The Sun. — London, England, 1827-05-02 00:00:00

lately retired from the public service. With regard to the Right Hon. Gentleman (Mr. Peel) who has addressed the Horise this evening, I am particularly anxious to express myself in those terms of high personal respect which I feel t rwards him. I shall not now be accused of paying my court to that individual, if I speak my full opinion of his merits. It may not he forgotten by the House—not be cause any thing done by so inconsiderable a person as my self is likely to dwell in their memory, but as connected with passages in the Right Hon. Gentleman's life worthy to be recollected—that if there be one individual in this House, to whom on this side, (I at that time sitting on the other side) it was my misfortune, certainly not his fault. to be opposed in a more personal manner than another, it was that Right Honourable Gentleman. But candour, and truth, and justice compel me to say, that the mode in which he conducted himself was not only at all times above all censure, but suds as places 'aim above the possibility of suspiCion, even by the most ingenious malice of his worst enemy, if be had one—(cheers). —Feeling the good accom plished by the moderate, rational, and wholesome steps taken by the Right Hon. Gentleman, for the amendment of the Criminal Law—those great reforms, projected by that excellent man (Sir S. Romilly), who was not spared to witness the triumph of his principles, and more recently supported by surpassing eloquence and ability by au Hon. Friend (Sir J. Mackintosh a whom indisposition now keeps from his place in Parliament ; I regard it as none of the least evils resulting from the unsettled state of the Catholic Question, that that circumstance alone deprived the Go vernment and the Country of that Right Honourable Gentleman's services —(Hear, hear !)—I would add one word respecting this great question. Base con duct has been imputed to his Majesty's Govern ment, and those who have joined it, in plain, undisguised, and therefore to me, I confess, more palatable, because more intelligible language, by the Right Honourable Gentleman who spoke last, (Some friend whispered to Mr. Brougham.)—Well, the Hon. Gentleman, then be it. Nobody will mistake me. My friends are afraid that I should seem to confound the late Secretary of State with the Under Secretary. There is no danger of confusion in this case--(A laugh.)—The Right Hon. Gentleman (Mr. Peel) used no such terms as those of " base conduct" and " unnatural coalition ;" and if I read his character aright, he is incapable of feeling the sentiments which would give rise to that plain and honest language. But, Sir, I say there is no baseness in this coalition, if there be no fraud practised on the parties to this alliance.— (Cheers.)—l, for one, did not look to see the Ca tholic Question made a Cabinet measure. I have no such expectation. I look to its being advanced by the mode in which the Cabinet has been remodelled. (Cheers.) 1 look to the ultimate good to be obtained for Ireland, if it be pursued prudently, discreetly, practically, with a just estiMate of all the prodigious difficulties which yet stand ill the way, and which seem even to accumulate round our :ceps as we approach them—(Cheers).--The very , ;sarements you have heard this evening from the Hon. Gentleman (Mr. Dawson)—for I understood enough of his allegory to comprehend what he alluded to--(a laugh) —and which may, I fear, be all perfectly correct, shew that these difficulties are increasing rather than diminishing. Heartily and zealously desiring the welfare of Ireland, and the accomplishment of the wishes of all Ca-- tholie Irishmen, and of a great part of the Protestants too —for, permit me to say, all the Irish Protestants are not on one side, and all the Irish Catholics on the other—l a m anxious in the first place for the removal of all causes of internal disagreement and jealousy. It is notorious, that in the last division, which postponed the hopes of the Irish Catholics for another year, a vast majority of the Irish Members, who are not all by law necessarily Protestants, voted for Emancipation. But, let mo at the same tie give forth a warning to the Catholics themselves, an'ad monition to their advocates in this House, and this salutary advice to their friends generally :—Let them not at this cri tical moment—(cheers from the Opposition Benches, echoed still louder from the Ministerial side)—let them not, repeat, at this critical moment, to please their bitter ene 'emes—(loud cheers,)—play the game of the party of the quadrant of this House, who, already, in expectation. of success of their shallow device, suffer it too plainly to ap pear by those signs and gestures and articulate sounds, by which they make themselves understood, though they sel dom deal in articulate language.—(Cheers.)—Let them not, I conjure them, gratify, the Member for Somersetshire (Sir Thomas Lethbridge,) whose position is at this moment, I should say,, hut for my personal respect for him, absolutely grotesque.—(Laughter.)—Long may he occupy it ! As the Member for Yorkshire (Mr. Dunconabe) wished the late Secretary of State, I wish the Hon. Bart. Sir Thomas Lethbridge) constant health and an unin terrupted enjoyment of that bencn which he now so pecu liarly adorns.--(Laughter.)—But I counsel him to beware of speaking—it is a dangerous employment of the property of mind. Let him use what be has warily and well.— (Laughter.) Let him vote as much as he pleases, but let him be cautious how he commits himself to the more arduous duty of talking. His position this evening struck are as pre-eminently ludicrous; and almost induced me to call it by the appellation that properly belonged to it. He was placed, it evidently appeared, between two equal and opposite sets of motives, each of similar power, attracted as it were, like a certain. animal, by two bundles of hay ; —(laughter and cheering)—so the Honourable Baronet hardly knew whether to support the Sovereign who was compelled, by the retirement of his Ministers, to exercise his prerogative, and call others to their places, or those who had endeavoured to embarrass the Government by their sudden haste. I trust he will take the Consti tutional course on the present occasion ; and he may be assured, when I tell him, that there is not in any ques tion, in or out of the Cabinet, the shadow of a thought all at once to alter the policy that has been pursued for many years with regard to the Catholic Claims, and now to make it a Cabinet question. But will nothing but the entire destruction of the new Administration satisfy the Hon. Baronet ? I speak as a bystander.