HC Deb 30 March 1827 vol 17 cc158-72
The Chancellor of the Exchequer

moved, that the Report of the Committee of Supply be brought up. On the question being put,

Mr. Tierney

said, he wished to suggest to the House the propriety of postponing this vote of supply till the last day of April. He had two objections to the vote: one was the large amount of it; the other arose from the existing state of public affairs. As some gentlemen might not be aware of the nature of the vote proposed by the Chancellor of the Exchequer, he must trespass for a short time on the patience of the House, whilst he gave a brief explanation of the course of proceeding in such cases. The elder members were aware that about five and twenty years ago, a question had been agitated in the House respecting the arrears of the civil list for some time previous. These arrears occasioned the attention of parliament to be directed to a consideration of some remedy for the evil, and the means of preventing a recurrence of it. In 1815, an act came into operation, by which the civil list got rid of a great number of payments by which the arrears had been occasioned. These had amounted to a large sum in the years immediately previous to 1815. This formed the estimate of the outgoings of the civil list; and it became the duty of the House to prevent an improper application of the public money so granted. The mode of proceeding was for the ministers to present an estimate of what was necessary, and next year to produce a statement, to show what had been done with the money voted upon it. This year the statement was 296,000l. The estimate was 300,000l. to meet the coming expenses of the current year. It was impossible to imagine a grant which was more a grant of confidence than this. His chief objection was, that it was a grant of confidence; and confidence in whom? He wished to express himself in a manner entirely free from disrespect towards any person in the House; but before he consented to grant a sum of 300,000l., he must know to whom it was to be granted, and who were to be responsible for the proper application of it [hear]. With respect to the grant itself, there was a great deal to be said, if this were the proper time to say it; but, unless he could succeed in prevailing upon the House to defer the consideration of the vote, it would be a waste of time to detail his objections. He would just observe, however, that the sum for diplomatic services this year was not much less than 370,000l. In stating the enormity of this sum, the House would agree, that the subject was worthy the attention of parliament. This sum was greater than that of last year, and infinitely greater than the average of 1791, 1792, and 1793. The estimate for 1803 and 1804, including all extraordinaries, was 150,000l.; so that the present was now more than double. He did not find fault with the Chancellor of the Exchequer. The right hon gentleman, he admitted, only followed the steps of his predecessors. Neither did he find the least fault with the diplomatic persons themselves; but such a gross disproportion between the exigencies of the service and the expenditure, called for the attention of parliament. He knew that the Chancellor of the Exchequer would say, "I will explain every item;" but that was not a very satisfactory mode of proceeding either to the country, to the House, nor to the right hon. gentleman himself: because there were many things which he might have a strong disposition to do, but which it was not by any means requisite should be done. Now, there was the sum of 23,000l. for snuff-boxes, which seemed an unnecessary expense; but it would be placing himself in an unpleasant situation with regard to foreigners, if the right hon. gentleman refused to give them; but if the House refused to furnish the means an excuse was provided for him. The special missions were another source of unnecessary expenditure. The missions of the dukes of Devonshire and Northumberland had produced not only a heavy cost to the country, but an enormous expense to themselves. All that the ministers required of these illustrious personages was, that they should support in splendor the honour of the country; and no one could carry that support of the country's honour to a higher pitch than they. He did not dispute the sums given and expended on these missions; but he doubted the propriety of such missions at all. Why should it be necessary for one crowned head to send an expensive mission of compliment to another? Many of these items were extremely high. It was utterly incomprehensible to him how such an enormous difference between the estimates for the present and past years which he had stated, could arise. There was no fault in the foreign ministers, who supported in splendor the country's character; but when the circumstances of the country were considered, he thought unnecessary splendor should be dispensed with. The nobleman now at the court of France might represent the king at less than half the expense of a mission, which was eaten up by the Frenchmen dependent upon it. Then the consequence was, that persons of small fortunes were shut out from such missions. The right hon. gentleman then reverted to the circumstances of the country, and repeated that this was a vote of confidence in ministers; and it was impossible for the House to know in whom that confidence was to be reposed. There had been great forbearance displayed upon that point on his side of the House, considering the language which had been used out of doors, and the anxiety of the public to see a termination of the present unsettled state of things. Gentlemen on his side of the House had not only shown a degree of forbearance with regard to this question, which he almost considered to be blameable, but had also abstained from checking a number of votes, which, in the present condition of the country, he conceived ought not to be granted. From