THE MINISTERIAL CRISIS—EXPLANATION —WAYS AND MEANS. (Hansard, 24 February 1851)

§ LORD J. RUSSELL
Mr. Speaker, I promised the House that I would, on this day, state the reasons that induced me to propose, on Friday last, the adjournment of the Committee of Ways and Means to the present time. I now rise to acquit myself of that engagement. The House will remember that, immediately after the commencement of the Session, a Motion was made by the hon. Gentleman the Member for Buckinghamshire, calling on Her Majesty's Ministers to take immediate measures to relieve the distress of the owners and occupiers of land. Every Member of this House, and every person in the country, must have considered that that Motion was a Motion to take out of the hands of the Government the conduct of the measures which the Government might think it fit to propose. The hon. Member for Buckinghamshire took a perfectly Parliamentary course on that subject. He stated that, having appealed to the Government on former occasions, he now appealed to the House. I do not in the slightest degree complain of the course the hon. Gentleman took; but I stated what must have been the effect in the view of every one if the Motion had been successful. Sir, 269 Members of this House voted for that Motion, and 283 Members voted against it. There was, therefore, a majority of those persons present in the House of 14 Members against it. Now, 893 Sir, upon a question of that kind, brought forward in hostility to the Government at the very commencement of the Session, the Chancellor of the Exchequer having given notice that he would bring forward his financial statement for the year in two days after, a majority of 14 must tend to weaken any Government which had so small a majority in the House of Commons; but it appeared to me that, although that majority was small, yet, if there was a determination in all the Members of that majority to maintain the principles of commercial policy, which, in effect, were in question on that day, that this union might have made up for the smallness of the majority, and that the Government might have conducted successfully the affairs of the country. But, on the 20th of February, a Motion was made in reference to a certain question of Parliamentary reform; and on that question, and in a thin House of little more than 150 Members, the Government was beaten by a majority of nearly two to one. Now, observe, if that had occurred in ordinary circumstances, I might have thought it owing to the hour and to the thinness of the House that those in favour of the Motion should have attended, and that those who were not in favour of it were not present; but that, on the second reading of the Bill, which the House then gave leave to introduce, the latter would attend and make a majority in accordance with the view taken by Government on this subject expressed through me as its organ; but, in the actual circumstances in which we were placed, I did consider that, although hon. Members might have voted entirely with reference to that particular question which was before them, and not at all upon any general views of policy, I did not think that, although that might have been their intention, yet that, in effect, having the whole of the financial and other measures of the Government before us, and having a probability, which I was inclined to believe in, that, on other measures, and on other incidental questions, we might meet with similar defeats, I came to the conclusion that the Government was not in a position to conduct satisfactorily the business of the country in this House during the forthcoming Session. I thought it was for the public interest that, if this were the case, the House should not enter into discussions on financial measures, and be led to form opinions on those questions when it was not so probable that the Go- 894 vernment should be able successfully to go through the Session. I thought, likewise, that it was a very dangerous, and that it was a very disadvantageous, thing for the country, that a Government should continue liable to defeats from time to time, having but a small majority at any time, and therefore carrying on a kind of lingering existence during a great part of the Session. I therefore assembled the Members of the Cabinet, and I stated to them it was my opinion the best course we could take, as a Ministry, was, to forward our resignations to Her Majesty, and enable Her Majesty to form another Administration. My Colleagues who were present in the Cabinet concurred with me in that opinion; but one very important Member of the Cabinet (the Marquess of Lansdowne), the Lord President of the Council, was at that time absent in the country, and I did not like to forward our resignations to Her Majesty on that day, and I therefore asked the House, on Friday, to consent to an adjournment to this day. Early on the following morning, the Marquess of Lansdowne reached town, and met me at Buckingham Palace. He informed me he entirely concurred in the view I took. I therefore proceeded at once to Her Majesty, to lay before Her Majesty the unanimous resignations of the Members of the Administration. Her Majesty was graciously pleased to accept those resignations, and was pleased also to inform me it was Her intention to send immediately to Lord Stanley for the purpose of intrusting him with the charge of forming a Government. I was informed later in the afternoon that I was required to proceed to Buckingham Palace, and I was then informed by Her Majesty that Lord Stanley had stated that he was not then prepared to form a Government. Her Majesty then asked me to undertake the charge of reconstructing a Government which might be able to obtain the confidence of the House. I thought it my duty, under those circumstances, to attempt that task. I have, therefore, assured Her Majesty that I would undertake it. I am perfectly aware of the many difficulties which surround that task, but I shall only add to those difficulties and be acting most improperly if I were to state anything further at present. I have only further to request that the House, without passing now to any discussion, or forming any judgment with respect to what has taken place, will adjourn to Friday next, when I trust some 895 definite resolution may have been come to, and when I shall either have succeeded in or have abandoned the task I have undertaken, and in either case the House will know what is likely to be the result. Sir, I move that this Order of the Day be adjourned to Friday next.

§ MR. DISRAELI
Sir, it is not my intention to trespass on the House, but after the statement made by the noble Lord, I must address it for a minute. It is most true, and a matter of public notoriety, that Lord Stanley has had an audience of Her Majesty; and when Lord Stanley shall have Her Majesty's gracious permission to state what transpired during that audience, he will do so publicly and in a constitutional manner, in his place in Parliament. There is, however, one observation made in the statement of the noble Lord which my duty will not permit me to allow to pass unnoticed. When the noble Lord states that Lord Stanley stated to Her Majesty that he was not prepared to form an Administration—

§ LORD J. RUSSELL
Not then prepared.

§ MR. DISRAELI
"Was not then prepared"—that correction of the noble Lord does not at all affect what I wish to state to the House. I must express my conviction that when the noble Lord says that Lord Stanley stated to Her Majesty that he was not then prepared to form an Administration, the noble Lord has made a statement to the House which, on further reflection, I think he will acknowledge was not founded on what really occurred.

§ LORD J. RUSSELL
After what the hon. Gentleman has stated, I can only say that Lord Stanley will, no doubt, at a proper time, when he shall think fit—having received the permission of Her Majesty—make a full statement of all that has occurred. And, I believe, that Lord Stanley's statement will fully bear me out in what I have said respecting the noble Lord.

§ MR. ROEBUCK
Sir, I am anxious to make an observation on the extraordinary state of affairs in which we are now involved. We are about to adjourn until Friday. The noble Lord, it appears, is about to reconstruct his Cabinet. But the noble Lord may fail in the task he has undertaken; and then, without the House of Commons having the slightest opportunity of expressing any feeling of its own, Her Majesty, I believe, in all probability, will be obliged—if I may use the phrase—to 896 send for somebody to make an Administration. I do hope that the noble Lord who has hitherto acted as the leader—not simply of a great party, but as leading and representing a great principle—will not forget in all those proceedings that are about to take place that that principle is now in his hands; and that, in a great measure, what will hereafter take place in respect to the great principle of our financial arrangements here, will depend upon his particular course of action, and on him will rest this responsibility—that we, perhaps, have again to resume the great fight of free trade.