The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1841-06-08 00:00:00

the *pantry might be to get rid, by means of a general elec-
tion, of a ministry which had, for too long a period, crippled
the energies of the country, yet they had a right to demand
the nature of the.causes which had led to a dissolution ; and
though that house had no right to question the prerogative
of the crown in dissolving the parliament, yet for having ad-
vised that dissolution, the ministers must be responsible to a
future parliament. It was most unconstitutional to call on
the house to discuss measures of importance under the me-
nace of a dissolution of parliament •, for by so doing, they
trenched upon the independence of hon. members, by expos-
ing them to the temporary prejudices of their constituents,
to protect them from which was the original reason for leng-
thening the duration of parliaments. The noble lord, ad-
verting to the course taken by the noble and hon. members
for Lincolnshire, said that their voting against the corn laws
next week, would be in the eyes of their constituents but a
poor atonement for their vote in favour of ministers upon the
motion of his right hon. friend. With respect to the charge
made against him of inconsistency. he had no hesitation in
saying that he and Sir Robert Peel had communicated mu-
tually their opinions to each other on all great political
questions, and that he was prepared to take his share.in what-
vier respenibility
,night be cast upon his right hon: friend.
The noble lord here retorted, amidst the cheers ofThe house,
upon Mr. Handley in the happiest vein, showing, how often
that gentleman had changed his political creed; and advised
him in future to abstain from personal attacks which might
be apt to draw down retorts, which could not ife very plea-
sant, however humble the quarter from which they proceeded.
The noble lord then intimated that the time had,arrived when
the iniquities of the present government should be put an end
to, and resumed his seat amidst great cheering.
Lord J. RUSSELL denied that the present ministry had
by their measures crippled the energies of the country. On
the contrary, neither in the colonies, in Canada, nor at home,
had its energies shown'any want of strengths while in Ireland
they had won the affections of that generons people to the
crown by the justice of their proceedings. He quite assent-
ed to the proposition, that if the House of Commons, even
without assigning reasons, refused and continued to refuse
its confidence to a ministry, it was bound to resign, with the
one alternative of dissOlution. It was much more difficult,
since the passing of .the Reform Bill, fora government to
carry on the affairs of legislation, because, since then, fair
allowance should be made, not only for the opinions of in-
dividual members, but. also for the influence which the opi-
nions of their constituents might cause in their conduct ;
and this led of necestiity, and alWays would lead hereafter,
under any ministry, not only to the alteration, but to the
abandonment of many measures ; for henceforth no govern-
ment could even possess the same extent of the confidence
of the house as was formerly not unusual. The noble lord
then taunted Sir R. Peel with having been a member of an
administration which allowed seats in that house to be bought
and sold as private property, and which allowed 800,000 hu-
man beings to be treated as goods and chattels, and then
imputed to the right hon. baronet, as matter of grave cen-
sure, the not having done all!that had since been done by
the present government, such as the Poor-law Bill, the Tithe
Bill, the Municipal Corporation Bill, &c. ; and asserted that
no administration had 'ever, in the course of ten years, car-
ried more important measures through parliament than that
of which lie was a member, and which had been so calumni-
ated in the course. of that debate; and all these improve-
ments had been effected without sheking in the slightest
degree the rights of property, or occasioning anything revo-
lutionary in its character. If the goyernment had resigned
on being defeated on
,the sugar duties, it would have been
said that they never intended to have really carried the mea-
sures they proposed. In order, therefore, to prove their
sincerity, they resolved to promote the discussion of their
measures, and, before abandoning them, to appeal to the
constituency of the country. The noble lord, in reference
to the corn-laws, said Ise had no doubt but Sir Robert Peel
contemplated some Very important changes in those laws,
should he come into power; for, though he adhered to the
sliding scale, he had 'not stated how low or how high he
would allow the scale to slide. He was certainly mysterious
in what he said upon the subject ; but still as he (Lord John
Russell) interpreted the oracle, the right lion. baronet would
propose some very important alterations. Even if the pre-
sent government were to resign, parties in the house were so
nicely balanced thatehe right hon. baronet could not go on
with his administration without an appeal to the people.
And this was a justification of the course pursued by govern-
ment ; because, as a dissolution was, under any circum-
stances, inevitable, the resignation of the ministry, without
appealing to the people, would be a virtual abandonment of
the measures they proposed. The noble lord then intimated
that the present ministry would not make any further delay
in appealing to the people than wry necessary for passing the
financial measures necessary for the public service; and that
parliament should again be called together at the earliest
convenient period. (Cheers.)
air R. PEEL, in reply, denied the justice of the imputations
made against him, of not having done that which had sub-
sequently been done by the Ministry, for, in fact, he was the
first to originate alterations in the criminal law—(cheers) ;
and in his short administration of 1835, he had proposed
measures respecting the dissenters which had been considered
as very liberal by' hon. members on both sides of the house.
