18 JANUARY 1840, Page 2

7-. 1 !rtatt5 anb Vroccrbincis in varliamcnt.

OPENING OF TI1E SESSION.

The third session of the lirFt Parliament of the present reign was opened on Thursday by Queen Victoria in person. 'lime attendance of Peers was more numerous than usual ; but many seats reserved for Peeresses behind the Etikes' bench were unoccupied. Iler Majesty entered the }louse soon after two o'clock, and took her seat upoirthe throne, attended by the Great Officers of State and of the Household. Behind the throne were the Dutchess of Sutherland, Mistress of the Robes, Lady Charlemont, the Lady in Waiting, and the Royal Pages. The Commons, summoned by the Usher of the Black Rod, appeared at the bar with the Speaker at their head ; and

'Pup. QcsiEti re:al the Speech, which the Lord Chancellor handed to her Majesty on bended knee.

" My Lords and Geotlemen—Sinee you were last assembled, I have de- clared my intention of allying myself in marriage with the Prince Albert of S xe Coburg and Ciitha. 1 hunddy implore that the Divine blessing may

prosper the union, and render it conducive to the interests of my people, as well as to my own domestic happiness; and it will be to me a source of (la most

lively satisfitetion to 'hid the resolution I have taken approved by my Parlia- ment.

" The constant proofs which I have received of your attachment to may person and family persuade me that you will enable me to provide for such an este hi is It m em It as may appear suitable to the rank of the Prince and the dignity of the Crown.

"1 continue to receive from Foreign Powers assurances of their unabated desire to maintain with ow the most friendly relations. '• I rejoice that the civil tsar which bad so lon„o- disturbed and desolated the Northern provinces of Spain has been brought to an end by an arrangement satishetory to the Spanish Government, and to the people of those provinces; and I trust that, ere long, peace and tranquillity will be refistablished through- out the whole of Spain. " The affairs of the Levant have continued to occupy my most anxious at- tention. The (seminal which has prevailed amongst the Five Powers has pre- vented a renewal of hostilities in that quarter ; and I hope that the same una- nimity will bring these important and difficult matters to a final settlement in such a manner as to uphold the integrity and independence of the Ottoman Empire, and to give additional security to the peace of Europe. " 1 have not yet been enabled to reestablish my diplomatic relations with the Court of Teheran; but communications which 1 have lately received from the Persian Government inspire me with the confident expectation that the differences which occasioned a suspension of those relations will soon be satis- factorily adjusted.

s Events hare happened in China which have occasioned an interruption of the commercial interciturse of my subjects with that country. I have given, and shall continue to give, the most serious attention to a matter so deeply alfeeting the interests of may subjects and the dignity of my Grown. "1 have great catisfaction in acquainting you that thc military operations undertaken by tlo! 6overoor-General of India have been attended with com- plete success; and that in the expedition to the westward attic Indus, the officers and troops, both European and native, have displayed the most dis- tinguished skill and valour.

" I have directed that further papers relating, to the affairs of Canada should be laid before you, and I confide to your wisdom this important subject.

" I recommend to your early attention the state of the Municipal Corpora- tions of lrebtod. o It is desirable that you should, prosecute those measures relating to the V;tahlished Church which have been recommended by the Ecclesiastical Com- mit issiollers of England. " Gentlemen of the House of Commons—I have directed the Estimates .for the services of the year to be laid before you They have been framed with i every attention to economy, and at the same time with a due regard to the

efficiency of those establishments which are rendered necessary by the extent and circumstances of the empire.

