The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1854-02-07 00:00:00

THE ADDRESS.

Lord CASTLEROSSE moved the address to the Crown in
reply to the speech from the Throne, and the motion was
seconded by Mr. T. Hankey.
Mr. BAILLIE regretted that the Government had not
adopted a different and more decided course towards
Russia after the mission of Prince Menschikoff, and con-
tended that, although they had now adopted a war policy,
their half-measures had damaged the character and the
position of this country.
Sir ROBERT PEEL, in the course of a speech, referred
to the strikes, and then said, the noble lord had pro-
posed to take a matter in hand that would be of great
service in putting an end to such scenes—he meant the
question of education, to which reference was made in the
Royal speech. (Laughter ; and several voices—" Educa-
tion is not mentioned.") He had been half-a-dozen times
at the office for a copy of the speech, and could not get
one, but he had asked a gentleman at the door, and under-
stood from him that there was some allusion to education
in the speech. ("No, no.") Well then, there was no
allusion to education, and he was sorry for it. He was
sorry for it, for he had been given to understand that the
noble lord was pledged to a measure that would be of
very considerable benefit.
Mr. H. T. LIDDELL was not prepared to say the govern-
ment might not have good grounds for recommending a
bill to be framed to open the coasting trade, and begged
leave to make a few remarks on a subject on which he
would have been silent, had it not been for the paragraph
of the speech, and the allusions made in it, relating to
that question. The increase in the price of coals was, no
doubt, one of the causes of the privations to which the
people, and especially the inhabitants of the metropolis,
had been exposed ; and it was to be remembered that, not
long ago, a strike was ready to take place in the north,
which, by the good conduct and sense of the seamen
employed in the coal trade of those ports, had been pre-
vented from assuming the character it might otherwise
have done. He saw another reason for considering the
propriety of opening our coasting trade in the fact that
the United States had taken advantage of the present
restrictions here to exclude British ships from the whole
trade between New York as far as California, on the
ground that it was a coasting trade—what they were
scarcely warranted in saying—and that they must submit
to be shut out, as our government shut American ships
out from the trade along our shores. He could not concur,
however, in what had been said as to the effect of past
changes in our shipping trade. He had, ere he rose to
speak on that occasion, 'determined to take the earliest
opportunity of calling the attention of the First Lord of
the Admiralty to the grievous losses whieb had hell

inflicted within a very short time on the shipping interest
by many calamities which they had all so much to deplore
—he meant the loss of the Tayleur, the Olinda, and other
vessels. He had just spoken to one gentleman who was
very well informed as to the circumstances connected with
the loss of the Tayleur, who stated,—and that opinion
was borne out and fully confirmed by the evidence of the
witnesses, and by other facts, that the main cause of the
loss of one of the finest vessels in the world was the in-
efficiency of the crew,—an inefficiency not of numerical
force, but arising from men of a most motley character—
Nubians, Lascars, Chinese, and others—being brought
together and forming a crew quite incapable of under-
standing, and consequently unable to execute the orders
of the captain. It was folly to say that if liberty had not
been given to British vessels to ship crews of that kind many
of them would have remained unemployed at home. It
would be far better for them to remain at home till they
got crews of efficient men than to put to sea in such
a state, and when the hon. member said no incon-
venience had taken place from thoSe changes in
our laws, he pointed out those cases to show the contrary,
and, he might mention, to show he was right in what he
had stated, that the insurances on the Tayleur had been
disallowed at Lloyd's, because it had been proved in evi-
dence she was inefficiently manned. He hoped when the
government recommended their bill to parliament they
would take steps to remedy those evils, and he could
assure them he, as the representative of the largest ship-
ping port in the kingdom, and those who sat near him,
would lend them the best assistance in their power to
make it efficient. He could only hope government would
not close their ears to the representations of those most
interested in, and most conversant with, the facts and
merits of the question, but that they would listen to the
reports of the different chambers of commerce, and the
associations of shipowners throughout the country, and
remove the evils of which they complained when the time
for it. He proceeded to give, with reference to our
. relations, some details of the military resources of
' •Lsia; first, to show that it must be the policy of that
power to seek time to bring up her forces ; and, secondly,
to warn the country of the vast amount of those forces.
In the prospect of an expensive war, he thought the
government would have done wisely in postponing the
question of parliamentary reform, which might involve
the country in a painful and acrimonious domestic strug-
gle at a moment when unanimity was so desirable.
After several other members had spoken,
Mr. DISRAELI compared the tone adopted by the govern-
ment when parliament was prorogued, and the expecta-
tions held out of an immediate and satisfactory conclusion
of the difference between the Porte and Russia, with the
language in the speech from the throne, which still spoke
of negotiations going on, and of hopes of success; and con-
tended that the government were bound, after what had
happened, to assure.the house that the object of the nego-
tiations was not in the spirit of the Vienna note, though
that note had been held out as not derogatory to the
Ottoman Porte. He thought, that if Her Majesty was
acting in cordial co-operation, not only with the Emperor
of the French, but with the Emperor of Austria and the
King of Prussia, the language used in the address was
not so firm and explicit as the circumstances of the case
required. He thought that some reference should have
been made in the speech to certain unsettled questions to
which the President of the United States had formally
referred. Looking at the threatening aspect of our foreign
relations, he condemned as unwise and unstatesmanlike
the policy of introducing reforms not only of the Civil
Service, the Ecclesiastical Courts, and the Poor-laws, but
even of the House of Commons, which would distract and
dissipate the energies of the country when about to em-
bark in a war. The present ministers, however, had un-
happily pledged themselves to bring in a large measure of
parliamentary reform, and, mad as such a measure might
be at this time, they must redeem that pledge. He was
ready to support the most stringent measure for putting
an end to bribery and corruption, but he would not con-
nect such a measure with one for reconstructing the elec-
toral body, and why was intimidation to be passed over ?
He repeated that it was unwise at the present time to in-
troduce any measure of parliamentary reform ; but, if
such a bill should be laid upon the table, he would attempt
to bring about a better adjustment of the manner in which
the different classes of the country were represented in
that house.—Lord J. RUSSELL, after a general vindication
of the conduct of the government with respect to the
Eastern Question, said he would not indulge a very confi-
dent expects et that the offers now made would be
acceded to by ssia ; and, however desirous the govern-
ment might be to preserve peace, they were not disposed
to let that government so far profit by delay as to take us
totally unprepared. He then called the attention of the
house to the calumnies which had been spread regarding
the Prince Consort, using a similar line of argument to
that employed by the Earl of Aberdeen.—After a few
comments on the speech by Mr. Walpole, the Address
was agreed to.
LIVERPOOL ELECTION.—The SPEAKER reported to the
honse that he had received a letter from Mr. Coppock, in-
timating that it was not intended to proceed with the
petition in the case of the Liverpool election.
The house adjourned at eleven o'clock.