§ ADMIRAL WALCOTTSir, there are times when parsimony on the part of a Government is a cause of national shame and reprehension. In the very heart of this great city — the central square through which its population and every visitor from the country and every foreigner had to pass—London had for years presented the humiliating spectacle of a memorial to our greatest naval hero left incomplete. It is unnecessary to remind the House that when first I went to sea, the name of Nelson made our Navy the pride and hope of this country. On it depended the very existence of this island and her colonies. With the command of the sea they stood or fell. While Europe saw her armies melt away before the ambition of a general hitherto irresistible, Nelson transferred, one by one, the successive fleets of our enemies to the harbours of Portsmouth and Plymouth, or otherwise crushed their power. At Copenhagen, as at the Nile, he obtained, in his own emphatic words, "not a victory but a conquest." The man who had subjugated a continent declared that 1221 the fates decreed to France the empire of the land, but to England the sovereignty of the sea; and Talleyrand assigned, as the limits of British supremacy, wherever a frigate could find water to float her. The crippled, maimed body, and indomitable spirit of a Nelson preserved these shores from the horrors of invasion, and by a martyr's death at Trafalgar laid open the road to Waterloo. I speak, Sir, in no spirit of braggart. I trust that the sword is sheathed for ever in amity with those once, our most formidable enemies and now our firmest allies, and that the mingled blood shed before Sebastopol has consecrated a perpetual friendship between us. But I am quite sure that chivalric nation, which had never been wanting in offering tributes of honour to its own fallen worthies, must observe, with feelings which I do not care to describe, our lamentable display of indifference to a man of whom, if one of themselves, they would have considered the noblest and most costly monument too unworthy. A very moderate grant would provide the accessories of the Nelson column. A foreign King had been a subscriber to its completion; but I hope we may be spared any such significant censures for the future. I trust that the Government will not allow any further delay to occur before they redress a signal wrong to the inestimable services rendered by the heroic Nelson, and remove a standing reproach to English gratitude. I may ob-serve that the Nelson Monument was designed by Mr. Railton. The statue, by E. H. Bailey, R. A., was set up Nov. 4, 1843; £20,483 lls. 2d.having been the amount of the private subscription, of which the late Czar of Russia contributed £500. It—at that period—was computed that £12,000 more would suffice to pay for its completion. On reference to Hansard, I find, on the 22nd of July, 1844, on the question, this House in Committee of Supply —
That the sum of £800 he granted to defray the cost of completing the Nelson Monument, in Trafalgar Square.An hon. Member (Mr. Wyse) wished to know—Whether the Government had not received an offer from an artist of the name of Park to complete the monument at his own expense if he were suffered to undertake and finish it in conformity with his own taste and judgment?To this question Sir Robert Peel made reply— 1222It was true that the Government had received such an offer, but had not thought proper to accept it, as a monument like that erected to Nelson ought to he the subject of competition to artists, and it would be establishing a bad principle if such a proposition as that referred to by the hon. Member were to be accepted. The best way was for the Government to pay the expense attendant on completing the monument upon such a plan as might be deemed proper, and not to accept the money of private individuals in such a matter.Again, I find in Hansard, of date January 23, 1846, in reply to a question put by an hon. Member (Mr. Collett) —As to whether, seeing that the Nelson Monument had been so long delayed, it was the intention of Her Majesty's Government to complete it.The Earl of Lincoln made reply, that—The House would recollect that the Monument was originally intended to be raised and completed by private subscription—at the expense of a number of individuals who subscribed this money for the purpose. The funds raised subsequently proving to be utterly inadequate for the purposes intended, the monument remained unfinished, and about a year and a half ago Her Majesty's Government undertook the work; and the hon. Gentleman would recollect that in the Session before the last a supplementary Vote was proposed and granted for this purpose, and contracts had been entered into for the completion of the design with Messrs. Cubitt, but the material being granite, there had been a difficulty in finishing the work in the required time. With regard to the intended works of art on the base of the pillar, he had, with the consent of his right hon. Friend Sir Robert Peel placed the matter in the hands of several eminent artists for their consideration. He could assure the hon. Gentleman that since the Government had taken up the matter there had been no time lost.On the 31st of May, 1847, a Vote was agreed to, in a further sum, as follows—Estimate of the sum required to be voted in the year 1847–8, towards defraying the expense of completing the monument erected in Trafalgar Square to the memory of Lord Nelson—£2,000.This vote was agreed to. Since that date no further grant has been made by Parliament. In order to complete the memorial according to Mr. Railton's design, a further sum of four or five thousand pounds may be required to place around the base four colossal couching lions, of which, said Sir Robert Peel, in a speech on the 22nd July, 1814, the size should be "an open question." I trust, Sir, I may have succeeded in laying the subject before the House in a manner likely to conciliate its co-operation; and, therefore, now with confidence appeal to its support when I urge the completion of this memorial upon the immediate consideration of the Government.
