The Sun.
London, England, 1856-02-27 00:00:00

NVllen Parliament met there Nra.ii on the part of hon.

members an auxia,V which, taking into account the cri-
tical state of our foreign relations, was most creditable
to them, to insure .for the Government as much Par-
liamentary tranquillity as might be consistent with the
honest fulfilment of public duty on both sides of the
house. As far es my own slight influence went, I used
it unsparingly, and I I_Nan in all sincerity declare that I
did everything not incompatible with my position as an
independent member of Parliament to prevent the Go-
vernment from being disturbed, and to secure for them
the fullest opportunity to ooncentrate their attention on
those great and responsible objects which in the face of
Europelthey are new called npon to accomplish. (Cheers.)
I was most anxious to abstain from any course that could
damage the reputation of the Ministry, lest we should
afford to foreign countries the unhappy spectacle of a
weak Government, destitute of resources on which it
could permanently rely. I had hoped that, whatever
there might be to reprehend in the general tone of our
Parliamentary life or even the general tenour of our
Parliamentary conduct, we would prove to Europe that
an English Government, having to perform a great duty
in dangerous times, might rely on the sympathy and
forbearance of a patriotic House of Commons. (Loud
cheers.) Such was the hope I fondly cherished, but
never since Parliament first assembled have there been
six weeks more marked by blunders, mistakes, defeats,
and discomfitures of Ministers. (Renewed cheers.)
i And who has defeated and discomfited them ? Who
has reduced them to this state of perplexity and
humi-
? Not the Opposition, nor yet their own sup-
porters. Themselves alone are the authors of their mis-
forturres—ihear, hear)—themselves alone have brought
about a state of affairs which at the present moment is
most deplore's:el and most earnestly to be deprecated.
(Hear, hear.) It is not in this house only that we mark
the results of their infatuated policy. In another place
what scenes have we witnessed ! At a moment when
the utmost forbearance was evinced towards them from
both sides of the house, they must needs enter on a
crusade against all the legal authorities of the land—
(" Hear, hear," and laughter)—and, taking advantage
of the indulgence of their adversaries arid the tranqeil-
lity of the political world, nothing would content them
but wantonly and most unnecessarily to open a ques-
tion which, bad they been gifted with the most or.li-
nary sigacity, they must have foreseen would lead to
Protracted c introversy and profound excitement.
(Cheers ) What I charge against them is, that having
a forbearing Parlienient—(derisive cheers from the
Ministerial benches) —gee, I repeat it, a forbearing Par-
hallow. which would not even step out of its way to
expose the Launders of the First Lord of the Admiralty—
(laugkter) —the Ministers would seem to hove passed their
time and exerted their counsels iu devising anineg them-
selves questions which ceul I not fail to agitate and dis-
tract the public mind, and which they should have
known could only end in their own embarrassment and
discomfiture. (Hear, hear.) It is not merely that
most wantonly, as it appears to me, they created life
peerages. I complain of the conduct of the Govern-
ment in the matter of the report of the Crimean Cam
missiouers—a document thrown upon the table of the
house without consulting the proper official authorities,
and in a manner which does not afford the slightest evi-
dence of that forethought, caution, and prudence which
we have a right to expect from men who assume the
duties and the character of statesmen. What a piece of
business you have made of it, with your life peerages,
your Crimean reports, and your boards of Generals, to
remedy the blunders and investigate the conduct of men
whom you were bound in honour arid policy to have
supported ! (Loud cheers from the Opposition.) But
this is not all. Not eatisfied with attacking the consti-
tution of the hereditary peerage of England, not satis-
fied with creating all this scandal about the officers of
the army, you must take this occasion, of all others, to
assail the municipal institutions of the country. (Oppo-
siti in cheers.) Even though her Majesty's Government
were as satisfied of the soundness of their views on this
question of the municipalities as they have declared
themselves to-night to be ; and even although those
views were as right as I believe them to Le erroneous,
I still maintain that this was not a fitting season for
taking the step which they have done. But this is not
all. Another measure has been introduced by them into
this house which is certainly not friendly to that system
of local self-government which the majority of us will, I
trust; always seek to uphold. Is this api oper season even
for bringing forward that measure ? Yet night after night
these dangerous courses are adopted by the Government;
and now we have a striking example of the consequence
to which such conduct inevitably leads. Parliament
has sat for about a month ; on both sides of the
house there has been but one anxious desire to veil the
weakness of the Gcvernment, if, unhappily, they are
weak ; and yet at a must important crisis in the history
and fortunes of this country her Majesty's Government
have so skilfully managed their affairs that they have se
cured for themselves a startling defeat in both Houses of
Parliament. (Cheers )
Mr. LA.BOUCHERE—Sir, the right hon. gentleman
who has just sat down began by saying that in the course
of the discussion on the measure which was before the
house last night a great abstinence from party spirit was
exhibited ; and I freely acknowledge that that statement
is an accurate representation of what took place on that
occasion. The grave questions then before the house
certainly were debated by members on both sides who,
while giving eenscientious expression to the opinions
they entertained, yet knew how to refrain from mixing
up with that exprec-ion anything that savoured of mere
party aniinosities. (Hear.) But lam greatly inclined
to suspect, from the tone of the speetih which we have
just heard, that if the discussion of this measure had
wren contented to-night it would not have been allowed
to terminate in the exemplary epirit in which it com-
menced. (Rear.) I apprehend that the address to which
we hove just listened from the right hon. gentleman
would have undeubtedly formed a part of that entertain-
big oration of which we have unfortunately been de-
erived by the premature suspension of this debate ; and,
therefore, I must be permitted to say that I think that
oration would not have been wanting in as great an in-
fusien of party bitterness, personal hostility, and appeals
founded on topics totally extraneous to the immediate
question under consideration as it has ever been -MY fats
or witness in any debate in this house. The right hon.
