The Sun.
London, England, 1850-07-05 00:00:00

IMPERIAL PARLIAMENT.

HOUSE OF COMMONS, July 4.

The 11,,use resumed et Half-Past Fi,ur some

time before which there was an unusually large Wtend-
mice of Members fir that early hour, who were doubt
less attracted by the intimation that fell from Sir G. Grey
at the morning sitting that the First Lord of the Trea-
sury wc,uld this evening make a statement with reference
to the great b3reavernent the nation has suffered in the
lamentable demise of Sir Robert Peel. By half-past four
the body of the House was nearly filled with ?clambers,
as were also the side galleries. _ _ _

The strangers' gallery was likewise crowded to ex-
cess. The benches below the bar assigned for the re-
ception of Wmbers of the House of Lords and distin-
guished visitors were occupied; whilst the Speaker's
gallery was more than ordinarily filled.
The first quatt,r of an hour or twenty minutes was
taken up with the preliminary business of presenting
pAitilns, and giving notices of motion.
PETITIONS.

Mr. MUNTZ presented a petition from the corpora-
.on of liirmiughim, against the recent alterations in the

Post-office.

Mr. SIIAFTO ADAIR presented a petition to the
same effect.
A c ,nsiderable number of petitions were presented
eg .inst t' e .dmiss,ion of Jews into Parliament.
Mr. REYNOLDS presented a petition horn Dublin
against the Mercantile Marine Bill; also several peti-
tions against the excise regulations with respect to Irish
spirits.
Mr. 11. BERKELEY presented a petition from the
Odd Fellows, praying for a' alteration of the Friendly
Societe-,s Act. _ _ _

Mr. ELLICE presented a petition from CovoitTy,
-numerously signed, against the recent Post-office Tcgll-

!at:ons.

.....
A considerable number of petitions to the tame effect
were presented by several ottu-r don. Members.
Mr. HUME presented a petition from Glasgow
against any further legislative restrictions on the sale of
beer.
Lord DUDLEY STUART presented a petition from
Marylebone in favour of Hyde-park being selected Ls
the site f,r the Exhibition of 1851.
Lord NAAS presented a petition from Lisburn against
the excise regulations respecting Irish spirits.
Mr. SCULLY presented two petitions from Thur:es
..)nd Nenagh, to the same effect.
Mr. LABOUC HERE presented two petitions from
Brompton and Chelsea, in favour of Hyde--, ark as the
site for the Exhibition of 1851.
DEATH OF SIR ROBERT PEEL.

Lord J. RUSSELL rose at five minutes before five
o'clock, and, after bringing up the report of the Com-
missioners respecting the Exhibition of 1851, said—Sir,
in moviug that these papers be laid on the table, I
will ask the House to allow me to take this oppor-
tunity of mingling my voce of sorrow with that of
the House in general at the great loss which this House
has sustained. Sir, at the first contemplation of this
misfortune it is impossible not to be overcome by
feelings of awe that one who so late as Friday
night last informed the House by his judgment
on one of the most important discussions of the year,
should have already passed away from us, and that not
by disease overcoming nature, but by one of those com-
mon amide! is to which we are all liable. Sir,
in speaking of that great man it is impossible
not to lament that hereafter this House will
be no longer guided by that long - and large
experience of public affairs, by that profound knowledge,
by those rhetorical powers, by that copious yet exact
memory, with which this House was wont to be en-
lightened, instructed, and guided.—(Cheers.) It is not
for me or for this House, to speak of the career of Sir
Robert Peel. It never happened to me to be in
political connexion with him, but so late as that last de-
bate to which I have referred, I took occasion to thank
him for that fair and frank support which he had given
to the present Government.—(Hear.) Sir Robert Peel,
Sir, in that speech which preceded the one which
I addressed to the House, and in which he
opposed the policy of the Government, spoke with such
temper and such forbearance towards all those who
might hold an opposite opinion to his, that it must be a
satisfaction to those remaining that his last act should
have been one of such candour and kindness towards
all those around him.—(Hear, hear.) Sir, there can, I
thick, be no doubt that, however history may deal with
the wisdom of the course he pursued, that it will be ad-
mitted that on two greet occasions when he held power,
undisturbed and apparently with every sign of security,
and when he proposed measures to this House
which shook and after a time subverted his party,
he did so from those motives of deep love for his country
which ever distinguished him.—(Cheers.) Sir, of these
occasions I shall not speak, but there is one part
of his career to which I perhaps may be allowed
to refer, because I feA it due to him to pay
that tribute which has not hitherto been rendered
to his deserts. I allude to the period which elapsed
from 1832 to 1841. After the contests which took place
on the corn-laws, it was to be dreaded that those who
had opposed that Bill, expecting results from it
calamitous to the country, might have retired in
disgust from public office, and thereby leave
a war of classes to be carried on which might have

