The Sun.
London, England, 1835-03-17 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, TUESDAY, IVIARCH 17, 1835.

worthy colleague for Sligo), Mr. George A. Hamilton, can-
didate in ordinary for the city and county of Dublin, Sir Hugh
D. Massey, the Hon. Colonel Wingfield, Sir Hugh Stewart,
and many others, gives rather a serious complexion to the
Ballad. To Sir Robert Peel's classic consideration it is hum-
bly inscribed, with an—
" I, nunr, et versus tecum meditare eanoros."

IMPERIAL PARLIAMENT.

HOUSE OF LORDS, MARCH 16.
The LORD CHANCELLOR took his seat on the Woolsack at
a few minutes before five.

Mr. BERNAL, from the Commons, brought up the Dublin
Oil Gas Bill.

The Duke of GORDON presented petitions from various.
parishes in Banff, Elgin, and Ross, in support of the Church
of Scotland.

Lord ROSEBERRY presented a petition from Stirling to
the same effect.
Lord BROUGHAM moved for a return of the number of
schools in each town in Ireland, from the year 1809. The
Noble and Learned Lord observed that these returns were
already in existence, as they had been furnished in conse-
quence of a motion made by a noble friend of his (Lord Kerry)
the other House.—Ordered.

On the motion of the Earl of SHAFTE SBURY, the
Chester Criminals' Execution Bill was read a third time and
passed.
The East India Company's Indemnity Bill passed through a
Committee.

The Earl of ROSSLYN presented three petitions in fa-
vour of the Church of Scotland.
EXPLANATIONS.

The Marquis of LONDONDERRY then rose, and
claimed their Lordships' indulgence while he detained them
for a few moments upon a subject purely personal to him-
self.—( Hear, hear, hear.) It was perhaps out of order
to address them upon such a subject, but referring to the
printed votes of the proceedings in the other House, now
on the table, their Lordships would excuse him for detain-
ing them for a few moments—( Hear)—while he ventured to
disclose the course which the Government and himself had
taken upon proceedings relative to his own appointment.
When Sir R. Peel made his arrangements for car-
rying on the duties of the Government, he was pleased
to address him with an offer of the post of Ambassador to the
Court of Russia. He confessed that he received that nomina-
tion with a great degree of pride, for he had no right to ex-
pect such an intimation from him—that appointment or offer
was accompanied with a letter from his Noble Friend (the
Duke of Wellington), and he felt great pride and satisfac-
tion that it should be considered that his Majesty's service
would again be, in any degree, the better for his service.
He confessed that he did not receive such a communica-
tion without pride, and he most certainly believed that
after being in the service of the country at Dresden,
at Berlin—( Loud cheering)--and at Paris, and at Vienna,
(Cheers)—where he considered that he had been instrumen-
tal in preserving the best interests of both countries—after
having been the companion in arms of the most distinguished
diplomatist of the day, he did think, however presumptuously,
that so much opposition was undeserved. He might not be
possessed of all the sagacity or prudence of the Noble
Lords opposite him—(Cheers)—but he did believe that his
conduct, while in the capacity of Ambassador before, had
been for the benefit of tne country. Another circumstance
was, that he did not hastily embrace the offer, but it being
made to him, and he believing that his services might be of
use to his Majesty, he had certainly accepted the appointment.
He felt it an honour to serve his King, but he felt also, as soon
as he read the report of the discussion in the other House, that
there was but one line for him to pursue, as a subject, and a
public servant. During a long course of military and other
duties, he could say,—and he thought those who had of late
become his political enemies could not contradict it--( Hear,
hear)—that he had endeavoured to serve his King and
his country to the best of his ability. If he were to depart from
this country, after what had passed in the House of Commons,
he should feel himself, as a representative of Majesty, to be placed
in a new and false situation. The remarks and animadversions
which had been made by one branch of the legislature were
so strong, that he conceived it impossible for him to fill the
office to which he bad been called, with proper effect. It was
on these grounds, and standing, as he did, upon his sense of
duty to his Sovereign, without meaning to succumb to faction,
(though he should be devoid of feeling, if he was insensible
to the scoffs and scorn which had been so unjustly levelled at
him)—he was determined, upon no consideration what-
ever, to accept that appointment, which his Majesty had been
most graciously pleased to offer him.—( Hear, hear.) He
had come to that determination, upon the grounds he
had stated, and without any communication with the Govern-
ment as to the course he should take ; he had neither
sought advice, nor had it been proferred.—( Hear, hear.)
Another opportunity might be afforded him of answering
those unfair, unjust, and unexpected animadversions which
had been passed upon circumstances that had elapsed
sixteen years ago, but at this moment it was impossible
to meet them in that House.—( Hear, hear.) He wished
to say nothing of the House of Commons ; it was
omnipotent, but if any member of that House had been placed
in his situation, would he not have claimed and have been al-
lowed to defend himself ?—( Hear, hear.) He would not al-
lude immediately to the originator of the motion, or particu-
larly to any one of those who followed him ; but very gross
and false statements were made, and from them it
was seen, (and he hoped, therefore, that that House
would reflect upon it), how a public servant, after a long per-
formance of duty to the best of his ability, was treated.—
( Hear, hear, hear.) After thirty years' service he could
challenge his most determined enemy to bring one stain upon
his character.—(Cheers.) He thanked their Lordships for
the attention with which they had heard him, and would not
then trouble them further.

