ith fine and imprisonment. In Ireland it had long been a
capital crime; and, though he did not propose to assimilate the English
to the Irish statute in all its severity, he proposed to enact that
conspiracy to murder should be a felony, punishable with penal
servitude, by whomsoever the conspiracy might be concocted, or wherever
the crime might be designed to be committed.

The principle of such a law, supported as it was by the precedent of
Ireland, could hardly be resisted. And Mr. Walpole, who had been
Home-secretary in Lord Derby's ministry, avowed his determination to
support the bill, "as being right in principle." But even he limited his
promise of support by a condition "that the honor of England should be
previously vindicated;" arguing that the French despatch bore the
character of a demand, based upon allegations which were contrary to
truth, and which, therefore, the ministers were bound to repudiate; and
that to pass such a bill without putting on record a formal denial of
those allegations would, in the general view of Europe, imply a
confession that to them we had no answer to give. And it was this
consideration which eventually determined the decision of the House, Mr.
Disraeli, who closed the debate on his side, condemning the conduct of
the ministers as "perplexed, timid, confused, wanting in dignity and
self-respect. In not replying to the despatch, they had lost a great
opportunity of asserting the principles of public law." The House,
taking his view of their conduct, threw out the bill by a majority of
nineteen;[309] and the ministry resigned, and was succeeded by one under
the presidency of Lord Derby.

Many of those who on this occasion combined to form the majority had
denounced the bill, as an infringement of the principles of our
constitution. It is, however, evident that, had it passed, it would not
have deserved such a description. It would in no degree whatever have
deprived a foreign resident of safety and the protection of English law,
so long as he should obey that law; and that is all the indulgence that
the constitution ever gave or ought to give. Foreigners had always been
amenable to our courts of justice for any violation of the law. And Lord
Palmerston's bill not only went no farther than removing a certain class
of offences from the category of misdemeanors to that of felonies, but
it also imposed no liability in that respect on foreigners which it did
not at the same time impos