HL Deb 03 February 1857 vol 144 cc6-14

The LORDS COMMISSIONERS' Speech having been reported by The LORD CHANCELLOR,

THE EARL OF CORK

said that, in rising to move that a humble Address be presented to Her Majesty in answer to Her Majesty's gracious Speech from the Throne, it was unnecessary for him to ask from their Lordships that kind forbearance and indulgence so invariably extended to all Members of that House, and which were more especially needed by one who not only had the honour of addressing their Lordships for the first time, but who had not very long enjoyed the privilege of a seat in their Lordships' House. Arduous as the task which had devolved upon him must always be, it was perhaps more especially so on the present occasion, when the variety and importance of the subjects brought before their Lordships' consideration by Her Majesty were such as to require far more ability in handling than he could hope to exhibit, even had he acquired the necessary experience. It would there fore be his endeavour to touch upon them as briefly as possible, and he was the more inclined to do so from a strong conviction that the discussion of many of them would be at that moment somewhat inopportune, until their Lordships should be in possession of the more complete information Which would, he believed, be shortly given to the House. It would be fresh in the recollection of their Lordships that when Parliament met about this time last year, the country was still engaged in conflict with a powerful adversary, but that Her Majesty announced in Her gracious Speech on that occasion that she had accepted the good offices of the Emperor of Austria with a view to mediation. In the course of last spring peace was accordingly concluded on such terms as we were warranted in hoping would secure the independence of Turkey from being again endangered by her powerful neighbour. He wished he could say that the Power with whom we treated had evinced a subsequent intention of carrying out that treaty in fairness of spirit, so as to meet the objects for the fulfilment of which this country, in the flush of victory, when supported by an army splendid in its equipment, and a navy perhaps the most powerful we ever sent forth, had abstained from making all the demands we were then in a position to urge. Unfortunately this was not the case; unexpected difficulties arose; Russia strove still to preserve her position on the Danube by the substitution of an unknown Bolgrad for the place intended by that name; she wished to retain the Island of Serpents, and so to have the means of blockading and turning that artery of Europe, destined by nature to be the highway of commerce, into a Russian stream. That, however, could not be. France and England had not squandered their treasure, had not poured forth the dearer blood of their sons, in order that the advantages hardly won by their arms should be lightly wrested from them by diplomacy. Thanks to the loyalty of the French Emperor, thanks to the firmness of the statesmen of this country—these dangers had been averted; the objects for which we originally entered into the late severe struggle had been effectually attained, and the independence of Turkey had been placed upon a well-defined ground by the establishment of a natural barrier, which, indeed, appeared as though originally formed by Providence to be her protecting boundary against the aggressions of a powerful and enterprising neighbour. This final adjustment of the much-vexed Eastern question, in a manner calculated to raise the position of England, and that without derogating from the dignity of her great adversary, was mainly due, he apprehended, to the firm, unswerving, and fixed line of policy maintained upon that occasion by Her Majesty's Government. But, in paying this tribute to the skill with which these negotiations had been conducted, their Lordships would, he felt assured, agree with him in thinking that too much praise could not be given to the conduct of the English people throughout these transactions. While showing, on the one hand, their willingness to bear the necessary additional burdens to obtain the ends for which they had entered into the struggle, those ends once achieved they had exhibited to Europe the example of a great nation actuated by higher motives than mere national advantage or glory, and as disinterested in counsel as they were determined in action. Whether the country for which so much had been done and gained would prove worthy by her future conduct of the efforts that had been made in her behalf yet remained to be seen; but it was not too much to expect that she would spare no exertion to shake off the apathy and want of energy in her internal administration which had so long prevailed to her detriment, and which, but for extraneous assistance, had nearly caused her to succumb at once to the attempts made by her more powerful and energetic neighbour to lower her place irrecoverably in the scale of nations.

