The Sun.
London, England, 1859-04-30 00:00:00

Government and their supporters—a.' manoattyre
perfectly legitimate according to the rules of par-
liamentary warfare, but still a manoeuvre, and. they
are not the party who should make the result of
that manccuvre a reproach or a censure to the Par-
liament which they have recently dissolved. Now,-
gentlemen, yea of Course remember the events of
that trial.- There had occurred in Paris an event
of so:outrageous-a description as to excite the hor-
ror and indignation of all mankind. The Emperor
and Empress of the French when on their way to
the theatre were suddenly attacked by a discharge
of shells exploding' 'under their carriage, around
their carriage, and in every direction hi 'immediate
contiguity toit. The result was, that I think ten.
persons were killed, the imperial servant's' and
horses severely wounded, and that upwards of 100
persons who had assembled to see them pass . were
injured in some manner or another, while the. only
persons who escaped were the individaals against
whom the attack had - been directed, namely, the
Emperor and. Empress in their carriage. When
we heard of this affair the then Government par-
took of the general indignation, for it was known
that the conspirators had come from England, that
the plot had'been hatched in England, and that the
instrument of destruction had been made in. Eng-
land, and therefore at the first blush England was
obnoxious to the charge of having harboured men,
who, not content with enjoying that freedorn and
security with all who live in this country, made
this place of refuge the quarter in which to. plot a
diabolical attack on the sovereign of another
country. The first impulse of our minds,• of the
mind of the Government, was to rescue this coun-
try from the imputation which might fall on it
from any other civilised country. (A voice- " Ber-
nard for ever, doWn with Louis Napoleon.") But it
was made a matter of charge against us that we
acted under the dictation of the Government of
France, that we acted under the threats of some
half dozen foolish French colonels of regiments,
and of speeches which had been recently made in
public assemblies in France. I can assure you that
that assertion was totally and fundamentally false.
We acted upon the feelings which every gentle-
man of honour who had the least spark of generous
feeling in his mind must have been actuated . by,
had he been placed under similar circumstances.
We felt it due to the general feeling not to alter
those laws Which gave refuge to foreigners of all
descriptions who were flying from political perse-
cution abroad, but acting on suggestions which
were made to us by men standing high in the legal
profession—suggestions which, without infringing
on the laws of hospitality or being at variance
with the constitution of the country, would attach
a heavy punishment to conspiracies in.this country
for the atrocious purpose of murder, wherever that
murder was to be committed. And lam sure that,
unless great pains had been taken to mislead the
public mind, the feeling of all honest Englishmen
would have been that we were right in the course
we had pursued, and that we were only doing our
duty in proposing that measure. And whatever-
the consequences of that proposal may have been to
the Government of which I was a member, there is
no part of my public life which I look back to with
more satisfaction than the part which I took in
proposing
.a measure which, in my judgment, was
honourable .to the country, and which I think
ought to have been adopted by the Parliainent of
this Country. Rut, gentlemen, public opinion took
a different line. Men interpreted as applicable to
England and Englishmen certain expressions in a
despatch which- we knew were only intended to
apply to certain foreigners who were residing in
this country. That despatch said that assassination
was publicly preached here as a doctrine.. Those
who read that passage understood it to imply that
Englishmen adopted the doctrine ; but we know
that it only related to a small number of refugees,
by whom the doctrine was published in print and
advocated in meetings. But public opinion ran
wild on the matter; and when once public opinion
takes up a particular view you might as Well think
of stopping a wild horse as of stopping or turning
it. (A laugh.) One hundred members who had
ordinarily supported the Government took that
view of the matter, and—acco7ding to their views
—honourably opposed the Conspiracy Bill. But
the members of the present Government, before its
introduction had recommended a measure of the kind,
and when it was my duty to propose it they voted in
a body for leave to bring in the hill. •We had,
therefore, every reason to count on theirsupport for
the further stages of the measure ; but when Mr.
Milner Gibson moved a resolution not bearing on
the bill, but censuring the Government fornot hav-
ing. answered a despatch, the party opposite to us,
seeing now ho*. opinion ran, threwthemselves in a
moment from one side to the other, voted that black
which only a fortnight before they had voted to be
white, joined the 100 malcontents amongst our
supporters, and thus carried a censure on the Go-
vernment. I ask you, gentlemen, who it is in ordi-
nary life has to complain of the non-answering of a
letter? Why, the man who wroteit, to be sure.
