The Sun.
London, England, 1857-02-04 00:00:00

house, but at the suggestion of the committee to which it was
referred, her Majesty was advised to issue a royal commission
to inquire into the whole subject. Tivit commission had been
in existence three years and had not made their report ; but
he had reason to know that they would in all probability do
so very speedily, and he had had communicated to him the
drafts of two bills which had been prepared on the foundation
of that report, the object of which was, after the manner of
the Irish Incnnabered Estates Court, to give a Parliamentary
title to everybody. He would notpledge himselfas to the feasi-
bility of the plan until he saw the report in detail ; but the
Attorney-General and Mr. Walpole, who had taken an active
part in the commission, were very sanguine upon that point.
He did mot think it right to wait proposing a reform until
the report was produced, because he held that to make a re-
form, though it might be small, was always advantageous
if in the proper direction ; and the Attorney-General, sup-
posing he was returned to the other house, would on an early
day introduce a measure to greatly simplify the law with re-
gard to mortgages. He would not go through the several other
smaller matters to which the attention of the Government
had been directed; but there was one other subject which had
very much engrossed his attention, and was of very consi-
derable importance. Since 1854 there had been a commis-
sion for consolidating the statutes of the realm. Nobody
who had not directed his attention to that subject could con-
ceive the practical difficulties which beset every attempt that
was made towards the /accomplishment of this object ; but
they had succeeded in consolidating all the criminal statutes
of the country, and it would be recollected that he laid the
bills on the table on the last day of last session. It occurred
to himself and several members of the commission that it
would be better not to ask their lerdships to pass them until
they had been submitted to the learned zembers of the board
in Ireland, with a view to see how far other Irish statutes
could be incorporated and consolidated. It had not yet been
decided in what form they should be introduced. He would
not say more at present than that the matter was under the
consideration of the Government, and that in one form or
another those bills would be shortly laid before the house. On
an early day he would ask them to allow him to refer to a
select committee the second report of the statute law com-
mission. At the same time, a similar motion would be made
in the other house with the same object. The reference to
the committee would bo with regard to the fact that the con-
solida' iin of the statute law would be imperfect unless better
means were provided than exist at present for improviw, the
language and manner of current legislation. The difference
of language in the statutes occasioned a great deal of confu-
sion, and to meet this and other objections, what her Ma-
jesty's Government would in due time propose would be the
appointment of au officer whose duty it would be to report
upon every bill which was introduced to alter the law—to
report what the existing law was, and how far and in what
respects the proposed bill would alter it; and further, that
after a bill had been through committee, it should, if the
house thought proper, be referred to him, and he would state
what alterations had been made in it in committee, and how
far they altered the tenets of the bill. It would also be such
an officer's duty to make improvements, with a view to the
improvement of the language, so that the language of the
statutes would become clearer, less verbose, and more in
harmony with the general language of the day—(hear, hear)
—he would have to collate and classify the statutes. lie
(the Lord Chancellor) also had to announce that his right
hon. friend the Strzetary of State for the Home Department
would introduce a measure on secondary punishments.
(Hear.) After these announcements, he trusted that their
lordships would not think the Government had been idle
during the recess on those important measures.
Tuo LORD CHANCELLOR than pat the Address.
The house divided, and the numbers were—
For the original Address
Against ..................... „. 12

Majority
33
The amendment was therefore lost.
Their lordships then adjourned at 11 o'clock.

HOUSE OF COMMONS--(YESTERDAY).
The house resumed shortly before 4 o'clock. There
was a full attendance of members.

NEW MEMBERS.
The following members took the oaths and their seats :
Lord Henniker, for East Suffolk ; Viscount Castlerosse,
for the county of Kerry ; Mr. Bailey Cochrane, for La-
narkshire ; and Mr. Langworthy, for Salford.

