The Sun.
London, England, 1848-03-25 00:00:00

VERNMENT MEASURES.

Lord J. RUSSELL—Sir, in moving the order of the
day for the House to go into Committee of Supply, I
will take the opportunity of stating the course which we
propose to pursue with respect to the business Govern-
ment has brought before the House, and of submitting
to the House some general considerations on that
subject. With regard to the business now before
the House, I propose to take to-night the estimates and
the vote of men for the army. There is likewise a vote
of money on account iu the navy and the ordnance,
which it will be necessary to take in a very short time.
My Right Hon. Friend the Chancellor of the Exche-
quer proposes on Monday to proceed with the Income-
tax Bill, as he has already stated ; and we propose to go
through with that Bill on the days on which the Go-
vernment has precedence. After that Bill I propose to
proceed with the Committee on the Bill for removing
Jewish disabilities, and then to take the third reading
of that Bill. Next, my Noble Friend the Chief Com-
missioner of Woods and Forests will propose that the
House should go into Committee on the Health of Towns
Bill. The Hon. Barnonet opposite (Sir W. Verner) has
asked me with regard to two other Bills—the Landlord
and Tenant (Ireland) Bill, and the Diplomatic Relations
with Rome Bill. Of these we propose to take first the
Landlordand Tenant (Ireland) Bill. I have been informed
that a considerable wish has been expressed, if the House
should consent to the second reading of that Bill, to
refer it to a Select Committeee and, if that shall appear
to be the general wish of the House on a subject of such
great intricacy and difficulty, on which the Government
themselves hare bad the greatest difficulty in deciding
on the different provisions of the Bill, I can have no ob-
jection, if there appears a chance of improving the Bill
by any inquiry before a Select Commtttee, to take that
course.—(Hear, hear.) There will probably be a good
deal of discussion on the second reading of that Bill.
Having stated so much with regard to the business of
the House, and as the Easter recess is approaching, it is
not necessary, perhaps, that I should fix any other time
for the other Government business. There is the Di-
plomatic Relations with Rome Bill; there is also a Bill
which has met the concurrence of the House of Lords,
and has come to this House—the Encumbered Estates
Bill—which we think a very important measure. Now
Sir, I wish to make a statement with regard to the
general business of the House, so far as legislation is
concerned ; and I do so at this time—first, because
it is an early period of the session; and, in the next
place, because I have every reason to thank the House
for the attention it has given to the business which has
been brought before it by the Government: for I do not
know of any instance in which the Government has
wished to press business forward in which the House
has not immediately fairly dealt with and disposed of it
according to our wish.—(Hear, hear.) Therefore, what
I am about to say will be without any sort of complaint
either against the House or against any individual
Member. My Noble Friend the Member for Bath (Lord
Duncan) has to-night given an instance of his wish to
accommodate the Government business by not bringing
forward a motion which he had placed on the paper (re-
ferring to a motion on the subject of the Crown Lands
which Lord Duncan had withdrawn at a previous
period of the evening). And I should also be very
glad if another Honourable Member (Mr. H.
