PARLIAMENTARY HISTORY.—OPENING OF THE SESSION.
Parliament was opened by commission on the last day of January. The lord chancellor read the royal speech from the throne. The speech referred to the leading events, the history of which have been already related in this chapter. It also gratified the house by the intelligence that Sweden and the United States of America had taken steps to reciprocate the advantages conceded to the ships of these nations. Her majesty referred to her visit to Ireland with great satisfaction, and the countenances of the audience expressed sympathy with these statements. The address to her majesty in the Lords, was moved and seconded by the Earl of Essex and Earl Methuen. The former complimented the press in eloquent and judicious terms for the great services which it had rendered to the cause of law and order during the tumultuous seasons that had so recently passed. An amendment was proposed declaring that recent legislative enactments, and heavy local taxation, oppressed the agricultural interest and caused distress. The mover of this amendment was the Earl of Stradbroke, and it found a seconder in the Earl of Desart.
It was obvious thus early in the session that the Protectionists were prepared to urge their principles, and if possible compel the legislature to retrace its steps on the subject of free trade. “Out of doors” this produced anger and discontent among the numerous and powerful classes who had carried the free-trade agitation to a successful issue. It had the effect of lowering the reputation of the conservative party for wisdom, discretion, and disinterestedness. The leaders of the party were boldly reproached by the press as anxious to sustain their luxurious living by taxing the necessaries of the people, and the House of Lords was denounced by the popular press, and at popular meetings, as “a normal school of agitation,”—the title given by Lord Lyndhurst as speculatively applicable to popular corporations. Lord Stanley lent his great name and his able advocacy to the support of the amendment; it was opposed by the free-trade lords and the ministry, and defeated. In the commons, a similar amendment to the address was moved by Sir J. Trollope, and seconded by Colonel Chatterton. After a debate of two nights, the amendment was rejected by an overwhelming majority.