brightening prospects of the agricultural state of Her Majesty's relations with Foworld, seem to promise a continuance, nay, reign Powers. We are then transported an increase, of that national prosperity to the complicated state of affairs in the and contentment which the enlightened Duchies of Holstein and Sleswig; and rule of our beloved Sovereign has, under thence we jump to our antipodes in the Providence, hitherto secured to us. At Cape of Good Hope. We are next carried the same time, the increasing population, to the tranquillity which reigns in one part the wealth and enlarged intelligence of the of Ireland, and then to the outrages which people, seem to call upon your Lordships have been committed in another; and from to consider calmly the expediency of any the outrages in Ireland to the Expenditure further alterations in the provisions of the required to make adequate provision for Reform Bill. Though outrages of a pe- the Public Service. Thence, again, we culiar character have been prevalent in jump to the reforms to be made in the three counties in Ireland, which the utmost practice and proceedings of the Superior powers of the law have been and still are Courts of Law and Equity; and thence to exerted to suppress, yet it is gratifying to the reform in the representative instituknow that the general state of that coun- tions, not of the United Kingdom, but of try is more satisfactory. Such being the New Zealand. Then, making a sudden case, and having, I believe, briefly touched flight from New Zealand, we come back to upon most of the topics of Her Majesty's Her Majesty's declaration of satisfaction at most gracious Speech, it only remains for the economical prospects of the country; me to express my hope and belief that the and then, having already disposed of the Address will meet with your cordial and representative system in New Zealand, we unanimous approval. are recommended by Her Majesty to give On the Question being proposed, some attention to the representative system The EARL of DERBY said: My Lords, of Old England. I am not surprised, my important and multifarious as are the top- Lords, that for some time past rumours ics which are treated of in the gracious have been in circulation that the Cabinet Speech just delivered from the Throne, I is not in that complete and perfect state of am happy to be able to state, at the very organisation which some could wish; and I outset, that neither in the terms of that can really not account for such an extraSpeech, nor the Address in reply to it, do I ordinary concoction as this Speech is, unfind any grounds for compelling the intro- less by supposing that each of the fifteen duction of a hostile Amendment; nor yet constituent members of the Cabinet introdo I find in the speech of the noble Earl duced each a paragraph into the Speech, who moved the Address, nor in the speech and, having jumbled them together into a of the noble Baron who seconded it, any- box, drew lots for the precedence in its thing which requires much serious animad- organisation. But, my Lords, the order of version, saving always that splendid out- the arrangement of the Speech is of much break of the noble Baron on the brighten- less consequence than the topics theming prospects of the agricultural interest. selves. Before, however, I come more The topics, however, of the Speech and of particularly to them, it will be my duty, the Address are, I repeat, so important and my Lords, to advert to two topics which so multifarious, that I feel I should not be are not adverted to in that Speech, and on performing my duty either to the House, or which I shall be happy to elicit some exto the position which I have the honour to pression of opinion from Her Majesty's occupy in it, or to the party with which I Ministers. In the course of last year Her have the honour to act, if I did not shortly Majesty's Government thought it fit and express my opinions, and in expressing my necessary to use expressions of condolence opinions I know that I am expressing regarding the distress which prevailed at theirs, on some of the matters mentioned that time among a large and important in that Speech. I said that the topics class of Her Majesty's subjects: I mean were important and multifarious; and, with the class connected with agriculture. I have all due deference to those who prepared seen, my Lords, and not without surprise, that Speech, I must add that I never saw that this topic is now altogether omitted or read a Speech in which the topics were from the Speech. I am at a loss to know jumbled together in such admired confu- how and in what degree the prospects of sion, and in which there was such a total the agricultural interest have materially abstinence from all connection and order." brightened since last year; but I was We begin with a declaration of the friendly wholly unprepared for that splendid out

