may call obstructions to public business, but which the country will consider the real guarantee that this free and limited monarchy shall not be converted through the folly or the weakness of its rulers into an unqualified and unmitigated democracy."

Lord John Russell wound up this very long debate with a speech of great power and ability, in which he defended his opinions on various subjects; and with respect to the ballot he had not, he said, changed his views, for he still considered that to alter in any way the suffrage by which the house of commons was elected, and to enter upon a new Reform bill, would cause such doubt and uncertainty to their whole future course with regard to the institutions of the country, that he could not see it adopted without a great deal of alarm. Notwithstanding this he had agreed that the ballot should be one of those questions which should be made an open question. He would tell the house that he did not think the ballot was consistent with anything else than universal suffrage, but he did not agree that that would be its immediate effect. On the contrary, he believed that it would be so unpopular a change, that when it took place there would be such opposition against carrying further, to any great extent, the suffrage, that either by practice or law, open voting would soon be reverted to again. Secrecy could not be made popular in the country without making the suffrage much more extensive than it was at present. Amongst those who were favourable to the ballot there prevailed many differences of opinion on the subject. Some maintained that no further changes would en

sue from the vote by ballot, and lord Spencer was of this opinion. Soon after the general election in 1837, that nobleman had told him (lord John Russell) that in his belief, if the ballot had existed, there would have been but two elections which would have terminated in a different manner. Such was the variety of opinions on this point, that he certainly did not think there were sufficient grounds to induce the government to refuse that it should be made an open question, and that every one holding an official situation might be at liberty to vote as he pleased on the subject.

Lord J. Russell then went on to say, that during three nights debate, and in spite of the announcement which had been made, that all the faults of the government would be dragged into light, he could not help observing, that though they had to conduct the affairs of a vast empire in every quarter of the globe, to negociate daily with foreign powers upon matters of the deepest importance, to govern colonies in every region of the earth, and countries where existed different races of men, different forms of government and different laws; yet with all these difficulties to encounter, the charges actually made against government comprehended but a small portion of their conduct, and but very trifling instances even if made good as compared with the whole duties of an administration.

If there were so many of the interests of the empire (continued lord John) which had not been neglected, if the affairs of Belgium had been brought to a satisfactory conclusion-if England had still an ally in the queen of Spain-if the Basque provinces had been paci

fied-if the Canadas at length assumed a prospect not only of returning tranquillity, but of permanent freedom and happiness, he did think that when the house was called upon to pronounce an opinion upon the general conduct of affairs, that in giving that opinion the house ought not to leave out of view those many important interests upon which not a syllable had been uttered, nor forget that the government had never betrayed its duty or neglected to pursue the policy essential to the interests of the country.

It had been said by the noble lord (Stanley) opposite that they were utterly inefficient to measures of legislation. Now, obstructed as they had been by a large party in the house of commons by a very decided majority in the house of lords, he (lord John) thought that during the four years which had elapsed since 1835, the legislative measures proposed and carried by government were neither few nor unimportant. He maintained that there was scarcely a time to be found of equal duration, in which measures of more importance had been carried. In 1835 was passed an act reforming altogether the municipal corporations of the country; placing them all upon a new foundation, admitting popular control and regulating all their affairs with the greatest minuteness. In another year there were important questions with regard to the church. At that time there was one bishop, as in the case of the bishop of

Durham, with 22,000l. a-year, and another bishop with only 500l. a-year. The wants of the poorer bishops were then made up by deaneries and other lucrative offices in the church. There were likewise pluralities to the greatest extent; he remembered finding in a catalogue of the benefices of the church, that sixteen persons were holding sixty-five different species of ecclesiastical preferment. Measures were in consequence taken by the government to prevent any clergyman from holding more than two pieces of preferment, or any benefices more than two miles apart. He thought that act was one of the greatest importance that had been passed since the Revolution, perhaps since the Reformation.

There were likewise acts introduced by the same administration for the registration of births and marriages, by which the dissenters were allowed what they never had before, the privilege of being married according to their own forms. And he might add also another act passed for the introduction of a poor-law into Ireland; and an act for the settlement of tithes in England, by which agriculture was promoted and the clergy benefitted to a great extent. It was upon these grounds lord John Russell contended that the opposition had not made out their case against government.

