DOI issue:
February 14, 1880
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.17763#0071
64
PUNCH, OR THE LONDON CHARIVARI. [February 14, 1880.
Then, in three brief paragraphs, Her Majesty trusts my Lords and Gentle-
men will be able to resume the consideration of the Criminal Code, and the
Amendment of Bankruptcy Law (but not to carry Bills for either).
Bills will he laid before my Lords and Gentlemen for enlarging the powers
of Owners of Settled Land ; for consolidating and amending the Lunacy Laws ;
and for simplifying the Practice of Conveyancing. (Quite enough work, ive
should say, for an active and opening Session, instead of a weak and distracted one,
on the verge of dissolution.)
And so ends the last dying Speech of the Parliament of 1874.
(In the Lords.)— After the Address had been moved at a family pace by
Lord Onslow (would fie could have got on quicker!), and seconded by Lord
Rosse (would his father's telescope could be adjusted for the discovery of the
right remedies for Irish discontent !) an unusually spiritless attack was opened
by.Lord. Granville, only redeemed by a pointed summary of the Opposition
indictment of Ministers, which is worth Punch's reprinting :—
“ However, whether we are to have a struggle unto death depends much upon our
own policy. If our foreign policy is to be one of jerks and surprises ; if when we touch
the Eastern Question we sanction the material advance of Russia, and at the same time
make ourselves equally detested by Eussians, by Slavs, by Turks, and by Greeks; if in
another continent we carry on a bloody and inglorious war, Avhich, Ministers tell you, they
not only did not order, but actually prohibited, and which they openly deplore ; if in that
continent you annex settlers of a European race—a race as
obstinate as ourselves—and after promising them freedom, an-
nounce that you mean to govern them despotically and to
govern them lor ever; if in India you disregard all the lessons
of experience and all the best recent advice, and pour out
blood and treasure on a mountainous district, which you abso-
lutely manure as a hotbed for hostile intrigues, and which it is
equally difficult to remain in or to retire from ; if you think to
govern the whole world by phrases—defiant phrases periodically
produced, now in a dead, now in a living language, and which
daily collect around them an increasing flavour of ridicule,—I
do not know that a struggle unto death may not be nearer than
is supposed. But if, on the other hand, your policy is firm and
conciliatory, not saying more than you mean to perform, and
if you adhere to what ycu say ; if you jealously protect yourself
from real injury and insult; if, while requiring respect, you
fully respect the rights of others; if you show that you do not
covet the lands of others, but throw all the weight of your in-
fluence in the European councils in favour of justice, of freedom,
and of peace, I have such confidence in the geographical position,
the maritime resources, the accumulated wealth, the free institu-
tions, and the spirit of this people, that I do not believe that it
will be the interest or the wish of our neighbours to engage us
in a struggle, or that the struggle, U it came, would be a struggle
unto death.”
This ushered in an unusually pointless reply by Lord
Beaconseielb—sans phrase, strange to say ; but for a
peroration gravely informing the world that the issue of
the Liverpool election is nothing less than the dismem-
berment of the United Kingdom. (Which will be news
to must of us.) A rattling rejoinder by the Duke of
Argyll turned mainly on the alleged hanging of Af-
ghans by General Roberts for no other crime than
defending their country (as to which startling charge
Punch and England suspend their judgment till they
hear what General Roberts has to say to it).
The Duke blew up Sir Henry Rawlinson—Chairman
of Foreign Relations in the Council of India—for pub-
lishing a paper recommending, inter alia, the transfer
of Herat to Persia, and the guaranteeing of Persia
against Russia; and Lord Lytton, or some one in his
confidence, or some one in the confidence of the Home
Government—(rather vague this, your Grace)—for com-
municating to the Daily News a secret telegram from
the Government, directing another appeal to Shere Ali
before proceeding to war. This drew a sharp counter
from Lord Cranbrook, in the course of which he said
the Duke had forfeited his title as a statesman by im-
pugning the conduct of the Governor-General without
having the facts before him. This second stage of the
Lords’ debate was as lively as the first had been dull.
