§ MR. DISRAELII beg to move, Sir, that the letter addressed to you by Lord Charles Russell, the late Serjeant at Arms, be read by the Clerk at the Table.
§ Letter [5th April] read.
§ MR. DISRAELIMr. Speaker, we have listened to the resignation of his office by one who has long and ably served this House. The office of Serjeant at Arms is one which requires no ordinary qualities; for it requires at the same time patience, firmness, and suavity, and that is a combination of qualities which is unfortunately more rare than one could wish in this world. The noble Lord who filled the office recently, and whose resignation has just been read at the Table, has obtained our confidence by the mariner in which he has discharged his duties through an unusually long period of years; and we should remember, I think, that occasions like the present are almost the only opportunity we have of expressing our sense of those qualities, entitled so much to our respect, which are possessed and exercised by those who fill offices attached to this House, and upon whose able fulfilment of their duties much of our convenience depends. Therefore, following the wise example of those who have preceded me in this office, I have prepared a Resolution which expresses the feeling of the House on this occasion, and I now place it, Sir, in your hands.
§ MR. SPEAKERread the Resolution, as follows—
That Mr. Speaker he requested to acquaint Lord Charles James Fox Russell, that this House entertains a just sense of the exemplary manner in which he has uniformly discharged the duties of the Office of Serjeant at Arms during his long attendance upon this House.
THE MARQUESS OF HARTINGTONSir, on behalf of the Members who sit 505 on this side of the House, I rise to second the Motion of the right hon. Gentleman. He has on more than one occasion gracefully, but at the same time justly, recognized the services rendered to the State by the House of Russell. That House will always occupy a foremost place in the history of the Party to which I am proud to belong, and I hope it will occupy no insignificant place in the history of the country. Of that house the noble Lord who has just resigned his office is no unworthy Member. There are, Sir, at the present moment but few Members who can recollect the time when he assumed the duties of his office; but I am glad that his resignation has been defered sufficiently long to enable a number of new Members of this House to add their testimony to that of us who are better acquainted with him as to the invariable dignity and courtesy with which he has discharged his duties.
Resolved, Nemine Contradicente, That Mr. Speaker he requested to acquaint Lord Charles James Fox Russell, that this House entertains a just sense of the exemplary manner in which he has uniformly discharged the duties of the Office of Serjeant at Arms during his long attendance upon this House."—(Mr. Disraeli.)