—(A laugh. )—lf he is not satisfied with my relative, Lard Bexley, is the new Lord Chancellor nothing ? Is he no security ? Did be not hear the speech of that Noble and Learned Lord on the last debate in this Honse, when I was sitting a humble member of that body of which the Hon. Baronet is now the distinguished leader—(Cheers and laughter)? There are at least those two opposed to the Catholics, to say nothing of a third. But with respect to that great question, I will say, that whoever advises any man to promote it by any -means out of this House, or to bring it here forward again this session, in which the sense of the House has, unfortu nately, already been deplared against it, that man, I &ay, will notfurther the interests of Ireland or the Catholics. Nor will he do his duty with regard to the tranquillity of England, or the peace of her Govermaa.:nt: but he will show himself the worst enemy of the mome: tous interests he will pretend to uphold, and make himself a blind tool in the hands of the Member for Somersetshire.—(Cheers and laughter. )—That the progress of that question may be accelerated, is my most anxious desire ; and to it I have long directed my at a tention and devoted my talents. As it is the custom to talk of sacrifices, I may mention mine. I have quitted a sitnation in this House which, considering the influence of opinion and feeling, was in the highest degree grateful to me ; and in which I was surrounded and (if it may be per mitted me to say so) supported by one of the largest, the must important, the most honourable, and, now I may say it, for Iwas privy to all their Councils, and my motives cannot be suspected, the most disinterested Opposition that ever sat within the walls of this House—(Cheers)—who supported what they deemed right, though it kept them out of power, and confirmed their adversaries in office; and who persevered in that course year after year, without a possible hope of benefit ever accruing to themselves.— (Cheers.)—l have quitted that honourable and eminent station, enough to gratify the ambition of the proudest of men, on an express stipulation, which utterly excludes the possibility of my taking office.—(Cheers.)—l have clone so deliberately and advisedly. I shall be sufficiently gratified in watching the progress of those opinions to which I am attached, both as to our foreign and domestic policy including with the rest, the Irish Question, but not giving it a prominence which would render it exclusive, and impede its success by making it unpopular in this coun try by arousing the religious jealousy of the people. When I say that I have not become a party to any arrangements with regard to office, I wish it to be understood, however, that the union which has taken place between parties lately divided will have my cordial and uniform support. My taking office would have stood inthe way of those arrange ments, and I therefore at once voluntarily, and without waiting for a suggestion from any one, resigned all my claims to office. I have felt this explanation due, because I have always held the conduct of every public man to be public property, and his character to belong to his coun ,try.—(Cheers.) Mr. CANNING, the CHANCELLOR of the EX CHEQUER, rose next. I feel, said he, that it would be =courteous to the House, and to. my Right Honourable Friend (Mr. Peel), if I let this debate dose, without ex pressing the sentiments which his speech excited less than it confirmed. Though I have not risen expressly for the purpose of replying to the calls made on me from different parts of the House, yet I am perfectly willing and quite prepared, I trust, to return satisfactory answers. To begin with my Right Honourable Friend (Mr. Peel). He has, in one or two instances, appealed to my testimony for the confirmation. of some parts of the narrative of his own conduct. I . confirm them in the fullest degree. Through out all the diseuisions that I have hail since Parliament in all our constant and confidential intercourse, I have al ways found him in every point the same. He has always used the same expression of sentiments, and shewn the same exhibition of principle, that he claimed for himself in his ad dress this evening.—(Cheers. )—The House will have very much mistaken my condition, if they believe it one of ex ultation or pleasure, or even if they suppose it productive of feelings of complete satisfaction. From the beginning of these discussions, I foresaw—we both foresaw—that they must terminate in a separation—would to God it may be but for a time !—between my Right Hon. Friend and my elf. I declare most solemnly, that if the question, whe ther that separation should be effected by his retirement from office or mine, had been left in my hands, I would have decided it in the latter alternative.—(Cheers.) —My Right Hon Friend had the courtesy to state to me yester day, that he should make some observations this evening to the House. I had therefore the opportunity, for which I thank him, of doing that, without which I could not have addressed the House satisfactorily. I have asked and ob tained his Majesty's gracious permission to state such pas sages of the late negociation, as may be necessary to my vindication. And first, I beg to assure the Right Hon. Gentleman and the House, that I was not unaware of the peculiar difficulty attendant on the formation of a new Administration, from the state of the Catholic Ques tion ; for I did counsel his Majesty, when he did me the honour to advise with me, to make a Government in every respect conformable to those opinions. To carry that counsel into effect, would have, of course, involved the necessity of my retirement from office; but I can de clare most conscientiously, that I would have laid at the feet of my Sovereign the situation I have the honour to hold, with a more cheerful heart, and with an assurance of a quicker termination of the difficulties to which I have alluded, than I have since been disposed to entertain in the subsequent part of these transactions. It was not for me to offer advice to my Sovereign as to the mode by which he was to accomplish the formation of a Cabinet opposed to my own opinions ; but the fact is most truly as I have stated it ; I did propose to withdraw myself altogether from the Administration, and I did advise the King to form a new Administration, according to the principle I have mentioned. Now, why did I do this? Why did I, who have hitherto differed from many of my late Colleagues upon this question, and who, as has been truly observed, thus differing, still continued to act with them? Why did I thus stake the existence of an Administration, even though divided on the subject of the Catholic Claims, and advise his Majesty to form an Administration wholly hos tile to those claims ? I will state my reasons briefly for that course. Not many months ago, his Majesty received a letter from a source to which I cannot nor will not allude, most strenuously advising his Majesty to place the Govern ment of the country in a state of uniformity, and that uniformity to be an uniform and decided opposition t o the Catholic Claims. Lord Liverpool, to whom a letter of the same description was addressed, at the same time as that of which I have spoken, as being sent to his Majesty, upon receiving a communication upon the subject from the King, addressed to that exalted personage a letter, in which be said that, for his part, having been the author and it might be said the first originator of a Government formed upon the principle of entertaining divided opinions with respect to the Catholic Claims, he, for one, never could consent to become a member of any Government mo delled upon the principle of exclusion ;—(hear, hear)—and his Lordship added, that as he was called upon to give his advice to his Majesty, be must say that, in his opinion, it would be extremely difficult to accomplish such a forma tion.