-
tion that such questions ought never to be mooted unless
there was a prospect of success? If her Majesty's Mi-
nisters were not responsible for the debates which took
place in that House, they were responsible for the de-
' claration of the Prime Minister ; and though that Prime
Minister had endeavoured to explain away his declara-
tion of last year, that it would be madness to touch the
Corn-laws, there was another expression which could
' not be mistaken, that measures like these should not be
proposed without a moral certainty of their being carried
by the Government. That certainly did not exist with
regard to the measures before the House ; and the Go-
vernment proposing them, under such circumstances,
was, in his opinion, totally unfit to be entrusted with
the management of the country. Even with regard to
sugar, what reason had they to suppose that the
argument which was applied last year would fail to apply
in the present year ? He had been taunted on the
other side with respect to his conduct on this
subject, and not having had an opportunity before he
felt himself bound to take notice of those taunts. The
Hon. Member for Edinburgh had, last night, taunted
him with hypocrisy. Why was it hypocrisy in him to
use this argument, and not hypocrisy in the other side
last year ?—(Hear, hear.) An appeal to the miseries of
the country would, last year, have formed a sufficient
excuse, but it did not when the price of sugar was re-
duced to a considerable extent. He had been reminded
of the expression of disapprobation of his conduct on the
part of the Anti-Slavery Society. The first impression
of that Society, as stated to the House. by the Hon.
Member for the Tower Hamlets, was against the pro-
posed measure. In the course of a few days there was
an agitation amongst the supporters of her Majesty's
Government, and then, for the first time, they declared
that the only way to extinguish slavery was
to expose free labour sugar to the utmost
amount of competition. He had also been taunted with
the expression of the Anti-Slavery Society of Liverpool.
Now, what were the facts ? That Society had fallen al-
most to pieces, it being considered that there was no
longer any occasion for its existence. But when it ap-
peared that her Majesty's Ministers attached great im-
portance to this question of sugar, a little knot of gentle-
men collected the friends of the Anti-Slavery Society,
and in the name of that Society published their opinions.
—(Hear, hear.) If such were- the manner in • which
these measures were supported, it only showed how little
importance was to be attached to it. A Birmingham
paper that he had seen that morning would show
that the feeling of the ant'-slavery party was
not universally in favour of the overnment measure.
(The Noble Lord then read a lett .r to the editor of the
ant
'-slavery
in a Birmingham newsp per, signed " Charles
Sturge," stating that he himmtlf was opposed to
the Government proposition, and that he was con-
vinced that if his brother, Mr. Joseph Sturge,
were in England, he too would lae., strongly opposed to it.)
Now what was the position of the present Government ?
They had been dwindling in their numbers for session
after session, in every successive election, which showed
that.they had lost the confidence of the country ; their
majorities had progressively diminished ; out of twenty
elections sixteen had terminated in favour of their oppo-
nents.—(Hear, hear.) It was idle to say that this
was to be attributed to bribery and corruption. Had not
corruption been resorted to by the partisans of the Go-
vernment ?—(Hear hear.) Had they forgotten St. Al-
ban's ?—(Chers from the Opposition benches.) Had
they forgotten Newark ?—(Continued cheering.) Had
they forgotten Nottingham ? Time after time had it been
shown that where money could be used successfully there
were no scruples in using it. The allegations of corrup-
tion on the part of their opponents might be true in some
cases, but in the majority they were false. The Hon. Mem-
ber for Westmeath had talked of Si. in one place and
151. in another, but lie spoke only from common rumoar.
The present Ministry could not do that which it was
their duty, as Ministers, to. do—namely, restrain a single
encroachment on the prerogative of the Crown without
having the assistance of that side of the House. He had
been forced into these remarks by what had been thrown
out against him on the slavery question. In conclusion,
he would say that the Government had only kept their
places by throwing away, one after another, every prin-
ciple which they had hitherto professed.
Lord MORPETH then rose to address the House.
He should be the first both to appreciate and acknow-
ledge the tone of mxleraton and temper in which the
speech of the Right Hon. Baronet who had submitted
this resolution to the House was conceived.—(Cheers.)
But whether the speech of the Noble Lord who had just
st down was conceived in the same vein, and exhibited
the same quality—the same absence of personal imputation
and party differences, the same willingness to do justice
to political opponents and to acknowledge their merits
he would leave to the House to judge.—(Hear, hear.)
That Noble Lord had not confin©d his imputations to
the members of her Majesty's Government, but he had
included in them many men, and bodies of men, through-
out the country, who had spent the greater part of their
lives in long, devoted, and persevering, exertions to
strike off the last remnants of the fetters of slavery,
while the Noble Lord himself was acting with many of
those who had done their utmost to rivet those fetters ,
more tightly. He recollected that the late Mr. Cobbett .
Ivied to say that the abolition of slavery cry had been