Star. — London, England, 1828-06-03 00:00:00

~.so repress the freedom of opinion-411ear). If such •Wer the views enrertAined by any party, he trusted that hi. Right Hoer. Friend would be the first to put them down, and in doiniz.so, he would meet with the conewrence and approval of 'Parliament. His own course bad been c;eJr and steady ; he was a friend to our in.titutions, because he thought them calculated to p re innte our happiness and prosperity ; but as all human instittninns required alterations, moderate reformation was necessary, in order to preserve their symmetry a nd proportions. These were his views, and he should carefully watch over all those measures, which shoulJ be promote their perpetuity. He was the avowed f r iend of freedom—civil and religious freedom; he was the friend of free trade and general improve ment; and whoever supported these •iews should have his humble support, but not otherwise. He had to beg pardon of the House for having so long trespassed on their attention. Self was always a painful su bect on which to speak, but necessity sometimes re .'qutred it to be adverted to. He begged to repeat again, that though no longer a Member of the Government, he hoped he might still be of service to the country. He regretted not the loss of office, ot h er than as it took from him the power of doing more good. He wished to heal the wounds which were now rankling in our Co lonies, and he regretted the loss of office, because it would prevent his more successfully following up those various measures of commercial and other policy which he had long meditated, and to which he was known to be so much attached. In conclusion he could safely, and he might add proudly, say, that the use he made of power did not cause him the displeasure of his So. vereign, or take away his character in that House ; though looking at the•mode of his dismissal, he feared that his previous labours would be rendered nugatory, if the principles on whiCh he proceeded should be aban doned—(Hear, hear). Mr. N. CALVERT and Mr. Secretary PEEL rose together, but the former Gentleman gave way. Mr. Secretary PEEL said, that nothing had fallen from his Right Hon. Friend which should prevent him from prefacing the observations he had to make with the expression of the deep and sincere regret he felt, that these explanations had at all become necessary. At an early - period he 'was recalled to' public office, and he wished the union of all those persons who bad before been in office with him. From that period to the recent day of their separation he had ever acted with a sincere desire to confirm that union. He had hoped that being again united all angry recollections would have been iorgottepnr,oamndottiohnatett the allheymi p g u h b t lice s co r r y cl ic iaelly(liea acttrosgethe H er foi the regretted that there should be any necessity for making these explanations, which, in his opinion, very rarely were of service to the character of those who made them. —(Hear, hear, from the Opposition Benches.) He spoke not in any offensive or acrimonious spirit when he said so, and again repeated his regret that they should have been deemed necessary. He requested the same indulgence which had been granted to his Right Honourable Friend, while he offered those ex planatiOns which the statement they had just heard rendered necessary on his part. The speech of his Right Honourable Friend refetted to two periods, and to two distinct circumstances—the period before' the vote on the East Retford question, and the period since the 'event. • At present, then, he would adittesi himself to the first period. The whole of the circum stances were pot yet stated to the House, probably be cause motives of delicacy restrained his. Right lion. Friend from stating them; but he (Mr. Peel) now felt it necessary to disregard all such motives, however he respected them in his Right Hon. Friend—and to give them fully as they occurred. if in doing so he commit ted any unintentional error, he hoped his !tight Hon. Friend would set him right. He must begin by calling the attention of the House to the difficulties and anxieties to which any person in his situation must be constantly exposed. By the usage and practice of this cosestry,.he was considered the organ of Govern-' feent'and :nothing could be more painful than the duties which in such a character he had to perform. Every night matters-o-sometimes twenty, sometimes thirty of a tight were submitted to the House, it must be quite clear that it woold be impossible for him to give all that coni • • ideration which they required. Among other ques tions for discussion were the measures to be pursued as' to Penryn and East Redoes]. His anxious wish was to take no step which shotild not be considered as taken on the part of Government; and he therefore submitted to dovernsneat the course fitting to be adopted, in order that he should be authorised ta state what was their opinion, assuming that an alteration in the franchiie l was to take place in those Borobghs. He delayed taking part in any proceedings until the arrival of that stage when 'both the franchises would have to be dealt with. He presented it' to the Cabinet as a double question ; and lisoking at the evidence which had been taken as to Penryn, evidence having been also taken in that House as-to East Retford, he had sub• mined certain propositions to Government. He stated as his opinion, that this House would not agree to giving the franchise forfeited by Penryn to the neighbouring Hundreds. He therefore acquiesced in the motion of the Noble Lord (Lord J. Russell) for its transfer to Man chester, and in the case of East Retford, that the franchise should be extended to the Hundred of Bassetlaw. 