The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1852-03-23 00:00:00

QUESTIONS

Colonel SIBTHORP asked the Chancellor of the Exche-
quer whether, in his financial statement, he intended to
give consideration to the oppressive post-horse duty ; and
likewise to the onerous tax of 200 per cent. upon common
fire insurance ?—The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER
said it was his duty to take into consideration every possi-
ble claim that could be urged for the reduction of any
tax. He was sure, however, his hon. and gallant friend
would not press him on that occasion for a more definite
reply. (Laughter.)—ln reply to a question put by Mr.
OSBORNE, Mr. WALPOLE said it was not the intention of
her Majesty's Government to propose the appointment of
a select committee of inquiry into the system of national
education in Ireland, but they would support any motion
for a committee to inquire into the working of the system,
with a view of making it more satisfactory to all parties
in Ireland ; and he would prefer that a committee should
not be moved for during the present session.—ln answer
to the MASTER of the ROLLS, the CHANCELLOR of the
EXCHEQUER said it was intended to propose that the En
cumbered Estates Act should be continued for one year.

DECLARATION OF MINISTERS

Lord J. RUSSELL adverted to what had fallen from
Sir John Pakington on a former evening with roopoot to
the sugar duties, and what had also been said by other
members ofthe Government with respect to the corn
duties and other important questions, all of which, it
appeared, were to be left for the consideration of a future
parliament ; and begged to ask the Chancellor of the
Exchequer if it was the intention of the Government to
advise her Majesty to dissolve the nresent parliament as
soon as regard to the service of her Majesty would permit,
so that these important measures might be submitted at
the earliest possible period to the new parliament.—The
CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER said that the question
was unprecedented. The noble lord had quoted the pre-
cedent of the question put to him by Sir R. Peel in 1811
but the case was not in point, for the Government of the
noble lord had then received the condemnation of the
House of Commons. He would, nevertheless, answer
the question put to him, and say that it was the intention
of the Government to dissolve the present parliament so
soon as the necessary measures should have been passed
for the service of her Majesty and the security and good
government of the realm. The wish and intention of the
Government was to meet the new parliament, so that its
opinion on the question of confidence in the Government
and in its measures might be taken in the course of the
present year.—Lord J. RUSSELL asked if, by the words
"good government," he referred to those measures of
reform which he had alluded to on a former evening.—
The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER said he did not
feel himself called upon to give any further explanation.

SUPPLY

The House having gone into a Committee of Supply
upon the Army Estimates, Mr. BERESFORD, in bringing
forward these estimates, stated that they had been pre-
pared by the late government, and, after briefly going
over the seventeen heads,moved the first vote for 101,937
men for the land forces at home and abroad, exclusive of
30,497 in India, whose charge was defrayed by the East
India Company.—Mr. OSBORNE protested in very strong
terms against the extraordinary course of proceeding
pursued by the present government, in refusing to avow
the principles upon which their policy was to be founded.
The Chancellor of the Exchequer was bound to come
forward in that House and declare what those principles
were. The game of thimblerig, he feared, was about to
be played, and the country gulled and plundered, under
what he would call a thimblerig administration. He cri-
ticised some of the appointments in the present Govern-
ment, observing that if one was worse than another, it
was the appointment' to the Secretaryship at War. It was
because he bad no confidence either in the members of
the present Government, their professions or their mea-
sures, that he called upon the House to refuse them both
men and money.—lsdr‘ WiiITESIDE vindicated the Irish

appointments of the present administration, contrasting
them with the appointments of the late ministry, which
were made, he said, in the spirit of a clique, all parties
but one being excluded. He denied that there was any-
thing unconstitutional Dither in the acceptance of office
by Lord Derby, or in ' his maintaining it, until those