tinted permanent injury on the country.—(Hear, hear.)
I consider Sir Robert Peel to have been the man who pee-
r, nted any such occurrence happening. Although he had
opposed the Reform Bill, yet ho addressed himself
manfully, in the situation in which he was placed—he
addressed himself to the country on behalf of a prin-
ciple of which he was the most eloquent defender, and
brought back again the various powers of the state into
harmony, and he showed himself not afraid of abiding
by the verdict of the people on those measures and
principles of which he was the advocate.—(Hear, hear.)
Bur, without wishing to enter into the inerits of that
gifted and accomplished man, having all the means for
taking a part in the political struggles of this House, and
having likewise a love of literature and a taste for art,
which might well have occupied his time and made his
life happy apart from political contests, I may be
allowed to say that I consider the example of such a man
in devoting himself to his country ought not to be
silently passed by.—(Hear, hear.) I have from time to
time, in common with many other Members of this
House, differed from many of his poliical views,
but although it would be out of place to discuss the
grounds of that difference, this I will say, that I shall
al mays be ready to b !ar my testimony to the utility of many
of his public acts, indeed during a recent time of peril
and cantentien in every part of Europe the safety of this
country was mainly attributable to the previous fore-
sight of Sir Robert Peel, and the course of policy which
he had pursued. With these feelings, Sir, I wish to say
that if it should appear to the f Amity and friends of the late
Sir R Peel to be desirable to take such a course, though
I shall nor. now proceed to make any motion on the subject,
I will give my willing support to a proposal for
conferring the same honours on his remains that
were awarded to Mr. Grattan and Mr. Pitt.—
(Loud cheers.) I may, perhaps, be permitted to add
' that I thought it right to obtain the sanction of the
Crown before I made this proposal, and I feel assured
his
ser name,
?lajesty.would be unhesitatingly
—(Cheers.) Sir, I wish,
ac-
quiesced
that anything which could do honour to the memory of
Sir Robert Peel, or which could add any further tribute
of
respect
tob
by
therefore, in concluding these few words, to say that
e c i
t n
in disposing of this proposal I place myself entirely in
the hands of the friends of the late Sir Robert Peel.—
(Hoar, hear.) Having had no political connexion with
him this proposal comes from me without the tinge of
partiality; and I may say in conclusion, without any fear
of a charge of insincerity, that I do feel that this
country, as well as posterity hereafter, in recognising
the claims of individuals deceased to the title of eminent
statesmen who have adorned the annals of this country
or contributed to its lustre, those of the late Sir Robert
Peel will he amongst the foremost.—(Cheers.)
Mr. GOULBURN was awe the House would not con-
sider it unnatural, after what bad fallen from the Noble
L ard, if he, who had had the inestimable advantage of
having been connected with the late Sir Robert Peel in
intimate bonds of friendship, and who had been selected
by him to carry into effect his last wishes, and as he
had been authorised by his family to speak their feelings
on this subject, it at that moment he addressed a few ob-
servati ,ns to them. He did not rise to add anything
to the testimony of respect which the Noble Lord had so
gracefully bestowed on his lamented friend, but he rose
simply to express to the Noble Lord and the House the
feelings of his Holds and his family with respect
to the proposition which the Noble Lord
had made.—( Hear, hear.) He accepted it on
their behalf with the deepest gratitude as a proof of the
gracious disposition of the Sovereign to acknowledge
the merits of a great public servant.—(Hear, hear.) He.
accepted it too as the highest tribute of respect which
the House of Commons could pay to the memory of
his deceased friend. He spoke now not only in
his own name, but in the name of his family,
and again he must be alloyed to repeat that he
felt deeply the honour of having such a proposal as that
which he had just heard suggested by the Crown and so
affectingly responded to by the House.—(Hear, hear.)
He might, perhaps, be permitted to add this,—that those
who were unacquainted with the late Sir Robert Peel
could have but little idea of the simplicity of his charac-
ter. If ever there was a man who was peculiarly dis-
tinguished by a desire to avoid ostentation, that indi-
vidual was Sir Robert Peel.—(Cheers.). Pomp and
ostentation he particularly reprobated in the ca.e of
public men—(Hear, hear)—and from the earliest.
period of his connexion with him his wishes and bays
had beets of the purest and simplest character; but per-
haps the House generally would be more satisfied of this
if he read to teem a declaraeion which his late lamented
friend signed on the Bth of May, 1844, when he was in
the full possession of all his mighty faculties, and when
he was in the full possession of power, and at the head
of a large political party in that House.—(Cheers.)
That paraersph was as ;0110 —" I &sire that I may
be interred in the vault in the parish ofDraron-llessett,
in which my father and mother were interred, and that
my funeral may bs without oetentatioe or parade of any
kind."—(Murmurs of applause.) Nor did this sentiment
undergo any alteration, for not later than six weeks since,
when alterations were male in that p articular church to
which that memorandum referred, Sir R. Peel pointed
in
out to Lady Peel the very spot in the vault which he
wished and trusted his body tnieht be laid, without
any of that parade or °sten. at;on which he so
strongly deprecated, and the :absence of which
gave him such great satisfaction in the case of
the funeral of the late Queen Dowager. Meter
these circumstances, therefore, he was sure that he (Ir.
Goulburn) had but one duty to perform, and the family
of the late Sir Robert Peel bet one wish, and that was
the thankfulness with which he (Mr. Goulburn) on
their part had to acknowledge the intentions both
of her Majesty and her Parliament in wishing
to confer on his late lamented friend that,