On the contrary, I am thoroughly persuaded that the agitation of the question in the present Crisis of Affairs, could only tend to aggravate those evils which I am sure the hon. member must as sincerely as any man deplore, without producing any one of those advantages which the hon. gent, is so anxious to accomplish.

Many gentlemen expressed their desire, at this Crisis of the Affairs of the nation, to see an administration founded on a broad and comprehensive basis, combining all the great talents, genius, and experience, of the great public characters of this country.

and, my lords, so sincerely were these sentiments entertained by me, so scrupulously was I disposed to govern my conduct by them; and so anxious was I, that in the present momentous Crisis of the Affairs of the country and of Europe, his majesty's government should enjoy the unanimous support of parliament, and of the public, that it was not till I had failed 254 in my efforts to obtain the object of my motion, by private and confidential representation, that I reluctantly brought my mind to disturb that unanimity, even for a single day, by the agitation of this important question.

It was not so well adapted now to the Crisis of Affairs, and it should be remembered, that the effects which at first it might have produced must now be considerably altered, not only by the change of the actual circumstances of the country, but by the operation of the other different measures that had since been introduced.

An hon. director (Mr. Grant) had said, that the system of policy pursued by lord Wellesley, during his administration, was likely to prove injurious to our interests in India, at the present Crisis of Affairs.

Having made this communication of my sentiments in this new and extraordinary Crisis of Our Affairs, I cannot conclude without expressing the gratification I should feel, if some of those persons with whom the early habits of my public life were formed, would strengthen my hands, and constitute a part of my government.

We are now in a great and awful Crisis of the Affairs of Europe.

] Then (continued Mr. Elliot) it appeared that there was no minister with that important department of the army at that Crisis of Affairs; when the peace and safety of Europe was to be restored, there was no diplomatic agent whatever present 729] upon the part of Great Britain, to urge its rights or protect its interests.

He was as much disposed as any man to think that Crisis of Affairs most lamentable, which required such an extension of power.

Looking at any part of the conduct of the Ministry which assumes to itself the possession of the talent and the experience requisite for the direction of the affairs of the Government in that which they proclaim a tremendous Crisis of Affairs, I could not be at a loss for subjects of inconsistency on which I might dilate.

It would have been the height of injustice, if, in this Crisis of Affairs, we had turned round on France and said, "You shall get no reparation for your injured subjects—we are lords paramount of Europe—we have a peculiar right to compel Portugal to satisfy us, and to prevent her from satisfying any one else—we consider Portugal as part of the dominions of England—we will allow her to insult all the rest of Europe but ourselves, and if you think of obtaining redress for your wrongs, you must prepare to meet an English fleet upon the ocean, and an English army in the field".

Was he wrong in contrasting with these declarations and actions of the hon. and learned Gentleman the declarations made by himself and by the Roman Catholic hierarchy at a former Crisis in Their Affairs?

In speaking of the conduct of the American Government, he said —and he hoped it was in the recollection of the House upon that point—that he thought the conduct of that country in this Crisis of the Affairs of our colonies had been most generous and most friendly; whereas 562 it was reported that he had said that they were on the watch to take advantage of the difficulties in which the mother country might be involved.

And would it not be perfectly legitimate for men who differ on various points, and entertain doubts on several questions, seeing that the fate of great interests are involved, if they have confidence in a Government, to demonstrate that confidence, by waiving their private opinions, and giving their support to that Government whose principles they generally approve, but from whose individual measures they may differ in some respects, thinking it better in this Crisis of Affairs to trust them than men who are at least unfortunate if not incompetent?

The welfare of our possessions in the East, requires that we should in the present Crisis of Our Affairs, have a decidedly friendly power on our frontiers, and that we should have an ally who is interested in resisting aggression, and establishing tranquillity in place of a chief seeking to identify himself with those whose schemes of aggrandisement and conquest are not to be disguised".

He would only say, that if any assistance should be asked, it would be not in the shape of a grant but of a loan, to enable the colony to sustain its credit at the present Crisis of Affairs.

I speak earnestly, for I look on this as a great Crisis in the Affairs of Ireland.