'that Proposal did not meet a ready acquiescence, and lie U. inceurbent upon him to take every precaution, that what-he did in that House would be adhered to by all the Members of the Government. He did not think that Wreasutes should be agreed to el,ewheje, and not i.l the ifousi of Comcnorli -- (Heaqv He never submitted to the Cabinet what should be done in the case of our Borough only. Alter three votes of that House, he did think it competent to thein,as a brunch of the Legislature, to disfranchise Penryn, that House h..ving declared, by a majority of feinr to one, that'it should be so. Matters haying taken such a turn here, he did not expect it would meet the fate which some persons anticipated in "ether place. Next came the question of East Ret• ford. On that he did not act. incautiously, and on the 44y of the discussion he had a meeting with his col leagues. The matter was discussed, and he was not authorised to consent to the transfer of the forfeited tranchil to Bomingharn. But his Right Hon: Friend' had said; that if only one Borough was to be disfrada thised, he *Mild give' (hat franchi s e to Birmingham. litre ,helMr. Peel could say, that this was the first time he had heard such an expression of his opinion-- (Hear, hear). His Right. Hon. Friehd must know, whatever inferences might be drawn • from his (Mr. hell) seeech in the debate, that he had no autholity, , born Government to coincide with any such opio, hien. "it t h e me e t i ng of th e Cabinet on th e Sunday . J before the discussion, he told his Right Honourable } fiend, that thry were placed in different .itua tools upon this question. bet still he entirely u.l - that on the' tiestiOn of East' Retford,.. it was agserd that the Members of the Government should `use the same way—at the sane time each reserving to himself the right of voting as be thought proper in the I..tore stages of the pewees:ling& In the last night of t.e debate on the bast Retford queitiso, he relied upon the vote of his Right Honourable Colliseise. became he ezpresed no dissent to the proposition which had been .hat very day submitted to the Cahill-t. 11e folly . - . dersto ql his Right Honourable F r iend to have acceded to it, and his surprise was naturally enough excited that he should have voted against what he had agreed to only a tew hours before In short he had the strongest imr e,sion upon his mind that they were to vote in the same way, until the discussion of the Lords on the Peuryn question should be finally made known. He was aware that on former occasions, when Gram;'ound, A yleibury, and other Boroughs were before the House, the different Members of the Government voted dif ferently ; and that on such occat,ions, when judical con- siderations were so mixed up with the whole question, it would be impossible to bind persons by any fixed and given formula. But in the case of East Rettord the matter was different. The question was discussed —:he course to be pu6ued was decided on—and yet in despite of the previous arrangement, his Right Hon. Friend had felt it his duty to vote contrary to the ge neral understanding which prevailed in the Cabinet. lie had hitnsa adhered to his former vote—to the course marked out by his colleagues—and he now de nied fully and unequivocally that lie had ever given any pledge as to the course he should pursue if one bo rough only was to be disposed of. He certainly had heard it said that he gave some such pledge—that he calculated on no opposition to the dislianchisement of Penryn, or even of East Reify; d, in another place; but this must have been so incompatible with the cautions, which he had used in calling his colleagues together. in discussing the matter with them, arid regulating the course to be pursued on the night of the discussion, that he could not bring Liniself to believe he had actually stated treat which the lion. Gentleman had decidedly imputed to him. He had all along entered into the debate is if the double qmestion were.under discussion ; he had so s ated it explieily to his colleagues; and if a sense of public duly had induced them to alter their determination, it could not be made matter of astonish:tient that such a vote was considered a departure front that course of proceeding which the Members of the Gov, r.,nrent had a right to expect from each o her—(Hear, hear). Whlrreference to Penryn he had already stated, that believing its cot ruption called for the transfer of its franchie to some other place, and that the House would not agree to its being extended to the neighbouring hundreds, he had acquiesced in the transfer to