the unwillingness of gentlemen on his side of the House to do any thing which could embarrass the government, or impede the passing of the supplies which were necessary to carry on the public service, every thing which government required had been granted, just as if there had been an entire administration. The time, however, was now come, in which it was the duty of the House to show some signs of life. The country expected that it would at length exert its energies, as it was a mere mockery to talk any longer about delicacy and forbearance. No one could be more inclined than he was to evince the utmost liberality towards the noble lord whose unfortunate illness they all deplored; and if any man would get up, and say that there was any chance of the noble lord's recovering from it, so far as to be again competent to the toils of office, he would sit down immediately and not say another word on the subject. Though he had not the honour of an intimate acquaintance with the noble lord's family and connexions, he believed he was not misinforming the House, when he said that there was no such chance. He was told, that though the noble lord's life might be still spared to his family and friends, it was absurd to hope that he would be restored to any more than his family and friends. He, therefore, considered lord Liverpool, as a public servant, already extinct; and he had no doubt that, if the noble lord were now asked, whether he wished to remain any longer in office, and were in a condition to give an answer to that question, he would say, "The time is come for my resigning the official situations which I leave so long held, and therefore let no delicacy towards me interfere with the demands of the public service." He conceived, that in the present situation of the country, an important question like this depended upon other circumstances than delicacy and forbearance. What was right at one time might be wrong at another; and punctilios, on which individuals might stand with propriety on some occasions, might be quite indefensible on others. It might be inconvenient, nay, it might be indelicate, to form a new administration, whilst there was any rational hope of lord Liverpool's recovery; but let the House look at the condition of the country, and say, if it could, that any time ought to be lost before the formation of an efficient administration. Look at the state of the finances. Did the Chancellor of the Exchequer mean to say that the state of the finances was not at present of the most appalling description? It was impossible to doubt that the country was at present bowed down to the earth by a weight of debt, which had many years ago been predicted as the necessary result of our extravagance, though the prediction had unfortunately been addressed to deaf and unbelieving ears. Did any man in his senses doubt, that the scanty hope on which the country had long subsisted, of extinguishing, its debt by the aid of the sinking-fund, was now gone and vanished for ever? Did any man in his senses doubt that the revenue was falling off hour after hour, and that the defalcations in it were of the most alarming extent? He believed that, on that point, there was no longer matter of dispute. He confessed, that to him this was a source of bitter disappointment; for he had not expected that the distress which had been pervading the country would have continued so long. Look at the condition of our trade. It was paralyzed from one end of the country to the other. Ask any banker, and he will tell you that in the city never was such distress known. Look at the condition of our manufactures, and you will find that those who absolutely make them, the operatives, as it is now the fashion to call them, are ground to the dust, by the privations under which they suffer, and are labouring at such reduced wages as scarcely en able them to keep life and soul together. Look at the state of agriculture. If you are to believe the country gentlemen, who have been pouring their complaints into our ears for weeks past, never was agriculture worse off. You have thus a population, of which a part insists that you are to make no alteration in your Corn-laws, and another complains, that if you do not instantly take measures to lower the price of provisions, they must die in heaps from starvation. Look at the condition of our Foreign Affairs. He could not be expected to be intimately acquainted with the minute details of our political situation with respect to other countries; but he could not help surmising that something interesting was expected, when he saw the large army which we had sent out, and were maintaining in Portugal. He knew and approved of the reasons on account of which it had been sent there. And if he could be sure that the right hon. Secretary for Foreign Affairs would remain in the situation in which he was at present, the confidence which he had reposed in government from the beginning, he should continue to it till the end. [Great cheering from the Opposition.] But how did he know that, in a few days, the aspect of affairs might not be altered by the general confidence of foreign powers being withdrawn from England in consequence of the right hon. Secretary's being withdrawn from the service of the king of England? We ought to know whether the foreign policy of the country was likely to continue to be directed by his master-mind; or whether it was likely to be transferred to the management of some inferior and subordinate spirit. We wanted a minister who enjoyed confidence at home and consideration abroad. No one at present knew who were ministers, what were their views, or to what point their efforts were directed. How strange the rumours were which prevailed in England, on those points every man knew; but how much more strange, how much more wild and extravagant they were abroad, no one could imagine who had not heard them. Look also to the state of Ireland. Who