The Sun.
London, England, 1860-07-18 00:00:00

house to resort to strong measures ? (Hear, hear.) The
right hon. gentleman the Chancellor of the Exchequer, and
yet upon this occasion the right hon. gentleman deferred to
silence. The right hon. gentleman was performing a mili-
tary operation, which gentlemen in the army called marking
time. The right hon. gentleman was for marking time, but
how long it would be continued nobody knew. He had felt
astonished at the noble lord the member for Marylebone
stating that he did not believe in the existence of differences
in the Cabinet, and after the speech which they had just
heard he thought there was no chance of any difference, for
the right hon. gentleman would remain in office to enable
him to mark the time for action. (Hear, hear.) He never
was so satisfied with having abstained from voting on the
repeal of the paper duty as he had felt after the speech of
the Chancellor of the Exchequer on the previous night, be-
cause he thought the right hon. gentleman had convincingly
proved tothe house that when he moved the repeal of the
paper duty he was totally ignorant of what the state of the
finances of the country would be. (Hear, hear.) He said so
because from the first he had been opposed to the repeal,
and he complained that the Chancellor of the Exchequer
had placed him in an awkward position. (A laugh.) Yes ;
for he had been placed against his own will in conflict with
the House of Lords on this question. It was not a fair po-
sition to place that 'house or the House of Lords in. He
thought the House of Lords acted prudently, but he also
thought that they had acted unconstitutionally. He was
aware that the great majority of the House of Commons was
opposed to the repeal of the paper duty, and that many ab-
stained from voting against it that they might throw the
responsibility of rejecting it upon the House of Lords.
(Opposition cheers.) They had been told that honesty was
the best policy, and he believed that the character of that
house was most advanced by telling the truth upon all occa-
sions, and acting upon the proverb so aptly quoted by the
noble lord the member for Marylebone. So much for the
speech of the Chancellor of the Exchequer. He now came
to the resolution, and it was nothing more than a resolution
of the noble lord the member for Marylebone, and he must
say that upon the same grounds that he objected to the re-
solutions of the noble lord on ft late occasion, he objected
to the 4th resolution of the noble member for Marylebone.
(Hear.) He gave the noble lord due credit that it was
expressed in intelligible and grammatical language—
(laughter)—but it was nothing more than a resolution, and
the noble lord told them, at the same time that he talked of
the rights and privileges of the House of Commons, that
they might put what gloss they pleased upon it. (Laugh-
ter.) There was no more intention of acting upon it than
there was upon the resolutions cf the noble lord. (Opposi-
tion cheers.) The noble lord represented a very important,
wealthy, and intelligent constituency. (A laugh.) He
repeated that there were few constituencies so noble, so
wealthy, and so well informed ; and no doubt the noble
lord was giving expression to the sentiments of many of his
constituents ; but with great respect to the noble lord and
his constituency, he thought the motion exceedingly ill-
timed, (Cheers and laughter.) For what had been the
course of the noble lord upon a late and most fitting occa-
sion for the statement of his views ? When the three re-
solutions were moved by the First Minister an amendment
was moved by the hon. member for Finsbury for an address
not to prorogue the present sittings of Parliament till the
bill for the repeal of the excise on paper had received the
royal assent, and the noble lord's measure would have been
a fitting one to introduce at that time. But what did
the noble lord do ? He got up at a meeting of the great
Liberal party, and he (Mr. Osborne) had been told that the
great Liberal party on that occasion amounted to 22. (Op-
position cheers and laughter.) The noble got up and asked
the hon. member for Finsbury to withdraw his resolution,
and the motion was withdrawn by the hon. member, who
believed that in so doing he was meeting the wishes of the
great Liberal party. But what happened then ? The hon.
member for Plymouth in a speech which, however it might
not be agreed with by members of that house, they would
say was one of great merit and ability, moved a most tem-
perate amendment, which might have been voted for by the
noble lord and those who agreed with him with perfect consist-
ency. (Hear.) Bat there was a request that that amendment
should be withdrawn also. It was supposed that they
must be unanimous. See what they got by being una-
nimous. The honourable colleague of the noble lord had
also an amendment, making the amendment of the hon.
member for Plymouth much stronger, but he was not
allowed to move it. The hon. member was the chair-
man of the great Liberal party which met in the tea-room.
