safety in fulfilling the promises made to his people by his Royal predecessor,-promises which had enabled him to repel the invasion of the French, and keep his country intact by giving a representative constitution to his people, and thereby to consolidate and secure his throne. He also ventured to hope, that those who were SO alarmed at the extension of the franchise ten years ago, were no longer indulging in those fearsthat as they found their former fears were groundless, they were prepared now to give a still further extension of the franchise, one which would admit within the pale of the Constitution a great body of the working classes. Earl Fitzwilliam said, he felt much gratified at finding that the measure for which for three years he had laboured unsuccessfully was now to be submitted to the House, and that too by a Ministry which owed its possession of office entirely to the agricultural interest. He was surprised, however, that such a proposal should have emanated from a Government of which the Duke of Wellington, who had so often and so energetically spoken in favour of the present system, was a member; and he feared that but little would after all be effected, although the Duke of Buckingham had, in consequence of the intentions of his colleagues, felt himself compelled to retire from the Government. If the measure to be brought forward embraced the sliding-scale-if it were not large and efficient in its operation, it, he was convinced, would prove a failure. The Duke of Wellington in reply to the noble Earl, stated, that he was unwilling to enter into the details of the proposed measure until it was formally before the House. Upon that occasion, he had no doubt he should be able clearly to establish that he had been guilty of no inconsistency in giving his support to the measure. He hoped that the plan which it was the intention of the Government to propose to Parliament, would not only give satisfaction to their Lordships, but also to the country at large. He did not think that he ought at that moment to say any more on the point. He believed he could not do so with advantage to the interests of the State. It was his hope that their Lordships would retire from the debate without any acrimonious feeling. The Duke of Buckingham said, that he could very briefly satisfy the curiosity of the noble Lord opposite. He could inform the noble Lord, that his opinions on the subject of the Corn-laws were those which he always entertained; they had undergone no alteration. During his connexion with the present Government, a measure was proposed for an alteration in the Cornlaws, which he found it impossible to support. As an honest man he had no other course to pursue, under these circumstances, than to retire from the Ministry. During the period that he had the honour of holding a seat in the Cabinet, he had not had the misfortune to differ from his colleagues upon any other question; and although it was his intention to give that measure his opposition, upon all other questions brought forward which would conduce to the interests of the country, Her Majesty's Government might rely upon his cordial support. (Cheers.) The Motion for the Address was then agreed to. In the House of Commons on the 4th of February, Sir Robert Peel preceded the Motion on the Address, by giving notice that on Wednesday the 9th, he should move that the House resolve itself into a Committee of the whole House, to take into consideration the laws which affect the importation of Corn. He added, that he would have fixed an earlier day for the discussion of the question, but that he wished first to lay some papers which were not quite ready before the House relating to the subject. The House then proceeded with the Address. It was moved by the Earl of March, who touched upon the various points of the Speech. He urged the necessity of providing a revenue which should be equal to the necessary expenditure; and protested against the false economy of crippling the nation in its means of defence. He thought that ships of war ought not to be risked upon service without their due complements of men, nor regiments on foreign stations exposed to mortality for want of a sufficient force to furnish the necessary relief. At the same time he was anxious that the taxation which might be necessary, should be of such a nature as would not press heavily upon the poorer classes. On the subject of the Corn-laws, he must say that he preferred to see their revision undertaken by those who would give a just protection to agriculture (and the landed interests desired no more), than by a party, some of whom were for a fixed duty of 8s. and some for the removal of all protection whatever. The chief point in the speech of Mr. Beckett, in seconding the Address, which he also developed point by point, was his testimony to the severe distress in the manufac turing districts. Six months ago, statements were made in that House regarding the distressed condition of the manufacturing and commercial interests, which at the time were considered as highly coloured; but it was now his painful duty to assure the House, that those symptoms of distress were fearfully and extensively aggravated. He feared, indeed, that a strict examination into the condition of the commercial and manufacturing interests would prove that distress was fearfully on the increase, and that its effects were felt by all classes of society. He knew the confidence reposed