tlieir confidence and esteem, and the disposition of which
he was assured would give equal satisfaction to every
party.—Lord J. RUSSELL added his congratulations to
those of the Chancellor of the Exchequer. It was
doubly important at the present moment that the house,
which contained so many inexperienced members, should
be presided over by a gentleman who had shown such
eminent qualifications for the duty; and that it should
be thus enabled to continue to set an example to Europe
of carrying on discussion with the utmost freedom, and
at the same time with the utmost regard to order and
propriety.—Mr. HUME, while congratulating the house
upon the election which had been made, created some
amusement by a characteristic suggestion, that for the
future the full dress of the Speaker's levees should be
dispensed with, as inconvenient and unnecessary.

On Friday the 5th, the Speaker on his return from
the House of Lords, informed the Commons of what
had taken place in the Lords' Chamber. He then
intimated that the first business for the house was the
taking the oaths prescribed for members. The
swearing-in of members then commenced, and continued
until the house adjourned. The first group included
the Chancellor of the Exchequer and Dr. Layard.
Mr. Macaulay was present during the earlier part of the
sitting.

On Thursday the 11th the Speaker attended by a number
of the members proceeded in the usual form to the House
of Lords to hear the Royal Speech. After their return the
house proceeded to business. The Address was moved
by Lord LOVAINE, and seconded by Mr. E. C. EGERTON,
—Mr. C. VILLIERS complained not of what was
contained in the speech and address, but of their defects
and omissions. The first minister of the crown had
avowed in the last parliament that he held opinions at
variance with those of a majority of the House of
Commons, and, admitting the constitutional doctrine that
this conflict of opinions should not exist, he had appealed
to the country. What he (Mr. Villiers) complained of
was, that the house was not informed whether the first
minister had abandoned his opinions, and that it had no
assurance that it was not intended in any way to alter or
modify our late commercial policy. Upon this subject the
speech was vague, and, he might almost say, deceptive;
whereas the house was entitled to a distinct declaration,
whether our future policy was to be that of protection,
or that of free trade. The opposition would have the
decision of the house on that matter, and he had only
risen now for the purpose of stating that he for one,
having taken a great interest in this subject, and
believing that others who had taken a far more effective
part would agree with him, was dissatisfied with the
statement made as to the causes of the present condition
of the country. They wanted to know distinctly
what were the opinions of her Majesty's government on
the great question which had been in dispute—the
policy of protection or free trade; and without further
detaining the house, he begged leave most distinctly to
give notice that he should submit the matter to the
house, that he should put the question on so clear and
intelligible a footing that their fellow-countrymen out
of the house would afterwards feel no doubt with regard
to the future. He believed that the 22nd of the present
month would be about the most convenient day for
taking the opinion of the house on that subject.—Mr.
HUME thought her Majesty was unfortunate in having
a cabinet which had not formed an opinion on this
important subject, or if they had, which shrank from
confessing their error. A speedy decision of this question
was indispensable. Mr. Hume mentioned several topics,
the omission of which in the royal speech he lamented
and censured.—Mr. WALPOLE said the house had met
for a special purpose—namely, that the question of the
financial and commercial policy of the country should
be finally settled and decided. No deception had been
intended in the speech from the throne, which was
worded carefully in a way to avoid the necessity of
discussing any amendment on the address. Ministers,
were, however, prepared not only to avow their policy,
but were ready with measures to carry it out, and they
intended to take the first and earliest opportunity to
submit these measures to the consideration of the house.
As soon as the national tribute had been paid to the
late Duke of Wellington, the Chancellor of the Exchequer
would lay before the house and the country the
views which the government took of the financial and
commercial policy which ought to be established and
perpetuated. But he thought there was sufficient in
the speech from the throne, and in the address in
answer to that speech, for everybody to draw his
inference that the ministers were not going to reverse
the recent legislation which led to those improvements
among the industrial classes of the community to which
the Queen's speech referred. More than this then he
thought the house would hardly expect him to say; for
that would be to expect him to announce, in fact, the
different measures which his right hon. friend would
on different occasions propose, and the views which he
would have to explain. He had, however, thought it
right to make this declaration, because it was a
declaration by which the government meant to abide, and
those measures which the government thought it necessary
to introduce would be brought forward at the
earliest opportunity.—Lord J. RUSSELL participated
in the disappointment of Mr. Villiers in respect to the
evasive language of her Majesty's speech upon the
subject of our commercial policy. It seemed to him that
there were two plain courses open to Lord Derby—either
to maintain the opinion he had constantly expressed
from 1846 down to last February; or to say he had been
mistaken, and manfully to declare his readiness to act
upon a different policy for the future. Instead of adopting
either of these courses, there was a continuance of
the ambiguity and doubts which had subsisted for the
last nine months. The country had been appealed to,
and the intentions of the government should be
announced in a clear and decided manner, and not
enveloped in the mist in which the Chancellor of the
Exchequer, like the deities of old, loved to shroud himself.
With the exception of this topic, there was
nothing in the speech which called for more than slight
remarks.—The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER denied
that there was anything evasive in the paragraph
excepted to, it had been framed in a manner to leave no
mistake in an impartial mind. One doctrine had been
laid down positively in the speech—namely, the principle
of unrestricted competition. Alluding to an
address by Lord John Russell (when a candidate for the
City), in which he admitted that merchants and ship-
owners had a right to complain of great burdens, he
asked whether it were a protection move, to allude to
sufferings which that noble lord had endorsed? It was
the intention of government to take such claims into
consideration, and he believed that they should be able
to produce measures which would do all that could he
asked in reason, without disturbing the principle of
unrestricted competition which had been recognised in the
speech. He referred to the emblazoned catalogue of feats
achieved by the free-trade party, and reminded Lord J.
Russell that the minister who had carried free-trade in
corn was opposed to free-trade in sugar, and that the
minister who had carried the latter had been averse to
free-trade in ships. "But," continued he, "neither
have I, nor have my colleagues, any intention to
propose any policy which will give artificial prices, or
attempt to give what the hon. gentleman on the other
side has mentioned as compensation for the losses which
have been occasioned by the changes in the legislation
which has regulated the commercial interests of this
country; but what we do say is—and I will state it as
distinctly as I can succeed in expressing myself, with
none of those cloudy words for which the noble lord has
given me credit—that we think those commercial
changes have been effected without at the same time a
change, a corresponding change, in our financial system;
and I say, notwithstanding what the noble lord has
asserted, that it is our intention, believing that a proper
revision of our taxation has not taken place, to put
before this house a policy that will place our financial
system more in harmony with our commercial system.
And if the noble lord calls that protection, I think he
will not succeed in establishing it when he favours the
house with his opinion upon the proceedings of the
government." Ministers had not mentioned the income
tax, because they had made up their minds on the
subject. They would take the earliest day for bringing