The Sun.
London, England, 1834-07-10 00:00:00

SHIPPING INTELLIGENCE.

SHIPS ENTERED INWARDS AT THE CUSTOM-HOUSE, JULY 9.
Frow Arnkallna, Christoffer, Neustadt, Limehouse-hole, Hall ;
I. 0., Edwards, Guernsey, Regent's-canal, Gibson • David Lyon,
Selby, Madeira and Jamaica, West India Dock, Oliver ; Pursuit,
Allen, Liverpool, Down's Wharf, Waller ; Hero, Mitchel, Monte
Vi. eo, London Dock, Pirie ; Duke Wellington, Snook, Guernsey
and Jersey, Custom-house, Schofield ; Clarendon, Whitbury, Nevis,
London Dock, Taylor; Meridian, Lowrimer, New Orleans, ditto,
Sunly ; Greenend, Eoder, Guernsey and Jersey, Custom-house-
quay, Gilson • Hymen, Lotherington, Jamaica, West India Dock,
Dacozere ;
Centurion, Heppenstall, Quebec, Commercial Dock,
M‘Gie ; Commerce, Mason, Hamburgh, 8.-quay, Williams ; Dido,
Thurman, Zoneburg, Limehouse, Lindframe ; Athol, M'Chorady,
Hobart own Commercial Dock, Dodson ; Justina, Young, Gre-
nada, West India Dock, Geddes ; Plymouth, Perry, Plymouth,
Beal's Wharf, Cooper t • Salacia, Price, Jamaica, West India Dock,
Urquhart ; Sylph, Barton, Charente, London Dock, Bentley ;
Doncaster,Foster, Miramichi, Limehouse, Biggs.
ENTERED OUTWARDS FOR LOADING, JULY 7.
St. Pierre, Potter, Ostend and Bruges, 70 tons ; Waterloo, Stra-
nack, Dunkirk, 127; Ramona, Stranack, Rotterdam, 278; Cora,
Lament, Rio de Janeiro, 210 ; Cater, Sidley, Dunkirk, 34 ; Ker-
well, Palmer, C. G. Hope, 204; Concord, Hick, jun., Quebec and
Montreal, 224 ; Favourite, Chambers, Singapore, 332.
CLEARED OUTWARDS IN CARGOES, JULY 9.
Isabel, Chesser, Smyrna and Syra ; Levant Packet, Cundy,
Genoa ' • Prince of 'Waterloo, Page, Ostend, second clearance ;
David Scott, Owen, Sydney and New South Wales ; Waterloo,
Stranack, Dunkirk ; Favourite, Christie, Demerara ; Jabez, Tin-
dale, Constantinople Flora, Pace, Hamburg.
CLEARED OUTWARDS IN BALLAST, JULY 9.
Resource, Girard, Memel, 388 tons ; Jonge Margaretha, Maria
Kohncke, fonningen' 58 ; Haahets, Puner, Norway, 234 ; Eng-
lishman, Sharp, Archangel, 213 ; Jonge Jan, Maulin, Hocker, 54 ;
Eleonora, Dowerke, Dantzig, 368 ; Venus, Gowans, St. Peters-
burg, 141; Mary Stewart, 1 razor, ditto, 253 ; United Kingdom,
Mason, Rotterdam, 335.

FIRST TEA SALE IN LIVERPOOL.—It will be
seen that the tea imported from Danzic in the Betsey is
advertised for sale for exportation. This will be the first
public tea sale that has ever taken place in Liverpool, though
not the last, by many hundreds, we hope.—Liverpool Times.
The Second Chamber of the States of Hanover has
resolved to replace the axe hitherto used in executions by the
guillotine.

" We are assured," says the Constitutionnel, " that
the squadron assembled at Toulon, and which is destined to
act in the Levant, has just received notice of its speedy de-
parture."

ROUSE OF LORDS, July 9.
This evening great excitement prevailed in the neighbour.
hood of the House ; long before the usual hour for proceeding
with the public business, the House was very much
crowded, especially on the Opposition side, and the space un-
der the Throne and below the Bar was crowded with Members
of the Lower House. At 5 o'clock the CHANCELLOR took his
seat on the Woolsack, when a number of petitions were pre-
sented in favour of the Church Establishment.
The Marquis of WESTMINSTER said he had intended to
bring forward his motion relative to the right of voting by
proxy, but in consequence of the present unsettled and unsa-
tisfactory state of public affairs, he would postpone it.
Earl GREY here entered the House, when a general
buzz went round, which immediately sunk into intense
silence when he rose. He presented a copy of the Treaty
between France, Spain, Portugal, and this country, relative
to the affairs of the Peninsula.—The papers were ordered to
be printed.
There was now a general cry of " The order of the day,"
which was read, and the report of the Irish Disturbances
Suppression Bill was brought up.
RESIGNATION OF MINISTERS.

Earl GREY then rose, evidently labouring under very
highly-wrought feelings. He said--" I rise, my Lords"—
(The Noble Earl was-here so much affected as to be unable to
proceed. The Noble Lords on the opposition side cheered
several times, in order to afford him time to collect himself.
He made several attempts to proceed but being un-
unable, he, after standing for full three minutes, sat down
amidst general cheering. The scene was exceedingly affecting. )
The Duke of WELLINGTON rose and presented a num-
ber of petitions in favour of the Church.
Earl GREY again rose, and it was evident that he bad not
even then recovered his usual calm deportment. He said, My
lords, I really feel quite ashamed—( Cheering)—of the excess of
feeling which I have shown upon this occasion. (Loud cheer-
ing.) My Lords I have recently had an interview with his
Majesty, and the kindness he has favoured me with has quite
unsettled me.—(Loud and continued cheers.) My Lords,
I have, however, a duty to perform, which, however
disagreeable, I must discharge upon the present occasion.—
(Hear, hear.) My Lords, in rising to propose that you
should agree to the report which has just been brought up,
I have to state that I no longer do so, as a Minister of the
Crown, but as an individual member of the Legislature,
strongly impressed with the necessity of passing
the Act, in order to strengthen the hands and enlarge
the powers of the Government in Ireland.--( Hear, hear.)
My Lords, I should be unworthy of a scat in your Lordships'
House, if I were not to take upon myself, under all the circum-
stances, and at the risk of any representation that may be made
against me, at the risk of any obloquy—( Hear)—l should
be unworthy of the situation I hold in the Councils of his
Majesty if I were to shrink on account of the circumstances
that have taken place towards myself from proposing to your
Lordships to permit this Bill to proceed to a further stage, a Bill
I have already stated to your Lordships to be essential and abso-
lutely necessary for the safety and peace of Ireland.—( Hear.)
