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the taunt, that they had unsettled everything and settled nothing; by comparing the course of the late Government in 1840 with that of the present Government in 1843.

"You say we have made allusion in Her Majesty's Speech to the distress, and yet have done nothing to alleviate it. You did the same. On the 16th January, 1840, Her Majesty was advised thus to address Parliament 'My Lords and Gentlemen: I learn with great sorrow that the commercial embarrassments which have taken place in this and other countries are subjecting many of the manufacturing districts to severe distress;' words not very far from those Her Majesty made use of in 1843. Now what great measure of commercial relief is there that you brought forward in 1840? You, who taunt us with abandoning our principles and not pushing our principles to their legitimate extent, what was your course in 1840 ? You, who say to us, 'You don't deal with the Sugar question, you refuse to permit the importation of foreign sugar,' what course did take with respect to sugar in 1840 ? A Motion was made on the subject; and then it appeared, no doubt, that you were straining every nerve and making every sacrifice to obtain a free importation of sugar. You were ten years in office, and during all that time you were deeply convinced of the principles of free-trade; but notwithstanding this conviction, you did not think that 1840 was the time to carry them out. Even in that great article of consumption, sugar, you still continued to leave the mind of the country unsettled. Every one of those who now advocate the principles of free

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trade was opposed to the Motion; and the reasons which they gave for voting in the majority was, that foreign sugar was the produce of slave-labour. You charge us with keeping the public mind in a state of uncertainty with respect to the Corn-laws; and you do it in a manner as if for the last seven or eight years you had been its manly, constant, and consistent supporters as if you had held it out as a panacea for all our political evils. When the question was debated in the House of Lords in 1840, what was the course adopted by Government? was it one calculated to remove uncertainty? The Corn-laws were made an open question."

Replying to the question, "What had they done to relieve the distresses of the country," Sir Robert Peel reviewed what the Ministers hadeffected during the sixteen months they had been in office. They had succeeded in terminating two wars. The forthcoming Estimates on the three great branches of Naval, Military, and Civil Service, would show a reduction of 850,000l.; the first, he hoped, of a series of reductions. "We have been enabled to reduce the military force in Canada about 4,000 men, and we trust that peace has been established in that colony. We are delighted with the prospect of establishing a perfect amity with France. We have diminished the duties upon Colonial produce in every case where it entered into competition with our own; and we have thus made some advance towards the system of treating our Colonies as integral parts of the empire. We have laboured to effect, and I trust successfully, an adjustment of those differences with the United States which had

continued for forty years, which have only been exasperated by delays, and which were the main causes for apprehending the disturbance of our peaceful relations with that country. We tried to settle those differences without any compromise of British honour, and, on the other hand, without exciting such a feeling of hostility towards this country as appears to exist in some portions of the French nation. For the origin of that hostility we are not responsible. These two countries, however, now present a most remarkable spectacle to the civilized world. It is a

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remarkable thing to see two men who hold the most conspicuous offices in the Government of their respective countries the most distinguished in each for their military achievements and military character--men who have learnt the art and miseries of war on the fields of Toulouse and Waterloo, and who have been opposed to each other on the field of battle

-Stetimus tela aspera contra, Contulimusque manus:' It is a remarkable thing to see those two men exerting all their influence in each country-they being the best judges of the sacrifices which war imposes-to inculcate the lessons of peace; it is a glorious occupation for their declining years. The life of each has been continued beyond the ordinary period of human existence, and I sincerely hope that the life of each may long continue, in order that they may be spared to exhort their countrymen to lay aside their national jealousies, and to enter into the rivalry of honourable competition for increasing human happiness. (Cheers.) When

ple, and the efforts of these men, who have seen the morning sun shine on the living masses of embattled hosts that were to be low in the grave before that sun was set-when I see them inculcating those lessons of peace, and using their salutary influence respectively to discourage their countrymen from war, I do trust that upon each side those anonymous and irresponsible writers in journals, who are doing all they can to exasperate the public mind, to misrepresent every action between the two Governments, which are desirous of cultivating peace, repre< senting to France that the Minister of France is the tool of England, and representing to England that the Ministry of England are sacrificing the honour of England through fear of France-I do trust that those persons will profit by the example of two such illustrious warriors, and that that example will neutralise the influence of efforts such as those to which I have referred efforts not directed by zeal for the honour of the country, but for the base purpose of encouraging national animosities or promoting some party or personal interest. (Loud cheering.) He closed with this exhortation to the House ;—' "You may approve of our foreign policy, you may think that we have laid the foundation of peace in Canada, you may hear with satisfaction that the public expenditure will be diminished, you may hope, that although all differences with the United States may not be adjusted, yet, that those differences which were the principal cause of appre hension have been satisfactorily and honourably arranged; but if, while you feel disposed to acknow

of this conduct, you, nevertheless, believe that the adoption of this Motion will have the effect of relieving the public distress, let no consideration, I say it with perfect sincerity to those who sit on this as well as the other side of the House, let no consideration of party interest, no attachment to party, no predilection to particular men, interfere for an instant with your vote, or prevent you from supporting the Motion, if you conscientiously believe that it is calculated to diminish the distress, to lessen privation, and lay the foundation of commercial prosperity, and the permanent welfare of the state. (Loud and continued cheering.)