Manchester ; but this he only agreed to, tak ing it for granted that they would have also to deal with East Rettord, whose franchoe should be extended to the hundred of Bassetiaw. -Ile knew not, nor could he undertake to say, what the fate of either question might be in another place ; but he had dealt with them as if both were to be disposed of—he never con templated them as separated; and it his observaiions had been misunderstood, no blame could be fail's , attri buted to him. Again, with reference to East Retford, he believed it was competent to the different Members of the Government to exercise freely their opinions; but then it should not be forgotten, that when an agree ment was once entered into, it should have been in violably preserved—(Hear). He did,not mean how ever to say, that there were not occasions in which an imperious sense of duty might not induce an individual to alter a previous opinion, or deviate from a previous artangenh-nt; but it must at the same time be quite evident, that iu the arrangements and general under standing which usually prevail in the Government of this country, such 'alterations and such deviations miust be attended with the greatest public inconvenience. It would be unnecessary to push the position to the ex treme, but its general prorriety, and convenience were so clear, so notorious, so admitted, and so necessary, that he need not lay further stress upon it. At the outset he had stated that his Right Honourable Friend did not detail the whole of the proceedings pre vious to the question of East Retford, and that made it the more necessary for him to disregard all motives of the delicacy under which his Right Honourable Friend bad acted, and to place the circumstances in greater de tail before the notice of the House. In doing so, 'he hoped he had avoided all unnecessary prolixity, but a due regard to the interests of justice and fair dealing had comptlled him to enter into the subject at so much length. And having before said that he unequivocally denied having given any pledge as to the course he in teneed to pursue it only one borough were to be dis posed of, he should not occupy more of the attention of the House on that branch of the question, further than to repeat, that the impression on his mind as to the East Retford Question was, that it was at the option of every Member of the Government to vote as he thought proper. His Right Hon. Friend had surprised him when he said that he would not accept the subterfuge of their being ignorant of what passed in the House of Lords. Unless ins memory deceived him very couch, his Right Hon. Friend took that line of argument in the discussion upon the question, and said that they could have no such evidence as to what would be done by the House of Lords in the case of the Borough of Penryn, as mould amount to a sufficiently formal knowledge of the facts to be adopted for their guidance in dealing with the question then before them. He found, upon referring to die repots of his Right Hon. Friend's speech, that his recollection of that argument was confirmed.—(The Right Hon. Gentleman here read a passage from Mr. Huskisson's speech, in which he argued that the House of Commons could not be supposed to know that the B.il relating to the case of Penryn would not pass the other House)—(Hear, hear.) Why, then, was not his impression of what his Hon. Friend had said correct, and. must he not, therefore, be surprised at hearing him now say, that such a position was a subterfuge? Mr. liuscissott said—" We do not know it yet." Mr. Secretary PEEL, in continuation, said, it was' true they did not know it yet—but if they did not, then they were at liberty still to treat this case upon its own merits. This was what he understood his Right Hon. Friend to argue, and he agreed with his speech upon that ground. Now, if during that debate hi, Right Honourable Friend had said to him that the course which it had taken had created the ne..essity for his giving such a vote as he did, he could assure his flight Honourable Friend that he would not have heard one syllable of objection from him. That explanation would have removed every cause of complaint, and he should have seen nothing in it but the natural consequence of that divergence of opinion which they knew to exist in each other's mind : but his Right Hoh. Friend thought proper Loewe ittiout Audi an explanation, and to write die letter which ucc .stoned the subsequent events. He had to,w explained reel y thing he knew respecting this 'double questicn of the two boroughs. His Right Hon. Ffietid had told them that lie saw by the look's orsome; 'anti by the observations of others, that the vbfr %Omit be bau felt himself bound to give was not' looktd upon nitre s,dti , i4cti9n by a party of his colleagues in the (;:•vernuient He was sure his Right H on . Friend til old dolini the justice to say, that no observation upon the subject escaped his lips: He knew not whe dier be was one of those whose looks gave his Right Hon. Friend displeasure—(A laugh).