silent approbation of the country, yet on would naturally have induced any one, to no one occasion until the President of suppose that the interpretation to be given the Republic was elected in 1848 were to it would have been that of common parthe whole mass of the French people con- lance, as it is understood and accepted sulted with regard to what form of govern- when it is used to designate sovereignsment they preferred, or what manner of the numeral adopted was intended to conman they sought. In the mass of the vey the inference that he was descended French people, one recollection-one only by direct and legitimate succession from -and one strong partiality prevails; and the former Emperor, and that by right of I think it is not difficult to understand why that descent he now filled the throne of this should be. In 1815, at the time of France. My Lords, the advisers of the the Restoration, the French army-an present Emperor of the French, foreseeing enormous French army-was disbanded. this difficulty, frankly took the initiative in It was poured back again upon the hearths assuring Her Majesty's Government that of the population. The prisoners of war it related simply to the historical incident returned from all parts of the world in that in France, and according to French thousands and tens of thousands; and I law, two sovereigns of the name of Napobelieve I am not exaggerating the number leon have preceded the present Emperor. when I say that, perhaps, 400,000, or from Neither of these Sovereigns, as your Lordthat to half a million of men, with one ships know, was recognised by this country. -I The French know that as well as your fixed idea in their minds, and with onemay call it-worship fixed in their hearts, Lordships-and they, therefore, adopt the then returned to their homes; and for title with no intention of claiming any twenty or thirty years afterwards they hereditary right from the first Emperor. talked and they thought but of one man; This the French Government have disand they thought and they spoke of him tinctly intimated to Her Majesty's Goas the great idol of their imagination; and vernment; and subsequently in a speech though they could hardly have exaggerated by the Emperor himself he has declaredhis military merits and his military glory, and his Government have also declared it they still added to those all that the warm- to ours-that he is Sovereign only by the est enthusiasm could give. Upon the voice of the people, not by hereditary rising generation all this could not be lost; right to the throne-that he distinctly reand it appears to me that the seeds which cognises all the Governments that have these men have sown in the provinces of existed since 1814 in France-and that he France are now to be seen in the fruit of recognises the acts of those Governments, which we have witnessed the ripening on and acknowledges the solidarity of those this occasion. Seeing then this immense Governments as succeeding others. demonstration of feeling on the part of this frank and satisfactory explanation, it the French people, it was imposssible for was only left to Her Majesty's GovernHer Majesty's Government, even if it had ment, as I said before, cordially and with not been our usual policy to sanction such pleasure to acknowledge the decided will demonstrations, not to have advised Her of the French nation, and to send to Her In the notifiMajesty immediately and cordially to ac- Majesty's Ambassador at Paris new crecept and recognise the Empire. There dentials to the new Court. might have been one, and one only, rea- cation which the Emperor has made to son that might have tempted us to hesitate Her Majesty's Government, he says that before we advised Her Majesty to proceed; the same policy which influenced the Prebut I rejoice to say that the good sense of sident will influence the Emperor. And the present Emperor, foreseeing the diffi- with respect to that policy, as it regarded culty, met it in advance, and removed from England, it is impossible to speak too Her Majesty's Government those difficul- highly of the cordial and frank manner in ties that might otherwise have intervened. which every question has been entertained I allude to a somewhat ambiguous expres- by the Government of France at least sion which was found in the report of the since I have had the honour of holding the Senatus consultum, which referred to the seals of office. I am sure my noble Friend late President of the Republic, and which opposite will say the same thing at the was connected with the title it was an- time he filled my place. I have found nonounced he meant to take-namely, that thing but fairness and fair play, and in all of Napoleon III. That expression might their transactions nothing but assurances have induced Her Majesty Government, and of good will, and wishes to maintain an

With

our Court.

I

unbroken friendship with this country. I under discussion, it is deemed advisable— believe the Emperor himself, and the great and, above all, it is deemed advisable on the mass of his people, deeply feel the neces- part of a Minister of the Crown-to abstain sity, for the interests of both countries, that from any comment on the conduct of neighwe should be on a footing of profound bouring Powers in their own affairs, whepeace; and, on the other hand, that they ther it be the conduct of the people or of see the great folly and crime which it their rulers. As to the question which I would be on either side to provoke war. ventured to put, if it is not clear to the They must know that a war, as far as it noble Earl, I shall endeavour shortly to would lead to the subjugation of either explain it. The noble Earl is aware that country by the other, is an absurdity- when communications pass between two that neither country, so great, so power-friendly States, they assume different forms ful, and so independent, could in any man--sometimes they are in the form of a desner subjugate the other; and that, there- patch from the Minister or Ambassador of fore, war must be as useless as cruel, and our country residing at the foreign Court as inglorious as useless. making the communication-sometimes in VISCOUNT CANNING: My Lords, I the form of a note from the Minister or shall not follow the noble Earl in offering Ambassador of that country residing at any comments upon the notification he Now what I want to know is has made to us-a matter on which it ap-in which of these forms, or if in neither pears to me none of your Lordships can in what other form, these assurances have touch too lightly; and I feel convinced been received? that the sense of the House would condemn any noble Lord who, in following the noble Earl, should express any opinion, or offer any observations of his own, upon this subject. But since the noble Earl has tendered your Lordships a statement of the transactions which have arisen out of recent occurrences in France, in which he, as a Minister of the Crown, has been engaged, and since he has informed your Lordships of the result to which these transactions have led, I take the liberty of asking the noble Earl to complete his statement on a point on which I think your Lordships ought to have a further and more explicit declaration-I mean as to the shape which these explanations took which influenced the Government to give Her Majesty the advice they have done. The question I wish to ask my noble Friend, then, is this, what was the form and shape of those assurances which the noble Earl received; and will the form of them enable the noble Earl either now, or at some future, but not distant, time to lay them before Parliament?