" 1 have lost no time in carrying into effect the intentions of Parliament by the reduction of the duties on postage; and I trust that the beneficial effects of this measure viI1 he felt throughout all classes of the community. my Lords and Gentlemen—I learn with great sorrow that the commercial embarrassments, which have taken place in this and in other countries, are Bubjecting many of the manufacturing districts to severe distress. 1 have to acquaint you, with deep concern, that the spirit of insubordina- tion has iu some parts of the country broke out into open violence; which was speedily repressed by the firmness and energy of the Magistrates, and by the Ateadinces and good conduct of my troops. " 1 confidently rely upon the power of the law, upon your loyalty and wis- dom, and upon the good sense and right feeling of my people, for the mainte- nance of order, the protection of property, and the promotion, as far as they can be promoted by human means, of the true interests of Europe." The first paragraph, announcing her intended marriage, was read by the Queen in a rather indistinct and tremulous tone ; but her Majesty's

voice became firm as she proceeded, and the passages referring to the military success in India and commercial distress were emphatically de- livered. At the conclusion of the Speech, the Queen left the House, and the Commons retired to their own chamber. The Lords adjourned to five

o'clock.

On their reassembling, Lord Momtourtme moved the first reading of n bill pro Anna. The Loop CoAfecom.ort read a copy of the Royal Speech; which was again read by the Clerk at the table ; and then The Duke of SOMERSET rose to move the Address. ills Grace was very indistinctly heard. Ile made brief remarks on the subjects no-

ticed in the speech; and expressed an opinion that the spirit of insulow- dination which her Majesty lamented was in a great degree connected with commercial distress.

Lord SEAFORD seconded the Address, in a speech of the same elm- Teeter as the Duke of Somerset's.

The Duke of Weleraxceare would have been well contented with the Address had they not been called upon by the Queen to make a

provision for the young Prince, ()1' whose future station in the country they had been apprized by her :Majesty. Now, betbre expressing au opinion on this subject, they ought to koove something beyoed the name of the Prince. Ile bad attended the Privy Council \Olen her Majesty expressed her gracious intention to become the sponse of this Prince; and he had heard that the precedent of the reign of George the Third had been followed on that occasion in till respects save one— that was the declaration that the Prince eves a Protestant.

Ile entertained no doubt that the Prince was a Protestant. (accrs from the MiniNii•ri,il ',Hams.) lie was sure he was a Protestant. Ile knew he was of a Protestant family. He had the 'honour Of being known to some members of that family, and he was sure that it was ft Protestant family. But this was a Protestant state, and it 11"11S liliammi utely I meccioa cv tm kilOW 1hat a person who became the spouse of the Queen was a Prolc,tant ; and, if the precedent of' George the Third had been taken, it ought to have been followed throughout ; and then the public would have had the satistftetioli of knowing that the (het of the Prince being a Protestant had been officially declared by her Majesty's Government. Ile knew t1;e :toxic( v of the piddle mind on this subject ; aud the noble lords opposite also knew this, foal knew well Ii cut they had it ill thCit power to relieve that anxiety, and to t4ratily the public by making this declaration ; nay. more, he was convinced f,,ml the piddle, feeling the same anxiety about the Protestant character or II,. mimmtm, that he did, would naturally infer why the precedent of George the Third bad been departed from. Was there any doubt about the point ? Not at all. The Prince was a Pro- testant. It could not be otherwise. (Cheers front Me Ninisterio/ benches.) He must be a Protestant. (Cheers front the straw gitrirter.) Why was it not BO stated ? (('/i-ere front the Opposition.) They had heard front other parts of these kingdoms something of' this marriage. The marriage had been de- clared by her Majesty in Council, and he saw clearly why it was not declared in Council that the Prince was a Protestant. Ile hail smut further proceedings on this subject since. Ile confessed he MIS one of those who read with great attention all that passed in that lent of' the world to which he had alluded— the different speeches and such like that came from that quarter; and he did so for this reesen. He had been accustomed to this sort of revolutionary dis- cussion ; and although, according to the sentiment expre.,sed hy a great French author, en /dein jeer, on ne conspire pas, still in that (wintry these things were declared publicly ; and therefore it was that he read I hoe mmihmlicatitems flail missives, in ordor to see what the real danger waq, in the hope of tieing ahle to melt:Hire it accurately without :dimming himelf to be taken by surprise.' Then, what he 111c;ilit hi say was thi.s, that \that vissetl there afforded a very sus- picions reason why the word " Protestant" had not been inserted in the Finn- munieation made to the Privy Council, nail Why it had lint been inserted in the Speech from the Throne.

