The Sun.
London, England, 1846-01-23 00:00:00

aristocracy, and the necessity of inventing some means
of managing reform constituencies—he remembered
when a great mind delivered itself like an oracle, who
ought to be ranked with the Seven Wise Men of Greece,
for saying register I register ! register ! Register to
save the Constitution—register to save the corn-laws
and the Church. This was the way the Right Hon.
Gentleman went on before the green table. The states-
man who opposed emancipation against argument, may
now be said, Gentlemen, to be a member of the League—
he who over and over again opposed political ex-
pedients one tbnusand times more urgent.—(Hear.)
There was the Right Hon. Gentleman now trying to prove
himself right, who had proved himself false ten thou-
sand tina.ee. A Learned Member for some county, the
name pi which he 'could not then remember, said he was
asho-aved any longer to resist those claims, but had not
the courage to propose their abolition. The moment he
n'sard South Lancashire was invaded, the moment he
heard Yorkshire was in danger, he deserts the principles
of protection, and having arrived at an opposite conclu-
sion, he comes to Parliament to convince them with ar-
guments they had heard for thirty years. He gave him
credit, however, for extremely singular conjectures—as
a Minister who tells them, it was not intellect, it was not
great talent, but it was the state of the registrars they
should appeal to, although, when he was in opposition, he
read them a very different lesson, and gave them very
different counsel. But he comes forward, and says he
was acting for posterity. What a blessing it was for
the country to have a Minister who was only thinking
of posterity—(Great laughter)—not thinking of the
poor, but of posterity; and not thinking at all about the
present constitution. One feature of the present Cabinet
was to support peace, and in the history of parties he
would defy any man, even the Honourable Gentleman
the Member for Edinburgh himself—(A laugh)—to
show any instance to equal the present in this or any
other country where Ministers were more determined to
keep their places; bat "coming events cast their shadows
before," and he saw in the element of the Government
shadows that no gentleix an could possibly doubt. They
would resist a moderate proposal—(Hear, hear)
—by men who could make such gross and
palpable blunders as they had seen. The Whigs
will be the chief mourners ; they, weep over an abortion,
but which still excited all the kindest feelings of maternity
—(Laughter.) They (the protectionists) follow, mourn
ing over an offspring that had been assassinated ; and
the nurse they engaged had done it all.—(Loud laughter.)
They saw her fondling it, and exclaiming " What a
darling ! Did you ever see anything of its age equal to
it ?"—(Renewed laughter.) But immediately after the
nurse, in a fit of patriotic frenzy, dashes its brains out,
and comes down to give to the master and mistress an
account of the terrible murder.—(Laughter.) Never had
the House of Commons, even in the most strong times of the
country, been 'placed in a similar position by a Minister.
Never bad it been tried to carry out a similar policy.
And what had produced this ? A Minister had lost a
valuable colleague. He had not been present in the
other House when the Noble Lord to whom he referred
had made a speech, and therefore he had not had an
opportunity of hearing his explanation of the reasons
why he had withdrawn from the Ministry ; but from what
he (Mr. Disraeli) had learned, that Noble Lord stated
the reason of his withdrawal. They all know where
Lord Stanley had been ; he would ask them where -was
Lord Stanley now ?—(Hear, hear.) As he said, he
had not had the satisfaction of hearing tho Noble Lord's
speech ; but he understood he had told them that he had
withdrawn because he did not agree with the Govern-
ment on the question on which they had been called
into power, on which they had derived their official ex-
istence, and on the operation of which they had gained
the confidence of the House of Parliament.—
(Hear, hear.) He said the confidence of Parliament,
for he was not one to sacrifice party, or the confidence
of Parliament, by such a course as the Right Hon.
Gentleman pursued.—(Hear, hear.) The Right Hon.
Gentleman talked of being independent of party ; but
could he reconcile his policy with the constitution of the
country? Who, on either side of the House, had
gained any important or commanding position, without
receiving the confidence of Parliament? The Right
Hon. Gentleman might say that he had obtained the
confidence of the Sovereign, but he (Mr. Disraeli)
maintained that without the confidence of the House of
Commons—without the confidence of that House, no
consmanding position could be obtained.—Jlear, hear.)
It was impossible to carry on the business of the coun-
try, it was impossible to achieve any great benefit for
thepeoplewithout parties.—(Hear, hear.) There must be
distinct principles enunciated and maintained.—(Hear.)
Whether it was my Lord John this or that, or whoever
it might be that was called on to form a Ministry, this
was a feature in the construction of the Government
of England. If a Government is to be constructed,
there must be principles on which it must declare to pro-
ceed, and a party to give it their support. A Govern-
ment ought not to recommend measures which it did not
approve of at one time, which it considered essential to
the welfare of the country at another.—(Hear, hear.)
Was this not committing a great party connexion to a
false policy, and which might bring down on them great
evils ?—(Hear, hear.) That House of Commons existed
on the principles of party. If they destroyed the Go-
vernment of parties—of definite ideas of sympathy with
straightforward and honest policy—what would be their
position ? Six hundred individuals—men at the direc-
tion of the Sovereign, under the will of the Govern-
ment—to be used for the purposes of corruption, and
not employed for the benefit of the people.—(Cheers.)
