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    THE QUEEN'S SPEECH.

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    Untitled Article

    Jan . 28 , 1860 . | The Leader and Saturday Analyst . 7 ?

    Untitled Article

    THE account which IVftnisters have put into the lips of Her Majesty of the doings during , the last six months , and of what they propose that Parliament should do during the six months to come , is somewhat unequally divided into that which concerns our relations with foreign States , and that which affects our own domestic condition . The debate on the Address in the Upper House elicited nothing worth noting from the second and thirds rate organs of the Government there , on either branch of their policy . Lord Grey ' s hyperconstitutional criticism on the administrative steps taken to reinforce pur squadron on the coast of China , and for sending an expedition thither in concert with the French , to retrieve the disaster at the mouth of the Peiho , was summarily disposed of by the Duke of Newcastle ; and not all the rhetorical efforts of Lords Derby and Brougham could extract from Lord Granville any definite statement as to the intention of the Cabinet with regard to Italy . Very little more to the purpose was Lord Palmerston's general assurance in the Lower House , that we had at all times been ready to negotiate with one or more of the great Powers for the settlement of the Italian , question on a constitutional basis ; and that he and his colleagues would never concur or cooperate in the application of foreign force . . The real question is not whether England would concur or co-operate in armed intervention to establish or to suppress liberty in the Peninsula , for nobody Wants her to do so . The actual question is—will England forbid and prevent foreign force being used by other powers to re-enslave an emancipated peojole ? There is rio use trying to blink the matter . This is the qxiestidn of the hour . . Ministers will have to make a clean breast of it respecting France and Italy . We have now had eight months of suspense , during which European enterprise has been stifled , and every species of improvement , in our own and other countries ,, has been kept standing stiU-T-because France and Austria . could not-agree as to what was to be done with Tuscany and Romagna . There is an end , indeed , to the tiresome altercation , as far as Napoleon III . is concerned ; and if the Government of England would but declare itself resolved to recognise the spontaneous union of Central Italywith Piedmont as a fait accompli , the Pope and the Emperor might protest at their leisure ; but peace would be secured , Italy made happy , and the industry of England liberated from the thraldom of misgiving in which it has now so long laid . It may suit perhaps the unpatriotic purposes of those politicians who seek to rise by toadying the Court and pandering to what they suppose to be its personal leanings , to oppose the renewal of the entente cordiale with the present ruler of France . Every sycophant of royalty by hereditary right affects , of course , to despise the rfyime eatablished by Universal suffrage . If they dared speak out , they would avow themselves , one and all , to be Bourbonists to the backbone . For the sake of those that are set on high amongst our people , we would cherish the hppe that they will see the wisdom of abstaining from all that would , even by implication , seem to encourage this treason to the national weal . The interests of England demand <—and the spirit of England will inexorably insist upon—good faith being kept with France , so long as France keeps faith with us . We will have nothing to do with her choice of rulers . If she prefers a man of genius , like her present monarch , to $ roifaindant of the old legitimate breed , it is no affair of ours ; and we will not suffer any grounds to exist for the suspicion that dynastic preju " dices govern pur councils , "Were the people of this country forced to talk of preferences , theirs would be all the other way . Their rccollectious of Bourbon policy towards England consist chiefly of ingratitude for hospitality , bigoted aversion to Prpi testantism , perfidy when pretending to act in concert , even about dynastic matters , and unextinguishable jealousy of o \ ir national greatness and renown . Whatever be his faults , Nai » oleqn I FT . cannot be accused pf these ; but even if lie cpuld , that would not induce us to cabal or conspire with rival claimants of the crown ho wears . The declaration of Mr . Gladstone on this subject will be received with satisfaction by the country . Speaking in the name of the Gpvernment , the Chancellor of the Exciieq , ueii unreservedly declared that " the fears of too close an identity "between the policy of England and the policy of . Francp , which had been expressed by certain members of the Opposition , were , In his opinion , wholly groundless . There could not be too eloae an understanding between . England and Fiance , because it lay in the nuture of the case—it lay in the circumstances of the two countries—it lay in the piroumstances of Europe— -that it was Ixardly o possible contingency that France and England should ever be associated in policy except for objeots that were laudable in themselves , and beneficial for mankind . " The commercial treaty just concluded will hove to fee defended by its fromors , wither as a . proof of their