The EARL of MALMESBURY: agree with the noble Viscount that it is advisable to abstain from all comments on the conduct of foreign States if these comments be disagreeable, or of an unfriendly nature; and certainly I should be the last man to make such comments. It may be that I have not been accustomed to address your Lordships sufficiently often to be able adequately to express my meaning, but I trust I have not said a single word to excite the slightest disagreeable feeling, and therefore I don't understand why the noble Viscount should find fault with me for having made a comment for comment I have made none. I rose with the most earnest wish to say of France and the French all that France and the French would wish to say of themselves. As to the question put by the noble Viscount, I have to state that the mode in which the communications were made was perfectly official, and therefore perfectly satisfactory to Her Majesty's Government. But they could not have been more satisfactory to me than those which were made to me verbally by the French Ambassador in The EARL of MALMESBURY: My London, and which have since been reLords, the observations of the noble Vis-peated by the French Emperor in his count resolve themselves into two points. He seems to disapprove of something I have stated as being in bad taste. As to the other, I must say I do not understand the noble Viscount's question.

VISCOUNT CANNING: My Lords, all I meant to imply in the first part of my obser

vations was this, that in both Houses of Parliament, when foreign matters are brought

speech to the Chamber; these would have been quite sufficient security to me even if there had been no official declaration.

The MARQUESS of BREADALBANE trusted that the change in the Government would make no change in the relations between France and this country.

House adjourned till To-morrow.

HOUSE OF COMMONS,

Monday, December 6, 1852.

(Mr. Hume) presented a petition from Mr. Grantley Berkeley, a candidate at the late election for West Gloucestershire. That petition had been read before the Com

MINUTES. NEW MEMBERS SWORN.-For Abing-mittee on Public Petitions, and they were don, Lord Norreys; for Oldham, William Johnson Fox, esq.; for Durham, Lord Adolphus

Frederick Charles William Vane.

NEW WRIT.-For Merthyr Tydvil, v. Sir Josiah
John Guest, bt., deceased.
PUBLIC BILLS.-1° General Board of Health;

Land Tax Commissioners Names.

3° West India Colonies, &c., Loans Act Amendment.

WESTMINSTER BRIDGE.

SIR ROBERT H. INGLIS said, he wished to put a question to the noble Lord at the head of the Board of Works. Six years ago a Committee of that House unanimously recommended that Westminster Bridge should be pulled down, and that a new bridge should be built upon the site. He desired to inquire-first, what was the present state of the bridge? Secondly, whether it was the intention of Her Majesty's Government to introduce any Bill this Session for the purpose of enabling a new bridge to be constructed? Thirdly, whether the new bridge will be built upon the same site, or further up the river? And fourthly, whether it was the intention of the Government to open to competition, limited or otherwise, the design of the new bridge?

unanimously of opinion that it was an election petition. He therefore moved that the Order of the 2nd of December, that the petition do lie on the table, be discharged, for the purpose of the petition being withdrawn.

MR. HUME said, he wished to know, before the Order was discharged, whether a person complaining of an election was to Committee of that House? be obliged to prosecute a petition before a He could not understand how the character of that House was to be maintained if any person who was able to prove that offences of the most committed at an election, had not some heinous nature against the law had been mode of giving such proof without being ruined by an opposed election petition. He had inquired how far the person in question was able to prove the allegations in this petition, and was informed that that them, but that he would not enter the person was perfectly prepared to prove lists to demand justice, opposed as he would be by two individuals of great probery, treating, violence, and intimidation perty. The petitioner stated that the briat the election in question were monstrous, elections were there outraged. and that every rule and order respecting

LORD JOHN MANNERS said, that he had applied to Mr. Walker, the engineer of the bridge, who said that proper persons were appointed to watch it daily. It was almost entirely supported by timber, and he was not aware that there was any more immediate cause of alarm than there was in March last. With respect to the other questions, it was the intention of the Go-printed with the Votes?

vernment to introduce a measure for the

purpose of erecting a new bridge upon the site of the present, and Government had not as yet decided whether the design should be opened to competition, or that one should be selected from those already sent in. It was the intention to enlarge the space of the roadway of the bridge by means of lateral additions to the present bridge, which would be open to the public while the rest of the new bridge was being constructed.

