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    CTcharacter and reputation atandtag high among the nationflTof the world . ( Loud eheer $ jf tTpts was an end of the interest in the debate . Mr . mSS defended Ko ^ uth from the attacks of Sir R . W Bulkeley . Mr . H . J . BailMb , although ^ always Spring from Lord Palmerston , considered that <« he nad been offered up as a sacrifice for the rins of the whole administration , " and at the sametime as apeace offering to the « _ ey U geniusof contan ^ aTdespotism / Milnes asked ¦ What the

    Mr M onckton , " was reason that Lord Palmefston ' s fall had been regarded on the Continent as showing the accession of the ^ English Government to the new order of things ? Lord Dudley Stuart , after playing for awhile round the tonics spoken of in the Address , criticised the speech ofLord John Russell , and insisted that the allegation ostentatiousl y paraded as the ground of Lord Palmerston ' s dismissal for what " he could not but call the most paltry of offences" was not the real

    " The speech of the noble lord at the head of the Government certainly left an impression that the late Foreign Secretary had expressed in strong terms hi * approval of the conduct of the President of France . If that were so , it would very much alter his ( LordD . Stuart ' s ) opinion of this case ; because , anxious as he was that a good understanding should prevail between this country and France , he could not look with any decree of complacency upon the conduct which had hppri tmrsued by the President . It was true that if

    the people of France chose to be governed by a military despot , who had no regard for the oaths he had taken , and who trampled all liberty , rightj and justice under his feet , it was their own affair , and this country had no business to interfere with them ; but he thought the proper course to be pursued by any British Minister was to abstain from giving an opinion in favour of such conduct as he had described , and he wished that in this case greater caution had been used by the members of the Government generally with respect to any approbation of such nefarious proceedings as had taken place on the other side of the Channel .

    Sir Hakry Vekney had thought Lord Palmerston the friend of liberty and Protestantism throughout Europe ; but if he wrote a despatch on the 16 th approving ofjthe coup d'etat , then he concurred in his dismissal . Mr . Osbobne diverged a moment to the Irish topic in the speech , and then returned to the question of the night . " Withjregard to the subject on which an explanation had been offered to the House , he must say , he felt more than common pain at what had occurred . He lnnlrorl nnnn ? Vio lnaa nf thtt nnhlA lnrrl whn had retired jA& ^ rf » % f VIA ¦¦ # rf f » ——

    ^^^ ^^ ^ " . c * *^ A ^^ ^^^* »* » ^ o - ^ »» * " "w ^ ^ ^ ^ " ^ " »™ - » — — — ~ from the Government , not only as a great loss to the Government , but a great national loss . { Hear , hear . ) But he wished to state that he could not entirely approve of the way in which that noble lord had spoken of the recent transactions in France . { Hear , hear . ) As a member of that House , representing the great county of Middlesex , he ( Mr . Osborne ) felt that he could not go before his constituents and say that he sat silent while he heard any Minister , or ci-devant Minister give even his qualified approbation to the coup d'etat . { Hear , hear . )"

    Mr . Roebuck travelled over the topics of the address , uttering universal condemnation . In the midst of difficulties at home and despotism on the Continent , the " most marked person in the administration—he around whom all the party battles of the Administration had been fought , whose political existence had been made the political existence of the Government itself , upon whose being in office the Government had rested its existence as a Government— -was dismissed ; the right arm of the Government was cut off when it was most needed . What was left in that Government that should conciliate our confidence ? { Hear , hear , ) " The

    Governmentwas a " family party "—{ loud cries of * hear , hear ) , —and the noble lord forgot the interests of the country . The House itself , the colonies , law , the Admiralty—was ever such peddling ? It was said that no one but Jthe noble lord could take the Government ; but let us really have a Government , and not have the House merely an arena for every gentleman to try his hand . ( Hear , hear . ) "Foreign policy was a delicate matter ; but though the legislature was not called upon to express an opinion as to changes abroad , individual members of a great reprtnOntftrlVa nana . ^ u . 1 . 1 ___* * »!• _ _ 1 1 4 . 1 f _ J a » not incir

    ., „ aoocumy were travelling oeyonu uuiy in expressing , in grave and guarded language , their sorrow at least , if not indignation , at what had passed in a neighbouring country . { Hear , hear . ) It was idle to r \ au 6 was no danger to our relations with France , rmeaby a man whom no sanction held . We must know « i ! i ! f Jvould consult only his own interests , and that we •« Jr * 5- ° wiaely to be upon our guard , not in any the most distant way sanctioning the opinion that he had , _ V ® fi JU 8 t iv bv hia people , though at the sametime 5 L " . « n ?« ng to the rule of not interfering with the dbmesuc affairs of France . ( Hearhear . )"

    , M ^ . Nambii and Mr . E . B . Roonn spoke of the tfc « lr lne , fflciency of the administration of the law in anA *!* of Ireland . At length Mr . Dibkabli rose , im „ n Jy tried to R ut life ^ t 0 *« debate . He had no amendment to offer . Ho treated the explanations chW and ^ adequate . He saw no indications of bv th 80 " 1 the unwise foreign policy hitherto pursued hn x » r , overnment ; and if that were to be continued , ¦ £ « ? v rathe * have it conducted by Lord Palmer-• tou than any one elue .

