Part 28 (2/2)
_January_ 18,1838.
_Importance of reducing the Canadian Rebels_.
I confess, my lords, that I have a feeling for the honour of my country, and I cannot but believe that if, by any misfortune, we should fail in restoring peace in Lower Canada, at an early period of time, we shall receive a blow, with respect to our military character, to our reputation, and to our honour, of which it will require years to enable us to remove the effects.
_January_ 18,1838.
_An Elective Legislative Council in Canada deprecated_.
My lords, there is one topic which has been adverted to by the n.o.ble and learned lord (Lord Brougham), upon which I think it necessary to say a word, although it is not alluded to in the address, and will more properly form a subject of the discussion on the bill which is to be brought in upon some future day--and that is the establishment in Lower Canada of an elective legislative council. The n.o.ble and learned lord, with all his knowledge of Lower Canada, has not, in my opinion, sufficiently adverted to the fact of the difference of the two races of inhabitants in that country. My lords, it may be easy to talk, here, of establis.h.i.+ng an elective council, but if the n.o.ble and learned lord will look into the discussions which have taken place upon that subject, and to the opinions that have been delivered upon it by the different parties, in that colony, he will find that British inhabitants are to the full as much opposed to that arrangement as the French are in favour of it, he will find that in point of fact, they would be in a state of insurrection against that arrangement, in the same degree as the French are now supposed to be in a state of insurrection in favour of an elective legislative council. I will likewise beg the n.o.ble and learned lord, and I would entreat the n.o.ble viscount opposite, and every member of her majesty's government, to attend to this fact, that an elective legislative council is not the const.i.tution of the British monarchy; that a legislative council appointed by the monarch is the const.i.tution of this country; that this was so stated in the discussions upon the bill pa.s.sed in the year 1791, by all the great authorities who discussed that measure, amongst others by Mr. Fox himself. That gentleman said, ”that a legislative council, appointed by the monarch, is an essential part of the British const.i.tution.”
_January_ 18, 1838.
_Concessions to Democracy cannot be rescinded._
Your lords.h.i.+ps ought also to recollect that, since the pa.s.sing of the reform bill, the taxes required from householders paying 10l. of yearly rent have been greatly reduced, and I believe that the poor-rates have also been diminished. These reductions have afforded great relief to that particular cla.s.s of persons, greater than has been given to any other portion of society; and I think that, under the circ.u.mstances, the amount of qualification ought not to be further diminished, for, if it be, a worse description of electors will be the inevitable consequence.
I perfectly recollect that a n.o.ble friend of mine, whom I do not now see in his place, warned your lords.h.i.+ps, on a former occasion, of the danger of making any approach to democracy in a measure like this; and he told your lords.h.i.+ps that, if once such a measure was adopted, you could never turn back from it. If it be found, when carried into operation, to act ever so injuriously--if its tendency be found to be ever so destructive to the peace and well-being of society--still you cannot fall back on the point from which you started; for, if once granted, the measure must be permanent.
_March 8, 1838._
_Short-sighted Conduct of the West Indian Colonists._
There is no man in this house, or in the country, who has been more anxious than myself, that the measure pa.s.sed for the abolition of slavery should be entirely successful. I have, however, conceived from the first, that the only chance of its success would arise from the colonial legislatures acting with good faith, and carrying the measure, after it had pa.s.sed the imperial parliament, into strict execution; for which measure they have received what they acknowledge, by their adhesion to the principle of the bill, a competent compensation. It appears, however, to be beyond doubt, that they have not carried the new system into execution as they ought to have done; and some two or three years ago, your lords.h.i.+ps were under the necessity of consenting to a bill, rendered necessary in consequence of the legislature of Jamaica having refused, under not very creditable circ.u.mstances, to enact a law which it had positively promised to pa.s.s. Under these circ.u.mstances, considering that we are now approaching to within a couple of years of the period when a new state of society is to be established in all the British possessions where slavery has ever existed, I must say, I think parliament ought not to hesitate about adopting some measure of the description now proposed, for the purpose of carrying into full and complete execution the object which the imperial legislature had in view when the emanc.i.p.ation act was pa.s.sed. It appears to me, that if the legislatures of the colonies had acted as sensible men ought to have done, in the circ.u.mstances in which they were placed four years ago, they would have had before them, and the British parliament would have had before it, a very different prospect from that which, I fear, exists at the present moment.