—But he knew I that bemired from the House atter the divisions with Feelings very little altered by the vote which Right Hnnourahle Frkutcl had given. He would in fairness tell his 111;tht 11.monrahle Friend, that he did think it would have b: en the mote candid and sttaight-forwsrd course if he ha.l declared his in tention by a single word. But he had nrver prefer red:,l or thought of prefeiiing the sli.:htest complaint up.ut the subject; and nothing aver g {Vt . him greater surprise than the learning that his RiJ:: Honourable Fr end. in consequence of that clivt•ion, had I , tind it necessary to make a tender of his re•ignation. I-L. had had no com munication with the Doke of Wellington upon the sub. ject, and he must repeat that nothing could have given him greater surprise than the resignation of his Right Honourable Friend under such circumstances. This completed what be had to submit to the House upon the first part of subject, antecedent to the division upon the East Rettord Disfranchisement Bill; and he approached that part relating to the transactions which took plrice sub.equently to the vote, with feel: ings much more p iintul than any with which he contemplated the fits% His Ri g ht Honourable Friend' had permitted to make observations up.in' the Doke of Weiltilgton, in the absence—the neces. sat y absence of his ,Noble Fr ie d, some ot them in a spirit which he could not but dee;.ls regret—(Cheers). Kn-w• ing as he did the character of his Noble Friend, he could not assent to the imputations thrown out, and he would only say that it he he.ie,ed such opinions to be enter trined by the Noble Diike, he stnaild not be addressina. the House in the caracity which he then held. But he was convinced that neither those observations, nor the spirit in which they were made, either did justice to the Noble Duke' , opinion-, or gave a fair representation of !he circumstances to which they ieferted. His Right Hon. Friend had lead several ten. rs to the House, and he must beg leave again to -read the two upon Which the questions . m ,inly turned. First, he would call upon the House to say whether the letter wiitten by his Right Hon. Ft iend was not sock as conv, yeti a . formal tender of his resignation, and left the Duke of Wellington no alternative but that of laying it before the King? It must be remembered that at the time when his Noble Friend separated from the rest of the Cabinet after the question of East Retford had bun discussed, the utmost cordia lity prevailed. and a disposition' had been shown to re move the difficulty in which any of thsm might be placed by preVions -declarations. The Duke of Wel lington left the Cabinet, supposing that they were all agreed upon the manner in which the question was to be dealt with in the next stage. On the next morning he teceived a letter, of which the folloWing . was a copy --(The Right Hon. Secretary here read Mr. Huskisson's letter, No. 1). Now he would ask.any man conversant with political affairs, whether the expressions con tained in that letter did not amount to a formal re signation?—(Loud cheers). He knew that it was not an absolute resignation of office, but when the head of an Administration was addressed by one of its mem bers, stating that he wished to giae him the earliest op portunity of placing his office in other hands, and at the same time regretted the necessity which a sense of pub lic duty imposed upon him, would any man say that such a transaction meant any thing but this—" I for mally tender the resignation of an office which my sense of public duty will no longer permit me to hold ?" (Cheering) —His Right Honourable Friend had dealt copiously with slight circumstance-, and very dexter ously with certain trifling expressions which he now re membered to have taken place previous to the occasion which led to this voluntary act on his part. But let him remind his Right Honourable Friend, that it these causes of discontent did then exist, no expres ,ion of dissatisfaction ever escaped his lips—(Cheers). —He was told now that rumours of disunion had -prevailed, and be found that he perhaps attached less importance to the vote of his Right Hon. Friend than almost any oiher man in the House. He consi• dered it, as be had beli - re stated, to be of no rtiatelial importance, whether that opportunity - should betaken for making the question an open, one, or whether it should be deterred to unfit:ter stage of the measure.— . But his Kight Hon. Friend had dwelt much upon the manner in winch his communication. was madeto- the Duke of Wellington. He had said t'lat when a letter of that desciiivion was masked." private and confidential," and sent in a box, it partook of the character of a verbal comMunicaliciti, and was generally treated as such. Was this so? Could the Duke of NVellington act upon such a communication as he could have done upon a 'verbal statement of his Right Hon. Friend's feelings as to the position in which' he thought himself placed by his vote? If be wished to preserve a good under standing and to prevent disunion in his Majesty's Council, why not go at once to the head of those Coun cils, and state the difficulty in which he found himself? Would that hive been the same !lino; as sending such a communication as WAS made to hi. Noble Friend, though endorsed " private and confidential," and enclosed in a bi.x ? The propriety of such a course was still more obvious when the parties weri, residing, in the transac tion of official business, in the same street, and only two doors apart. And why did not his Right Hon. Friend, it to wi ite in the first instance was more eon genial to hi s wishes or feelings—why did he not say that he would tike an early opportunity of waiting upon his Noble Friend for the purpose of giving any explanation that might be necessary ? That would have been the natural course for any man who felt him self placed in such a difficulty, and had wished to re lieve the Dike of Wellington from the embarrassment into which such a circumstance must inevitably throw birn.