The Sun.
London, England, 1850-07-04 00:00:00

Sir, in that speech which preceded the one which
I addressed to the House, and in which be
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
think, 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 great 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 feel 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 in-
flicted permanent injury on the country.—(Hear, hear.)
I consider Sir Robert Peel to have been the man who pre-
vented any such occurrence happening. Although he had
opposed the Reform Bill, yet he 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.)
But without wishing to enter into the merits of that
gifted and accomplished man, having all the means fur
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 political views,
but although it would be out of place to discuss the
grounds of that difference, this I will say, that I -shall
always be ready to bear my testimony to the utility of massy
of his public acts, indeed during a recent time of peril
and contention in every part of Europe the_tto.fety 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 family and friends of the late
Sir R. Peel to be desirable to take such a course, though
I shall not now proceed to make any motion on the subject,
I will give my willing support to a proposal for
confer-ring 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
that anything which could do honour to the memory of
Sir Robert Peel. or which could add any further tribute
of respect to his name, would be unhesitatingly ac-
quiesced in by her Majesty.—(Cheers.) Sir, I wish,
therefore, in concluding these few words, to say that
in disposing of this proposal I place myself entirely in
the heeds of the friends of the late Sir Robert Peel.—
(Hear, 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 be amongst the foremost.—(Cheers.)
Mr. GOULBURN was sure the House would not con-
sider it unnatural, after what had fallen from the Noble
Lord 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, if at that moment he addressed a few ob-
servations 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 friends and his family with respect
to the proposition which the Noble Le. d
had made.—(Hear, hear.) He accepted it on
their behalf with the deeiest 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 allowed 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 end
ostentation he particularly reprobated in the nee of
public men—(Hear, hear)—and from the earliest
period of his connexion with him his wishes and habigs
had been of the purest and simplest character; but per-
haps the House generally would be more satisfied of ,;his
if he read to teem a declaration 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 bead
of a large political party in that House.—(Cheers.)
That paragraph was as follows:—" I desire that I may
' be interred in the vault in the parish of Drayton-Bassett,
in which my father and mother were interred, and that
my funeral may be without ostentatioa 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 made in that particular church to
which that memorandum referred. Sir R. Peel pointed
out to Lady Peel the very spot an the vault in which he
wished and trusted his body might be laid, without
any of that parade or ostentation 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. Under
these circumstances, therefore, he was sure that he (Mr.
Goulburn) had but one duty to perform and the family
of the late Sir Robert Peel but 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,
the greatest honour that could be paid to a
subject a proposition which they were compelled respect-
fully but thankfully to decline. He (Mr. Goulburn)
only entreated the House to add to that mark of respect
which they had paid to the ability and public services of
his lamented friend the further mark of respect to his
simplicity of character, and give effect to his de-
sire as to the way in which he wished
his funeral obsequies to be conducted. The
entry of the adjournment of the House immediately after
its meeting yesterday, out of respect to the memory of
the deceased statesman, was an honour which would
live for ever in the journals of that House, and an honour
which was never before paid to a subject.—(Hear.)
Mr. HERRIES said through all the various suc-
cessions of political change from the year when
he had first a seat in that House to the
year 1841, when it was his fortune to go abroad, it
was one of the proudest circumstances in his life that he
had lived on terms of amity with the late lamented Sir
Robert Peel. Atter a separation of sometime, occasioned
by his (Mr. Herris'a) absence, he returned unfortunately
in decided opposition to measures of the greatest
magnitude and the deepest importance on which that
great statesman had embarked his political
reputation, but that opposition he (Mr. Herries) was
proud to say did not cause the slightest disturbance in
the personal friendship which had long subsisted between
them. It would be vain, indeed, if he were to attempt
on this occasion to speak in the language of panegyric; he
rose only to add his testimony to that universal expression
of admiration and regret which bad arisen in all hearts on
this tension, and to express what he believed, and in-
deed, what he might confidently say, he knew
to be the feeling of those around him (the Op-
position)—(Cheers)—that no reminiscence of diversity
in political feeling would for one moment mingle
with the sentiment of profound regret and sorrow at
the melancholy accident which had deprived this country'
of its most eminent statesman, and that House of its
most distineuished ornament.—(Hear, hear.)
BUSINESS OF THE SESSION.
state
what
On the motion for reading the orderstof the day,
Lord
JOHN
wereh
tRUSSELLont olrootsi rose
Intentions
ando
f said.the that he woul d
now Government
with respect to the Bats which_ were now standing over
undisposed of.
As he had already stated that the late
debate had disarranged the, course of public
to the extent of ten days, he thought it reasonablea
pro-
position
publicthat
shouldthosenot
Bills
osentwhichup to
hadnot
the beenotleelro
business
theso late a period, when there could be hardly lung bu es fou
ar et
time to go
through with them. That was not, however,
applicable
to measures of revenue. The Chancellor of thrlEixecalle3ele
quer would, therefore, proceed with the Stamp Bill-
The next Bill which he would mention was one of great
importance, upon which the House had already decided
in favour of its principle, and that was the abolition of
the Lord-Lieutenancy of Ireland. As it was, however,
probable that there would be a great deal of discussion
as to the mode of exercising the authority
of the Crown in that country which had been
hitherto exercised by the Lord Lieutenant, and as
the Bill would not reach the /other House before the
begieeing of August, that would be too late
to propose so very large a charge in the mode
of governing Ireland.—(Cheers.) !Another Bill
with regard to Ireland, with respect to which there had
been also much discussion, the Security for Advances
(Ireland) Bill would net be proceeded with, and
he proposed that the House sit on Monday, at
twelve, fur the purpose of proceeding with the Bill
The Merchant Seamen's Bill would not be proceeded
with. The Wood and Forests Bill, for the re-arrange-
ment of that department, required
a great deal of altera-
tion, and would not be proceeded with. -
To morrow
night, Monday, and the Friday following, he
proposed to devote to Supply, as there were se-
veral important votes yet to be taken. He thought
t'here was very great inconvenience in protracting the
si melon of Parliament by frequent debates into a time
w,lien Hon. Members found it necessary to leave this
cot.'ntry for the benefit of their health. There was one
other Bill which he would mention, which he did not
intend ro go on with, and that was the Railway
Audit Bill. The Parliamentary Oaths Bill would
be proceeded with on .thet • day- fortnight"