MR. W. WILLIAMSsaid, he wished to express his entire concurrence in the observations which had fallen from the hon. and gallant Admiral, as he had always thought that it was a disgrace to the country that the monument to one who rendered more service to his country than any man that had ever lived, and that at a time of great difficulty, should have been left so long incomplete, and this, too, when we were spending thousands upon things of no value. He wished, however, to call the attention of the Chancellor of the Exchequer to the system which now prevailed of allowing Motions to be made on going into Committee of Supply. He did not wish to interfere with the right of hon. Members to the enjoyment of a privilege which was intended to enable them to bring forward Motions connected with public grievances; but he thought, by a different arrangement on the days which were devoted to Government business, this species of delay might be prevented, and he would suggest to the Chancellor of the Exchequer to take the matter into consideration.
THE CHANCELLOR OF THE EXCHEQUERIt is not for me to restrict the privileges of the House of Commons. I have, in the course of my experience in Parliament, known many attempts made with that object, and with the purest motives, all of which proved to be fruitless; and I feel convinced, Sir, that the best policy for any Government to adopt in reference to the subject is to trust to the good sense and good temper of the House in the conduct of public business, and not to attempt to influence its proceedings by effecting any change in those rules to which we have so long been accustomed, and which we all regard and venerate. I can, however, assure the hon. Member who has just spoken that I shall be ready to take into consideration any suggestions which he may think proper to make on this subject, though my own impression certainly is, that the wisest plan for one holding the position which I have the honour to occupy is to place reliance upon the kind assistance of the House, and not to endeavour to control its action by artificial regulations. In reply to the observations of my hon. and gallant Friend behind me, I can only say that I am not surprised he should have brought under our notice a subject upon which I myself have always felt strongly, and in which he—a distinguished ornament of 1224 that gallant profession to which Nelson belonged—may naturally be supposed to take even a still deeper interest. I entirely concur with my hon. and gallant Friend in the opinion that the name of Nelson is the glory of this country, as I think that his monument is its shame. It is, I think, a great national mistake that monuments to the memory of British worthies of the class to which Nelson belonged should not be erected until so long after their death, and that even then the erection of those monuments should be entrusted to the hands of private persons. I am aware of no single instance in which individual efforts have been successful in such objects. Then the private subscribers appeal to the public authorities for aid, and the unsatisfactory result is what naturally might be expected from that double government which is no longer in fashion. There ought, in my opinion, to exist upon the part of a nation a stronger sense of the recognition due to the merits of its heroes than I regret to think prevails in this country. A want of public spirit and of public feeling in the case of Nelson cannot indeed be laid to our charge; but we certainly are open to the imputation of a want of taste and of an absence of the habit of coming forward at the right time to recognise as we ought to do the services of our illustrious men. To the supereminent merits of the individual whose name my hon. and gallant Friend has this evening brought under our notice, I could not presume even to attempt to do justice. I may, however, remark of Nelson, that he stands alone as the greatest man in his profession. Our great men in every other department of human action find their equals. Our illustrious Wellington is compared with our famous Marlborough. But when we consider the achievements of Nelson we find that he has no rival — no parallel. It might really be said of him, as Cardinal de Retz said of the Marquess of Montrose, that he was the only man of modern times who reminded one of the heroes of Plutarch. I agree with my hon. and gallant Friend that it is a disgrace to this country that his monument should not long since have been completed; and, although our finances are not in a flourishing condition, I feel, after the observations of my hon. and gallant Friend and the hon. Gentleman opposite (Mr. W. Williams) ashamed to throw any difficulty in carrying into effect the object for which this Motion was introduced. I shall, therefore, 1225 take upon myself the responsibility of providing for the completion of a monument which is so intimately associated with the glory and the reputation of this country.