The Sun.
London, England, 1867-02-06 00:00:00

hasty proposition for the consideration of the house. How
that proposition was treated is matter of history; it was not
defeated wholly by the opponents of the noble earl ; but
partially by those whom the noble earl had reckoned among
his supporters ; so ill-considered, so incomplete, so unsa-
tisfactory, and at the same time so dangerous, that although
the House of Commons had unanimously admitted the ex-
pediency of reducing the franchise, yet when its members
came to discuss the changes proposed in the measure before
them, some of the noble earl's supporters, as well as those
opposed to him, pronounced the bill to be not good. (Hear.)
I ask pardon for having been been led to take so much
notice of this topic introduced by the noble earl, and I
think it far better that I should not add another word
upon the subject, but leave it for the consideration of the
other house, which is principally, though not exclusively,
interested in its settlement. (Hear, hear.) Having addressed
himself to the question of It Arm, the noble earl thought
it necessary to refer to only two topics. In the first place,
he hoped that in making any proposition to the United
States Government for the settlement of those unfortunate
differences arising out of the late civil war, the present Go-
vernment would be careful not to stultify the country or
imperil its honour. He did not complain that the present
Government had taken a different course from that which
he had thought fit to pursue, but ho hoped we should make
no concessions calculated to sacrifice the honour of the
country. The correspondence upon this subject has not
arrived at a point which will permit me, consistently with
duty, to lay it before the house ; but I will say that, as
early as the public service will permit, it will be laid before
Parliament, and the noble earl will then find that while we
have been disposed to come to an amicable solution of the
existing differences, we have not departed from what is
consistent with the honour of the country, or forfeited
those rights which belong to an independent country.
(Hear, hear.) The noble earl appears to think that some
proposition has been made to the United States Govern-
ment. The fact is that shortly after the accession of the
present Government to office, the United States Govern-
ment addressed a despatch to the Foreign-office, recapitu-
lating the grounds of complaint which they stated they had
before offered for the consideration of the office. In answer
to that, my noble relative thought it necessary to enter,
not acrimoniously, but particularly, into a discussion of the
various points raised. And I would state distinctly that
there was one question pressed upon us, as it was pressed
upon the noble earl opposite, to which we thought we
could come to a compromise or settlement. That was
as to the right of this country to decide at what time and
under what circumstances we should recognise the belli-
gerent rights of the Confederates. In the first place,
the questions of recognising belligerent rights is inherent
in an independent Power; in the next place, a recognition
of belligerent rights should not precede but follow a de-
claration of blockade by the United States; to blockade is
essentially the exercise of a belligerent right, and when a
blockade was declared between the two parties there were
two courses open to her Majesty's Government—to refuse
to recognise the validity of the blockade on the ground that
there was no belligerent, or, on the other hand, to recognise
the belligerent rights of the two parties. And 1 think the
noble earl very truly said that between the two alternatives
he selected that which was most friendly to the United
States when he recognised that which was a most imperfect
blockade, although, by taking this course, he found himself
under the necessity of recognising correlative obligations.
(Hear, hear.) But I cannot think this is a point on which
the United States Government lay much stress, because
we saw very lately that upon the introduction of the new
Minister from Franco at Washington a declaration was
officially made that after the evacuation of Mexico by
the French there would no longer remain between the
two countries a single question to lead to a ground for differ-
ence or complaint. Now, the Government of the Emperor
of the French and the late Government of her Majesty pur-
sued a precisely identical course with reference to bellige-
rent rights and the recent blockade ; and surely, if there
is no ground of complaint between the United States and
France with reference to the latter's conduct in connexion
with the blockade of• the Southern ports, there can be no
ground of complaint against her Majesty's Government in
reference to the same matter. But, my lords, I will say
this - if the United States admit the principle of arbitration,
if they can point out the precise questions which they de-
sire to have submitted to the arbiter, and the grounds upon
which they seek for redress and compensation, we shall be
quite ready to meet them in a friendly spirit, to discuss the
points upon which arbitration is sought, and, if we can find
an impartial arbiter, to refer to his decision the questions at
issue. Such are the points which we have submitted to the
United States Government. It remains to be seen if they
can be brought to a satisfactory conclusion. I trust they
may, for there are no countries between which friendly re-
lations are more entirely for the interests of both than this
country and the great Republic at the other side of the At-
lantic. (Hear, hear.) Nothing could be more suicidal than
a war between the two countries ; nothing more destruc-
tive of their best interests ; and, at the same time, there are
no two countries which have it in their power to be more
useful to one another. (Hear, hear.) I think there is only
one other topic in the Royal Speech to which the noble earl
adverted, and that is the measure to be proposed with re-
gard to the settlement of the relations between landlord
and tenant in Ireland. Ido not at all wish to detract from
the merits which he so properly ascribed to the adminis-
tration of the noble lord the late Lord-Lieutenant, and I
agree with him that one of the questions most necessary to
be solved in the case of Ireland, and at the same time most
difficult of solution, is the land question. I will not anti-
cipate the discussion of the particular measure we propose
to bring forward. It is ready to be laid upon the table of
the other house, and 1 will only say that while on the one
hand her Majesty's Government anxiously desire to give
every facility to the tenant for benefiting by his improve-
ments, they also desire to maintain the just rights of pro-
perty, which cannot be interfered with without destroying
the whole social condition of the country. (Hear, hear.)
As the noble earl has not thought proper to comment on
any other portion of the Speech, and as after waiting for
a little time I found that no other noble lord wished to put
a question, I will saynothing more, but will content myself
with expressing my thankfulness to your lordships for the
manner in which you have received the Speech and the
Address, and I hope that it may be an indication of the
corresponding candour and courtesy with which the mea-
sures will be received which will be submiited to the con-
sideration of Parliament. (Hear, hear.)
The motion was agreed to, and
The house adjourned at 20 minutes past 7.