The Sun.
London, England, 1835-02-25 00:00:00

tactics of Parliament could no longer prevail? and did he npt
then avow that he would support the Government of Earl Grby
as long as it continued to act on principles in accordance w 0
the maintenance of the institutions of the country, not exclud-
ing any species of improvement ?—( Cheers.) Had he sought
for opportunitiss to embarrass that Government?—( Loud the -
i
in g. ) How many opportunities were afforded him, if he h d
been solicitous of power, to embarrass the course of Earl Gre 's
Administration ?—( Hear.) When the House of Commons h d
determined as to the repeal of the malt-tax—when he hea d
that that determination was tantamount to the removal of Lotd

~....
Althorp, did he then abandon the principles which he had all-
ways professed and maintained, or did he seek for any plausi-
ble excuse to enable him to embarrass the Government ? Or,
i.
the contrary, did he not tender his advice to the Noble Lord
to come down again to the House, and ask it to reconsider i s
determination ?—(Much cheering.) When the Noble Lo d
(Althorp), in endeavouring, at the adjustment of the gre t
question of colonial slavery, had asked for a loan of 17 mi -
lions, and when he had afterwards changed this request foga

grant of 20 millions, and when the love of economy appear
to prevail, although he differed from the Noble Lord in t
details of that measure, yet he was amongst the first of tho§,e
who proffered assistance to the Noble Lord, towards the com-
pletion of the measure, and to tell the House of Commons
that public honour was involved in their acquiescence in th'e
grant of compensation. —( Loud cheering.) During the whole
course of Earl Grey's Government, up to the year 1834, so far
from showing any disposition to resume power, by a
1 combinar
1
tion with men to whose opinions he was more opposed than
was to the opinions of the Government, he had endeavoure
to maintain that Government, by giving to it his most cordi I
support, when its principles concurred with his own.—( Hear.
He should now proceed to review the circumstances whit
had imposed on him the necessity of accepting the call whit
had been made upon him for his services as a Minister—not i ,
consequence of any hostile combination against the late Got-
t
vernment—not in consequence of any intrigues on his part, b '
because Government had lost the services of those Gentleme
in whom, with the exception of Earl Grey, he had the greater
confidence. The Noble Lord ( Stanley) and three of his col
leagues, Sir James Graham, the Earl of Ripon, and the Duk
of Richmond, had retired from the Government. Could an
man doubt that the loss of these four tended materially t
weaken the foundations of that Government, and to shake al
confidence in its stability ?—( Hear, hear.) Notwithstandin
the retirement of those Members of the Government, Ear
Grey succeeded in forming another Administration—( Hear
hear, hear)—but he would ask, if Earl Grey, at tho
time he found himself deprived of the assistance of his coli
leagues in June, 1834, was insensible to the embarrassmentsl
which their retirement caused to the Government by what hi
. _.

called the pressure from without ? In a letter from 'Earl Grey!
to Lord Ebrington, giving his consent to the resumption of,
the Government, did he not say that he had no hope of carry-
ing on the Government if he were to be continually subject tc?,
that pressure from without, which was urging measures upon
him which he had not time to consider, and while he was corn-1
pelled to be ever seeking popular opinion by sacrificing thosei
institutions which it was his duty to support ?—( Hear, hear. )
One month more passed away and Lord Grey left the servicei
of the Crown, previous to which the Government which had(
conducted the Reform Bill bad lost the services of four of its'

Members, One month exposed it to another loss, in addition
to which he believed he might also reckon that of the Earl of
Carlisle, and other Members more immediately connected with
Earl Grey. At that time his Majesty was so sensible of the
loss the Government had sustained, that he expressed a wish to
form a Government by a combination of men of all parties.
This, he believed, was tolerably well known. His Majesty
authorized a communication to be made to the Duke of Wel-
lington, also to the Hon. Member for Lancashire, and to
himself ( Sir R. Peel), calling upon them to unite with the
late Government in forming an Administration. This com-
munication was made by his Majesty through Lord _Mel-
bourne ; but he felt bound to say, in justice to that Noble
Lord, that he discouraged the attempt, from the belief that it
could not terminate in anything satisfactory to the country.