He charged the Government with not having brought forward any efficient measure of good government for Ireland in the present alarming Crisis of Affairs.

whereas this Bill, which assumes their truth without adequate dicussion, has been passed with such baste and in such a Crisis of Affairs as to preclude inquiry.

He had on the first night of the Session entreated their Lordships, while in the midst of that calamity under which it had pleased Providence to decree that we should labour for a season—and he hoped only for a season—while in this Crisis of Our Affairs, which, as he trusted, was but a crisis, temporary and terminable—that they should draw a broad and deeply-marked line of distinction between the two classes of measures; the one, measures of a temporary nature, of an extraordinary description, formed, and calculated, and framed to meet a temporary crisis, and to bear us up under extraordinary circumstances—a passing and fleeting pressure; and the other, a class of measures to which the subject before them unhappily belonged—permanent measures, of a general application, and going permanently to alter the whole policy of the empire.

and whether that case be denied or affirmed, I think no one is entitled to censure the Chevalier as having departed from his proper duty in laying before the public, at this Crisis in the Affairs of Europe, those arguments which, in his opinion, afford sufficient justification of the conduct of Prussia.

This was a particular Crisis in the Affairs of this country, at which he should think that it would be both wise and consistent in the character of a reasonable Government to hold out a little assistance to the West India colonies, with a view of enabling them to tide over their present difficulties, and to arrive at a better state of things.

But it was impossible they could blind their eyes to the fact that there was at present a great Crisis in the Affairs of Ireland—that that country was passing through a revolution of great magnitude and importance.

We are another year further removed from that great Crisis in the Affairs of Europe, which everybody had expected was to lead to certain calamitous consequences in the form of international war.

The present is a Crisis in the Affairs of Jamaica; and, unless the colonial Government deal with that crisis as they ought, I think that Parliament ought to take the opportunity of remedying, by its authority, a state of things which it is impossible to permit to continue without inflicting serious permanent injury and inconvenience to the colony, and to every interest concerned.

I put the question entirely apart from them, but I put it under a deep conviction of the importance of the question in the present Crisis of Affairs; My Lords, a notice stands upon our books in the name of my noble Friend the noble Marquess opposite (the Marquess of Clanricarde), which, if made to-morrow, as the notice implies; must needs bring on a discussion of all (for there can he no limit fixed to such a discussion) that relates to the present posture of affairs in the east of Europe.

Notwithstanding the peculiar importance of our diplomatic relations at the present Crisis of Affairs upon the Continent, our embassies are ransacked for votes, and our relations with France and Belgium confided at such a crisis to mere Chargés d'Affaires, that the Ambassadors to the Courts of Paris and Brussels may be here present to aid in carrying a tax upon successions.

On the contrary, he had never known any period during the last thirty years when supplies were granted to any Ministry with so little trouble as in the present Session, and he, for one, wished it to be seen abroad that there was no unwillingness, on the part of the House of Commons, to grant supplies, and that the House would cheerfully give to the Government the means by which they might best act, in the present Crisis of Affairs, for the honour and interest of the country.

But be that as it might, he held that the right hon. Gentleman the Chancellor of the Exchequer, in making an addition to the income tax in the present Crisis of Our Affairs, had, looking at the financial means within his grasp, made the most advantageous arrangement for 1116 the country which it was possible for him to effect under the present circumstances.

It should be borne in mind that this undertaking was projected during a great Crisis in the Affairs of this country—namely, during the Indian Mutiny, when rapid communication between India and this country was of vital importance.

It behoved them, therefore, at such a Crisis of Affairs to express themselves in language becoming that House, and to urge upon the Government the duty of interfering to prevent this country from being, by as grave a departure from a just policy as led to the Russian war, again drifted into a conflict, the consequences of which might be more serious than any the world ever saw.

The welfare of our possessions in the East requires that we should, in the present Crisis of Affairs, have a decidedly friendly power on our frontier, and that we should have an ally who is interested in resisting aggression, and establishing tranquillity, in place of a chief seeking to identify himself with those whose schemes of aggrandisement and conquest are not to be disguised".

Sir A. Paget corroborated this opinion, and said, moreover, that M. Hall, by this act, threw down a gauntlet to Austria and Prussia, and precipitated the dreaded Crisis of Affairs.

