REFORMERS IN COUNCIL. "The above form the Cabinet."

New Zealand Spectator and Cook's Strait Guardian, Volume IX, Issue 923, 7 June 1854, Page 4

REFORMERS IN COUNCIL. "The above form the Cabinet."

Lord Grauville (laughing): Very good — very good, imbed ; — but conic, 1 say, we are really j nidLiug no progress at ail. We began with considering clause 4 of the Reform Bill, and we have jsojueliow got back to a dispute on the meanhig cf ckuss 1, illustrated by an anecdote of ! Palnieiston's. At this rats we shall stay hero ] tiil Christmas -eve. Lord John Russell : You look at me as if it were my lault. It certainly is not. If you could all only agiee to everything 1 propose, I should be the last person to be troublesome. Lord Aberdeen : lam very soiry to have to say anything which can possibly be deemed offensive to any of my colleagues, but I must observe that throughout all these discussions Lord I John Russell has lost sight of the agreement j upon which our Coalition was founded, — namely, that we should forget all our antecedents. Sir Charles Wood : Yes, and all our relatives. Ha ! ha ! (The speaker suddenly looked bjtyilc, recollecting thai this was rather an awkward joke from him.') Sir James Graham : Wood, with bis usual neatness and dexterity, has sought to save Lord John Ilussell the necessity of reply to the Premier's very jus>t observation ; but 1 fear we must recal attention to it. Now, I have made a few memoranda — (Taken out papers) — of which I would humbly solicit a very few moments consideration. (Lays them on table and begins to 1 examine them through glasses.) Now, I find that on the 9th of February, 1552, which happened to be Monday — I don't know that the fact is material, except that the day proved Black Monday for my noble friend — Ha 1 ha ! — my noble friend introduced his own Reform Bill. He said — Lord Palmerston : My dear Graham, we I heard the speech, and I think you will allour that ! men at our time of life ought not to be asked to listen to such an address twice in two years. (Laughter.) Sir J. Graham i—li — I will not read it. But 1 must point cut this. By that bill the county irauchise was reduced, the borough £10 voters were swamped by £5 voters, and franchise was conferred on all who paid forty shillings direct taxation. Borougds witli fewer than 500 electors were tacked to other boroughs ; parliamentary qualifications of members were abolished ; Jews were to be let in, anJ papists relieved of all oaths they did not like, Mr. Gladstone : — Don't say Papists, Graham, please. There are three other courses open to you. Call them members of the Catholic Church ; subjects to the Roman See ; or adherents to tha older creed of Christendom. Why shock people's feelings? Sii J.Graham: Anything to please you. We'll call them developed Puseyites, if you like. But do not let us turn aside to trifles. There was our noble friend's old bill. He wiil have in 1 March or April to iuttoduce that which we are at ! present considering. It is clear that, if this new bill be a smaller measure than the old, his course in deleudiuo; it will not be an easy one. Lord J, Russell : I shall feel obleeged to you I not to concern yourself about that. I believe ' myself fully competent to advocate any measure I whatever. Agree upon the bill, and leave me to ' make its eelojay. Lord Clarendon : Its what? Lord Palmerston (good-naturedly) He means its iloge. F'.ual c not sounded, my dear Russell,"