This opinion was also held by the persons applied to. It was
thought that the differences of opinion entertained upon many
important questions then depending was so great, that there
could be no prospect of a union upon them, involving, as they
did, the deepest interests of the country. Although he ( Sir
R. Peel) had conveyed to Lord Melbourne his impression that
there was no prospect of such a combination as would give any
hopes of benefit to the country, yet he thought it right to refer
to the matter on that occasion, in order to show the deep sense
which his Majesty entertained of the difficulties in which the
country was involved, and his anxious desire for its welfare.—
( Hear, hear.) At length a Government was formed by Lord
Melbourne. The foundation of that Government was that
Lord Althorp should be Chancellor of the Exchequer, and re-
tain the lead of the House of Commons. The Noble Lord
was, in fact, the corner stone of the Government of Lord
Melbourne. If the Noble Lord had declined to give his con-
sent to that arrangement, Lord Melbourne would have de-
clined the undertaking. As a proof of this he would refer to
the public declaration of Earl Grey as to his idea of the im-
portance of Lord Althorp to his Administration. Upon the
9th of July Earl Grey spoke in the House of Lords to the
following effect :
" Then came this new state of affairs, which deprived him of
the assistance of his Noble Friend, the Chancellor of the Ex-
chequer, the leading Member of Government in the Commons—
the individual on whom his whole confidence rested, whom he con-
sidered as his right arm, and without whose assistance he felt it
impossible for the Government to go on. Former breaches had
considerably weakened the Government. This new breach placed
it in a situation in which he could not well hope to retain his place
at its head, with any view to serve the Crown or the country
effectually, or to any useful purpose."
His retirement determined the retirement of Earl Grey, and
Lord Melbourne's Administration was founded upon the re-
acceptance of office by Lord Althorp against his own wishes.
—( Hear, hear, hear.) The impression at that time was, that
without the assistance of Lord Althorp, Lord Melbourne
would not have been able to form his Government. It was,
however, constituted, but Lord Melbourne's Government,
short as was the period of its trial, did not conclude without
coming to a collision on the question of tithes, and of the Irish
Church, with respect to the appropriation of its revenues.
Upon that subject Lord Melbourne's Government was deci-
dedly opposed to the House of Lords. Was it unnatural, then,
when the foundation of the Government was withdrawn by the
accession of Lord Althorp to the House of Peers, which pre-
vented his longer holding the Chancellorship of the Exche-
quer and the lead of the House of Commons, that his Majesty
should, although the trial of the Government had been short,
review the position of public affairs with a view to the selec-
tion of new advisers Was it unnatural that he should ask
himself the question, " Shall I proceed with this Government,
or shall I form a new one ?"—( Hear, hear.) He appealed to
the House if there was anything unnatural in the wish of his
Majesty to attempt a Government on a new principle.
There might have been compensations for the loss of the ser-
c!ees of the Noble Lord ( Althorp), and for the loss also of
Lord Grey, provided the remainder of the Government was
unanimous, and provided it also received the unanimnus sup-
port of those who held extreme liberal opinions. On the
contrary, one cause of the weakness of the Government, and
the alienation from it of public opinion, was the incessant
attacks of those who were now the foremost in lending to them
their confidence.—( Cheers.) He looked to the powerful
support which they were now receiving, and which he had no
doubt they would receive, from the Hon. and Learned Mem-
ber for Dublin.—( Hear, hear.) In their extremity they had
been driven to avow opinions more popular than those of Earl
Grey. Well knowing they ha.,(l not a majority of the House
of Lords in their favour, they appeared resolved to rely on the
support of those Irish Representatives, who, of any, were the
most inveterate in their opposition to them while in office.—
( Cheers.) He was not then speaking of the Government of
Earl Grey, but of the Government which had supported the
very principles which led to the resignation of the Noble Earl.
--( Loud cheers). In what terms had Lord Duncannon been
spoken of by those upon whom they mainly relied ? The Hon.
and Learned Member for Dublin had addressed several letters
to Lord Duncannon upon the subject of the Government, and
its relatcons with Ireland, in which he stated his opinions as
to the probable advantages to Ireland from that Government.
Upon the 11th of October, when that Government might be
said to be constituted by Lord Melbourne, the following were
the opinions which that Hon. Member entertained of that Go-
vernment. They were given in an address to Lord Duncannon
as being more especially the popular member of the Administra-
tion. He would provd to the satisfaction of any man who heard him
that this Government, de
Noble Lord Carlisle, of the Nob. Ts.rieed of am eo-operation of the
cashire, of Lords Ripon and Richmor4
Lord the Member for Lan-
er Cumberland, he would prove that it was 2:4°
and of the Member
deprived of
the aL_l and countenance of the Learned Member for -
____(Hear, hest, and a laugh.) That Learned Gentleman au-
dressed a letter to Lord Duncannon, dated October 11, 1834.
