The Sun.
London, England, 1828-06-03 00:00:00

it was proposed ko take further proceedings on this
Bill, and on that day it was perfectly well known
to every Member of this House, that the Penryn
e Rill • wee .in ~ _that . state • the • other , _House •of
Parliament in which it was probable, indeed it was cer-
tain, either that the elective franchise would be transferred
to the adjoining hundred, and not to Manchester, or
that the Bill would be rejected , altogether. I feel,
Sir,, all the difficulties in which I am placed in mak-
king this part of my statement, as I cannot allude
to what passed in another place where I have ceased to he
• a member ; but I may say this without impropriety that
my,Right Ilori. Friend was well aware, when lie came down
to the Hottse on the !9th May, to what extent and in what
degree,• and in- what.vards, I committed myself, by my
declarations ou a former occasion..
,I may.also say that it
was then well known—to all those whom I, had then the
happiness to call any colleagues, that the, discussion upon
that Bill was one of this nature—that every Member, of the
Governueent felt at liberty to take such a course, as.to him
Appeared best, hut—(Hear, hear)—further than this, Sir, I
am not at liberty to. state. Upon the ,House" going into
Committee .rny Hon. Friend, the, Member for: Hertford,
- moved an amendment to the preamble of the Bill (which
amendment was not according to any previons,prece•
dent), net for admitting the hundred of Bassetlaw
to participate in the, elective franchise ef East Retford,
hut to establish that Hundred in the exclusive right of re-
turning the Iwo Membees..peetiouely 'returned by Retford.
Now I Stated at that time, and I state now, that that was
au entire anomaly in the history of the dealing of this
House with its Hon. Members. My lion. Friend I don't
believe a:rag prepared, nor do I conceive lie is so now, to
show how is envie machinery would work. How many
people are there id this town rated at 20/. a-year, and
bow was this Mayor oi ret2uning officer to be elected by
the Aldermen—how, were t,,,st to be sure that he was rated
gc 40/. a . yeas ? The whole thing presented such
an anomaly, as to he ore of the most extraordinary
circumstances that was ever preserved: totriarliament,
• as the mode pf creating a new little county in the
hundred of Nottingham,. and erecting in that county
a right such as existed in no other town, annihilating all
existing franchise in that town. The lion. Gentleman
went on to say that, as soon as this proposal had
been made by his Right Honourable Friend, his Right
Hon. Friend observed, upon' the. differences tiret Appeared ;
the arguments, however, of his Right Hon. Friend, adopted
cc' er to establish his own ceosistency, actually destroyed
nil possibility of -his (Mr. IL's) voting upon the same
vend he had occupied. Every circiernetanre by which
the Right Honourable Member was thus eon: Winded,
slier the admission that the Penryn Bill was lost in the
House of Lord?, kft his (Mr. Hitskisson's) position un-
tenable. A Noble Friend, ,c,ertainly without any personal
or political hostility, said, " I claim, the vote of the Secretary
of State for the Colonial Department, end 1 claim.it upon
the very ground of his own consistency." Thus called upon
to redeem a pledge, and the 'demand haVing beery rnatle by
the Honourable 'genitive in that House, what altetwa:ia'e
had be but to rise up in his place and acknowledge the
pledge--(Hear, hear). He acknowledged the pledge, and
having gated that he had made use a-the words which
his Noble Friend had adopted, be etterepael to show
that the measure prop fired by the Hon. Member Cue Hert-
fordshire was entirely novel in its charact, and deserved
more mature coniideration. He wiehed _therefore the House
to give time, if it should be the term of the House, to consider
whether it was possible to carry execution the machinery
proposed by the Hon. Member. llis Right Hon. Friend
;a rising to make this short address, said—'4 Jie sure You
mark the difference between that I have said ono former
,occasion and the declaration now." The lienoureNe
Gant. did not want this specific declaration 'made ;
be
theft and still felt -that the course adopted by kis Hon.
Friend had .been straight-forward and consistent; but
every Hon. Gentleman, would see that -in proportion
as he upheld that consistency by any thing he could say,
lie necessarily. Adopted the course of Voting in the
Line adopted by his Right Hon. Friend. Therefore
lit was to avoid the difficulty and pain of the situation in
witich he was placed, more than in consequence of any
importable.? attached to his conduct, that he proposed not to
proreed to any vote upon the Rill. And he hoped he
might he allowed to say, that if the course so natural for
him to have adopted, and- to him so obvious for the
Howie to have adopted under such rirteenestAncee,
bad been adopted, whenever the. House came to a further
discussion on this measure, no passible difference of opinion,
as far as his character in the Executive.. Government was
concerned, could have aritem whatever Kni he had taken.
