The Sun.
London, England, 1841-08-25 00:00:00

that th e.), could have regarded with any other feelings bnt
those
• a sincere and patrio.ic regret, had it not been for an
under c .
arrent of exultation which he thought he had perceived
o
to runthrough those statements.—(Hear, hear.) But what.
ever m
ht be the feelings of the authors of these statements,
whatever
hypothesis which they assumed, he trusted that the
.
Right I-1, al. Baronet, conscious of the high destiny to which he
was calk( 1. in being summoned to extricate his country from
these diff culties—of the high hopes entertained of him in the
country, and of the generous confidence which was reposed in
him by. al 1 classes, as manifested by the zeal and alacrity with
which th ey had come forward at the late general election, and
by the lai ge majority returned to that House—that the Hight
Hon. Bat nnet considering these circumstances wood be able to
face those t difficulties, whatever they were; not in a spirit of
presumpt• sous deflate, nor with the intention of having re-
course to the arts of empiricism, but with a firm, with a manly re-
-• -nee upon the,good sera**, the honesty, the fairness of the people
is... —retry, and with g; still more constant reliance upon the
or this t;.-_
. .
- "tat Provsdetree whose watchful arm had
kindly spirit n.._
in difficulties, and so long as she
ever supported Britain . .d 3,er guided her in the paths
had been true to herself, ha -till to argue upon that hypo-
of honour.—( Cheers.) And, . that of others, when the
thesis, which was not his but . 1 was very far distant,
period should arrive, which he truste. " circumstances, the
's
igh
trust to those
%then in the course of nature, or or
Honourable Baronet would resign that 1. t‘e would leave
who should succeed him, he trusted that ._ bequeath to
them a very different legacy—that he would
~ in trade,
them a healthy exchequer, peace at home, prosperit,
_(Loud
prosperity abroad, and a happy and contented nation.--
Cheers. )
_ . _ _

Mr. LABOUCHERE said the Noble Lord who had juss
addressed the House, as well as the Honourable Member
for the West Riding of Yorkshire,_ had taken great pains
to assure the Government that they were in a minority.
He did not stand there to contrast their 'position ;
but if that were true, he was too well aware
cf the disposition of the House to doubt that they would
give to any Member of that Government, however humble
a patient, an indulgent hearing.—(Hear.) Those Gentlemen
had expressed a great eagerness that the House should decide
upon the questions before them. He could assure the House
that that eagerness was at least equally shared by her Majesty's
Government, and that they were rejoiced that the time had
come when they were able fairly to put before the House the
policy upon which they believed the affairs of this country
should be conducted, to take the opinion of the House upon
that policy, and, if they should fail to receive from the House
of Commons that support which could alone enable them to
carry out that policy to a successful conclusion, without loss of
time to devolve the responsibity of governing the country on
other principles, upon those who were of a different opinion on
such subjects from themselves. He had listened with great
attention, and with no small curiosity, to the speeches that had
been made from the other side of the House, and he confessed
that he was entirely at a loss to understand the intention of the
amendment. He clearly understood that it was intended to
express a want of confidence in her Majesty's Ministers ; and he
could assure the Hon. Member for the \Vest Riding that it
was totally unnecessary for him to take up the time of the
House, as he had done in asserting the right to express such a
sentiment. It was not only right, but it was the duty of the
House, it upon general grounds they did not feel confidence in
the advisers of iwr Majesty ; it was due to the CrOwn—it was
due to the country—he might say it was due to the Govern-
ment itself at once to declare that opinion, that no doubt
might remain upon the subject.—(Hear.) Still he must say,
that after hearing the amendment, and the speeches by which
he had been supported, he was at a loss to understand what
was its import. Before, however, he alluded to that part of
the subject, he would take the liberty of referring to some of
the observations which had fallen from the mover and seconder
of the address. The Noble Lord who had just sat down
(Lord Bruce) had said that the Government had no right to
come down to the House of Commons as a Government; it
was notorious, he said, that the result of the late elections was
unfavourable, and under such circumstances it was an insult
both to the country and to the Crown for them to retain
office.—( Hear.) He thought the Noble Lord could hardly
have observed near whom he was sitting.—( Hear, hear.)