We also wish to assert the right of the mother country, which has sent out 10,000 men for the protection of the colonists in New Zealand, and which has given them a most distinguished general and a most able governor, to make her voice heard above all others in this Crisis of Affairs.

Even the Legislative Assembly of New Zealand, composed as it must be of persons little fitted by education to deal with the important interests confided to them, and many of them; mere adventurers, unscrupulously eager to get possession of the lands in the hands of the Natives, yet includes some members who raised their voices against the Confiscation Act, now sent hither for the Royal Assent, Surely such men as have had the moral courage to remonstrate against the injustice and rapacity of the majority, and who, in their rejected resolutions, propounded a just and conciliatory policy, are well entitled to have their views considered by the Home Government at this important Crisis in the Affairs of the colony.

I have urged that there is a Crisis in the Affairs of Ireland; and I am answered that the crisis is one made and got up by me—as if I were like the mysterious person who in a theatre behind, or rather above, the scenes has custody of what are termed the thunder, lightning, and rain, to do with them as he pleases.

The Prime Minister told the House that there was a Crisis in the Affairs of Ireland—that— "Venit summa dies et ineluctabile fatum".

It had often been said in the history of Parliament, and often repeated in the course of these debates, that we had reached a Crisis in the Affairs of Ireland.

He felt there was a Crisis of Affairs in this House.

He should like to know why, in this Crisis of Affairs, the Government had thought it right to alarm Europe by ordering the Fleet to Besika Bay?

The numerous communications which I received in consequence of the letter last alluded to, and all that has occurred since, have tended to strengthen my opinion that the present Crisis in the Affairs of England is not merely an ordinary ebb from the ordinary flow of commercial and manufacturing prosperity, such as has occurred every 10 years or so, but is of a more serious character.

It was a gratification to know that in the anxious and important Crisis of Affairs in India, the decision of the Government to make no change in the currency was supported by the opinion of that House.

and they were, therefore, doubly entitled to respect for the way they had conducted themselves in the present Crisis of Affairs in Ireland.

As the noble Earl has laid, down this doctrine, I must reserve to myself the right of criticizing these acts as well as the action of the Government in regard to foreign affairs at a future period, in spite of that reserve which we have observed during the actual Crisis of Affairs.

They also point to the fact that the withdrawal of the Colonial authority will be a serious Crisis in the Affairs of Basutoland that may be attended with important consequences, and they appeal to Her Majesty's Government to take the matter into consideration without delay.

What the people of England dislike above all—what I am satisfied he will find, they will bitterly resent in a great Crisis of Affairs like the present—is the desertion of a Government, of a Party, and of a cause by one from whom they had every right and every reason to believe, from everything which he had said before, 419 that he would have given his commanding powers and all his efforts to their support.

I certainly would 261 not refrain from voting for the Amendment, which means that one of the constituencies of the country shall be able to say whether, at this Crisis of Affairs in Ireland, the Irish people should have any share in their own administration, or whether they should have none.

But, my Lords, that is not the only strange inconsistency and uncertainty and, if I may say so, the levity of the mode in which the Government have treated the present Crisis of Affairs.

This was an emergency Bill, introduced to meet a grave Crisis in the Affairs of agriculture.

In my opinion, it will be a very serious thing—it would be serious under any circumstances and with the fullest knowledge—for this House at the present Crisis of Affairs in South Africa to pass a vote of condemnation on the man who is not only managing your military affairs, but who is one of those in whose keeping at this moment rest your hopes of peace.

For these reasons His Majesty's Government think it necessary, before sanctioning a course which might be regarded as an attack on the integrity of the Chinese Empire, to be sure that such action can be justified by the previous action of Tibet, and they have accordingly come to the conclusion that it would be premature to adopt 1118 measures so likely to precipitate a Crisis in the Affairs of Tibet as those which your Excellency has proposed".

the attitude of the Government upon this measure, are all indicative of a great Crisis in Our Affairs, namely, that the group system and log rolling as part of a considered policy has come to stay.

Here we are at this Crisis in Our Affairs.

Except as regards the endeavour to do what public duty I can in a Crisis of the Affairs of the State, I am under no obligation in any quarter.

Just as in the War there came a Crisis in the Affairs of this country when nothing but the complete self-sacrifice of individuals, without regard to expediency or common-sense could save the situation, so now, in the affairs of this federation the crisis can only be passed if some.