Lord J. Russell : I dou't care ; I don't pretend to talk French. Sir J. Graham : Well, I thought you did pretend. Never mind. But now this new bil^ clearly does Dot contain the extension of the ten-pound borough vote to the five-pound fellows. Sir W. Molesworth : Not as nt present framed. But upon this subject I must request the attention of tha Council. I trust to bo able to prove, by logical inference, that a bill emanating from & Government of which I have the honour to be a member ought to contain such extension. My Lords and Gentlemen, if we consider the condition of man before he united with his fellowman in those links which are comprehended in the term society, and if, tracking him through the' gradual ascent from savagery to civilization, we disentangle — Duke of Argyle : You are doing your logio in a deuced clumsy way, I can tell you. Why uot let me do it for you ? Take as premises — Sir C. Wood : Those occupied at £10 a year? I like to understand everything exactly before I proceed. Duke of Argyll : That accounts for your never getting on at all. Sir J. Graham : Do not let us be severe. Perhaps I can put Molesworth" case for him — not so eloquently as he would, but somewhat more succinctly. I quite agree*with him that any Reform Bill from a Cabinet of which he is a member ought to contain an extension of the franchise in boroughs, and that if it do not contain such extension ho ought to resign offico ; but — Sir Wiliam Molesworth : Stop. I did not say that. Sir J. Graham (blandly) : I am sure I beg your pardon. But, as no othor two houest mencan differ on the point, I ventured to say what I believed you would say. But to proceed, for, after all, Molesworth's consistency is a trifle which should uot detain us, there is another reason why the borough franchise should be extended. It is this. I pledged myself iv my Carlisle Canvass that it shouM be, Sir C. Wood (simply) : But, bless you, the same rule will apply m your case as in Molesworth's. If the bill has not the clause you think needful and just, you ought to resign. Sir J. Graham {smiling compassionately) : Poor dear Wood ! He does not see the difference between the necessity of retaining tha presence of an amateur politician aud the service of a real one. Sir C. Wood (smartly) : Come, I know something about baronets, and Molesworth is the eighth of his Hue, while you are only the second of youis, come. Now then ; take eight from two, there remains six. Sir J. Graham: Yes; that's the way you used to do the arithmetic in your budgets, to the great delight of the audience. Lord J. Russell : Waiving tho question of Graham's pledges, which he can hardly — ha ! ha !! — expect us to value at a higher rate than— — ha ! ha I — he has been teaching us to do by hi 3 own regard to them for the last quarter of a century — ha! ha! — I would call attention to one remark which I made in my lamentable speech in 1552. I represented, as the greaS merit of that bill, that it woulJ leave the relative positions of the agricultural and tho commercial interests just where it found them. Unless I am enabled to say as much — ' Lord Palmerstou : as little '( Lord J. Russell : Very well, as liftle for tho new bill ; it will be a question with me whether I ought to introduce it. Sir C. Wood : Lor ! if it will be any convenience to you, I'll introduce it with the greatest pleasure, and talk any number of hours. Lord J. Russell (freezingly) : You are very good. Lord Palmerston : We need not waste time. It is clear that John Russell can't say that of the new bill. When I say cant, I use too strong an expression, because- there is no saying what my noble friend can't say ; but I mean that it would not be true. The arrangement which is to throw the boiough voters into the counties will most materially alter the relations of commerce and agriculture. Lord Aberdeen : And here is the veTy thing of which I complained at the outset. You are all trying back upon what you have said and done in other days. Why, if we are to apply that tost, or encourage other people to apply it, what is to become of our uuiou ! There is noPast for a Coalitionist. Lord Palmerston : That's true. He has enough to do in looking to the particularly disagreeable future, as several respected frieudi I see around me acutely feel. Sir C. Wood ; We are getting grammatical. I know in what tense the new Reform Bill is. Ha ! ha 1 Do you give it up ? The imperfect. Ha! ha! Lord Granvillo : Now it is nearly time to rise, and we have done nothing — ab ovo usque ad malum. Sir C. Wood : Malum?—- that's bad. Da you call my joka bad ? By Jove, I think it is very good ! Lord Granville : My dear fellow, while the fact that you are in office is before tho world, you need not descend to any smaller joke. Lord J. Russell : Another meeting over and nothing done. Sir J. Graham: I do not know whether it will induce great unanimity and expedition at our next Council if I mention one other little fact which appears upon my memoranda. On the 9th of February, 1852, as I have said, my noble friend introduced a bad Reform Bill, which failed to satisfy the country, We can, of course, do the same thing again ; — but mark. On the 23rd of the same February 1 find my noble friend rising in the House, and stating that he and his colleagues held office only until their successors should be appointed. (Sensation.) Lord Palraerston (demurely) : Dear me !—! — was it so soon after ? Ah ! 1 was not in office at the time, aud it escaped my memory. (Lord J. Russell looks angrily at the last speaker, and the Council i* adjourned.) — The Press.