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    the Throne fa not a speech from the Throne , but a speech fromJ ^ wning-fltreetf and it is not spoken to Parliament , but to Peeresses and their female rektiTet—ParftamCTt , Lords and Commons , having got the speech , in their paper on their breakfast tables sopA hoiinleariieh Thus sham commences : sham proceeds with ; and With sham concludes the British Parliamehl As it is in . the beginning so it is in i €% ^ W " ¦ ¦ ¦; ; . . ; • . ¦ ¦ ¦ . A formt ^ a , justifled by the eliminations of Tuesdayv wouldseem to be this : —The country baa very little to do with the Parliament ; the Parliament has

    but a very indirect control over the Ministers ; and the Minjsietrii Tmwt necessarily always , in . the first ;^ U ^^ n ^||^^ urU \ ' ¦ ' ' . . , ¦ ¦ : The ; ^ dejfeq ^^ jpf the Prince Consort was humour - ou » to . airexainpled de ^ cde . " Vile calumnies , " said X * o ^ to ; vi ^ M ^[( B !| tt ,, rand .. . John BusselL are all , those ttatexnente which have been made by low Radical J ^^ pg ^^ p ^ newspapers , . and which go to the con «

    traoUction of the weU- ^ sUblidied popular belief that Prince Albert never interferes in Great British poli-3 $$ ^ £ i ^ wito . his premedi-$$ & $ . ^ U ^ cak ^ - Jjcod : John Bussell . ' mispronounced with empl ^ when th ^ sj ^ e of t b *^ ttmc »*^ tf g | £ gl !!| jj j § g ^^ with an artM clearneu jT statement which excited ^ ft Tij £ ^ f > i ^ luirffl TatioP ) ¦¦ ft'pfl inJLord Aberdeen ' s case . p | i | Ss ^^^ sympathy ,

    that ^ J ^ ord KeUMUrne had advised the Queen to ^^^ f ^ l ^^ 0 (^ € ^ si ^^ ags that she had taken that adtice , and had coiwulted tte Rinee in ^ yer $ | pg ]^| | ||^ at all ^^ mm ^ W ^ 0 ^^^^ fcerlfipusteisj ! 0 ^ t ^^ m ^^§ g ^ m ^ mi ^^ Wvm <» iim 1 liatii > ris ^^^ t ^ affair * , 'acted . § i ^^ l !^^^ mm ^ 9 k ^ mh and that the ; . < ejq > erie ^ i ^ her ucceafiye . Ministers was , that the

    Prince repeatedly suggested to the Ministers , and 4 hat ^ th&Minirte ^ greatest . " advantage in Ms suggest % )^^ Tbis was elaborately shown to be . the coi ^^ position , of the Prince * Consort : iiJMU £ ^; i ^ - Queen : the inference being 'that ^^ - distiflctest and -cleverest &ind ) iri £ t ^^ in practical power , -to the Qoeaxu In r ^ aM ta the armr it was . shown toy J ^ rdsJoto B ^ usell ani Aberdeen that ; the Queen bc ^ gjiead . ^ the ^ amy ^ the Pxince , both as Prince

    Gon 8 d ^^ iii' ¥ ldd ^ ffaT » 1 im ^ aiMl' as senior colonel in the ^ uar ^ nad the most absolute right to the most absolute control in the affairs of the army ; and that though" he bad declined the office of Commander « in > Chief , which would have not increased his power , but wouia ^ Tetnaiie'Mm responsible , he nevertheless did commahel the' <^ mmander-in-Chief ; and Lord Hardinge addled the declaration , confirming the explanations of the constitutional Ministers , that he ( Lord Hardinge ) was proud of being so commanded . Then

    came Lord'Derby : with an insult to the Queen : and a sneer at the country . His opinion was , that when a Minister had to deal with a female Sovereign , who could know nothing of politics , it was a great advantage to have , at hand , a sensible Prince Consort , as n communicating medium . He vent on to say , that there was no greater delusion of which this country was guilty than to suppose that the Sovereign of Engl and was " a mere automaton . " The Sovereign of this country does exercise a " vast and salutary

    control over public affairs . " Thus : the Sovereign ia Prince Albert : and Prince Albert , according to one who ought to know , doea exercise a rast and salutary control over the public affairs of Great Britons . And this the Parliament , Lords and Commons , cheered as a complete vindication of Prince Albert from the suspicions recently directed against him ly a jealous costermongery : —who believe that a Cabinet of Lords U the mere slave of William Williams , and William Arthur Wilkinson , and Apsley Pellat—enlightened Members for Lambeth and Southwark .

