THE ROYAL STYLE AND TITLES BILL

Globe, Volume V, Issue 576, 24 April 1876, Page 3

THE ROYAL STYLE AND TITLES BILL

We take the following report of Mr Disraeli’s speech on moving for leave to introduce the above Bill from the Times of February 17th : Mr Disraeli moved that the paragraph in the Gracious Speech from the Throne relating to India and the Royal Titles be now read from the table. “I am deeply thankful for the uninterrupted health which my dear sou, the Prince of Wales, haa enjoyed during his journey through India. The hearty affection with which he has been received by my Indian subjects of all classes and races assures me that they are happy under my rule and loyal to ray throne. At the time that the direct Government of my Indian Empire was traus ferred to the Grown no formal addition was made to the style and titles of the Sovereign. 1 have deemed the present a fitting opportunity for supplying this omission, and a Bill upon the subject will be presented to you.” Mr Disraeli —After the reading of that paragraph in the gracious speech from the Throne, I have now to ask leave of the House to introduce a Bill which will enable her Majesty to add to the style and titles appertaining to the Imperial Grown of the United Kingdom and its drp’ndonciea. After what we have heard from the table

the House will not require me to infonn them that the change contemplated by her Majesty refers to India. At the lime when the Government of India was tranferred to her Majesty by the East India Company, who were her trustees, the propriety of some addition of (his kind to the Royal style and titles was felt by persons of considerable authority in this mailer, and was considered by the Government of which I then formed a member. • That proposition was not adopted, but it was not negatived. There existed circumstances at the time which made us think that it might be premature, but the idea war not relinquished, and it has been one that has often occupied the speculations of those interested in Indian affairs. Since that period—since the transfer of the direct Government of India to the Queen —the interest felt by the people of this country in India has greatly increased. It has become every year deeper and wider. [Oheers.J I remember when I first entered this House, now about 40 years ago, that there were, I believe, even members of Parliament who looked upon India as a vast country which, generally speaking, was inhabited by a single and by a subjugated race. But since then information has been so much diffused among all classes of our countrymen on the subject of India, that even those who have the most ordinary in formation are now well aware that India is an ancient country of many nations ; that it is peopled by various and varying races, differing in origin, in language, in religion, in manners, and in laws—some of them highly gifted and highly civilised, and many of them of rare antiquity.

[Hoar, hear.] An,l this vast community is governed, under the-Q men, by many Sovereign Princes, some of whom occupy thrones which were filled by their ancestors when England with a Roman province. (Hear, hear.) The presence of the Prince of Wales in India has naturally increased and stimulated this feeling of sympathy in both countries. It is not for me to offer compliments to a Prince so near the Throne, but in fulfilling a public duty the language of truth may be permitted; and I am sure that I am justified in saying that throughout this great enterprise on his part his demeanor and his conduct have been such that he has proved that it is not his birth only which qualifies him for an Imperial post. (Cheers.) Under all these circumstances, we have considered that the time has arrived when the original intention of her Majesty and her advisers at the period I have named should be carried into effect, and I have therefore to ask the House tonight to pass a Bill which consists of only one clause, which will enable her Majesty by proclamation to make that addition to her style and titles which befits the occasion In taking this course I am fol'owing a precedent, the validity of which, I think, cannot Vie impugned. At ihe time of ihe Union with Ireland, in the Act of Union itself, there was a proviso enabling the Sovereign, when the Act was passed, to announce, by proclamation under the Great Seal, the style and title be would assume; and, accordingly, His Majesty King George TIT. issued a proclamation under the Great Seal, and adopted the title of Kir g of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and its Dependencies. I propose in the present instance to take the same course. I have to ask the House to night to give me leave to bring in a Bill which will enable her Majesty to exercise her high prerogative and to proclaim the addition to her style and title which she fh’ems expedient and proper. I trust that the House will support her Majesty’s Government in the course they arc adopting—[cheers]—because we have reason to feel that it is a step which will give great satisfaction not merely to the Princes, but to the nations of India. [Cheers] They look forward to some Act of this kind‘with interest, and by various modes they have conveyed to us their desire that such a policy should be pursued. [Hear, hear] I cannot myself doubt that il is one also that will be most agreeable to the people of Eng land and of the United Kingdom, because they must feel that such a stop gives a seal, as it were, to that sentiment which of bate years has been so rising in these island namely, a determination to maintain our Empire. [Cheers] And it will be an answer to those mere economists and those foreign diplomatists who announce that India is to us only a burden or a danger. [Hear, hear.] By passing this Bill, then, and enabling her Majesty to take this step, the House will show in a manner that is unmistakable that they look upon India as one of the most precious possessions of the Crown, and their pride that it is a part of her Empire and governed by her Imperial Throne, [Cheers.] The right hon gentleman concluded by moving for leave to bring in the Bill.