is to govern Ireland, or is Ireland to be governed at all? He did not wish to provoke any discussion, either regarding our foreign policy, or regarding that which was commonly called the Catholic question. He did not wish to advance any thing for purposes of mere party; the only point at which he was labouring was, that some intelligible measures should be devised for the general good of the whole community, and that the whole community should not be left, as it was at present, in a most unprofitable state of suspense and uncertainty. He did not even pretend to blame ministers for not bringing the negotiations—if negotiations had been commenced on this subject—to a close. He had been accustomed, from the language of the constitution, to consider that the supreme arrangement of these matters rested with the king, and that no one was responsible for the formation of a ministry, though every minister was responsible after its formation, for the acts which he might recommend his majesty to sanction. Now, if it were the duty of the present advisers of the king to recommend him to form a new administration, and if they were anxious to form such an administration, surely it was an excuse for the House of Commons to be anxious to see that administration when it was formed. If it were so difficult, as was now represented, to find a first minister of state, surely, it would be a shame to the House of Commons not to be anxious to know who that minister was. It was undoubtedly the privilege of his majesty to choose his own ministers; but then it was no less undoubtedly the privilege of the House of Commons to stop the supplies, until the royal prerogative was exer cised, and the House was made acquainted with the person to whom the disposal of those supplies was to be intrusted [hear, hear]. In the observations he had just made he had no intention to censure ministers. If he had said any thing in the warmth of debate which cast censure upon them, he had said it unintentionally and wished it unsaid. He was desirous of performing the task which he had imposed upon himself in the mildest manner, and without exciting any political feeling or irritation. He thought that no one could with justice blame gentlemen on his side of the House for want of forbearance or delicacy. All that he and they now asked for was this—that the king or somebody for him, should take the necessary steps to give the country an administration. For himself he had determined not to part with one farthing of the public money until an administration was formed. It was fine talking to say that the House ought to regard measures, not men; but though it was fine talking, it was still not a whit the less nonsense [hear]. It would not do for ministers to say, "So much is wanted for the army, so much for the navy, and so much for the other departments of the State." Something more was wanted. It was necessary that the House should know who was to command its army, who was to direct its navy, and who was to be at the head of the other departments. It was right that when public affairs were in the miserable state of incertitude in which the affairs of this great empire now unfortunately were, the representatives of the people should keep in their hands the means of making the fitting appropriations for the service of the commonwealth. It was his bounden duty, as a member of the House of Commons, to prevent the House from being sent about its business when all the grants were gone through, without knowing to whom the administration was to be intrusted, until the time of its next meeting; and the best mode of preventing that result appeared to him to be the withholding of the supplies. The present was a moment at which the greatest anxiety prevailed among all ranks and conditions of men, to see a decided order of things once more established in the country. He wanted, he repeated, no discussion about the propriety of this or that political arrangement; and having said so, he trusted he might be permitted to add, that if ever there was a moment of great public anxiety in the history of this country—if ever there was a time in which there was great distrust in the wisdom of their governors felt by all who entertained sober and discreet views among the governed—if ever there was a period when it was absolutely necessary that the public confidence should repose somewhere—the present was that period; and the only chance which the country had of being rescued from the difficulties which surrounded it, was in having its distrust dispelled, and its confidence re-invigorated. That which the country had for weeks been wanting, was a strong, an efficient, and a united administration; and if such an administration were not speedily formed, its difficulties would soon gain such a head that it would not be within the power of man to overcome and remove them. What he meant by the words "united Administration" he would not at present define, because he had no intention to provoke a discussion upon any dubious or controverted points He used the words in their ordinary acceptation, and in no other; and he thought that the good of the country could only be consulted by setting over it an administration, endowed with that combination of integrity and talent, which would enable it at once to preserve the respects of foreign powers, the confidence of its own sovereign, and, above all, the grateful attachment of the people intrusted to its care. Give the country such an administration, and there was no danger which we might not hope to overcome; leave us without it, and the difficulties of our situation would become more appalling than ever, and we should exhaust ourselves at last in vain efforts to subdue them. He should say no more, lest he should provoke that discussion which he was anxious to avoid, but should conclude by moving, "that the further consideration of this report be deferred till the 1st of May."