He thund that although George time Third bad declared to the Privy Council that tlep Princess he was about to marry was a. Protestant, the fact was not mentioned again in the Speech from time Throne, but the House of Commons inserted the word " Protestant " in their Address.

He thought that a similareeourse ought to be followed now ; aud, without noticing the other topies'bf the Address, he would move an amendment to insert the word" Protestant" before " Prince" in the first paragraph. The amendment having been put,

Lord MotolounNE said, he had hoped, from the moderate tone of

the Duke of Wellington at the commencement of his speech, the House would have unanimously voted the Address, without even that shadow of difference, it' differerice it could be caned, whielt he had thought it worth while to raise on the present occasion. As to the precedent of George the Third's declaration of his intended marriage to the Privy Council— The noble Dike states that we did not follow that declaration, because the declaration of 1 te.wge the Third states that the Princess Charlotte of Mecklen- burg Stade./ was a Protestant Princess. In feet, that deelAration did 110/ state that the Princess Charlotte was a Protestant Prim aces, hut that she was descended l'rifin a long line of Protestant ancestors. A person may he that and Sot he a Protestant. That declaration does not in fact state that the Princess Was a Protestant ; and I say that it is utterly unnecessary, utterly superfluous —yes, entirely unnecessary and superlluons—to state that Prince Albert of Saxe Coburg and Gotha, with whom it is proposed to contract marriage, is a Protestant. It is required hy the Act of Settlement that he should be a Pro- testant. Does the noble Duke suppose that we are going to advise her ?ilajesty to violate and break through the Act of Settlement? In my opinion, it us perfectly unnecessary- to introduce those words, or any declaration stating that which is positively rind decidedly demanded by the law as a condition of the possible legality, the constitutional legality of the union, namely, that the Prince with whom the marriage is about to he contracted is a Protestant. The noble I)iike has said that unquestionably the Prince is a Protestant. 'Why every man knows not only that he is a firm and decided Protestant himself, but also that he is descended from that which has been called emphatically the most Protestant family in Europe. It is to the eldestt brunch of his flintily that the l'attestant religion owes its existence. Prince is descended from that very Elector whose name stands at the head of the protest from which the name of Protestant is derived—that Elector 11•110:•re name stands first in the protest signed at Spires, by six princes and thurteen cities against the decision of' the Diet of Augsburg, which protest was the foundation of Protestantism. Every one knows that the Elector of Saxony lost his throne and electorate for his adherence to the l'rotest ant religion. brother also was a Protestant, and the defender of Luther ; find hy tl i ut vtay family the Ileformed religion was estaldislyed and maihtained at that period of time in Germany. Why, then, state, what it Nvuli).51:•rferlly mmecessary to state, that Prince .1.1bert is a Pro- testant, and descended from a Protestant timely ? and really, I ask noble lords, what can le, the ii om or advantaee of this amendment, except to throw doubt on the subject ? if any thing is calculated to ili,satisfy the mind of the country, it is the eimeidenent proposed I my the noble. Du Lc, The Prince will not be more or Ii it l'rotestant because \re declare him to be a Protestant. If lie declares llintelf a l'rotestant, as 1.e is quit,. ready to do at any mo- ment, that is somethiog ; or if' those who I m ma ma been perfectly well acquainted with him declare him a Protestant, that S something ; bat if we make that declamation, what certainty or satisfaction can that- be to anybody ? If the slightest suspicion or doubt has been enterhtined I. tf.re. \vkit advantage will be gain; ,1 by mir statement that lie is a Protestant ? The only effect of the 111061-»1111).111- Will he, to introduce doubt where Otero is none, and to introduce dis- pute and where therm ought to he nothing. hut agreenn•tit and una- nimity, and to !ive countenrinc, to a cry tliat, I believe, has been at tempted„to he raised niFol this subject in the country. Ii ml to :soiction the cry upon the

part of that I loos., tool of the noble Duke INliether the word be in-

serted or not, is perici.tly immaterial. It licith..1. the l'rince more Or less a Protestant. 1,'Ve cannot affect his religion 1,y its insertion. The noble Ibmke know.: Ile is a Proteetant, all England kmeme s he ia a l'rotestant, the chide world knows lie is a Protcst ant ; mlm,il for my ti W11 lint, therefore, I con- sider it perfectly unnecessary to introduce the word as proposed by the noble Duke."