    " I must make oneobservation , also , on the speech of the First Minister . The noble lord / eminent in many respects , was eminent for his constitutional knowledgefor his acquaintance with the spirit of the constitution ; but I cannot recollect any analogous occasion on which the name of the Sovereign had been so frequently introduced . { Hear , hear . ) Whatever was done at the command of the Sovereign was' at least , done on the responsibility of the noble lor&—r ( loicd cries of * hear' ) - ? . and , though it may be explained why it is that minutes should be read to this House which we are informed have been drawn up by a personage whose name is rarely introduced in our debates , I must express my

    astonishment at the narrative of midnight despatches , which were the consequence , as I understood—though I may have misapprehended the meaning of the noble lord—of conduct ( as we understood ) pursued by the noble lord , the member for Tiverton , in matters of an urgent nature . I suppose that for everything that has been done the noble lord the First Minister is responsible . The noble lord is not the man to dispute bis responsibility . I am at a loss to comprehend how the noble lord will account for that introduction of her Majesty ' s name , that frequent and unnecessary introduction which has taken place . As I am one who never voted for the motion that the power of the Crown had increased , was increasing , and ought to be diminished—as I should be

    willing to have the converse of that proposition—as I think one of the great misfortunes of our tvme , one of the circumstances most injurious to public liberty is , that the power of the Crown is diminished—1 am not one to look with unnecessary jealousy on the assertion of the prerogatives of the Crown , But the noble lord is an eminent representative of a political party which has adopted opinions of a very different character . The noble lord is a member of that party which introducedto our disgrace—that resolution on the journals of this House ; and certainly I am astonished at the noble lord on an occasion like the present , when he seems to me—I suppose unintentionally—to have shifted from himself the responsibility which he would be the first to adopt for himself . "

    Mr . Disraeli then took the paragraphs of the address seriatim . Reform he was ready to consider , but he would not support any device for giving predominance to a political party . " If , also , I were to meet a measure the object of which was to destroy or even disturb that just and salutary balance which now subsists between the various classes of the country—if I saw a measure to destroy the legitimate and salutary influence of landed property in this country , the surest security both of the prerogatives of the Crown and of the liberties of the people { hear , hear )—the fear of no imputation of being an anti-Reformer would prevent me from giving such a bill my determined Opposition . "

    On the colonial question he declared that an inquiry into " the whole of the relations between the mother country and the colonies " could no longer with impunity be postponed . The " ancient colonial empire of England " was destroyed in deference to «* the dogmas of political economists and abstract inquirers . " " I wish to impress upon the House that , while you have destroyed the old system , you have never established a new one . You have never settled any questions upon which the material prosperity of the colonies depends .

    About five or six years ago you called an illustrious and an avowed colonial reformer to take the seals of the Colonial-office / and what has been the result ? A Kafir war . The noble lord has been bold enough to deal with one noble Secretary of State ; I wiBh he had tried his hand with some other noble Secretary of State . ( Loud Cheers . ) The noble lord has said that half Europe was alarmed by the Secretary of State whom he has recently discharged ; why , I can tell him that all the British colonies are quite terrified at the other Secretary of State . ( Cheers and Laughter , )

    Turning to one omission in the speech , the Papal Aggression , he rated Ministers for not having enforced the act ; and declared that Rome was now far more powerful than in 1851 . Another omission was "the sufferings of the cultivators of the soil . " In winding up , he drew a small picture , in very general terms indeed , of the miseries of England under free trade and the Whigs . Lord John Russell made some explanations , the main point in which was the denial for himself and the Chancellor of the Exchequer of having approved of the coup d ' e " tat ; but he might have said "he wished the President might triumph over his difficulties" ! He intimated that if the House had ceased to confide in the Cabinet , tho sooner it said so the better .