My Lords, the ground upon which that Bill is founded, I
have before had opportunities of stating to your Lordships.
Reflection has confirmed me in that opinion, and it has been,
I can assure your Lordships, most painfully wrung from me
by a general consideration of all the circumstances connected
with the situation of Ireland, as they have come before
me by public despatches from the Lord Lieutenant,
and from communications made from different quarters.
Those documents, my Lords, have been laid on the
table of the House, and the result, upon the whole,
is a sincere conviction on my part that Ireland cannot
be safely left to the ordinary protection of the law,
but that Government must be armed with some extraor-
dinary powers.—( Cries of " Hear, hear.") My Lords having
gained your assent to this opinion on a former occasion, it cannot
be necessary for me to add anything more upon this part of the
subject, more especially when at the time I introduced the Bill
I went into a statement at considerable length of all the cir-
cumstances which appeared to me material. But, my Lords, on
this occasion it will be naturally expected by your Lordships
that some explanation of the circumstances which have produced
the situation in which I now stand, is requisite. ( Hear.) My
Lords, it cannot be necessary for me to refer your Lordships'
recollections, to what has passed in this House upon questions
put and answers given.—( Hear, hear, hear.) My Lords,
I was asked whether, in any communication that had
taken place upon this subject with a person known
for the strong part he has taken in the affairs
of Ireland—l do not wish to use any other terms with re-
spect to that individual; he must be sufficiently known to
your Lordships—I was asked whether I had been any party
to those communications. I stated then, and I repeat it
now, that those communications were not only made without
my concurrence—( Great cheering)—but without my know-
ledge.--(Loud cries of " Hear, hear.") But, my Lords,
had I been previously apprized of them, there is no
power or interest which I possessed that would not have been
exerted to have prevented them being made public—for, my
Lords, events have proved communications of any description
could not have been safely made in that quarter-_(Cheers)—
being strongly impressed with the opinion that it would not be
for the benefit of Government to make any communications
whatever in that quarter.--( Much cheering.) \\That I
have to state is, after having stated my opinion of the
necessity of the measures which I have proposed to you—he
next statement I have to make is, that from the time the
opinion of that necessity was formed by me, upon the grounds
I have mentioned, it never has for one moment been subject to
the slightest variation. My Lords, up to the 23d of June I
have no reason to believe that any doubt co uld be entertained
of its necessity. It was the opinion of myself and my col-
leagues, in consequence of all the previous communications
that had been made to us, that the renovation of that Act
was indispensably required._( Cries of " Hear, hear, hear.")
I had myself given instructions to the Attorney-General to
frame a Bill for its renewal, which is now on your Lordship's
table. But on the 23d of June a new state of things took
place. My Lards, it is painful to me to go into a statement of
circumstances of which nothing ought ever to have been
heard ; but, my Lords, the fault is not mine, and if by
imprudence those circumstances have been brought before the
public, and have produced the resulti which they have pro-
duced, it is necessary that I, standing here charged with an
imperative duty to my Sovereign and my country, and for our
own character's sake, should state to you in the clearest manner
and without disguise every thing that has taken place.
My Lords, on the 23d of June I received a letter from the
Lord Lieutenant—a private and confidential letter, which I
never would have mentioned out of the Cabinet had I not
been obliged to do so by the necessity of the circumstances
in which lam placed—and which did appear to me to give
a new view to the subject, and which I ventured to lay
before my colleagues in office. My Lords, that letter ap-
peared to have been produced not so much by any defined view
taken by that illustrious person, of whom I cannot speak too
highly, and who, in this part of the transaction, as well as in
every other, I am certain, acted for the most conscientious de-
sire to discharge his public duty. That letter, my Lords, I say,
appeared to have been produced not so much by the
original view of that illustrious person of the state
of Ireland, as by certain considerations which had
been suggested to him by others-4 Cheers )—without my
knowledge and without my privity, affecting the political
state of the country. My Lords, I certainly thought
the view that had been suggested upon that matter to the
Lord Lieutenant was completely erroneous.--( Hear, hear.)
I immediately, without the loss of a single post,
wrote to him to desire him to reconsider the matter,
stating that I thought such considerations ought not to be
taken notice of. Subsequently letters arrived, and the result
of the whole undoubtedly was, that the Noble Marquis did
express an opinion that if it would promote other objects here,
the three clauses of the Bill which had been omitted, might
be dispensed with, as not essential for the safety of
Ireland, and more particularly if, by that omission, an extension
of the term would be effected. My Lords, from that view, which
I beg to say the Noble Marquis submitted for consideration but
which he did not offer as a recommendation—which he sub-
mitted for consideration--I certainly did not feel myself com-
pelled to dissent. It became the subject of much deliberation
in the Cabinet, and I now, my Lords, come to cir-
cumstances which ought never to have been made known.
There has been, I must admit it—it cannot be concealed—a
considerable difference of opinion ; but we all agreed that
the Bill should be introduced in that form in which I
introduced it, and this determination has since received the full
sanction of the Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland. So far the case
is clear. There has now been adopted a new practice--a
new circumstance which has never before occurred in the
political history of this country.—( Hear, hear.) Questions
have arisen, and disclosures have been called for, of what
has passed in the confidential communications of Ministers
between themselves, or their subordinates. I will not say that in
the course of the discussion on this measure there may not
have been different views taken by different parties, and that some
members of the Administration have separated from it, and
the affairs of the Government at all times difficult, have become
absolutely impossible to be carried on. It was with considerable
pain and surprise that I heard it stated by those,who, I think, ought
to be anxious, abeve all party considerations, to preserve the
peace of Ireland—anxious to preserve the first privileges of
the Government—it was with the greatest astonishment that
I heard them in support of a motion of an Hon. Member
of the other House, call for the production of do-
cuments which were not of a nature to be laid be-
fore the House. The letters in question were not ad-
dressed to me as a Minister of the Crown, but were of a
secret and confidential nature, and whatever may have

transpired respecting these communications, I do not think
that the nature of them was such, that the production of them
could properly be called for. The statements respecting them
were made without my knowledge, but the effect was this :—a
Member of the other House having been put in possession of the
fact of this communication, made use of it to bring a charge
against Government, stating that the production of these
documents was absolutely necessary to justify the pass-
ing of that Bill, and charging a Member of the
Government with a breach of faith, vacillation, and incon-
sistency, contrary to all precedents and the proceedings in
this House. The consequence of this has been, that
my Noble Friend, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, ( I
have the permission of his Majesty to state these facts) who
has the conduct of the affairs of Government in the other
House, and who had been fully impressed with the opinion
of the Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland, and who felt how much of
the grounds, upon which this Bill was proposed, was swept
from under him, felt, in consequence of what had passed
in the other House, that he could not, with satisfaction
to himself, continue in the situation which he then
held. The consequence was, that yesterday morning I
received a letter from my Noble Friend, containing
his resignation, and in a personal interview with
him, having ascertained that his resolution was final, I sub-
mitted his resignation to his Majesty. It then became necessary
for me to consider what I should do. 1 had long felt the difficulties
of the situation in which I was placed, that it was so painful,
and so much above the remaining strength and energy which I
possess, that I have tong wished to retire from office.