—(Hear, hear.)—l say, therefore, Sir, that when I felt myself placed under the necessity, as a Counsellor of the Crown, of advising his Majesty to attempt the forma tion of such a Government, it was not for me to estimate the difficulty of the task—it was not for me to take the place of those Counsellors who counselled the necessity of such a course, and petrit out how difficulties might be surmounted or objections overcome. It was not fbr me, I say, to point out how it might be done ; but I could not disguise it from myself, as I had felt it my duty not to disguise it from my Sovereign, that although the formation of such a Minis try was a work of very great difficulty- ;t was not a task of absolute impracticability.—(Hear.)—N.nv, for what rea son that advice was not acted upos,by whose advice or by what counsel it was determined to abandon that course, I do not know—and more than I know I will not say—but from the time when I first saw the - King, and pave the advice I have described, down to the period when his Majesty came to town, I had no knowledge of any certainty, that the advice I gave had not been adopted. So far, therefore, from seeking or soliciting, as the Hon. Gentleman charges me, the post which I have now the honour to hold, I with drew myself altogether from any participation in the ar rangements, in order that the experiment which was said to be so loudly called for by the country might be fairly tried—that experiment which was alluded to, and sought to be enforced, by the abortive motion of the Hon. Mem ber for Somersetshire (Sir T. Lethbridge), I mean not, however, to be guilty of any incivility ; but I repeat, that I withdrew in order to have that experiment fully and fairly tried; and I declare to God that there was nothing at that moment nearer to my heart, than that my stepping out of the way might remove every obstacle to that trial.— (Hear, hear, hear.) But when it was distinctly stated to me that such an Administration could not be formed, and when I received his Majesty's commands to model a Go vernment on the same principle as that of Lord Liverpool, of which I had been a Member, nothing, I conceived, could possibly remain but to construct a Government of the divided character to which I have alluded, upon the subject of Catho lic Emancipation, with the necessary consequence, that the question of the removal of Catholic Disabilities should not be made a measure of the Cabinet. But then, with the proposal to form a Government upon that principle— upon the very principle of my predecessor, came a new question—a question which at once involved the point of, whether I was to remain in the situation to which I had been raised, disgraced in my own opinion, and discredited in the eye of my country, or whether I was to receive from the hands of my Sovereign, undiminished and unencum bered, that inheritance which a dreadful misfortune, for dreadful I may indeed call it, had cast upon his disposal. Now what was it I proposed? What was it I had it in command to do in the reconstruction of the Government ? To form a Ministry upon the principle of Lord Liverpool's Administration. That the Government should even con sist of the very same individuals, I am sure I had no ob jection. But what was proposed to me ? That I, having his Majesty's commands to form a Government upon the very same principles as those of my lamented predecessor, should place at the head of that Government another per son, holding upon the subject of the Roman Catholic Claims Lord Liverpool's opinions—(Hear, hear) ?—Now what was it I was desired to sanction by the adoption of that course? What principle is it I was called upon to admit ? Why, I was desired plainly to say, that I, hold ing the opinions I have repeatedly avowed myself to hold upon the Catholic Question, am thereby disqualified from being placed at the head of the Government—(Loud cheers.) I was called upon to acknowledge in the face of the country, that I, forming an Administration upon the principles of Lord Liverpool—that is, of divided opinions on the Catholic claims, was—from the very holding of a different and divided opinion, disqualified from taking the highest office in that Government.—(Cheers.)—l will re tire altogether and for ever from public life ; I will betake myself to the farthest boundary of the earth, and into perpetual banishment ; I will resign any and every hope of office—for I care nothing for office—but I will not disgrace myself by consenting to sanction a principle which could only bring degradation to those who must become the subject of such an exclusion upon account of their opinions —(Hear, hear.)—To that principle, Sir, I re - peat I could not submit. I would rather have quit ted office a thousand times, I would rather be proscribed and persecuted by all who are disposed to proscribe and persecute for opinions, than live to be execrated to all futurity, for having, in my person, fixed such a blot upon the cause of those who thought that every man was free to hold opinions, although lie might not be able to persuade others to adopt them.—(Cheers.)—l hope I have now freed myself from the charges brought against me by the Hon. Gentleman (Mr. Dawson), and satisfied the House that I am not so much possessed with the spirit of over leaping ambition, as that Hon. Gentleman would have them believe.—(Hear, hear.)—l have stated first, what is literally the truth, that I expressed myself anxious to retire; and in the second place, I have explained the terms upon which I consented to remain. Forming an Admi nistration upon the principle of my predecessor, but not al lowing those opinions which I have hitherto held to ope rate as any disqualification, or to bar my enjoyment of those privileges which I must have held had I not professed to hold the others.—(Cheers.) —And now, not to use any coarser language than that adopted by the Hon. Member (Mr. Dawson), when he said the Government consisted wholly of Catholics—and when he charges me with a breach of faith for not having proposed to his Majesty a Government according to my instructions—l can only say, that the Hon. Member is right when he says I did not execute my original intention, and I will explain how he is right. When on the 12th day of April 1 went to the chamber of my Sovereign, to propose that all the Members of the late Cabinet and Government should remain Mem bers of the new Administration—and it ought to be recol lected that they were not, as the Hon. Member calls them, Catholics, for if there was a preponderance it was rather on the other side—was it my fault that, by a coincidence singular enough, I by no means wish to call it any thing credit to the Right Hon. Gentleman (Mr. Peel) when he touched upon that subject—was it, I say, my fault, that, in the chamber of my Sovereign, I received six Protestant resignations ?—(Cheers.)