NEW WRITS. •
On the motion of Mr. HAYTER the following new
writs were ordered to be issued ;---Greenwich, in the
room of Mr. P. Rolt, who has accepted the CniPern
Hundreds ; Hertford, in the room of the Hon.
Mr. F. Cooper. who has accepted the office of Vice-Pre-
sident of the Committee of Privy Council for Educa-
tion ; Limerick county, in the room of Mr. Monsell,
who has accepted the office of President of the General
Board of Health ; Aylesbury, in the room of Sir R.
Bethel], appointed to be Attorney-General ; Bute,
in the room of the Hon. S. Wortley, the Solicitor-Gene-
ral ; Southampton, in the room of Sir A. Cockburn,
appointed Chief Justice of the Court of Common Plea' ;
Newport, in the room of Mr. W. Biggs, who has ac-
cepted the office of Chiltern Hundreds ; Clonettell, in the
room of Mr. J. O'Connell, who has accepted the office
of Clerk of the Crown of the Hanniper in Ireland ; and
Dumfries, in the room of Viscount Drumlanrigg, who
has succeeded to a peerage.
On the motion of Mr. M. SMITH, for West Kent, in
the room of Sir E. Filmer, deceased P • Brandon Brigg, in
the room of Viscount Bernard, who has succeeded to a
peerage.

BUSINESS OF THE HOUSE.
Mr. HAYTER. said that, for the convenience of the
house, he would state 'home measures it was the
intention of her Majesty's Government to introduce.
(Hear, hear.) On Thursday next the Secretary
of State for the Colonies would move for a
select committee to consider the state of those British
possessions in North America which were under the ad-
ministration of the Hudson's Bay Company, or over
which that company possessed licences to trade • and
at the same time he would ask fur leave to introduce a
hill to enable her Majesty's subjects of the lonian Isles
to hold naval and military commissions under the Crown ;
and another bill to alter the existing provisions relating
to the Ecclesiastical Government of Norfolk Island.
(Laughter.) On Friday the Chancellor of the Ex-
chequer would wove for a select committee to
inquire into the operations of the Bank Act of
1844, and of the Bank Acts of Ireland and Scot-
land of 1848, and also to inquire into the laws relating
to joint-stock banks. On Monday the Home Secretary
would ask for leave to introduce a bill to amend
the act of the 16th and 17th Victoria, chap. 99,
entitled "An ac; to substitute in certain cases
other punishment in lieu of transportation"—(hear, hear)
—and, on the same day, to ask leave to introduce a bill
to facilitate the establishment of Reformatory Schools in
England. (Hear, hear.)
EXPULSION OF JAMES SADLEIR.

The ATTORNEY-GENERAL for IRELAND
gave notice that, on the 16th inst., he should move
the expulsion of James Sadleir from the house.
SECONDARY PUNISHMENT.

Mr. ROEBUCK gave notice tliat he should at an
early day submit a motion to the house in reference to
secondary punishments.
CHURCH RATES.

Sir W. CLAY -gave notice that on an early day he
should introduce a bill on the subject of Church rates.
EDUCATION.

Sir J. PAKINGTON gave notice that on Tuesday,
the 14th, ho should submit a motion to the house on
education.
THE COUNTY FRANCHISE.

Mr. LOCKE KING gave notice that on an early day
he should move for leave to bring in a bill to equalise
the franchise in counties and boroughs.
THE ADDRESS.