My friends, both my late and present colleagues,
know that I wished this anxiously, and that I expressed
such a wish at the close of the last Session.--( Hear, hear.)
They know that it was my most earnest desire to
withdraw, not from any desire to shrink from the
duties of office, but because I felt that my remaining energies,
if they ever were equal to them, were no longer so.--
( Hear, hear, hear.) I gave up this determination in
consequence of the strong and united representations of my
colleagues, who represented that my retirement would occa-
sion the immediate dissolution of government. I met the pre-
sent Parliament at the commencement of this Session as First
Minister of the Crown, anxious to carry into effect those
further measures of improvement which the country required.
Since that, an event of importance has occurred, and some
of the most powerful Members of the Government have
separated from it. This was most painful to me, on personal
as well as public grounds, and feeling how inadequate I was
to discharge the duties of my office, I felt anxious to retire. That
resolution so decidedly taken, I was induced, on the represen-
tation of my remaining colleagues to depart from ; as also,
in consequence of an application of a great number
of the Members of the House of Commons, as well as from
an anxious desire to carry through those measures which
were in progress, and which were essential to the true inte-
rests of the country. The resolution which I then formed,
would, in my opinion, have been perfectly justified by
the circumstances which had induced me to come to it. In
March last, I completed my 70th year, and at that time,
though I might be able to discharge the ordinary duties
of office, yet I felt it was impossible—that it would
be too much for the strength of any man, at least of
mine, blessed though I am with health and the absence
of all disorder.--( Hear, hear.) I felt, however, in the diffi-
cult circumstances in which I was placed, that I would
have been justified in retiring from office. That intention I
abandoned. The places of those who then left the Ministry
were filled up, and I had hopes that we could have gone on,
till the measures then before Parliament were completed. Then
arose this new circumstance which has deprived me of the
assistance of the Chancellor of the Exchequer, the lead-
ing Member of Government in the Commons, on whom
my whole confidence rested, and without whom I felt it was im-
possible that Government could go on. Former breaches had
weakened it. This new breach has placed us in a situation
in which I cannot hope to any useful purpose, to continue
in the situation which I hold. Receiving my Noble Friend's
resignation, I felt myself impelled by necessity—there was no
alternative left—but to tender at the same time my own resig-
nation. Those resignations have been accepted by his Majesty,
and I now discharge the duties of my office, only
till such time as his Majesty can supply my place.
I have stated every thing—l have left nothing
disguised—if I have been guilty of any errors, I must claim
the indulgence of the House, and I am sure they will
have a just, even a kind, consideration for the
difficulties in which I was placed. I have endeavoured to
uphold the principles on which the Government was formed,
namely, peace—reform—retrenchment. I appeal to the
people whether these promises have not been kept.—( Hear. )
I am sure, my Lords, that this House will not say any pledge
given by me has not been most faithfully fulfilled. Peace has
been preserved. I found the country in a most difficult
position with regard to its foreign policy. The Noble Marquis
(Londonderry) shakes his head, but I shall be most
ready to enter fully into the question with him at any
time that he may bring it forward. We leave the
peace of Europe with greater probabilities of its duration
than have been for a length of time. We have redu-
ced the expenses of all the establishments of the
country, we have taken off four millions and a half
from the taxation of the country, and we are the more
entitled to praise for that, because they succeeded
the great meritorious reductions made by the Noble
Duke opposite, and former Governments, from whom
lam not at all desirous to abstract an iota of praise. My
Lords, places to an enormous amount have been
abolished. The patronage of the Crown has been diminished to
what many of your Lordships may consider a most inconvenient
state; and, as a Minister of the Crown, my only doubt is whether
that principle has not been carried too far.--( Loud cheers. )
With respect to the internal state of the country, your Lord-
ships must recollect in what state it was when we ac-
ceded to office. My Lords, we now leave it
in good circumstances in every respect. Trade in a
sound and healthy state ; the manufactories generally em-
ployed, the credit of the country greatly improved
the revenue increasing, and all with the excep-
tion of one interest—the agricultural interest—and to
them the landlords themselves must give relief by
a reduction of the rents—in a general healthy and great-
ly improved state. My Lords, the Trades' Unions
of which we have lately heard so much have disappeared, and
that without Government calling on the legislature for any law
or extraordinary powers. Your Lordships will recollect how
much we have been reproached for a want of energy in not in-
troducing a new and extraordinary law in order to put down
the Trades' Unions. We resisted all those applications—we
exerted the law as it stood ; the result has been suc-
cessful, and in that instance I will most confidently ap-
peal to your Lordships and the country whether there can
be any truth in those charges which have been brought against
the Government, of a wish or disposition to call for new or
astonishing powers to apply to this country.—( Hear,
hear.) Had such been our wish, the opportunity
was perfect. This, then, my Lords, is the case which I have
to offer in my own vindication. I have stated to you the rea-
sons of my resignation, and I review with satisfaction all
that I have done, and the success that has attended my endea-
vours and the State generally, in which I now take leave of office.
My Lords, it has been said, nay, it has often been repeated,
that nothing has been done. To those who have been in the
habit of throwing out such insinuations, I would put the
question, was the Reform of Parliament nothing? Did
the settlement of the Slave Trade amount to nothing? Wu
the settlement of the East India question and the opening up
of the trade of that country and its neighbours to• the compe-
tition of the British merchant nothing ? Was the settlement
of the Bank Question nothing ? Were the various improve-
ments in the law, the merit of all which belonged to the Noble
and Learned Lord on the Woolsack, nothing ? Was the
reform in the Irish Church to be called nothing? and
looking at the last I have mentioned, can it be said, with any
degree of truth, that the affairs of Ireland have been neglected.
