Parliamentary Remembrancer.

VOLUME III.

SESSION 1860.

(INCLUDING A DIGEST OF THE PARLIAMENTARY PAPERS ISSUED DURING THE SESSION.)

PRINTED BY JOHN EDWARD TAYLOR,

LITTLE QUEEN STREET, LINCOLN'S INN FIELDS.

THE PARLIAMENTARY REMEMBRANCER.

THE great importance of many of the matters that came before Parliament during the Session of 1860, makes it useful to give, in the present Volume, a Table of some of the principal Notes that arose out of those matters.

The digest of Parliamentary Papers (pp. 249-270) has been brought into a more systematic form; thus giving a clearer and more complete view of the very valuable contents of those too little known Papers.

The Session of 1861 will begin on the 5th February. The fourth Volume of the Parliamentary Remembrancer will, accordingly, begin with the Number (88) which will be issued on 9th February, 1861.

More detailed references to the subjects of the above-named Notes, as well as references to the Notes on the
various other topics that came before Parliament during the Session, will be readily found in the INDEX.

The QUEEN, in person, delivered the SPEECH OF THE CROWN, from the Throne.

Select Vestries Bill.-Read first time [pro forma].

On the meaning and importance of this pro forma reading of a Bill, before proceeding to take the Speech of the Crown into consideration, see Parl. Rem. Vol. II. pp. 1 and 90. It is remarked by Lord John Russell, in the same spirit with Sir Thomas Meres, that, "The Forms of Parliament and of the Constitution, oppose, in themselves, a great barrier to the strides of arbitrary power. The violation of those Forms ought to serve as a signal that an enemy is in sight." If "it is in the power of a Minister to dispense with precedent and usage, whenever they stand in the way of convenience and expediency, all the guards and outworks of freedom, on which her security so much depends, are yielded without a blow" (English Government and Constitution, p. 285). The Forms of Parliament are the result of many ages of thoroughly-tried experience, and of a wise and patriotic jealousy. Frequent attention has been called, in the foregoing volumes of the Parliamentary Remembrancer, to instances of the care and caution which these Forms have sought to ensure, in the dealing, by Parliament, with all matters of Taxation, Commerce, etc., and of proposed changes put forth under what design soever. It would be well if the true meaning and spirit of these Forms were better understood and more heeded than they are, both within and without the walls of Parliament, so that the vitality they were designed to cherish should be kept in full vigour, and that none of them might be suffered either to die out or, what is as bad, to degenerate into lifeless monuments of a forgotten carefulness. See illustrations in Parl. Rem. Vol. II. pp. 26, 90, 103, 124.

Address to the Crown.-Motion, by the Earl FITZWILLIAM,-for an Address to the Queen, in acknowledgment of the Speech from the Throne, and adopting each of the clauses of that Speech seriatim :—to which an Amendment was moved, by the Earl GREY,-to add (after the paragraph referring to the Expedition to China) the words :-"But humbly to express to Her Majesty our Regret that, when the Preparations for the intended Expedition were commenced, Her Majesty's Servants did not advise Her Majesty to communicate to Parliament, without delay, the measures which had been decided upon, in order that Parliament might have an opportunity of forming a judgment on their propriety, and that its previous sanction might be obtained for the expense they might occasion." After Debate, Amendment negatived. Original motion agreed to.

The Amendment of Earl Grey was chiefly rested by him on one branch of the Constitutional principles that bear upon it. Those principles are, in fact, twofold: first, the prescriptive right and obligation that the advice of Parliament shall be asked, and its consent given, before any important matter touching Foreign Affairs is undertaken; second, that, inasmuch as the means of carrying out any foreign expedition can only be furnished by Parliament, Parliament must needs, unless it sink into a mere registrar of decrees, be consulted before that which involves expenditure on such expedition is begun. Earl Grey rested mainly on the latter of these principles,-citing, however, in so doing, these words, used in the House of Commons by Mr. Gladstone, the present Chancellor of the Exchequer, in 1857 :-"I will say, without fear of contradiction, that the practice of commencing wars, without associating Parliament with the first measures, is utterly at variance with the established practice of the country, dangerous to the constitution, and absolutely requiring the intervention of this House, in order to render the recognition of so dangerous a proceeding utterly impossible." The historical facts bearing on and illustrating the former of these grounds, and taken, not from the writings of any partial historian, but from the unimpeachable Rolls of Parliament itself, through a long succession of ages,-have been already been given in Parl. Rem. Vol. II. pp. 95-101. Mr. Horsman gave notice of a motion on the subject early in the last Session (see Parl. Rem. Vol. II. p. 91), which the pressure of the Session made him unable then, however, to bring before the House of Commons. Foreign Affairs.—It was stated, in the Speech from the Throne, as to Italy, that, in case of a Congress, the English Government would "steadfastly maintain the principle, that no external force should be employed to impose upon the people of Italy any particular Government or Constitution;" while, whether there were a Congress or not, the endeavour would be made ❝ to obtain for the people of Italy freedom from foreign interference by force of arms in their internal concerns:"-as to France, that Government is "in communication with the Emperor of the French, with a view to extend the commercial intercourse between the two countries:"-as to Spain and Morocco, that unsuccessful attempts had been made to prevent the rupture:-as to China, that, "in concert and co-operation with the Emperor of the French," an expedition is preparing; but the hope was added, that "the prompt acquiescence of the Emperor of China in the moderate demands which will be made by the Plenipotentiaries, shall obviate the necessity for the employment of force:"-as to the United States of America, that it was hoped that the San Juan dispute would be amicably settled:-as to India, that "disturbance has been extinguished," and authority has been "solidly established:"—and that a Treaty has been concluded with Japan; and another, settling Boundaries, with Guatemala.

The relation of Parliament to Foreign Affairs has been already fully shown and illustrated in the place cited in the last foregoing note. It is particularly observable with what caution the negotiations with France are named in the Queen's Speech. No Treaty is even hinted at-only "communications;" and Lord Palmerston, in speaking of these communications, in the debate on the Address in the House of Commons, explicitly declared "that the arrangements stipulated to be made on the part of Her Majesty, are made conditional on the consent of Parliament to them." (See also below: Wednesday.)

As to China, the tone used in the Queen's Speech is very different from that which was sounded by many between September and Christmas last. The "moderate demands" here named, suggest a course more befitting the facts of the case, as shown before, Parl. Rem. Vol. II. p. 171.

VOL. III.