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Leader (1850-1860), 10th April 1852, Edition Country of 2, Page 2, HISTORY OF PARLIAMENT. Another debate on...

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      Easter Breaks A Session Unmarked By Any ...

      Portalis , probably the most venerable official oathbreaker extant , at their head , is described as imperial arid severe in tone , look ,, manner , gesture . The reply to the fulsome falsehoods of their mouthpiece is noticeable for a pointed allusion to the suffrage that gave the Empire to Napoleon , and the succession to his chosen heir j it was no longer simpty the six millipns of 1848 , . or the seven millions of 1851 , but the' four millions of

      1804 , on which his hereditary rights reposed . Rights to what ? to the Empire , in the name of the People . Among these magistrates , the fountains of law , truth s justice , and honesty , ^ there were more men , twice and thrice forsworn , than could probably be found in any other official class . Chiefly Orleanists by sympathy , they are naturally suspected by the dominant Faction . And law is of itself an object of suspicion to men who trample all law under foot .

      Another propulsion towards the Empire comes from the legislature which , even such as it is , is fain to fall into old parliamentary habits , and really to discuss measures , when it was only invented to register decrees . Already we hear of an opposition from a knot of members , who got elected under false pretences of Napoleonism , ( following out the morality they were taught ) and now declare themselves " Independents . " Even this corps may have to be dissolved , unless it survive to be pitched out of window . Imagine the insubordination of Memhers of Parliament

      who decline to wear the liveries handsomely provided for them by decree . CM party of order ; ye who hooted down Victor Hugo from the National Tribune , behold your punishment I As for the Senate , their servility outruns tyranny itself . They have already voted away as large a civil list as poor Xouis Philippe grudgingly

      obtained , not to speak of the exclusive right of shooting in royal forests and plantations , which had been legally leased to private gentlemen for a term of years . All these fantastic tricks are a lesson , and a bitter lesson , to the French people . It may well be believed that , however rank and high the noxious weed of Bonapartism may threaten to grow , it is withering at the root .

      The death of Schwarzenberg is not auspicious to the designs of the Dictator : for the late Prime Minister of Austria was naturally sympathetic to the man of December , and his detestation of English constitutionalism increased his disposition to coquet with French despotism . But the wonders of the day come from the opposite hemisphere . The explorations of the Austrian gold fields prove them to be productive

      in an increasing ratio , like the coal fields of England . Vast sums have come over , but they are mere foretastes . As much as 70 > Q 00 pounds in weight is said to be lying in the bank at Melbourne . That town is without a working-class—all off to the gold fields . Not only do shepherds leave their flocks unshorn , herdsmen leave their cattle running wild , reapers the crops unreaped , shopmen the counter unmanned , domestic servants the beds unmade and the dinner uncooked

      but the police themselves are off after the runaways , not as pursuers , but as companions ; promoting themselves to be vagabonds . For in that singular region of pocketed quadrupeds on two legs and four-footed ducks , your vagrant is now the man of substance ; raw material is the paramount capital ; and the capitalist , superseded , by the fields themselves , is left destitute by labour , and calls out for relief . Ordinary trade is at n stand for bunds , while the trouble of the labourer is only to curry his wealth , and get his raw gold minted into coin .

      The other event from the south is a mournful disaster . The Birkenhead steam-ship , which laid just * arrived at the Cape with five hundred troops , reinforcements for the Kafir war , wus wrecked off Point Dunger , through the rash steering of the t' \ yt ^ QV , W # Jfair hundred and fifty-four brave V-. lacuperishfcfl . * ^ f f ^ Vjfyfr ' ^ iw # « t'illu 8 f : mtcs once more tlint nnfor-P' ^ tf ^ Vto ^ W 0 *^ W > M $ XpiiWr HAiival

      tunate pedantry of short cuts which is the besetting sin of sailing masters . But it also suggests grave doubts as to iron , both as to its strength and its safety ; as to strength , in resisting the sharp point of a rock > and as to safety , in disturbance of the needle . The ship was on a wrong coursebut was tiiis the master ' s fault " altogether , or partly the magnet ' s ? „ The circumstances are peculiarly distressing , and the too frequent occurrence of these catastrophes cannot blunt the public mind to indifference , in presence of a national loss .

      Four hundred and fifty-four as brave fellows as ever trod a deck or shouldered a knapsack , the very pith and sinew of 'England , went down to death as calmly as if they were simply obeying orders ; nay , in the very act of obeying orders ; in sight of the shore , too , on which they were ardent to seek distinction , perhaps a glorious death in their country ' s service . Four hundred and fifty-four souls drowned ! but how many widows , how many orphans , how many affections left to mourn !