MR. FITZSTEPHEN FRENCH begged to inquire whether this petition was not something of the same nature with that which had been presented respecting the election for Cork, and which, on the Motion of the hon. and learned Member for Youghal (Mr. J. Butt), was ordered to be

MR. SPEAKER said, that since the petition referred to by the hon. Member for Roscommon (Mr. F. French) had been printed, he had read it, and had no doubt that it was in the nature of an election petition, and, having been presented after the time for receiving election petitions, that petition ought not to have been received.

MR. GRENVILLE BERKELEY said, he could state, upon good authority, that the most unqualified contradiction could be given to the assertions contained in the ELECTION PETITIONS-WEST GLOUCES- petition presented by the hon. Member for

TERSHIRE ELECTION.

MR. THORNELY said, that on Thursday last the hon. Member for Montrose

Montrose.

Order discharged.

Petition withdrawn.

official manner, and ultimately in a formal | right hon. Gentleman to introduce a Bill and official manner that in accepting the for the purpose, without any previous protitle of Napolcon the Third, the Emperor ceedings. If so, I take it for granted that of the French does not in any way wish to assert his hereditary claim to the Empire. And he declares that his only claim to be considered Emperor is, that he has been elected to that high dignity by the people of France. He has also declared, in a manner perfectly voluntary upon his part, that he entirely accepts all the Governments and all the acts of the Governments which have occurred since the year 1814. I thought it due to the House of Commons that they should at once be placed in possession of these facts, and that they should not owe their knowledge of them to another source.

LORD JOHN RUSSELL said, he wished to inquire whether the right hon. Gentleman would have any objection to place the despatch upon the table of the House? The CHANCELLOR OF THE EXCHEQUER: I think there will be no objection to comply with the desire of the noble Lord; I have not, however, considered the question, and I trust that the noble Lord will not press me for a more definite

answer.

COMMERCIAL LEGISLATION-THE

INCOME TAX.

MR. GLADSTONE: Sir, I wish to call the attention of the House to a subject which appears to be of the utmost importance of constitutional importance, I may fairly say-in connexion with the financial statement of the right hon. Gentleman the Chancellor of the Exchequer. On Friday last the right hon. Gentleman, I understood, announced that on Friday next he should propose to the House to augment the House tax, the inference being that the arrangement was to take place from the 5th of April next. I conclude, of course, that the right hon. Gentleman has no intention of making a change in the House tax during the residue of the current year. The right hon. Gentleman likewise stated that the subject of the Income tax might stand over until after the recess. I think the right hon. Gentleman was understood to say that the question of the Tea duties was to accompany, on Friday, the question of the House tax. I apprehend I am correct in stating that, with regard to any reduction of the Tea duties, or any other such matter, no preliminary Committee is considered necessary, but that it is the intention of the

there will be no preliminary Resolution on the Tea duties on Friday next, and that the business of that day, as at present understood, will have reference solely to the increase of the House tax. Now, the opinion which I venture respectfully to state to the House is, that such is by no means a regular, an advantageous, or, I would almost venture to say, a constitutional order of proceeding. And, without pressing the right hon. Gentleman for any declaration of opinion at the present moment, I am desirous to state to the House, and to him especially, the grounds on which I venture to found that statement. They are partly of a general and partly of a special nature. We are going to make provision for the financial year that commences on the 5th of April, 1853. Now, when we are considering the provision for that year, the first thing which necessarily strikes the mind of every man is, that on the 5th of April the Income tax, from which we derive more than one-tenth of our gross revenue, will have ceased, legally, to exist; and I put it strongly to the House and to the Government, that the first duty of this House in reference to the provision for that year must necessarily be to consider what course we are to pursue with regard to the Income tax. Are we to have the Income tax after that 5th of April, or are we not? It is on that, and not on the increase of the House tax, that the provision for that year depends; and my mature conviction is, that we shall find it impossible to give a satisfactory judgment on the House tax until we know what is going to be done with the Income tax. Suppose the judgment of the House to be that the Income tax shall lapse, or be greatly reduced; such a thing—and we don't know that such a thing may not take place-such a thing, it is clear, would have, of necessity, a most material bearing on the judgment we must form, and on the votes we must give when the House tax is under consideration. The necessity of resorting to the House tax at all, of increasing the area of the House tax, or increasing the rate of the House tax, are all questions posterior in order to the grand question of the Income tax, its continuance on its present basis, or the question of its extension. That is the general ground on which, even were there no other question as to the Income tax than that of its con