The Duke of WELLINGTON said, that considering that
he was the person who was officially responsible for the nomi-
nation of his Noble Friend, he hoped their Lordships would
excuse him for saying a few words. He had made the recom-
mendation to his Majesty upon his knowledge of his Noble
Friend's real and important military experience, and upon his
knowledge of his fitness for a diplomatic employment from va-
rious diplomatic services for many years, more particularly in one ,
Embassy at the Court of Vienna for nine years. During that
period he had performed the most important services to the sa-
tisfaction of those Ministers who had employed him up to the
very last moment, and retired with the strongest testimony
of approbation from the Secretary of State for that time. Ile
was aware of some of the peculiar talents of his Noble Friend
—( Hear, from the Duke of Cumberland)—and which were
necessary for the particular office to which he was appointed;
and he was aware also of the peculiar fitness of his Noble
Friend for this particular diplomatic employment, being a
military officer of high rank and reputation in the service of
his country ; and, under such circumstances, he considered
himself justified in recommending that his Noble Friend should
be appointed Ambassador to St. Petersburgh, and he was happy
to find that his Right Hon. Friend concurred in that recommenda-
tion, and his Majesty was pleased to approve of that appointment.
Tinder these circumstances he confessed that he felt the greatest
regret that the nomination had gone no farther, and that it
had not been approved of in another place, as it was in con-
sequence of that, that his Noble Friend had thought proper
(with that delicate feeling which could not but be admired) to
decline the office. There was no prerogative of the Crown
which should be held more inviolate than that of the ap-
pointment of its ambassadors. The Ministers of the Crown
were responsible for their nomination—they were responsible
for the instructions under which Noble Lords and others acted,
and for the manner in which they discharged their duties.
Moreover, they were responsible for the due performance of
those duties to the country and to the other House. It was
impossible that the Commons could have interfered so far with
the prerogative of his Majesty, as to say that the person
nominated should not fill that situation, inasmuch as
by so doing the House of Commons would have taken
upon itself the nomination of the officers, and the
direction of the particular duties they were to dis-
charge, and they would likewise relieve Ministers from
the responsibility under which they laboured. For his part
he would not believe the House of Commons would have
taken such a part, and he thought the country owed a debt of
gratitude to his Noble Friend for having declined the office to
which he had been nominated.—( Hear, hear. )
The Marquis L A NSDOWNE objected to the irregular
conversation which had just taken plate, but as an individual
he could not allow the Noble Earl, or Noble Lord,
to leave that House with the impression, that the disapproba-
tion which had been expressed at the appointment of the
Noble Earl to the Embassy of St. Petersburgh, was in any
degree connected with any personal disrespect whatever
to the Noble Earl.—( Hear.) Were it to be so supposed, he
(the Marquis of Lansdowne) would not stand there to make
any explanation upon it, nor should he in any degree participate
in it. Whatever might be the motives of different persons,
he was bound to say that those which he (the Marquis
of Lansdowne) entertained, might be entertained consistently
with the greatest respect to the Noble Earl's consistency
and character, because he believed that the greatest objection
t 6 that appointment (so signally characterized as being the first
appointment of his Majesty's present Ministers) the greatest
objections were founded upon the belie 4 that in all the opi-
nions recently recorded and expressed by the Noble Earl
in that House and elsewhere, as to the policy of the
late Government, and as to the present state of Europe, the
Noble Earl was most strenuously and decidedly op-
posed, and that be was, therefore, sincere in his
opinions. It, therefore, was anything but disrespectful to the
Noble Earl so far as regarded the peace of Europe, as con-
nected with Poland, and as connected with the illegitimate
pretensions of certain pretenders to the thrones of both
Spain and Portugal--as regarded the peace of Europe,
which was connected with the close alliance and understand-
ing with the kingdom of France, on which it was essential that
this country should found and build its concert to preserve
that peace, but to which the Noble Earl had repeatedly de-
clared that he was completely alien and averse. On all these
points, if they believed in the sincerity of the opinions, and if they
were convinced of the consistency of the conduet of the
Noble Earl, they must naturally expect that he would be
any thing but a zealous, willing, and efficient instrument
to carry into effect that policy which they had not yet beard was
to be changed—( Loud cries of Hear)—but on the continuance
of which he (the Marquis of Lansdowne) believed rested every
chance for the peace of Europe, and of this country. It was
natural, therefore, that great anxiety should be felt on that sub-
ject by the country, and that that anxiety should be partaken.
In the country the public had not the same means of
ascertaining what passed at their Lordships' deliberations,
and therefore that they could not feel the same interest which
the people of that country did. He was satisfied that
the House of Commons would, at all times, be careful how it
would in any degree infringe upon the prerogative of his Ma-
jesty. He was sure it would at all times pause and deliberate
and in every instance it had shown that inclination before
it approached a subject surrounded by so many im-
portant considerations as the present one.--( Hear, hear. )
Bound as they were to take care that the peace of Europe
was presenTed, it was their duty to watch every move-
ment of the Ministry, in order that the appointments to
foreign Courts were properly filled up.—( Hear.) What
he had thought it his duty to offer in respect to that question

