HC Deb 07 August 1884 vol 292 cc118-9
VISCOUNT NEWPORT

I desire to put a Question to the Prime Minister, of which I have been unable to give him private Notice, but which he may be able to answer now. If not, I shall repeat it to-morrow. I wish to ask him, Whether his attention has been called to the following paragraph in a speech reported to have been delivered on the 4th of August by a Cabinet Minister— During the last 100 years the House of Lords has never contributed one iota to popular liberties or popular freedom, or done anything to advance the common weal; and during that time it has protected every abuse, and sheltered every privilege. It has denied justice and delayed reform. It is irresponsible without independence, obstinate without courage, arbitrary without judgment, and arrogant without knowledge. I beg to ask the Prime Minister whether these words express the opinions of Her Majesty's Government; and, if not, whether he does not think it would be desirable for him at once to repudiate them?

MR. GLADSTONE

I will not give the noble Lord the trouble of putting that Question on the Paper, for I could not add to my reply to-morrow anything that I cannot say to-day. The noble Lord appears to think that I have some jurisdiction over the minds of my Colleagues, and some title to pronounce upon the exact degree in which any expression they may use, or any picture they may draw, or any historical view to which their judgment may incline, is in precise harmony with my own. I decline entirely that task. If there is anything in the speech of my right hon. Friend (Mr. Chamberlain) which exceeds the liberty which he has thought himself qualified to use in reviewing the conduct and recent history of the House of Lords, my right hon. Friend is responsible for every word he has spoken, and his words can be challenged in this House; but I entirely decline to recognize the principle that would seem to imply that every word spoken by a Minister is to be brought to account by all his Colleagues, and that no man is to say anything except the very words which every other Member of the Cabinet would say. There must be some liberty of judgment, and the only limits to that liberty of judgment are those Rules which may be applied by this House in case they deem that that just freedom has been exceeded.