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Leader (1850-1860), 5th April 1851, Edition Town of 2, Page 311, Untitled Article

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      ous . He proposed no such measure to the Government now . ( Cries of * Order . ' ) That power was granted on the ground of the then recent revolution in France . Since then , however , a great number of other revolutions had taken place , and there were , therefore , a stillgreater number of foreigners in this country . G-od forbid that he should seek to deprive them of the asylum they had found from the hospitality of England ; but it had come to his knowledge , and he believed that it had a perfectly good fo undation , that combinations were at this moment going on between persons resident in this country as refugees and their friends abroad , and also with certain of her Majesty ' s subjects , for the purpose of making a demon stration during the ensuing months , which would be imminently dangerous to the peace of the country . The

      question he meant to ask was whether any temporary measure to meet this danger was in the contemplation of her M ajesty ' s Government ? ' 'Sir G . Grey said the attention of Government had long been directed to this matter . He did not think the peace of this country was in any way menaced , but measures had been taken by the Government in the event of any insane attempt to disturb the public tranquillity to crush it on the instant . With respect to foreigners in this country concocting conspiracies against their own or any other foreign country , he could not too strongly state his opinion that such conduct was a gross breach of the hospitality extended towards them . Foreigners in this country concocting conspiracies against the tranquillity of foreign states were liable to fine and imprisonment . "

      The Jewish Disabilities question was brought before the House of Commons on Thursday , when Lord John Russell moved that the House should resolve itself into committee to consider the mode of administering the oath of abjuration to persons professing the Jewish religion . The question resolved itself into this —whether religious belief was to disqualify men from the exercise of civil rights and political power ? He thought it should not , and therefore submitted his resolution to the House . Mr . Mixner Gibson called the attention of the House to the humiliating position in which it was placed with reference to this question . After what had passed the measure should have been introduced earlier ; and he hoped , if it were rejected a third time in another place , the Government would take some decided step . Sir Robert Inglis and Mr . Plumptrb opposed the bill . The former reminded the House that " the Jews regarded Him whom we regarded as our Redeemer—as a crucified impostor . " Mr . Newdegatb thought he could see a connection between this measure and Papal aggression . Pius IX . might well think it safe to adopt the course he had recently pursued when he saw the Government and one branch of the British Legislature ready to put an end to the last remnant which distinguished it as a Christian assembly . On a division the numbers were : — For the motion 166 Against it 98 Majority G 8 In reply to Sir Robert Inglis , Lord John said he should be able to bring on the second reading of the bill on Friday week . Chancery Reform . — Lord Lyndliurst made an onslaught on the Chancery Reform Bill on Monday evening , in the House of Lords . He thought the bill would have been more properly introduced in that House , where lawyers of so high experience were to be found . He belie vi d that the Prime Minister was himself ashamed of his inefficient measure ; and , therefore , selected the Commons for its debut . The whole profession viewed the bill with contempt . He condemned moat especially the proposal to remove the ecclesiastical patronage from the Lord Chancellor to the Crown . Lord Brougham promised to give that clause his moat determined opposition , but remarked that it was premature to discuss a measure while in so unsubstantial a condition as the threatened bill was . The Budget . —Sir Charles Wood stated on Thursday he would bring forward his financial statement on Friday evening , when he would take a formal vote , to be * subject to the decision of the House upon the motion of Mr . Harries respecting the income tux , which he suggested might be conveniently taken on bringing up the report of the committee on Monday next . Hkpusal to Bury Disbuntkum . — In the House of Lords , on Thursday evening , the J ) uke of Richmond presented a petition from the mayor and town council of Chiche » ter , complaining of the conduct of the Reverend Mr . Kenrick , who had refused to read the burial service over the body of u ditmenting clergyman , mid who hud also refused to read the burial service over a woman who had committed suicide , although a coroner ' u jury had found that she wan insane when flho committpd the uct . All thin was contrary to law , and , if the reverend gentleman had conacientiouH scruples preventing him from acting ucoording to law , he ought to resi gn instead of acting in opposition to it . Some conversation followed as to the defective state of the law regarding the correction of clerks . In one cano a bishop , now on the bench , had been severely mulcted in an uinount of costa which he might not ho able to pay without injuring himself and family . The Bishop of London said it waa hia intention at some future time to introduce u measure on that head , but that ho will not bring before the HoiiHe during the present sotmon either the Church Discipline Bill , or the EecleaiuHtioul Appeal Tribunals Bill .