(Laughter.) Why did not the noble lord support the amend-
ment of the hon. member for Plymouth, or that of his hon.
colleague, the member for Marylebene ? The house had
got now nothing more than a fourth resolution to the three
miserable resolutions they had the other night, and intro-
duced with a speech in which they were told they might
put any gloss they liked upon it. Having opposed the re-
solutions of the first Minister of the Crown, he could not
vote for the motion of the noble lord the member for Mary-
lebone. He could understand the course taken by the hon.
member for Tavistock ; but he had made one mistake in
citing the instance of the French chamber, for whatever
electoral corruption might exist in this country, this he
could take upon himself to say, that the character of public
men on both sides of the house was above impeachment
and above the breath of slander; and whatever might be
the faults of the constitutional system or the representative
government of this country, no man in or out of that house
could say that any breath of slander could attach to any
public man in the house. (Cheers.) He had been led out
of the consideration of the general question by a few re-
marks of the hon. gentleman ; but returning to the ques-
tion immediately before the house, he felt himself placed in
a most awkward position. They had heard the Chancellor
of the Exchequer, and the right hon. gentleman's action
was deferred, and he was evidently standing at ease.
(Laughter.) He was afraid they were placing themselves
in a ridiculous position, and to avoid that he should take re-
fuge in moving the previous question.
Mr. CONINGHAM would venture to say the proposi-
tion of the Chancellor of the Exchequer with reference to
the paper duty had been loyally and thoroughly supported
by the right hon. gentleman; bat he was sorry to find the
support which the Chancellor of the Exchequer had re-
ceived from his colleagues was not equally loyal. (Cries of
" Divide.") He ventured to say that the repeal of the paper
duty would be a great benefit to the people of this country.
(Continued interruption.)
Mr. DISRAELI—Sir, I am afraid the house is placed in
a somewhat embarrassing position by the two motions from
the benches opposite. The hon. member for Hull has
given us an account of the general state of feeling which
pervades those benches. (Hear, hear.) There is a proverb
familiar to us all, which, however, I w.ll not quote, as to
the locality in which one should wash one's dirty linen.
(Laughter.) There might be a controversy as to whether
that operation should take place in public or in private,
but there can be' no doubt that our political dirty
linen should not be washed in the House of
Commons. (Cheers and laughter.) I have heard
with regret the causes of this misunderstanding 1. etween
the two sections opposite which hitherto have only been the
subject of rumour; but now that they have been mentioned
I would suggest that, instead of bringing them before our
consideration again, there should rather be some meeting
held in some other locality sufficiently public, where these
arrangements might be made to the general satisfaction
of the supporters of the Government. (Hear, hear.)
The right hon. gentleman went on to say that the meeting,
for example, might take place at Willis's Rooms. (Loud
laughter.) There was some diminished confidence in her
Majesty's Government on the part of gentlemen below the
gangway, who styled themselves the great Liberal party.
There was some diminution of confidence, not because the
question of parliamentary reform had not been carried to a
successful issue—not because church rates had not been
abolished—not because the promises of the administration
held out to the country a year ago had net been accom-
plished—not for these great causes and great considerations
had this deplorable misunderstanding had its origin, but
because there did not seem to exist that interchange of
courtesy and blandness of demeanour which was expected
from those who supported a government to those who go-
verned the country. (Cheers and laughter.) In these days,
when an Emperor had not been ashamed to acknowledge
himself a parvenu, these hon. gentlemen might be reminded
that they themselves were rather of a parvenu origin, and
that there was a degree of sensitiveness on their parts
which was essential to the successful management of affairs
—it was necessary on their parts to curb and restrain.
(Laughter.) But whatever might be the course of pro-
ceeding of that house to-night ho must remind the house
that the question before it was a very serious one, and that
much depended upon the manner in which they encoun-
tered it. They were asked to decide upon the conduct of
the House of Lords with respect to a recent transaction,
upon which it was unnecessary for him to dwell. He bad
listened with great attention to both Ministers who had
spoken in the course of this debate. The Prime Minister
had only suggested a mode by which to extricate himself
and his friends from an awkward situation, The Chancel •
for of the Exchequer renounced that suggestion of the
Prime Minister. The Prime Minister recommended that no
vote should be passed by the house on this resolution, 111;t
the Chancellor of the Exchequer in 111. e speof,it in support of
the Prime Minister offered a' variety of reasons why they
should oppose that resolution. That resolution asserted in
to most formal manTter twat thp rejection of the hill was
cacivochmilat on the rights of the douse of Commons,
but that question had been solemnly deliberated upon by
howei The primelTniter b,ttd movedrt),io4l-