BILL FOR THE REMOVAL OF THE CIVIL DISABILITIES OF THE JEWS, ETC.
WILLIAM IV. 1834
During this session Mr. Robert Grant again brought in a bill for removing the civil disabilities of the Jews. The second reading was opposed by Mr. C. Bruce. He moved that the bill be read a second time that day six months. The amendment, however, was rejected, and the bill carried through committee by large majorities, and it was read a third time and passed on the 11th of June by fifty votes against fourteen. In the lords, on the second reading, the Earl of Malmsbury moved the amendment that the bill should be read that day six months. The Earl of Winchilsea seconded the amendment. On a division the bill was lost by one hundred and thirty-two against thirty-eight.
The distress felt at this time by all classes of the community was dexterously made use of by the opponents of ministers to render their administration unpopular. They became exposed to great inconvenience from a statutory rule of the constitution, which requires that all members of the house of commons who accept certain offices under the crown shall vacate their seats, and take the chance of a re-election. In more instances than one, the candidate thus stamped with the approbation of government had not been re-elected; and even the attorney-general, having, by his promotion, lost his seat for Dudley, was unable to appear in the house of commons. This was the first practical grievance experienced under the reform act, which had swept away all the close boroughs without any exception, and provided no means to compensate the loss. This state of matters induced Sir Robert Heron, on the 1st of May, to move for leave to bring in a bill to obviate the necessity of members vacating their seats on their accepting certain offices under the crown. Mr. E. L. Bulwer was dissatisfied with the proposition, because it failed to remove the worst clanger of the present system. The principle of the constitution, he said, was not that the people should choose ministers, but that they should have an opportunity of deciding whether or not they wished their representatives to become ministers, and this principle the present measure would destroy. Pie moved, as an amendment, “That, for the convenience of the public service, and the promotion of the public interests, it is desirable that one member of each of the principal departments of state should have a seat in that house, but without the privilege of voting, unless returned by the suffrages of a constituency.” Dr. Lushington and Mr. Ward opposed both these propositions, as taking from the people one of the most valuable privileges given to them by the constitution, merely for the purpose of consulting the convenience and safety of the party now in power. Lord Althorp assured the house that the subject had been introduced without the sanction of government; but, at the same time, he stated that ministers had been put to great inconvenience. On the whole, however, he thought that the time was not yet come when a measure like that should be pressed on the house. Both the motion and the amendment were withdrawn.
On the 15th of May Mr. Tennyson submitted a motion for leave to introduce a bill to shorten the duration of parliaments. He reserved to himself the right, he said, of suggesting the precise period to which parliaments should extend, when the measure had gone into committee. The motion was seconded by Sir Edward Codrington, who expressed himself in favour of five years as being more likely to reconcile the different parties. Colonel Davies opposed the motion as being premature; and Lord Dalmeny thought the passing of the reform act the strongest possible reason against entertaining the question. In reply, Mr. Tennyson stated that those who supported the bill would bind themselves only to the propriety of shortening the duration of parliaments, without at all pledging themselves to any particular period, which might be reserved for determination in committee; whereas, those who voted against it, would give a conclusive opinion that the present term ought to be continued. Mr. E. J. Stanley moved, byway of amendment, that the bill be one to shorten parliaments to five years, which was negatived without a division: the original motion was lost by a majority of fifty. Subsequently Colonel Evans moved for leave to bring in a bill for the amendment of the reform act, in so far as it made the payment of rates and taxes an essential qualification for voting at parliamentary elections, which was supported by Messrs. Hume, Roebuck, Attwood, and O’Connell. The motion was opposed by Lords John Russell and Althorp; and it was lost, on a division, by a majority of eighty-seven. Previous to this, Lord John Russell had introduced a bill to prevent bribery at elections, which had passed the commons. The peers had referred this bill to a select committee; and on the 28th of July, the Marquis of Lansdowne, on presenting the report of the committee, stated that there had been no interference with the powers possessed by the election committees of the house of commons. The single object kept in view by the committee was the attainment of the proposed end in the speediest manner possible. Accordingly an amendment on the bill was suggested, by which it was directed that, when a committee of the house of commons had come to the conclusion that gross and extensive bribery had been committed in any place, the result of that inquiry should be laid before their lordships; and then the crown should issue a commission, over which one of the judges should preside, to form a court of inquiry on the whole matter in dispute. He proposed that this court should consist of seven members of the house of commons, five of their lordships, and one judge, who should have the power of calling before them all persons and documents affecting the subject of inquiry; that the witnesses should be exempted from the consequences of any evidence which they might be called on to give; and that a statement of the result having been drawn up, any legislative enactment with regard to the alleged abuse should be left to the discretion of the two houses of parliament. When these amendments were brought under the consideration of the lower house, Lord John Russell thought them of so extensive a nature as to render the bill almost a new measure; and ultimately he agreed to withdraw it.
On the 15th of April, Mr. Roebuck moved for a select committee to inquire into the political condition of the Canadas. These provinces, he said, in consequence of bad government, were in a state of revolt. By their constitution they had a governor, a legislative council, and a house of assembly. Some years after the constitution had been conferred upon them, the two provinces were permitted to provide for their own expenses, and consequently to have control over the expenditure of the government. It had been proposed to pass the estimates annually; but that plan had been thwarted by the government, which charged the house of assembly with disrespect to his majesty. The representatives of the people next resolved to vote their money by items; but this having excited the jealousy of the officials, put a stop for the time to the business of the state. In consequence of all this the public mind was embittered, and the country was divided into two hostile sections—a small band of official persons on the one hand, and the nation, with their representatives at their head, on the other. Mr. Stanley said, that he was glad of the opportunity of bringing under the notice of the house the present state of the province of Lower Canada, and after entering into the subject at great length, he moved as an amendment for the appointment of a select committee, to inquire and report whether the grievances complained of in 1828 by certain inhabitants of that colony had been redressed; and also, whether the recommendation of a committee of that house, to which the question of those grievances was referred, had been complied with on the part of government: also to inquire into other grievances set forth in the resolutions of the house of assembly in Lower Canada, and report thereupon to the house. Mr. O’Connell said that the object of government was to thwart the Catholic clergymen of Canada, and to throw obstacles in the way of their building chapels. He recommended that the motion should be withdrawn, and the amendment allowed to be carried, so as to throw upon government the responsibility of appointing the committee. Mr. Hume contrasted the tyranny exercised over the colony by the present government, with the leniency of the measures adopted by Lord Goderich; and Lord Howick expressed a hope that the committee about to be appointed would succeed in effecting an amicable adjustment of the differences prevailing in Lower Canada. Finally the motion was withdrawn, and the amendment of Mr. Stanley adopted.