    Tho Address was ultimately agreed to , and the House adjourned . On Wednesday the report was brought up , and Mr . Hume took that occasion to make a speech on the address generally . He began by criticising the " set of figures , like tho Red Lion of Brentford , " painted on tho windows of the House , and to denounce the mode of ventilation generally . Then he criticised Lord John > and told him he was a promise-breaker . Yet all this time he must say that the country looked up to tho noble lord as a Reformer , seeing that no man knew better than he ** what were the principles of tho British constitution , nor what would give satisfaction to the people . " Thonco ho glided on to the address , and advisod Lord John to " prepare for the storm , " by giving a vote t <> all , w £ o paid poor-ratea and direct taxes . He attacked the colonial policy , and recommended colonial reform , As to the idea ot French invasion , how could people

    dream of such a thing , when only last year we had witnessed the Exhibition and the reception of the English in Paris ? Don't be terrified by bugbears . In common whb . Lord Derby and Lord Grey and Lord John Russell , Mr . Hume sneered at the press of England . " . With regard to what appeared about the President , in the English press , he ( Mr . Hume ) would only , say that no man had been more abused by the press than he ( Mr . Hume ) , but when he was right he ultimately prevailed , and if he were wrong , the soooner it was known the better . Let every man act that way , and they never need be afraid of the press . ( Hear , hear . ) He hoped that Louis Napoleon would look upon the press as a body of men haying a particular trade to carry on , and particular objects in view , and that they did not represent popular opinion in this country in any way to sway public affairs . Mr . Hume again recurred to the capabilities of Lord John Russell , said that he had been too dilatory , and had not the courage to carry his own resolutions ; that the Protectionists could never turn him out ; but that if the Radicals abstained from voting , the noble lord would be defeated . Mr * Hume moved , that no vote for public money if opposed , be taken after twelve o ' clock . A short debate ensued , followed by a division , when the numbers were—For the motion , 64 ; against it , 146 . Majority against , 82 . The proceedings on Thursday were purely routine , and the House adjourned shortly after five o ' clock . THE HOUSE OF LORDS . Lord Albemakxe moved the address in reply to the Queen ' s speech , when the House reassembled at five o ' clock . He was seconded by Lord Leigh . Neither of these noble lords said anything of public interest , the speeches of both being composed of mere elongated paragraphs of the speech . They were followed by Lord Derby , who , acting obviously in concert with Mr . Disraeli , adopted the same tactics , handled the same topics , and expressed similar sentiments . He made merry with the arrangement of the speech . He could not account for the

    extraprdinary concoction except on one supposition , that each of the members of the Cabinet had thrown in a paragraph , jumbled them altogether in a box , and drew lots for their precedence in its organization . As . to the topics , he remarked the absence of any mention of the agricultural classes ; and he reiterated his opinion that-both for revenue and protection an import duty was desirable . The Papal Aggression was not even alluded to , although the repressive act of last year had been clearly , nay , ostentatiously , violated . Respecting Lord John Russell's coup d ' etat in dismissing Lord Palmerston , Lord Derby was satisfied some serious cause must have induced

    Ministers to sacrifice their ablest colleague . " Though her Majesty ' Government have not alluded to their relations with France , I am not bound by any of those ties which they are to abstain from speaking openly upon the subject . I entirely agree with the noble earl who moved the address , that the internal administration and Government of each country is a matter for the consideration and arrangement of that " country alone ; that it rests with that country alone , and that that with which other countries have to deal is the Government de facto , without reference to whether it be the Government de jure . ( Hear . ) With regard to France , for the last sixty years it has been a succession of usurpations of one kind or another ; but on no occasion have we thought it to be our duty to protest against that system of Government themselves he

    which the French have chosen for , wther the Constitutional monarchy of Louis Philippe , the Republic of 1848 , or that which I suppose I am still bound to call , by courtesy , " the French Republic of 1852 . " In each case the form of Government has been the deliberate choice of the people of France , and that form is one which , as that choice , we are bound to respect . ( Hear , hear . ) "We are bound to consider , undoubtedly , whether one form of Government or anotherwhether one state of affairs or another existing in a country in our immediate neighbourhood—may exercise an influence for good or evil over our own national relations and our own national independence ; but beyond the question of how far it may affect our own material national interests we have nothing whatever to do with any shade or form of Government which a country may choose , from . the most absolute despotism down to the most entire red Republicanism . " ( Cheers . )

    He believed Prince Louis Napoleon was actuated by the most pacific motives . " My lords , I will go further , and I will say that I firmly believe that the Frenoh President personally is fully disposed to entertain friendly relations , and to maintain a pacific policy towards other nations . ( Cheers . ) But , my lords , I think that if anything could , divert him from that course—if ho were a man likely to bo worked upon -by his own personal feelings—if anything were likely to divert him from that course of policy which I

    believe his inclination and his sense of the interests of France are likely to make him take , it would be the injudicious , and , I may add , unjustifiable language , which , has been made use of by a large portion of the public press of this country upon tho character of the Frenoh Government and people . ( Loud cheers from all parts of the House . ) If , as in these days , the press aspires to exercise the influence of statesmen , the press should remember that they arc not free from the corresponding responsibility of statesmen—( renewed cheers )—• ad that it » incumbent on them , aa * sacred duty , to

    Untitled Article

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• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), Feb. 7, 1852, page 121, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1921/page/5/