—(l - lear. heat.) He would here say one word upon the subject of.aesignations generally. He was of opinion tnat the tender of a le , ignation by a Minister Oahe Crown was an instrument which should be very care fully and sparingly used— (Chee. 3). He could very well understand a Government bring so constituted as that . there should be shaees, and marked shades of dif ference amongst its Members upon questions coming incidentally before them for decision. If, therefore, twelve or thirteen individuals were called upon to deal with questions . involving high interests, and considera tions of cleat magnitude and importance, and if in so dealing with those questions- they were to exercise freedom of opinion and freedom of discussion, it was necessary that some one must be at the head of such a body who should decide between their tiifferences ; otherwise, where would be the value of dischssion, and to what end could it lead? Now he conceived that it might be strictly honourable fur any individual mem ber of that body, upon any question not involving great principles, to which he might stand solemnly pledged, to yield his opinion to the majority, or to' the decision of the Chief, and yet continue to act in concurrence with their general policy. Such a person, he thought, might without a shadow of dishonour; or of just suspi cion, continue to hold his office. But if upon any ques tion ht should be overruled, wherein the desertion of any great principle to which his honour stood pledged would necessarily be implied; then •he hail but ofiecourse to pursue, anti that was a determined and unqualified resignation ; but that conditional tender of resignation ought, in his opinion, to be very sparingly used— (Clieers)—by which an individual got rid of the respon- , sibility which belonged to himself, and placed it upon another--(Loud cheers.) He did not believe that his Right Hon. Friend had intended for him-self any ad v.nitage of that kind ; he believed that the letter con- taming his tender of resignaliun was 'written hastily, inconsiderately, and, he must say, unvvi,ely. In every point of view it was caieul‘ted to produce great etribar. rasimert, and to shake the union and the strepitt of the Government a . tl.e time. If, alter the Duk- Col had received such a letter, he hid an s w ere d that he differ e.i from hes Itt.Hon.Fl iend,and saw no necessity for his tesigna:ron, u h it would the world have of such a transaction ? Why, that Huskisson hiving sent in his resignation, the Duke of Wellington h.,d consi- deed his services so important that the government could not go nn without them, and that he had been olicited to remain—(klear,hear.)—This, in his tipinion, was an embarrassing situation in which the Dnlce of Wellington ought not to have been placed; but, being placed in it, it was impossible that he could have pun: sned.,atlCother course than the one which he adopted. His Right Hon. Friend had dwelt much upon the cont. municatioa haviwg been endorsed " private and con ti,,einial." Why, what was the practice will iegard to the use of that superscription ? So commonly was it used in the transaction of public bu•kesa, oat in the every-day discharge of his duty, when not writing an official letter, he wrote the words almost as a matter of course. But be that as it might, no endorsement, no method of conveying it, could alter or affect the cha racter of the communication—(Haar, hear, hear). — He would say, that upon a subject of such great public interest, no man had a right to make a secret of such a communication by the inscription of any words upon the latter in which it was. conveyed. Again he would 'say, that the nature of the communication could not be changed by the manner in which it was made, and it was to its character alone that they must look. The communication referred to a vote- given by hir Right Hon. Friend as a Minister in the House of Commons— riot to any disunion in the Cabinet—and to a duty which the writer felt to be owing to the Duke of Wellington; as head of the Administration. What.was his Noble Friend to have done with it, or how was he to have treated it? Would he have been, authorised in concealing it from the Crown, whose Secretary his Right Honourble Friend was, that he had made this tender ot resig nation, because the words " private and confidential" were written upon his letter ? He believed that Isis Noble Friend was incapable of feeling