The Sun.
London, England, 1858-03-26 00:00:00

IMPERIAL PARLIAMENT.

HOUSE OF COMMONS.—(YESTERDAY.)
The following bills were read a third time and
passed :—Cheltenham Water Bill, and Gosport Vi7cer
Bill.

THE MILITARY AT THE CAPE.
Sir DE L. EVANS asked the Secretary for War
what number of regiments had been sent from the Cape
of Good Hope garrison to India ; the dates of departure
of each of those regiments to the latest accounts received
from thence, exclusive of any regiments which may
have been diverted from other destinations to India,
such as New Zealand, Ceylon, China, &c. ; and how
many British regiments remained at the Cape
General PEEL said the following regiments were
sent from the Cape of Good Hope to India—the 13th in
August, the 95th in September, the 6th in NovembEr,
and the 80th in December, and 230 cf the artillery in
August. The regiments remaining at the Cape were
the 45th, 85th, 12th, the second battalion of the 60th,
and the 73d.

/NDIA.
Mr. CHEETHAM asked the Secretary of the Board
of Control if it was the intention of her Majesty's Go-
vernment to constitute a Board of Public Works in each
Presidency of India, distinct from these) Boards now
existing there, whose special duties shall be the construe
tion of roads, of works of irrigation and navigable canals,
and the improvement of the navigation of rivers l
Mr. H. BAILLIE said it was not the intention of
her Majesty's Government to adopt the course referred
to by the hon. member. If it could be shown that the
Department of Public Works did not discharge the
duties required of them, her Majesty's Government
would consider the best means of providing a suitable
remedy. (Hear.)
THE CAPTURE OF DELHI.
Mr. KINNAIRD asked ' the Secretary for War
whether it was in contemplation to issue medals to com-
memorate the capture of Delhi to all those engaged in
that memorable siege.
General PEEL said her Majesty bad directed that a
medal should be granted to all the troops engaged in the
suppression of the mutiny in India, with a clasp for the
capture of Delhi— cheers)—and also for the capture and
relief of Lucknow. (Cheers.)
LORD LIEUTENANT OF IRELAND.
Mr. ROEBUCK moved that, in the opinion of this
house, the office of Lord Lieutenant of Ireland ought be
be abolished, and the office of Secretary of State for Ire.
land at once created. The hon. and learned gentleman
denied that he was an enemy to Ireland by pursuing the
present course. He had always done his utmost
for Ireland, and by doing away with this badge of slavery,
and appointing a Secretary of State, he was advocating
Ireland's being a portion of this great empire in reality.
The Lord Lieutenant of Ireland cost 50,0001. a-year,
without any corresponding benefit. The only persons
interested in its continuanee were milliners and tailors,
who supplied Court dresses.
Mr. GILPIN seconded the motion.
Mr. S. B. MILL A.R moved the previous question, on
the ground that no valid reason had been given f,r this
change, and secondly, that her Majesty's Government
were not in a position to give the matter, from pressing
business, their best consideration at present. He
considered such a change should originate with the Go-
vernment, and not with a private member. A. central
resident authority in Dublin was essential to the welfare
of Ireland, and he quoted the opinion of the late Duke
of Wellington to that effect. He protested against the
revivals and incessant renewals of this motion for piece-
meal legislation.
Mr. VANCE seconded the amendment.
Cul. FRENCH condemned the course pursued by the
mover of the amendment. The previous question
was an ingenious device to get rid of a matter to which
he (Col. French) considered a tacit admission that ti e
mover and those who voted with him were unable to re-
sist the truth and force of the original resolution. He
was surprised the previous question had been moved
from the Ministerial side ci the house, because Lord
Eglinton en a former occasion declared that the abolition
of the office of Lord Liuuteoaet of Ireland would be
beneficial to that country, an opinion in which that
nobleman was joined by many of his present colleagues.
The gallant colonel then referred to the system of exciu-
sion of Irishmen from the office of Lord Lieutenant and
Chief Secretary, that had been adopted, though Irish-
men in all quarters of the world, and in every station I
had shown themselves ecieal to Englishmen or
Scotchtnen. The cost of the Lord Lieutenant hail
been wrongly stated at 50,0031. a-year. It was only '
zs,oooi., and he inland that the Roma Secr,tary's offi.,:.,
1 for England cost 24,0001., the Colonial 29,0005.. ae,l
! the War-office 121,0001. The question, be repeated, was
one of sufficient importance to be met by a direct nega-
tive ; it was one which could only be considered at the
request of the Minister of the day, who should be able
to tell the house what substitute he proposed fur the Go-
eernment of the Lord-Lieutenant, and who alone could
assure Ireland that her law courts would be maintained
despite such abolition. Moreover, it was only the Minis-
ter who could state what amount of compensation ought
to be granted to the holders of existing offices, and for
how long it should be granted. If the Minister should
ever feel called upon to bring forward a measure of this
nature, he should be ready to give it the fullest atten-
