The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1852-02-24 00:00:00

tins, which was inexpedient in this
!A._ • • .

or security ; and he content
for the course he had taken

here were

ST. ALBAN'S ELECTION.
Upon the consideration of the question of privilege--
the notice of motion served upon the Serjeant-at-Arms, at
the suit of a witness who had been committed by the
chairman of the St. Albans Election Committee, Lard JOHN
RUSSELL moved that the Serjeant be directed to plead to
and defend the action.—After some remarks by Mr. Hume
and Mr. Roebuck, the ATTORNEY-GENERAL explained
that the power had been exercised by the chairman of the
committee under a statute, and the only question was
whether he had duly exercised this statutory jurisdiction.
If not, it would be unjust to debar a party from seeking
redress, not against the house, but against an individual
member.—The motion was agreed to.

DEFEAT AND RESIGNATION OF MINISTERS

THE MILITIA BILL

I On bringing u

the report upon the Local Militia Act,

other night as to the pioposec

basis of alocal militia, with modifications

The of

said, was to obtain a considerable number of men, to be
trained for a small portion of the year, and so far dis-
ciplined as to supply the place of regular troops by
I._ A. •

PALMERSTON thought it of great importance that a
bill of this kind should be founded upon a right prin7
T.

eipie. it appeared to him that there was an essential
eliirc-s-ca..c. ot-vr.ora Mato bill Ulla iI cub-
stance and provisions. The main point was whether

toeing an essenttat
distinction between the two which had been lost sight of
by Lord J. Russell. What he conceived to be requisite
was this. Our geographical position exposed us to the
possibility of being invaded by a formidable force, and the
changes wrought by steam navigation rendered the danger
more imminent on the breaking out of a war. How was
this to be provided against ? By having, in time of peace,
a considerable force organised, drilled, armed, and
equipped. which could he raised at the shortest possible
notice. The local militia was not such a force ; though
the noble lord had thrown overboard the local militia
acts, and called that a local militia which would not be
local. It was better in times of peace to have an adequate
force as a reserve for our regular army, and, having got it,
to keep it. What the country wanted was a regular
militia—a force which had existed nearly 200 years,
whereas a local militia was an occasional force for a par-
ticular exigency. Lord Palmerston summed up the ob-
jections to a regular militia in one sentence : they resolved
themselves, he said, into this—that the English were
cheats, the Scotch cowards, and the Irish traitors. If our
own countrymen, he continued, cannot be trusted, let us
send for a Russian force or an Austrian garrison. He was
of a different opinion. He believed that if the government
appealed to the people, and stated to them their danger
and what was at stake, they would have a force which
would show to other countries we were prepared to defend
the land we live in. He moved to insert in the report,
after the word " amend," the words " and consolidate;"
and to omit the word "local" before the word " militia."
Mr.; M. Ginsox protested against the diversion of the
surplus revenue from the remission of taxes, which stood
in the way of the employment of labour. What was the
reason assigned for this measure ? That there might be
circumstances which would render it obligatory upon this
country to attempt to maintain the balance of power.
This plea implied that we may be called upon to become
aggressive, and he was adverse to that policy. lf, how-
ever, he was hound to vote for either proposition, he should
prefer that of the government; but he believed the panic
under which they acted had been got up for political pur-
poses. Lord J. RUSSELL said, with respect to the
balance of 'rower, all such questions resolved themselves
into the question of national independence. In the argu-
ment of Lord Palmerston there VIM a point upon which