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      THE STANLEY DEMONSTRATION . A grand Protectionist Demonstration in favour of Lord Stanley was made in the hall of the Merchant Tailors' Company , Threadneedle-street , on Wednesday evening . The general belief was , that the gathering would be a formal in auguration of the noble lord as leader of the party , and that he and Mr . Disraeli would give an intelligible and unmistakable declaration of the policy and principles by which the Stanley party is to be guided . The large hall was brilliantly illuminated on the occasion , and the display of gold and silver plate in the room , with the other appendages of luxury , was equal to what

      took place in the same hall , at the grand demonstration in honour of Sir Robert Peel , in 1838 . The requisition to his lordship had been signed by 5 dukes —Richmond , Beaufort , Cleveland , Rutland , and Maryborough ; 8 marquises—Downshire , Drogheda , Ely , Exeter , Huntley , Salisbury , Waterford , and Londonderry ; 56 earls , 9 viscounts , 33 barons , and 199 simple members of the House of Commons . The requisition to Sir Robert Peel , in 1838 , was signed by 313 members , but , of course , the representative of the house of Derby surpasses the cotton spinner ' s

      son in the number of dukes , marquises , and earls . Mr . Baring , M . P ., who occupied the chair , proposed the uaual routine toasts , none of which called forth any remarkable speech except " the Church , " which was acknowledged by Lord Hereford , there being no clergyman present . He assured the company that the great majority of the Church looked most anxiously to the sentiments that would be uttered that evening . If so , they would be grievously disappointed , as Lord Stanley said nothing on the subject which could give them much encouragement .

      Lord Stanley , in the outset of his speech , referred to the dinner given to Sir Robert Peel , thirteen years ago , when so strong a muster of the Protectionists took place , but he took care to remind his friends that , strong as the Conservative party was in 1838 , they were not able to drive the Whigs from office till 1841 , when the general election gave " a majority of ninety-one in favour of a constitutional , Conservative , and Protectionist policy . " From that time up till 1846 , he gave his aid to Sir Robert Peel , in his

      " wise and judicious relaxation of the commercial tariff . " As for the repeal of the corn laws , and the other great measures carried by Sir Robert Peel , the noble lord escaped from committing himself regarding them by " drawing a veil over that unhappy period , " and the events which ended in the dislocation and final separation , he feared , of the great Conservative party , built up by the right honourable baronet . After paying a tribute of praise to the memory of Lord George Bentinck , he

      said" The great question which all classes are now beginning to ask is that which with marvellous foresight the Duke of Wellington long since put—How is the Queen ' s Government to be carried on ? You know well , my lords and gentlemen , the state of parties—you know that in the House of Commons we are a large minority indeed , but we have a considerable majority against us ; and I confess that , constituted as the present House of Commons is , I see no escape from the position in which we are placed , whoever may hold the reins of power . The position of a weak Government , menaced by a majority who cannot combine for any useful purpose , but

      who can combine to destroy the aims of the Government—I hold that such a position is dangerous to the statethat it may be fatal to the public welfare when the Government of the day is obliged to catch at support here , and to angle for a stray vote there , and to concede thin point , to waive that , measure , and vaguely to promise distant scheme s —( Vehement cheering which drowned the remainder of the sentence)—and , in the hope of staving off an adverse motion from its own supporters , issuing an illegal commission to inquire into the Universities , while they dare not bring forward any determinate motion . That in a situation in which a weak Government is

      placed , and that ia the situation of the present House of Commons with respect to any Government which may hold the reins of power for any considerable time to come . The remedy is in the country alone . This great nation will not long halt between two opinions ; the country will show in whom they will confide , and what is the policy they are determined to support . " He then took up the question of national prosperity , as aflirmcd by Ministers , and pointed to the evidences of distress on every side . Farmers paying their labouruiH , not out of proiits , but out of capital ; tens of thousands of industrious men , women , and

      children flying from their homes and transporting their industry and capital to a foreign and a rival country ; the groat falling off in the tonnage of British shipping , and a corresponding increase : in that of foreigners , in our own ports ; a reduction of 100 , 000 bales in the quantity of cotton consumed last year , an compared with 184 ( 5 , notwithstanding the great increase in the quantity of cotton good . s exported , and the not less significant fact that the total amount , liable lor the income tax on trades and professions , which had increased from £ ; M , 000 , 0 ()() to £ ( i () , 0 () 0 , ()()() between 1814 and 181 . 3 , linn decreased from £ ( 50 , 000 , 700 in 1847 to £ 64 , 800 , 000 in 18 /> 0 : —

