The Sun.
London, England, 1832-05-15 00:00:00

n-e !sit it to you, and so destroy your own characters for
cuttsistency, or you must reject and incur the utmost pos-
sible hazard to the country from the state of exciterre nt in
which we have left men's minds." He bad no difficulty,
then, in saying that feint, in possession of the Govern-
ment at such a crisis, the Noble Lords and Right Hon.
Gentlemen opposite were not justified in abandoning tI e
guidance of public affairs, anti leaving the King, the
country, and the Legislature in the position in which they
had just been placed—they should not have abandoned the
Government for the sake of destroying the party opposed
to then, in politics; neither should they have end, avottred
to swamp the House of Lords for any such unworthy pur-
pot,. With respect to the conduct of the Duke of Wel-
lington, which had that night been made the subject of
so much animadvert-don, it did, he confessed, ap-
pear to him, that the Duke of Wellington was per-
fectly justified in the course which he had taken—
with the prospect before him of seeing the
of Lords swamped, he could scarely have taken
any other—and in the exercise of a sound discretion,
and under the influence of an exalted patriotism, he took
the commaeds of his Mejesty to form an Administration,
:and theta at least avoided the evil of destroying the Hence
f Lords. There was one truth, however, established
.beyond any pdeaihility of diapetst, nann ly, that the 'present
taovernment of the King thund nothing but a choice be-
tween two evi's. Ii Hon. Members belit ved, ass he did,
that the Duke of Wellington was net influenced by any
' desire of place—(A laugh)—he knew how difficult it was
te reconcile all opinions and unite all voices—het believ-
ing ea he did that the Duke of Weliington as a pubic
man, stood far above all mercenary considerations—
above all motives out of a mere desire of place—they
must feel that, in accepting office at the present moment,
was making one of the greatest sacrifices whieh it
wax in the power of any public man to make for the
gnod of his country.—(Cheer* from the Tories, laugh-
ter among the Whigs.) Yes. be would repeat, that the
sacrifices which that Noble Person made admitted of
no limitation or qualification. That which he had done,
• or was about to do, constituted tote of the has- st acts of
which any man was ever guilty, or an act of the greatest
magnanimity and public virtue—an act which, as it would
surpass anything that our past history afforded, so it would
eclipse the glories of future aces—(Clieera from one side
of the House, and great laughter at tf.e tither.) He would
tepeat the expression, and appeal to all impartial men and
to posterity, for the truth and justice of the sentiments
which he thus conscientiously expressed, that the noblest
act of his lime and distinguished life was the acceptance of
office at the present crisis—a crisis so dangerous to the
Constitution, and one which carried with it enough of
difficulty. delicacy, and haiard, to deter all ordinary minds
from grappling it ith it. Such were his sentiments of the
conduct of the Duke of Weifingten, and if they were well
founded, and the Noble Duke could not he proved to have
been guilty of the basest and most disgraceful conduct a
public man had ever fallen into, then he should deserve
Ind receive the universal approbation of mankind, and
more for that than for any act of his public life.
Lord PALMERSTON—I should certainly not have
risen nn this occasion to take any part in the pre-
sent debate, had I not been personally alluded to by the
Right Hon. and Gallant Member for Perthshire. I have
ten charged with changes of opinion upon great public
questions. Against such charges Ido feel that no defence
is necessary in this Hoese--(Cheera.) I have no diffi-
unity in saying, that I have changed my sentiments, and
that I have done so from having become wiser.—(Cheers.)
With respect to my own public cAr4uct, I should greatly-
regret being compelled to defend it upon any grounds that
:night involve an accusation upon others—accusations
which it would he no less painful to me to utter than it
would be to the Right Hon. and Gallant Member himself
to heir. It is known both to the House and the public,
that now, +or the second time, I have refused office for the
sake of preserving the free expression of my opinions, and
freedom of action on political questions upon which I felt
deeply interested ;—(Cheers)—and that is a fact which
might have been known to the Right Hon. and Gallant
Member. It might also have been known to him, that
it has happened to ree, when out of office, to decline
the service of the Crown, when I felt that in ac-