    then been , probably , that the Queen never xneddled with Ministers—certainly that the Prince never did . But the Ministers who acted on Tuesday- as counsel for the ,. Prince , who had unwisely put himself on trial , spoke in so matter-of-course a manner as to the constitutionality of the position which they revealed , that no one , for the moment , thought of & comment , or of withholding the cheer—particularly as it occurred to many that some Court friend was taking notes of the names who cheered loudest . la watching the small -points—whether the Prince ever wrote to

    a Foreign Minister at a Foreign Court , fee , 4 c . — -the great point was overlooked . The great point was this : that Che Queen reigns , and that Prince Albert governs . X » for one , would say—Good : why should not Prince Al bert , who ia cleverest , govern as well as Lord Aberdeen or Lord Derby , or other territorial princes ? But the point being established , it would be fair in the costermongery to stay at home sedately on the occasions of the opening of Parlia-* ment . Was it because they took such view , that the Badical benches in the House of Commons cheered

    loudest the ? Ministerial defence of the Court ? I ^ rdJohn ' s justification of the circumstance that the Court governs is , that , so far , the Court has go * verne ^ well r andhis suggestion is that Parliament may permit it to govern , because , so far , Parliament and Cburt have not quarrelled . Does not this suggest that the Court and the Parliament- ^ or the Ministersdivide the Government—Parliament having its own way in Bermondsey , and the Prince obtaining his on th&Corituient of Europe ? And , it being at last

    announced that the Great British have a chief governor in a Prince Consort , should " not the Great British n ^ Uire firom the Prince Consort some explanation of his policy ? Yes ; if the theory happened to be the IfacV oTtne" constitution . But Parliament fails in ^ etidng an explanation ev « n from Ministers . Parliament meets , it is supposed , to hear news about the # Eastern Question . " Accordingly , Ministers rise and state : "We will this ( Tuesday ) night lay the papers on the table . " All- the vast constitutional

    machinery set in motion to bring 1500 « ages together in two splendid chambers results in—papers being laid on tables ! AUtheMJVs know what that means —a Foreign-office Blue Book , with all the important matter eliminated out of consideration to the " public service . " Mr . Henry Baillie , who has been a Minister , says , in the Commons , " I don't want to wait for a Blue Book—I know what a Blue Book is , " the remark' eliciting " laughter . " In the Lords , Lord Clarendon speaks for an hour ; he has detailed fyx

    jerky English , and in a dreamy manner , the course of British foreign policy during the last twelve months ; and he is warmly applauded by the Duke of Argyll , who wishes to keep on good terms with the Whigs , as he means to be Premier . Then rises Lord Derby and whistles a criticism ; whistles it because the Rupert is aging , and losing his teeth ; and in the course of the criticism this sentence occurs—Lord Derby being a chief in politics who might naturally pretend to be better informed than

    the costermongers : —" What are we doing at this moment in the East ? I say , my Lords , what are we doing ? < ljoud cries of Hear , hear , from all the Tory Lords awake . ) Why , nay Lords , I know not . " The concluding phrase being very solemnly -whistled . In the course of the same criticism , Lord Derby refers to the resignation and return to power , of Lord Palmerston . What was the meaning of that ? he asks . A Home Secretary is a great personage ; the movements of such a personage must interest Parliament ,

    and I will insist on a full explanation . " ( Hear , hear , from all the Lords who take public affairs as an excitement , and cultivate curiosity . ) ' Lord Aberdeen replies . I deny the right of the noble Earl , says the Premier , to aak for an explanation . ( Duke of Argyll cheers—Privy Seal has no functions but to cheer on general grounds . ) The noble Earl has no right to ask , because though Lord Palmers ton went out he

    came back again ; the event , therefore , is no event , and though the noble Earl may insist on an explanation , he is a cliverer fellow than I tak him to be if he gits more out of mo than I ' m inclined to tell . ( Cheers and laughter—Privy Seal in convulsions . ) Thus , another startling doctrine : a great department may bo given up by a great man ; and the great man may go back to the great department : and in tlio meantime , thinking that ho