tion ; but until such an emergency did arise, he must
decline te consider it upon the mere invitation of a pri
rate member. (Hear, hear.)
Lord NAGS would endeavour to -how to the house
that the object which the bon. and learned member who
made this motion had in view was not quite so easily at-
tainable as he supposed. There were many difficulties
attending the consideration of this question, which ;.t
appeared to him had not presented themselves to the
mind of the hon. and learned member, but at the same
time he (Lord Naas) should support the amendment of
his hon. and learned friend the member for Armagh, on
the general ground that he did not think it would be
right to adopt a resolution which proposed to make a
great change in the government of Ireland, without
being first perfectly certain that the system of govern-
ment to be established in its stead exhibited an improve-
' ment. Now, in discussing this question, he conceived
the hon. and learned gentleman failed to make out that
position, for although the hon. and learned gentleman
had freely expressed his opinions upon many of the in-
conveniences and some of the am:malice attending the
existing government, be had not yet shown that the re-
medy he proposed would remove any of those anomalies
or inconveniences, or that it would supply a better sys-
tem of government than the present. Now, in consider-
ing this matter, they must dismiss from their considera-
tion what the hon. and learned gentleman had termed
the financial bearings of the question. If the government
of the Lord. Lieutenant could be shown to be the best
that could be adopted, the house would certainly not al-
low the element of expense to enter into the consideration
of the question, and therefore whether that mode of go-
vernment cost 30,0001., 20,000/,, or 40,0001. a-year was
a matter with which the house had nothing to do. or
could the convenience of a class be allowed to influence
the question, because if it could be shown that the
change would be beneficial to the entire country, no
one set or class of inhabitants would have any right to
complain of its being made. But the difficulties which
he saw in the proposal of the hon. and learned gen-
tleman were none of these. The difficulties he saw
were connected with the administration of the go-
vernment itself—difficulties which he did not think
the hon. and learned gentleman sufficiently appre-
ciated. It would be well for the house to consider what
was the system of government that now exists in Ireland.
It was all very well to talk of the similarity between the
law of Ireland and the law of England; but the fact was
that at the present moment there was a greater difference
between the mode of administering the laws of the two
countries than the hon. gentleman appeared to be aware
et. The administration of the Government of Ireland as
csmpared with that of England was essentially based
upon a centralised system. Government influence was
exercised throughout all the ramifications of the system
down to the lowest scale of appointments, and it would
require considerable discretion, considerable ability, and
great energy to do away at once with this system, which
had obtained so long in Ireland. From the period of the
Norman conquest down to the present day the principle
of centralisation had regulated the Irish Government.
Nearly every administrative department, if not all, was
under the control of the Government ; and that eireune
stance alone, if there were no other, was sufficient to
show how difficult it weuld be to make the change now
proposed. Of this centralised system the Lord-Lieute-
nant was the mainspring and the head ; his duties were
not quite those which had been described by the hen.
and learned gentleman. He had other duties tf an im-
portant character to perform—duties requiring as much
sagacity and as inech care as those of any member of
the Government of this country. The Lord-Lieutenant
was consulted upon all important matters of administra-
tion; when any serious public disturbance arose the Lord
Lieutenant was the authority referred to, as shown in
the recent disturbances in Ireland ; wh le during the last
general election there were no less than 20,000 armed
men in motion throughout Ireland, who were all aoting
under the direetioa i f his excellency. Nor was that all ;
so much was his authority mixed up with the adinini-tra.
lien of justice that DO for:toner could be disposed of or
lunatic confined without his sanction. (A laugh.) Hon.
members might laugh; but though he did not mean to sili
that his authority was exercised in every individual case,
s,,,:,Eitee,iiii,er,,i.iedciii. say if any difficulty arose, ii any peculiar case
iftkir.1.1,,,,,
tct,it,-,:tuc.tonside ration of the question was ref- reed to
, :. ,
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proposed
I. htt eg,,
government
: (on
time
r:. )f
tthoWe
timeie.lol ,rdn-aoLswies,
Lord-Lieutenant.
modesrnceiaeennsu
Tineb .
sat:int:lih remove
viti,ot',:t.toList Lwlietubteanatcletrtar.rd his secretary
abolinurr
of
iober of his
and the absorption otihtZe'llstriu'ate
imperial executive. Teat gpe:2"t 't Irelits'lnl. )stEfice,
by those who wished to see the o,liZrthul:,teel i the
made
centered in the Home-office ; but for hiraisPihatrt he -rtZdt. ,
it quite impossible that any man could disclaartgl'e'tti-kk - '
esi Ira duties, no matter what halr.--nt of !law or ,d:'s