break with which the noble Baron en- | matter of indifference that a large and inlivened us, when, with a gallantry natural creasing portion of our supplies should be to his age and to his profession, he rushed imported from other countries, because, forward to congratulate the agricultural unless we are misinformed, a prohibition of classes, of all people in the world, on their exportation from these countries may not eminent and increasing prosperity. I wish be distant or improbable. I am not conthat I could share in the visions of pros- vinced that the repeal of the corn laws perity in which the noble Baron indulged; may not lead to frequent fluctuations in but I confess that, in spite of the rise of price; but I am confident that the effect 2s. a quarter in the price of wheat in the of the repeal of these laws must be to course of the last few weeks, bringing up render this country more than ever dethe price to the unprecedented amount of pendent on foreign countries for its main 398. 3d. a quarter, I see no prospect of supply of food. That, my Lords, is a state material prosperity for the agricultural in- of things dangerous to this or to any counterest. There is one class, indeed, which try; and I have not at all altered my opinI may congratulate on this recent rise, if ion, that, for the purpose of revenue, as well I may trust to the accounts in the news- as the protection of native industry, it is papers, and that is not the agriculturists, desirable that agricultural produce should but the bakers. I see this day-and it is be included in the articles of import on worthy of the attention and consideration which a revenue should be raised. But of the public, if not of the Legislature-I perhaps I should not have said anything see that in consequence of this rise of 2s. on this subject had it not been for the exper quarter in the price of corn, that pression which fell from the noble Baron is, of 1-20th part of the price of the on the brightening prospects of agriculraw material, the price of the 4 lb. loaf ture. is increased a penny, that is, it has I now pass, my Lords, to another quesbeen increased a fifth in consequence tion of equal interest, on which I hope to of the rise of a twentieth in the price hear some explanation from Her Majesty's price of the raw material. Now, I beg Ministers. At the commencement of last that in this case the country will consider Session we were told, in most pompous that the increase in the price of the 4 lb. language by the Prime Minister, that a loaf ought to rest on the shoulders of those most insolent and violent aggression had who ought to bear the responsibility, and been committed on the independence of ought not to be attributed to the increase the country that an attack had been in the price of corn. However, I don't made on our religious liberties—and that wish to overstate or exaggerate any part of there was a conspiracy, an organised conthe case, and I readily admit that even spiracy, against the Protestant institutions under the present system some portion of of England. After an announcement sufagricultural produce-I mean barley and ficiently ample to warrant the re-enactment oats-has maintained its price to an ex- of the whole code of penal laws, a meatent greater than I and others anticipated. sure was introduced, which occupied the But, my Lords, with regard to that most attention of Parliament almost to the eximportant article of agricultural produce, clusion of every other subject from the wheat, I must say the effect of the repeal beginning of the Session to its close, for of those laws which protected the native the purpose of repelling that insolent and agriculturist, has influenced prices to a far violent foreign aggression. I thought at greater extent than I ever ventured to the time that there was serious danger anticipate. At the present moment the threatening our Protestant institutions; price of wheat is below what was antici- but I also thought that Her Majesty's pated even by those who assured us that Government was dealing with the surface the prices then existing were purely ex- and not with the substance of that danger, ceptional. For the last three or four and with a small part and not with the years the price of wheat has been falling whole of the evil to be encountered. in this country; and my belief now is, as Though I felt it my duty to support that it was some two or three years ago, that Bill, yet I could not help feeling also that, the production of wheat in this country, limited and scanty as it was, it was not unless some alteration of the law shall calculated to attain the object, limited and take place, must diminish to an extent scanty as it was, which it sought to acalarming, if not dangerous, to this coun-complish. I wish to ask, then, whether try. My Lords, I do not look upon it as a any one of Her Majesty's Ministers will

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as when I last addressed you." But, though it be a question of a more personal nature if our relations with Foreign Powers continue on the most friendly footing, yet it is a subject, at all events, on which the country will think, if not with anxiety, at least with some curiosity, how it came about that the Government found it necessary and expedient to part with the services of one of the most able and skilful of their colleagues. My Lords, I have had occasion frequently to find fault with the foreign policy of that noble Lord, and if he had still continued a Minister of the Crown, I should probably have found it necessary to comment on some of the transactions which have taken place since the last Session of Parliament; but no one can have any doubt that the noble Viscount was fully equal to the business of his office-that he is a man of the highest character, of the highest ability-and the opinion, therefore, must arise that some

get up and say with a grave face that he is satisfied with the result of that legislation? I wish that Minister to tell me in what way that law has been effective-in what degree the aggression has been repelled and, above all, in what manner the institutions and liberties of Protestant England have been secured against the past and present aggression of the See of Rome? I am glad to see that the noble Earl opposite (Earl Grey) is taking a note of what I am now saying, for I shall be glad to hear him state the mode in which that Act has had any effect in repelling or removing aggression, or in placing our liberties in security, or to hear him state that the law has been obeyed implicitly, and has produced all the effect intended. For, my Lords, what is the fact? The fact is, that the law, whether so intended or not, has been entirely a dead letter-ay, and worse even than a dead letter, because it has been a target at which all manner of abuse, vituperation, and defiance has been launch-serious cause alone could have induced the ed. The law, I say, has been violated with impunity-yes, openly and ostentatiously. Perhaps the noble Earl will tell me that no steps have been taken to punish the violation of the law, because no proof of its violation could be obtained. Now, that places the Government in this dilemma, either that the law is such that it renders proof of the commission of the offence which it proposes to punish impossible, or that it has been openly violated, and in that law all the authority of Parliament and of law in general has been openly, wantonly, and ostentatiously set at nought. I expect, however, to hear either that Ministers are satisfied with the law as it now stands, and that no further steps are to be taken to strengthen it, or else that they propose to take measures to vindicate that which last Session they declared to be a matter of national importance.

