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The History of England in Three Volumes, Vol.III. / From the Accession of George III. to the Twenty-Third Year of the Reign of Queen Victoria cover

The History of England in Three Volumes, Vol.III. / From the Accession of George III. to the Twenty-Third Year of the Reign of Queen Victoria

Chapter 1339: MOTION ON THE STATE OF THE NATION
By Edward Farr
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About This Book

The volume traces British political, parliamentary, and military developments from the accession of George III through the early nineteenth century, chronicling changes of ministry and cabinet, debates over colonial taxation and the American conflict, parliamentary controversies involving figures such as Wilkes and Warren Hastings, questions of Catholic relief and slave-trade abolition, and responses to the French Revolution and Napoleonic wars, including major naval and continental campaigns, the union with Ireland, and domestic legislation on finance, civil liberties, and parliamentary reform.

MOTION ON THE STATE OF THE NATION

On the 2nd of July Mr. Disraeli moved for a select committee on the state of the nation. He did not expect that the government would concede, or the house support it; but he made it the occasion for a general attack upon the whig policy, and especially the free-trade policy which that party had originated in parliament, although Sir Robert Peel, their successful rival in this department, carried away the credit of having done so. The speech of Mr. Disraeli was rhetorically, and only rhetorically, successful. He reenumerated the misfortunes which befel Ireland and the colonies during the three previous years, and all the monetary difficulties which befel England, and attributed them, with dextrous dishonesty, to whig impolicy and free trade. These calamities, which were chiefly caused by delaying free trade too long, he ascribed to that measure. The perverted ingenuity thus displayed did not serve his party or convince his opponents. He was opposed in a blunt and candid speech by Mr. Hume, and in one of the happiest orations ever delivered by Sir Robert Peel. Lord John Russell also made an effective reply. Mr. Disraeli received small support from his followers. If the chief was not equal to the exigencies of the party, neither was the party worthy of the chief. Only one hundred and fifty-six votes sustained him, although Mr. Disraeli did his utmost to induce a decided display of strength. The motion was lost by an overwhelming majority.