himself. so easily re lieved from the duty, which he owed in the highest quarter, neither did he tkiolc that the circumstance would have relieved him from the duty of communi cating tie fact to the rest othis colleagues. He begged the attention of, the ,House to the terms on which his Noble Friend eapressed the embarrassment caused. by the unwise step of his. Right Han. Friend—(The Right Hon. fecretary then read the letter of the. Dake of Wel ington, No. 6). He admitted that his Nobler Friend 'was perhaps not in the habit of weighing and deliberating his eipressions so much as persons accustomed to civil life. But he was confident that in the brevity and energy of his expressions there was no intention of offence:— He must say that the letter of his Noble Friend contained a correct description of the position of his 'tight Honourable Friend, and of the embarrassment in which he had placed Vle Government. His Wet Ho nourable Friend had spoken feelingly upon the subject of the feelings of public men, and .upon the miscon structions ta which he should have been exposed if he had withdrawn his letter. If his Right Hon. Friend felt so acutely for his own situation, let hio, also make some allowance for the feelings of thers—(Cheers) Lttt him remember to what the Duke of Wellington would have been exposed, and that w ithopt- any fault of his own, if' he had taken a differer.t coune ? _Would it not have been said, that he had been obliged -to soli cit a Minister to continue in office ?—((:he_ers.) —Let his Right Honourable- Friend make .allowance for this; and let it be iernemberednlias his Noble. Friend had r o alternative but,,ejthernss sol t icit the :coutiopance of his Rieht Honourable.Fiiepd .in office, or to:ariace the fender of his resignation .before, : the :chrome.. : -He thought that it sr nuld have bee.n.a perteetlyhenourable course in his Right I ion. Frierid n ;l his letter w2s.weiti en !astily' and without due consideratioo,to :mac said:so n and 'to have beg - gt2d that the circumstances might bebiaried in oblivIon; and to him it would neer: be a matter.al:re. gret that such a course was not adopted, Ile ;must here 'say', that in the ob,ei vaaions, which Ile had addressed to the 'House, words had been - put •ioaattte month. °I. the Duke of Wellington' by ;his Right lion. Friend, which fie had fiea'rd with the deepeit regret. In a message :which had been conveyed to his Right .Hon. Friend, he had complained of the Noble Duke.making use of the expression that he was " a man of sense." He had, as every one must have, the most unbounded Confi dence in the honour and the unimpeachable veracity of the Noble Lord lately at the head of the Foreign Department ; and in a communication he had with him, he was assured that no impression way left on his mind that any sarcastic meaning was intended to he conveyed in the words "a man at sense." Ile could easily under stand his Noble Friend might have felt the difficulty of saying what he wished to be done, but that what occur red to his mind, or the course that would be pursued by a man of sense, was that of wishing the whole matter to be consigned to oblivion. Although he might have en tertained that feeling, he might have been afraid to suggest it, because it would have been open to a perverted construction of dictation on the one hand, or a de,ire of compromise on the other. He understood from the Noble Lord then at the head of Foreign Affair ' , that the observation was not calculated to convey off nce, and he was very much mistaken it Iris Noble Friend did not add something to this effect And my Right Hon. Friend knows that I am not the nn.n to rept ir - any thing inconsistent with his honour and teintatieir."—(Hear). He believed that something to that effect was added ; that his Right Hon. Friend ki ew him (the Duke of Wellington) not to be the man who would require him to do any thing to degrade or lower himself in the pub lic estimation. This was highiy important, as elucidating the reeling out of which had originated the expression at which his Rt. Hon. Friend had taken umbrage. His Right Hon. Friend then complained ot his being limited to two o'clock op the Sunday. But at ter the delay which bad taken place under the particular circtinistances of the case, it was easy to understand that his Noble F r iend bad f e lt t h at t h e time was come when it was necessary to fill up the gap which had been left in his Majesty's Councils. But his Right Hon. Friend said that the Noble I)ukc returned his letter unopened, because it was not delivered by two o'clock. Now,lie knew what the true explanation of this circumstance was, andhe entreated the House to attend to it, as showing the motives under which his Noble Friend had acted, and the situation in whiali he had been placed. He would appeal to every man of horwur, however his mind might have been prepossessed or prejudiced, and when he had stated the facts he would leave them confidently to the judgment of the House. The reason assigned by his Noble Friend for not opening the letter was this :—He received the communication after he had been with the King, and a successor to his Right lion. Friend had 1 •i 7