      " These are symptoms whieli prove that our apparent prosperity is hollow and deceitful , and that in the midst of our prosperity we are hIovvIj eating into our capital , and diminishing the meana by which our annual buidens are to be borne . We are now in tho pursuit of

      cheapness , and nothing but cheapness . And we forget that in making all articles cheap , we benefit one , and only one class of consumers—those who produce nothing themselves , but who have the advantage to possess a fixed monied income . We are raising the value of money , and enhancing the heavy and pressing burdens of the National Debt , which no other country could support ; and increasing the pressure of those taxes , which , however they may be diminished , are borne with increasing difficulty by the community whose capital is constanly decreasing . { Loud cheers . ) While this depression has been caused by hasty and ill-considered and violent changestrue principle and statesmanship points not to

      , a hasty reversal of all that has been done , but to check the downward course of that policy , to watch the symptoms which have taken place , to modify the effect of those measures which have had greater consequences than ever their authors contemplated ; and prudently , discreetly , but at the same time firmly and determinedly , to apply legislative relief to those whom our legislative action has injured . How that relief maybe afforded this is not the time to say . My honourable fiiend has complimented me upon a former occasion with having frankly —as it was my duty to do—and openly , stated to the

      country the general course of that policy which I thought it my duty to adopt . My views show that there would be no more likely means of remedying agricultural distress than by imposing a moderate duty upon foreign imports ; which certainly , though moderate would check the unlimited importation of those articles , and would obtain from foreigners , in accordance with the policy of all other nations , contributions to the revenue of this country—( clieers )—thus enabling us to take off the taxes which now press heavily and immediately upon the springs of our domestic and national industry . ( Renewed cheers . )"

      In conclusion he adverted to the Papal aggression question , and stated—in much the same terms as he did in the House of Lords—the course which he he would have taken had he been in power . What he deprecated was hasty legislation on so grave a subject . He would have proposed a measure which would secure and extend the civil rights of the Roman Catholic , while it would secure to this country " the independence of its temporal concerns from the control of any spiritual hierarchy , or from subjection to any foreign pontiff . " He know nothing as to what course Government intended to pursue . This he did know , however ,

      that" In introducing this measure Lord John Russell laid a basis broad enough for an Egyptian pyramid , wide enough to repeal not only the act of 1829 , but to renew the penal code ; and that upon this mighty foundation a superstructure was reared of microscopic dimensions , a superstructure which has excited conti mpt not unmingled with irritation ; and microscopic as the measure was at first , it is now to be more microscopic still . " Nothing more definite was stated by Lord Stanley as to "what course he would pursue , were lie to become Prime Minister , but that he will " go steadily forward in the path of well-considered improvement , oiler a bold front to revolutionary changes in this country , increase the stability of the Church , tho security of our Protestant establishments , and promote the happiness of all clashes . "

      Mr . Walpole , M . P ., proposed " The Duke of Richmond and the House of Lords . " The Duke , in returning thanks , praised Lord Stanley as " a good husband , a fond father , and a tried friend ; and those qualifications were worth a host of men who spent their time in poring over blue books . " Lord Stanley , in giving the next toast— " The House of Commons "—said he wuh at a lows to select any individual to couple with the toast , but if it would not be thought invidious , he would join with the toast ihe n : mic of his honounible friend on the left—Mr . Disraeli— -whose talents for conducting a party had been proved on many a well-fought Held ; and whose weight , ability , and eloquence , were the admiration of his friends and the terror ot hia enemies . ( Loud c 7 ieers . )

      Mr . Disraeli , in returning thanks , confined himself chielly to a description of the position which the Protection party held in the llou . se , and a culogium upon the British constitution : — " The chief duty of the party of which they were members , both in the House of Commons ana without its walla , was to support those institutions of the country which embodied the great piinciplcs of power and protection , of justice and of order , of liberty and religion . ( Iliuir . ) If there wen : no longer in . Knghnel that , sympathy with those institutions which hud made J'higkiuel Hreat ., they would fail in one of the noblest , cuiihcs which had interested the feelings of men , ami if they succeeded they Would fulfil one ; of the noblest duties that could fall to the lot of the subjects of any atutc . ( Loud cheers . )"

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      'I'llK KIMSCOrAli MANIl'IOTO . Rumour has been bu . sy during the Jawl . fortnight with the announcement : of Home wonderful declaration to ho issued from the Jerusalem ChamixM , or home such gathering place of the bishops , which wan to throw oil upon the troubled waters , and smooth down all teclesia . st . icnl strife from York to Canterbury . The marvellous document which made itH uppcurunet ) on Wednesday is not likely to effect much improvement in the Church . It will waiisfy neither the one party nor the other . The address commences by stating that the following archbishops and bishops commend it to the serious consideration of the clergy

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      April 5 , 1851 . ] Qlt ) t & * -&& £ ?« . 311

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), April 5, 1851, page 311, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1877/page/3/