The SPEAKER having read her Majesty's speech,
Sir J. RAMSDEN moved an Address to her Ma-
jesty in reply, saying the speech strongly contrasted in
the information it gave to that of former
speeches, and added that he could not help congratulat-
ing the house on the probability of an unanimous address
being agreed to to her Majesty. (Hear, hear.) After
referring to the termination of the war and the prosper-
ous state of the country, from the blessings of peace ena-
bling the people to turn their attention to the spread
of commerce and tho increase of trade, he said that during
the recess be heard with surprise that difficulties and
doubts had arisen as to the terms of the treaty ; above
all, with a feeling almost of dismay, that a second Con-
ference would be required for the settlement of what he
considered had been settled long ago, and for
which they bad illuminated and rejoiced, but he was
happy to find that the difficulties to which he had alluded
had, by the ability and firmness of the Govern-
ment, been overcome. With regard to Sicily, it was not
because the monarchy of Naples was feeble, or that
the Persian and Chinese difficulties might not be difficult
of being settled, it did not follow that important ques-
tions were not involved, and in the absence of informa-
tion he declined entering into a discussion of the
question, but would wait until those papers were
laid on the table of the house. (Hear, hear.)
Referring to our domestio position, he commended the
patience, spirit, and patriotism of the people in cheer-
fully bearing the burthen of the late war, and said that a
relief from war generally gave a relief from taxation, how-
ever inconvenient it might be to a Chancellor of the Ex-
chequer to do so. Relief in some manner or other was,
however, inevitable—(hear, hear)—but when it devolved
on the Chancellor of the Exchequer to devise how that
relief should be apportioned, he (Sir J. Rameden) ad-
mitted it was not a cheering prospect for him, for he
doubted which was the most enviable position for a
Chancellor of Exchequer to be *placed in—that of
having a surplus to deal with or a deficiency to make up.
So far as the former was concerned a Chancellor
of Exchequer appeared much in the same position
as that of a prize ox in a cattle show, and like him, after
being admired, must expect to be cut up. (Hear and
laughter.) Every Englishman must admit that it
was necessary for this country that its army and navy
should be kept up in an efficient state, for being pre'
pared for war was the surest guarantee for peace—(near)
—and he felt certain that there would be no desire on
the part of the House of Commons to demur to any
expenditure to make our military and naval estab-
lishment's, with the money well spent, model establish-
ments, and by opening the rewards to talent, to induce
ambitious and aspiring young men to enter them. The
hon. baronet alluded to an omission in the Royal Speech,
with reference to our convict and criminal population,
respecting which the public feeling had been much and
f
justly roused, and he urged the necessity of a remedy
a state of things as discreditable to the Legislature as
it
was grievous to the community. (Hear, hear.) The
prosperous
state of the country was a subject of con-
' gratula vion and he urged on the Government the

necessity of granting such reform as the advanced posi-
tive of the pa:43;e required, remarking that it
better to concsde necessary improvements rather
than thwart them, and have to yield to agitation
and pressure from without. After some further remarks,
the hon. baronet concluded by moving the Address.
Sir A. AGNEW, Bart., seconded the Address. He
congratulated the house that Russia had been unable to
estrange the Emperor of France from this country in
settling the disputed points of the treaty, and
that those difficulties had been so amicably
and properly settled, that the Danube was now, what it
aught to be, the great highway of commerce for the
whole world. After referring to the paragraphs in the
Royal Speech relative to Neuchatel, Sicily, Russia.
and China, the honourable baronet said that the
conduct of the Government was deserving of the support
of the House of Commons. (Hear, bear.) Returning to
the domestic policy of the government, he said that it
was satisfactory to know that the people of this country
would support the government in keeping up our military
and naval establishments to an efficient state rather
than that we should rely on a militia, a thing so din
tasteful to the country, and sink thereby into a third-
class state. In conclusion the hon. baronet urged on the
house the necessity of supporting Lord Palmerston, who in
the hour of England's difficulty had come forward and
placed her in her proper position amongst the nations of
the world. (Hear, hear.) All that remained for the
country to do was to support the policy indicated in the
Royal Speech. (Hear, hear.)
The SPEAKER having read the address, and put the
question,