gentleman says he felt bound to interpose on this occasion
in order to protect the reputation of her Majesty's Go-
vernment. I am sure the Government ought to be n.uch
obliged to him fur the great magnanimity he has
displayed--e(laughter)—and yet I regret that the vindi-
cation thus generously volunteered has not been so com-
plet3 as to supersede the necessity which cnnpels rue to
offer a few observations on the anima lversions by which
it was accompanied, The right hon, gentleman seemed
to think that my noble friend at the head of tee Govern-
ment was guilty of great inconsistency in stating, that
although the principles of the measure submitted for a
secoad reading yesterday had been seriously considered
by the rvernment bef .re being brought under discus.
Hien in thi r house, yet, after the debate that had taken
place, in which such a variety of opinions were expressed
and so many particular cases were quoted, it would be
advisable to refer a part of the question to a select com-
mittee.. T, for one, see no inconsistency in that eager-
time Is there the least ground for saying that this
measure has been taken up crudely or hastily by the
Government '? What are the facts of the case ? In the
first place a commission. was appointed to inquire into
this subject ; and no man, whether he agrees with or
differs from the report of the commissioners, will dispute
that they were men whose character and ability fitted
them to conduct such an investigation. Therefore the
Government did not undertake to deal with this ques-
tion until it had been duly examined. And is the sub-
ject a new one to this House? Why, the very grievances
that we are now considering have year after year been
pressed on the attention of the house and the Govern-
ment ; and when it fell to my lot several years ago to pro-
pose the repeal of the navigation laws, I was repeatedly
taunted for not coupling that great change with a subsi-
diary measure like the present, doing justice to the ship-
ping interest. And it is, in fact, in redemption—a tardy
redemption, I admit—of the pledgee then given by me and
other Ministers on that subject that the Government in-
troduced the bill befora the house. To say, therefore,
that this measure, based on the principles which have
received the sanction of the Government, is one which
it was improper for them to lay before Parliament
is a statement so extraordinary that I was asto-
nished to hew: any hon. gentleman make it. In what
position do we now stand'? I do not wish to speak with
levity of the objections that have been urged even to the
pi ineiple of this bill by members of great authority in
this house. I differ widely from the opinions expressed
yesterday by those hon. gentlemen as to the tenure on
which town dues and other property of that description
are held by local corporations. Yet I readily allow that
that is a subject on which men may honestly differ, and
one which may require very mature consideratiou from
this house. We are opposed on the principle of our bill
by malty independent members sitting on both sides,
combined with whom there are also arrayed against us
these other hon. gentlemen who represent the various
seaports of this c untry. The latter clasa of members
are of course perfectly justified in speaking the senti-
ments of their constituents, yet, on such a question as
this, it is obvious that forme deduction may fairly be
made from the weight olerwise due to their opinions.
Anybody who has had shy experience of the business
of this house knows what infinite disiculties beset any
department of the Government which merely seeks to
beuefit aed do justice to the whale community by mea-
sures which, perhaps, incidentally affect the interests of
gems particular class. This source of embarrassment is
no new story. When the head of one of the strongest
Governments which England ever poeses,ed—Oliver
Cromwell--at the height of his power, attempted to pass
certain measures of law reform interfering with the inte-
rests of that important body, the legal profession, he
was compelled reluctantly to throw up his project, bit-
terly exclaiming, " I find that the sons of Zeruiati are
too strong fur me." (Cheers from the Opposition.)
I have thought it right to snake these remarks, because
I believe that the house will think they detr net a little
from the song of triumph which the right hon. gentle-
:nen deemed it consistent with gelid taste to indulge in
on this occasion. He has launched also into a variety of
irrelevant topics on which it is hardly neces.ary that I
should follow him at present. For example, he says,
"See what a forbearing Opposition the Government
have had to meet." lam afraid, !hem the disposition
now manifested by the right hon. gentleman, that the
exercise of his forbearance must have cost him a great
deal, and no doubt he feels much happier for the relief
which he has given himself this evening. (Laughter.) I
can assure him, on the part of her Majesty's Government,
that we ask for no forbearance. If hon. gentleman oppo•
site, as members of the British Parliament, having a
serious responsibility resting upon them, conceive at any
time that such is the critical state of public affairs that
they would not be justified inn obstructing or thwarting
the Government in an unnecousaty manner, no doubt
they will refrain, up' ri public grounds, from factiously
pursuing a course inoonsisteut with the iuterots of the