I pass now, my Lords, to other topics; and, delicate as I know some of them to be, I shall not hesitate to speak on them, being bound by no such ties of official responsibility as are Her Majesty's Ministers. Her Majesty's Government announce that Her Majesty "continues to maintain the most friendly relations with Foreign Powers." Perhaps, if I had been seeking for an expression which would correctly describe our relations with Foreign Powers, I should have selected as the more appropriate one," Our relations with Foreign Powers continue on as friendly a footing

Government to dispense with the services of one of their most experienced coadjutors. If not, then, in this House, I presume that in the other House of Parliament public curiosity will be satisfied. I pass from that topic to one which is of infinitely more importance, namely, the real state of our relations with Foreign Powers. Even at this late hour, there is some hope that within a very short period the treaty between Germany and Denmark, which was completed the year before last, will fully succeed. I rejoice in the removal of the cause of complaint and of difference between any two European nations, because I know how liable the slightest spark of dissension between any two countries might be to kindle a flame which it might be far more easy to kindle than to extinguish. But, my Lords, although Her Majesty's Ministers have alluded to the friendly relations maintained between this and Foreign Powers, they have not alluded to their relations with France. It may be politic on their part to do so; but I am not bound by any of those ties by which they are bound to abstain from speaking openly upon the subject. I entirely agree with the noble Earl who moved the Address (the Earl of Albemarle) that the internal administration and government of each country is a matter for the consideration and arrangement of that country alone; that it rests with that country alone; and that that with which other countries have to deal is the Govern

ment de facto, without reference to whe- | the injudicious, and, I may add, unjustifither it be the Government de jure. With re-able language, which has been made use [gard to France, its government for the last of by a large portion of the public press sixty years has been a succession of usurpations of one kind or another; but on no occasion have we thought it to be our duty to protest against that system of government which the French had chosen for themselves, whether the constitutional monarchy of Louis Philippe, the Republic of 1848, or that which I suppose I am still bound to call, by courtesy, "the French Republic" of 1852. In each case the form of government has been the deliberate choice of the people of France, and that form is one which, as that choice, we are bound to respect. We are bound to consider, undoubtedly, whether one form of government or another, whether one state of affairs or another, existing in a country in our immediate neighbourhood, may exercise an influence for good or evil over our own national relations and our national independence; but beyond the question of how far it may affect our own material national interests, we have nothing whatever to do with any shade or form of government which a country may choose, from the most absolute despotism down to the most entire red republicanism. It is not for us, therefore, here to canvass every step which has been taken in France -to canvass either the policy or morality of any particular act which may have been done. It is enough for us that the existing state of government has been acquiesced in by the French almost with unanimity it is enough for us to see that the extraordinary powers which are exercised by the French President have been conferred upon him by the almost unanimous expression of the popular opinion of France it is enough for us to see that he holds the power which he now exercises by a title which we are bound to respect, that of the declared and expressed will of the people of France. My Lords, I will go further, and I will say that I firmly believe that the French President personally is fully disposed to entertain friendly relations, and to mainLtain a pacific policy towards other nations. But, my Lords, I think that if anything could divert him from that course-if he were a man likely to be worked upon by his own personal feelings--if anything were likely to divert him from that course of policy which I believe his inclination and his sense of the interests of France are likely to make him take, it would be

of this country in commenting upon the character of the French Government and people. If, as in these days, the press aspires to exercise the influence of statesmen, the press should remember that they are not free from the corresponding respon sibility of statesmen, and that it is incumbent on them, as a sacred duty, to maintain that tone of moderation and respect, even in expressing frankly their opinions on foreign affairs, which would be required of every man who pretends to guide public opinion, and which is naturally expected from every man who does not seek to inflict the most serious evils upon his own country and others; and I say that it is more than imprudent, that it is more than injudicious, that it is more than folly-that it is perfect madness-at one and the same time to profess a belief in the hostile intentions of a foreign country, and to parade before the eyes of that very people the supposed inability of this country to defend itself; to magnify the resources of your supposed assailant, and to point out how easy would be the invasion, if not the subjugation, of this country (though, thank God! the most violent have not yet spoken of subjugation); but to speak of that invasion, accompanying it with details of the fearful amount of horror and bloodshed which, under any circumstances, must attend it, and then, in the same breath, to assail with every term of obloquy, of vituperation, and abuse, the public and private character of the man who wields that force which you say is irresistible. I am sure, my Lords, that whatever unfavourable impression may have been made on the public mind of France by the unjustifiable censures of the public press, that impression may be removed to a great extent by the frank expression of opinion such as you have now received in this and the other House of Parliament; and certain I am that in making use of these expressions I speak the opinion of every well-judging and well-meaning friend of his country. But, believing as I do in the pacific policy of Prince Louis Napoleon, certain that the preservation of peace is an object of not less importance to France than to England, certain that the whole Continent of Europe would be banded as one man against him who should unjustifiably violate the state of peace in which happily for some time we have been