The motto of that letter was " Hurrah for the Repeal"—
( Laughter)—and the author quoted was " The wild Irish cry."
He commenced this epistle by telling Lord Duncannon that
he wrote more in sorrow than in anger—that his Lordship had
deceived him, that he should, however, have known him bet-
' ter, that he (Lord Duncannon) belonged to the Whigs—
(Cheers from the Ministerial Benches)—and that, after four
years of the most emaciating experience, he ought to have
known that Ireland had nothing to expect from the Whigs but
the most insolent contempt—nothing but the most treacherous
hostility.—( Continued cheers from the Ministerial Benches. )
Was this extract, did the House suppose, an ebullition of that
ardent eloquence which men sometimes utter in the warmth of
debate, and for which all may occasionally find it necessary to
apologise? Oh, no such thing. The writer was free from
any external excitement, and wrote from the tranquillity of
Derrynane Abbey. It was his duty, he said, " tran-
quilly, but firmly" to demonstrate that Ireland had nothing to
expect from the Whigs.—( Cheers.) They were as deeply
steeped in the old system of Government as if they had been
always of that party ; and there should be (he continued) a
change of men before there was the slightest chance of any
change of measures.—( Loud cheers.) Well, there was now
a change of men ; but it would seem the Hon. and Learned
Member was not satisfied to wait for the change of measures.
(Hear, hear.) Such was his opinion of the late Government
as a party, and it might be worth while to look at his character
of many of its members individually, " Where was the ad-
vantage to Ireland, he asked, in the retirement of Earl Grey,
if he left behind him, amongst his colleagues, the same bitter
and malignant hatred of Ireland ?" Were there any of the
present Ministry, continued the Right Hon. Baronet, who en-
tertained towards Ireland feelings similar to those of Earl
Grey? He thought that Lord John Russell, at least, did.—
( Cheers and laughter.) " Ireland had deeply felt—(se the
letter continued)—the disgrace that had been put upon her in
her limited and scanty Reform Bill ; and every body knew
that Lord Melbourne wanted sufficient powers of mind to
enable him to apply a remedy to the evil."—( Loud cheering
from the Ministerial benches.) "In fact, it was manifest
that Melbourne was incompetent to fulfil the duties of the high
office he had assumed."—( Renewed cheering.) "It was la-
mentable to think that the destinies of Ireland were to be inY

trusted even for a single day to the management of such men."
—( Hear, hear.) Passing from Lord Melbourne. the I-I,sr. ;
and Learned Member took up another member of that
Administration, of whom he said Lansdowne, too, hated
Ireland—and with a hatred more malignant, because he
owed her the duty of his aid and protection—( Cheers from the
Ministerial benches.) For these reasons it was that he re-
peated the chorus of the wild Irish cry—" Hurrah for the
Repeal of the Union." Lord Duncannon was, he said, a
better repealer than himself. He recommended him to go on
governing Ireland under the advice of the sage father 0f all
the Hannibals, and he should yet see Ireland sufficiently strong
to laugh to scorn the efforts of all her enemies—( Cheers
from the Irish Members.) Such was the substance of the
Hon. and Learned Member's able, powerful, and '• tranquil"
—( A laugh)—letter on the subject of the Whig Government
of Lord Melbourne, and such were his opinions of some of the
leading men of that Administration. Under these circum•
stances he would ask any man who heard him, whether, look-
in; to the losses which the Government had sustained, and to
the prospect of their deriving support from the popular party,
it was surprising that the Sovereign of the country, regardieg
the stability of his Ministry, should have thought it unwise
any longer to intrust the reins of power into the hands of men
who, it had been proved, had lost the confidence of two most
considerable parties in the State ?—( Hear, hear.) Finding,
upon his return to this country that this confidence had been
completely lost, and that there was no prospect of the return of
the Noble Earl (Grey) to power, he felt it a duty not to
refuse the unexpected call which had been made upon him—
( Cheers)—and though no party directly or indirectly to the
removal of that Government, yet he felt that the acceptance of
office had imposed upon him all that responsibility from
which he was now but little inclined to shrink —(Loud
cheers.) He had contracted the same responsibility with his
Noble Friend in another place, and though no party to his as-
sumption of different offices, yet by his subsequent acceptance
of place he took upon himself the responsibility of what was
done by his Noble Friend ; and whatever step that House
might adopt with reference to it, he denied his right to share
in its consequences--( Cheers.) It had been said that it was
a great crime and a dangerous precedent for one Nan to assume
so many offices.—( Hear from the opposition.) Well, his first
answer to that was that it depended on the intention. In the
mere fact of one man's holding two offices, there was nothing
wrong. There might, to be sure, be sometimes an inconve-
nience arising from it, but it was not, he contended, un-
constitutional. It was what occurred every day when one
individual held the seals of his office in the absence or
during the illness of a colleague. But it was not upon
grounds of this kind that he would defend the assumption of
two offices by one individual. He defended it because it was,
ha contended, necessary for the public service—( Hear, hear.)