Time Earl of 1Vixenst.sr.■ reminded Lord Melbourne, that it did not foliow as a matter of course, that beeenee Prince Albert's family had heen Protestant ;III the members of it should ht. l'rotestant now- -IV-ere there mui. Lear and dear connexiolis w-I1,r had liceunic Homan Catho- lics? Did not la lie would not it V:I, 110/ ColiVl()11011, ellitlIge 1114 • 1 ft is tv,),-, iwtorbil,-; and well- knotvn to Port that the limliand of the Queen, it firet emooin mmf : ii it hilt., 1 1■01118111:»11101k. lie con- tended. that the • ii as» t S. 1.,md of the I fimt'cii wits a l'ro- 3 Protestant cont.

tItIt the word "Pro- emeeee ,e• Ile • em 1, ..!' 1.•1!. 1 IC 'heartily, eup- : em,m1 , me, a)110 would give mel'eme; medtlee te seem:mei:2i nor to id I 1 hilt11111011011 iii the ralfirass.

Passing from subject, lie could mod it lehl the stele of the coun- try without eotreme alarm—it was most l'emir011. Ile believed they V ere on the bil u mi or one of the most ;Ilene! that had ever taken pinee. 't: lint hail brought the colintry to this state ?

Ile thonelmt flee the eroscnt situatioi. country might be traced to the

passions tied lied I meet eeeittal by (twee lee. I ed wed, the lower orders the in- etruntents to tie- eel thell* OW11 sit.1V-. They had raised a storm which they coeld ncither control nor direct ; 11:»1 W11)l 11'i-101'111 that was now bursting over the country, and God mily knew how it would end. If the noble Viscomit were dcterinined 10 1101'101111 that IiI1ty 11:! suited to his Sove. reign, he never would have countenanced the int roductitm to that Sovereign of an individual whose i•rinciples were subversive not merely of Protestantism, hut every principle on whieh morality, religion, and vehil order WOre founded, and subversive too of all peieciples. This was the first opportunity which he bad of expressing hi, indignatimme (to tO,Q,1110 ,trouger term) upon this subject. Ile did not know how the noble -Viscount could ti.el justified in having tainted the approach to the 'Ilitone hy introducing to their pnre and virtuous Sovereign one of' the inost unprincipled individuals that ever existed.

Lord Ferny i iota M avumuild!( are it to his noble kinsman, in his calmer moments, to e;my an Lit her his speech was calculated to tranquillize the country—to act like oil on time troulded waves. His noble kinsman talked of principles subversive of all prineiides: undoubtedly a prin- ciple subvereive or all principles had been hitherto a great secret in philosophy.

Lord Wm NeMlle-ei interrupted Lord ritzwilliam, to say that his ex- pression was " erieeiples subversive of all religion and all morality."

Earl Ferzwfm.el.l:.! Said that 110 m.lmnmlit wits what his kinsman intended. As to the inscrtion of time word " Protestammt " in the Address, lie con- sidered that a very trifling matter ; lent he regarded the present condi- tion of the 'mummy' le a most serious light. 'lime distress now existing exceeded that of' 1 <25 or I 826, or any previous period ; and he hoped their Lordships wumild tuns their earnest attention to the means of alle- viating it' not of entirely removing that distress.