The real complaint in this case lay with the French
Government. We did not answer their despatch,
and they might have called this scant courtesy and
incivility on the part of the people of England.
There was no case of blame against us, because our
answer to the despatch was the course that we were
pursuing; and we did not think it necessary to en-
ter into any controversy with the Government of
France respecting words which we- knew were not
intended to convey any insult to the people of
England; althOligh parties who did not • know so
much of the matter as we did so considered it. I'
say,' then, that the present ministry and their
friends were the parties who turned the scale
against the late Government; and. it is, unjust on
their part to make that vote a ground aimpeach-
ment against the late Parliament, because they
were the persons who by their own acts had given
effect to the vote which was a manifestation of cen-
sure on the Government. They brought in a Reform
Bill which pleased nobody, which contained pro-
visions some of them highly unjust, such as the
disqualifying of county freeholders.who. happened
to have their freeholds within the limits of bo-
roughs represented in Parliament, and was other-
wise unsatisfactory, inasmuch as the bill contained
no reduction*whatever of the borough franchise,
and, therefore; made no provision for admitting to
electoral privileges the best class of experienced
and intelligent workmen. (Hear,' hear.) Gentle-
men, I am not going to give you a Reform Bill.
(Loud and general cries of " Oh, oh.") I do not
think it is right on the hustings. to go into the
details of such a measure. (Considerable interrup-
tion, and-cries of " How far will you go ?")
Mr. ROWCLIFFE—How far will you go ? State
your Reform. Bill.
Lord PALMERSTON—I was going to say that I do
not think it fitting for a candidate on the hustings to
state the details of a Reform Bill which he would pass.
It is the duty of the responsible Government of
the country to propose such measures as they think
suited to. the public interest, and it is the duty of
members of P.arliament not in Office 'to criticise
those measures, to improve them if wrong, to ap-.
prOve them if. right, and to act with respect to
them according to the best opinion they can bring
to bear on the matter. (" What's your opinion?")
I can assure my friends in the• crowd that it has
been my lot to have many plans of reform sent to
me by different correspondents, and if any of them
will come to me in London he may have his choice
of fifty. Perhaps the best plan would be for him to
draw lots; or-may be he would select the one which
contains the most clauses or effects the greatest
changes hi existing institutions. But although I
am not to- give you my, plan of reform, I will
state now what I stated in the Honse of Commons,
that I think there ought to be a lowering of the
county franchise, and a transfer of seats from some
of the small -boroughs to larger places. But the
extent to which these changes are to. be effected
must be-decided by the examination of statistical
facts, and without these facts it would be impossible
• to go properly into the question.. But this I will
say, without meaning offence to any man, and I
'hope that no man will takeit. in that light, that I
should not be prepared:to extend'. the borough fran-
chise so low as to swamp by numbers of men not
possessed of- property and intelligence. those upon
whom the franchise has already been conferred, and
who have exercised that franchise with honour to
themselVes and with advantage to their country.
Now, gentlemen, there is another point of- public
affairs, to which the minds of all men are now at-
tracted with anxiety the most
.intense. (" Hear,
hear," and interruption. A voice : " The vote, the
vote.").. One. at a time, gentlemen ; turn about
is fair play ; if that gentleman will 'listen to me
now, I will listen in perfect silence to him after. I
was going to say that the eyes and the aninds of all
Europe arc now fixed on that great event which
eithertas taken place, or is immediately about to
ensue we were told yesterday. 'I am 'informed to-
day that the event has not yet happened. But, how-
ever that may be, I fear that it "will 'immediately
take place, and that Europe will be exposed to the
calamities of .a devastating war between the armies
of great and powerful states. It will remain for Go-
vernment to show when Parliament meets in what de-
gree and by what means they have endeavoured to
put a stop to this great calamity, and to preserve
to Europe the blessings of peace. I be-
lieve that they honestly meant to' do so ; but
fear, that from want of capacity their efforts
have failed. They began to mediate before they
were officially recognised as mediators by either
Austria or France, the parties between whom any
mediation must take place. A PropoSal for a con-
gress was substituted either by Russia or France—
some • say one, some say the . other—in place of
mediation, and that congress • was • declined by
Austria, except on conditions which it was absurd
to ask. We are informed it was required as a