Mr. Secretary Canning

then addressed the House; but in a tone of voice so indistinct, as to be only partially heard in the gallery. However, he said, he might differ from the motion which the right hon. gentleman had just submitted to the House, he still agreed in one proposition which the right hon. gentleman had laid down in the course of his speech; namely, that the government had no reason to complain, either of the House in general, or of the right hon. gentleman in particular, or of any of the hon. gentlemen who sat near him, on account of any want of courtesy or forbearance, shown towards it during the crisis which had occurred since the commencement of the lamentable illness of his noble friend. Neither did he differ from the right hon. gentleman when he stated, that from the force of circumstances, and from the lapse of time, it was necessary that those considerations which had induced them to act with so much courtesy and forbearance up to the present moment, must now cease to have the slightest influence on their future conduct. He trusted that the right hon. gentleman opposite would admit, on this occasion that it was difficult for those who had long acted in concert with the noble lord whose illness they all in common deplored, who had enjoyed the happiness of a nearer and more intimate view of those great talents and acknowledged virtues to which the right hon. gentleman had paid so handsome and yet so just a tribute, and who were further bound to that noble lord by the ties of ancient and long-continued friendship—he trusted, he said, that the right hon. gentleman would admit that it was difficult for persons in their situation to bring themselves to believe that all hopes of the noble lord's recovery were entirely and utterly at an end. He trusted, moreover that the right hon. gentleman whatever might have been the inconvenience which undoubtedly had been experienced, and whatever might be the impatience, which he admitted was growing in the public mind, for the conclusion of the present unsettled state of things, would still admit that ministers, if they had sinned, had sinned on the right side, and that nothing could have been more disgraceful to them or more painful to lord Liverpool, than for that nobleman to have found, upon waking from his present trance, that his place in the cabinet had been sought to be filled up with intemperate haste and with precipitate ambition. It was, he admitted, difficult to define the precise limit and the exact period to which such considerations ought to be extended; but he could assure the House, that ministers had not suffered the time to pass away, without attaching to them due importance. He said most distinctly, that for the delay which had already taken place, ministers were ready to take as much responsibility as for any other act of their administration; and when he made use of his majesty's name, and alluded to the forbearance which had been shown, in compliance with the royal feelings, he did not do so with any view of throwing upon his majesty the slightest portion of that responsibility which attached to himself individually, and to the whole administration collectively. That delay, he could now inform the House, was at an end [hear, hear]. His majesty had desired a communication to be made to lord Liverpool's most immediate connexions, that the time was at length come, at which, with whatever pain it might be attended, he must, in compliance with the claims of public duty, proceed to fill up the chasm. occasioned by the loss of the noble earl's services; and sure he was, that it would be a satisfaction to the House to hear, as it had been to ministers who had recommended his majesty so to act, and to his majesty who had acted upon their recommendation, that lord Liverpool—and he did not mean to make any statement as to the precise condition of his noble friend's health—had sufficient consciousness to understand that his feelings and situation had been equally respected by the sovereign and by his colleagues in office, and that it had been a great consolation to him to know that they had been so respected. Under these circumstances, he hoped that the House would not feel itself called upon to affix to the administration the last stigma which its last power could inflict—he meant a vote equal to the stoppage of the ordinary supplies—unless it either traced, or suspected, in the course which ministers had pursued, other motives than those which appeared on the face of their conduct. When this dreadful calamity had befallen the country, one great measure had been prepared, and was ready to be brought under the consideration of parliament, which had been looked for with extraordinary impatience and expectation. He meant the consideration of the Corn-laws. Would it have been wise, supposing it had been delicate, which he thought the right hon. gentleman would agree with him that it would not have been—would it have been wise, he asked, in ministers to postpone the consideration of that measure until a new government was formed, having, as they fortunately had, not only the advantage of the noble lord's concurrence and advice, but also all the advantage of his high authority, and of the application of his great talents to the framing of it? Had no calamity befallen the noble lord, that measure would have been introduced simultaneously into both Houses of parliament: as things had turned out, it had only been introduced into that House, in which the noble lord, had he been in health and vigour, could have taken no share in the discussion. It had gone through that House without any inconvenience being felt from the want of the noble lord's superintendence and support; and he left it to those who heard him, to decide whether, having only the choice of putting off the question to the formation of a new administration, giving in the interim to the noble lord that reasonable time for recovery which all parties wished that he should have, or the choice of proceeding precipitately to the formation of a new administration, without giving any time at all. Ministers had not acted more wisely in proceeding at once to the consideration of that measure, without any reference at all to the situation of the noble lord. From the very beginning it had been the intention of government, as soon as the measure had reached its last stage in the House of Commons, to propose a delay, for the express purpose alluded to by the right hon. gentleman opposite. He had expected that, in the early part of the present week, the bill would have reached that stage, and he assured the House that was the limit of time to which ministers had postponed the moving of the adjournment of the House, or rather the cessation of public business, for the purpose of fixing a new administration. The duration of that interval, far beyond the period which had been originally anticipated, had led to a state of things which had compelled his right hon. friend, the chancellor of the Exchequer, to ask for a sum on account, to carry on the public business till after the Easter recess. He would not blame the right hon. gentleman opposite, because in his opposition to the present grant, he had introduced a criticism on some other grants. He trusted, however, that when he came to those grants, which related more particularly to his own department, in which an expenditure annually occurred, partly discretionary and partly fixed, he should be able to show the right hon. gentleman, that in the discretionary part of the foreign expenditure, over which alone he could exercise any control, he had made a diminution, during the last year, of ten per cent upon the whole. The present, however, was not a fit opportunity for entering upon such a discussion; nay more, it would be unfeeling and ungracious to go into details, considering the difficulties in which ministers were placed, and the feeling which the House had manifested towards his suffering friend and colleague, lord Liverpool. He based his opposition to the motion of the right hon. gentleman upon this ground, that though it was a painful discretion which ministers had to exercise, yet between the two alternatives offered to their choice,—the danger on the one hand of proceeding with precipitation, and the danger on the other, which had absolutely occurred, of acceding to too long a delay—ministers had chosen that course which was not only right in itself, but also most creditable to themselves, as well individually as collectively. He did not mean to assert that inconvenience had not arisen from the course which had been pursued; but he did mean to assert, that the inconvenience was not such as deserved to be visited by a vote, which would inflict the severest censure which the House could give, which struck at the existence of the ministry, and amounted to a withdrawal of all confidence from it. [cries of "No, no."] On the other side, he thought it right to state to the House, that by acceding to the motion of his right hon. friend, the chancellor of the Exchequer, it would only enable him to proceed with the public service, while the necessary arrangements were making for the formation of a new administration, and would not preclude itself from instituting a rigorous investigation into the propriety of those grants, whenever it came to the consideration of the votes on which these sums were now asked on account. When that period arrived, he should be prepared to meet the right hon. gentleman in discussion, and to defend all the votes which belonged to his department of the public service. So would his right hon. friends near him be prepared to act in regard to the different departments with which they were connected; and so would all the members of government, each in their respective stations. Under these circumstances, he could not think that even the right hon. gentleman himself would persist in pressing his motion. The delay, of which he complained, was now at an end [hear, hear.] In repeating that assertion, he did not mean to blame the right hon. gentleman for alluding to the delay. On the contrary, he thanked him for giving government an opportunity of explaining itself upon the subject; and of repeating, as he did once more, that whatever inconvenience the delay might have produced, it was now at an end. He trusted, that as the object of the right hon. gentleman's address must be answered by the declaration which he had just made, he would not object to the bringing up of the report on the present occasion.