Lord llimouomfeet then rose. limit said that, with the views he enter-

tained of the alarming state of the country, he could not remain silent, though he never felt a greater desire to withhold himself from the dis- cussion. But first he touched upon tlit, QIIt`Vtl'S approaching nuptials, and the provisimm Parliament would be culled upon to snake for Prince Albert— is the characteristic of a free state, that the duties of a loyal subject and of it good citizen aro not only not incompatible, but consentlineous. I think I discharge hob, and I therefore discharge both with cheerfulness, by joining in the congratulativos of the 'tulle Duke opposite, and of my noble friend near iii, on the ,oispleimis evciit which was announced in the Address. The same dot v of a loyal sal jcet anti of a good citizen will also be best discharged Iii' me if, in adverting I o the emill upon tic; liberality of Parliament, which followed that important and happy annieineellit111, 1 mean for on adequate provi,ion for the consort of her Majtoty—I say that I shall fully discharge my duty, not noire as a good citizen hf (lie country, than as a loyal subject to the queen, if' express my carnes1 hope that we may not be doomed to im'e 011 this, as on afflicted with distresses such as we know they arc now suffering under—with falling wages, rising prices, and diminished profits—with the country In such a state, to propose any provision beyond what is required by the absolute neces-

sity of the case, would, in my deliberate and conscientious opinion, be a breach of all the duties which either the Government or the Parliament owes to the people ; and, obove all, it would betoken a criminal indifference to the best interests—to the character of the Legislature, and the stability of the Throne itself."

As to the insertion of the word "Protestant," he admitted it was su- perfluous; but if it were omitted to pay court in certain quarters, he would say that matters must have been very much changed in those quarters if they rest satisfied with that concession, or are greatly dis- uppointed by the insertion of the word, lie would also remark, that

Lord Melbourne was not quite correct in his law. There was no pro- hibition as to the marriage of the Sovereign with a Catholic—only a penalty, that penalty being forfeiture of the Crown. Ile would pro- ceed to a snore important subject—the state of Ireland-

" We are told of the tranquillity of that country ; we are told that it is un- broken and unprecedented; and then we have the Municipal Corporations again recommended as the panacea for all the evils of Ireland. It is now fif-

teen years since the affairs it Ireland were amply discussed on an important occasion in both nooses ii Partiament, but chiefly in the oilier llouse; and then there were other means stalsd the the tranquillization of Ireland, and for the better government of that part of the United Kingdom. I have more than once adverted to those means ; I know that they have occupied the atten- thm of mauy of your Lordships. I doubt ir any one has had tile honour of serving the Crown for the last t wenty years without having his attention so occupied. I am firmly persttaded—und it is one of the most settled convic- tions of my mind, which every day's experience and observation strengthen more and snore—that to apply the tiNt• to the root of all the great evils that afflict that country and involve it in distress—which is the seed and the series of crops of perpetually -renewing and everlastingly-growing diseeril—to take away that influence luhich with safety to the State is not to remain—to lay the foundations broad and deep or lastieg tranquillity for the I ri-hi pceple- to consult the best interests of the State and of the thatich—tlei permanency of' religion, as of morality among the people-ssthe one thing need MI is—and it is the bounden duty of the lawgiver to discover how hest can be given that one thing needrul—it is this—it is upon just, moderate, anul well-considered principles, and with tvell-eOntrivVd machinery, to give a due but fixed legal provision for the clergy who admistister to the spiritual wants or the Irish peo-

ple. All flint has possed shme 1 i has convinced use that in this epinion I am perfectly correct."

Ile rejoiced in the successes of the Indian army, but required more extensive Mformation—incholing proofs of the wisdom of the expe- dition into Afehonistan, ()I the means Of defraying the cost of its military occupst ion, and of the soundness of' the policy adopted towards Persia—before he could subscribe to the congratulations of the Ad- dress.

