GREAT BRITAIN. 



497 



6th of February, was opened by commission, 

 the queen being too deeply affected to open it, 

 as usual, in person, and by common consent 

 party hostilities were laid aside, and although 

 the position of the ministry, at the close of the 

 preceding session, had been extremely preca- 

 rious, yet the leaders of the opposition felt un- 

 willing to incur the odium of defeating the 

 ministry, and bringing the care and anxiety of 

 the formation of a new cabinet, and the order- 

 ing an election of a new House of Commons 

 upon the sovereign, while thus borne down 

 with sorrow. 



Thus it happened that the measures of the 

 Government in regard to the Confederate Com- 

 missioners, Mason and Slidell, were approved 

 with but slight dissent ; the resolutions offered 

 for the recognition of the Southern Confeder- 

 acy were, at the request of the premier, with- 

 drawn by their movers; the budget of the 

 chancellor of the exchequer, though includ- 

 ing important modifications in the collection of 

 revenue, passed both houses by a large major- 

 ity; and other bills which, under other.circum- 

 stances, would have excited earnest debate, if 

 not a disastrous division, were permitted to 

 pass with but little difficulty. It was not until 

 late in the session that any measures leading to 

 heated debate were introduced. In the latter 

 part of May. Mr. Stansfeld, a radical member, 

 introduced a resolution condemning, in strong 

 terms, the large military -expenditure of the 

 Government, and censuring the ministry for 

 acting as alarmists. There were indications 

 that, if brought to a vote, this motion would 

 be carried, and Viscount Palmerston, always 

 fertile in expedients, and knowing the indispo- 

 sition of the conservative party to compel a 

 change of ministry at that time, took the bold 

 position before the house that the pressing of 

 that motion would be regarded as a vote of 

 want of confidence by the ministry, which 

 would of course lead to their resignation, and 

 thus compelled the opposition to withdraw the 

 motion. The battle of the Merrimac and the 

 Monitor also gave rise to warm discussion, in 

 which the ministry did not escape wholly un- 

 damaged. The Government were constructing 

 a considerable number of iron-clad ships, but 

 they were all of very large size, most of 

 them built wholly of iron, and possessing but 

 moderate speed ; while for coast and harbor 

 defences they relied either upon their wooden 

 ships, which the battle seemed to prove were 

 worthless, or upon forts built upon land, which 

 a well-protected iron-clad might pass with im- 

 punity. The opposition demanded that the 

 Government should desist from their immense 

 expenditure for forts, and build, for coast and 

 harbor defences, vessels analogous to the Mon- 

 itor. A Captain Coles, who had three years 

 before proposed something of the sort (though 

 with an iron shield rather than a turret), and 

 whose plans had been rejected by the Govern- 

 ment, now brought them forward again, and, 

 under the clamors of the opposition, the Gov- 

 YOL. II. S3 



eminent were compelled to contract with Lim 

 for the construction of several vessels on his 

 plan, and to postpone the construction of fur- 

 ther fortifications at Spithead. The fortifica- 

 tions at Portsmouth and Plymouth were in pro- 

 gress, and would need further appropriations 

 for their prosecution ; but, in the existing tem- 

 per of the house, the premier preferred to de- 

 lay as long as possible the discussion of these 

 appropriations, which the war minister re- 

 duced to the lowest possible sum. The cabinet 

 did not, however, escape a severe attack from 

 Mr. Cobden, the leader of the radical, or Free 

 Trade party, who accused the premier of caus- 

 ing vast and needless expenditure to the nation 

 by constantly exciting apprehensions of a war 

 with France, the futility of which no man 

 knew better than himself; and averred that he 

 thus speculated on the fears of the people, in 

 order to maintain himself in power. Viscount 

 Palmerston replied with great bitterness, and 

 with such caustic personalities as greatly irri- 

 tated the Free Trade party, and led Mr. Cob- 

 den, in a dignified but severe reply, to announce 

 the withdrawal of himself and his friends from 

 the support of the administration. Thus 

 threatened, the premier was compelled to ac- 

 cept an amendment offered by the Conserva- 

 tives to the Fortifications Appropriation Bill, 

 interdicting the Government from exceeding 

 in any way the expenditure named in the bill, 

 and from undertaking any new work which 

 would involve further expenditure. Humiliat- 

 ing as this deprivation of all independent ac- 

 tion was, the Government had no alternative 

 but submission. The Government also experi- 

 enced a defeat in regard to a measure which it 

 had offered for the relief of the parishes in 

 Lancashire, Derbyshire, and Cheshire, where 

 the cotton famine had thrown a large number 

 of operatives out of employment, and greatly 

 increased the number dependent upon par- 

 ish aid. The bill presented by the Home Sec- 

 retary provided that when the poor rates of 

 any parish exceeded 5s. on the pound, the par- 

 ish should have the right to require assistance 

 from the other parishes belonging to the Poor 

 Law Union till the poor rates of the entire 

 union were brought up to this maximum rate. 

 This was opposed, and finally defeated, by the 

 members from the manufacturing districts, who 

 urged that the parishes should rather be al- 

 lowed to contract loans for the amount needed, 

 to be paid in instalments from the proceeds ef 

 the poor rates in subsequent years. An act 

 .was subsequently passed providing that when 

 the parish expenditure for poor rates exceeded 

 3s. in the pound per annum for the ensuing 

 year, the guardians might charge the excess to 

 the other parishes of the union until all the 

 parishes had reached the- limit of 3s. in the 

 pound, when the guardians might apply to the 

 Poor Law Board for permission to borrow 

 money to meet the necessary excess, to be 

 charged to the common fund of the union ; and 

 if, in the distressed unions, the expenditure ex- 



