The Sun.
London, England, 1856-02-01 00:00:00

At that hour Lord Pant-Imre, the Duke of Argyll, and
the Earl of Harrowby were the only ministers present.
On the opposition benches we observed Lard Derby,
the Earl of Malmesbury, the Earl of Eglinton, and other
leading members of the Conservative party.
The LORD CHANCELLOR, at twenty minutes past
five, piece° 'e I to lea 1 the Queen's Speech to their lord-
ships, and when he had concluded,
The Earl of GOSFORD, attired in military uniform,
then rose to move the Address in reply to the
Royal Speech, and said he felt deeply the importance of
asking fir the indulgence which was usually accorded to
those who stood in the position he at that moment oc-
cupied. A short time ago it would not have been diffi-
cult for him to induce their lordships to proceed with
the most vigerous prosecution of the war. He could
say that he never had entertained the slightest doubt as
to the justness of the war. With a good desire to
see that war properly carried on he felt himsel f
now bound to say somewhat reluctantly transform-
ed inte an advoc tte of peace. He admitted that
peace was not essential or necessary to our interests.
The war, in his opinion, was scarcely continued long
enough to develope our resources. We were now only
beginning to shake off the rest and stiffness of
forty years of peace. (Hear, hear.) Our immense
resources were only just beginning to tell. He felt,
however, that we were not at liberty to refuse the p ace-
fill overtures coming from such a quarter as that of our
great enemy. The objects of the war were clear and
simple; and if, without entering upon another cam•
resign, we could safely, substautielly, and, humanly
speaking, with some chance of permanence, attain those
objects, our duty became clear. All other considera-
tions must give way, and we should be bound at once to
give our best endeavours to the attainment of such
im-
pprtant results. He, however, Insisted that those terms
of peace must be not only satisfactory to ourselves, bet
that they should be so expressed as to leave
no room for evasion on the part of our
great antagonist. The noble lord then proceeded to re-
fer to the great achievements in the East, and to the
capture of Sebastopol. He thought it was impossible to
exaggerate the importance of the recent treaty with
Sweden. He trusted that when the negotiations com-
menced they would result in a satisfactory and honour.
able peace. The noble lord, after thanking the house
for their attention, concluded by moving an humble Ad-
dress be presented to her Majesty, in answer to her most
gracious Speech. The noble lord then read the Address
which was, as usual, merely an echo of the royal Speech.
The Earl of ABINGDON, in rising to second the
address, said he felt deeply his inadequacy for
the duty he had to perform. On the success
of the negotiations fears, it was said, existed
that terms, inconsistent with the honour and
dignity of this country, would be accepted,
but in those fears he could not concur. Her Majesty's
Government, he felt sure, would never accept any terms
derogatory to her Majesty's arms— (hear, hear)—for, by
pursuing such a course, they would forfeit the confi-
dence of both Houses of Parliament. He thought
the greatest confidence should be placed iu the negotia-
tions about to be opened, especially as the conduct of
them would be committed to the noble earl who had so
long and so ably administered the foreign affairs of this
great country. (Hear, and cheers.)
The Earl of DERBY.—My lords, the noble earl who
has just sat down concluded the observations which he
offered to the house by expressing his hope that on this
occasion, under circumstances so important and so critical,
there would be no false encouragement given to the enemy
of this country by any idea that the ties of party can by
possibility prevail over that unanimity which I concur
with him to be essential at this time ; and I can assure
the noble earl that on my part, and on the part of those of
my friends with whom I have the honour and satisfaction
to act, there is no desire in our vote this evening to inter-
fere with that unanimity to which he has referred, er to
prevent the answer to the Speech from the Crown from
being carried by the unanimous sanction of your lordships.
(Hear.) My lords, I go along with the Address in an-
swer to that which, in constitutional phraeo, I must call
her Majesty's most gracious Speech; but, having said so,
I must be permitted to deal with that Speech as it is, and
not as it is-not—(a laugh)—to deal with it as the speech
of the Ministers, and not as the Speech of our gracious
Sovereign ; and I do so because I feel that in my com-
ments on that Speech I may make use of some expressions
and apply some terms that would hardly be complimen-
tary or even fitting if they were addressed to the Sovereign. j
(Hear, hear.) We are not accustomed to look in docu-
ments of this kind for ornaments of style, or for any great '
elegance of diction or language ; and long eeporieuce has
induced us to be perfectly satisfied with the plain and in-
telligible Enerlieh of the First Minister of the Crowe in
conveying his intentions to the house. (Hear, hear.) Bat
I must venture to say that of all the documents of this
kind that ever cause under my observatjou I never mat
with one that could so little pretend to the graces of dic-
tion, or even to the intelligible conveyance of information
to the house. (Laughter.) Of course, 1 sin ignorant by
whom the paragraphs relating to the ve.,r may have been
framed ; but, if they were the suggestion of my noble
friend opposite, to whose department they principally be-
long, it must have been at the close of one of those. exhaust-
ing attacks to which he is as I am unfortunately subject
—(a laugh)—or under the influence not more exhilarat-
ing of that meagre diet which is their necesseary accom-
paniment. (I laugh ) The Speech is redolent of water-
gruel. (Great laughter.) It reminds me of nothing more
than those documents which in our early school days we
were ecsustoined to prepare and which went by the name
of "themes," in the composition of which the object was
to accomplish the allotted task, and fill up the six-and- ;
thirty lines of writing, taking special care not to exceed
the allotted limit, but within that limit to dilute with the
largest possible amount of feeble and unmeaning language
the smallest modicum of sense. (Laughter.) We are not
accustomed to see, aeither do we desire that the Speech
from the Throne should imitate the long winds lness and
diffusiveness of our Transatlantic brethren. (Hear.) Ido
not desire—far from it—that the Queen's Speech should be
a copy of the President's Message; but we certainly have
been accustomed on former occasions to see, though not at
so great length, yet the main interests and the main sub-
jects of the day connected with the wellbeing of the coun-
try, glanced at and treated of in the Speech from the Throne
—(hear, hear)—some notice taken of our foreign relations
—some mention made of the internal affairs of the country,
of its commerce and its finance—some indications that we
have such a thing as an empire in India, and some commu-
ideation as to the condition and prospects of that empire.
