that of revising the statutes. That was a work which could not be done by the House of Commons alone, by itself; it must be effected by Parliament, and the Crown and the House of Lords must concur in the revision. He thought the assurance of his noble Friend that, as there was a Commission sitting on the subject, steps would be taken to expedite the work, ought to be sufficient, and Bills would probably be brought in, from time to time, for the consolidation of the statutes. MR. HENLEY had no doubt that the present discussion would be productive of beneficial results, inasmuch as it would show that attention was directed to the subject. At the same time, people would deceive themselves if they imagined the consolidation of the statutes could be very speedily effected. MR. HEYWOOD expressed a fear that, if the Commission went on at its present tardy pace, they would all be dead and buried before the consolidation of the statutes was completed. There would be no greater blessing, in his opinion, than such a consolidation as would do away with those obsolete enactments which now disfigured the statute book. to accede to his Motion in order to prove to the country that they were in earnest on a subject which had been trifled with for twenty-five years. Motion made, and Question put "That it is the opinion of this House, that a new, complete, and systematic edition of the Statutes now in force, omitting all such enactments as are repealed, obsolete, or expired, would Parliament, and to the generality of Her Majesty's be more accessible and intelligible to Members of subjects, than the present Statute Book.” The House divided:-Ayes 38; Nocs 47: Majority 9. Motion made, and Question put— "That a Select Committee be appointed to inquire into the best mode of making a new, complete, and systematic edition of the Statutes now in force, omitting all such enactments as are repealed, obsolete, or expired." Motion negatived. The House adjourned at half-after Twelve o'clock, till Monday next. HOUSE OF LORDS, Monday, May 14, 1855. MINUTE.] Sat First in Parliament.-The Lord 3a Fisheries (British Islands and France). MAYNOOTH COMMISSION-EVIDENCE QUESTION. MR. ATHERTON opposed the Motion. It was very probable that the Committee asked for would recommend the very gentlemen who now edited the statutes to do the work which the hon. Member for West Surrey desired to be executed, and which they, in fact, already did to the satisfaction of the legal profession and the public. THE EARL OF WINCHILSEA, having If the Commission which was now in force presented petitions from Gretton and Tonproperly performed its duty, it would re- bridge, praying for the repeal of the Maycommend to the Government such a plan nooth College (Ireland) Act, begged to ask as ought to be the foundation of a Bill the noble Earl the head of the late Comto be passed by Parliament on the subject. mission of Inquiry, whether it was true He therefore hoped that the House would that alterations had been made in the evinot render useless the labours of the Com-dence, and that a copy of it had been sent mission now in force by agreeing to the to Rome, and allowed to remain there for Motion. some months. THE ATTORNEY GENERAL observed that, although the Royal Commission for consolidating the statutes did not at first get into the right track, yet they had done so now, and he believed that great benefit would be derived from their labours. Under these circumstances he thought it would be idle for the House to enter upon the task which the hon. Member for Surrey wished them to assume. MR. LOCKE KING said, that he would omit from the Motion the words, "ought to be undertaken on the authority of this House;" but he thought the House ought THE EARL OF HARROWBY said that, in the first place, as regarded the evidence taken before this Commission, the facts were these:-The last meeting of the Commissioners was held in January last, at which time the Commissioners met at London for the purpose of preparing their report. After they had conferred with that object, they received a protest from several of the professors of the College of Maynooth, stating that it had come to their knowledge that a copy of the evidence had been put into the hands of Dr. Cullen, and that Dr. Cullen had com municated it to Rome, having translated all the objections raised had been fully answered. With regard to territorial titles having been applied to Roman Catholic bishops, in the case of certain Roman Catholic witnesses, the refusal so to address them would not, it was considered, lead to any good results, but the Commissioners had not used those titles in their Report. WAR WITH RUSSIA-RESOLUTIONS. THE EARL OF ELLENBOROUGH: My Lords, it is now more than a year that we have been at war-a period somewhat longer, I believe, than the war itself was expected to last by the Ministry which entered into it-and during that period we have brought forward the whole military force of the country, such as it is, and also the whole of its naval force. We have had no reason to be dissatisfied with the conduct either of our soldiers or our seamen; on the contrary, they have rivalled the great actions of those who have preceded them in former wars, and have been led on all occasions by English gentlemen with their accustomed spirit and self-devotion. We have been allied with the greatest military Power in Europea Power, too, almost our equal in naval strength. There has existed the most cordial union between the forces of the two Powers; and yet, my Lords, obtaining, as we have obtained, so much glory, by the side of that glory we have seen unusual suffering, and, notwithstanding all our strength, united to that of France, notwithstanding all the devotion of our troops, we have not as yet obtained any decisive success, nor can any man say that at the present moment, there is any expectation of obtaining it. This alone, my Lords, would justify me in calling your Lordships' attention to the subject, and in asking you to consider what may be the causes from which this failure has originated, and what are the remedies which it may be expedient to apply. Very recently too, another event has taken place which gives even a graver character to the war. The negotiations at Vienna have failed, and they have failed in such a mannerthat is, by the presentation on the part of Russia of proposals which were perfectly inadmissible-as to afford the apprehension of a protracted war as well as of a great contest. My Lords, under these circumstances I feel that if any apology be necessary for now calling your Lordships' attention to the subject, it is an apology for not having