—The Hon. Gent. (Mr. Dawson) has charged me with a breach of faith in not making my Cabinet a mixture of half and half. But the Hon. Gent. has forgotten to mention the simple fact, that I could not do so, because the Protestant half withdrew themselves.— (Cheers.) Mr. PEEL (we believe) here observed, in a low tone, that the Right Hon. Gentleman did not state the matter quite correctly. There were not, we understood him to say, so many resignations. Mr. CANNING, resumed.—l certainly did take four of these resignations in my pocket, and the other two I receiv ed, as I said before, in the presence of my Sovereign. (Mr. Peel here observed, that one of them was not an enemy to Catholic Emancipation.)—l beg pardon. There was one Catholic Lord—(Lord Melville)--(A laugh)--among the number of those who thus resigned ; and yet, we are now told, these resignations grew out of the question of Catholic Emancipation—(Hear, hear.)—Amongst them, however, came one Lord, who had not that plea. To him, I did not, from the first, mean to allude, and I will not now abandon my determination---(Hear, hear.)—Five of these resignations came, however, in twenty-four hours ; and I would now ask the House, whether it was fair, after such an abandonment of place by these five Protestant Peers, to impeach me of a wilful non-execution of the orders of my Sovereign—(Hear, hear.) ?—But the matter did not end there. About the middle of Thursday—l believe it was on a Thursday when the House adjourned—about two hours before the meeting of the House, and after I had given directions to move a new writ for my return, I sent to the King a communication to the following effect :—" Here with I inclose that which disables me to execute the com mands with which I have been honoured upon the subject of the formation of the Cabinet. It is now as open to your Ma jesty to take any' new course you may consider expedient to the immediate execution of your wishes, as if I had not re ceived the commission with which I have been intrusted— no step having been vet taken which can be at all consider.• ed irrevocable; but ithink it becomes my duty to state openly and fairly to your Majesty, that it will be impossible for me to go on im the course you have prescribed, if my writ i,s not moved for before the adjournment during the boli: days." I cannot repeat his Majesty's answer, but it is sufficient to say that his Majesty gave me permission to form an Administration, and commanded those things which by my hand have been brought to pass.—(Hear, hear.)—This then, Sir, is the situation of the present Ad ministration, alai these are the means which have been adopted in its formation.--(Hear, hear.)—l have meddled not with the condmit or the motives of others. I appre ciate in the fullest degree the delicate forbearance of the Right Hon. Gentleman, when be felt bound to allude ' to the motives of others, and I feel bound to imitate that forbearance. What the motives of others were, there fore, I repeat, I cannot say. The results came as I have stated. These results have to me been most painful. I ' say painful; and the more sc, as I may say the feeling of opposition which they exhibit, was to me, in eve!) , in stance—always excepting that single question I have men tioned—wholly unexpected. I really am in ignorance of _ . the cause of that opposition. Ido not know how I have sinned against my late colleagues. I have never know ingly excited any feelings of hostility in the breast of any single individual of those who formed the late Cabinet. Between my Right Hon. Friend (Mr. Peel) and myself on every question, public or foreign, on every private arrangement—on every point of domestic manage ment, with, I repeat,one well-known and unhappy exception, there was at all times the strictest uniformity of opinion.— There does not exist, indeed, 1 may say, a single indivi- th , ll who.p sentiments upon every question were in more perfect accordance`with Joy own ; and I do not think the country could possibly have sustained a greater calamity than in being deprived of that Right Hon. Gentleman's services, not only in the department over which he so be neficially and honourably presided, but in the general coun cils of the country, although it is still happily open to him to continue his career of usefulness by taking a Part in the general business of this House.—(Hear, hear.)—As to the remainder of my late colleagues, I repeat, I am igno rant of the cause of their secession. So far, at least, as I know, every part of that course of foreign policy I have felt it my duty to pursue in supporting the interests of the country, has always received their unqualified approbation. At least, nothing has come to my hearing, either in Par .. liament or in the Cabinet, which indicated any thing but perfect agreement of opinion. I cannot charge my me mory with even the sliglitCsf gyrriptom of any alienatithi, and I have already expressed my determination uot to at tempt any conjecture"as to motive. As lam resolved not to say any thing which may be called unkind, I have ab abstained, therefore, la what I have said, from stating any thing more than how I am situated with respect to those Noble Persons, And how I came to be so.—(Hear, hear.) There were, however, one or two topics adverted to by the Right Hon. Gentleman (Mr. Peel), upon which he must permit me to say a few words, and upon whith I think he has proceeded rather upon a mistake, than from iany in tentional misrepresentation. The Right Hon. Gentleman when he addressed the House, said, how was it _possible not to perceive, that without doing any thing active in the cause of the Catholics, without moving even a finger in their support, my mere existence in my presCiat position. and the absence of those others—for whose absence, be it recollected, I am not responsible—must be taken as a moral promotion of that question upon which we have been hitherto divided.—(Cheers.)—Sir, I cannot possibly deny the truth of that observation—(Cries of hear.). — It is literally true ; and any one who will take the trouble to put that question and that answer together, must find in the answer a reply to the taunts ; of the Hon. Member for Somerset (Sir T. Lethbridge), when speak ing of the support which the Opposition have declared their intention to bestow upon the present Administration. That Opposition have declared their intention to support me. And why? Because they see the very same thing about to come to pass as the Right Hon. Gentleman—that without stirring, as I have said, a single step in the advo cacy of the cause they have espoused, nay mere existence where I am is an unquestionable advance of their object (Hear, hear.)—lf it be so, as it is I cannot help it. lam ready to anticipate the advantages which it confers. But surely the Right Hon. Gentleman (Mr. Peel) .is not pre pared to contend that a reason which has been good for him is bad for them.--(Hear.)—Surely he is not disposed to contend that if he was justified in resigning his situation because he thought the Catholic cause, which he opposes, received an impulse by my advance, others are equally jus tified in saying they will support me, because the question which they support has received that impulse.