He pressed hie Honourable Friend tai give hie oeontenance,
so delay hot he said .it was isnpossikle, and he could not
,withhold his support to -the Bill..• in consequence the
Ho'` Se proeseded to a division, und. regarding his consistency'
he cnu:.4 nut do otherwise than give the vote he gave.—
He knew bed been said by persons whose judgment and
discretion he pa' id the greatest deference to, that he might.
have sheltered his coneisteney under the plea that lie could
not know the fate Of the ?tortla Bell'-e(Heer.)--But after
all he had heird,lliA would have Iwo a subterfuge unworthy
of hiinself.-e(CheerS.)—Almtni every Gent. had
stated without any contradiction from any ,quarter
contradiction being impossible, that the Bill was sirtilally,
Wt. He had heard it from all—he had heard it from 413
Right Vim. Frierid, that he• coraddered as-no longer
in existence.' The division took place, and the House ad-
*riled. He retired, but not without observieg the !oohs of ,
some, or without hearing, in theordinary whispe.re,expres.
sinus respecting the course he had taken. He might ouster
the impression 'of exaggerated fechuge, and scrutinizing
his own' pretensions with a magnifying glass of too
large power% have done that which, perhaps, 'otherwise
be would not have done in the genie -manner. After
having been engaged from fifteen to sixteen hours\ in the ,
discharge of public duty in Downing-street and in that '
House, lie went home aegl wrote that letter which he
was new bound to say it would hove been better, in
all probability, to have postponed. Respecting the cor-
respondence that had taken place, he felt a eteliracy in
eome respects 'in attempting 'to read it, lest he elitailel lay
open *to suspicione--(Cries of " read")--then he ,
would read it. In addressing the letter he should first read '
•to the Noble Duke at the head of his Majesty's Govern-
ment,: lie fill himself discharging nduty suck 0 was ins-
posed upon lanai in point of honour, and if he ;lid it with-
out Mature consideration, he had greatly to balletic
the misfortune, • confessing thtt if he had -omitted
writing that letter until the next rnort4og it certainly would '
have expressed More clearly and more captiously than it slid
his feeliugs and sentiments; The litter waifs follows :--
(No. I.)
Downing-street, Tuesday morning, 2 a.rei, -Mey gO.
ray clear Duke,-`-After the vote which, in regard to nay
own consistency and personal character, I have found my-
self, from the course of this evt;ning's 'Ohne, Compelled to
give on • the Fast Retford question, I owe it to you as the
head of the Administration, and 'to Mr. Peel as the leader
lase no tithe in afford-hag you
, of the House of Ce immons,
ay opportunity of plsicng my
rove hi other bands, AS he)
only
means in my powe; of png the injury to the
Kin Yes sea-vice Ivhic.b piny ensue • from appearance of
disunion in his Majeety'! Coancils, however unfounded
in reality, or however unimportant itf itself the question
which has given rise to thit appeOatice.'
Regretting the oeceetrity of troubling yen With this come
tranication,
Believe. me, my dent Poke, ever truly host's,
sine • W. HUSKISSON.
(gd)
• f writin
This letter he took the peecautiort Og upon
" private and confidential," 'which he &la. He then
inclosed it' in, a cover, and wrote the same Trott upon
• that cover, , Addressing it to the Duke cf
and sending itsealed up in a eebiriet box Apsley 'Renee.
It was, as he said before, written hastily, arid under strong
feelinga that no act of his should for aznornent he thOu
hound
ght
-intended to embarrass the' Government, hitt he was
in honour to make the' communication; and XeatUl if it
were not lett to the members of anyGovertimatt t 9 have
personfil communication between each °thee unreeenvedly,by
letters, to be construed with as little of minute verhal cOti-;
eisne as if the message were eueeeyed verbally, it w,as:quite
impossible that a Session could pass without the frequent oc-
currence of circumstances of this kind. had happened to
him to have made cosnmunications of this eeitore before,
unattended by any consemeesce calculated to imizede the
pablic business. He reznembereli when in May, 1822,
the late Lord Londonderry moved the following resolu-
time; —" That his Majesty Ise enabled to rigreet exchequer
bills, to an amount not exceeding t,000,000/., to be, issued
to cominissioaers in Great. 1117440
3 to he by them ad-
. vanced under certain regulations and restricaloos,whenever
she average price of wheat shall he under ,60s. Der quarter,
up,;n such corn the growth of flee united 4ngdom, as.
shall ,be deposited in fit and proper warehooaese, ;Upon
that noes; ion he had opposed his Noble Friend'. resolution,
which wee subsequently abandoned; bet on the next
morning, afte.r Le had so given it hie stroncst oppo-
sition, he did then what lie had done ou the late oc-
casino, hut without being exposed to . a similar re- ,
a alt.—(Hear, hear, hear, and laughter.)—About one
o'clock on the TueSday, when lie had at two o'clock
of the' same morning written the letter which lie
had just read to the Duke of Wellington, his Noble Friend
Lord Dudley had called upon him .0A official business at
the Colonial Office, which was materially connected with
his department. Something occurred at this inter View
which induced liim.to say to his Noble Friend, that on the
night before he had been guilty of a little act of insubor-
elivation, and Led wtitten upon the subject to the Duke