brought forward this question at an earlier period. But, my Lords, since the tration of which he was the head. I do accession of Lord Palmerston to office not mean to say that the Duke of Wellingthere has been a sort of torpor in Par- ton did not entertain a high opinion of liament; there has been nothing to in- Lord Palmerston's military capacity, but duce any man to bring forward a great I recollect one circumstance which leads public question. If it had rested with that me to infer that such was not the opinion noble Lord, the torpor which has existed in of the Duke. I recollect sitting by the Parliament would have been extended to side of the Duke of Wellington in this the public mind; for the very first measure House during the unfortunate difficulty be which he attempted to carry was a measure tween himself and Mr. Huskisson, which for the purpose of stifling the Committee led to the resignation of a portion of the of Inquiry into the State of the Army gentlemen who then formed the Coalition before Sebastopol, a Committee voted by a Government. The Duke of Wellington great majority of the House of Commons, was called out of the House on the occaand supported almost unanimously by the sion to which I refer, and on his return he people. Strange and singular was the said to me, "That was Palmerston who course adopted by the noble Lord for the wanted to see me, in order to tell me that purpose of inducing the House of Commons if Huskisson went out he must go too. to rescind the Resolution it had passed. He I said nothing. It was not for me to fire desired to be permitted to appear in the great guns at small birds." Such, at that world's masquerade in the historical charac- time, was the opinion of the Duke of Welter of Richard II., a prince who fell, as his- lington. Now, I will not pretend to say tory informs us, because he exercised un- that the small bird may not in subsequent due private partiality, instead of a desire times have attained to the dimensions, and, for the public good, in the appointments of perhaps, the character of the eagle; still, persons to office, and because he utterly at the period referred to, such as I have disregarded the opinions of the public. stated appeared to be the opinion of the But, my Lords, it was represented that Duke of Wellington. But a short time Lord Palmerston was above all men the ago the public instructors of the country fittest to conduct the affairs of the country informed the people that the man of all in time of war on account of his military others whom it was necessary to place in experience. Now, certainly, that noble the position of Minister was Lord Palmer. Lord has during his political life, now ex- ston. He was, to use the phrase in vogue, tended over a considerable portion of a "the man of the situation.' Nations will century, for some time held the office of sometimes indulge in that unfortunate Secretary at War. But that office is not weakness which occasionally afflicts indiby any means connected with the direc-viduals; they will gratify a fancy. This tion of war, it has only to deal with the financial affairs of the army, nevertheless, he has been represented, because he so long held that office, as possessing great military experience. We have recently found that Mr. Sidney Herbert, who lately occupied the position of Secretary at War, very properly, as I think, in the discharge not only of offices of friendship, but of duties of a public nature, assisted the noble Duke who was then at the head of the War Department; but that was by no means done by him in the character of Secretary at War, nor had the Secretary at War, as such, anything to do with the direction of the war. If Lord Palmerston, holding that office, acquired great military experience and established a great military reputation, that circumstance must have been known to the late Duke of Wellington, and would have certainly tended to raise his opinion of his abilities and make him desire to retain him in the Adminis weakness was indulged in by the people on this occasion, and that happened to the people which occasionally happens to individuals who indulge in like weaknesses→→→ namely, repentance soon followed on the indulgence. I believe that there is hardly any people so ready as the people of this country to give themselves up to the admiration of an individual for a short period. For a short period-but for a very short period-nothing can exceed the warmth of affection and admiration which they exhibit towards him. But a change soon comes over them, and that warmth of affection is soon followed by a frigid indifference, more than equal to the intensity of the admiration before entertained. I fear that at the present moment the feeling of the people is in that cold state, and that they have become gradually disappointed at the results of the elevation of the man whom they shortly ago desired to see at the head of the Government. But while Parliament has been in this | gerous change has come over the practice state of torpor the public has been think- of the constitution. The time was when ing, and the public has come to certain speeches in Parliament directed public conclusions, which appear to be just, as to opinion-when, whatever might have been the conduct of the war, and as to the the feeling during the recess, whatever means to be adopted in future for the pur- might have been the success of agitators pose of avoiding similar disappointments to during the period while Parliament was those they have experienced. The people not sitting, the meeting of Parliament, and have arrived at this conclusion-that it is the announcement of the opinions of those necessary, in the selection of individuals who were in the habit of leading parties in for public employments, to regard their Parliament, at once gave a direction to fitness, and not to be guided by favour. public opinion and brought it into a right I am not a convert to that opinion; for it and safe course. I fear there has been has been at all times the principle upon growing up a very material change in this which I have acted whenever for a short respect. Public opinion now is, I fear, time I have been in possession of power; more generally formed out of doors, and, and I can speak from experience of its ad- being there formed, it acts on the conduct vantages and its dangers. Its advantages of Parliament. I look with great apprehenare all for the public, and its dangers are for sion to a state of things in which persons, the individual who adopts that as his prin- however able, yet wholly irresponsible, ciple of Government. I have myself seen possess power