Mr. Tierney

said, that the right hon. Secretary misunderstood the object of his motion, if he supposed that it was to pass a censure upon the administration. The motion of the right hon. gentleman opposite was a motion which, if granted, must be granted on confidence; and there could be no confidence until it was known in whom confidence was to be placed. He could not see in what the difficulty of acceding to his proposition consisted. He was happy to hear from the right hon. Secretary, that we were at last upon the road to a new administration. He was happy to have gained that piece of information, and should have been still happier if he could have gained more. He was willing to dispose of the present question in an amicable way, if it could be so managed; though he thought that this particular vote was not such a one as the circumstances of the country warranted.

Mr. Canning

said, that the right hon. gentleman had expressed himself satisfied with the declaration which he (Mr. Canning) had made that evening. Now, he would tell the right hon. gentleman, that he came down to the House on Monday last, expecting that the very question which had just been put to him would have been put then, and prepared to give to it the same answer which the House had just heard. No opportunity had been afforded him on the occasion to which he alluded to give that answer.

Mr. Tierney

said, he did not wish to divide the House on his amendment, if he could help it. He would withdraw it, on the understanding that such steps were now taking by those in authority, as must, previously to the holidays, lead to some definitive arrangement with respect to the administration. He thought that the present grant was objectionable on many grounds; but, in order that he might not be accused of acting in a spirit of hostility to government, he would wave his objections to it, on the understanding that the annunciation of a new administration should be made before the holidays.

Mr. Canning

said, that he must refuse to give any such pledge as the right hon. gentleman wished to extract from him.