I appeal confidently to the country now that I am leaving
the service of his gracious Majesty, whether during the time
I have served him much has not been done,and the only regret I
feel in leaving, is that those measures for the amendment
of the Poor Laws, and the settlement of tithes in Ireland,
have not been brought to a final conclusion. My Lords, the
latter Bill, if suffered to pass, will, I firmly believe, do more
towards the pacification of 'lreland, than any other thing that we
have introduced.—( Cheers.) I leave the Government, at
least, with the satisfaction of having done the best in my
power, for the purpose of carrying into effect those measures
of reform and retrenchment which I have considered ne-
cessary for the peace of the country.--( Hear.) I have in-
curred every species of opposition.—( Hear.) How I have
performed my duty to deserve it, is before your Lordships and
the public. All I claim is an acknowledgment that
I have not been remiss or wanted firmness in the discharge
of my duty. I have been attacked for not going far
enough on the one hand, and on the other for having gone
too far. My situation has not been an enviable one, standing
as I did in this House deprived of the natural support which
a Minister of the Crown has aright to expect. I feel
myself that in such a situation the Government has done
as much for the redemption of their pledges as it was possible
for men to do ; in fact, we have done more in the short space
of time that we have held the reins of Government than has
ever been done before in the space of half a century.
Let it be recollected too, that we have effected these improve-
ments, when the evils were the accumulated evils of ages,
which till that time no sufficient attempt had been made in any
way to reduce. Under such circumstances, and under the
pressure of a necessity which I could not avoid, I have resigned
into his Majesty's hands the trust which he had been pleased
to confide in me. I have done so not without a painful sense
of the difficulties in which his Majesty is placed by such a re-
signation at this moment, but with the firm resolution to do all
that I can to lessen and remove those difficulties, and with the
full persuasion that my continuance in office would rather increase
than diminish them. There is one point to which lam anxious to
refer before I sit down. That point is the number of my own
relatives for whom I have provided situations in the public ser-
vice since my assumption of the reins of government. MY_
Lords, I have been most unjustly attacked in consequence of
the appointing some of my own family and relations to those
offices. I can assure your Lordships, that not one shilling of

tVpublie rtuaney•is :d away, either by myself cr family,
in thus retiring from oince.--( Loud cries of " Hear, hear.")
It is perfectly true that I have ppointed many members of my
family to situations in the public service, but I can assure your
Lordships of this, that in no instance have those situations
been sinecures. In every case, the duties of the offices to
which they have been appointed have been of the most labo-
rious and arduous nature. And I ask your Lordships whether
they have not been well qualified for the situations to which
they have been chosen? whether, indeed, most of them are not
persons whom any Government would have selected for
the same offices, though they had not been relations of
mine ?—( Hear, hear.) The situations to which they were
appointed subjected them to additional expense; and I repeat
that, instead of myself or family, on our retirement front
office, carrying away any of the public money, we leave it
poorer than when we entered on the discharge of its du-
ties. There is •yet one topic more, to which I must beg
your Lordship's permission to refer : I have been repre-
sented as an enemy to the Church—as endeavouring to
raise up hostility to her throughout the country—and that the
present opposition to her has been occasioned by me. I deny
the charge. I am actuated by the most friendly feelings
towards the Church, and that is the reason why I have been
so anxious to take what appeared to me the best measures for
correcting her abuses. I have possessed large patronage with
reference to appointments in the Church, and I appeal to the
Right Rev. Prelates on my left, whether, in every instance, I
have not shown the most anxious solicitude to exercise that
patronage by the appointment of persons to vacant offices who
were most qualified to fill them ?—( Hear, hear.) With regard
to the appointment of a near relative (the Bishop of Hereford)
to the seat which he now occupies on the Bench of Bishops, I
would appeal to his Right Rev. Colleagues on that Bench,
whether he was not deserving of the appointment.—( Hear,
hear, from the Bishops, and from the opposition Peers.) And
yet, though this appointment occurred since I have had the
honour to preside over his Majesty's Councils, my Right Rev.
Relative does not owe it to me. That appointment was made
in 1831, and was given at the particular request of my Sove-
reign. It was not for me to resist this most gracious com-
mand of his Majesty—( Hear.) It is true that since then, my
Rev. Relative has been appointed to a stall which had become
vacant in Westmiester Hall ' • but I do not suppose that any
one will complain of that—(Hear, hear)—as it was only more
desirable as being more convenient for the discharge of his
other duties, and certainly not of importance in a pecuniary
point of view. My first object in all the ecclesiastical appoint-
ments I have made has been to select the persons most suited
for the office, without regard to the amount of emoluments.
That of my relative is only 4,0001. a year, which is not only
among the lowest in this country, but was the minimum agreed
on for the Prelates in the Church of Ireland, in the Bill which
was last year under the consideration of your Lordships. I
have thus, my Lords, made your Lordships and the public
fully aware of the condition in which matters at pre-
sent stand with respect to his Majesty's Government. I
have only in addition to state, that I shall continue to act as a
Minister of the Crown as long as his Majesty requires my
services, and until he has appointed a successor. But lam
sure your Lordships must see that, circumstanced as I am,
it would not be expedient to proceed with all the measures
before the House. With respect to the Bill for the sup-
pression of disturbances in Ireland, I am anxious that it
should be proceeded in with the least possible delay,
because I conceive it necessary for securing the peace and
safety of Ireland ; but I am sure, my Lords, you will concur
with me in thinking that it would be inexpedient to send the
measure down to the other House before another Administra-
tion is formed, as it is possible they may view it in a different
light to that in which the present Government regard it. The
measure would, besides, in the present situation of matters, be
sent down to the other House under great disadvantages.
What I would, therefore, propose to your Lordships' is, that
the report of the committee be received, but that the House do
not proceed with the third reading until things be again in
such a state as to afford a reasonable hope of the measure pas-
sing the Commons. With respect to the measure before your
Lordships' House for the administration of the Poor Laws, the
case is different. It is not a Government or political measure.
It was forced on the Parliament by the Poor Law Commis.
sioners, after a prolonged and impartial inquiry. My intention,
therefore, is to move the second reading of the bill on Friday
next, and I will afterwards do my best to carry it through the
House. My Lords, I will not trespass longer on your Lord-
ships' time and attention, and have only, in conclusion, to
thank your Lordships for the indulgence you have extended to
me.—( Hear, hear.)
The Duke of WELLINGTON said the Noble Earl had
explained very clearly those causes which had induced him to
tender his resignation of his office; and had not the Noble
Earl adverted in the course of his speech to various other
topics, not necessarily connected with this explanation, he
should not have felt himself called upon to trouble their
Lordships with any observations. If the Noble Earl had not
adverted to previous discussions, he should have remained
silent, and would be happy to have been relieved from the
necessity of saying a word upon the present occasion. The Noble
,Earl stated clearly enough the reasons which led him to re-
sign his situation into the hands of his Sovereign ; but he did
not touch at all, he did not even allude, to the causes which
induced his colleagues to resign. He must confess he felt
somewhat surprised that the Noble Earl had not thought proper
to advert to this very important point, and to give their Lord-
ships some explanation of it ; for he must say that, considering
the circumstances of the country, if ever there were men in an
absolute necessity of continuing in the service of their Sove-
reign, the Noble Earl and his colleagues were in that necessity.
