The Sun.
London, England, 1846-07-25 00:00:00

should persist in their course of placing the -statue in the
proposed position.
Lord MORPETH said that his private opinion, which
offi.2ial responsibility could not altogether separate from
him, was that he had certainly some misgivings upon
the subject.—(Hear, hear.) When he succeeded to
office he found that the preceding Government had given
their consent to the parties who wished to erect the
statue, and he did not therefore feel disposed to take the
pleasure of her Majesty again upon the question. He
wished that the subscribers could persuade themselves
to accede to the offer which had been made previously
by her Majesty's Government, but he did not think
himself warranted in interfering in the subject. He
would merely state that in a letter which had not been
laid upon the table of the House, from Mr. Burton, it
was stated that having examined the structure of the
arch he was of opinion that it was sufficiently strong to
support the weight of the statue, but he added that in
his opinion there would be some difficulty in raising a
statue of the weight of thirty or forty tons to the heigh I
proposed by the committee. This is all, said the Noble
Lord, I have to submit to the House.—(Laughter.)
Sir F. TRENCH would state the real nature of the
case. None of the committee had any objection to the pro-
posed site—they only objected to the cost, and which side
it should be upon; but the cost was decided upon and her
Majesty's consent obtained a year before this objection
was made. The next course to adopt was to determine
the nature of the memorial, and it was agreed that the
money subscribed by the public should be devoted to
the erection of an equestrian statue of the Duke of
Wellington on that arch. They afterwards found it
impossible to adopt any other course than the one deter-
mined upon, as they were virtually appointed to effect
thatobject. The Queen gave her consent through Lord
Melbourne to the site; a deputation of the Committee
then waited upon the Duke of Wellington to announce
their decision, and to congratulate him that he would
have opposite his window the great tribute which the
public of England intended to erect to a loyal servant
of his country. On the Ist of June her Majesty re-
ceived the chairman of the committee, and gave her
consent. On the 6th of June the whole of the sub-
committee went as a deputation to the Duke of Wel-
lington, on the matter of placing the statue in that
position. On the 22d of June, and on the 3d of July,
the letters which had been referred to appeared, written
by a nobleman whom he was proud to observe
had never attended the committee at all. It
was part of the duty of the sub-committee to submit
the plans which were proposed for the statue in ques-
tion, and as soon as her Majesty had given her consent
to its being placed on the arch on Constitution-hill, they
were so submitted, and the opinion then expressed was,
that this was the best position for it. When the design
for the statue now agreed was offered, and her Majesty's
consent was obtained, a meeting of the general commit-
.

tee Ins called, which was very fully—attended, there
being no less than twenty-six members present. The
result was, that after a deliberation, the proceedings of
the sub committee were confirmed, there being but one
of the members who objected to the statue being placed
on the arch. He would ask the Hon. Member who so
much objected to the proceedings of the sub-committee
if it was right to charge that committee with
indecent proceedings, or with exceeding their duty.
They consulted the feelings of the general com-
mittee, and considered their duty was nothing
but to carry into effect the wishes of the public. He
considered the House of Commons was not a fit place to
make such an application as had been made that night,
but it should be made to the committee that was ap-
pointed on the 3d of July, 1839. He would tyke the
liberty of calling the attention of the House to the opi-
nion of a Noble Lord on this subject, who was quite as
competent to give an opinion as either the hon. mover
or seconder of this motion. The Noble Lord to whom
he referred was the Earl of Aberdeen, who stated,. that
after her Majesty bad given her consent to placing the
statue on the arch in the Green-park, and after the
committee had taken steps to give validity to this by a
resolution, he considered the question settled. Was it
to be supposed that the sub-committee were obstinate,
for it was impossible fur them to take any other course
He hoped the House would not commit the gross injus-
tice of doing that which he did not think they had a
right to do, and which would be a great disrespect to the
Crown ; her Majesty, having given her solemn pledge,
ought not to be called upon to reverse it. He hoped the
House would not come to any such resolution as the one
proposed, and which, he thought, would be a gross in-
justice. . .

- Mr. EWART then rose, but was for some time im-
perfectly heard. He maintained that, first of all, the
subscribers ought to have been consulted ; next, the
opinion of the architect, the gentleman who constructed
the arch, ought to have been taken ' • and, as much as
any, the sense of the country ought to have been attended
to ; for he thought that if that were considered, the
gentlemen on the committee have attained no very en-
viable immortality.
Sir R. H. INGLIS wished to state his single difficulty.
It was that her Majesty had been pleased to give her
consent, and yet this House was to ask her to withdraw
that consent. But he believed that when her Majesty
gave her consent it was given when no plan was laid
before her Majesty exhibiting the statue as it was pro-
posed to stand. If so, the question was still open to the
House. If the decision of the intelligent community of
London—if the opinions of the Members of that House
were taken seriatim—the vast majority of the community,
as well as the Members of that House, would be in fa-
vour of not placing the statue where it was proposed to
be erected. In conclusion, he suggested that the pre-
sent works should be at once suspended, and that the

