The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1853-02-15 00:00:00

MINISTERIAL POLICY.

Lord ABERDEBN having moved the adjournment of the
House, the Earl of DERBY said : Before the House ad.
journs, I trust Her Majesty's government will allow me
to put a question, or rather to make a single remark,
which I hope they will not think an unnecessary one.
Parliament having been adjourned and not prorogued,
and a new government having succeeded to office since
the delivery of the Royal speech, we have no indication of
the specific measures which it is the intention of that go-
vernment to submit to parliament. I do not put the
question in any hostile spirit, nor am I about to ask of
Her Majesty's government any expression of the general
political principles on which legislation will be conducted.
The Noble Earl opposite gave some explanation on his
first assumption of office ; and although that explanation
did not throw any great light on the general policy of
the government, but left us in a state of as much un-
certainty, as to the course:which will be pursued, as before
that speech was delivered, and although, certainly, we are
unable to form any possible conjecture as to the line of
policy, or the general political principles, from the antece-
dents and previous opinions of a portion of those who com-
pose the government, I suppose if I put the question I
shall receive merely the same sort of general explanation.
I am not therefore anxious to ask on what principles the
government is about to proceed ; but I think I have a
right to ask for a statement of the measures they intend
to propose, as it is more desirable the government should
be practically tested by those measures which they will
submit to the consideration of parliament, than by the
vague generalities in which the First Minister of the
Crown may veil the policy which it is intended to pursue.
I am informed it is the intention of the government to
make a statement in the other house of parliament, indi-
cating the measures which her Majesty's government will
introduce. I think it fully as important that that state-
ment should be made here, because, from the circum-
stances of the present year, the early part of this session
must be more than ordinarily occupied in the other house
with business of a description in which your lordships do
not interfere, and that will necessarily postpone legislative
measures, however pressing, to a period of the year when
it is very difficult to obtain the approval of your lordships
and of theother houseof parliament. I think, more especially
in the present state of parties, that nothing can be more de-
sirable than that the government—if they are desirous of
conscientiously performing their duties and proving by the
practical measures they introduce their capacity to govern,
and yet not their capacity ,for of that there can be no doubt,
as there has saldom been embodied a larger amount of ta-
lent than in the present cabinet ; but I will say—proving
that the talent they possess is turned to its full purpose
for the service of the country, and that whatever political
differences of opinion may have subsisted between them
on former occasions, they areable to combine and cooperate
together for the purpose of bringing for ward measures
which are useful and valuable to the country—that the
government should have an opportunity of earning the
confidence of the country and establishing its claims to
that confidence in a manner far mere satisfactory than
can be achieved by a mere declaration of principle, or by
any announcement of the views which they individually
entertain. They will have to be judged by their practice
and performance, and not by their declarations of prin-
ciple, and I venture to say, on the part of myself and of
those friends with whom I have the honour of acting, that
if they bring forward such measures as we in our con-
sciences can support and approve, they will receive
from us not only no opposition, not only no de-
sire on our parts to disturb the positions they bold,
but nothing will give us more satisfaction than to
find we are able to co-operate with them for the purpose
of carrying measures useful and beneficial to the country.
—Earl FITZWILLIAM thought that his noble friend might
not only very prudently, but very properly, postpone the
satisfaction of the noble Earl's curiosity.—The Earl of
ABERDEEN said that most of the measures determined
on would originate in the House of Commons, and he be-
lieved that it was not the practice to announce in that
house measures which were to be brought forward in the
House of Commons.—The Earl of DERBY had hoped for
a more satisfactory answer from the noble earl. That in-
formation, as given elsewhere, with the noble earl's full
sanction, would be in all the newspapers on the following
morning.—Earl FITZWILLIAM said that the statement in
the House of Commons would be of measures to bein-
troduced in that house, which measnres it would, therefore,
be irregular to have announced in their lordships' house.
—The Earl of DERBY would limit his question, and ask the
noble lord what measures he intended to submit to
their lordships in the course of the session ?—After a few
seconds' pause, no noble lord having risen, the Earl of
DERBY said,—Does silence mean no measures ?—The
Earl of ABERDEEN made some observation, but it was
not heard in the gallery.—The Earl of DERBY : May I be
permitted to ask what measures will be introduced in this
house ? I have the sanction of my noble friend on the
cross-benches for putting this question.—No answer was
given ; and, the question of adjournment being put by
the Lord Chancellor, their lordships adjourned.