Lord John Russell, in a few words, justified the form of the present Motion, and the fitness of the time at which it was brought forward. Foreign nations were induced by the example of this country to restrict their own codes of commerce and thus England, by excluding the great articles in which those nations dealt, precluded herself from all chance of getting favourable treaties from them.

duties upon articles of food if they had come from the opponents of free trade; but he could not understand them when they came from a Government by whom the principles of free-trade were adopted and proclaimed. It might be that a fixed duty of 8s. would not now satisfy the people. It would, he believed, have satisfied them when it was first proposed; but if statesmen allowed the time to go by when a moderate boon would suffice, a larger amount must be eventually conceded. The ultimate repeal of the Roman Catholic disabilities, without any of the securities originally proposed to accompany it, was an illustration of this tendency in political affairs.

Mr. Cobden again rose to disavow the meaning which had been imputed to him in the employment of the word "individually.”

Sir Robert Peel accepted the explanation.

After a few words from Mr. Roebuck, Lord Howick replied, and the House then divided. Against the Motion 306 For it

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He could have understood the Majority against the Motion 115 arguments for keeping up high

CHAPTER III.

Further Debates on Domestic Affairs. On 28th Feb Ashley moves an Address to the Crown on behalf of E the Working Classes -He enters into some shocking de Moral Condition of Great Towns-Speech of Sir Jas. G propounds the Intentions of the Government respecting i Remarks of Lord John Russell, Lord Sandon, Sir R. In Buller, and Sir R. Peel-The Motion is agreed to un Mr. C. Buller proposes on 8th April a Plan for System zation-His copious and able Speech-Concluding with an Address to the Crown-Lord Ashley seconds the 1 Sharman Cranford opposes it, and moves an Amendme by Mr. John Fielden-Mr. Gally Knight supports th Lord Stanley expresses his concurrence in Mr. Buller's but opposes the Motion as uncalled for, on the ground th sive system of Emigration was already carried on under -He moves the previous Question-Remarks of Lord R. H. Inglis, Lord Francis Egerton, Lord John 1 Howard Douglas, and Mr. Stuart Wortley-Mr. C. Bi and withdraws his Motion-Mr. S. Crawford's Amend withdrawn.

TH

HE discussion on the distressed state of the country, of which a summary has been given in the preceding chapter, will be appropriately followed by a notice of some other debates which took place subsequently in this session, relating to cognate topics of domestic policy. Lord Ashley, whose philanthropic exertions on behalf of the neglected population of the great manufacturing towns have been already recorded in former volumes of this work, resumed early in the present session his labours in the same field. On the

following Resolution in the House of Commons :

"That an humble Address be presented to Her Majesty, praying that Her Majesty will be graciously pleased to take into her instant and serious consideration the best means of diffusing the benefits and blessings of a moral and religious education among the workingclasses of her people."

The present, he said, was a favourable time for the opinion, which he was about to propound, when the public mind was almost equally distant between the two

a panacea for all our difficulties, and that it would do nothing. To suppose that education wou'd do everything, was absurd; that it would do nothing, was still more so. John Locke said, "I think I may say that of all the men we meet with, nine parts in ten are what they are, good or evil, useful or not, by their education; it is that which makes the great difference in mankind;" whilst the language of Solomon was, "Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it." Had any one shown any other means by which to attain so desirable an end? The growing spirit of democracy made it especially necessary to the safety of the country, that the public mind should be enlightened, by means of a sound, moral, and religious education, so that the working-classes might acquire that sober, self control, which would enable them to govern and repress the workings of their passions. In spite, however, of all that had been done by the National Society, and Dissenting bodies, there still remained a terrible wilderness of spiritual destitution.

Lord Ashley illustrated that position by statistical figures. In 1801 the population of England and Wales was 8,872,980, whilst in 1841 the returns gave 15,906,829, showing an increase of more than 7,000,000 in less than half a century. Taking one-fifth of the present population, which, by the way, was understating it, as the number supposed to be capable of some education, we should have 3,181,365. Deducting one-third from those as persons presumed to be educated at private expence, there would still remain 2,120,910.

children supposed to be in Unionhouses of 50,000, and also, deducting 10 per cent. for absence and casualties, which would be 212,091, there would still remain 1,858,819, to be provided for at the public expense. Now, it appeared from tables made out by the Rev. Mr. Burgess of Chelsea, that the total number of daily scholars in connexion with the Established Church was 749,626; and from the same table it appeared that the total number of daily scholars in connexion with the Dissenting bodies was 95,000. The total number, then, of daily scholars in England and Wales was 844,626; leaving, without any daily instruction, 1,014,193 persons capable of some education. The number of commitments in 1841 of persons of all ages, was 27,760; and of those, 11 per cent. on the whole amount were under sixteen years of age.

Lord Ashley quoted a great quantity of local statistics, taken from the Reports of the Children's Employment Commission, of the Factory Commissioners, and from private correspondence, mainly relating to the large manufacturing towns and mining districts. Of these we take an extract respecting Manchester, as a specimen of the facts set forth: By the Police-returns for Manchester, made up to December, 1841, it appeared that 13,345 persons were taken into custody, of whom 10,208 were discharged by the Magistrates without any punishment. Of these, 3,069 were under twenty years of age, and 745 were females. The return for the next six months, namely to July, 1842, of persons taken into custody was 8,341: and if the whole year bore

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