by the House in the right honourable Baronet the Member for Tamworth; but still they would permit him to say, that he trusted that whatever measures might be proposed to remedy this evil would be founded on this basis, that prosperity could never be arrived at and maintained in this country, without the adoption of means for affording regular employment to the poor. Mr. Ewart hoped that the Ministers would adopt some at least of the suggestions contained in the Report of the Committee on Import-duties. He was particularly anxious for a reduction of the duties on sugar and on coffee. He would be disposed to support a Propertytax, fairly imposed upon landed and funded property alike, and tending to relieve the labouring classes. He feared that the plans contemplated by Government on the subject of the Corn-laws were not very likely to involve any arrangement which would increase our export of manufactures to Anierica, and bring hither the corn of that continent in return. While England continued her exclusive system, the United States would continue theirs. The same erros neous policy on our part had injured also our trade with Germany, which had now become a manufacturing country. He was anxious to see the sliding-scale abandoned; and should rejoice to find Sir R. Peel now prepared to change his commercial policy, as be had formerly changed his views upon religious freedom. Lord John Russell heartily concurred in the earlier portions of the Address. With respect to the parts relating to Foreign Powers he had little to observe. He trusted that all differences with the United States would be satisfactorily arranged by the mission which had been sent out. As to whether it was wise to send out a special mis sion, or whether it were better to endeavour to arrange the points of difference by the usual correspondence between the two Powers, he would express no opinion. With regard to the part of the Speech relating to the domestic situation of the country, he had great satisfaction in observing the topics which were adverted to. "It may be that, when the measures are brought forward which are alluded to, they may not be such as I can support. But it is a satisfaction to me to find, that the nature of the measures to which Her Majesty, under the advice of her present advisers, has thought fit to call the attention of Parliament, are of a nature similar to those which it was the pride of the late Government to bring under the consideration of Parliament. In our hands they were to be questions which would excite discord between one class and another, which would inflame public discon tent, which would injure the institutions of the country by unjust results, and which would lead to in calculable evils; but they are now to be submitted to the House as those questions upon which remedies for the financial difficulties of the country, and for the distresses of the people may best be founded." He agreed that the disorder of the public finances required correction; but that subject ought not to be considered, except in conjunction with the laws affecting trade. Remedies, very different from those advanced by the late Government had been lately suggested: "There were, first the delegates with re spect to the Ten Hours Factory Bill; and after their somewhat theatrical interview with the right ho nourable Baronet and other Mem. bers of the Government, and a great deal of stage display, they thought fit to encourage the hope, no doubt raised first by the gentlemen who came to the Government in favour of the Ten Hours Bill, and who turned out, after all, to be the Socialist editors of some New Moral World, that the attention of the Government would be given to the subject. But now it appears, from a letter written some short time ago to a noble Lord, who is most sincere, I believe, in his exertions on this point (Lord Ashley), that the right honourable Baronet, who, I have no doubt, is no less earnest, and is actuated by motives no less praiseworthy, but with more wisdom and caution, is ready to oppose the Ten Hours Bill, and that limit of labour which, if adopted, would cut to the roots the manufacturing prosperity of this country. We next heard of a great scheme of emigration, which was to be the great remedy for all difficulties by which the people of this country were to be transported to our colonies at the public expense: but now, by a letter written yesterday or the day before by the noble Lord at the head of the Colonial Department, it appears that no such extensive scheme of emigration is entertained. The noble Lord seems now to contradict this suggestion. If such a scheme is to be brought forward, I hope that the noble Lord will see that it is calculated to remedy the existing disorder of the finances, before he proposes a wholesale scheme of emigration: but until I hear the notice given, though it has been thrown out as a remedy proposed to be applied, I shall disbelieve there is any intention to bring forward a scheme which may lead us into fresh difficulties, and give rise to a new and extravagant expenditure. Another class of persons have predicted, that, as a great portion of the party who have now come into power are opposed to the Poor-law, and that as the Poor-law is tyrannical and oppressive, the Conservative Government (as it is called) will not be long before they propose a law, if not for the total repeal, for the abolition of the office of Commissioners, and every thing that is