Who could doubt that such. would be the result of the
policy of a Government without a party ? Had it
not been so in a neighbouring country, which was
as yet in the infancy of the representative system. They
knew that such was the case.—(Hear, hear.) There was
no Parliamentary party in France, and they knew the
state of things there. They knew that whatever might
bo said of danger from Bonapartists, and the supporters
of the Napoleon dynasty, that the real danger to that
country was the corruption of the servants of the State
—of the Government—the whole power of which was at
the command and under the direction of a single indi-
vidual.—(Hear, hear.) Would it not be so here? Nay,
was there not a danger of its being so if a Government
without a prrty were to be considered a Parliamentary
principle.—(Hear, hear.) But such, if attempted now,
had never, heretofore, been endured. That which had
not been submitted to from Walpole and other Ministers
of eminence in the history of the English Government,
would not be endured, he was persuaded, now.—(Hear.)
The Right Hon. Gentleman says he will rule andexercise
authority without respect to party, and will leave his
character to posterity. He would beg leave to
inform him that very few were the names that reached
that goal—that a place in the future was a boon vouch-
safed to few—that those who reached posterity were not
much more numerous than the planets.—(Loud laughter
and cheers.) Anti he was going to commit his fame to
posterity on the principle of relaxed protection.—
(Hear, hear.) But he advised the Right Honourable
Gentleman of the danger with which that course was
fraught. His (Mr. Disraeli's) declaration was, that
whatever opinions, whether of protection or free trade,
were advocated in that House, he, at least, would op-
pose free politics.—(Hear, hear.) He would say
to every man who had obtained a position in that House,
to stand by the principles by which he had risen, whether
those principles were right or wrong. If right, carry
them into operation, but if satisfie they are wrong,
retire, and let those who have consistently advocated an
opposite course carry them out.—(Hear, hear.) Though
the Noble Lord who had endeavoured to form a Ministry
had not succeeded in that endeavour, it did not declare
whether he was right or wrong in the policy he was
seeking to carry out ; but he (Mr. Disraeli) did not
think it was right that a Parliament elected on the prin-
ciple of protection, and a Minister who had obtained a
large majority on the faith of that principle, should now
turn his back on that which had brought him into power.
—(Hear, hear.) He admitted that notwithstanding the
great talent of the Minister, and however much the
exercise of that might have operated in bringing the
Conservative party into power, it was not fair to the
people of England to propose such a measure as that he
was about to do.—(Hear, hear.) He was a great party
leader no doubt, and had achieved a victory ; but
how had he done so ? He had obtained a grand
victory, of coarse, judging from his present policy,
the impolicy of which, not to use any harsher lan-
gqacre, was clearly apparent. Such was the case. If
the °Right Hon. Baronet had not come forward at the
time he obtained his Parliamentary majority, and with
the greatest frankness responded to the call of the
country, he would not have been placed in the conaman-
ing position he then occupied.—(Hear.) Did not men
say that he made speeches to suit the occasion, accomo-
dating addresses in order to appeal to the sympathies of
the people, so as to carry his majority and elevate him-
self into power ? He recognised a Parliamentary Go-
vernment, because he promised to support the views of
the party which had carried him into power, and who
he had urged forward with his cheers and ad..
ulation.—(Hear, hear.) They (the Conservative
party) might use him to secure the success
of their Parliamentary number, but how they could
be expected to support the principles advocated by the
men they formally opposed, he could not understand.—
(Hear, hear.) The Ministry they were now called on
to support was not the Ministry who should interfere
with those laws relating to protection. That feeling
was not confined to this House, but prevailed exten-
sively out of doors.— (Hear, hear.) He said this as an
advocate of protection, as one who, while he would not.
shrink from maintaining his opinion, would listen with
patience to any refutation of them that might be offered
from any other Member of the House.—(Hear, hear.)
He would impress it on their consideration, that whether
a Whig or Conservative Administration was in power,
whether the Noble Lord on the Opposition, or the
Right Hon. Gentleman on this side was at the head.
of the Administration, that they should transact
their business and conduct their policy on the
principle that Parliamentary party had been
an institution, and was still to continue an
an institution of this country.—(Hear.) The character
con-
sistency
ceonunalodnudrtuotghdeei
sspculoapi
ipi
mtoi
nr
att
lho
ifst
of the Ministry much depended on Parliamentary
pe
rdasregtniyur.
ne
re
siLaa ett
iitoo
ntnh,
oe
bmf
uptnaordtto,yt, hwenbr
oae t-t
moft
arel eiyy:
t n forn t
nhe ee indeeenol,independence
nofppuhliitnicinalepna,ratnyd, bthuet
honour
and popular character of the British Parliament. (The
Hon. Gen tlemansat down amidst long-coatinued cheering.)
Lord NORTHLAND said that he protested in the
name of the people of Ireland against the measure of the
Right Hon. Baronet at the head of the Goverment. If
he wished to satisfy the people of Ireland, he would not
have proposed anything of the sort. He (the Noble
Lord) represented a great county in Ireland, and he
could confidently assertt the people of the sister country.—
(Loud measurewnoouulderny.tLil
incalculable evil uponhear.) What would
become of gentry and'‘ ir
agriculturallealabourers if manufac-
turers—(Lowuderectroiesbeonfppeased ? He was not pared on
pre
the present occasion to enter fully into isnotome adiscussion o
the question, for he did expect
Hon.
Gentle-
man
on his (the Opposition) side of the House, would
have risen on the part of the Irish aancultural interest
W oppose the measures of the Bight Jlon. )3 aronet. lie