    earnestness in carrying out the political union of Western Europe than upon its own intrinsic merits . as a step , in the direction o free trade . There is something ineffably clumsy and sadh incomplete in'the mariner of the thing , which udthing but th < incidental , or rather the prospective value , of the tiling itself car induce us to overlook . We bind ourselves not to impose hereafter duties above a certain , small amount on foreign wines , brandies , and silken fabrics , in consideration of certain impostSj to be lowered eighteen months hence , p n British coal and iron imported into France ; but the other countries , whose prodticts we , at the same time , offer to admit at lessened duties , dc not agree to make similar concessions in return . Had we resolved to lower our tariff to all the world , for the sake of oui own revenue and industry , people would have recognised in the act a supplementary and confirmatory attestation of our confidence in the self-sustaining worth of unfettered competition . But the treaty said to have been signed on the 25 th instant at Paris , hardly admits of such an interpretation . It professes to be a bargain , and as such merely it certainly does not seem to be a very good one for us . Perhaps our admission that it . is not 3 may tend to appease in some degreeHhe suspicion and rancbui with which it is viewed by certain classes in France . If we had made better terms for ourselves , Napoleon III- would never hear tlie end of taunts about his having been ear-wigged and cozened by Richard Cobden , acting as an unavoweel eniissary of perfidious Albion . As it is , however , ministers had much better frankly admit that the true inducements to them to enter into the contract in question were those indicated by Mr , Gladstone . On Monday week , when he brings forward his Budget , the right lion , gentleman will have to confess that , for the present at least , lie has' agreed to abandon a considerable amount of revenue , now easily and inoppressivcly levied , for the sake of trying the experiment whether commercial relations may not be hereafter multiplied between the two countries . ; and that he must , therefore , ask us to submit for a time to some additional impost , direct or indirect , as the price of an additional guarantee of friendship with France . , " ~ --Turning to the portion ; of Her Majesty ' s speech which relates to internal , topics ,, we have a legislative ^ bill , pi ^ fare consisting chiefly of law reforms and estimates for more efficient national defence . We are sorry to observe rip distinct promise of an amended Militia Bill . In every solid requirement of national defence the public are prepared cheerfully to acquiesce ; but they are rather sick of the spluttering and swaggering of which they have-had' so much of late , and they are quite determined not to be fooled out of any extravagant sum for experimental works of fortification , or for the encouragement of any scheme of shorn soldiering . The tiling they want they are ready and willing to pay for ; but the thing they don ' t Want they won ' t have at any price . The nation is quite prepared to pay for its defence any amount of money that can be shown to be necessary . It has never been used to rely upqn thejpatronage or protection of any condescending class or two ; and , upon the whole , it would rather not . When volunteer corps are formed , to which the entrance fee is publicly announced to be ten guineas , and the subscription two guineas a year ; and when the inducement held put by the captains of others to the coxcombs of their-acquaintance is that " care has been taken that not a single snob shall be admitted , " it seems high time to pause and ask—Twhat does all this mean ; and what is it tp end in ? A national army and a , national militia , and , as the materials fprbpth , national rifle practice if you will— - but a class army , by whatever name called , anti-national in its composition , habits , and tendencies , must not be suffered surreptitiously to creep into existence . Sectarian ascendancy and political ascendancy were found to be intolerable , and the selfrespect of the middle classes has long agp trampled both under foot . It will assuredly not allow a military ascendancy , en masque , to establish itself . The subject , however , upon which still more curiosity is felt respecting ministerial intentions , is that of -Reform . Will they follow the sinister advice which has been given them by some who would lure them into an unpopular cqurse , and then laugh at their discomfiture ; or will they adhere to the plain dictates of common senso and common honesty in their mode of dealing with this great question ? Will they bogin ^ by special pleading , as they have been recommended to do by men who ought to know ' bettor ; or will they take their stand fearlessly amid the inherent difliculties of the subject , and manfully try to overcome them P In a word , will they bring in one goo < J and comprehensive Bill , providing , as the Bill of 1833 provided , by varied enactments for the variod necessities of the easoj or . wiU they attempt to skulk from the responsibility of _ carrying -u great measure , by dividing fchoir recommendations into two or three separate Bills- — prepared ( whatever may bo said to the conlrarv nt starting ) to be content if May can carry any owe ,

    The Queen's Speech.

    THE QUEEN'S SPEECH .

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), Jan. 28, 1860, page 79, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2331/page/3/