Government should be at the expense of carrying out
one of the other plans, and thus obviate what he could
not help thinking would be a great monstrosity.
Mr. F. FRENCH said that the Committee would of
course have to administer the moneys of those who had
subscribed towards erecting a statue to the Duke of
Wellington on the arch, because the greater part of the
money was subscribed for that purpose. But he had no
objection, if the proposition should be satisfactory to the
House, to lay the opinion of the House on this subject
before the committee.—(Cries of " Hear, hear," and
"No, no," in the midst of which the HOD. Member re•
sumed his seat', when

Sir GEORGE GREY rose and said, he hoped the
Hon. Gentleman would see, or rather infer, from the
manner in which the motion had been entertained by the
House, that they were averse to the placing of a statue
upon the arch; and he (Sir G. Grey) must confess, after
reading the correspondence to which allusion had been
made, that he had a very strong objection to the pro-
posal of the committee—(Hear)—but until the Hon.
Member had submitted to tke committee a statement as
to the feeling of the House on the subject. He (Sir
G. Grey) would not say that he would advise her Ma-
jesty to withdraw her consent to the erection of the
statue on the arch, At the same time he must say that
he should advise the House to listen to the proposal of
the Hon. Member as to submitting a proposition to the
committe.—(Hear, hear.)
Sir F. TRENCH accordingly again rose and said that
the Right Hon. Baronet had truly interpreted his
feelings on the subject. He should indeed entertain the
deepest regret if the statue were not allowed to be
placed on the arch, and he would beg to say that if the
statue were placed on the arch in the manner proposed by
the Committee, it would be, in his opinion, one of the
most magnificent ornaments to this groat metropolis.
(Hear, bear, and great laughter.) He sincerely thought
so, and he knew that there were a great many Members
of the House who participated in that opinion.—(Hear,
hear.) His proposition at present was, that the House
should delay expressing its opinion on the subject until
he had an opportunity of stating to the committee
what appeared to be the feeling of the
House on the subject.—(Hear, hear, and No, no.)
He should be able to do that in the course of two days,
and he hoped that the Hon. Member who had proposed
the motion would, under the circumstances, withdraw
it for the present.—(Hear, hear, and Divide.)
Lord MORPETH said, that if the House consented
to the withdrawal of the motion, he hoped that it would
be understood that the Government would be empow-
ered to stop all the works.—(Hear, hear.)
Mr. BERKELEY— Mr. Speaker, with such an
understanding, I have no objection to withdraw my
motion, provided I have an assurance from the Noble
Lord that the whole of the works are stopped—(Hear,
hear)—and that they shall not be allowed to proceed
with the statue until this House has expressed its
opinion on the subject.—(Hear, hear.)
Lord MORPETH—I think it is perfectly fair that
the works should be entirely stopped till the com-
mittee signify their assent to the proposition that has
been made, and till this House has an opportunity of
deciding upon their resolution.—(Hear.)
An How. MEMBER begged to ask the Hon. and Gal-
lant Member whether the committee had not pledged
themselves to erect a statue which should be satisfactory
to the public?
Sir F. TRENCH—They were required to erect a
statue which should be satisfactory to the Treasury, and
the Treasury are now hostile to it.—(Laughter.)
The motion was then withdrawn, and the subject al-
lowed to drop.
WAYS AND MEANS.

The order of the day was then read for going into a
Committee of Ways and Means.
The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER moved
that the sum of 4,000,000 L should be granted out of the
Consolidated Fund for the use of her Majesty's service.

agreed to.
HALIFAX AND BOSTON MAILS.
On reading the order of the day for going into a Com-
mittee of Supply,
Mr. P. MILES rose, in pursuance of the motion of
which he had given notice, to move for a Select Com-
mittee to inquire into the circumstances connected with
the granting of the present contract for the conveyance
of the mails from England to Halifax and Boston, and
also into the circumstances connected with the granting
of any new, or the extension of the existing contract for
the same purpose. Although the Great Western Steam-
boat Company were in the habit of bringing letters and
treaties for the Government, hitherto they had not re•
ceived a farthing of compensation, and he for one thought
this was most unjust. It had repeatedly been pointed
out to the proper functionary of the Government, that
the contract fur conveying the mail ought to be con-
ceded to that company ; and the late Government
decided, just before going out of office, that no other
contract should be signed until Parliament had
had some opportunity of expressing an opinion
upon the subject, but the present Government had disre-
garded this promise, and another contract had lately
been entered into. What rendered it more important
however that the matter should be inquired into was,
that iettars brought by the Great Western Company
were always delivered in Liverpool, and he, therefore,
begged to move the amendment of which he had given
notice.—(Hear, hear.)
Captain BERKELEY seconded the motion, because
he thought monopolies of every kind ought tot be done
away with. The contract for conveying the mails to
America ought to be thrown open to all the world, and
he thought a company managed with so much spirit and
energy as the sareat Westeru Steam-boat Company de-