He must remind him that when the Right Hon. Gentleman
the Member for Tamworth, in 1835, acted as the Minister of
the Crown, the result of the elections had placed him in an ac-
knowledged minority. He was perfectly aware, when he met
that he met a hostile majority arrayed against him ; at any
rate, if be could have any doubt about it, the point was very
soon settled.—( Hear, hear.) They began with the Speaker-
ship, of which he would say no more.—( Hear, hear, from the
Tory benches.) They then proceeded to move an amendment
to the Address, blaming the dissolution of the previous Parlia-
ment, and clearly int mating that the majority of the House
did not repose confidence in the Government. Still the Right
Hon. Gentleman retained office, exercising the patronage, and
using all the executive functions of the Minister, though be
was never able, during the whole time that he sat as Minister,
to carry one single measure which was proposed to the
House. There was, too, this peculiarity in the defects of the
Right Honourable Baronet—they were unchequered by a single
triumph, though on one occasion he was defended
from an attack which proceeded from the Duke of Buckingham
by the co-operation of his opponents—co-operation which, he
trusted, would always be afforded when an improper attack
was made upon the existing Government.—( Hear, hear.) His
Hon. Friend (the Member for the West Riding) had charged
the Government with having abandoned those pledges which
Lord Grey had given of peace, economy, and reform. He
felt convinced that the calm judgment of the country and of
posterity would give them credit for having maintained those
three principles of Government, as far as it was favourable
under the circumstances. The Hon. Member said there had
been some cannon shots fired since the Government had been
in office. The pledge of Lord Grey was to this effect—that the
Government would, as far as possible, preserve a pacific policy,
that, as far as possible, they would prevent an European war,
or any breaking up of that great confederacy, which was the
best p'edge of peace. When Lord Grey took office, ten years
ago, it was said that it would be an astonishing thing if peace
were maintained for six months.—( Hear, hear ) Yet, with some
slight interruptions, peace had been maintained for ten years ;
and if the event of these discussions should be to bring Hon.
Gentlemen opposite into power, it would indeed be matter of
congratulation most fortunate to the interests of the human
race, if at the end of ten years the world had not suffered more
calamities from war than during the ten years that were pass.
He next came to economy. The Hon. Gentleman said there
had never been such profuse expenditure, yet the Government
came in with pledges of economy. If that were so, if the
Government had been lavish in their expenditure, it implied a
very great censure upon their political opponents. (Hear,
hear.) It was the peculiar province and duty of an opposition
to watch the expenditure of the country, and to check any dis-
position to excess. (Laughter from the Opposition.) The
complaints from the other side of the House had uniformly
been that they did not spend enough; that they were not suffi-
ciently lavish. ( Hear, hear.)
Mr. STUART WORTLEY explained. He said be had
complained of the result.
Mr. LABOUCHERE said he had always supposed that
" economy" was a relative term. No one could imagine that
Earl Grey had pledged himself not to spend more than a cer-
tain sum of money; or not to increase when it was neeessary
the establishments of the country. It might in some cases be
the truest economy to increase the expenditure.—(Hear,
hear ) Ilis Hon. Friend had made a charge against the pre..
sent Government that they had never introduced reforms unless
when it served their own party purposes; and that it was for
that reason they had reformed the old borough system. Now he
( Mr. Labouchere) did not think theta charge which they should
shrink from ; and he hoped they should always have a party
interest in reforming acknowledged abuses. "But he would
also remind his Hon. Friend that there was a large class of
subjects in which reforms had been introduced, while the
Whig party had wcupied.power, to which the observation could
not apply. With respect to the reform in Church-rates, the
reform in tithes, and many other important reforms introduced
during the last ten years, it was impossible to, say
that they could be attributed to party motives. He
felt it a matter of just pride to those with whom he
had the honour to act, that they could look back
with satisfaction upon the results of many of those important
changes which it was predicted would lead to the most cala-
mitous. consequences. It was said that the Reform Bill would
lead to ruin arid confusion in the country; but so far was the
prediction from being verified, that in his (Mr. Labouchere's)
opinion the institutions of the country had been thereby placed
upon a sounder basis, and had become mere an object of love
and reverence to the people of this country than they had been
before that event. lie held it that the legitimate object of
Reform was preservation , and he could not look back to that
long series of measures introduced during the last ten years
but with a feeling of satisfaction at the success which had at-
tended their efforts to amend and consolidate the institutions of
the country.—(Hear, hear.) Hon. Gentlemen opposite said
they were not in a condition to discuss those measures of trade,
and it had b. en intimated that the Government had not brought
forward those measures upon reflection and a conviction of
their propriety, but merely to serve some temporary purpose,
and that therefore they had not received the full consideration
of the country. He (Mr. Labouchere) could only say, on the
contrary, that if ever there were measures deliberately con-
sidered before they had been brought forward, they were the
measures which it had been attempted so unfairly to charac-
terise. He could assure the House that the Govern-
ment, in bringing forward those measures, were aware that
they were likely to meet with very great opposition.
