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

EVEN'NG E 1

I lON.

of that night would be a vote of confidence in the Ministry. Sir,
I thought the plain question was, had the House of Coca
mons confidence in the Government.—( Cheers.) I wish I
could see the Hon. Member for Carlow in his place, the inde
pendent Member for Carlow, as he called himself—(Cries of
" Oh, oh")—he stated himself to be the representative of the
unpurchaseable community of Carlow, and he was returned by
so triumphant a majority, and that after a scrutiny of almost
unequalled length before a Committee of gentlemen holding his
own opinions, who, of course, could have no commanity of feel-
ing—( Cries f"Oh ! oh !")—was seated by a majority of one.
—(" Oh !" and loud cheers.) The Hon. Gentleman claimed to
represent a large constituency—a large portion of the people—
which was all represented by the single unit. What did he
say ? Why, he said that he came forward to vote in opposition
to the motion of the lieu. Baronet, the Member for Devon ;
but let no man suppose that he placed confidence in the Gos
vernrnent ; said he, I negative the want of confidence, but that
by no means implies that I have any confidence in the Govern-
ment. Now, Sir, let me ask what is the question before the
I.loese? As I understand it, it is not whether this House has COD-
-lldenee in Ministers, for if that were decided on its merits, they
must be defeated ; the question is, whether Ministers should re-
tain office or not ?—( Loud cheers.) Whatever may be the re-
sult of the division of to-night, whether it may be five, ten, nay
thirty, we care not, the great importance of the question lies
not in the division, but in the debate.—( Cheers. ) At the be,
ginning of the Session the people will know what are the plans
of either party.—( Cheers.) The country will not only know
j
that the Government are supported by a bare majority of the
House of Commons, but it will also know upon what grounds
that majority was obtained, and upon what future expectations
that Government must keep in office, while it is wholly deprived
of power.—(Cheers.) I ask, Sir, what is the meaning of
political power? Is it, Sir, a belief—a concurrence in the
principles governing the Administration ? It so, Sir, is it not
necessary that the House of Commons should know what those
principles are? Let me ask, Sir, does it not, in the first
place, involve a belief in the foresight and sagacity of the men
conducting the affairs of the Government ?—(Loud cheers.)
It must involve a firm reliance upon their own principles—a
determination to push forward that which they know to be
right. Now, Sir, all this is involved in my notion of political
union. We must have confidence in the men conducting the
affairs of the State. Now, if this be a true definition of what
is political confidence, it certainly implies a fixed principle
upon the part of the Government a belief in the superior
sagacity of the men forming that Government—a confidence
that nothing would drive them to take a course which they
knew to be wrong—a confidence in them that they would rather
sacrifice their office than refuse to do that which they believed
to be right: Now let me ask how many Gentlemen in this
House will say that upon this interpretation of political confi.
dente they can place any confidence in her Majesty's Ministers?
—(Loud cheers.) Sir, if we were to ask the question in the
country we would be laughed at; many certainly said at once
that they voted to maintain the present Ministry in office, not
that they approved of their conduct—not that they had confi-
dence in them, but, as they said, they are the men whom we
can press forward in the way we want them to go.-se
(Loud cheers.) Now, Sir, that is not my interpre-
tation of political confidence.--(Loud cheers.) Now, what in
the name of Heaven are the principles of the Government ?
what are the three great questions of our domestic policy?
They are, the extent to which the franchise may be given to
the people, and we all know that in every country that gives a
control over the representation ; the second is the mode in
which that franchise should be communicated, whether acting
as a public charge, as a great duty devolving upon the electors;
and, thirdly, the especial manner in which a great country like.