      The rashness of the captain was more than atoned by his heroic death ; and by his side was an officer who was on his way to . replace Colonel Fordyce , happier , alas I in his death at the head of his regiment .

      334 Th| Lspeb, [Saturday; '" ' ' * I ' ,...

      334 TH | LSpEB , [ Saturday ; '" ' ' * i ' , ¦ '

      History Of Parliament. Another Debate On...

      HISTORY OF PARLIAMENT . Another debate on the opinions , principles , and policy of Ministers occupied the House of Commons on Monday night , and in its results was as ineffectual as any of its predecessors in drawing forth any distinct statement of their intentions . Mr . Osborne was again challenger and aggressor : the occasion was again the motion that the House do resolve itself into a Committee of Supply . Gravely taunting Ministers with mystification , and with giving explanations requiring to be explained , he flanked his first blow by quoting ^ from one of those " Arcadian love-letters" which had passed between Lord

      Malmesbury and the Austrian ambassador , intimating that Lord Derby ' s government would give " a frank and honest exposition of principles" to the nations of the civilized world , and then asking if it were incumbent on a Minister to give a frank exposition to the civilized world , how much more incumbent was it to give a frank exposition to the people of this country ! Why try the long range at Vienna when there was so much practice ground in this country . Then there were the indispensable measures . What were they ? Heaven and the Minister only knew . And as to the main question , that which made them Ministers , the question of Protection , what had been Lord Derby ' s Conduct with respect to that ?

      " In the celebrated desertion case which ho ( Mr . Osborne ) had referre d to the other night , it was said : — ' I as I may ( that -which I would I cannot ) , With best advantage will deceive the time , And aid thco in this doubtful shook of arms , But on thy side I may not bo too forward . ' ( A laugh . ) These were almost the precise terms used by Lord Derby to his Protectionist allies ; and this was acting a bold and straightforward course , —this was to show the very soul of chivalry ! ( A laugh , ) There wore , however , gentlemen , on the opposite benches who , in all likelihood , would bo more inclined to think that it partook more of the sly practices of tho cockp it than the bold defiance of the tiltniir-vard ( laughter ) , —that it resembled more * the

      peculiar practices of Newmarket than tho bold chivalry of Flodden-field . ( Laughter . ) They had hoard a great deal of factious opposition , and tho Chancellor of the Exchequer , notwithstanding the almost indecent haste with which tho Houao had voted 14 , 000 , 000 ? . whenever ; any one opposed a bill , cried out , ' Factious opposition , ' and complained that ho could not carry anything . ( Hear , hoar . ) But there might bo such a thing as a factious Government . ( Hoar , hear . ) There might be such a thing as a Government getting into office on false pretences , and , having obtained tho supplies on false pretences , then turning round and making such an explanation as was made in another place on tho 30 th . ( Hear , hoar . ) Ho stigmatized tho oouroo of Government respecting Mavnooth , and defied anybody to make anything out of

      tho official replies mado on tho subjoct in either House ; ho rallied Mr . Forbes Mackenzie for tho hazy cunning which ho JmuI cqntrivod to throve ovor tho Maynooth question in Ms Liverpool speech ; and Lprd Naas on tho abandonment of tho Irish millers and distillers ; ho made tho Houao merry by a sarcastic allusion to tho hybrid animali ) now going about in boroughs , called Freo-trado Protectionists , while pure Protectionists canvassed tho counties . Mr . Georgo Frederick Young was presented to tho House as no longer the advocate of such Utopian theories an tho corn , and navigation laws existing before 1840 ; and Mr . Christopher liold up as tho last of the ' farmers' friends . ' " It was n melancholy faefc that this Protection cry had served its turn ; and il might now bo called , in the phraseology of tlio butting-ring , tho '

      bookhorse . ' TlreyhaAlieafdofthe fateof a great maim-Twi . favourite ^ he fcttMie backed them to a great ^ extentespecially me poor people in the country ( lauehterl—h f when the day of the raiee arrived they had frequently se people in high ^ sifebn , scratchmg' their \> rses and leaving the piibliem the lurch . ( Hear , hear . ) Sowasif with the cry erf Protection . ( Cheers and laughter . ) | "V \ Tho would not praise Patricio's high desert His hand unaiain'd , his tmcorrupted heart ! *

