§ THE EARL OF DERBY:Is the noble Earl opposite prepared to give an answer to the Question which I put to him on Friday. Whether the Government have 119 come to any decision with reference to the proposed memorial to the late Prince Consort?
§ EARL GRANVILLE:I have only to state that Her Majesty's Government gave no particular sanction to the proposed memorial to the late Prince Consort, the project having originated in the universal and spontaneous feeling throughout the country that such a memorial should be raised. The money for the purpose having been voluntarily contributed, the Government certainly would not now be able to take any share in controlling the wishes of the subscribers, and it would be quite out of their province so to interfere. At the same time, many Members of the Government have individually given their sanction and concurrence to the proceeding. I have myself been in communication with the Lord Mayor on the subject, and he authorized me to say that the Memorial Committee are fully resolved, as soon as the sum of money which appears to be sufficient for carrying out their object has been raised—which is likely to be the case very shortly—to request Her Majesty to state in what form most agreeable to her own feelings the money so subscribed can be best appropriated; and, although I have no authority for saying it, I have reason to believe that if this application be made to Her Majesty she will not shrink from giving her views on the subject.
§ House adjourned at a quarter past Six o'clock, till To-morrow, half-past Ten o'clock.