This was one reason which induced him to rise upon the pre-
sent occasion, for he could not help regretting and feeling
disappointed that the Noble Earl had entirely abstained from
any allusion to the resignation of his colleagues. Another
reason for troubling their Lordships upon the present occa-
sion was that the Noble Earl had referred to a passage in the
speech of a Right Honourable Friend of his ( Sir R. Peel)
in the other House of Parliament. He concurred in the
observations made by the Noble Earl as to the impropriety of
calling for the production of private and confidential papers
relating to Parliamentary affairs ; but he begged of their
Lordships to call to mind the circumstances that passed in re-
ference to these papers. A Right Hon. Gentleman in the
other House of Parliament (Mr. Littleton) in the confidence
of the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, received certain commu-
nications from him on the subject of a Bill about to be
introduced into Parliament, and that Right Honourable
Gentleman, then in the confidence of the Lord Lieutenant,
made communications to an Hon. and Learned Gentleman, a
Member of the other House, with whom he should have never
entered into conference.--( Hear, hear.) That Right Hon.
Gentleman stated, in his place in the other House, that the
Coercion Bill ought to be proposed to Parliam nt without
come of the clauses that were found in it as it passed in the last
session. The correspondence laid upon the table proved very
clearly to any person who read it, that something more must
have passed than appeared in that correspondence. The
Right Hon. Gentleman to whom he before alluded (Mr. Lit-
tleton) said there was some further correspondence which,
though it might not bear out the assertion that the Lord Lieu-
tenant was of opinion there were other clauses in the Coercion
Bill that it would not be necessary to press, still that such was
a natural inference from the correspondence, and that though
the Lord Lieutenant had not drawn the inference, others
might do so. Under such circumstances, and when so much
had been already disclosed, Parliament had a right to know
what were the opinions actually given, and not have the com-
munications left in such a state as must render them unsatis-
factory and unintelligible. Was it allowable that Ministers
should enter into discussions on public affairs in the way of
private correspondence, and then come forward and say to Par-
liament, " You may have part of this correspondence, but not
so much as will enable you to understand clearly what the
bearing of it is ?" It was in such a state of circumstances
that his Right Hon. Friend ( Sir R. Peel) required the
production of further information, and he contended that he
was perfectly justified in doing so.—( Hear, hear.) From
what the Noble Earl stated upon the present occasion it turned
out that the correspondence was, in point of fact, what he
suspected it to have been, and what the Lord Lieutenant
merely said, " If such and such should be the case, if such
should be the circumstances in England, I will endeavour to
do without these clauses in the Coercion Bill." They who
objected to this Bill, however, had a right to be informed of
the peculiar circumstances which drew from the Lord Lieu-
tenant the expression of any such opinion. It was only fair
that Parliament should have the whole correspondence before
them, when one Right Hon. Gentleman referred to it in de-
fence of his own conduct, and another Hon. Gentleman in sup-
port of the views he took in opposition to the measure. Up to
this moment the matter was left in an unsatisfactory state. He
repeated it, and would say again, with confidene, that Minis-
ters had hitherto stated no reasons that could justify his Ma-
jesty's servants in their resignation of office. He should have
felt happy if the course of observation pursued by the Noble
Earl had been such as would have freed him from the ne-
cessity of entering into any discussion of points not im-
mediately connected with the explanation of the Noble
Earl ; but the Noble Earl, without any necessity that
he could see, having entered into other matters, their
Lordships would allow him to trespass, for a few mi-
nutes longer, upon their attention. The Noble Earl ad-
verted to the circumstances of the country at the time
he entered upon office in the year 1830, and the difficulties in
which the country was then placed; but the Noble Earl said
nothing about the revolution which took place at that period
in France and in Brussels. The Noble Earl never had the
grace to state, in justice to those whom he succeeded, why this
country was then in a such state of difficulty. He must remind
their Lordships and the Noble Earl that this country was not
in a satisfactory state even late in the last spring. Had they
not then large bodies of men marching in regular array
through the metropolis, at different times, to the great ittcon-
venience and alarm of of the peaceable inhabitants ?—(" Hear,
say that. more
hear," from Lord Holland.) He ventured to
office,
fromthan any
ta
blood had been shed in England, more of the
ablhooadlfoafinhnrse
thatpea peace
on
fe
Europe,o f thei r
jestyjesty's subjects, during the three years . Ma-
's
Noble Earl and his colleagues came into
period of equal duration (as we understood)
aa__ D
the present time. The Noblep
pledges on entering office was to
peace of
rEeaserlrve tihde
the Noble However Earl might take
and that this pledge had been redeemed, that the
Europe was preserved.
credit to himself for his exertions to preserve peace, he would
not hesitate to say that after all he had done, or attempted to
do, the peace of Europe was a not a bit more secure at the
present moment than it was on the day the Noble Earl ens
tered upon office. There was another promise made by the
Noble Earl when he took office, which the Noble Earl up-
on this occasion seemed to have entirely forgotten. Upon
that occasion the Noble Earl said that, with respect to other
nations, the principle upon which the Government was deter-
mined to act was a principle of non-intervention. Of this the
Noble Earl assured the House on the very first night that he
entered upon office. Now how had this promise been kept
(Hear.) Were there not allusions to the breach of this prin.

sasas
ciple -throughout the whole of their diplomatic intercourse, ?
W ere there not complaints from every portion of Europe
of -the intervention of this country—intervention too of the
worst kind, of that kind most likely to prove injurious to
their best interests—intervention in the domestic quarrels
of nations (as we understood)? Even on that very even-
ing papers were to be laid upon the table in which would
be, found stronger instances of intervention than were to
be found at any former period with the affairs of any
country in Europe, except in a time of war. The en-
gagements into which the Noble Earl and his colleagues
had entered imposed upon this country the necessity of per-
petual intervention in the affairs of countries with which they
had no more to do than with any other countries in Europe.
The Noble Earl in reviewing the measures of his Government
brought up again the question of West India slavery, and said
that question, so long an insuperable difficulty, had been finally
and satisfactorily settled. It was yet too early to say that it
was a satisfactory, or would turn out a successful, settlement
of the question. ft remained yet to be seen whether the
Noble Earl was right or wrong, and whether, after an expen-
diture of twenty millions, the desired object would be attained.