He would now advert to the internal condition of the countre- " I know well that the late disturbances have aroused anxiety on file part of all statesmen. I know that out have taken place ; that violenees have prevailed; that meeting:, midnight meetings, have been held ; that there have been associations more or less contrary to law ; that there love heeil confede- racies, armed conspiracies ; that there have Icen extensive emrespondeme, and sometimes organizations, followed hy ,,ehes of the peace ; that in :sone of the Northern mous there have beet, se.s on the part of persons I, hich the Judges have defined as high treason : I siiew that all these are, hy more care- less observe's, regarded as mere events otel tie is; and they are so lookeii upon by those who are sometimes !store :.1:trilied by facts than they ouslit to be, and who at others are more easily calmed and I ramptillized than thy should be, when outrages are stints. ssed either by the force of the law, the vigour ()I' the Magistrates, or the gwd behaviour of the t coops. I do not regara them as ultimate events at all. As such I might deplore them; hot I would not be

alarmed about them at because 1 trust iii the louver or the law. But this is not the ease at present. is pot (town here, they will break out elsewhere, as it has so happened within the last fort y-right hours ; nay, if the efforts of the law should have pot down those outrages—if they had reduced all to an appa- rent tranquillity—yet, with the Views I have upon this subject, and st ith the knowledge that I think I posse,: or the rendition of the people, I should look upon the calm as deceitful, and 1 should. look upon the lull as a foist',

not a real tronquillity ; and tilt n I would revert to those eruptions, knowing something of their causes. Knowing those mischiefs existed, and knowing those discontents prevailed, I should revert to the words of one of the wisest tnen-1 mean Loot Bacon—who, dealing with a subject of the same kind, said, ' Beware if you hare to t robe popular discontents, and fluid that they are deep-sented witle-spreading—bewore how you drive back the humours ; for they will then only cause the iVettlid to bleed inwards.'"

The cones of lho present condition of the country came next under review ; and Lord Brougham considered it a great mischief that the people, instead of following, as aforetime, some recognized and distin- guished leaders, weres-w letterer this or that corporation, called into being by the present .1littistry,mil;ht say—" marshalled, combined, and

banded in a deep-rooted and habitual distrust of all politicians, of all Ministries. and all men in power." 'But it did not follow that, acting under obscure leaders, or no lemler at all, they might not be the

dupes of designing knaves and fa:ohms, unprincipled agitators. I.ord Brougham, referring to the Chartist insurrection in Wales, dwelt upon the enormity of' the crime of treason, and tlw necessity of a steady though merciful and humane execution of the law ngainst offemiers. Ile pointed out the guilt of those who ussentbled large bodies of the people and taught theist to look to any source but the Legislature for the redress of' grievances. Such were prompters of rebellion, and must be punished. Butt, he added- " I must say, that if' there be otherF, who Imre done what I have beihre de- MUMd as the proximate cause of r, le ti ii, it must appear st tange that while

io one net of men the gibbet shouid another set el' ice ii, of the same guilt, should receive, not the pardon, M., the patronage or the Crown. I sis-

tinetions, indeed, might he easily gad Is ie. evil the tWo invit, though hardly of a kind to explain the difference, of treatment they have experienced. For instance, I have nut heard that :my of those men in Wales terve been ac- customed to play oiternately the Itt:rt it a hulderer and a sycophant—one day pouring fort It I he venom of the' r fit ie Valuation, and another pouring. forth the more nauseens• shiver (ir their coarse, overdone, fulsome, and offeusive adulation. Another difference may lie marked between the two sets 0E' men. You may not find in the Welshmen exhortations ti fiery attacks on all respectable men, all vet:es:Mk it or incentives thing about among the vombustilde mattes to make them kindle am! Male, followed by such admonitions as • Pray dO nothing against the peace ;' • Pray In• quiet, bowever ; ' oey more than you may find those same honest Wel-Moen throw oil on the flame, and beseech it not to bora, or scatter firebrands nmong gun- powder, and beg of it not to exploile. They: have less confidence in being able

to dope their followers; they address themselves to a people incapalde of being deluded by such stuff. Let me be just, however, to those men—I believe they are too hottest to denl in such gross and scandalous falsehoods. Bad as were the acts of the Welshmen, detestable as were their proceedings, and worthy of all punishment which justice tempered with mercy will allow, at least they do not seem to have had any sordid end in view. Their proceedings do not seem to have been designed for the purpose of raising money from the exlmusted re- sources of their coldish followers. No such sordid views appear to have existed; and it is almost the only merit that such proceedings can be said to have, that the movers in them were not actuated by that mean, base, and degrading motive. These circumstances, no doubt, distinguish one class front another ; but how far they afford a sufficient reason for the difference of conduct observed to- wards the promoters ofsedition in different parts of the empire, I leave to your penetration and calm reflection to discover."