The Macallum More and the Cranbrook Pet are both
sparrers who hit as hard in their Peers’ “mufflers” as
cooler fighters with their naked “mauleys,” and rarely
fail to tap each other’s claret.
(In the Commons.) — Business was preceded by the
usual processional parade of the Hobbies (filling a close-
printed column and a half of the Times), among which
Mr. Wheelhouse figured, in great force, with his team
of rather oddly matched Bills.
For the better Education of the Deaf and Dumb.
For a Criminal Code.
For the Election of Aldermen by a Cumulative Vote.
For a Select Committee to consider the Commercial
Relations between England and Foreign Nations, &c., &c.
The Debate on the Address -was very discreetly moved
by Colonel Moray (Perthshire), very indiscreetly seconded
by Mr. Corry (Belfast), discussed by Lord Hartington
in a more lengthy than lively resume of the worst that
has been said in extra-Parliamentary Opposition utter-
ances of the Government’s policy in Turkey, Afghanistan,
and Zululand, and defended tout bien que mal by the
Chancellor of the Exchequer. Incidental criticisms
from Sir Charles Dilke, Mr. Fawcett, and Mr. E. Jen-
kins, followed; then, by way of earnest of the woe
to come, there was a squabble over the Adjournment
of the Debate, moved by Mr. Shaw, supported by the
Irish Members, and finally yielded by the Chancellor
of the Exchequer at a Quarter to Twelve.
Friday (Lords).—The Employer and Workmen Bill
promised for next Tuesday,—a note, not of war, let us
hope, though reaching us by Lord De la Warr.
Medical Education (the Duke of Richmond told Lord
Ripon) is to be taken up where it was left last Session.
Then their Lordships adjourned after the usual twenty
minutes’ chat.
(Commons.)—Sir H. D. Wolff and Mr. Stanhope
got a great rise out of a find in the Indian archives—a
PUNCH, OR THE LONDON CHARIVARI. [February 14, 1880.
Then, in three brief paragraphs, Her Majesty trusts my Lords and Gentle-
men will be able to resume the consideration of the Criminal Code, and the
Amendment of Bankruptcy Law (but not to carry Bills for either).
Bills will he laid before my Lords and Gentlemen for enlarging the powers
of Owners of Settled Land ; for consolidating and amending the Lunacy Laws ;
and for simplifying the Practice of Conveyancing. (Quite enough work, ive
should say, for an active and opening Session, instead of a weak and distracted one,
on the verge of dissolution.)
And so ends the last dying Speech of the Parliament of 1874.
(In the Lords.)— After the Address had been moved at a family pace by
Lord Onslow (would fie could have got on quicker!), and seconded by Lord
Rosse (would his father's telescope could be adjusted for the discovery of the
right remedies for Irish discontent !) an unusually spiritless attack was opened
by.Lord. Granville, only redeemed by a pointed summary of the Opposition
indictment of Ministers, which is worth Punch's reprinting :—
“ However, whether we are to have a struggle unto death depends much upon our
own policy. If our foreign policy is to be one of jerks and surprises ; if when we touch
the Eastern Question we sanction the material advance of Russia, and at the same time
make ourselves equally detested by Eussians, by Slavs, by Turks, and by Greeks; if in
another continent we carry on a bloody and inglorious war, Avhich, Ministers tell you, they
not only did not order, but actually prohibited, and which they openly deplore ; if in that
continent you annex settlers of a European race—a race as
obstinate as ourselves—and after promising them freedom, an-
nounce that you mean to govern them despotically and to
govern them lor ever; if in India you disregard all the lessons
of experience and all the best recent advice, and pour out
blood and treasure on a mountainous district, which you abso-
lutely manure as a hotbed for hostile intrigues, and which it is
equally difficult to remain in or to retire from ; if you think to
govern the whole world by phrases—defiant phrases periodically
produced, now in a dead, now in a living language, and which
daily collect around them an increasing flavour of ridicule,—I
do not know that a struggle unto death may not be nearer than
is supposed. But if, on the other hand, your policy is firm and
conciliatory, not saying more than you mean to perform, and
if you adhere to what ycu say ; if you jealously protect yourself
from real injury and insult; if, while requiring respect, you
fully respect the rights of others; if you show that you do not
covet the lands of others, but throw all the weight of your in-
fluence in the European councils in favour of justice, of freedom,
and of peace, I have such confidence in the geographical position,
the maritime resources, the accumulated wealth, the free institu-
tions, and the spirit of this people, that I do not believe that it
will be the interest or the wish of our neighbours to engage us
in a struggle, or that the struggle, U it came, would be a struggle
unto death.”
