HANSARD'S PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES, DURING THE FOURTH SESSION OF THE THIRTEENTH PARLIAMENT OF THE UNITED KINGDOM OF GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND, APPOINTED ΤΟ MEET AT WESTMINSTER, 26TH JANUARY, 1841, IN THE FOURTH YEAR OF THE REIGN OF HER MAJESTY QUEEN VICTORIA. FIRST VOLUME OF THE SESSION. HOUSE OF LORDS, Tuesday, January 26, 1841. OPENING OF PARLIAMENT.] Her Majesty, in person, opened the Parliament, the usual ceremonies having been gone through, by the following most gracious Speech. My Lords and Gentlemen, "I have the satisfaction to receive from Foreign Powers assurances of their friendly disposition, and of their earnest desire to maintain peace. "The posture of affairs in the Levant had long been a cause of uneasiness, and a source of danger to the general tranquillity. With a view to avert the evils which a continuance of that state of things was calculated to occasion, I concluded with the Emperor of Austria, the King of Prussia, the Emperor of Russia, and the Sultan, a Convention intended to Third VOL. LVI. Series effect a pacification of the Levant; to maintain the integrity and independence of the Ottoman empire; and thereby to afford additional security to the peace of Europe. "I have given directions that this Convention shall be laid before you. "I rejoice to be able to inform you that the measures which have been adopted in execution of these engagements have been attended with signal success; and I trust that the objects which the contracting parties had in view are on the eve of being completely accomplished. "In the course of these transactions, my naval forces have co-operated with those of the Emperor of Austria, and with the land and sea forces of the Sultan, and have displayed upon all occasions their accustomed gallantry and skill. B 1 "Having deemed it necessary to you without delay, which have for send to the coast of China a naval their object the more speedy and and military force, to demand repa- effectual administration of justice. ration and redress for injuries in- The vital importance of this subject flicted upon some of my subjects by is sufficient to ensure for it your the officers of the Emperor of China, early and most serious consideration. and for indignities offered to an agent "The powers of the Commissionof my Crown, I, at the same time, ap-ers appointed under the Act for the pointed plenipotentiaries to treat upon these matters with the Chinese go vernment. Amendment of the Laws relating to "It is always with entire confi- "These plenipotentiaries were, by the last accounts, in negotiation with the government of China, and it will be a source of much gratification to me, if that government shall be induced by its own sense of justice to bring these matters to a speedy settlement by an amicable arrangement. "Serious differences have arisen between Spain and Portugal, about the execution of a treaty concluded all your councils may be so directed by those Powers in 1835, for regulating the navigation of the Douro. But both parties have accepted my mediation, and I hope to be able to effect a reconciliation between them upon terms honourable to both. as to advance the great interests of As soon as the Queen had concluded "I have concluded with the Ar- the Speech, her Majesty was handed from gentine Republic, and with the Re-Albert, left the House in the same form the Throne, and, accompanied by Prince public of Hayti, treaties for the sup- "I have directed the Estimates of the year to be laid before you. "However sensible of the importance of adhering to the principles of economy, I feel it to be my duty to recommend that adequate provision be made for the exigencies of the public service. as upon her entrance. The House adjourned during pleasure. Her Majesty's Speech having been again His The Earl of Ducie rose and said, it appeared to him to have always been the custom in that House, in moving the Address in answer to the Speech from the Throne, to fix upon the most inexperienced person for that purpose. noble friend (Viscount Melbourne) had not on the present occasion proved himself a very strenuous reformer, and he hoped that their Lordships would not prove such unusual reformers as not to concede to him "My Lords and Gentlemen. that courteous forbearance which had hitherto been conceded to persons simi"Measures will be submitted to larly situated. It was most gratifying to him to find from her Majesty's gracious | quite resumed that state of limited and speech from the Throne, that her Majesty uncertain prosperity beyond which they had received from foreign powers assur- could not go so long as there existed reances of their desire to maintain relations strictive duties of such a nature as renof peace and amity with this country; and dered it impossible for any foresight and it was still more gratifying to him to find, caution to prevent the recurrence of famine that the first wish and object of her Ma- prices and their fatal consequences. At jesty was to maintain that peace which was that present moment there existed a large so essential to the welfare and the happi- field for the commercial industry of this ness of the country, depending as this country to extend itself. He did not becountry did, from its position among the lieve, that in the history of this country a nations of Europe, upon her manufactures better opportunity had ever been offered to and commerce. But, dear and necessary the spirit and enterprise of our merchants. as peace might be, he was the last person As regarded our commercial affairs, it to wish that England should lose her was necessary that he should take a short position among nations by a culpable in- retrospective glance to the state of deactivity, when her active interference be- rangement in which our commercial affairs came necessary, and more especially in had lately been, and in which they had such a case as that which had arisen in continued since the summer of 1839. The the East, where our interference had been first cause was the contraction of the curoccasioned by our desire and hope to main- rency; there was, secondly, the second tain peace. That blessing, he believed, general discredit in the United States of would be speedily realised to us. There- America; there was also the stoppage of fore he must say that, in his opinion, our trade with China; the blockade by they owed a debt of gratitude to the France of the South American ports; and, head that here planned, and to the lastly, the uncertain state of the negotiaarms that there completed the capture tions in the East. Since there had existed of Acre. He had every reason to hope no doubt of the continuance of peace, the and believe that our differences with China foreign exchanges had acquired so much would be brought speedily to an end: al- steadiness that there was every reason to though perfectly aware of the dilatory na- hope that the usual commerce of the ture of the Chinese, he hoped that the oc- year would produce a balance of paycupation of the island of Chusan would ment in favour