—(Cheers.) If, therefore, the Catholic cause receives a support, not by any of my endeavours, hut merely from the effect of an im pulse created by my situation, surely I cannot help the con sequences; and I can only say, in reply to the taunts of the Hon. Gentlethan (Sir T. Lethbridge) upon the subject of the support of the Opposition, that I trust they will upon those subjects afford me the support which I may be found to deserve, tempered only by that degree of difference which may be found to exist b..tween us.—(Hear.)—How I would ask, does the Catholic Question stand now? I say, it stands precisely as it did in the year 1812—that is, from a particular part of the year 1812—for there is a difference. The Right Hon. Gentleman (Mr. Peel), in adverting to that point, has not sufficiently distinguished one part of that year from the other, and by that means created an apparent inconsistency. It is tiresome to refer to books ; but I must take leave to trouble the House with a short extract from a work which I have sent for since the Right Hon. Gentleman addressed the House. In as signing my reasons on the 25th of May, in the year 1812, for not joining Lord Liverpool's Administration, the Right Hon. Gentleman has remarked that I said, the taking any part in a Calsinet, constituted in the manner proposed by the Noble Earl, would have the effect of smothering my own opinions upon the subject of the Catholic Claims ; and yet, en the 22d of June in the same year the question was proposed by me, and carried by a large majority. I admit that; but I would ask, was there nothing interven ing between May and June to produce such an event ? That is the material fact which the Right Hon. Gentle man has omitted. On the 25th of May, Lord Liverpool came to me with a proposal to take a part in that Administration of which he was appointed the head. After one or two questions-1 believe, index ', after one preliminary question—l asked (the Right Hon. Gentleman here read from the Annual Register of that year, apologising for the want of any better reference, by stating he was taken wholly by surprise)—' 4 Whether I was to consider the opinion and policy of the Government as remaining altogether unchanged, upon the question re lating to the laws affecting the Roman Catholics ?" Lord Liverpool answered, " that his own opinions upon this subject remained unchanged, and that he was not aware that those of his Colleagues bad undergone any alteration." —Now, what was the difference between this period and that to which I have alluded ? Mr. Percival and Lord Castlereagh both declared, in Lbate, on the 22d of April, but the month before, that the Cabinet were unanimously of opinio,,, the question I relief to the Roman Catholics could not be conveniently agitated at that period, nor was there any hope of coming to any satisfactory conclusion upon the subject. At that time, therefore, the Cabinet was constituted on the footing of a general resistance to the claims of the Roman Catholics; and in that state of things I refused to join the existing Administration. On the operate. In the month which followed April, and after the death of Mr. Percival, a great change took place, and the Catholic Question was then placed upon that foot- ing which it has ever since retained—(hear!). After the death of Mr. Percival, during whose administration opi nions in favour of the Catholics were not to be mentioned by a Cabinet Minister, things were so far changed that a Cabinet Minister was not only allowed to think the Catho lics might be emancipated, but even to speak, if he thought proper, in their favour. The question was then placed, I repeat, upon that position, in accordance with which the Right Hon. Gentleman and myself have acted for so many years ; and I remember well that the great advocate of the cause (Mr. Grattan) held that alteration in the constitu tion of the Cabinet as a great victory, and every one!of its supporters looked upon it as a material change in the prospects of those who sought to he relieved—as a proof, indeed, that it was a change, and a material one, the ques tion was almost immediately after carried, as has been observed, by a large majority. There was no inconsistency, therefore, in that part of my conduct to which the Right Hon. Gentleman alluded.—(Mr. Peel here made an obser vation, but whether of \ assent or dissent we could not per ceive.)—Then I will take it the other way; and say I was consistent; I opposed the agitation of the question when circumstances rendered it inexpedient, and I supported it when those circumstances rendered it likely to be suc cessful. I have not the vanity to suppose that any thing I said could have had an influence upon the question; but only three weeks after I urged the excuses to which I have referred, the following conversation took place in the House of Commons. The Right Hon. Gentleman then read the following passages from the Parliamentary Debates : " Mr. SPENCER STANHOPE rose for the purpose of putting a question to the Noble Lord opposite. He wished to know if it was intended on the part of the pre sent Ministers, that the same policy in every respect should be observed by them, in reference to the Catholic Question, which has been observed by the Administration under the conduct of a late Right Hon. Gentleman? " Lord CASTLERZAGII said, that he felt some diffi culty in answering the question of the Hon. Gentleman literally, the arrangements for the new Ministry not haying been yet fully completed. But as to the spirit of the question, lie thought, he could he more satisfactory. He could say this, from his knowledge of those employed in forming that Administration, that generally their senti ments remained the same. Upon a former occasion they had thought, inclusive even of those who were favourable to the measure, that the present was not the time for dis cussing the question ; and in still thinking so, the recent decisions of Parliament formed a leading consideration in influencing the adoption of that opinion. The sense of Parliament having been, at- least for the present, defi nitively pronounced, they thought that any immediate re vived disciission would only create irritation, without being productive of any thing useful. He was aware, however, oft', growing change, in favour ofthose claims; and in sub mission to that change, and the real sentiments of certain members of the Government, it had been resolved upon as a principle, that the discussion of this question should be left free from all interference on the part of the Government, ~ad that every member of that Government should be left to the free and unbiassed suggestions of his own conscien tious discretion." On the 25th of May, the House will therefore perceive that all was resistance to the Catholic Claims in the Cabi net. On the 25th of June all was altered either into ac quiescence in assertion of opinion or absolute support-- (Hear.)