Part 20 (2/2)
I am considerably within the truth when I state, that since the peace the interest of the public debt has been decreased by an amount more than sufficient to pay the interest of 100,000,000 l. of stock; and your Lords.h.i.+ps will therefore see that some surplus of revenue, in order to lead to a diminution of the public debt, is highly desirable. I think it is a principle of the financial policy of this country that there should be such a surplus, and that it should be so applied. Besides, much of the revenue of this country depends on the seasons, and almost all on consumption; and the amount of consumption depends upon taste and fas.h.i.+on; and the change of taste and fas.h.i.+on, and other circ.u.mstances over which no man can have control, and which are liable to variations, may tend to a variation in the amount of the revenue, which nothing can provide against except a surplus revenue. It is on this principle that the government to which I had the honour to belong proceeded.
We should not think that an individual provided for his expenses who should leave a part of them to be paid within a future period, neither can we think all the expenditure of the country is provided for, leaving a part to be paid for in the next year. The sum expended for the service of the year is the sum to be paid, whether within the year or at any other period, for this sum provision ought to be made within the year, or debt is incurred. It is a new principle introduced into the financial system of this country; it is a principle which at any other time than the present, would never have been listened to, much less tolerated by parliament for a moment.
_October 17, 1831._
_King Leopold must be independent of Foreign Powers._
I entertain the highest respect for Prince Leopold, and I trust that that Prince will take upon himself the character of an independent sovereign, and I know that that ill.u.s.trious person possesses all the talents and disposition calculated to form a great and excellent sovereign; but I must say, that in order to be so, he must be not only independent of this country, and of the Germanic states, but above all he must be independent of France.
_January 26, 1832._
_The Grey policy tends to War, Foreign and Domestic._
I say that the foreign policy of his Majesty's ministers is more likely to produce war abroad than any other system; and in the same manner their domestic policy is of all others, the best calculated to produce war at home.
_January 26, 1832._
_Irish Agitation deprecated._
My Lords, the main cause of the present excitement is the encouragement given in Ireland to agitators to disturb the country. I can tell the n.o.ble Earl, (Grey), that so long as encouragement is given to agitators, you may double and treble the regular army in Ireland,--you may heap measures of severity upon measures of severity, but you will not succeed in putting down agitation upon this question, or upon any of the others which may follow it.
_February 27th, 1832._
_t.i.thes the most sacred kind of property._
A n.o.ble Lord, the other night, in discussing the question of t.i.thes, observed that the people of Ireland are ready to pay that for which they receive value, to pay their rent, and to pay all the taxes on the land, and that they wished not to deprive any man of his property. I say then my Lords, is any property held so sacred by our laws as t.i.thes? In the first place, the King is sworn--his Majesty was sworn a few months ago--to protect the property and rights of the clergy, above all cla.s.ses of men. I desire also, to bring to your Lords.h.i.+ps' recollection, that in two recent Acts of parliament, in which we conferred notable advantages on the Dissenters from the Church of England, we endeavoured as far as we might by oaths, to secure the property of the church. If any principle, indeed, can secure property to any portion of his Majesty's subjects, the property of the church ought to be safe. It is a principle of the const.i.tution that t.i.thes, above all other property, should be secured to the owner.
_February 27th, 1832._
_The Grey Government charged with encouraging Political Reform._
My Lords, I never have made, and I never will make, a charge which I am not ready to repeat, and able to substantiate, and I will forthwith prove that which the n.o.ble Earl calls upon me to explain. In doing this I beg leave to remind your Lords.h.i.+ps, that some months ago I suggested to the n.o.ble Earl, (Grey) that an Act of Parliament, which had been pa.s.sed for the purpose of suppressing illegal a.s.sociations in Ireland, was about to expire, and I asked him, if he intended to propose a renewal of that act. The n.o.ble Earl replied that he did; but my Lords, you will recollect that parliament was dissolved without any further notice of the act, and of course it expired. The result of this was, that the n.o.ble Earl stated in the House, when it met again, that the n.o.ble Marquis at the head of the Irish Administration felt that he could carry on the government of that country without any additional powers; and the consequences of the n.o.ble Earl having declined to apply to the legislature for any authority beyond the existing laws were, that agitation began again, and that meeting after meeting has been held, from that time to the present moment. This is not all, my Lords; the great agitator, the prime mover of the whole machinery, escaped the execution of the sentence of the law in consequence of the expiration of the Act of Parliament to which I have referred. Well my Lords, what has since taken place. This very person, the great agitator, whom the government had prosecuted to conviction, was considered to be a person worthy of the honours which the crown could bestow, and he received the highest favour which any gentleman of the Bar ever received from the hands of the n.o.ble Earl and his government; he received a patent of precedence, which placed him next the Attorney General, and above a gentleman who was once Attorney General, but was still a member of the same Bar. If this was not a premium given to that gentleman to continue his course of disturbing the country, I do not know what else could be so considered. I feel that no more effectual mode could be found to encourage agitation than to reward the promoter of it. But it is not alone in this respect that his Majesty's Government has encouraged agitation. What was the meaning, I ask, of the friends of government taking the course they have taken out of doors, with reference to the Reform Bill? What was the meaning of the letter of the n.o.ble Lord in another house, addressed to the Political Union of Birmingham, in which that n.o.ble Lord designated the sentiments of n.o.ble Peers on this side of the House as the ”whisper of a faction?”--What was the meaning of two friends of government collecting a mob in Hyde Park, and the Regent's Park, on one of the days on which the House of Lords was discussing the Reform Bill? What was the meaning of those individuals directing the line of march of the a.s.sembled mult.i.tude upon St. James's, and publis.h.i.+ng their orders in the papers devoted to government? And what was the meaning of the publications in the government newspapers, libelling and maligning all those who opposed the Bill? What was the meaning of all these deeds being allowed by government, and why did they tolerate and abet them, unless they calculated upon some advantages to themselves in encouraging such agitation? I don't accuse the n.o.ble Earl of instigating those mobs--I do not mean to say, that he was delighted at seeing my house a.s.sailed, or any other work of destruction committed; but I say some of his colleagues, and some of the friends of government, have encouraged and incited the people to works of violence.
I must say, I have long felt on this subject very strongly. I feel that the country is in a most dangerous state. I find the country is in a most dangerous state, on account of government not taking the proper measures to put a stop to confusion and agitation; and on the contrary, in place of putting a stop to such scenes, allowing some Lords of his Majesty's household, to encourage and instigate the people to lawless acts.
_February 27th, 1832._
[Earl Grey had risen and denied that the Government had encouraged agitation upon which the Duke made the previous short but energetic speech.]
_Mr. O'Connell ought not to have had a Patent of Precedence._
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