measures were passed which were indispensable to the
public interests.—Sir B. HALL reviewed the recent decla-
rations of members of the administration, and, comparing
them with their earlier opinions, inferred that there was
a covert design on their part which they had nor. the
moral courage or the political honesty openly to avow.
The House had, therefore, a right to ask them, " Are
you going to reverse the free trade policy or not ?"—The
Earl of MARCH said that hon. gentlemen on the opposi-
tion benches were apparently anxious to cast a firebrand
amongst those on the ministerial side of the house. They
were desirous of knowing what was meant by being a
Protectionist, and he would at once give them a definition
of its meaning, by saying that it meant- an ardent
and warm supporter of Lord Derby's Government.—
Mr. COBDEN said, if the definition were correct, it was
too much to ask a free-trade parliament to vote the sup-
plies for a whole year to a Protectionist Government.
He would not oppose the vote for the number of men,
but he would oppose the grant of the money to a Govern-
ment in which he had no confidence.—Mr. W. Mites
said he bad no'fear of the result of an appeal to the
country, and treated as an absurdity the idea that the'
Opposition should dictate to the Government the precise
reriod at which they ought to dissolve parliament.—
in CARDWELL considered that the house was called to
deliberate upon two questions most important to the due
balance of the Constitution and to the liberties and hap-
piness of a free people. One related to the privileges and
duties of the house, when a Government, according to its
own admission, was in a minority. A majority in that
house was constitutionally essential to the existence of
the Eiecutive Government; when in a minority the
alternative was to resign or to dissolve parliament as soon
as the exigency of the public service permitted. This
doctrine had' been laid down by the late Sir R. Peel, with
the concurrence of members of the present Cabinet. The
second question related to the consequences of altering,
modifying, and re-adjusting taxation, not only upon corn,
but upon other' articles ; and he recommended Protec-
tionists to take a leaf out of the book of the United
States, the effects of whose anti free trade policy con-
trasted most unfavourably with that which we in-
augurated in 1.846; and which, he observed, had realized
the utopia of Adam Smith. If the house did not
want these great' results to be reversed, they should ex-
ercise, not factiously; but calmly, a constitutional duty.—
Lord J. RUSSELL observed that there were two. questions
—one, the constitutional question, the other as to the
commercial policyof the last ten years. With regard to
the first, the present government, he thought, had taken
a course for whicH,there was no precedent in our consti-
tutional history, andior which there was no ground irethe
maxims and rules of the constitution. They proposed to•
go on to the end of the session upon the assumption that
they were in a minority' ;•in November or December Par-
liament might be clisselved,. and they were to meet the
House of Commons again in February. The pretence put
forward by the present' ministers, that it was a surprise to
them to be called to- take office, which nothing would
have induced them to diebut the pain of seeing the Sove-
reign without advisers, was, he contended, a false pre-
tence, since it was totally inconsistent with their -
conduct last' year, whifst- the majority in favour of
Lord Palmerston's motion consisted chiefly of members
and supporters of the present government. Having
proposed to take an extraordinary course—that of
carrying on the government for eleven months with-
out the confidence of that house—they sought to
cover their conduct by every kind of false pretence.
Lord John then proceeded to the second point,—the
hazard to which our commercial policy was exposed,—
and after justifying his own views towards the agricul-
tural interest, and 'reviewing' the supposed plans of the
Government for modifying or revising the general taxa-
tion, he• insisted that the country was entitled to know
the issue it was to try : that if he and his friends showed
forbearance, they ought not to be treated with contumely
or in a supercilious manner. The Earl of Derby, be
added, had tried to raise another issue, which he had no
right to raise: he alleged that he was minister in order
to prevent the outbreak and encroachment of democracy.
Brut it was by the policy which had been of late years
pursued, whereby the people had become more attached
to the constitution and to constituted authorities, and
less desirous of change, that democracy could be effectu-
ally met.—The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER said the
noble lord had told the committee there were two ques- I
Cons before it ; but the issue was of a much simpler
nature ;it was the first motion of a newly-constructed
opposition, and that motion was to stop the supplies,
which had been supported by the late first minister of the
crown. The charge of faction against the noble lord was
founded upon this ground—that, after he had thrown up
thegovernment and advised her Majesty to send for ano-
ther adviser, he immediately constructed a new opposition
to force the new minister to resign. All the precedents
he had cited were of condemned Governments, and to
attempt to place the present administration in such a
catalogue was one of the boldest expedients for a leader of
opposition. The issue that would go to the country was
whether it had confidence in the administration or not,
and he thought it would have been more decent upon this
occasion to have proposed a vote of no confidence than to
stop the supplies. In the mean time he would not deign
to-speak as a minister upon sufferance. He believed if
Lord John Russell acted in a spirit which be did not hesi-
tate to say was a factious one, he would not be supported
by the majority of the house, and that if the measures of
the existing government deserved its approbation, the
existing House of Commons would support that govern-
ment.—Mr. BRIGHT said that if the ministers were not
for a corn law let them say so ; if any!authorised member
of Government would boldly avow that the time had
passed when any duty could be imposed upon corn, and
that they would not attempt to tamper with the taxation
upon the principle that certain classes had suffered which
ought not to have suffered by the repeal of the corn law,
the Government would never find him (Mr. Bright) vot-
ing a want of confidence in them. If they could not utter
this avowal, he would make war against them.—The
Marquis of GRANBY said he still retained all his old
opinions with respect to protection, and still believed that
free trade had been productive of great evils. He had
every confidence that the Government of Lord Derby
would endeavour, if the country would support him, to
re-establish import duties. He would say, however, that
it would be most mischievous to attempt to do so unless
the opinions of a considerable majority of the people
should be in favour of the change.—After a few remarks
from Colonel THOMPSON, Mr. OSBORNE said his object
had been to draw from the ministers an avowal of their•
policy, in which he had ailed. He did not propose to
divide. The vote was then agreed to. The next vote, of.
£3,602,067 for the charge of the land forces, was moved,
but objection being made owing to the lateness of the
hour, the chairman was ordered to report progress. The
other business on the paper was then disposed of..