(Hear.) We have also been occasionally reminded in the
Speech from the Throne that we have colonial possessions,
and that the people of this country are not altogether in-
different as to what becomes of those possessions. (Hear,
hear.) I do not say that her Majesty's Government should
give us a broad resume of all that has beau done and all
that they are about to do, but that the great and leading
features appertaining to the administration of this great
empire ought to be brought, to a certain extent, under the
review of Parliament in the Speech from the Throne, and
that some indications at least should be given of the
principle measures which it is intended by the Go-
vernment to submit for the consideration of Parliament.
(Hear, hear.) Now, in the Speech this day delivered
from the Throne we commence with a paragraph
so bare, so bald, so meagre, that lam at once warranted
in drawing that distinction which I have already done be-
tween the Speech of the Sovereign and the speech of the
Minister. We have a bare announcement in the first para-
graph that, "since the close of the session of Parliament,
the arms of the allies have achieved a signal and important
success —that Sebastopol, the stronghold of Russia in the
Black Sea, has yielded to the persevering constancy and
and to the daring bravery of the allied forces." Oae of
the noble lords who either moved or seconded the address
has spoken of the glowing encomiums which were passed
by her Majesty's Government en the gallantry and bravery
of the troops, but all I can say is, that never was praise so
faint for achievements so great, and never was a reception
so ungracious given to heroic endurance, to unparalleled
bravery, and to sufferings all but unparalleled, or to exer-
tions that have achieved results which it was almost im-
possible to hope any amount of gallantry or endurance
could have accomplished. (Cheers.) I remember seeing
it related of an officer that, in reporting to his imine.
diato superior the result of a great victory, he couched his
despatch in these short and emphatic terms :—" Sir,—
Her Majesty's squadron under my command have burnt,
sunk, end captured the enemy's ships as per margin." (A
laugh.) This was a most modest and emphatic way of re-
citing the result of a great action ; but that commander
was speaking of his own deeds, not of the achievements of
others. He was only claiming for himself that meed of
praise which the energy and gallantry of himself and of
his comrades deserved. Tho present, however, is an oc-
casion on which the Sovereign, in the presence of her
assembled Parliament, ought to perform—and would have
performed, had she been left to the promptings of her
own heart—the pleasing task of declaring her gratitude
—her unbounded gratitude for the exertions, and her
sympathy with the sufferings of those brave men to
whom this country is indebted for the success which has
been achieved. My lords, who has not watched with
admiration the personal course which her Majesty has
pursned—the warm, kindly, and womanly sympathy she
has shown for the sufferings of the wounded soldiers? Who
that has beheld her decorating the survivors ; with her own
hand, with those marks of honour which acquire a double
value from being thus conferred ; who that has heard of
her watching by the sick beds of the wounded, speaking to
them of their private and individual sufferings, and cheer-
ing them with words which from any one would carry cons-
fort and consolation, but which from the lips of the Sove-
reign must gratify the pride of those to whom they are ad-
dressed, and excite feelings of the most loyal devotion ;
who that has observed the language, the demeanour, and
the actions of the Sovereign towards her soldiers will be-
lieve that, had her Majesty been left to the promptings of
her own heart, and to the expression of her own feelings,
the language of the Speech would have been thus cold, and
would have been confined to a simple statement that, since
the close of the last session of Parliament, Sebastopol, the
great stronghold of Russia in the Black Sea, has yelded to
the persevering constancy and to the daring bravery of the
allied forces? (Cheers.) My lords, if her Majesty had fol-
lowed the dictates of her own judgment, I thick I know
what would have been the tone in which she would have
addressed you. Her Majesty would have expressed a deep
sense of gratitude to that Almighty Disposer of all events
without whom arms can do nothing—(hear, hear)—and
would have asked you to join in the expressos of a nation s
gratitude towards those-brave men who, under that mighty
Providence, have been enabled to achieve so important a
success. Language such as that would have gone to the
hearts of many and many thousands in this country.
Language such as that, addressed by the Sovereign to her
Parliament, would have kindled anew and strengthened
the flame of loyalty which barns among your troops, and
would have encouraged them to those deeds of daring upon
which such a paragraphas I have read is calculated to the ow
a damp. But we are told in the Speech from the Throne that
" Since the close of the last session of Parliament Sebasfe•
pol, the great stronghold of Russia in the Black Sea, has
yielded to the persevering constancy and to the daring
bravery of the allied forces ;" and we are now asked to
thank her Majesty for giving is this information—infor