of this country, so that act as a spur upon their diplomacy. With bullion would again return to the coffers regard to those points of legislation to of the Bank of England, and the money which their Lordships' attention would be market of London be relieved from the drawn, it was useless for him to take up pressure that now weighed it down, and their Lordships' time in making remarks, from the high rate of interest that had as in those instances referred to, the prin- existed for some time. This would be a ciples had been admitted by that House, great relief to the internal trade of the and indeed by the Legislature. Since their country, and would enable the banks to Lordships had assembled last year, there afford that accommodation which had so imhad occurred great and mighty changes, portant a bearing on the national industry. having, as he thought, a most beneficial Having these prospects of the improvebearing upon the future prospects of this ment of trade, he had also the satisfaction country. In India they had every reason of believing, that many of those causes that to hope for tranquillity and for an oppor- had hitherto pressed upon our commercial tunity of cultivating in that country more interests were either removed or were in extensively the arts of peace. Canada ex- the course of removal. The settlement of hibited no symptoms of political disturb the eastern question had again opened the ance, but, on the contrary, presented a sa- trade of Syria and Egypt, and he did not tisfactory feeling with reference to the think that he should be too sanguine in new constitution for the two provinces. hoping that the legitimate influence of With regard to domestic politics, the England must ultimately, by the part she country was in the enjoyment of quiet. had taken, produce an extended commerOur agriculture was in a state of the cial intercourse in those parts. The cessagreatest prosperity, and of progressive tion of the blockade by France of the South improvement; our manufactures have re- American ports would also produce an incovered from that depressed state increased commercial intercourse with those which they had some time been, and had parts, and the wise recognition of the in dependence of the states of Texas had opened a large field to the spirit and enterprise of our merchants and manufacturers. From the last accounts that had been received from the eastern seas there was every reason to believe that our differences with China would be adjusted, and he did not think he was too sanguine in saying that he hoped and trusted and believed that arrangements would be made upon a foundation that would fully provide indemnity for the past and security for the future, and at the same time extend our commercial relations with that large empire. Among our prospects of commercial improvement, no spot was more bright, or gave greater cause for congratulation, than the evidence that had lately been received of the restoration of credit in the United States. From the magnitude of the transactions, and the extended intercourse that had taken place between this country and the United States, it was impossible but that the derangement of internal credit for the last four years should have been heavily and grievously felt by our merchants and manufacturers. That evil was now fast passing away, and there was every reason to hope that the former extended intercourse would be gradually resumed to the great advantage of both countries. It would be hardly doing justice to the people of the United States if he missed that opportunity of calling their Lordships' notice to their honour and good faith, in punctually fulfilling their engagements with their foreign creditors. They had set a good example to their neighbours in South America, and indeed not a bad one for some of the older states of Europe. It was gratifying to him to find that those prospects of extended commercial relations were not likely to be disturbed by any interruption of the general peace of the world. Having made these few remarks, he could not but just draw their Lordships' attention to the uniform success that had attended the policy of her Majesty's Ministers. It must be conceded that they had at this moment domestic quiet, and, as regarded our foreign relations, they had every prospect of peace and extended commerce. He had heard it said, that these happy results were the consequences of good fortune. He, however, entertained a very different opinion. He attributed the one to the firm administration of the existing laws; and the prospects of peace and of extended commerce were in his opinion mainly to be attributed to the straightforward and manly course taken by the noble Lord, the Secretary for Foreign Affairs. There was one other point to which he must call their Lordships' attention. It was, indeed, a subject of thanks, but of thanks to a higher power than any earthly power-he alluded to the safe delivery of her Majesty, and to the birth of an heiress to the Throne. There was no reflecting person either in that House, or in the whole kingdom, who had not and did not most sincerely return thanks to the All-wise disposer of events, that there was every hope that the inheritance of the Throne of these realms would descend in the direct line. He felt so certain that their Lordships would concur in that opinion, that he was sure that they would cordially adopt that part of the Address to which he had last alluded, and which Address he moved, be adopted by their Lordships. The noble Earl read and moved an address, the echo of the Speech from the Throne. Lord Lurgan said, that in rising to second the Address which had just been moved by the noble Earl, he was conscious of so many deficiencies on his own part, and of his utter inability to perform the task which now devolved upon him in the manner in which he always wished to perform every duty before their Lordships, that, at the very outset, he would put forward an humble claim for their kindness and indulgence. If left entirely to his own inclination he would rather have shrunk from the performance of the duty altogether, but his duty urged him onward to the task, feeling assured that he should experience at the hands of their Lordships forgiveness in all those points in which he should feel himself inadequate to the importance of the occasion. He felt deeply on the one hand his own insufficiency, but on the other hand he was willing to confess that, when he glanced for a moment at the topics mentioned in the royal speech, or ran, however briefly, over the great and interesting events brought before them from the Throne, as soon as he looked away from himself and looked only at the cause which he was called upon to support, his courage returned-he felt the strength of the cause which had been put by the noble Earl-strength not to be weakened or impaired even by the weakness of his advocacy. He thought, that if ever men in the position that nightfoccupied by the noble Earl and himself were entitled to speak confidently, and to anticipate sanguinely, surely they were on the pre |