Mr. Tierney

said, he felt himself placed in a very awkward situation, in consequence of what had just fallen from the right hon. Secretary. The House was now informed, that the formation of a new administration was at present in contemplation; but the communication of that necessary piece of information came to it unaccompanied by any pledge, as to the time in which that formation would be completed. The government of the country was, therefore, still to be left in a state of abeyance. His object in proposing an amendment to the original resolution, was to prevent any further grant of money from being made to the government, until it was known in whose hands the government was placed. He was driven, by the course pursued by the other side, to the necessity of persevering in his amendment. He was told that the formation of a new administration was in a train of proceeding; but he was left entirely in the dark as to the rate, whether quick or slow, of that proceeding. He repeated, that until an administration was formed in which the House could put confidence, it ought not to vote one farthing away on confidence. He should, therefore, press his amendment.

Mr. Whitmore

concurred with the right hon. gentleman who had just sat down, that not the slightest pledge had been given to the House, by the right hon. Secretary, as to the time within which a new administration was to be formed. Now, considering the alarming situation of the country, and the delay which had occurred already, he thought the House would not discharge its duty to that country, if it did not concur in the proposition laid down by the right hon. gentleman near him, and if it did not express by its vote, that the time was at length come when it was incumbent that some progress should be made in forming a strong, an efficient, and a united, administration. Such was the feeling of the whole country. He had never yet spoken to any man out of the House, who did not view with alarm the unsettled state of the administration, and think that it was the duty of parliament, before it adjourned, to take every constitutional means in its power to discover whether any and what measures were in progress, to advance the formation of a new administration. If the right hon. gentleman pressed his motion, he should certainly give it his support.

The Chancellor of the Exchequer

said, he concurred with the hon. member for Bridgenorth, and also with the right hon. member for Knaresborough, in thinking that the time had at length arrived, at which it was the duty of the constitutional advisers of the Crown to state to his majesty, that the public exigency required the formation of a new administration. That assurance had already been given to the House by his right hon. friend, the foreign Secretary, and he fully concurred in the propriety of making it public. He must be permitted, in that stage of the discussion, to recall to the recollection of the right hon. gentleman opposite, who said that the House ought to accede to no money-vote until an administration was formed in which it could place confidence, that in moving for this grant on account on a former night, he had said, that it was only such a grant as would enable those who might hold the helm of government to carry it on till after the recess, and that he would not presume to call for a further grant until an administration was formed. He assured the House, that there was no intention to call for any other sum at present on this account. He was prepared to admit, that if, in the present state of things, he had called for a larger grant, it would have been the imperative duty of the right hon. gentleman opposite, and his friends, to have given their strenuous opposition to such a grant.

List of the Minority.
Abercromby, hon. J. Dawson, A.
Althorp, viscount Denison, W. J.
Baring, A. Du Cane, P.
Baring, sir T. Dundas, Sir R.
Baring, W. B. Dundas, G.
Baring, F. Easthope, J.
Bentinck, lord W. Ebrington, viscount
Bernal, R. Fazakerley, J. N
Birch, J. Fergusson, sir R. C.
Clive, E. B. Fortescue, hon. J. G
Colborne, R. Graham, sir J.
Davenport, E. D. Grattan, H.
Grosvenor, general Protheroe, E.
Grosvenor, hon. R. Pryse, P.
Heneage, G. F. Ramsden, J. C.
Hill, lord A. Rice, S.
Hobhouse, J. C. Robarts, A. W.
Honywood, W. P. Robinson, sir G.
Howick, lord Russell, lord W.
Hughes, W. L. Russell, lord J.
Hume, J. Russell, lord G. W.
Hutchinson, J. Russell, J.
Kennedy, T. F. Sefton, earl
King, hon. R. Smith, W.
Knight, R. Stanley, lord
Labouchere, H. Stanley, hon, E. G. S:
Lamb, hon. G. Stuart, V.
Langston, J. H. Sykes, D.
Maberly, J. Thompson, C. P.
Maberly, W. L. Tierney, rt. hon. G.
Macdonald, sir J. Tomes, J.
Marjoribanks, S. Waithman, alderman
Martin, J. Wall, C. B.
Marshall, J. Warburton, H.
Morpeth, viscount Western, C. C.
Nugent, lord Whitmore, W. W.
Ord, W. Williams, O.
Parnell, sir H. Williams, T. P.
Ponsonby, hon. F.
Ponsonby, hon. G. TELLERS
Portman, E. B. Duncannon, visc.
Price, R. Normanby, visc.

The House divided: For the original motion 153. For the amendment 80. Majority 73.