They had been held, not that the individual might arrogate to
himself the powers of the different offices, but that having
temporarily held the seals, he might afterwards deliver them
over to another. But a Noble Lord opposite had said that this
was a proceeding unknown to the Constitution—( Hear, hear.)
As he ( Sir R. Peel) recollected that Noble Lord's words, he
said that were an old Whig to hear of this assumption of offices
by one individual the hairs of that old Whig's head would stand
on end--( Laughter.) Now he much doubted if he could not
produce a precedent from the good old times of Whig predo-
minance, when some of the principal offices of the State were
held by a good old Whig for the purpose of defeating Jacobin
purposes. The Right Hon. Baronet then referred to the case
of the assumption of the offices of Lord Steward, Lord Cham-
berlain, and Lord Lieutenant of Ireland by the Duke of
Shrewsbury, in the reign of Queen Anne, for the purpose of
defeating the designs of Bolingbroke to favour the interests
of the Pretender. There was a precedent, if precedent were
wanted, and a precedent, too, from the good old Whig times.
—( Hear, hear.) But where was the man who could suppose
that any danger could arise from the line of conduct that had
been adopted by the Duke of Wellington ?—( Hear, hear.)
That Noble Duke had no other object in view than the public
service. In his letter to him ( Sir Robert Peel) he said that
he had advised the King to send for him ; and he thought it
would be unfair to ask him to assume office, unless he had
the entire formation of the Government.—( Hear, hear.) He
said that had he (the Duke of Wellington) appointed any
persons to fill these offices, he ( Sir Robert Peel) might have
been afterwards embarrassed in recommending the King to
remove men with whom he ( Sir Robert) had been politically
connected.—( Hear, hear.) Under these circumstances, he
thought it better, both for the service of the Crown and for
the convenience of the subsequent formation of the Govern-
ment, to temporarily hold the offices which he did until his
( Sir Robert Peel's) return.—(Loud cheers.) So much for
that part of the subject. He now came to the question of
the dissolution of Parliament.—( Hear, hear.) It had been
asked, Would he take upon himself the responsibility of that
dissolution? Without one moment's hesitation he replied,
film he did take upon himself that responsibility.—(Cheers
from the Ministerial benches.) The moment he under-
stood his present arduous duties he determined to leave no
Constitutional efforts untried, to enable him satisfactorily to
discharge the trust which had been reposed in him, and he
admitted that he did fear to meet that Parliament, which it
was stated placed such unbounded confidence in the late Go-
vernment; for he apprehended that he might not have found
the same disposition to place confidence in him.—( A laugh,
and " Hear, bear.") And were not those who loudly boasted
that in the late Parliament the Tories could not bring 120
votes to a division, and who now refused to give them a fair
trial—were they not a little inconsistent in finding fault with
them for appealing to the nation for an opportunity of carrying
their intentions into effect ?—( Hear, hear.) But he believed
it would be always found that, upon extensive changes in the
Government, dissolutions of Parliament were, for some reason
or other, generally resorted to.—( Hear.) In 1784, a change
took place in the Government, Mr. Pitt having been appointed
Prime Minister ; a dissolution took place upon that occasion.
In 1804, upon the formation of the Administration of Earl
Grey and Lord Grenville, the Parliament, which had sat for
only four years, was shortly after their assumption of power
dissolved.—( Hear, hear.) It had been said with reference to
this dissolution that there was first an attempt to negotiate, but
this failing, then there was a dissolution ; but he ( Sir R. Peel)
could never see the force of that argument. In 1807, there was
another change upon the appointment of Mr. Percival to be
Prime Minister. Then, too, there was a dissolution. In 1830
Earl Grey was appointed Prime Minister, and shortly after-
wards there was a dissolution. And again, there was another
dissolution upon the passing of the Reform Bill—(Hear, hear)
—so that every great change in the Government was followed
by a dissolution ; but the present was the first time the House
of Commons were ever called upon to express' their disappro-
bation of such an exercise of the prerogative. And most as-
suredly, if there existed any prerogative which they should be
slow to question, it was the special prerogative of dissolution.
