The Sun.
London, England, 1827-05-05 00:00:00

THE NEW ADMINISTRATION.

The Earl of WINCHELSEA then rose and said, I wish
to know from the Noble Lords who have so recently taken
their seats on the opposite side, whether it is their inten-
tion to bring forward any of the three great Constitutional
questions which they have hitherto so ably and so strongly
supported ?—(Hear, hear.)—l allude, my Lords, to Par-
liamentary Reform—the Abolition of Sinecures—and the
*Repeal of Corporation and Test Acts.—(Cheers and laugh-
ter.) If they do not bring them forward I certainly
will. Under the existing state of the Administration,
of the country, it is, I feel, my duty to quiet the extraor-
dinary agitation which prevails as to the course they ale
about to adopt. We have a Government composed of two
parties, who had each violently and, I believe,
honestly differed in their opinions--and who entertained
sentiments diametricplly Opposite, upon all the great
questions that interest the nation. This is a sub-
ject upon which we ought no longer to remain
in suspense, and I am determined to bring to the test the
principles of the present Administration. With this view,
I now give notice, that on the 11th of June, I will bring
forward a motion to the effect that this House resolve
itself into a Committee to consider the state of the Nation.
(Cheers.)—lt is clear, my Lords, that some extraordi-
nary alteration has taken place. There has either been
on the part of the Members of the Administration, an
abandonment of the opinions which hitherto regulated
their public life, or else there now exists no unanimity
between them.—(Cheers.)—One or other of these positions
must be conceded to me ; and with the view of bringing
the question to a decided ism-3, I now move that your
Lordships be summoned for Monday the 1 lth of June.

The Marquis of LONDONDERRY then rose.—We
are informed, my Lords, by public report, that some
of the members of the new Administration have been only
provisionally placed there, and—
The Earl of HARROWBY—My Lords, so irregular
a proceeding as this I never heard. A Noble Lord
has merely given notice of a motion for a future day—
there is no question now before us—l cannot, therefore,
allow the Noble Lord to proceed in this irregular manner.
—(Hear, hear.)
The Earl of LAUDERDALE--I apprehend, my Lords,
there is a question before the House, and that question is,
that your Lordships be summoned on Monday the 1 1 th
of June—(Cheers and laughter.)
The Marquis of LONDONDERRY again arose, and,
with considerable warmth said—l will not be put down by
any Noble Lord on that side of the House. If the Noble Earl
who interrupted me, wishes to prevent the expression of
my sentiments, he must address himself to a man of a differ-
ent character and spirit from me. The extreme haste
ay" 'eh the Noble Lord attempted to arrest me proves
t I was going to say was not likely to he very
to him.—( Laughter. )--The Nokle Earl felt rather
awawarii,—he is not sure, and he does not wish to have it
asked whether the Noble Lords on his right and on his left
are to remain there.—(Continued now say
that which is publicly declared, namely, that the in-
dividuals who fill some of the offices of the new Admi-
nistrations—those for instance, of Secretary for Foreign
Affairs andthe Home Department, are not to be permanently
fixed there. They are merely placed there until certain
Noble Lords find how the campaign is likely to go on.
(Laughter. )—Until they find whether they are to march
and join, or to fall back and retire.--(Laughter. )
After remarking upon the state of things in this
strain for some time, the Noble Marquis proceeded—
when I look on the opposite benches and see the motley
assemblage, I cannot but conclude that the artificer
who formed the administration has divested it of
all its ornament and support. It is now a sort of
rubbish—(continued laughter)—very dexterously I will
admit put together, but with respect to its durability I can-
not say much. The artificer has placed himself between
two opposing parties who will not, I am sure, have
enough of strength to keep him floating in the middle.—
(Cheers.)—He had untoried a part of the Tories;
and unwhigged a part of the Whigs.—(Great laughter.)
When I see the country situated as it is ; when
I find that as I go along through this metropolis
every man I meet asks in God's name what is to
become of us. Can I remain silent? The present Prime
Minister has allied himself to those, whom for twenty
years, he had been opposed to—nay, more, he has ad-
mitted them to his Cotmcils.—(Cheers)—There is one part
of this subject on which I feel it painful to touch; but the
public good is paramount with me, and I must speak my
opinion. There is one Noble Friend whom I see opposite,
with whom I have long been very intimate, whose honesty,
candour, and great qualities I admire--(we believe the
Noble Marquis alluded to Lord Goderich)—and sorry am I
indeed to find, that he has separated from those individuals
with whom he has been closely connected for the last 20
years. I will not go back and ask him how he can recon-
cile such a state of things; but I think he cannot fairly
contemplate them without a feeling of deep pain. Far be
it from me to complain of inconsistency; I do not complain
I only speak my opinions.—(During the time the Noble
Marquis was making these personal allusions he spoke in a
low soft voice across the table, so that it was not possible
to hear below the bar half what he said.)—l dare say (he
continued) I shall be told that I ought not to state these
things, but my feelings force me to speak. Such of their
Lordships as think to Lord it over the House shall not lord
it over me. I have a right to speak what I think, and I
will not allow myself to be put down. I did not intend to
say one word when I came into the House, and I only rose
for the purpose of advising the Noble Lord to postpone his
motion. I did not expect to see the Noble Lord so well
prepared to put me down, and so long as I enjoy the confi-
dence of the House, so long I shall stand up in my place
and state distinctly and directly my opinion.---(Hear.)!
Lord Viscount GODERICH and the Marquis of SALIS-
BURY rose at the same time, but Lord Viscount Goderich
being called for, proceeded—Feeling very warmly, my
Lords, some of the remarks of the Noble Lord, but having
been only recently introduced among your Lordships, and
being one of those persons who have been called by
my Noble Friend—for so I must still call him—rubbish,
I should be wanting to myself and your• Lordships if I
did not say a few words to you. If the Administration
is composed of rubbish, I certainly can say for myself, that
I will not consent to be beat in detail, and will not enter
into discussions incidentally introduced, when we are
to take eur trial on the 11 th of June. The Noble
Lord may prepare the storm, and let loose the winds