the present, with complicated laws, in which a swarming popu-
lation, may be provided with the means of food. Can there be
any other three questions upon which it is most necessary that
this House should be enlightened ? Is there any human being,
is there even a Cabinet Minister, who, upon any one of those
great questions, can tell me what are the principles of the
Government? If you do not know the principles governing
the Ministers, how can you possibly express confidence, unless
it were a blind confidence, which could only be placed in men
of great talents, of persevering industry, of political honesty, and
practical experience, all combined together, in one set of nen
acting together, were actually necessary before the House can
vote confidence in any set of men. Now, let us take an
example—ls there any one question upon which the Govern-
ment is united? Suppose we take the Corn-laws. Now, tell
me is there any one man in the House, or out of it,
who has confidence in the present Ministry upon the Corn-
laws ?—( Loud cheers.) Sir, I should like to hear in succes-
sion from the Ministry what their opinions are. The principle
of one is absolute protection to the agriculturist. No, Sir, I
am not sure of that—l am not sure—(being reminded by an
Hon. Member behind him, he said)—Yes, the head of the
Government, Lord Melbourne, in another place states—but
Sir, if the Goverment had one fixed opinion, I should be able
to carry it in my mind, but when every one has a different
opinion, I confess it is very hard for any one to say what are
the opinions of each. All that I know is this, that Lord Mel-
bourne said the free trade in corn would be the maddest and
wildest speculation that:could enter into the mind of man ;
and yet the very next act of his Government was to
take into the Cabinet one who is most directly
pledged to a free trade in Corn.—(Cheers.) I could nob un-
derstand, Sir, a question left open upon the mere details, but
if the Government absolutely said they were in favour of
protection to the landed interest in the shape of a tax rising
when the prices fall, and falling when the prices rise, that is
fixed principle upon which all people might depend, and the
farmers might rely safely upon the protection which has been
vouchsafed to them for so many years, but can any one tell me
that such is the fixed principle upon which the Government
act ?—(Cheers.) Now, Sir, let me ask, is the Bal!ot
a question—is open voting a question of importance to the
State ? No one Gentleman who has yet addressed
the House has denied the importance of that question in a con-
stitutional point of view.—(Cheers. ) My Noble Friend the
Noble Lord the Secretary for the Colonies has declared, that
in a constitutional point of view the Ballot, if carried, must
lead to the adoption of Universal Suffrage—( Hear, hear)—and
he also declared that the adoption of Universal Suffrage must
lead to the ruin of the State. What then is the course
which my Noble Friend pursues ? Not only does Ire not
mark with reprobation those under his control, for
the votes given against his opinion—those who vote
in favour of a measure which he thinks will lead to the ruin of
the country, but he takes into his Cabinet those who state
broadly and distinctly that they will use their influence in the
Cabinet—their influence in the Government, for the express pur-
pose of advancing those measures which, according to the Noble
Lord, will be ruinous to the country.—(Cheers.) flue third
question, Sir, is the extension of the franchise ; and here comes
forward the Hon. Member for Sheffield, and he said at last, I
will give you a different principle—l confess that I opened my
eyes, because he spore as one with au'hority—as one whom
recent events had given a conviction to his mind that the coun-
try was to have the benefit of progressive reform.
The principle of progressive reform is the next topic—it is one
un which all men of that side of the House agree, and I doubt
whether it would not do even for a Chartist.—( Hear, hear.)
I doubt whether a Chartist might not be taken into the Cabinet
on such a principle—because he need onl be prepared to go on
the principle of " progressive reform."—(Hear, hear, and
cheers.) But now it seems we have a " a middle point"—
(Laughter, and hear, hear.) But I turn to those who are the
main strength of the Ministry; and what do they say? Why,
they are all for " progressive reform."—( Hear, hear.)
That " progressive reform," however, has been serried
so far already that it has caused the secession of my
Noble Friend (Lord Howiek 1. I know my Is'o'ale Friend well,
and, I believe, it must be going far indeed to frighten him—
( Hear, hear, and laughter)—his progression would be utter
Radicalism.—( Hear, hear.) Before my Noble Friend could
have seceded from the Goverment their principles of progressive
Reform must have been alarming indeed—(Hear, hear)—and
more so, of course, to the Conservative party,—( Hear, bear. )
Ere my Noble Friend could have found it necessary to secede
from the Cabinet, he must have reached the ultima Thule
of his progressive Reform, and so he had found it it impera-
tive to secede from those who wished to go further.—(Cheers.)
Now, Sir, of all the conditions in which a Government can or
could be placed, this I hold to be for the public welfare the
most dangerous of all. I do not hesitate to say, that it is my
wish to see a Government occupying a respectable poeition.