He hoped to God the event would prove that the Noble Earl
was right ; but it was too soon to boast of a final settlement
of that great question until they had further time to see how
it worked. He might make the same observation with respect
to the Charter of the East India Company, and the terms upon
which it was renewed. The China ti ade was thrown open,
and other important changes were made. Here also, as in the
case of West India slavery, they must wait till they saw how
the change worked before any person could pronounce confi-
dently whether it was for good or for evil. The Noble Earl
adverted to the settlement of the Bank question. That ar-
rangement was effected in a great measure through a very vo-
luminous and tedious correspondence, but it did not appear to
have been so clearly arranged as to the terms of renewal, as
to exclude some doubts and serious difficulties. There was a
difficulty arising out of one of the clauses of that very Bill,
now under consideration. Had the Noble Earl not adverted
unnecessarily, as he thought, to these points, it would have
saved him the very unpleasant duty of making any observa-
tions upon them. The Noble Earl, in the course of his speech,
made some observations upon the sort of opposition with which
he had invariably been met upon all occasions in that House.
For his own part, he could conscientiously say that he never
was disposed to oppose any measures of the Noble Earl, un-
less they were of such a nature that he could not, consistently
with a sense of duty, give them his support. Some of them it
was quite impossible he could approve of, and from others he
differed in some important circumstances, though he might
concur in others ; but he was always happy to support the
Noble Earl, when he could do so conscientiously. He sup-
ported him last session in one of his measures, and was pre-
pared in the present session to support him in the Coercion
Bill, and the Poor Laws' Amendment Bill, if not altered in
such a way as he could not approve of. He never opposed the
Noble Earl's Government but with pain, and from an honest
conviction that he was not pursuing the course he thought
most conducive to the welfare of the country.
The LORD CHANCELLOR.—My Lords, I am very
unwilling to trespass upon your Lordships' attention ; but after
the speech of the Noble Duke. I must claim your indulgence
while I make a few observations. I rise, my Lords, under the
influence of feelings very different from those with which the
Noble Duke must have heard the speech of my Noble Friend,
who has so long presided over the councils of his Majesty. I
then took it for granted that the feeling with which I had
listened to that speech was universally shared by your Lord-
ships; and, my Lords, I must still say, that nothing that has
since passed in this House has convinced me that the feeling
with which I heard my Noble Friend's speech is not general.'
—( Loud cries of " Hear, hear.") That the Noble Duke
should have felt himself capable of entering, at this par-
ticular moment, into a consideration of the state of parties, I
own I have felt surprised ; but, my Lords, there is no
accounting for tastes.—( Great laughter.) I am confident
that if the sense of your Lordships were taken on this matter,
there would be found a large majority who share my surprise
and astonishment at the taste of the Noble Duke. Neverthe-
less, though such is my opinion of the impropriety of going
into a discussion on general topics at this moment, I am
dragged by the Noble Duke into a discussion on the points to
which he has referred. Unless Judges had decided that
justice demanded that one side only should be heard, and that
that side should be that of the person who made the impeach-
ment and the attack, it is proper that I should shortly advert
to the extraordinary speech of the Noble Duke.—( Hear, hear,
hear.) My Lords, I never, in the whole course of my life,
heard a speech so little calculated as that of my Noble Friend
to excite angry passions, or any feeling of animosity. Never,
my Lords, has it been my lot to hear a speech more touching
in its nature, more fair in its statements, or in which a more
anxious desire to avoid imputing blame to any person, or in
any quarter, was shown. My Lords, the Noble Earl has
stated his reasons—his unhappy reasons—for retiring from the
councils of his Sovereign ; which retirement no one can more
regret than I do. My Noble Friend, in stating that he had
come to the resolution of laying down his official life—God
forbid that he should be deprived of his natural life for many
years to come—took leave to indulge in a retrospect of what
his Administration had done for the country : and he also took
occasion to refer to some of the numerous calumnies by which
he had been assailed—calumnies of the falsest kind which man
ever had to struggle against—overwhelming his accusers by
the simple statement of facts. Was there any thing improper
or unreasonable in thus meeting and putting down his slan-
derers ? And yet, my Lords, it is this reference to the calum-
nies with which my Noble Friend has been so often assailed
that the Duke represents as a panegyric on his own Govern-
ment. My Noble Friend may, indeed, challenge those
who arraign his conduct to meet him any day, at any
time, or at any place, to discuss the measures which he
has pursued. My Lords, I came to this House with
the t ull purpose of not opening my mouth ; but, in conse-
quence of the speech of the Noble Duke, I feel myself under
the necessity of trespassing on your Lordships' attention for a
few minutes longer. In the outset, I wish to state, that, with
one exception, none of the present Ministers had quitted the
service of their King. The Noble Duke has told your Lord-
ships that nothing but the most extreme, the most urgent ne-
cessity, could justify Ministers in abandoning the service of
their Sovereign. That, my Lords, is my opinion, and my prin-
ciple ; and never shall it be said of me that I shrunk from
personal privations—that I hesitated to sacrifice all personal
convenience, comfort, and ease of mind, rather than act up to
this principle, and serve my country and my King. My Lords
(said his Lordship, with peculiar emphasis), I need not, after
this, add, that I have not resigned.—( Laughter from the Op-
position Peers.) Some of your Lordships (here the Noble
Lord looked the Tory Peers full in the face) seemed disposed
to laugh. Perhaps you would have no objection, at the present
time, to take a share in the government of the country._
(Hear, hear, hear, and laughter from the Ministerial side
'of the House.) If you are not aware of the difficulties
of governing the country just now, I can assure you that
I am. I know so much of those difficulties, that nothing
but a sense of duty has prevented me from following the
example of my Noble Friend at the head of the Go-
vernment. The Noble Duke has admitted that my Noble
Friend has made out a case for his retirement from the Coun-
cils of his Sovereign ; but said that he had made out none for
the Noble Lord in the other House, who had retired with
him. I hesitate not, my Lords, to say that I concur with the
Noble Duke in that opinion, and I hold that the Noble Lord
ought not to have resigned. There does not at this moment
exist among public men a more virtuous, or honest, or straight-
forward man than the Noble Lord; but his too sensitive feel-
ing has led him in this instance to take a step which he ought
not to have taken, and which I trust the country may not have
cause to regret. The Noble Duke has accused the Noble
Earl of attacking his (the Duke of Wellington's) Right Hon.
