The Sun.
London, England, 1855-02-17 00:00:00

MINISTERIAL EXPLANATIONS.

On the motion that the Speaker do new leave the chair,
Lord PALMERSTON rose and said—ln rising, sir, to
move that you do now leave the chair, I feel it is generally
expected that a person who fills for the first time the situa-
tion I have the honour to hold, especially under circum-
stances such as those which preceded my appointment,
should state very shortly to the house what led to his hold-
ing the office he holds. Sir, that which I have to state
will be very brief, because it has been anticipated by
statements whieh have beau made by a noble lord in an-
other place, and lay a statement made by my noble friend
in this house. It has been already stated, and correctly
stated, by the Earl of Derby, that when he was com-
manded by her Majesty to form a Government, he did me
the honour to come to me and to propose to me that I should
belong to the Government he was about to form. He at
the same time expressed a wish that I should communicate
the same desire on his part to my right hon. friend the
Chancellor of the Exchequer, and to my right hon. friend
who now holds the position of Secretary for the Colonies.
I. stated, as was correctly stated by that noble lord, that
those habits of long personal friendship which co-operation
in office bad engendered, and the high esteem which I felt
for his personal character and statesmanlike habits, would
render me elusions to co-operate with him in a public
emergency, when it was of the utmost national importance
that a Government should be formed. I said, however,
that I could give him no answer till I had had an opper-
tuuity of communicating with friends of mine; but that
one thing I was prepared to say, which was this, that in
the present state of our foreign relations I should be un-
willing to belong to any Government in which the conduct
of our foreign affairs did not continue in the hands of my
noble friend the Earl of Clarendon—(Ministerial cheers)—
who had shown great ability and success in the manage-
ment of the department confided to his care. The com-
munication, as stated by Lerd Derby, was made a little
before two o'clock. I communicated as soon as I could with
my right hon. friends; I communicated also with that
noble friend of mine upon whose judgment I place the
most implicit reliance, and whose opinion would guide me
in every important transaction of my life--I mean the
Marquis of Lansdowne—(hear, hear)—and the result was
that I wrote to the noble lord to say that I did not think
that by accepting the proposal he had done me the honour
to make me I could give to his Government that strength
he was pleased to think my acceptance of office would con-
fer. It was remarked as somewhat unexplained, that that
intention of mine was quoted by my right hon. friend the
Chancellor of the Exchequer in his answer given at a later
hour to Lord Derby. The fact is, that that opinion of mine
was formed upon a full consideration, and communicated
to say right hon. friend before he wrote in reply to the
offer that was made to him also, declining to join the Ad-
ministration. Sir, that endeavour made, her Majesty
was pleased to call upon my noble friend the member for
the city of London, and to charge him with the task of
forming an Administration. My noble friend did me the
honour, immediately after that command was given, to
come to rete and ask me to accord my assistance. Sir, my
great personal regard and esteem for my noble friend, the
perfect similarity of political opinions which existed be-
tween us, led me at once, and without hesitation, to say
that, feeling impressed with the full importance of the
crisis in 'which we stood, any assistance it was in my
power to live him should without any hesitation be given
—(Ministorial cheering)—and if he had succeeded in term-
ing an Administration, I should have felt the greatest
alacrity in giving him any assistance it might be in my
power to render. Sir, that attempt did not succeed, and
it was the pleasure of her Majesty then to commission nee
to endeavour to form a Government, if I thought I could
succeed in submitting to her a list of Administration likely
to command the confidence of Parliament, and ade-
quately to carry en the public service of the State.
Sir, received that command about six o'clock on the
Sunday evening, and I was fortunate enough, to be
able, on the Tuesday afternoon, to report to her Ma-
jesty that I had obtained the assistance of such col-
leagues as I thought her Majesty might fairly approve.
as answering the description she had been pleased to give
in the commands she gave me to make the attempt. Sir,
the Government then was formed, and I trust that that
Government contains snfficient administrative ability,
sufficient political sagacity, sufficient liberal principles,
sufficient patriotism and determination to omit no effort
to fulfil the duties which each member has undertaken,
and to jnstiify me in appealing to this house, to Parlia-
ment, and to the country, for such support as men may
be considered entitled to receive who, in a period of great
Tolliggoaalele:paotvirliblilVlM4Volvtaningsetar2in?;l .;?
the business of the country. • (Hear, and Minfiterial
cheers.) There is one great department which will continue
to enjoy the ability, the experience, and success of my
noble friend the Earl of Clarendon. ire have had the good
fortune to obtain for the conduct of the War Department
the services of noble friend Lord Panmure, who combines
all the energy, the firmness, and perseverance which are
required for the conduct of that important branch of the
public service in the present emergency. I am happy also
to have the assistance of my right hon. friend the Chan-
cellor of the Exchequer in the conduct of that most im-
portant branch of tie public service--{hear)—and my
right hon. friend who sits by me, and who is going imme-
diately to propose the estimates for the naval service,
needs no proaegyrie on ray part as to the great ability with
which he has discharged the duties of the department en-
trusted to his care. Sir, we begin then the task which it
has been the pleasure of her Majesty to confide to our care.