--But, to come to the point, the question remains at the present moment, just as it was described to be by Lord Castlereagh in the year 1812, and as I myself de clared that it remained in the very last debate upon the state of Ireland in the year 1823. On that occasion I perceive I used these words :—" He held himself as per fectly free as any other member of that House, to pro nounce an opinion upon that as a great national r i uestion, and as such to give it bis support, reserving only to himself the right of - selecting the time when he was to give that support, and the manner in which it was to be afforded, according to his judgment of the degree of success which was likely to attend such exertion." Those were the words I used then, and my opinions are not in the slightest degree varied at the prese:•t moment. The footing upon which the Government now stands is this—that each Mem ber of the Administration is at liberty to exercise his judg- ment in suppOting or opposing the. Catholic Claims; but if any Member of the Cabinet, or the Government, thinks proper to bring forward any proposition to carry into effect his partieular views, he , must do so individually . - and state, at the same time, in his place in Parliament, iliat capacity.—(Cheers.)—l have thought that, as the question has stood for fifteen years sineolßlSlY. it ought to. stand still. lam satisfied that it shoukl stand , so: I never thought that it could have been objected to. Looking at the state of men's minds upon the subject—a state better alluded to than explained —I concieutiously. believe that it is the only footing upon which,_ at present, it safely can stand—(cheers o—and if there be any who would seek to push forward the question beyond that point, and hope to accomplish their object, by a premature exertion of power on the one hand ; or if there be others who would not hesitate tostifle all just and natural expression 'of feeling or opinion, at the risk of a national convulsion, I can only say that I am not of their number ) and that I am not prepared for the consequences of a con vulsion in either England or Ireland.—(Loud cheers.)-- I remember very well how much turned upon thievery subject during the last debate. I remember it was said that things had been done and words spoken, which ought not to have been done or spoken ; and that we ought "not, therefore, to use expressions . or hold out hopes which we could not possibly realise. Much as I estimate the importance of this measure—and God knows it is of para mount importance—yet I value as highly, I will not say mere highly, that tacit mode of resistance which, at present, prevails in this country. No consideration could induce me to run hostile to that ; but if you ask me, do I there fore despair that the Catholic cause can ever he triumphant, I say—no. I cannot feel despair upon such a subject. By a tranquil, steady perseverance in our course, not by a factious opposition to fixed opinions, as some ill-advised persons would suggest ; by ,a wise and judicious adherence to argument and reason, I see the time ripening fast, when well-disposed men in this country will look back with sur prise to the coin se they have pursued, and wonder that they could have been deluded by any bugbear to a resistance to our wishes. But I repeat, lam not disposed to run counter to these opinions, however erroneous ; for I value one week of peace in England, before the hastening or accomplishment of almost any theo retical or practical good whatsoever. I know, however, that darkness will be followed by illumination—l expect that the night of darkness will be followed by the dawn, and I await its coming; but I never can allow it to be said, that the advocate of freedom, of conscience forced con science to consent to freedom.—(Cheers. )---I hope I have on this subject explained myself clearly—(Cheers)—as well as upon the other points to which the Right Honourable Gentleman alluded. It is not for me to attempt to lay open the penetralia, or to explain what is passing in the privacy of the Royal breast. I respect that illustrious Person's prejudices as much as I venerate those motives which actuated his Royal Father ; but if I am asked whe ther I consider the Coronation Oath to be any obstacle to the accomplishment of Catholic Emancipation, I say no— no more than Lord Liverpool thought it--(Cheers)—no more than it is thought to be an obstacle by the Right Honourable Gentleman himself--=-(Cheers;)—and if this was the time to argue that point, I would undertake to derive some of the best reasons for what I propose, from what has been advanced upon that subject. Let not those who oppose us say now, that hopes arc excited which must blast the peace of Ireland. Does the Hon. Gentle man who talked of silence upon that subject, believe that such a thing is possible ? The question may sleep for a time, but it is that sleep from which it will awake with renovated strength to the accomplishment of its final triumph. Look ing at the question as it stands now, and judging accord ing to the evidence which presses upon me, I cannot con ceal from myself the fact, that the question has gained a vast accessien of force, although, God knows, that gain was not of my seeking. But it was not gained in that manner which could induce me to force it upon this House, when I see so large a portion of the community holding a contrary opinion.—(Hear, hear, hear.)—l sin not aware that I have now left any thing material to answer. If there be eny subject upon which information or explanation is required, I shall feel obliged to the querist who may afford me the opportunity to answer. [The Right Hon. Gentleman here paused for a moment, and con tinued.] lam where lamby no seeking of mine. I pro posed a course by which I must have been excluded altogether from office, and the principle I protested against was one to which I could not submit unless I was prepared, as I said be fore, to compromise my character, by allowing that the opi nions! hold on the subject of the Catholics must be considered as a kind of disqualification for the highest official situation. When, in 1822, I was called from a situation of wealth and power and ambition, and when I made a sacrifice of the advantages which that situation conferred—no inconsider able sacrifice, let me sa. : . , for a poor man—l accepted the office which was not only not of my seeking, but which was against my inclination—l accepted it, so help me God, without any stipulation. And had the offer been accom panied, as it ought to have been (had I been dealt honestly by) by any stipulation—had it been intimated to me, that my services were to be accepted as long as it might be con sidered convenient to receive them ; but that if the office r .1, • 1111: • A. AA- became vacant, my holding the Catholic opinion wis to be a bar and a disqualification to "my acceptance of it—l would have flung back the offer of office with the same . disdain which I now profess, and with which I would feel the acceptance of it, under such circumstances, to be a badge of my helotism.