(Cheers.) The noble lord, in enumerating the bills which
had been passed, had forgotten to enumerate the dangers he
had escaped with the assistance of the conservative party in
that house. What would he have done on the ballot, and
what with the new Reform Bill, had it not been for the con.
servatives ? He stood, upon many occasions, almost alone,
as regarded his own supporters • and, but for the conserva-
tives, must have looked on during the storm, while the
anchors were uprooted by which the British Monarchy was
moored. (Great cheering.) ; The right hon. baronet then
'contrasted the flourishing condition in which he left the
revenue of the country, with a surplus of £2,000,000, with
the condition in which they were now placed, exhibiting an
enormous deficiency, and said' that after a long absence from
office it was preposterous to expect that he should pledge
himself, should he succeed to power, to any particular remedy
for an evil produced by others, and the causes of which he
had not at present the necessary means of ascertaining. He
next contended that it was unconstitutional for the Govern-
ment to hold office after having lost the confidence of the
house, and therefore it was that be had brought forward his
motion of want of confidence. It was equally unconstitu-
tional, in his opinion, for a Government, after makiug up its
mind to dissolution, to bring forward exactly such measures
as would tend to damage the existing House of Commons,
the confidence of which it had lost in the e,•es of the con-
stituency of the country. (Cheers.) He admitted that they
must have the Sugar Bill, but to that no opposition was
offered, and they had no right to bring forward an other
measure before resorting to a dissolution. In reference to
the corn laws, the right hon. baronet would not pledge him-
self to maintain the present bill exactly as it now stood ; for
he was constantly receiving letters from the best friends of
agriculture intimating Unprovments which might he made in
the details of that measure ; but he still was of opinion that
the sliding scale should be adhered to. More than this he
would not say, for every word he uttered he was so closely
pinned down to by hon. gentlemen, that he felt it necessary
to be cautious—(cheers)—more particularly because they
drew larger inferences from what he said than his words were
intended to, or possibly could, convey. (Cheers.) What-
ever might be the event of the discussion, he should take his
leave of it, content with the course he had pursued in the
vindication of the constitutional rights of the House of Com-
mons. (Much cheering.)
The house then divided, and the motion of Sir R. Peel was
carried by a majority of 312 to 311.
The announcement of the numbers was received with long
continued cheers.
On the question that the house at its rising do adjourn to
Monday,
Lord J. RUSSELL stated that on Monday it was the inten-
tion of the Government to move so much of the 'miscellane-
ous estimates as could not he omitted without great inconve-
nience to the public service.
Several Hon. Mzesuns—Corn laws ! corn laws!
Lord J. RUSSELL said he would state on Monday what
course he would take.
(Immense cheering from the opposition benches.)
Lord J. RUSSELL said, " I shall be quite satisfied in
stating on Monday what course
.I shall pursue ; but the right
hon. gentlemen having, in his reply, brought forward a num-
ber of new charges, which had not been heard of before, 1
must have time to deliberate as to what course it may be ne-
cessary to take in order to vindicate the conduct of the Go-

vernment."
Sir R. PEIL—I think that the greater part of the speech
of the noble lord was an attack upon myself—(hear, hear).
I certainly should he sorry if it were possible to impute to me
the taking any unfair advantage in bringing forward charges.
I assure the noble lord, if I did so; it was contrary to my
intention ; for, knowing that the noble- lord could not reply
to me, I said not one word on the subject of foreign policy,
I said not one word except in connection with charges made
against myself. Ido not deprecate any course which the
noble lord may think it necessary to pursue; but I should
be sorry, I should be very sorry, if he thought I took the ad-
vantage of a reply to make an attack.
Mr. -I.IINoLnY—I do not care twopence for the charges
which have been made, but I am anxious for a discussion on
the.corn laws. I hope that on Monday the noble lord will
say he is determined to bring on that important question.
Mr. Humg 1 cannot understand why the noble lord is
not prepared to 'say when he will discuss the corn laws.
Ample time has been given. Tuesday being the first open
day, the noble lord ought to fix it for that day.
The house, at its rising, adjourned to Monday.
The other orders of the day were disposed of, and the house
adjourned at half-past three.