We cannot turn back the clock if we wish to, but we can do a good deal to modify the evils of the present Education Act, and just as it got through this House in the middle of a crisis—it might have been passed when the Germans were landing at Dover—the whole thing should be overhauled and reconsidered in the light of the present Crisis in Our Affairs.

There is another aspect arising out of the immediate Crisis in the Affairs of the whole world—and here I will answer the 567 hon. and learned Member for East Bristol—bearing directly upon the solution of that crisis, not only for ourselves but for the whole world.

Either the manufacturers have made a fresh application, in which case the importers ought to have the opportunity of discussing it with the Advisory Committee, or they have made no such application, from which it would not appear that there is any such Crisis in the Affairs of the trade as would justify the imposition of a new duty.

but there must be in our minds the very practical question as to who, at this Crisis in the Affairs of our country and of Europe, is the best man to handle what the Leader of the Opposition so truly said are questions which are vital to the future of our country and the peace of the world.

The Leader of the Opposition has said, very fairly, that he was raising a question of constitutional theory; but there must be in our minds the very practical question as to who, at this Crisis in the Affairs of our country and of Europe, is the best man to handle what the Leader of the Opposition so truly said are questions which are vital to the future of our country and the peace of the world.

The Crisis in the Affairs of India arising out of the Japanese advance has made us wish to rally all the forces of Indian life, to guard their land from the menace of the invader.

But I beg the new Government to realise that we are at such a Crisis in the Affairs of this country and the world, because of the discovery of this new atomic power, as we have never experienced before.

Here we are, at the supreme Crisis of Our Affairs, the time is desperately short, the sands are running out, it is a matter of months and weeks, and all that the strong man of the Government can say is that the Government have not yet come to a decision.

Now let us pass to the first half of 1948, when the results of the many and varied measures we took to meet this Crisis in Our Affairs began to be measured.

The achievement in six months since the end of 1947 has been immense, and we are most grateful to all those in the Commonwealth and Empire who have rallied in this voluntary cooperation to meet and overcome this serious Crisis in the Affairs of the sterling area.

The fact that the Minister is here today is a sign of the Crisis in the Affairs of the Government.

considers that the unwillingness of the Government to act in the spirit of this resolution displays a contempt for the decision of the House of Commons; in particular, deplores the Government's present refusal to take part in discussions with the Soviet Government on the future of Germany before all the countries involved have ratified the Paris Treaties; and further considers that these rejections of the opportunities for negotiation constitute a conspicuous failure to appreciate the gravity of the Crisis in the Affairs of mankind.

How could anyone describe the booming prosperityabout us as in any sense of the term a Crisis in Our Affairs?

He says:I consider that we have reached a Crisis in the Affairs of the Federation.

It is a splendid thing that this message of the House of Commons as a whole should have been uttered at this time of Crisis in the Affairs of Africa, and at a timewhen the Prime Minister is about to visit the Government of the Union of South Africa.

Besides, when we are in a Crisis of Affairs like this, it is only right and fair that the House should know what opinion in Aden is and not receive a travesty of it from Ministers.

I dare say that these are foods which the Government would have us eat, but it seems most unfortunate that the opportunityshould have been taken of such a serious Crisis in Our Affairs to introduce such a measure.

If there were a serious political and economic Crisis in Our Affairs, we would, inevitably, have to think about recalling Parliament, but I hope that that will not be necessary.

If these benefits are introduced because of a Crisis in Our Affairs, because it is recognised that the worse-off people, the pensioners, suffer particularly from this crisis in our economic and financial affairs, do not the same considerations apply, for example, to the long-term sick who are under the ages of 65 and 60?

They and the nation regard it as lunacy that, at a time of Crisis in Our Affairs, we should spend time debating a Bill which proposes to increase public expenditure.

The Govern-ment's only reaction to this Crisis in Our Affairs has been to appeal ineffectively to the unions to refrain, in the interests of party loyalty, from embarrassing Ministers and losing them the next election.

I ask the House to accept from me that talk of a feud between the CPs and the police and of a Crisis in the Affairs of the CPs is sensationalist and alarmist nonsense.