But these outbreaks would never have been resorted to, had not there been a predisposition in the body of the people to receive the impres- sion which the agitators wished to make- " It is now for the first time that we observe the universal alienation of one great class or the community from all that stand above it. 'rime great labour- ing populatien of the country are no longer knit in the bonds of amity with other classes, or even in a position of neutrality. Wild doctrines have heen spread—doctrines that go to the root of all property—not of this or that Government, or this or that form of polity, but which sap the foundations of civil society itself. Those doctrines go to the root of property, the founda- tion and corner -stone on which society is built—nay, which may be almost con- sidered the distingelishing difference between the civilized and savage state— if it be not the main distinction between our species and the lower tribes of animated nature. The right of property is denied. 'rite propriety of iodising all rules aud titles is freely ventilated ; and this is addressed to thousands, hundreds of' thousands of people ; but I would fhin believe not yet with any thing hive considerable success. But whatever success has attended these effort s—though 1 believe that such wild doctrines, the products or bewildered imaginations and troubled spirits, have not very greatly spread—notwithstand- ing the octivity with which they have been disseminated—but whatever success may have attended them, I believe has been greatly owing to that distinction which divides file great body of the people or this country from all classes of their thhhtuw citizens,who are ever so little removed from them. 1 mean the division which, separates the unrepresented from the represented portion of' the people of this conntry. My Lords, of' this there are manifest and plain symptoms in the late ens:ceilings. You can never keep society together by main force—you cannot keep society bound in one consistent mass by the vigour of' Magistrates or the ;mod behaviour of troops. Even if you could be constantly applying such means to a lily of which every one part is disunited in itself, and the great mass or which is constantly sod perpetually at war with a smaller portion, it

is as 'Mull:, impor..ffile as it is to mix lire and water in the sante mass. It is contrary to t lv nature of things—it is contrary to that nature of IS cool r,,ry to the ii hole nature of human society, which stands on this law, that force, direct ronie, limy correct trilling mischief's ; but it is by kindness and conciliation that reason:11de men can he moved—hy treating them as reasonable, that you can alone produce a constant and permanent effect."

It was a great thistulse to suppose the Chartist numbers inconsider- able. ;Cumbers were prepared, and all but disciplined, waiting for a leader whom they could trust. l'ime was when no Government would venture to prosecute it political offender with a common jury ; but now there was marked distinction between the working classes and those a little above them, and juries of shopkeepers found Chartists guilty of treason. The people mere against the Corn-laws. It was a grievous error to suppose the fact otherwise. These were three facts connected with the existence of Chartism ; and he would again mention another and the last-

" The great body of flue peiple of England are excluded, and they know and feel that they are excluded, from the political privileges of the constitution. They deny I he doctrine of virtual representation altogether. If a workman has no vote himself, he holds that it is an insult and not an argument to tell him that his interests are protected hy the vote of his master, Ills master is perhaps the very man whom he is pitted aguing, awl whom he would wish to vote against it he had the francld.e himself: Ile Judd: himself excluded by flue vote being withheld, and insulted by the mockery of the argument that

he is virtually represented. Ile says, that to be represented by another, whom he has Ito know-feeling with, is tint to be represented, but misrepre- sented. What is virtual representation to him if he has no direct and sub-

