The Sun.
London, England, 1847-11-24 00:00:00

REPORT ON THE ADDRESS.

On the motion that the report on the address be
brought up,

Mr. OS-10RNE, before that report was brought
up, wished to make a few observations upon several"
parts of her Majesty's speech. When be considered
the paralysed state of the commerce of the country,
the state of Ireland, and the relations of the country
abroad, he felt bound to call the attention of the
House to some of the topics in her Majesty's speech.
Although the Chancellor of the Exchequer
had stated that he would bring the subject
of the currency before the House on Tuesday, he
must be permitted to say that he did not think the
embarrassments in trade were of a merely local cha-
racter. He could not feel satisfied until the basis of
trade was put upon a more sure foundation than it
was at present. He would give no opinion with
respect to the Bank charter, but this he would say,
that he thought the Government had acted wisely
in sending this matter before a Committee.—(Hear,
hear.) Ile thought the Act of 1844 had
undergone unnecessary odium. Only three banks of
issue had failed during the late monetary pressure.
With reference to that part of her Majesty's speech
relative to the civil war in Switzerland, he deprecated
any interference on the part of this country, thinking
that the example they had had with respect to Portu-
gal was quite sufficient to induce 'them not to inter-
fere. But if any interference did take place, he trusted
the rights and liberties of the people would not be
sacrificed for the sake even of the blessings of peace.
He came next to the paragraph which stated that
her Majesty looks with confidence to the conti-
I nuance of peace on the continent of Europe. Now
there was only one man in that House who
thoroughly understood foreign affairs, and that was
the Noble Lord the Foreign Secretary himself, but he
must be blessed with a superabundance of nerve who
could look with confidence to the continuance of
peace in Europe, when it was remembered that Spain,
Switzerland, and France were in a very excited state
indeed, and any spark in one of those countries might
compromise not only the peace of Europe, but the
peace of the world. He would not dwell long upon
this branch of his subject, because, in the course of
the session, it would be his duty to call the attention
of the House to the incomplete and disgraceful state
of our national defences, and then he should have
another opportunity of reverting to this part of the
speech. lie did not know that the para-
graph relating to the treaty with the Equador
was of very great importance, but of all the serious
humbugs that had ever been perpetrated in this
country the attempt to put down the slave trade was
the greatest. These attempts, instead of suppressing
the traffic in slaves, had added to its horrors, and he
hoped some Honourable Gentleman better
acquainted with the matter than himself
would take an early opportunity of placing this
question before the House in a way that would put
it upon its true merits.—(Hear, hear.) He now camel
to the most difficult portion of the speech, namely, thel
portions which related to Ireland ; and here he must
express his regret that the debate last night had not
been conducted with more calmness. He hoped, how-
ever, that the warning of the Right Hon. Gentleman
the Secretary for Ireland would not be lost sight of,
for every indiscreet word uttered in that House
with regard to Ireland was productive of the
most direful consequences in the sister king-
dom. The Catholic clergy of Ireland was a great
body, and, like all great bodies, it was composed
of two classes. The majority of them, no doubt,
were good men, while there might be wicked and
designing men amongst them ; but still the body, as
Honourable Member la
deeply
avt hole, ought not be
to animadvert with to denounced for the errors
of the minority 11 regretted that an
last night had felt it necessary
a recent speech of a
vsome degree of severity upon
enerable Archdeacon of the Ca-
ts hp
eo
el i:h C, hbuurtc ht
b. e
yFma ri bebt itt from him to defend that
tki into consideration that
delivered it was of a
the reverend gentleLn
(Hear, hear, and
most excitable temperamenot.
laughter.) He (Mr. Osborne
past the
and he could assure the licZekntehw_, hiTn wt•ll,
a very good man. For some time he was
reverend gentleman had been suffering
health, and that, no doubt, rendered him throonmloiriel
excitable. The Sunday, however, previous to the
delivery of the speech, he preached a sermon,