Mr. DISRAELI—I confess, sir, that when I listened to
the a idress of the hon. mover, who to-night spoke with an
ability, which, from the mode in which he addressed you
on a former occasion, I confess did not sur prise me—(hear,
hear)—l was sometimes inclined to suppose that the hon.
gentleman had been furnished with a copy of the Queen's
Speech different from that in my possession, and which
until then I supposed to be an authentic document ; be-
cause the hon. gentleman informed us that her Majesty's
Speech delivered to us by the Royal Commissioners this
day contrasted very favourably withthe Addresses from the
Throne which we have listened to for the last two or three
years ; that this Speech conveyed to us the gratifying in-
timation that her Majesty had received from all the great
Powers of Europe assurances of their continued friendship
and goodwill. But that is not an expression which I
could find to-night in the copy of the Speech placed before
me. The Speech, moreover, promised to the people of this
country, as I caught from his lips, a reduction of taxation. ,
That is a promise which unfortunately has been omitted—
hear)—l am afraid, from some sinister motive, from the
copy for 'which until this moment I Was grateful to
the distinguished personage by whom it was distri-
buted. The Speech also quoted by the hon. mover
held out, as he informed us, assurances of measures of
domestic amelioration, but that also is a promise which is
outnothelda document in the Sp
in general,eechbeforeus. It has been said that
a Queen's Speech is not on the whole so instructive and
improving
as an expression of opi-
nions and statement of facts coming from such a quarter,
and attended with such imposing circumstances, might na-
turaly be expected to be. But, sir, when I heard the
Speech read to-day by the Royal Commissioners, and of
which I supposed this to be an authentic copy, it seemed
to me that there was a great deal in that Speech to set
the people of this country a-thinking, and to produce a
very great effect upon their minds. It is hardly a year ago
since we were under the idea that we had terminated a
great struggle, and that the termination of that struggle
had laid the foundation of a prospect of peace more fa-
vourable on the whole than had ever been offered to this
country sincelBls. Let the house for a moment recal to
its recollectiodlthe circumstances under which the treaty
of Paris was concluded. Our foe, who had been deeunee
so powerful, and who had actually proved himself to be
so powerful, bad been baffled in the projects of aggran-
disement he had attempted to accomplish. It is said that
the late Emperor of Russia deciered that he would not, ac-
cede to terms of peace of any sort until he had lost his last
man and expended his last rouble. The position of the
Russian empire is in fact similar to what was conveyed by
this expression. Greatly as the sinews of war of that em-
pire were exhausted, men were still more wanting. Yet
although he was utterly discomfited and defeated, our foe
retired from the contest with dignity, and without that
sense of humiliation which was generally supposed to be
exhibited. Many persons at last believed that cixeurn-
stances were favourable to peace. Russia had failed in the I
orobrj.e clt
nattemptedthe tomb
otfo be
the eta eed into
hrn t o
effect Nicholas
b y the l
that
policy
ymwpae
s
interred. The death of the Emperor, and the heroic defence
of Sebastopol, terminated that policy, and permittee Rus-
sia to see the termination of that policy with some feelings
of respect. But the very fact of the termination of that
g sh
ao
hw
additional
the
argument
that not
hreuhumiliatingsincerityg
in France and Austria, whilst a great war was being prose-
cuted,great public works were in progress, the employ-
ment and distribution of capital occupied the attention of
Governments, and the state of the tariffs was eagerly in-
quired into and discussed. But what was the condition of
our own country ? Were we in a situation competent to
engage in any fresh war ? We were fouediog an immense
colonial empire, of an extent unknown in the history of
mankind, of illimitable dimension, and inexhaustible re-
sources. We had a career open to our fellow-citizens which
exceeded even the excitement and the enterprise of war,
without the calamities of that state of existence. Under
these circumstances any man would have said that there
was a more solid foundation and a more reasonable pros-