The second point in Her Majesty's Speech namely, the impending settlement of the questions which have arisen in consequence of the miserable attempts at insurrection made at Neufchâtel last summer—must afford to every lover of peace the satisfaction expressed by Her Majesty. The consequences which might have ensued from the insane enterprise of a few hot-headed men went nigh to embroil Europe in a war of the character of all others the most to be dreaded—a war not for any material object, but essentially, if not wholly, a contest of opinion. It was impossible to suppose that the King of Prussia or his Government could have been originally parties to this petty insurrection so promptly defeated by the patriotism and energy of the people of the town and canton of Neufchâtel. But it was not the less true that for the protection of the insurgents and the barren question of a titular suzerainty he took arms, and was apparently upon the point of entering upon a contest from which the courage and patriotism of the Swiss would not have shrunk, in which the great countries of Europe must soon have become involved, and which would probably not have ended without the overthrow of more than one established Government. This general disturbance of the peace of Europe had been happily avoided by well-timed and judicious counsels and mediation, and we were now relieved from the grave apprehension which had at one time been generally entertained. With respect to the state of our diplomatic relations with Naples, their Lordships being well aware of the views strongly expressed by several of the Plenipotentiaries at the Congress of Paris on the dangers attending the King's persistence in his system of misgovernment, could not have been surprised to learn that on the determined rejection by this Sovereign of the advice tendered to him in the most friendly manner and with the best intentions by the Governments of England and France, those two Powers should have found no other course left to them but the suspension of diplomatic relations, and the demonstration thereby to the rest of Europe that they could not, in the interests of humanity, overlook the contempt of their remonstrances, and, by the presence of their representatives at that Court, continue to give indirect sanction to a system of tyranny and oppression which in its folly threatened the tranquillity of Europe and in its cruelty disgraced the age to which we belong. Whatever differences of opinion might be entertained by their Lordships as to the right and expediency of interference on the part of one State in the internal administration of another; in this case, surely, if ever, the motives carried with them their own justification; and surely, too, their beneficial results were already becoming apparent in the terms recently offered by the King of Naples to his heretofore unfortunate prisoners.

The paragraph of Her Majesty's Speech which perhaps most called for congratulation, was that in which Her Majesty informed them that she had been engaged in negotiations with the Government of the United States, and also with the Government of Honduras, which she trusted would be successful in removing all cause of misunderstanding with respect to Central America. After the differences which last year threatened to disturb our amicable intercourse with that Government, their Lordships must all rejoice that the impending misunderstanding had been happily averted, and that there was every prospect of a successful issue to the negotiations announced, for it was impossible not to feel the importance of every circumstance calculated to cement our union with that great nation—a nation sprung from the same origin as ourselves, speaking our language, holding many of our opinions, and closely connected with whom so many of our interests must ever remain bound up.

Their Lordships would also have heard with pleasure the announcement of a treaty of friendship and commerce having been concluded with Siam, there being every reason to believe that the commerce likely to be carried on between this country and Siam would be to a large amount, and highly beneficial to both.

Her Majesty has next expressed Her regret that the conduct of the Persian Government has led to hostilities between Her Majesty and the Shah; the Persian Go- vernment having, in defiance of repeated warnings, and in violation of its engagements besieged and captured the important city of Herat. It was unnecessary for him to follow step by step the course of events as they had occurred since those relations were first troubled by the hostile attitude assumed by the present Shah towards this country. To all who had watched the progress of affairs in that quarter, it must have been evident that that spirit of hostility, instead of being conciliated by the moderate tone adopted by the British Government through its Minister, became only more gross and insulting, until, in December, 1855, after enduring a long series of provocations, followed by subterfuges and evasions of all kinds on the question of redress, no option remained to the representative of our country but to close the mission there abruptly. Serious as the position had then become, he, for one, did not believe that war was even then by any means an inevitable consequence, unwilling as we naturally were to resort to any measures calculated to imperil a country which, for obvious reasons, we sought to maintain in its normal integrity. But the next measure resorted to by the Shah, in open violation of an engagement of comparatively recent standing, and in defiance of every warning—namely, the siege of Herat, followed by the surrender of that town in October last—showed that forbearance must have a limit, and that the hour of action had arrived. He forbore to weary their Lordships by an account of the fruitless negotiations during the course of that siege; they sufficiently evinced the spirit of faithlessness in which the Shah acted throughout, and it would have been altogether useless to allude to them, except as an additional testimony to the justice of our cause, and the imperative necessity which actuated Her Majesty's Government in sending forth the expedition which quitted Bombay in the middle of last November, with the view of inducing the Shah to accede to our just demands. The accounts received during the past week of the success which had hitherto attended the movements of this expedition and of the brilliant capture of Bushire were such as must cause them to respond most warmly to the gracious expressions of satisfaction addressed to them by Her Majesty upon the subject. Every detail in the despatches of General Stalker and Sir Henry Leeke bore witness to the gallant conduct alike of the officers and men; and, while they deplored the loss of those who had fallen in the moment of victory, they had just reason to be proud of both the living and the dead. It was, perhaps, full early to offer predictions as to the effect of this triumphant commencement of operations upon the Shah, but it was impossible that he should not feel severely the speedy capture of one of the principal forts of his empire, nor did the hope seem unreasonable that intimidation might enforce without delay what moderation had failed to effect, and that we might shortly be enabled to renew our amicable relations with Persia by placing them upon a footing which should render them not again liable to the like violent interruptions from the duplicity and ill-feeling which had been cherished towards us at the Court of Teheran.