      His comprehensive head all ' . interests weighed , All Europe saved ; yet . Britain not betrayed ' He heeds them not ; his pride is in piquet , Newmarket fame , and judgmentat abet ! * ( ' Hear , hear / and laughter . ) Mr . Disraeli had talked of large and comprehensive views , but no views , however large and comprehensive , would give the country faith in the honour of a , ministry whose actions were so Unworthy of a great country . Look at that blank-cartrid ge of a reform bill—that extension of the suffrage wrapped up in a military cover , and now withdrawn . ( Cheers and laughter . ) He was not surprised-at the withdrawal of that proposition , because , though endeavoured to be palmed

      off as original , it was copied from no less a person than orator Hunt , -who in 1831 laid on the table of the House a motion to precisely the same effect . ( Cheers and laughter . ) It was not to be wondered at , therefore , thaP the country party should be in a ferment at this ebulliti 6 n of reform zeal on the part of the Home Secretary , and should insist on his withdrawing a proposition so unhandso mely stolen . ( Laughter . ) If Ministers wished to have a shred of reputation about them , they must tell the House what policy they intended to pursue . "

      In reply to this , Lord John Manneks said that Government had nothing new to say . They stood by their declarations , all and each . If the Opposition were strong , why did they not display their strength ? and then , rising in audacity , he exclaimed , Wh ^ t means this constant and nightly interruption of all public business ?—a question met by derisive cries of u Oh ! oh ! "' and cheers . Did the House forget the long constitutional essays delivered at previous sittings , the speeches delivered by Mr . Osborne before , and if these interruptions were to 1 ) 6 continued * why not bring them to a head and issue at once ?

      Mr . Roebuck played / his usual part ; but while fighting both , friends and foes , he fixed the new point raised by Lord John Mariners with great distinctness . After lecturing Mr . Disraeli for having hunted down Sir Robert Peel ; for having dropped into office as a Protectionist , and shirked the question when in office ; he lectured his friends upon the duty of instantly taking up the insolent challenge flung down by Lord John Manners . . " "Were he ( Mr . Roebuck ) the leader of any Opposition he would bring that policy to a test at once . ( Hear , hear . ) He acknowledged that there was mischief in these constant \ luo

      assailings of the ngnt non . genuemen oppose v * Ministerial "benches ) With mere words ; but did they or not believe they were in a majority in that house ? If they were , let them feel it . If they were not , let the country know its own danger . ( Hear , hear . ) But by the policy pursued opposite , and on that ( the Opposition ) sideot the House , the right hon . gentlemen had all the benefit ot a maiority , and of a minority too ( 'Hear , ' and a l « wgn )» they had the benefit of a minority because they did not dare to propose anything ; and they had the benefit ot a majority because the Opposition did not dare to propose anything ( hear , hear ) ;• but , if it were so , between tho two contending parties tho country drifted to leeward , and all thn inf ornfafai of Great Britain and Ireland wore forgotten

      through these miserable proceedings of party . , ( uear > hear . ) Sure he was the country would neither justify one nor the other . Ho appealed to tho noble lord ( Lord John Russell ) , if ho wore to represent tho Opposition , to bring this matter to a test quickly , both for his own character as well ns for tho interests of tho country . " ( t , Mr . ADDEitusY defended the "declarations , nnd aumitted that the country was opposed to Protection . Roebuck

      Mr . eHA . Ei . E 8 Viixiebs , called up by Mr . s lecture , defended himself from the charge of not having distinctly tested the opinion of the House , by ^ ertvag that he was satisfied Ministers had abandoned rro tection , and he enlarged on the point to an exten so damaging to them , that Mr . Henlex ; rose , ana roundly asserting that the country was satisfied wi the language of the Government , he said— liotrou

      " As to tho principles on which they proceeded , simply answer , that their principles were now * wt « J always liad been ; thoro was no change in ««»?• " \ . lwt any party could carry tho whole of their princip les ( IW J ^ dopend on themselves , but on tho country ; ana * country it was the declared wish of the GovowimOTt » g ^ as soon as tho measures necessary for tho P ™ £ P " f car . ) safety of the country should bo carried . 3 ™ JouW They caved not how soon this should bo ; buti » JJ » tho in full time to enable a now Parliament to nssenil »» » ^ present year , and to that now W'ftf "' ^^ they which hon . gentlemen opposite wanted , biJ *^ J | dl ) o Would not bo allowed to make tho only questio ^ vou submitted . ( Hear , hear . ) " ,, T Qn \ Job " Ho also reitorated tho charge invented W > ' ° ' deA Manner * , that the Opposition interrupted and imp

      the necessary business of tho session . te ( j This scandalized Mr . Sidney HebbebT , w ' J ^ Ministers for advancing it , and pointed to ft » ^ in Mr . Henley ' s speech , that there had not w » rf division against tho Government" during tlie r office , da a proof of tho groundless * of tuo

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), April 10, 1852, page 2, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_10041852/page/2/