—( Hear, hear.) It would appear that the whole objection to
his ( Sir R. Peel's) possession of power was, that, in conse-
quence of the revolution which had taken place, it was pre-
sumed he should have regarded himself as totally excluded
from, and utterly unfit to take part in, official life. He cer-
tainly never regarded the machine of the Reform Bill as one
the secrets of which were known only to those who had con-
.structed it, and the effect of which would be to exclude any of
his Majesty's subjects from the right of enjoying power. No
•sacrifice was required from him when he got his Majesty's di-
rections to form an Administration. He was simply told to
construct it as he might deem most advantageous for the well-
being of the country ; arid he would ask any man out of that
House, free from the contagion of party, would he not have
thought much more meanly of him, had he refused the service
prOposed by his Sovereign—had he replied to his summons
that he was excluded from the privilege of accepting office ?
But the entire of this argument, so often urged, assumed that
in the House of Commons he and those who acted with him
were at constant variance with the Melbourne Administration.
Much declamation had been employed upon this subject, and
declamation, he found, was rather more captivating than facts.
Yet he would beg the House to refer to his acts, and then to
say whether or not he and those who acted with him were at
constant variance with the late Administration.—( Hear, hear. )
He had been one of those who said that if the Government
pursued a fair, straight-forward course, conservative of the in-
stitutions of the country, they should have his full support.—
( Hear.) It had been said that be was hostile to the spirit of
the Reform Bill. Well, what was the spirit of the Reform Bill ?
He thought it implied a great change in the representation of
the people of England ; but he was not aware that those who
had been opponents to its progress, should upon its passing be-
come aliens and strangers in their own land, and be marked out
as men whose principles were allied to all the abuses that might
exist in the institutions of the country.—( Hear.) The entire
argument to which he had adverted, assumed that after the
Reform Bill, the entire House was to be divided into two par-
ties—those who had been the supporters, and those who had
been the opponents of that measure—the former of whom were
igible to place and rower, to the perpetual exclusion
to be
, "Hear.) But it would appear that he ( Sir
of the latterly,
bzermer as he had been—was frequently
Robert Pee anti-the supporter of the Reform Ministry.—( Hear, hear.) In
1833 the Reform Parliament pet. An amendment was moved
to the address—that was the 44,dfess to the "brutal and
bloody speech."—(Loud cries of " Ho4'7 11Par.") The Go-
vernment opposed the amendment, and he supported the go-
vernment.—( Hear.) On the first reading of the 'lrish Pis:
turbances Bill, the Government were opposed, snd be sup-
ported them.—( Hear.) Upon Mr. Attwood's motion re-
specting an alteration in the currency. he supported the (40,-
vernment. Was the principle of Reform involved in that
motion ?—( A laugh, and Heart hear,) On Mr. Harvey's Met
tion for the lists of Members who voted on divisions, he sup-
ported the Government. The Learned Member (then for
Colchester) said that the principle of Reform was involved in
this—and, perhaps, it was so—but the then Government op-
posed it, and received his (Sir R. Peel's) support. It would
be, he dared to say, contended that the principle of Reform
was also involved in Mr. Grote's motion for the vote
by ballot.—( Cries of " Hear, hear, hear," from the Qpposi,
tion.) Well, this was resisted by the Government, who
had his aid in their opposition. On the motions for the
repeal of the house and window tax, and of the malt-
tax—which he supposed also involved the principle of Re,
form—the Government had his support in their opposition—
( Hear.) In the motions for the alteration of the cern laws-,
for an advance of money to Irish Clergy—for the change of
the Septennial Act—for a i3ezriei9n of the Pension List—Mr.
O'Connell's motion on the Repeal of the finign=Nr. flume's
on the corn laws—Sir W. Ingilby's on the malt tax, and many
others-40 Government had uniformly his suppori.--( Hear,
hear.) In every eau these he found himself in close con-
nection with the Government—(;Cheers.) And what were
the motions on which he opposed them ? He certainly did
oppose them on the motion for the admission of' Dissenters
into the Uniyersities.-7-4 Hear, hear, from the Opposition.)
He had also the misfortune to differ fron? them on the motion
for a Committee on Baron Smith.—(Laughter, and hear,
hear.) He opposed them on the Church Temporalities Bill,
and he opposed Lord Althorp's motion, the object of which
was to make Bank notes above 5/. a legal tender. He asked
any rep to compare the luestions upon which he agreed, with