It was impossible to look to the history of our commercial
legislation of late years without anticipating that result, for it
was a remarkable fact, that while they had improved the insti-
tutions of the country in other respects, nothing had been done
for our commercial legislation during a long series of years, al-
though no important alterations had since taken place in the
condition of the country and the commercial relations of the
world. The Government were aware they were undertaking
a task of great difficulty. The Hon. Gentleman opposite had
said that he was a disciple of Mr. Huskisson—with the
support, be it always remembered, of the Whig party,
who did not think it fit to make such subjects party
questions. With the support of the Whigs Alr. Huskis-
son had, undoubtedly, introduced many impottant al-
tterattifoonllsowineros. our eGrcriaailltsy(sntoew Lord m, in spite of his over-reluc-
au
Glenelg) and Mr.
Huskisson, had, it should be recollected, brought forward the
very question of the sugar duties ; and the proposal they had
made went much further than the late proposal of her
protection to the colonies and
Ma-
jesty'sbein moreGernovfmaveonutr,
favourable
giving t
olessthe
home consumer.—( Hear. )
He had no doubt but his Honourable Friend (Mr. Wortley)
voted upon that occasion with Mr. Huskisson; but he was op-
posed to the Duke of Wellington, to the Right Hon. Baronet
the Member for Tamworth, to the Right Hon. Member
for Cambridge, then Chancellor of the Exchequer, and the
the proposal failed. Now he (Mr. Labouchere) had no hesi-
tation in saying that it that measure had been carried at the
time, the results to the commerce and the finances of this
country, as well as the general comfort of the people, would
have been almost incalculable.—(Hear.) What was the next
considerable attempt made to change our commercial system?
The next attempt was made by a Government that could not
be designated a weak Government—it was made by the Go-
vernment of Earl Grey, the year after they had come into
office.—( Hear, hear.) That Government brought forward a
measure relating to the timber duties; and the Noble
Lord the Member for North Lancashire, and the Right
Hon. Baronet the Member for Dorchester (Sir J. Graham),
said it was an ill.advised measure. But the proposal meet with
a party opposition, and it did not succeed. He should observe
that if public men made such subjects party questions, and
made use of them as a means of embarrassing and harassing a
Government, he was afraid that they would never see a Go-
vernment strong enough to carry out any important improve-
ments.—( Hear, hear.) He was not surprised that, after the
failures he had enumerated, succeeding Governments felt slow
and reluctant to propose any considerable alterations with re_
spect to those important matters, and fully admitted what lie
had heard that night, that there was a great evil in bringing
forward such measures unless there was some chance of carry-
ine them. He had never denied that. It was the duty of a
Government fairly to weigh the one against the other—the
danger and the evil of leaving things as they were when they
became injurious to the brst interests of the country, and the
hazard of dealing with such questions. He should not forget
to mention that Mr. Huskisson, in his attempt to alter the
sugar duties, was opposed by the entire of the party opposite,
with the single and most honourable exception of the late Mr.
Peregrine Courtenay, and after that experience he did think
that Governments might be well reluctant in bringing
forward measures of a similar description. It was also
to be observed that, when the Corn-law ques-
tion had been brought forward year after year
by independent Members of that House, the proposal had been
always negatived by very considerable majorities. But they
had been constantly told, and by the Right Hon. Baronet the
Member for Tamworth among' many others, that if the Go-