Baillie), who has given a notice with respect
to the subject of our squadron on the African
coast, would follow the course which has just now been
taken by the Hon. Member for Montrose (Mr. Hume),
on a subject which is nearly akin to that. My Noble
Friend the Member for King's Lynn (Lord G. Bentinck)
has stated that the Committee over which he presides,
on the production of sugar and coffee, is about to enter
into deliberation, for the purpose of making some report
to the House; whereupon the Hon. Member for Montrose
has very properly deferred his motion on that subject.—
(Hear, hear.) But Ido think there are other reasons
why the House, if it wishes that matters of legislation
should be deliberately considered, at a time when there
is a full attendance of Alembers, should not interpose
other questions on those days which are devoted by the
orders of the House to the business of Government.—
(Hear.) I beg to submit to the House that there have
been, in the course of the last thirty years, very great
changes in the mode of conducting the business of the
House, both by the Government, and by individual
Members. I remember at that time, when I first entered
the House, it was not usual for the Government to under-
take generally the subject of legislation; the Government
generally confined itself to those measures which pro-
perly bet( nged to the business of administration, and to
any particular subjects which required their pressing at-
tention. At the same time I think there were at that
period two Government days in the week; and though
notices had precedence on other days, the orders of the
day could come on on any day of the week; so that the
business of the Government proceeded at a more rapid
pace than it does now. Two great changes have taken
place—and they may be both changes for the better—
but they are certainly somewhat inconsistent and
incompatible with each other. The one is, that
for many years past—that is, since the passing
of the Reform Bill—it has been thought to be
for the eonvenience of the public that upon
every subject on which an alteration of the law was
required, Government should prepare a Bill on that
subject, and undertake the passing of it through Par-
liament. The other great change is, that measures of all
kinds are more discussed in Parliament, a greater num-
ber of Members take part in their discussion, and a far
greater number of motions are made by individual Mem-
bers than formerly was the case. The consequence is,
that subjects of legislation of very great importance are
broughs into this House ; but it is found impossible by
any Government—it has been so found by preceding
Governments as well as the present—to bring them on
at a time when they can receive a fair deliberation; and
they are frequently put off till quite the end of the ses-
sion, when very few Members remain. I know it is
constantly said—and said, I think, without much
reflection—that there are important measures which
have not been pressed forward. But if the House will
consider what is the nature of its own orders, they will
see how impossible it is for Government to press for-
ward measures, and obtain the time necessary for their
discussion. There are only two days in the week
reserved for Government business; considering holidays
and adjourned debates, that gives about eight days
in a month. Now, it seems a great while to say that
four months of the session are gone, and that several
Bills have not yet been brought under discussion ; but
when we come to the number of days, we find there
have been about 30 days, and no more, on which the
Government business could come under discussion. I am
not making any complaint of this, nor asking for an ad-
ditional number of days ; I only wish the matter to be
before the House, in order that they may consider it.
If they think it desirable that Bills should be brought in
and pressed forward more rapidly than they are now,
probably some mode may be found of accomplishing
that object ; but if they are satisfied with the present
mode of conducting the business, at least they should
reflect that it will be impossible to press forward Bills
for the general purposes of legislation at an early
period of the session. In the present year there are im -
portant questions which must come under consideration.
The Income-tax Bill will expire in April next. The Mu-
tiny Bill must be renewed: The estimates in Committees
of Supply and the question of the income-tax will pro-
bably take up about two months of the days which Go-
vernment has to dispose of. I think that to night it is
desirable that the Hon. Member for Inverness-shire (Mr.
H. Baillie) should not press his motion, but should allow
us to dispose of this night for the purposes of the Go-
eernment business.—(Hear, hear.) With regard to any
alteration I do not ask any such at present; I only hope
that Hon. Gentlemen will turn the matter over in their
minds, and perhaps some proposition. may be made here-
after which will meet the wishes of the House. I will
now move that the order of the day be read.—(Hear.)
SLAVE TRADE—COAST OF AFRICA.
Mr. BAILLIE said he felt it his duty to proceed with
his motion. This was not a question to be referred to
a Committee of Inquiry, but one on which every Hon.
Member was competent to decide. The Government
sought to solve all their difficulties by the magic name
of &Committee; but it was for the House to dispel the
delusion which had so long prevailed in the country as
to the slave trade, and to let it be known that all the
valuable lives which had been sacrificed, and all the
treasure that had been squandered, so far from attaining
the object in view, had positively augmented the horrors
of the slave trade. These facts proved that it would:be
highly criminal for any Minister, be he who he might,
to persist in such u course. The formation of an addi-
tional treaty with the republic of the Equador, an-
nounced in her Majesty's Speech, was but a con-
tinuance of that system of delusion which had been so
long practised on the country. Our squadron on the
African coast had proved totally unavailing; and it was
the opinion of eminent naval authorities that the whole
navy of England would not be sufficient to keep up an
effective blockade on a coast of 6,000 miles in extent.
The late Government had, in 1845, announced a great
addition to the efficiency of the blockade. This consisted
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the late Government had settled that question most
amicably, it was not fair that the people of this country
should be saddled with the cost of a squadron which was
nearly useless. He should show that the slave trade, so
far from being suppressed, had increased, and that the
supply of slaves to the markets of Cuba and Brazil had
been quite equal to the demand, notwithstanding all our
attempts to prevent it. Sir F. Buxton, shortly before
his death, had published all the evidence that
could be 'obtained on the slave trade ; he had been
'accused of exaggeration, but so far from that, -he had