odious in the existing law. We have had a practical denial of that by the appointment of a third gentleman to act as Commissionerfully qualified to hold that office whose nomination to the performance of its duties does honour to Her Majesty's Government, and to the Secretary of State for the Home Department. I rejoice not less in the statement made in the Speech from the Throne, than in the omissions which I observe in it, that none of those measures, some of which I should think most dangerous, almost all of which I should think most futile, are to be resorted to. But I am glad to find that the principles to be acted upon by the present Government are no other than those wholesome ones proposed and advocated by theoretical writers for some time, supported by the best of statesmen in this country, and which the late Government on their retirement from office left as a legacy to the country, and which I hope to see eventually carried out,--principles which before long I trust I shall see established on the Statute-book of this country." I Into the subject of the Cornlaws he would not now enter in detail; but he must press the principle of the fixed duty; and he begged Sir Robert Peel to consider the evil consequence of making an arrangement which would presently be disturbed by fresh discontent and agitation. Some disapprobation mingling with the cheers that followed this remark, Lord John Russell observed, heard a murmur, as if honourable Gentlemen opposite seemed to think, that the passing of an Act of Parliament was quite sufficient to put an end to all discussion and discontent on the subject. But I beg them to believe, that that will not be the case; that great as the authority of Parliament may beand I wish its authority to be greatstill it will not supersede and override the conclusions which sensible and reflecting men draw from their own observation of the working of any particular law.” He was not prepared to promise his assent to fresh taxation; his own opinion was, that it would be more proper to try a modification of our commercial system, and await its effects upon the Exchequer. There was nothing, however, to prevent an unanimous vote on the Address. Sir Robert Peel was gratified, but not surprised to hear Lord John Russell recommend an unanimous concurrence in the Address. His colleagues and himself had long held the opinion that there was great inconvenience in forcing the House of Commons, on the first day of its assembling, when it was without the means of ascertaining the sentiments contained in the Address, to pledge itself to positive measures; and therefore, they had purposely framed the Address in a manner which would not necessarily provoke a collision of opinion. He ought not to refer, however incidentally, to the part of the Address which Lord John Russell had passed over lightly, of the foreign relations, without bearing testimony to the cordial cooperation which Russia had given to the arrangements with Persia. Lord John Russell seemed to doubt the policy of the special mission to the United States "I think the noble Lord should bear in mind, that some of the causes of difference between this country and the United States have long existed; that the attempts on the part of various governments by means of correspondence to bring them to a satisfactory conclusion have failed, and that the continuance of the cause of discord leads to fresh and increasing difficulties. Hence it has appeared to Her Majesty's Government, without implying the slightest reflection upon the very able Minister who represents this country in the United States, Mr. Fox, desirable to send out directly to that country a person who has held high stations in the Council of this nation, and who, fully possessed of the views and intentions of Her Majesty's Government, should attempt some other mode than that which has hitherto been resorted to, and which has not been successful, for effecting that which would be a great object for the interests of humanity and the civilization of the world, namely, the restoration of perfectly friendly and cordial relations with the United States, or, I should rather say, for the determination of existing differences. Certainly, my noble Friend, in undertaking at his advanced period of life such a task, has been actuated only by a sense of public duty. The sacrifices he has been called upon to make are great: but my noble Friend has yielded to the conviction we felt, that, considering the relation in which he stood-the estimation in which his respected name was held in that country-there could not be a more welcome messenger of the views of Her Majesty's Government than Lord Ashburton." Lord John Russell had adverted to several supposed remedies for the distress, to be propounded by the Ministers: "The noble Lord has heard of a plan of general emigration; but that appeared without any authority on the part of the Government; and I think the noble Lord's experience of the conduct of a Government might have led him to know, that because certain measures were imputed by the public papers to the Executive, it does not follow that they entertain any serious intention of carrying them out, or that there should be an authorised reply. The noble Lord has also referred to certain dramatic reports of interviews which Ministers have had with deputations from the northern manufacturing districts. I am surprised the noble Lord should have spoken with such disparage. |