    s out finally , the . Premier ' s journal may abuse the great man as ' an" awful Tory who has no business in a Reforming Cabinet : but Parliament has no right to inquire particulars — public shall know nothing . Take other instances of odd disturbance of constitutional theories . Lord Clanricarde attacked the Government for their reticence of information about

    the Eastern affair , and he contrasted their secrecy with the openness of the French Government with the French public lord Clarendon replied , with a flannelly voice , and a stuffy manner : "Oh !—all yes , that ' s all very welL In France they ' ve no Parliament : and so , you see , the Government sends the news to the Moniteur . Bet we—that ' s a differ

    ent affair ; we have a Parliament—it is the custom here for the Government to withhold news until the Parliament meets : and then , in due course , comes the Blue Book of ' papers . '" Lord Clarendon was fully convinced that he had settled Lord Clanricarde ; and Ministerial Peers cheered ; and the public will see— -what a great advantage it is , when there ' s danger of a war , to have a Parliament , which may not meet until tie war is begun . Lord Malmes bury , obviously bewildered , groaned a very severe

    speech . He had been abused , he sobbed and said , for sticking to Louis Napoleon ; but he would like to know , he moaned , what they would do now with * out a French alliance . Lord Malmesbury has only one idea—has only performed one action *—the desirability of a French alliance ; his having cultivated that alliance : and so his speech on Tuesday was to the air : — " Souvenez vons de Jenoappes ? Souvenez vouz de Valmy ? JMtais dans vos rangs a Jemappes ; JMtais < dans vos rangs a Vahny . " He sobbingly congratulated Government that Louis Napoleon had been too magnanimous to take notice of Sir James Graham ' s and Sir C . Wood ' s hustings ' anti-Napoleonic speeches . But why had Louis Na poleon been magnanimous ? Because he understands this country , said Malcneabury * He knows what to use no stronger word I will call- —the eccentricities of Englishmen ; and he knows that what an

    English Minister says is valuable or valueless * real or assumed , just according to the position in which he may happen to speak . And , at this point , wailing over his country , Malmesbury appeared to weep ; but rallied to remark upon the disrespect shown to Parliament by th « Ministers , in refusing to Parlia ment a despatch , ( last session ) , which immediately afterwards they sent to the Time * . It was ttery disrespectful , Lord Malmesbury said ; and it convinced hue ( here he was gloomily hysterical ) that there

    were four estates in the realm ; and that the Queen was not the first , and the Lords were not the second . But what was more disrespectful to the Peers than not giving them despatches , was Lord Clarendon ' s conduct when Lord Malmesbury , his predecessor in the Foreign-office , was spealcing , answering Lord Clarendon . Was he solemnly listening on the Minis * ter ' s bench ? No ; he was up in the galleries , chatting with the Peeresses ! Lord Malmesbury does not intimidate him ; and , indeed , Lord Malmeslmry ' s

    epigram about the estates of the realm did not produce an extensive impression , for nobody was listening to Lord Malmesbury . Why , it may here be asked , were the statesmen generally so hard on journalism on Tuesday ? The Tories abused the " low Badical prints , " and the Government men were shocked at the disloyalty of the High-Church organs . In both cases because of their stupid fabrications and their improper language . Yet notice the conclusion of the scene in the Upper House on Tuesday . Lord

    Derby ( just fresh from a visit to Windsor ) made , formally , the extraordinaty allegation that the first thing the Queen heard of Lord Palmerston ' s resignation was from tlio Times newspaper . Lord Aberdeen said— " In saying that , the noble earl states that which is not . There was one peer circulating a stupid gobe-mouc / ierie ; and another peer using bad language . I 3 ut Lord Derby is not to be

    outdone : he could beat the Morning Advertiser , both in the stupidity of his anecdotes and the badness of his language : so he returned on Lord Aberdeen . "If tho noble earl snys that I am responsible for what the Tory organs have been saying of the Court , he says that which ia not . " Lord Derby was violent in his repudiation of all newspapers : his repudiation implied contempt for journalism : and yet Tory

    Observe that the Parliament was taken completely by surprise by the Ministerial revelations . Not a dozen Members had over heard of Lord Melbourne ' s advice to the Throne . N 5 t a dozen Members had ever heaid that the Duico had been so silly as to offer the Command-in- Chief to the Court , and that the Court hud declined so risky a glory . The belief of tlie Parliament , as the belief of the people , had until

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    112 THE LEADER . - [ Saturday ,

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), Feb. 4, 1854, page 112, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2024/page/16/