greater, perhaps, than that disaster converted into victory, and dis-of those who lead parties in Parlia couragement into enthusiasm. I have seen ment. I look with apprehension to a public confidence re-established; I have state of things in which those whom I seen public prosperity carried to an unex- may call "the gentlemen of the platform ampled extent, beyond the point which have more influence by their speeches than at any previous period it had been known" the Gentlemen of the House of Comto attain; and I have been able, in a very great measure, to trace all these improvements in the condition of the State to the adoption of the principle of regarding solely the fitness of individuals in their selection for public employments. But I am enabled, at the same time, to inform your Lordships that there is this danger to the individual who acts on that principle, that he is surrounded by disappointed jobbers, and by little-minded men, depending for their promotion on patronage and favour, who, urged by the most unscrupulous animosity, join together for the purpose of overwhelming his Government. And if, in consequence of the present feeling of the people, any Government should be established in this country determined to act uniformly on the principle I have mentioned, I feel assured that it would be in danger from the same hostility, unless it received the constant, uniform, and vigilant support of the people, on whom it could alone depend. I have, my Lords, been not unobservant of the events which have taken place in this country during a very considerable period of my life; and I have conversed with many who have equally regarded those events with vigilant observation; and it is certainly in accordance with my observation, and with that of others, that a very great, and, as I think, very dan mons." That state of things has been growing up in this country. It fills me with considerable alarm. I know the importance of watching public opinion-I know the importance of endeavouring to direct it. It appears to me that public opinion, if I may so express myself, in a manner resembles a great river between two dykes. The waters rise gradually, slowly, imperceptibly, and without danger, apparently, in the eyes of those unaccustomed to their progress; but at last they increase to such a height that they overtop and destroy the dyke, and, pouring down on the plain, desolate everything before them. The same waters, however, if distributed by prudent and judicious management into streamlets running through the fields, would fertilize and beautify the land. It is with the conviction, then, that it is essential to the good working of the constitution that Parliament should direct, as far as possible, public opinion, that I make this Motion. I make it for the purpose of enabling your Lordships to place this House in the front of the people. I make it for the purpose of inducing you to go to the foot of the Throne as the faithful interpreters of public opinion, to state respectfully to Her Majesty the extent of public dissatisfaction and the extent of public complaint; to state your determination and that of the people to assist Her Majesty with all the resources of the coun- | by lowering the standard and by increasing try in the prosecution of a just and neces- the bounty that the army was to be augsary war; but at the same time to state mented. On a recent occasion the noble your opinion that the Government must be Lord the Minister of War very properly conducted on the true public principle of issued a circular respecting the militia, selecting men for employment without con- which relieved from service those men who sidering anything but their means of serv- had not entered that force with the uning the State. derstanding that they were to be emMy Lords, before I enter upon the conduct bodied, and who did not choose again to of the war, to which it will be necessary for volunteer in consideration of the bounty me to direct your Lordships' attention, allow offered to them; but he accompanied that me to draw distinctly the line which ap- measure by the offer of a bounty so expears to me to separate the functions of the tremely small as not only to endanger the Government from the functions of the success of the measure, but almost to general. It is the duty of the Government secure its failure; and I believe that we to form a plan for the campaign, and it is have lost the services of from 16,000 to the duty of the Government to place in the 20,000 men for the purpose of saving some hands of the general to whom they confide 50,000l. or 60,000l. There has been no the conduct of the campaign the most per- real economy-there has hardly been even fect instrument they can prepare for the an attempt at it-except in those branches purpose of obtaining success-a perfectly of the service in which parsimony was most well-equipped army. It is for the general to be avoided, and in which liberality was to carry into execution the plans of the most to be adopted—namely, in the obtainGovernment. We, as a Parliament, it ap-ing of men for the army and navy, and in pears to me, have only to deal with the conduct of the Government. Your Lordships may possibly recollect that at the very commencement of this war I, in the most earnest manner, cautioned the House and the public against looking too closely into the conduct of the officers in the command of the fleets and armies. I reminded your Lordships of the extreme sensitiveness of military men, and of the necessity of leaving their minds on all occasions perfectly free to exert all their energies for the public service. I assured your Lordships that the hope of public approbation and the apprehension of public displeasure would always be sufficient to animate those officers to the utmost extent in their exertions for the public service. I propose to adhere now to the reserve I recommended to others; I wish it to be understood that in all I say I deal only with the Government by whom this war has been conducted. My Lords, for the purpose of conducting the war I apprehend it will be admitted that it is necessary that a State should have at its disposal a sufficient number of men aided by animals. Unfortunately, the war has not been conducted in that manner; and very little exertion appears to have been made for the purpose of providing either armies of sufficient strength, or the means of movement for such army as we had. According to my recollection, it was not in the first instance that the standard of height was reduced, nor was it at an early period that the bounty was increased, yet it was My providing the army with the means of move- |