I would rather see Gentlemen opposite, who entertain ex-
treme opinions, tell us honestly what these opinions are-.-
( Hear, hear)—than see a Government in which all their
opinions are closed together under the appearance of progres-
sive Reform.—( Hear, hear.) I can conceive a Government
so constituted as to excite the distrust and suspicion of all well-
thinking men. —(Cries of " Hear, hear, hear.") Last year
there was a lamentable instance of want of strength
in the Government, one of whose officers boasted that the
course they had pursued had put down Chartism.--( Hear,
hear.) The first law officer of the Crown last year visited
his constituents, and in a speech enumerating the merits of
the Government, he said that through the measures adopted
by the Government Chartism was banished from the land and
would be known no more. Why the Hon. and Learned Gen-
tleman at that moment stood upon the crater of a volcano, for
within one month of the delivery of that speech he
was prosecuting for high treason twenty-one unfortu-
nate and misguided men, who had broken oat, not
in consequence of the absence of work, or the want of wags")
but in consequence of the influence exercised over them by
unprincipled agitators.—( Hear, hear.) And it was only
through the inclemency of the weather and the providence of
the Almighty that they were prevented from sacking one of the
principal towns in Wales.--( Hear, hear.) Talk of Chartism
being extinct ! Do you believe that it is extinct now?
( Hear, hear.) You not only know that it is smouldering.
but you know that it lives throughout the country. And the
country knows what encouragement your fatal policy hoe
given to it. You have the insurrection at Newport—yon
have the outbreak at Sheffield—you have the dis-
turbances at Bradford—you have the troops wider
arms—you have the police called out—you have the troops
prepared for an engagement. Where ? Why, good God, sis
the heart of the metropolis of England !—( Tremendous cheer-
ing.) And all this too, within four months after the vaunt and
boast of the first Law Officer of the Crown that the course pur-
sued by the Government had banished Chartism from the land.
Another main ground of confidence in the Government is the
conviction that what they assert they will maintain unflinch-
ingly. I grieve to say that from the commencement of the
Government of Lord Melbourne down to the present moment,
that Government has lived—not upon what they have done, ,
but upon what they have undertaken to do, knowing well at
the time that they could not perform.—(Great cheering.)
The more certain a measure was to be defeated the better it
suited their purpose.—(Cheers.) Because it was a sinndard
topic upon which they might live for another Session. Their
stock in trade was good intentions, and when they were de-
feated it was said " The Tories had prevented their carrying
such good measures," and then some other jack-a-lanthorn
measure was put forward for the purpose of hood-winking their
supporters.—(Cheers.) On what did the Government come into
power? Why upon pledges, which up to this hour they have
never fulfilled—pledges which they have abandoned, and prin-
ciples which they have declared essential to the welfare of the
country.—( Hear, hear.) They had taken office upon the prin-
ciples of appropriation—and where was the Appropriation Clause?
I do not blame the Noble Lord for abandoning that clause be-
cause he knew perfectly well that he could not carry it. But
I blame him for founding his Government upon it, and I
charge him with throwing out the Government of my Right
Hon. Friend, the Member for Tamworth, on the ground that
he would carry that clause. The political object the Govern-
mentv
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the measures are withdra en. They put forth feelers as to the
number of votes, and when they find there is the least likeli-
hood of the measure not being carried, they withdraw it alto-
,sether. Is this, Sir, the course that ought to be pursued by
a Government ?—(dreat cheering.) An individual Member
may bring forward a measure on his own responsibility,
and when he finds that the majority of the House is against
him, it is perfectly competent for him to withdraw his mea-
sure ; but this is not the course that ought to be pursued by a
Government. They ought to know their own minds and then
measures, and if they are convinced those measures are for time
good of the country they ought to maintain them, and if no
they ought not to have proposed them. I was suprised 1t
hear my Friend, the Secretary for Ireland, the other night
come forward and make the statement which he did. In the
course of the last Session he stated that the Government were
prepared to advance 2,000,000/. for the purpose of making rail-
roads in Ireland. That, no doubt, was a most beneficial pre-
ect, but the question was whether a Minister of the Crows