In undertaking that task it is useless to dissemble that
there is one difficulty which immeclistely meets us, and
wmhicnh,, I may say, stares us in the face ; that difficulty, I
mean, 'which arises from the notice of my hon. and learned
friend has given for Thursday next. Sir, I will not at-
tempt to disguise the fact that I feel the sagas objections to
the appointment of the committee of which he has given
notice whieh I had the honour of stating when the sub-
ject was before the house on a recent occasion. My opi-
nion is, that such a committee would, in its notion, not
be in accordance with the true and just principles of the
constitution ; and that for the effectual accomplishment
its purpo so it would not be an efficient instrument. (Hear,
hear.) Sir, I should hope that this house when it came
agreetloth
calmly to reflect upon the principles involved in the ap-
pointment, of such a committee-_When it came calmly to
reflect upon the cumbrous machine and the tardy result
to suspend the appointment of the
which would be to be expected from its action—might be
'hon. and learned friend proposes to
inclined,vnea committeerm But,etait as whichil feelsliifrei,vnelmtneyti that the only ground upon which
teoB 0
thgpostponew h theic, t
the
appoint-
mentcona
of that committee would be the belief that the Go-
s
tpheericoledfence of that monarch of mittee poin teed at—which the committee appointed might,
they could be disposedsttoo
recommend to be done. And
ea, ts
whee
aelai(rl e of long()ala b e
r
Eng-
land who, in meeting a body of his discontented subjects,
and finding; that they bad lost their leader, rode boldly up
to them, as al exclaimed, " You have lost your leader, my
friends ; I: will be your leader," se I should say to the
House of clommons, if they will agree not to appoint this
committee,- —(laughter and counter cheering)—the Govern-
ment will ,be their committee—(ironical cheers and counter
eheers)-3..1 id we shall then see whether, by the 'results of
' our energia )s and labours, You will be satisfied with the in-
quiries anti. improvements we shall make, or whether you
will then -I; kink fit, to appoint a more formal Parliamentary
institution . Now, sir, as for the objects of that commit-
, Le, they a oust have been the nuisances that exist at home
and abrouil. I imagine, sir, that the object the majority
of those Iv ho voted for that committee had in view was to
compel the, Government to make certain Administrative
changes in our military departments at home, aud, by in-
quiries an. d improvements abroad, to restore order and
regularity in mono services which, unfortunately, have
I been mark A by circumstances of an unfortunate character
in the:Cr inma and in the East. Now, sir, that which I
propose to do I will shortly sketch out in detail, but simply
as indicating the inte...tions which tho Government con-
template ci truing into execution, Sir, the house must be
aware the I I have net felt it my duty to recommend to
her Majesty to appoint a Secretary-at-War. The reason
why I have so abstained from doing so is that I think an
amalgams. tion can be made between the offices of Secretary-
at-War and that of the Secretary for the War Department,
which will greatly contribute to the efficiency and sins-
plieity of the public service. My opinion is, that in regard
to the Ordnance great improvements may be made (hear,
hear) ; theit, speaking generally, but without of course
pledging zayse lf to specific details, the discipline of the
artillery and. of, the engineers maybe transferred to the
Commander-in-Chief, like the discipline of the rest of the
army—(hoar)—and that the civil department of the Ord-
nance ma.y be placed under the superintendence and con-
trol of the Secretary for the 'War Department. What may
be the collateral arrangements which, when
matters are
examincei into detail, it may be thought best to make, I
cannot ;presume to say ; but that is the general outline,
and I do not think there can be any very material difficulty
in carrying it into execution. My right hon. friend the
Secretary for the Admiralty has established a board to
superin tend the transport service at sea, a service of the ut-
most importance, and one which has grown into the cha-
racter of a great national institution--a service upon which
our alliance with France has made it necessary to call for
great and increased efforts for the transport and conveyance
of French troons- as well as English troops. And just it is
that such ehou'ld be the case. We are engaged in warlike
operatiortit in conjunction with France as an ally. We have
not the r eosins of contributing the same amount of soldiers
and men for the prosecittion of the war which the larger
military establishments of France enable her to send into
the field.. It is but fair, then, that we should bear our share
of the e:tpenses of the war, by affording to France those
naval is he of carrying her troops which her less exten-
sive nasal establishments do not enable her to supply.
These arr an,gements involve s much more complicated mass
of details than can be well carried on by that limited de-
partment over which my right hon. friend presides, and he
has theref ore established a separate board for the purpose,
and lam convinced that that board will tend both to the
increased econerny and the increased efficiency of that
departmen of of the public service. Sir, well-founded com-
plaints ha ye been made on the subject of the accommoda-
tion provi led for our sick in the hospitals in the Crimea
and elsear here. Sir, we are going to send out .a commis-
sion comp osed of civilians—men not swayed by the bias
of profess ional habits, nor yet military men
; but seen who
have been . accustomed to deal with sanitary questions not
only at home, but one of them has been employed upon a
similar in rvice in the West Indies. We are going to send
those than ets civilians out with ample power to examine the
sanitary t .ondition of the hospitals, of the camp, and of the
ships. (E fear, hear.) There was one sent out me
some tame
ago, but t here are throe persons now going out simplyand
solely for the purpose of reviewing those sanitary arrange-
ments. e(Hear, hear.) I anticipate the greatest advantage