—(Cheers.) Mr. PEEL explained. He begged to assure his Right Hon. Friend that he meant to bring no charge of incon sistency against him, nor did he make any ground of com plaint against him for any part of his conduct. As to his own conduct on the late occasion, it was regulated by the same principles on which his Right Hon. Friend (Mr. Canning) had declared himself to have acted at the period of the Administration of Lord Liverpool in 1812. He could not forbear from remarking, that from the tone and the manner in which his Right Hon. Friend spoke of the strange coincidence of six resignations on the same day, although the imputation of concerted agreement was dis claimed ; yet more was conveyed by the allusion to a strange coincidence than the language precisely meant. The resignations were not, in fact, all sent in on the 11th of April. For his own part, he did not send in his resigna tion on the 11th of April ; but in a conversation which he had with his Right Hon. Friend pn the 10th of April, he intimated to him that he would not continue to hold office. His Noble Friend (Lord Eldon) had also acted in a manly and candid manner. He had, indeed, been for some time previously seeking for an opportunity to retire, from his advanced time of life, and from various other con siderations, although he was willing to give judgment in the cases in which he had been partly engaged. Yet he was anxious for an opportunity of retirement, and the readi ness with which lie gladly availed himself of retiring was in every respect a contrast to the anticipations of those who threw out intimations in that House, that rather than part with office he would have even altered his opinions upon the Catholic question. His Noble Friend had put that long previously formed intent'on into effect, and communicated it to his Right Hon. Friend (Mr. C.) as early as he (Mr. P.) himself had done. - The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER said that he did not understand from the Lord Chancellor, on the evening of the 10th of April, that it was his intention to resign ; and he assured his Hon. Friend (Mr. Peel) that he bad received the resignation of that Noble Lord in the chamber of his Sovereign ou the 11th of April, along with the other resignations to which he had alluded.—(Hear.) Mr. PEEL repeated his assurance to the House that there was no concert in the resignations—he owed it in justice to his own character, and to that of his Noble Colleagues, to state, that nothing that was done was the result of cabal against their Sovereign, or intended as a disrespect to the Throne. He had not known of the resig nation of others until after they were sent. He had not consulted Lord Eldon, or his other Noble Friends, nor had he been consulted by them ; and he believed that each Member of the present Administration acted separately, conscientiously, and independently for himself.—(Hear.) The new Writ was then ordered. After which, the other Orders of the Day were disposed of, and the House Adjourned at a Quarter-past Nine o'Clock. PARLIAMENTARY PROCEEDINGS. HOUSE OF COMMONS. NOTICES 01' MOTIONS FOIL THIS DAY 1. Lord John R u ssell—Select Committee to inquire into the cause of the increase of crime in England. 2. Mr. Littleton—Select Committee to consider the best means of reducing the various charges on the renewal of Turnpike Trusts Acts, and the procuring of cer tain other Bills. 3. Mr. Hume—Return of the number of Majors on Half pay who have received increased allowances for Rank, in consequence of the King's War"nt of Bth August, 1814. SECOND EDITION. SUN OFFICE, Six o' Clock• M PE RI AL PARLIAMENT HOUSE OF LORDS. At three o'clock the House met, when the Lord Chancellor was introduced, as Lord Lyndhurst, by Lords King and Howard de Walden, and took the oaths and his seat on the Woolsack. Viscount Goderich (late Mr. Robinson), was in troduced by Viscounts Dudley and Ward, andl‘lel vine ;—Lord Plunket (late Mr. Plunket) was intro duced by Lords Clanricarde and Seaford; and Lord Tenterden (late Sir Chas. Abbott) by Lords Bex ley and Kenyon. The new Peers were then severally sworn at the table, and took their seats. The Attorney-General, and several of the lead! ing Counsel, attended below the Bar, to witness the elevation of the Lord Chief Justice to a Peerage, and to mark their high respect for that eminent.m dividual. The Duke of CLARENCE came down to the House at an early hour. After some Private Bills had been read a third time, the House adjourned during pleasure. At half-past four o'clock we were again admitted, when we found nearly the entire space below the bar occupied by Members of the Lower House, and others who had been permitAd to enter during our exclusion. Among them we observed Mr. Wynn, Mr.Hobhouse, and Sir John Burke. The space immediately around the Throne was also crowded to excess by Members of the House of Commons, and other persons of distinction. Lord Eldon en tered the House, shortly after, and took his seat on one of the cross benches. His Lordship appeared to be in excellent spirits. At five o'clock their Lordships resumed for the despatch of public business. Lord LYNDHURST took his seat on theWool sack, as Chancellor. Lord GROSVENOR was sorry again to have to bring before the House the Catholic Question. There was now an Administration, almost en tirely favourable to the Question, and the Members of the last, were almost wholly against it. He felt confident that from the changes that had lately taken place some great benefits would result to the public. And notwithstanding the opinion of the present Administration on the Catholic Ques tion, yet he believed that it was the earnest wish of some of the Catholics themselves, that the House should not proceed hastily to le gislate on the subject. He himself thought it would be better to pause on the question till next spring; and he was confident that until the existing Catholic laws were repealed, capital would never circulate in that country ; but that when the change took place, capital would be more plentiful there, and pros perity would be the happy result. Lord ELLENBOROUGH was perfectly con vinced that ere long the disappointed hopes of the Noble Earl on the other side would be thrown to the contrary side of the House. Since the House had last separated, the whole of the Government of the country had been re constructed ; on what principles, or whether in the total absence of all principles, that Govern ment bad been reconstructed, he was entirely igno rant. That it had been constructed as it. was with a view to benefit the nation, looking at the opposite benches, no one could suppose. Since that House last separated, many individuals who had held the highest offices under his Majesty had thought it fit and proper to resign those offices ; in consequence, their characters had been abused, and they had been accused of the highly improper feeling of wishing to dic tate to the Crown. It seemed to him there fore to be as essential to the maintenance of their own yet unblemished characters as to the honour of that House that they should take the first and ear liest opportunity of explaining the circumstances at tending their resignations.