SECOND.• READINGS

The following bills were read a second time :—Passen-
gers Act Amendment Bill, General Board of Health Bill,
Improvement of Towns (Ireland) Bill.—The house ad-
journed at a quarter past one.

FOREIGN NEWS.

♦
FRANCE.

The election in the fourth district of Paris has termi-
nated in the retuzn of the opposition candidate, M. Car-
not. This result has produced considerable sensation, as
it indicates the strength of the Socialist party in Paris.
It is expected that M. Carnot, like General Cavaignac,
will refuse to take the oath.
Great dissatisfaction has been created by the conversion
of the Five per Cents. into Four-and-a-Half per Cents.,
the act being considered a fresh invasion of the rights of
property.

- The Ilionilear of Thursday contains the estimates for
]852. The expenditure is calculated at 1,430,363,244
francs, the receipts at 1,449,413,604 francs. There is an
inereaso in thr, ..on e,tiulates of 7,100,000; in the navy
estimates, of 12,000,000; and in the extraordinary works,
of 14,000,000 francs.

It, is now reported that the civil list of Louis Napoleon
will be 8,000,000 francs, free from the charge of maintain-
ing the royal establishments, which fell upon Louis Phi-
lippe, whose civil list was 12.000,000 francs.
The controversy on the Orleans property continues to
be warmly carried on, both in pamphlets and in the jour-
nals which are permitted to discuss the question.
A decree reorganises the Legion d' Honneur, of which
the President is to be the " Sovereign Chief and Grand
Master." The order is to consist of an unlimited num-
ber of chevaliers, 4,000 officers, 1,000 commanders, 200
grand-officers, and 80 grand-crosses.

- 1000 insurgents of ale Basses Alpes are proceedine to
their place of destination, via' Toulon ; others, of the Var,
will soon follow them.

The widow of Marshal Soult died during the night of
the 12th at her chateau of Soult-Berg, in the department
of the Tarn. She was in her 81st year.
According to the last accounts from Algeria the number
of soldiers who perished in the terrible snow-storm at
Djemaa el Taouint, or who have not since appeared, is 144.
40 -
SPAIN.

Accounts from Madrid are to the 15th instant

It was said that the Duchess de Moatpensier had sus-
pended her journey, because she was supposed to be in an
interesting position. Should this not be the case, the
Duke and Duchess will embark for Italy in the first fort-
night of April.
the municipalities and provincial deputations through-
out Spain were actively engaged in revising the electoral
lists ; a fact from which it was inferred that the govern-
ment contemplated shortly to dissolve the Cortes. In
any case the elections will not take place before July or
August.

ITALY.—Messina has been declared a free port. Many
English vessels have already arrived.
CORFU.—On the 25th ult. a most violent hailstorm
raged, by which thousands of olive trees were torn up.
TURKEY.—Reschid Pacha has been recalled to the post
of Grand Vizier.

Intelligence reached Vienna on the 14th inst., that the
Austrian war-steamer Marianna was stranded on an island
off the coast of Dalmatia. The fate of the crew, which is
said to consist of 121 men, was not known with certainty,
but it was reported that a second despatch had been
received, stating that forty corpses, supposed to have
belonged to the crew of the Marianna, had been fowl.