Star.
London, England, 1816-06-08 00:00:00

• -ani Meal situation ) Lord Elgin himself
geograP-- ' •
had said, that be had entered into the expedition for
the very purpose of gaining these marbles; whate
ose
he d the 3ritish Ambassador had as-
tn.' be PlPsisted the Turks against the French army in Egypt,
piniefer the citadel of Athens ! he hoped
hat he might
tthat the House would not a;eree to tho placing in the
ouei`Moselim a monument t t eta eternal dis-
The The Member concloded by
Fce.
moving, as an amendment, a Resolution-
-0 That the Committee regrets that the Earl of Elgin forgot
the dignity of the ..kmbassador from Great Britain, in order to
n o session of the Marbles be had brought front Greece to
it --iLotei ; that X-2.5,000 should be voted for them, to recover
Ltd collect them togethet, that they mightbe kept in trust in case
tiny skou'd ever afterwards be elaimud, and, that a negeeiation
should immediately he catered into towards their res:oration." -
Mr. CROKER defended the motion. He was
astonished that the classical speech of the Honourable
Centlenian should be followed by so farcical a Reso-
lution. The Noble Lord had never intended to bring
meat, the stems till he found that many had been
ounde to d in trotter, and then, rather than allow
hers be so treated, ' lie brought them away alto.
getheri instead of taking casts, which be had at first
intended. He had risen to speak to those two facts,
that there had been very great spoliation and destruc-
tion on the part of the Turks, and that Lord Elgin
never intended to bring the marbles away till he
found that they were likely to he entirely destroyed.
Lord Elgin had not done much in this transaction
when he was Ambassad,,r.
Mr. Serjeant 131„ ST did not think that Lord Elgin
bad acted properly, as the representative of this
country, in bringing away those marbles. It was
impossible for a man properly to conduct himself as
the representative of his own Government if he did
not keep himself entirely independent of the Court
at which he resided. It was clear that Lord Elgin
bad esceeded the authority of the Turkish Govern-
ment knowingly, and in despite of his own interpre-
tation of the fir man. If lie had advanced the arts
be had done what had tended to lower the opinion of
foreigners on our character and on our integrity. He
objected to the vote on a ground higher than economy,
namely, on the ground of justice.
Mr. W. WYNNE defended the motion, on the
ground that no remonstrance had been made by the
Turkish Government for any miiconstruction of the
irinan. lle did not think that the example would be
often I.llowed, where only 2E35,000 was given for an
expenditure of .tie-1,000. No one, he believed, had
not regretted that the Houghton Collection had not
been put chascd t and en the whole he considered,
that the purchase of these marble. would be of the
greatest benefit to the arts. A torciiy,ii Power had
made offers to purchase them, and he thought it of
the greatest importance to retain them in the country.
Sir J. NEWPORT considered the whole of this
troeaction as must unjustifiable, and upon that
ground, as well as the impropriety of voting 435;000
for such a purpose, at a time when the table of the
House was moaning with Petitions complaining of the
distresse, ot the people, he should oppose the motion.
Mr. C. LONG denied ' that there WAS any thing
dishonouraL le on the part of, Lord Elgin, or in =q-
uire affecting the character of this country. If the
opportunity ot purchasing these marbles now were
lost, it would never occur -again.
Lord MIL'T'ON was aware that an apolrgy might
be expected tram ell those who objected to a great
that was to put the country in possession of these
monuments ot ancient art. He could net, however,
agree that they had been acquired consistently with
the strict rules of morality ; and saw no advantage
that could be derived from the purchase of them.—
As the House were now about to vote so large a
sum, he wished them to ask themselves this important
question—a While in many parts of the country the
poor are literally starving; while riots and distur-
bances have actually arisen from the want of the
means of subsistence, can we, as the Representatives
of that people, and the Legislators of a great nation,
entertain the ides of deliberately team tug that sum
from them, and expending it for no purpose, but the
gratification of a taste for Shaw ?"—(lfear„ear.)
A question so important deserved attention ; and,
considering it as involving most serious consequences,
be decidedly oppos.:d the grant.,
Mr. PETER MOORE compared the urgent argil-
seem of the Right Honourable Gentleman opposite
(Mr. Long) for the purchase of those Marbles, to
that of an Auctioneer preparatory to knocking down
his article—" Going, going, going."—(a/ laugh.)—
The thing must be done in a hurry, it seems, or not
at all--µ Now or never" was the motto. If we did
not buy them, somebody else would, it was said.—
Now, be would beg leave firscto ask, who was this
expected purchaser, if we did not buy ? and, secondly,
whether those Marblei were not at present under se-
questration, in the hands of the Officers of Govern-
ment for a debt due to the Crown ?.--(lkar, hear).—
If the latter were correct, then we had the Marbles,
without the necessity of making a purchase at all.-
- (Hear, hear).—To those two qnestions he hoped to
raeive a plain answer.— ( Year, hear, hear).—lf, in-
i'edt the House were willing so easily to dispose of
435 Aft. the people of England ought to have the
book of the inoitey. He would put in a claim for
it in behalf of his Constituents in Coventry—(4 laugh)
--whose state of distress needed every aid that could
be afforded. Let those who, in their admiration for
broken heads and shoulders of Statues, would en-
e 'tinter this expense, answer his questions, first as to
t to circa:kJ purchaser, and •next as to the sequestra-
"lut the Elgin Marbles— ( Mar, hear, hear).—They
(ight surely be answered before the House went to a
deesion on the subject.
. Mr. BROUGHA NI felt obliged to give a reinc-
alt vote against the motion. The possession of those
1r irks of rut would unquestionably be most desirable,
not only as objects of admiration, but as models for
tie general improvement of our arts and the refine.
mem of our taste. Fully concurring in the great
value of. this intended purchase,' he would yet, as in
the case of a private individual who wished a parti.
cular article for his own use, first suggest the inquiry,
*ether the country had money to spare for this pur-
Chase ? If we
bought the marbles, we should next
erect a place to deposit them in. This would proba-
bly make the expense £71),000, or in common lan-
guage be throwing good money after bad. (at laugh.)
Valuable as were these works, and they could not be
1" highly rated, we were too poor to purchase them.
Was do •
s a time, when they stood pledged lio their
oaatituents, to propose such an appropriation of the
Kik mo ; f., •
in . ‘..ertasnly not. We were then in