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    time had been thrown away ; but the talk came to nothing . In the Commons , Mr . Nap-ier , a wear ) 'ingly conscientious man , made a long and boring statement to show that the Government had played fast and loose with the question ; and almost wept as he recited his own labours and his merits . Sir J . Young answered ; he had withdrawn the bills , he said , because Serjeant Shee pressed him , and because his own private opinion was the bills couldn ' t pass this session . If they were Government bills , as Mr . Napier said , then he argued , he had a right to withdraw them ; if they were not , let those to whom they belonged go on with them ;—he had no objection .

    This duel having been finished , and the House , which was very -thin , being obviously uninterested in the matter , Lord John interposed , and asked that there might be no more debating , and that he might be allowed to go on with " business "viz ., something which , by-and-by , Lord John meant , in the same way , to abandon . But an Irish debate had set in , and was not to be baulked . Mr . " Whiteside , alter ego of Mr . JSTapier , got tip , with his usual readiness in spasmodic invective , and said just -what Lord Malmesbury had said in the other House . Mr . JoHN : FiTZGEjiAi / n , a lawyer exposed to Government promotion , defended Sir John Young , and told the truth : the bills -were such , bad bills—the House of Lords' bills—that they could not satisfy the people ; and the people ' s members thought them a

    good riddance . Mr . Lucas followed , repudiating the sneers used in the debate that he and his political party had converted the question of tenant-right into political capital ; suggesting that there had only been a four hour ' s debate on the matter in the Commons ^ during the whole of that session . Mr . Lucas , in a singularly bol < I allusion , which made a sensation , expressed in Tory cheers and laughter , said that Sir John Young was the last man who should have resorted to such a sneer , for Mr . Keogh was Sir John ' s colleague ; Mr . Keogh ' s name was on the back of Sharmari CrawfuTd ' s bill ; and Mr . Keogh was that " extraordinary apostate" who had declared , in public meetings in Ireland , that " so help him God , " he would never take office under a Government which ¦ would not condition to pass into action the principles of Sharman Crawfurd ' s tenant-right philosophy .

    Then Lord John rose again : answering not Mr . Lucas ' s allusion to Mr . Keogh—this Lord John pointedly declined to refer to—but Mr . Lucas ' s demand—what are the intentions of the Government about Tenant Right ? On this head , Lord John was loose and incoherent , as usual : enumerating the difficulties , and hoping " the time would come" when both extreme parties , the popular and the landlord , would compromise their differences , and assent to a

    good measure , the tnerit of which should be to facilitate free contracts , Meanwhile he thought Ireland so tremendously prosperous that there was no hurry . Mr . Maguire , following , said that this speech of Lord John ' s " would inflict a blow upon the hopes of the people of-Ireland . " Mr . Maguire spoke in terms of contempt for a Government which could thus play with a great question and an oppressed people Other Irish members having followed in a similar strain ,

    Mr . Disraeli rose to attack the Government , collected a large House , and provided atrmsement for an hour . After an euloghun on his friend Mr . Napier , ho went on : — . " I want to know what her Majesty ' s Ministers have been doing during the last six months that we have not this question before this time fairly conquered and fully disposed of ? I want to lenow where is the catalogue of their legislative exploits which will excuse us for this period of time so employed or so wasted ( dicers ') ? If they are at war , what conquests have they achieved ? If they are at peace , what advantageous arrangementswhat beneficial legislation—have they accomplished ? Have they reformed Parliament ? Have they

    rcviaed parliamentary oaths ? Have they educated the country ? Have they even educnted Scotland ( cheers )? What corrupt corporation have they punished ? What liavo they done which will form a valid excuse why they have- not dealt with this all-important measure ( cheers ) ? Sir , I think that , instead of n motion to report progress , it would be more satisfactory to the committee— it would bo more satisfactory to tho Minister who pretends to lead tho Howe of Commons , if ho had given ua a reason why , having sat six months and done nothing , wo should not at loast have this ? Report progress on theso two bills ! Sir , that is too derisive a motion to niuko ( iuvd cheers ) .