cepting that service at the particular juncture I in-
roma the hazard of not being at liberty to assert my own
sentiments, as I felt I ought. With respect to the con-
'eluding part of the speech of the Right Hon. and Gallant
-Member, in which he blames the late Administration for
having abandoned office at a moment when it was pecu-
liarly- their duty to have remained in the service of the
Monarch, that there was, he believed, not a man in the
country who thought that they could, with any thing like
-honour, have remained in power—no men of honour could
have done so under the circumstances. We are told we have
been guilty of a violation of the constitution, in the ad-
vice given to his Majesty to create a sufficient number of
Peers to carry the Reform Bill—advice in which I fully
participated. Now I deny altogether that the advice re
;-'erred to was any violation whatever of the Constitution ;
though, at the same time, I am perfectly ready to admit,
that it was advice which should only be given in extreme
stales ; but what I contend for is, that that extreme case
had arrived ; and I have no doubt that the whole country,
as well as posterity, will ratify that decision. The majo-
rity in the House of Lords against the Bill was so large,
that it was obviously impossible that we could have re-
mained masters of the measure. The Right lion. and
Gallant Member opposite had stated a declaration made
by my Noble Friend at the head of his Majesty's Govern-
ment as to the course which he intended to pursue in the
event of the Bill having been read a second time in the
House of Lords. His declaration was, after the second
reading of the first Bill had been lost, that he would re-
main in office so long as there remained a rational prospect
of carrying the measure—that pledge he certainly re•
deemed, for he did not retire from office till all prospect of
that sort had totally disappeared. For the purposes of the
argument which has been c irried on upon the other side,
it was said that the division in the House of Lords, which
drove the late Administration from effiee, was a division
upon a subject of no real importance; certainly, if it were
no matter of moment, there might he something of force
in the argument—if it depended upon a mere
trifle of Legislative pedantry respecting the precedence
of tire clause over another, then I confess I should
not have been the man to complain of any matter
of inibfference ; but I believe that it will be now
universally acknowledged by all candid and impartial
men, that the division in question was really one of
importance, and of the highest importance, far here
was a measure upon which the existence of the Ge-
vernment as a Government was staked, and suddenly we
find ourselves in such a situation- that we lose all com-
mand or control over the measure, and we are outvoted
by a large majority of the House of Lords. It is almost
instructing the House upon first principles, to tell them
that no Government could carry on the business of the
country, if it do not possess the continence of both Houses
of Parliament, and yet, -in order to answer the arguments
froth time other aide, I am compelled to remind the House
of th it tact. Really, it is almost too absurd to say that
the question upon which the House of Lords divided the
other night was not one involving an essential principle.
They told us that they would proceed with enfranchise-
ment first, and why:—because we tlmiLk it may he possible
that the necessity for disfranchisement may he greatly dinti
ni4lied or altogether removed ; that at all events, a
less amount of disfranchisement will suffice. Surely that in-
volves the very principle of the Bill—to alter the de-
tailed arrangement for such a purpose, and in such a man-
ner, was to alter its most important principle, for the very
essence of tie Bill was the disfranchisement of the nomi-
nation boroughs; failing to carry the principle of dis-
franchisement, nothing remained for us but resignation--
We must have either abandoned the Bill or resigned our
offices. We had no choice between these two.--(Herr.)
Sir GEO.MURRAY said a few words in explanation,
which, owing to the noise that prevailed both in the
House and the galllery, it was impossible distinctly to
hear ; but he was understood to say that the Noble Lord
opposite had quite misconceived him—that he meant to
convey no imputation whatever upon the conduct of the
Noble Lord.

S r THOMAS DENMAN was sure that every one
wou,d bear ready testimony to the able and manly manner
in which his Honourable and Learned Friend opposite had
der cared his objections to the Bill when it was under dis.
eussien in that House ; and he tva.s slso perfe.•tly ready to
give his Honourable and Learned Friend full credit for

the statement, that he himself in t..kiug office was making
a sacrifice—certainly a large sacrifice of income ; but h.
confessed it did not appear to him that similar sacrifices were

to be made by others taking office, though the contrary
W.s announced by one who in some sort appeared to re-
present the phantom Administration existing, or nois
duppo,rd to exist—who came amongst them like the
White Lady of Avenel, to make oracular and mysterious
announcements.

Mr. A. BARING said that lie had not spoken from
authority—that he had had no communication with an
Illustriumt Personage whatever upon the subject of the ne-
gotiations now pending.
Sir T. DEN3IAN certainly so understood the Hon.
Gentleman. He certainly conveyed to the Home that be
had had no communication whaterer with his Majesty,
hut that be had had some wttii the Duke of Wellington.
Now that he certainly had considered as pretty high au.
Shority. He seemed, however, but little inclined, then, to
abide. by the statements that he had previously made, and
he (Sir 1. Denman) could not help congratulating 'be