_March_ 13, 1838.
_Lord Melbourne's Government Inimical to the Church._
It appears that the policy of her majesty's government is--I will use the mildest term that can be employed--not to encourage the established church. I am afraid that it will appear from what pa.s.sed in another place, in the last session of parliament, and even in this, that the church of England--the established church of England--is not to be encouraged by her majesty's government. I am sure that those who recollect what has occurred in parliament, during the last few years, will admit that no great encouragement has been shown by ministers to the church of Ireland, that branch of the established church of England which is stationed in the latter country. I say therefore, my lords, that this is the policy of the government of this country; and, I must own, also, it is most sincerely to be lamented by every friend of the const.i.tution, and of the peace, order, and happiness of the community.
_March 30, 1838._
_A Free Press in Malta deprecated._
Now, in regard to this matter of a free press in Malta, I crave your lords.h.i.+ps' attention to the facts of the case for a moment, and I beg the house to bear them in mind. What is Malta? It is a fortress and a seaport--it is a great naval and military a.r.s.enal for our s.h.i.+pping and forces in the Mediterranean. We hold it by conquest. We hold it as an important post, as a great military and naval a.r.s.enal, and as nothing more. My lords, if these are the facts, we might as well think of planting a free press on the fore deck of the admiral's flag-s.h.i.+p in the Mediterranean, or on the caverns of the batteries of Gibraltar, or in the camp of Sir John Colborne in Canada, as of establis.h.i.+ng it in Malta.
A free press in Malta in the Italian language is an absurdity. Of the hundred thousand individuals who compose the population of Malta, three-fourths at least speak nothing but the Maltese dialect, and do not understand the Italian language. Of the one hundred thousand inhabitants of the island, at least three-fourths can neither read nor write. What advantages, then, can accrue to the people of Malta from the establishment of a free press? We do not want to teach our English sailors and soldiers to understand Italian. A free press will find no readers among them either. Who, then, is it for? These gentlemen say, that, unless the government support a free press in Malta, it cannot exist of itself, and they suggest an expense of 800 a year in its favour. They have done nothing more than this that I am aware of since their appointment, and it is plain, that the savings spoken of by the n.o.ble baron as having been effected by their recommendation are completely swallowed up by the project of a free press. My lords, I cannot help thinking that it is wholly unnecessary and greatly unbecoming of the government to form such an establishment, of such a description, in such a place as Malta; and the more particularly, as the object for which it is made, must be both of a dangerous tendency to this country, and fraught with evil to others. The free press which they propose, is to be conducted, not by foreign Italians, but by Maltese, subjects of her majesty, enjoying the same privileges as we do. Now, what does this mean? It means that the licence to do wrong is unlimited.
If it were conducted by foreign Italians, you could have a check upon them if they acted in such a manner as would tend to compromise us with our neighbours--you could send them out of the island--you could prevent their doing injury in that manner by various ways. But here you have no such check--you have no check at all--your free press in that respect is uncontrollable. If the free press chooses to preach up insurrection in Italy from its den in Malta, you have no power of preventing it. Were the conductors foreign Italians you could lay your hand on them at once, and dispose of them as aliens; but you cannot do that with the Maltese subjects, enjoying the same right and possessing the same freedom as ourselves. I did hope, that we should have been cured by this time of our experiments on exciting insurrection in the other countries of Europe--in the dominions of neighbouring princes--in the territories of our allies. I did think that we had received a sufficient lesson in these matters to last us a long time, even for ever, in the results which have taken place through such interference in Portugal, Spain, Italy--ay, and in Canada too--and that they had put an end to our dangerous mania for exciting insurrection in foreign countries. Such, my lords, I a.s.sert is the object of a free press in Malta--to excite insurrection in the dominions of our neighbour and ally, the King of the Two Sicilies, and in the dominions of the King of Sardinia--and I confess that I am ashamed of the government, considering the results that have taken place, from the doctrines promulgated by it, that they have not done everything in their power to suppress instead of encouraging and supporting it; and that they had not sent out their commissions with full power to do so, rather than instructed them to call for its establishment.
_May 3, 1838._
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