Friend in the other House, because the Right Hon. Gentle-
man called for the production of the correspondence which
, ' passed between the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland and
the English Government on the subject of the renewal
of the measure now before their Lordships. I speak on
behalf of Ministers past and future, and I speak on behalf
of the Crown, when I say that that correspondence
ought to be withheld. What, my Lords, is it to be endured
that when his Majesty's Government get certain confidential
information from one of its servants, and when a certain mea-
sure is brought forward, that you ask whether this servant of
Government never entertained a different opinion ? in other
words, whether the Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland never held a
different opinion from the one he last expressed on the sub-
- ject ? This is the same as to say, that because you have had
doubts two days or two weeks ago, these doubts must not be
, removed. The language, forsooth, of this experienced States-
man ( Sir R. Peel)—this sensible man—this logical reasoner,
is this : I won't vote for the renewal of the measure unless you
show me the private correspondence of the Lord-Lieutenant
as well as the official. This, my Lords, is exactly the state
of the case. Government gave the official correspondence of
the Lord-Lieutenant, and then the Right Hon. Gentleman
asked for the production of his Lordship's private letters. If
your Lordships think there is a single sentence in that which
was wrung from the Noble Earl which can have a tendency to
diminish the praise to which he is entitled, all I shall say is,
that I leave you to the enjoyment of your opinion. The Noble
Duke next attacks my Noble Friend on the subject of his
foreign policy, and asserts that Europe is in an unsettled
state just now. An Hon. Member in the other House of
Parliament—l do not know what place he is Member for now,
but at the time I refer to he was Member for Taunton—this
Hon. Gentleman, who, fifteen years ago, did all but head the
opposition of that time against the law monopoly, and which
he now strenuously supports—this Hon. Gentleman said, when
my Noble Friend accepted office, that if, after that time, the
peace of Europe should be preserved, it would be a perfect
" miracle. It so happens that the Noble Earl has kept the
peace of Europe for three years and a half and more, and I
think we have yet four months of the fourth year which we
can spare the Hon. Gentleman. If his Noble Friend's work
be not marred, there is a strong probability of the peace of
Europe being permanent. The Noble Duke has stated, and,
as he says, without any intention of attaching blame to the
Government of my Noble Friend, that in no other period,
since- the time of Lord George Gordon's riots in 1780, was
there so much blood shed as since this Government came into
office. If any person but the Noble Duke had said this--if
any one had said that blame was to be attached to the Go-
vernment for the manner in which the law was administered
under it—if any one had said that it was rigorous in exacting
justice, that it was even cruel and oppressive in its operations,
all who heard him would have said, that though the attack
was made in this House, yet as it could not be believed by
those who heard it, it must be meant to be conveyed elsewhere
—to places where it should be credited ; that it was meant,
not for the ears of this assembly, but for other assemblies to
which some other orators are in the habit of addressing their
inflammatory speeches ; that it was meant for the associations
of Ireland, to whom some popular orators are in the habit of
addressing speeches and letters, which no one is more ready to
complain of than the Noble Duke himself when it suits his

--,
purpose, and that though the communication was made here—
when such an address was made as that delivered by the Noble
Duke, it was with the perfect knowledge that it should be
conveyed to the same quarter.----( Hear, hear.) It seemed
intended to convey no blame in saying that there was more
blood shed under the Administration of my Noble Friend
than under any former one. It is no blame of itself to say so,
when it is stated fairly and simply ; but when it is stated as
was done by the Noble Duke, when it is made odious by the
contrast drawn between it and the acts of former Adminis-
trations, it wears the aspect of blame, of blame wholly,
and of nothing but blame.--( Hear, hear, hear.) But what
was the fact ? What showed the severity which caused the
shedding of so much blood? Let the House look to the
opinions of the Judges sent on the Special Commissions
which it became the duty of the Government to issue in re-
gard to the system of incendiarism which unhappily prevailed
when they came into office, and let them then say if the Go-
vernment deserves the sneers of the Noble Duke ? My No-
ble Friend (the Lord Chief Justice) who presided on that oc-
casion—l mean who presided over the prosecutions in his capa-
city of Attorney-General—knows the care with which each
individual case was sifted ; he knows how the subject was
evening after evening matter of anxious deliberation in the Ca-
binet, and that no cases were selected for the vengeance of
the law but such as it became the imperative duty of the Go-
vernment should not be passed by; he knows that when three
or four cases were selected out of the whole number of cases
in which verdicts were found against the prisoners, there
was, among the Judges who tried the cases, but one sub-
ject of complaint, 'and that was, that so many of those
unfortunate persons were not put to death as those re-
vered and Learned Judges thought there ought to have
been.—( Hear.) The Noble Duke could not, therefore,
mean to attach blame to my Noble Friend, by saying that so
much blood was shed during his Administration. All the
Noble Duke undoubtedly meant was, that my Noble Friend
had not an easy time of it while he was in office. My Noble
Friend well knows that. No one knows it better. He had
not an easy time of it ; but, on the contrary, he was in office
during a period which required the exercise of firmness and
vigour, tempered with mercy.—( Hear, hear.) lam anxious
that we should be put on our trial upon this subject. —( Hear,
hear.) I should then be able to show, if allowed to do so, that
in every one of those cases in which the law was allowed to
tnke its course, we should be justified by both judges and jury
—( Hear, hear )---and that we did not go even to the length to
which we might be justified in going, but preferred the exer-
cise of vigour tempered with mercy and humanity.—( Hear,
hear.) The consequence of this course has since been seen.
Public feeling, which had been roused, was put down, without
being scared by unnecessary severity or prosecutions, and tran-
quillity and peace were restored to the country. In short, the
country was brought to that quiet and peaceful state in which it
now is, and in which my Noble Friend leaves it—a happy con-
trast, as it is, to that state in which it was when my Noble
Friend assumed the Government.—( Hear, hear.) My Lords,
the Noble Duke has alluded, in the retrospect which he took
of the state of the country, to the revolutions of Paris and of
Brussels. Of the revolution of Brussels I shall say nothing.
lam one of those who least approved of it. I said so at the
time it happened, and lam still of the same opinion. It was
a dismemberment of a kingdom, and a revolution without any
sufficient grounds. But the revolution, as it is called at Paris,
was on different grounds, and I am not of the same opinion
with regard to it. The three days at Paris I do not call a
revolution.—( Lord Rolle shook his head.) The Noble Lord
may dissent, but I do not call it a revolution, no more than if
the Noble Lord—l mean the Noble Lord near me, who is
so connected with Devonshire—were called to the head of his
Majesty's Government, and if one of his first acts should be to
abolish the liberty of the press, to suspend the Magna Charta,
the Habeas Corpus, the Bill of Rights, and all the other bul-
warks of our constitution, and that I should oppose those uncon-
stitutional acts, which I now warn the Noble Lord I shall do,
if he comes into office and attempts them ; if this House
should throw the Noble Lord into some place of confinement
on the coast of Devonshire for his mal-administration, and if
I attempt to excite my fellow-citizens to erect a free govern-
ment in place of his despotic government, this was all that
was attempted in France, and this was effected. It is not he
who endeavours to procure a fair and just administration of the
law who makes revolution—( Hear, hear,)—but he makes re-
volution who violates or unreasonably disputes with the laws
as established.—( Hear, hear.) I think the dynasty which
then reigned in France has rightly and properly ceased to
reign. I say that the brave people of that country have done
well to break the chains which imbecile tyrants would rivet
upon them.—( Hear, hear.) I rejoice, then, that the revolu.