    Report progress on tho Ministry ( laughter )? Toll us what they havo done . Let us have a motion to that effect . Conic to this table and toll us what her Majesty's Ministers havo done That report of progross would bo much more edifying and autiBfactory to tho house than the motion which has been niado by tho Lord President this evening ( cheers ) . Tho noble lord and his compeers havo not micueoilcrt yvi in dealing with any diilicult question—ut any rate in dealing with a quuHtion so vast and complicated as this . Tho lato Government iittcinptoil to deal with It with some ofllciunuy and with all sincerity . And what is tho prospect which tlio noblo lord holds out to ua of tho futuxo legislation of his

    Governmentif it be a Government—on this subject ? ( Cheers . ) A few nights ago a distinguished member of the Treasury bench spoke of the conduct of gentlemen on this side of the House—who at least , whether right or wrong , are not inconsiderable from the number of their party connexions , and who are , in my opinion , still more important from the principles they profess—he spoke of them as a party , if they be a party . ( Laughter . ) That , sir , was the courteous comment of the Chancellor of the Exchequer . If we are to be spoken of as a party—if we be a party—I think I may speak of the noble lord and his friends as a Government , if they be a Government . But , in conducting our debates in a spirit mutually provisional ( a laugh ) , I ~ would ask the noble lord , who tells you he can do nothing at present , whether he will answer the question of an

    honourable gentleman who has addressed mm from the back benches—what are the intentions of his Government with " regard to the tenure of land in Ireland for the future ? I think that was a very fair and a very parliamentary question . How it "was met I leave the committee to decide . The noble lord says , it is a difficult question ; and , therefore , we are not to deal with it . Why , sir , my idea of a Government is , that it is a body of men that ought to deal with difficult questions . I know that the Lord President for a number of years has somehow or other contrived to govern this country ; and personally speaking I think he has governed it with admirable ability . A ripe scholar , an unrivalled debater , and , in my opinion , no uncommon orator— -still I think the secret spell of his administration has been , that he has always evaded questions that are difficult . " Other similar taunts told : ^—

    " Sir , the Chief Secretary to the Xord-Lieutenant says , the learned serjeant ( Shee ) Is not one of the gentlemen who honour the Government with their support . I confess , sir , especially at this advanced period of the session , that I shall not enter into the incniiry who are the gentlemen who honour the present Government with their support ( a-laugh )? That is one of those questions which might lead not only to debates but even to adjourned debates . I hardly know any question of the present day which might be susceptible of such a variety of treatment and of such interminable discussion . Whether , after

    to strengthen the hands of her Majesty ' s Government . " Lord John , for the third time , Tose obviously angry , almost beyond his practised parliamentary control . He had only recrimination to offer . Mr . Disraeli was not conducting Opposition properly , he ought to propose some vote on which the sense of the House should be taken as to the right of the Government to be in Government . " The right hon . gentleman finds himself precluded from pursuing that course which a leader of an Opposition vrotild naturally pursue , namely , to take some question to bring before the House their want of confidence in the Government when they do not deserve support . The

    right hon . gentleman shrinks from , that ; but when some independent member has placed a motion , on the paper in which no principle is involved , when nothing is to be gained , he comes down and seeks to gain the triumph of putting the Government in a minority . Such is the conduct df the fight hon . gentleman . Certainly such conduct is something new to me- ( " Oh , , " from the Opposition benches ) —certainly it is . I have had the honour of being a member of Governments which have been opposed by such leaders as Sir E . Peel , and others like him . When they found that their principles

    obliged them . to oppose the Government , they did so openly , fairly , and honestly , and they did not come down to the House merely to take hold of anything that might be under discussion . " Then , of course , he talked of his Reform Bill ; the withdrawal , of that had won the approval of the country ( Ironical cheers ); , and , some day , he meant to go on with it . In conclusion , he used a sentence which condemns all'the enthusiasm of several of hia colleagues on the question , and certainly induces a question as to the candour with which , up to this time , the Government , as a bodv , has shown : —

    " 1 entertain very great doubts whether legislation can ever be so minute as to be applied with efficacy and justice to this subject . " Mr . Disraeli , provokingiy cool , Teplied : —leaving Lord John utterly prostrate : — " The noble lord has made some comments on the relation which exists on this side of the House between the members of the Conservative party and those who have the office of directing their general conduct . It seems to me , as far as I can collect from the noble lord ' s peculiar notions , that they have no confidence in their leader , and that their leader has no confidence in them ; but , nevertheless , he admits that they are always putting Government in a

    mithe longest discussion , it could be proved satisfactorily to the country that there are any gentlemen who extend to her Majesty ' s Ministers that unbounded support which , of course , they may desire , is a question which we need not now settle , and I still leave it as one of those vexed questions which agitate and , perhaps , amuse the political world . Sir , I wanted upon the present occasion that the House and the country should understand what we are talking about this evening ; and that the noble lord should not rise in a thin House , with no one present , and think he is to stifle the expression of parliamentary opinion by moving , sir , that you should repprt progress . "

    nority . ( Laughter . ) That is extremely -unfortunate . But I wish to disabuse him of the impression which he seems to have imbibed , that my principal business is to study the attempts which are made to put the noble lord in a minority . On the contrary , I can . assure him that if he occupied my position under similar conditions , and under the circumstances which prevail in the political world , he would find that the principal business and duty of my position is to study , if possible , how the Government should not be put in a minority . ( Laughter , ) The noble lord has made a very strange comment upon this remarkable state of affairs . He says he does not expect that I should propose a vote of