stantial vote? is the condition or the body of the people. It is the condition of ninety-nine in a hundred of the inhabitants of this country. It is the condition of all the most industrious, the must virtuous, the most skilful workmen. It is the condil ion or utmost all the artisans of this country, whose ingenuity ns well us liord labour is the cause of the prosperity of this count tiy. It is the condition of nine in ten of the literary men of' this country, the um n of science, of art, of those men who carry the name with the wealth of this country all over flue world, list o universal acceptation; it is the condi- tion of all those labouring, industrious, and ingenious classes, that a broad and

impassable line is drawn bet oven them and the constitution, that they are out- laws and outras,s froui the constitution. The rptestion is, how is this by them to be es:ductal? Are they patiently to sit (limo under their exclusion and bear their disfranchisement—to hug these chains, as they deem them For it is its vain to say to them that the thing withheld would not much profit you."

The thine was approaching when it would be found impossiblc to ex- clude the bully of the labouring peeple front the cojoyment of political privileges- " 11; departing from the exclut4ve system, you were to confide in the goad sense of your fellow conotr■ met], una, under judicious regulations, adopt such

a test as would give it I cvi independeitt of property, as would give the hest security fin- the elective franchise being well, and hone:dly, and wisely used— if, following out tlisti iiilered principle or the roustitotton which holds that no man ought to be taxed without his consent, or be called upon to obey laws

which he has had no hand, directly I ur indirectly, in making—if yott wece to throw the door of our political constitution •vitlee open than it is at present to

all closses of our industrious and useful fellow counts.% men—them my I mots,

I believe you would see a lispliy chango. You would see the preochers of

sedition lecture to empty indvcd, they ealltilitied tut preach at all ; you would see those Ishii talk ogsbist capital frowned down, and utterly dis- countenanced by the universal voice of the honest and intelligent people or this country ; and you woldd sue tuit end to what I regard as the most frightful of all the portentous sights that Ittte times have displayed to the view of states- men—that of' a people separated into classes irreconcileably hostile to each other ; moreover, you would see the stristoentey of the country, the nods, wealth, virtue, elligence, rind experienee of the upper classes, once more regain fbr them that ascendant with their fellow citizens which I believe to be naturol, and which, il I Isito••• the nature of the English people, I believe to be consent:imams to their feelings."

Lord STANII0PE agreed whit Lord Brougham that immilient and widely-spread danga menaced the country ; but lie attributed the dis- content and distr,..:sa to the Poor law and Peel's Bill— He had been assured, not by Chartists or members of the National Conven- tion, but by clergymen •in constant communication with their .parishioners, men not fond of i llll ovation—he had been assured by such authorities as these, in all parts of the country, that if any serious disturbance did take place, the agricultural labourers would rise as well as the manufacturers.

The Duke of RICHMOND had no fears for the country if the country were true to itself. The magistracy, the aristocracy, the middle classes, and the loyal part of the labouring population, might be depended upon. As to the Corn-laws, it was most inexpedient to make any alteration, and merely because, unfortunately, " some few manutheturers were in distress," to ruin the whole agricultural interest, and thus add to the distress of the manufacturers by depriving them of the home market.

The Address, with the Duke of Wellington's amendment, being put, Lord MELBOURNE said, the additional word was nunceessary, and indeed prejudicial.

The Duke of CAMBRIDGE Said.—

He had thought it his duty, as a Peer of the realm, to attend on this occa- sion ; and iu that character he begged to express hiS 1110St sincere and hearty concurrence in the Address; and he believed lw might safely add that of his Frothier, who had not been able to attend. I laving Ise•it much on the Conti- nent, and having had opportunities of more infortuation on the subject than most noble lords, he could stete, and he had the highest satisfiction in doing so, that the Prince whom her Alajesty had ChOSell fOr her consort was a young num who, from every thing he had heard, he belit.ved would very greatly con- tribute to her Majesty's domestic happiness, :Lod Ivhose conduct 11•11.11 111 every

way likely to render him popular in the count ry,—a point he coneidered of very material importance.

The Address, as amended, was carried, and ordered to be presented with the usual forms.