Her Majesty next informed them that acts of violence, insults to the British flag, and infractions of treaty rights committed by the local Chinese authorities at Canton, and a pertinacious refusal of redress, had rendered it necessary for Her Majesty's officers in China to have recourse to measures of force to obtain satisfaction; that those measures had, up to the date of the last accounts, been taken with great forbearance, but with signal success as regards the conflicts to which they had led; and Her Majesty trusts that the Government of Pekin will see the propriety of affording the satisfaction demanded, and of faithfully fulfilling its treaty engagements. Our position, with respect to China was at this moment in a state of transition, which, if unsatisfactory in itself, might, there was reason to hope, lead to much ultimate benefit. Unsatisfactory as the relations of that country with other Powers had ever been, it had long been obvious that they must, sooner or later, prove untenable on their existing terms; and that they had eventually become so by their own acts of insolence and obstinacy could be matter of surprise to no one. The insult to our flag, aggravated and made to bear the character of premeditation by the subsequent conduct of the Chinese High Commissioner, it was, indeed, impossible to submit to. It was what no Power could suppose we should tolerate, and what few nations, we had a right to believe, would rashly have offered. By the Chinese, wise in their own conceit, this had been done; and it would indeed be a striking instance of the good that sometimes arose out of evil should the overwhelming excess of Chinese arrogance and shortsightedness be the immediate cause of establishing, on a broad and equitable basis, the commerce between China and Europeans. To the country itself with which we were at issue, we might fairly assume that this termination of affairs would be in the highest degree beneficial. The system of injustice and monopoly which all more than suspected to prevail in the internal administration must, as a natural consequence of unrestricted intercourse with other nations, greatly diminish; Corruption must gradually be checked by exposure; while the increase and additional security of our already extensive trade with China would be profitable to both sides alike—to ourselves not a little, to the Chinese unquestionably more; and, much as we might regret, even with these chances of eventual good, finding ourselves again engaged in hostilities with that country, it was, he thought, obvious that it would have been establishing too dangerous a principle to permit the infringement of a treaty by a people disposed, like the Chinese, to ascribe moderation to fear, and to encroach even more largely upon forbearance. Any backwardness upon our part would, therefore, have made the position of the British residents at Canton still worse than it had hitherto been, whence it became doubly incumbent upon us to protect them efficiently from fresh and wanton insults by the Chinese authorities.

Another subject, which he approached with great diffidence, and on which it would best become him to touch very lightly, was the momentous but intricate one of the necessary reforms in our existing laws of divorce and testamentary jurisdiction. That in both, as they now stood, glaring abuses cried for correction was well admitted on all sides. How or in what manner that correction might best be devised and applied to secure the necessary protection for property and individuals, alike to rich and poor, it was not for him to suggest. The question was not a party one, and it demanded the serious consideration of all competent to deal with it; for his part, it would suffice that he should express his earnest hope that the hour of law reform was at hand, and that such reform would be so comprehensive in its basis and so vigorous in its application as to satisfy the deep feeling which was entertained upon this subject by all classes of the people.

Varied as might hare been their Lordships' opinions on the preceding topics, they must, he was sure, have all heard with gratification of the prosperous and contented condition of the people, and that notwithstanding the increased taxation consequent upon a state of war. The revenue returns for the past year showed a large increase in the consumption of those articles which were only enjoyed by the lower classes when labour was abundant and wages were in proportion. As regarded our commerce, the exports alone of the past year had exceeded in value by twenty millions those of the preceding one. While upon this subject he could not refrain from alluding, in a few words, to the state of that country with which he was himself more intimately connected, and the rapid transition of which from the depths of misery and degradation to prosperity hitherto unexampled in her annals must cause the utmost thankfulness to all who were in any way connected with her. The voice of sedition was no longer heard there, raising class against class, and too frequently in its specious declamation leading on to ruin the unfortunates who might have been misled by a semblance of patriotism. The empty state of the workhouses, the poor law returns, and last, but not least, the police reports, all bore witness to the diminution of pauperism and crime, which were the natural consequences of the improvement in the agricultural classes, the profitable increase of the manufactures, and the universal rise in the condition of the people. The only proof of these statements with which he would trouble their Lordships was the comprehensive fact that, whereas on the 1st of January, 1851, the number of those who received in-door relief in Ireland exceeded 206,000, on the same day, this year, they barely surpassed 55,000.

Having thus endeavoured to bring before their Lordships' notice, as briefly as possible, the various subjects contained in the Speech from the Throne, he did not know that he could better conclude than by the final prayer of that Speech, that the blessing of Divine Providence might attend upon their deliberations and prosper their councils for the advancement of the welfare and happiness of Her Majesty's loyal and faithful people. The noble Earl concluded by moving That an humble Address be presented to Her Majesty in answer to Her Gracious Speech from the Throne.

The following is a copy of the Address agreed to.