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July 15, 1854.] THE LEADER. 651
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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Parliament Of The Week. There Was To Hav...
time had been thrown away ; but the talk came to nothing-. In the Commons , Mr . Napier , a wearyingly conscientious man , made a long ami 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 Young answered ; he had withdrawn the bills , he said , because Serjeant Shee pressed him , and because his own private opinion was the bills couldn ' t pass this session .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 , a 3 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 , an'd 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 liad set in , and was not to lie baulked . Mr . White 61 x > e , altei ego of Mr . Napier , got up , with his usual readiness in spasmodic invective , and said just what Lord Malmesbury had said in the other House . Mr . Jobn Fitzgerald , 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 Cornp aons during the whole of that session . Mr . Lucas , in a singularly bold 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 6 n the back of Shaman . Crawford ' 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 ¦ w ould not condition to pass into action the principles of Sliarman 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 delnand—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 merit 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 n similar strain ,
Mr . Disraeli rose to attack the Government , collected a large House ? , and provided amusement for an liour . After an eulogium on liis friend Mr . Napier , he 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 know where is the catalogue of their legislative exploits which will excuse us for this period of time so employed or so wasted { cheers ') ? If they are at war , what conquests have they achieved ' ( If tlioy are at peace , what advantageous arrangementswhat beneficial legislation—have thoy aceomi > lishetl ? Have they reformed Parliament ? Ilavo they
revised parliamentary oaths ? Have they educated tl ) o country ? Have they oven educated Scotland ( cheers )? Whatcorrupt corporation have they punishod ? "What have tliey done which will form a valid excuse wliy they have not dealt with this all-important measuro ( cheers )? Sir , I think that , instead cf u motion to report progress ,. it would bo more satisfactory to the comtnitteo—it would bo more satisfactory to the Minister who protends to lead the House of Commons , if ho had given us a reason why , having sut six months and dono nothing , wo hhould not at least have tin ' s ? Report progrost ) on thoso two bills ! Sir , that is too derisive a motion to nuil < o ( loud cheers ') .
Report progcc . Bjijo , ijjJjo Ministry ( faiu / htcr )? Tell us what thoy have done . Let" iis hn ' vo a motion to that oflbct . Conio to thiu tablu and tell uh what her Mnjosty's Ministers huvo done . That report of progroBHVould bo much more edifying and satisfactory to thahouBO than the motion which ban boon mnifo by tho Lord President , thia evening ( cheers ') . The noble lord ami his compeers have not succeeded vi't in doiillng with any difllcult question—at liny rate in dealing with a question so vnnt and complicated as this . Iho lato CJovoriunont attempted to deal with it with some , oflioioncy and with all eincority . And what i » tho prospect which tho nobly lord holdu out to us of tho future 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—be 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 lie will answer the question of an honourable gentleman who has aldressed him 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 Lord-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 inquiry 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 hai-dly know any question of the present day which might be susceptible of such a variety of treatment and of such interminable discussion * Whether , after the 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 shdiilcTreport progress . " Then he had some satirical consolation for Mr . Napier : — " I think the committee will sympathise with my right hon . friend in the disappointment which he has expressed ; but my right hon . friend quite forgets that however the Government may have behaved towards him , they have only followed the rule which , with uniform impart ialit }' , they have extended to thomsclvcs . He 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 influence us all ) that they havo conducted themselves towards each other ! I think my right hon . friend was overcome by a surplusage of sensibility when ho complained of the perfidy of the Ministry towards him . Only a simple member of the Opposition , ho did not understand that the process of treatment to which tho Reform Bill had been disposed might be employed to givo tho bill for the settlomont of tho tcnuro of land its quietus . I think ho ought to havo taken that into consideration before ho made his appeal to the committee . If ho had asked my opinion I would havo said , thoro is nothing unreasonable in your desire to proceed with a measuro which you
believe calculated to benefit tho country . But yoti must remember that her Majesty ' s Government is composed of singular materials . You must remember that bills havo been withdrawn after the most solemn pleiljros—in fact , tbo business of the country with a coalition Ministry ciuuiot be carried on without somo political perlhly . I would have advised my right hon . friend to hesitate before ho made that appeal to tho committee . Ho must have felt that tlio country is now involved in circumstances of great , difficulty and of great national exigency , in which it is of tho utmou ' t importance that wo should persuade nil Europe that wo havo a powerful Government ( supported by Jin unanimous Parliament . K , indeed , my right hon . friend had mudu a motion , which by thu rules of the House it was competent , for him to do—if ho hml proposed that strangers should not . bo admittod fur the rest of tho session , and that no reports of our proceedings should bo published—1 think it would havo tended very much
to strengthen the hands of her Majesty's Government . " Lord John , for the third time , rose 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 betaken 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 would 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 of the right-hon . gentleman . Certainly such conduct is something new to me —( " Oh , oh , " from the Opposition benches ) —certainly it is . I have had the honour of being a member of Government s which have been opposed by such leaders as Sir R . 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 his 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 . Diseaeli , provokihgly cool , replied : —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 seerna 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
minority . ( 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 niy 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
want of confidence in the Government . Bat as the noble lord admits that it is not my province , and that it is not incumbent upon me to propose a vote of want of confidence in the Government , I wish he would have the kindness to inform the House what is the great subject which he wishes to be brought f orward , and upon which he wishes tp obtain the opinion of tho House of Commons ? There are subjects which concern the disposition of political power—such as the Reform Bill—and there is the system of national education . Surely these are great subjects , and , although there arc not many subjects of that importance which can bo quoted as having been brought before our consideration this year , there have been some other subjects of first-rato
parliamentary importsvnee , the results of which , having been submitted to the notice of the House cither by tho Government or other parties , have , generally BpeaTnng , placet ! tho Government in minorities—in eonsidorablo minorities—somo twelve , fourteen , orsixteen or oighteen times during thia session . Ho is disquieted under tho frequent minorities in which tho Government is jiluced , in consequonco of being opposed by a body of gentlemen who havo no confidence in their leader , and whose loader has no confidencein them , That ia fortunate- for tho Government . It scows to mo tlmt , if they were opposed to a party who hud confidence- in thoir lender , and whoso leader had confidence in them , bad as Is tho proscnt etato of things , it would not last out tho evening . " ( Hear , hear , and great lattahtcr . )
This was tbo fiiuwhing stroke : "If ho wishes tho confidence of tho House in the Government to bo tested , ho is bound to nsk ono of hia supportcra to ori tf iiuito a motion for that purpose . I do not want tho opinion of the IIouso of Commons to bo tostod , or clso I would nsk tho IIouso to express an opinion , on tho subject . 1 do not wiak to disturb tho Government . 1 admire their powers of euft'oranco ( Lauyhter ) . I am willing , as ono of a grateful community , to do justice to thoir patriotism . ( Continued
July 15, 1854.] The Leader. 651
July 15 , 1854 . ] THE LEADER . 651
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), July 15, 1854, page 3, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_15071854/page/3/
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