that are to blow us from our situations, we shall be pre-
pared to meet it--(Hear, hear)—and we shall not care a
straw for the consequences. I shall say for myself that the
only circumstance which put, me in my present situation,
which makes me a member of his Majesty's Government,
was an anxious desire to prevent the dissolution of the Go-
vernment. I shall not now go into the details ; but, if I
had not yielded, I was told that the Administration would
separate. When I was most anxious to leave office, I was
pressed to remain.—(Hear, hear.)--I am entitled to say,
that I ask only for a fair field and no favour ; and I will
abide the result, let it he what it may.—(Cheers.)
The Marquis of LONDONDERRY, in explanation,
observed, that he did not intend to include the Noble Lord
(Goderich) in that phrase to which he seemed to object.
He only applied it to that portion of the Administration
which had lately come in.
The Marquis of ANGLESF,A said, that the explanation
which the Noble Lord had given of course applied to him.
He was part of the "rubbish," but nothing that could be
said in that way would induce him to to enter into a pre-
mature discusion.—(Hear, from the Treasury Bench.)
Lord KING said, that if the Noble Marquis knew any-
thing of building, he must be aware that it was generally
the rubbish which was removed.—(Great laughter.)—
However extraordinary the Constitution of the present Ad-
ministration was in his (Lord King's) opinion, it was both
more useful and more ornamental than the old House, which
had fallen.—(Hear and laughter.)—He would therefore
remind Noble Lords of the expression of a celebrated French
General, when he was told of the enemy's inclination to
give battle, " I shall not fight" said he " when they wish,
but when I will."

The Marquis of SALISBURY said, that however the
present discussion was deprecated, it had originated in
the undue warmth which a Noble Lord opposite
had evinced in endeavouring to stifle the observations
of his Noble Friend (the Marquis of Londonderry.)
[Hear, from the Opposition benches.] That Noble Lord's
bong intercourse with the forms of the House might have
taught him the impropriety of such interruptions. He
confessed that he (the Marquis of Salisbury) was most de-
sirous to know the truth ofthat report which was in every
one's mouth out of doors, namely, that some of the Noble
Lords who now sit on the Treasury Bench, had taken
office provisionally.
Lard HARROWBY rose to explain. The interruption
he had given to the Noble Marquess, had been only for the
purpose of preserving that order which was so necessary
in the discussions of every assembly. As to the ge-
neral observations which had been made, for his
own part, be could add but little to the observations
of his Noble Friend (Lord Goderich); like that Noble
Lord, if he (Lord Harrowby) had acted in accord-
ance with his own wishes, he would have withdrawn alto-
gether from public life. He felt that this step would have
been sanctioned by his increasing years ; for he felt that
whatever faculties he might have had for the public service
were daily diminishing. He had acted, however, on the
advice and persuasion of others, who had informed him
that the postponement of his intention would be useful
to the public service. He could assure their Lordships
that in acceding to the advice given him on this subject,
he had made a great sacrifice of personal feeling,—(hear,)
—and he owned he felt that sacrifice was greatly augment-
ed by his separation from those with whom he was accus-
tomtomed to act for many years, and for whom he ever
had, and ever would feel the deepest respect and the
warmest attachment.—LThe Noble Lord here became evi-
dently affected.]—lt would be impossible for their Lord-
ships to estimate his feelings, when he beheld those
whom he so much respected and esteemed—(Here
his Lordship directed his eyes to the cross-lynich ^n which
Lord Eldon sate) sitting apart from him. It was a source
of unaffected regret to him, but he acted on principle, and
that principle he would be ready to explain on a proper
occasion, which occasion the motion of a Noble Lord would
afford. He for one, was most happy that such au oppor-
tunity had been afforded.
The Earl of WINCHELSEA said, he would postpone
his motion from June 11 to May 31.

The Earl of ELDON said, the question had not been
put, and therefore the Noble Marquis had been quite in
order. The Noble Earl spoke in so low a tone, that he
was nearly inaudible below the bar : but we understood
him to express himself glad to hear the dedlarations of
his Noble Friends, and to express his regret at their sepa-
ration. It was a curious postponement of a motion, his
Lordship concluded, to change it from the 11th of June to
May 31.—(A laugh.) _ _ _

The Earl of WINCHELSEA said, he would on Mon-
day give notice of the day when he should submit his mo-
tion to their Lordships.
Earl SPENCER objected to this course. A motion
had been regularly brought before their Lordships, and it
could not be disposed of without their Lordships' consent.
He had no objection, if the Noble Earl pleased to withdraw
his motion, to consent to its being withdrawn.
After a short conversation on this point, tila motion was
withdrawn, it being understood that the Earl of Winchel-
sea was, on Monday next, to state on what day he should
make his tnotion.—Adjourned till Monday.