    Then he had some satirical consolation for Mr . Napier : — " I think the committee will sympathise with my right hon . friend ir » the disappointment which he has expressed ; but my tight hon . friend quite forgets that however the Government may have behaved towards him , they have only followed the rule which , with uniform impartiality , they have extended to themselves . lie must remember that if they have acted with faithlessness towards him , it is the way ( as far as we can learn , not only from private report , which is not always right , but from public demonstration , which must influenco us all ) that they have conducted themselves towards each other . I think my right hon . friend was overcome by a surplusage

    want of confidence in the Government . But as tho noble lord admits that it is not my province , and that it is not incumbent upon me to propose a vote ot want of confidence in the Government , I wish he would-have the kindness to inform tho House what is tho great subject which he wishes to be brought forward , and upon which ho wishes to obtain the ofljnion of tho House of Commons ? There are subjects which concern the dispositio n of political power—such as the Reform Bill—and there is tho system of national education . Surely those arc great subjects , and , although there are not many subjects of that importance which can be quoted as having

    of sensibility when ho complained of the perfidy of the Ministry towards him . Only n simple menibor of the Opposition , he did not understand that the process of treatment to which tho Reform Bill had been disposed might bo employed to give tho bill for the settlement of the tenure of land its quietus . I think ho ought to have taken that into consideration before lie made his appeal to tho committee . If ho had aaked my opinion I would havo said , there is nothing unreasonable in your dosira to proceed with a measure which you bclicvo calculated to benefit the country . But you must remember that her Majesty ' s Government is composed of singular materials . You must remember that bills havo been withdrawn after tho most

    been brought before our consideration this year , there have been some other subjects of first-rate parliamentary importance , tho results of which , having been submitted to tho notice of the House either by tho Government or other parties , have , generally speaking , placed the Government in minorities—in considerable , minorities—Borne twelve , fourteen , or sixteen ot eighteen times during this session . Ho ia disquieted under tho frequent minorities ia which tho Govornraont is placed , in consequonco of being opposed by a body of gentlemen who havo no confidence in their lcador , and whoso leader has no confidence in them . That is fortunate for tho Government . Ifi

    solemn pledges—in fact , tho business of tho country with ft coalition Ministry cannot bo carried on without soino political periidy . 1 would havo ndvisod my rij ^ ht hon . frlonil to hositato before ho made that appcnl to tho committee Ho must havo felt that tho country is now involved in circumstances of gront difficulty uml of great national exigency , in which it is of tin * utmost importance that wo should persuade all Europe that wo havo a powerful Government supported by an unanimous Parliament . If , indeed , my rlglit hon . l ' riond hnd made a motion , which by tho rules of the IIouso it was competent for him to do—if ho had proposed that strangers should not bo admitted for tho rest of the session , and that no reports of our proceedings should bo published—I think it would havo tended very much

    seems to mo that , if thoy woro opposed to a party who had confidence in thoir loador , and whoso leader , had confldenco in thorn , bad as is tho present Bts » of things , it would not lust out tho evening . " $ ^ & <*« V , hear , and great laughter . ) " ¦ This was tho finishing strolco : " If he wieVrt * tjh , < j ' confidonco of tho IIouso in tho Goyonnncntj ^ o Ibujn tested , ho is bound to nsk one of his BuppomS f s ia , originate a motion for that purpose I do ncflFwAWBK tho opinion of tho House of Commons to bo J& $ toftior elso I would ask tho Jlouao to express an ,. ( Mnio ^ on the subject . I do not wish to disturb ttWGo-J vernmont . I adniiro their powers of sufferance ( Laughter ) . I am willing , as ono of a grateful com " munfty , to do justice to thoir patriotism . { Continued

    Untitled Article

    July 15 , 1854 . ] THE LEADER . 651

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), July 15, 1854, page 651, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2047/page/3/