tion of the three days of July, at Paris, has taken place ; and
my opinion regarding it is utterly different from my opinion in
regard to the revolution of Brussels. I know not that there
is any more with which it is necessary for me to trouble your
Lordships at this time. I consider that, in alluding to the
other topics on which the Noble Duke has spoken, as of
the emancipation of the West India slaves, he has prema-
turely occupied the ground.—( Hear, hear.) All that he knew
of the manner in which the measure for the emancipation of
the slaves is, that hitherto no measure could work
better.—( Hear, hear. )—and that from the good sense dis-
played by the Colonial Legislatures, as well as the proper
feeling shown by the planters themselves, there is every
chance of its ultimate complete success.—( Hear, hear.) It
is not necessary that I should say more on this subject ; but I
cannot at this hour withhold from my Noble Friend, without
any regard to party feelings, his just share of praise for the
blessings which that measure is likely to produce. Ido not
know why the Noble Duke considered it necessary to stand so
much on the defensive as he did to-night. Perhaps he thought
that, by defending himself, he could the more easily attack my
Noble Friend; but certainly he was more on the defensive to-
night than he ever was since 1811.—( A laugh.) My Noble
friend did not attack the Noble Duke nor his party. He
merely said that it had been his misfortune to meet often
with opposition in this House. " But (says the Noble
Duke) we did not support the Noble Earl when we could
not support him ; and we opposed him only when we dis-
approved of his measures or differed from him in opinion."
That was all my Noble Friend said. He said that it aug-
mented the difficulties which he had .to encounter ; that
whenever your Lordships could differ with him you did.
—(" No, no I " from the Opposition.) Your Lordships will not
say this ; but since I have been dragged forward to say a few
words in the defence of my Noble Friend on this occasion, I
will say that your Lordships, on very many occasions—con-
scientiously no doubt, and not with the view of opposing the
Government—did differ with my Noble Friend and his Admi-
nistration. In the measures, for instance, brought forward for
the improvement of the laws, and in the Local Courts Bill,
you did not oppose the preliminary stages—you did not oppose
going into Committee; you deemed it expedient, because you
differed in opinion regarding them, that they should be looked
into and thoroughly examined ; you took pains to sift them,
and did not make up your judicial minds, excepting so far as
to support all the provisions of the bills till they arrived at the
last stage—till the twelfth hour. Then there was such a bustle,
such numbers of despatches, such numbers of couriers running
to and fro, such extensive correspondence by general post and
by two-penny—( A laugh)—such quantities of proxies, that the
judicial business in the morning of that day was stopped friim
the eagerness of Noble Lords to enter then, and such crowding
down to the House that the very avenues to it were
stopped, and I saw that the fate of my unfortunate bill was
sealed.—( Hear, and a laugh.) But all this anxiety on the part
of your Lordships was doubtless not with a view of opposing the
Government, but merely because you were conscientiously con-
vinced that the measure was a bad one. All that my Noble
Friend did was to lament that your Lordships on some occa-
sions appeared to have made up your minds that you would
not support him, even if you could. With respect to the
reform—l must mention the Reform Bill in justice to my
Noble Friend—and I beg it to be remembered, that while we
met with such violent opposition to that Bill, and my
Noble Friend found it necessary to make up his mind to resign
his office, the Noble Duke and his party were so little opposed
to the measure itself, that they intended, if they had then
come into office, to bring in the Reform Bill themselves ; and
that with such trifling alterations that no supporter of the Re-
form Bill, as introduced by his Noble Friend, could have ob-
jected to it.—( Hear, hear.) This was another instance of the
delusion under which the Noble Duke laboured in saying that
no feeling existed to oppose the Government, excepting when
its measures were disapproved of—( Hear, hear.) I have again
to say, that it was with the deepest concern and regret—and
in this I am sure I shall for once have a majority of your
Lordships with me—it was with the deepest regret I heard
my Noble Friend announce that his determination to retire
from the public service was final. This is a regret in which
all will participate. To you and to the country at large it
must be a subject of deep sorrow that my Noble Friend,
with his robust understanding, with his firm temper,
his manly feelings, his purely honourable mind,
with every quality of the head and heart in which
he excels almost all the statesmen of our time, with all these
qualities remaining to him in as absolute perfection as ever—
and I who have the happiness of knowing him in private—l
who live with him in daily and almost hourly communication—
I who see him unprepared—(your Lordships see him in a state
of perhaps greater preparation )—I can give my unhesitating,
glad, and exulting testimony to the fact, that never since I
have known him—which is now about thirty years—never was
his intellect more perfect or his vigour and capacity more ca-
pable of holding and directing- the helm of the State than at
the present moment--( Cheers )--that in the painful moment
of taking leave of your Lordships in his official capacity he
should feel somewhat dispirited—that with somewhat less of
bodily strength than he once had—as I have known him to
complain was the case within the last year and a half—that for
these reasons he should distrust his forces, and court a retire-
ment which the whole world will hold to be premature, I con-
sider a cruel calamity to the country of which he is one of the
choicest ornaments, and one of whose most precious and
valuable possessions is the public character of my Noble
Friend.—( Cheers.) The people of other lands who one day
fall down and worship the idol which their own hands
have raised, and on another day when its claims to vene-
ration have increased, rather than been impaired, cast
away that worship, and break to pieces the idol which
their hands have fashioned. Unlike the sober-minded, ra-
tional, and reflecting people, whom it is my pride, as well
as pleasure, to call my countrymen—unlike the English peo-
ple—and in them I include the Irish as well as the other in-
habitants of Great Britain; they know the value of my Noble
Friend too well thus to cast him off; and they deemed it their
pride and their pleasure to give him their undivided confidence.
—( Cheers.) And it is my firm and heartfelt belief, that of
all the gloomy days which have dawned for half a century on
the people of England, there was no more gloomy day than
that on which my Noble Friend will, for the first time, have
discovered that he has ceased being the chief promoter of all
measures of rational and just improvement among the people ;
that he has ceased to be their moderator, when their zeal and
unformed opinions shall have carried them too far, and on all
occasions their advocate and protector, and as truly the mi-