pect of permanent tranquillity than has over been offered
to the country since 1815. This is hardly a year ago. I
want to know why we have been disappointed in our ex-
pectations ? If that is a sound view, the country has a
right to expect that, as a consequence of such a state of
affairs, her Majesty's Ministers would have weaned the
miads of the people of this country from the excitement of
war. I want to know how it is that, instead of a speech
from the Throne holding out such a prospect, we have a
speech full of war and rumours of war ? The whole speech
consists of references and allusions to foreign transactions,
with very slight exceptions, and all these are transactions
of peril and calamity. There is a very curious circum-
stance and I must allude to it, not merely as leading to the
result I wish to put before the house, but because it has
been brought before us in a most marked manner in her
Majesty's speech—namely, that almost on the very day
when the treaty was signed by our ambassador at Paris,
when the ink that signed it was not dry, the seed was
sown by that very negotiation of new troubles and
difficulties in Europe. Almost before our embassy
had left, and after the treaty of peace was signed,
the negotiators reassembled, and the English nego-
tiator was driven to grant the very terms which
he had denied to Russia more than three years before. It
is a very remarkable circumstance that this happened only
a few days after the treaty was signed. The treaty was
signed ou the 30th of March, and on the let day of e pril
the seed was sown for the commencement of future diffi-
culties in our foreign relations. A prolific crop has ap-
peared ever since, and in two instances the result has been
absolute warfare. All those circumstances arc of so recent
occurrence, and every gentleman is so familiar with their
details, that it is quite unnecessary to enter into a weari-
some analysis of the affairs referred to in her Majesty's
Speech. Let me recal to the recollection of the house, as
succinctly as I can, what occurred in reference to our in-
terference in Italy. It is not necessary now to stop to in-
quire what were the representations of her Majesty's Go-
vernment by which the adhesion of Sardinia was obtained
to the grand alliance. Ido not stop to inquire whether
her Majesty's Government engaged herself morally, if not
legally, that they would terminate the then existing state
of affairs in Central Italy, and which had been shown by
a paper by Count Cavour, now upon the table of the house,
was subversive of the equilibrium, if not fatal to the inde-
pendence, of Sardinia itself. I remember that, in March,
when Lord Clarendon went to Paris, Count Cavour, the
distinguished Sardinian Minister, placed himself immedi-
ately in communication with the English Minister, and
requested to know what steps were to be taken in order
that Sardinia should receive her reward for the great and
heroic efforts which she bad made in the recent contest,
and how the independence of Italy was to be secured. The
peace was signed on the 30th of March, and on the Bth of
April, in consequence of a statement delivered in by
Count Cavour, Lord Clarendon, having induced the
French Minister formally to open the affair, made that
remarkable statement which appears in the protocol,
and is a reproduction of the State paper of the Sardi-
nian Minister. There the noble lord points to the abnor-
mal state of Central Italy, occasioned by its occupation
by foreign troops—especially by those of Austria—to the
not only abnormal, but thoroughly exceptional, state of the
kingdom of Naples, which created a condition of things, an
absolute interference with which was not only, his lortiabip
said, our right, but our duty. (Hear.) This was in the
spring; and the house will recal with vividness what the
situation of this country then was. It is of the utmost im-
portance that they should do so. This country was expect-
ing to reap the fruits which might be expected from the
termination of a successful war, and the treaty of peace
then concluded. Yet, in consequence of the steps taken by
her Majesty's Government, no sooner was the Turkish-Rus-
sian difficulty at an end but an Italian difficulty appeared,
and attracted the earnest attention of this country and of
Europe. (Hear.) How was it possible for the people to
require the consideration of domestic subjects when the
public mind was excited by questions of impending war--
when the Government of this country was impressing upon
the public mind of Europe that a great struggle was about
to take place in Italy ; that the time had at length arrived
when she was to be regenerated under the patronage of the
great Powers of Europe—when you knew that it became a
question whether we should wake in the morning and find
that an English fleet was in the Bay of Naples. (Cheers.)
So serious had become the aspect of affairs in Italy and the
temper of the public mind upon the subject, that one of the
most distinguished members of this house, the noble lord
the member for the City of London, felt it his duty to bring
its consideration before this house, when he very properly
made the protocols of the Treaty of Paris the foundation of
his motion. Observe that the agitation of the Italian diffi-
culty commenced in the spring, and the spring and the best
part of the summer wereoccupied bylt. It becamea question
of speculation what might be the consequence of the con-
duct of the noble lord opp•osite (Lord Palmerston) and his
Government in entering into the obligations imposed by
the protocols of the Congress at Paris. Sorce found fault
with the noble lord forhis apparent rashness, whilst others
gave him credit for the liberal spirit he displayed with re-
gard to Italy, and especially to the occupation of Central
Italy by the Austrian troops. It then became a ques-
tion whether war might not again occur on a great scale,
and whether the Austrian army which had not been ex-
hausted in the Crimea could successfully contend with the
armies of France, exhausted as they were by their heroic
struggles in the recent contest, in which they had gained
so many triumphs and so many laurels. Mears.) We
expected that the King of Naples was to be coerced into
submission and the adoption of measures of concession—
we expected to see a French army and an English fleet
occupying the centre of Italy. But will itbe believed that
all this time—nay, that at the very period when Lora
Clarendon was listening to the representations of Count
Cavour, in which he impeached the very existence of Aus-
trian rule—that when he was unable to extricate himself
from some fatal engagement made to Sardinia when the
treaty of peace was signed—will it be believed that at that
very time a second treaty was in existence, guaranteeing to
Auetria the whole of her Italian dominions 9 (Opposition
chelers.) Ido not say this as. any slur upon Austrian skill.
I admire the aluAirable adroitness, I may say the skilful