This ushered in an unusually pointless reply by Lord
Beaconseielb—sans phrase, strange to say ; but for a
peroration gravely informing the world that the issue of
the Liverpool election is nothing less than the dismem-
berment of the United Kingdom. (Which will be news
to must of us.) A rattling rejoinder by the Duke of
Argyll turned mainly on the alleged hanging of Af-
ghans by General Roberts for no other crime than
defending their country (as to which startling charge
Punch and England suspend their judgment till they
hear what General Roberts has to say to it).
The Duke blew up Sir Henry Rawlinson—Chairman
of Foreign Relations in the Council of India—for pub-
lishing a paper recommending, inter alia, the transfer
of Herat to Persia, and the guaranteeing of Persia
against Russia; and Lord Lytton, or some one in his
confidence, or some one in the confidence of the Home
Government—(rather vague this, your Grace)—for com-
municating to the Daily News a secret telegram from
the Government, directing another appeal to Shere Ali
before proceeding to war. This drew a sharp counter
from Lord Cranbrook, in the course of which he said
the Duke had forfeited his title as a statesman by im-
pugning the conduct of the Governor-General without
having the facts before him. This second stage of the
Lords’ debate was as lively as the first had been dull.
The Macallum More and the Cranbrook Pet are both
sparrers who hit as hard in their Peers’ “mufflers” as
cooler fighters with their naked “mauleys,” and rarely
fail to tap each other’s claret.
(In the Commons.) — Business was preceded by the
usual processional parade of the Hobbies (filling a close-
printed column and a half of the Times), among which
Mr. Wheelhouse figured, in great force, with his team
of rather oddly matched Bills.
For the better Education of the Deaf and Dumb.
For a Criminal Code.
For the Election of Aldermen by a Cumulative Vote.
For a Select Committee to consider the Commercial
Relations between England and Foreign Nations, &c., &c.
The Debate on the Address -was very discreetly moved
by Colonel Moray (Perthshire), very indiscreetly seconded
by Mr. Corry (Belfast), discussed by Lord Hartington
in a more lengthy than lively resume of the worst that
has been said in extra-Parliamentary Opposition utter-
ances of the Government’s policy in Turkey, Afghanistan,
and Zululand, and defended tout bien que mal by the
Chancellor of the Exchequer. Incidental criticisms
from Sir Charles Dilke, Mr. Fawcett, and Mr. E. Jen-
kins, followed; then, by way of earnest of the woe
to come, there was a squabble over the Adjournment
of the Debate, moved by Mr. Shaw, supported by the
Irish Members, and finally yielded by the Chancellor
of the Exchequer at a Quarter to Twelve.
Friday (Lords).—The Employer and Workmen Bill
promised for next Tuesday,—a note, not of war, let us
hope, though reaching us by Lord De la Warr.
Medical Education (the Duke of Richmond told Lord
Ripon) is to be taken up where it was left last Session.
Then their Lordships adjourned after the usual twenty
minutes’ chat.
(Commons.)—Sir H. D. Wolff and Mr. Stanhope
got a great rise out of a find in the Indian archives—a