The house then divided-Ayes 287; Noes 308: Majority against the motion 21.

than 3,660,000%. Besides that, there were other receipts arising from duties on imports into that country, making the British revenue, derived from our intercourse with China, no less than 4,200,000l. per annum. Then again with regard to India, where our difficulties were principally financial, he begged to call the attention of the house to the large proportion of the revenue which India derived from China. The gross income was stated somewhere about 20,000,000l. annually, and unless he was greatly mistaken, the income derived by India from China was no less than 2,000,000l. annually, and, the chief inconvenience of our intercourse with India arising from the difficulty of remittance. China had afforded this remarkable facility, that, year by year, since the trade was opened, there had been an annual influx from that country into India of specie averaging 1,300,000l., and amounting last year to 1,700,000l. He must say, he thought a general fallacy prevailed in this country with respect to China. Our intercourse being restricted to a single port, public opinion with regard to that great empire was formed, with reference to Canton alone-and it was exactly as if a foreigner who was occasionally permitted to anchor at the Nore, and at times to land at Wapping, being placed in close confinement during his continuance there, were under such circumstances to pronounce a deliberate opinion on the resources, genius, and character, of the British empire.

The right hon. baronet then gave the following sketch of the Chinese empire. "It was inha bited by 350 millions of human beings, all directed by the will of

one man, all speaking one language, all governed by one code of laws, all professing one religion, all actuated by the same feelings of national pride and prejudice; tracing back their history not by centuries, but by tens of centuries, transmitted to them in regular succession under a patriarchal government without interruption; and boasting of their education, of their printing, of their civilization, of their arts, all the conveniences and many of the luxuries of life existing there when Europe was still sunk in barbarism, and when the light of knowledge was obscure in this western hemisphere. But apart from their numbers-apart from what he had mentioned with respect to that unity which was strength, he called the attention of the house to their immense wealth. They possessed an annual revenue of 60,000,000l. regularly collected; they had no debt they inhabited the largest and the fairest portion of Asia; more than onethird of that country they cultivated, under the finest climate, with unwearied industry; the soil is most fertile, watered by vast rivers, and intersected by a canal 1200 miles in length, one of the standing wonders of the world; and in every portion of that immense empire there was one uniformity of system, one jealous suspicion of strangers, evinced both on the shores of the Yellow Sea and all along on the confines of Ava, Nepaul, and Bokhara."

Sir James went on to state, that the great characteristic of the Chinese people, their extreme jealousy and suspicion of strangers, was displayed with more than ordinary strictness against Great Britain, and he accounted for this by drawing the following animated

picture of the rise and progress of our dominion in the East. "If the Chinese looked across the Himalaya mountains they saw Hindostan prostrate at the feet of England, and they were not so ignorant as not to be aware of the policy which had led to that result. Hardly a century had elapsed since, from a small beginning, that British empire had arisen. And how? We commenced our connexion with India under the pretence of trading and the semblance of commerce. Scarcely a century had passed since the first English factory was established there. A single warehouse was at first built; it was then surrounded by a wall. We next added a ditch, armed some labourers, and increased the number of Europeans. A garrison was thus formed, and then we began to treat with the native powers. Having discovered their weakness we seized on Arcot, triumphed at Plassey; and what a Clive began, the Wellesleys completed. Seringapatam was stormed, the Mysore was conquered, and the Mahrattas fell under our dominion. These successes terminated in the battle of Assaye, when India became ours. Nor was this all. The Hydaspes had been crossed, Candahar and Cabul had witnessed the march of the British troops, and central Asia trembled at our presence."

Was it not natural then, for the Chinese, seeing what had passed in India, to feel jealous of allowing any permanent settlement of a British factory within their territory? We had carried on successfully commerce with that people for upwards of two centuries, but a great change took place in the manner of its management in 1833, when the trade

was thrown open, and the control and administration of it were removed from the East-India company.

He hoped the house would permit him to read some passages from an admirable letter, written in the year 1832, by the directors of the East-India company to their superintendent, resident at Canton, in answer to a communication received from the latter during the preceding year, stating the circumstances of misunderstanding which had occurred between the superintendent and the authorities at Canton. The right hon. baronet then read a dispatch from the board of directors to British supercargoes at Canton, dated the 13th January, 1832, in which the board stated, that the trade to China had originally been sought by themselves, and that the advantages which it yielded to them were great; and that notwithstanding the attempts which had been made to adopt a belligerent policy, they were convinced that a pacific course was the best to be pursued in their intercourse with the Chinese, and that they would not refuse to China what our own country claimed-the right exclusively to regulate the grounds on which any intercourse would be permitted with other countries. They went on to state their desire to correct a dangerous notion, which was but too common with the merchants who inhabited Canton, which was, that nothing was to be gained from the Chinese by attention to their laws; but that everything was to be gained by intimidating them. "You may, for a

moment," said the court of directors, "set the government of China at defiance, but not only do they take the first moment to assert their dominion, but may