was totally unconnected with any personal feeling towards the
Noble Marquis ; but he must say that the Noblo Marquis
had acted nobly in paying so much deference to the feeling of
the House of Commons and the country as he had done upon
that occasion.

The Duke of BUCKING HAM then rose, and said he
would not consent that the subject should be put
on personal grounds—it stood upon much higher—
upon constitutional grounds; and he, for one, would not
consent that it should be lowered.—( Hear.) Such opi-
nions as they had heard might do very well for a Com-
mittee of Safety, but were not worthy of a Bri-
tish House of Parliament.—( Hear, hear, hear.) He had
seen the Speaker of the House of Commons often at the
bar and claim the privilege of speech ; but that was the
first time that he had heard that such a privilege was
to be made the ground for taking away the character and
the appointments of any Noble Lord. The publishing of the
reports of any speech in that or the other House,
was a gross breach of privilege ; but now upon these
reports, a Noble Lord came down to that House and
made a speech founded upon the breach of privilege.
Who, he would ask, was responsible for the appointment in
question ? Not the House of Commons certainly, but the
Government ; and it was the first time in his life that
he had ever heard the character or the appointment
of any Noble Lord sacrificed to the caprice of any body of in-
dividuals. He contended that the other House had no
right to express their opinion upon the appointment of any
Minister until his unfitness had been shown—until the peace
of Europe had been thought to be put in jeopardy, the
House of Commons had no right to find fault with the
appointment, which was a direct interference with the pre-
rogative of the Crown. That prerogative had now been ques-
tioned for the first time—would it be the last? Encouraged
by their success upon this occasion, would the enemies
of the Crown stop at that point ? Ho warned
the statesmen opposite, who might be Ministers soon,
that the question was most important to them and to the coun-
try. Now was the time to make a stand for the prerogatives
of the Crown—they were now attacked, and must be defended
now or never.