--(Loud applause.) The Earl of ELDON then rose and said, that hav ing now learned for the first moment that they who had resigned their offices had been charged, and unmercifully charged, with concert in re signing those offices, and with the unpardonable offence of dictating to their Sovereign ; he hoped that he might be permitted, after having been so long a Member of that House, and after having so long advocated principles contrary to such uncon stitutional principles, to take the first opportunity of standing up before them to state that such a charge was of the most base and most infamous calumny.— (Hear.) ITho ramaintler will be eiven in a Third Edition.] COURSE OF EXCHI AMSterdaln . .... —...C.F 12 4 Ditto, at sight l2 I Rotterdam 2 1. 12 5 Antwerp l2 5 Hamburgh 2% U. 37 Altona 234 U. 37 6 Paris, 3 days' sight Ditto 2 U. 25 80 Bordeaux 23 80 .NGE tESTIRDAY. 414 Leghorn ....... . .............. Genoa ................ . ........ Venice .................... Malta ........................... Nap1e5......... ............... 11 Palermo per oz. Lisbon ......................... Oporto ........................ Rio Janeiro ...... .......... 1 3 Bahia ......... Buenos Ayres ........ Dublin, 21 days' sik;ht ••• Cork BULLION, PER oz Portugal Gold, eoin... Foreign Gold, in bars 1 New Doubloons . ...... 3 New Dollars 0 Silver, bars, standard 0 °./ Berlin — Frankfort on Main; Ex.M. 154 Petersburgh, rble... 3 Us. 9 Vienna, effective R. 2 M. 10 14 Trieste do. Madrid 33 Cadiz 33 Ililboa -i. Barcelona 3 3 14 Seville . isg Gibraltar 45 MA. Arrived. Due. O America 1 • ,Brazil 0 O Buenos Ayres O Donaghadec 0 ' 1 Dublin O Flanders 0 O France O Gottenhurgh I [LS. 19 4 Arrived. 1 Guernsey& Jersey. r O Hamburgh . .......... O Holland ............... O Jamaica ......... 0 0 Leeward Islands 0 O Lisboh ........... . ..... 0 O Malta ............... ..• 0 1 Waterford ............ Ztif *llllll, LONDON, WEDNESDAY EVENING, MAY 2, 1827. Intelligence of considerable importance 0 " reached us this morning by Express from Pa ris together with the Papers of Monday and the Etoile, dated Tuesday morning. It appe ar that the King of FRANCE reviewed the S f r tional Guard on Sunday, when some of the So, diery shouted cries of " Down with V i r.,Lfo' l, and other expressions indicative of their of the present Ministry. The immediate punishment by his AlAncsj i of some men who were'conspicuous in these proper proceedings, produced a few shouts ° Vive le Roi ; but it is to be supposed that the manifestations of the feeling of the trooe , against the Ministry were too general and stro p " to he mistaken, for during the same a Royal Ordonnance was issued, disbanding tl! whole of the National'Gu ar d s of P ar is. lb' measure had necessarily excited an ex t rao rdini sensation in Paris, and, in the absence of i ll information on the subject, it is difficult to for; tell what may be the consequences of it. populace appear to have joined in the clam°. ° il of the Guard against the Ministry. We subJ ° the only extracts for which we have room (From the J ourn al des Debats.) We wish we had not to say that on this daY(e °- crated to recollections in which the country is most hol and proud, love was not the only sentiment that inanif e9 A ) itself. A cry of hatred of the Ministers too often resouo:,;, in the crowd. It even proceeded from the ranks of the tional Guard. Three or four legions uttered it repe 2te bs Even some of those, which in the presence of the Kilig only given vent to acclamations of gratitude and loyal, pronounced loud expressions of blame against the chief io 0 nister as they passed near his hotel. It even O ct that some of those men of ill-omened counteooo who chew themselves when the passions of the P?P ill o e are awakened, - here and there, translated into . laugu , worthy of themselves those cries of animadversion. - " Let us add that the crowd immediately did justi ce ,. the clamours, which recalled fatal periods of our bist%! But these prompt reparations, while they show the ps where public resentment stops, do not hinder this asr . :., tion of secondary opinions to feelings common to all 0 ; 17. I from being a deplorable event. It is said, that the having remarked one of the Guards, who forgot his augo ' presence to think of the Ministry, approached, 'made quit the ranks, ordered him to be cashiered, and expo ,_! his royal displeasure in terms so dignified and so firo', the company to which he belonged chewed their WO by cries of Vive le Roi." The Et9lle copies the above, and gives the follow' Ordinanee of the King :-- " CHARLES, " On the Report of our Minister Secretary of State the Interior, " 1 have ordained, &c. . . " Art. I. The National Guard of Paris is dishttade, ~d * • " Art. 11. Our Minister of the Interior is charge d "- the execution of this Ordinance. " Given at the Tuileries, 29th of April, 182 1 ,/ third year of our Reign, cHABLVP ,I (By the King) • " The Minister of the Interior, cousIBILP A letter accompanying the Express says, "At day-break, the post occupied by the Na ti° : l 4l Guard had been relieved by the Gendarmerie. T his ° tif has caused a great sensation. The funds, as appear s the re the annexed course 'of exchange, have fallen a little. FRENCIL FuNns, Aram 30.—Five per C e nts. 1 6/ , 20c. ; 3 per Cents. 70 f. SOc. ; Bank Stock, 21 02 " Neapolitan, 77f. 55c. ; Spanish Loan,ssf.—Excharig eg London—One month, 25f. 40e. ; Three ditto, 95f. 26e* We received in due course, last n ight, Paris Papers of Sunday, and the Etoik, dat Monday morning, but they are barren of politi l intelligence, and contain but little matter of ti least interest. Reports still prevail in Paris of a change Ministry, and the consequent probability of dissolution of the Chamber of Deputies. Vgtr i° circumstances seem to indicate these eve n The withdrawal of the Law of the Press she ° the weakness of the Ministry, while their have so far persevered in it has rendered them ge rally unpopular. Other measures, which S: Ministers have proposed, will probably likeo , be rejected. They had asked an increase 23,613,958 f. to the Estimates for next so as to render it unnecessary to have reco to Supplementary Credits ; but the Congui to whom this financial project was referred 1111 recommended various reductions to the aull ri of 9,729,982 f. to be made from the sums m anded by Government. The KING he ld ; Council on Friday, at which all the Mini 0i and the DAUPIIIN were present. The Cell ij o lasted three hours, and gave rise to 0 ° rumours. The Patent, constituting his Royal High the Duke of CLARENCE to be Lord High p. miral, was this day read, when his Royal High; took his seat accordingly, in the room which hitherto been the Admiralty Board Room , entered upon the duties of his important 0 '!" Most earnestly we pray that his Royal ° I ness's administration of the Naval AfO s i i, Great Britain may be prosperous, and that I) maritime greatness and glory may be still 11 ; 11 exalted under the double standard of R°Y and of the High Admiral of England. It will be seen by the Gazette of last Ivr i that Lieutt,lant-General Sir H ERBERT LOR is appointed one of the Deputies 01 ,, r0 01 Secretary a t War ; and a General Order 1 , / 1 the Horse Gua:ds directs that the correWly dance, which has hitherto been addressed t° 4 Military Secretary of the Conanander-in shall be addressed to the Lieutenant-e° 1 ~:, I