The Earl of Winchilsea,understanding that parliament was likely to be prorogued in a few weeks, considered that he should not be acting with courtesy to their lordships, and in particular to the noble marquis, who had expressed a wish to be informed whether it was still his intention to bring forward the important motion of which he had given notice—if he allowed the House to adjourn without giving an explicit answer on the subject. When he gave notice of that motion, he did so with the strong conviction, that his majesty's government, formed as it was, by the coalition of two opposite parties, was such as did not present that uniformity of feeling which entitled it to the confidence of the country. From that consistency and integrity which he had marked out as necessary to the political character of an individual, he certainly conceived it impossible that those individuals could abandon those political opinions which they had for so many years warmly advocated, as the country supposed, from a strong feeling that they were necessary to the welfare of 1084 the country. When he considered, that the settlement of questions of the greatest importance had been avowedly stated by those who were considered the leaders of their party, as tending to the ultimate tranquillity of the country; and when he remarked that those members of the late government, who formed part of the present government, had been strongly opposed to those questions, he had, acting from a conviction that there was not that unanimity in the government necessary to entitle it to the support of the country, given notice of that motion, which he distinctly stated, he now withdrew. When he considered that the notices of motions to be brought under the consideration of the House, and which would fairly have brought to the test the principles of the individuals who supported them, had been withdrawn and abandoned, he must conclude that the unanimity of opinion in the government must have arisen from concessions of principles, upon which it was not for him to enter. It was the business of the noble lords opposite to clear their character; he trusted they would avail themselves of an opportunity before the expiration of the present session, to state upon what consideration they had been induced to come forward to support the government.
The Marquis of Lansdownsaid, that the noble earl had, with a great deal of candour, declared his intention of abandoning, the motion of which he had given notice, and which was to have been brought forward for the purpose of eliciting from him an answer to particular questions, in reference to recent proceedings. It was not for him to inquire what might be the motives which induced either the noble earl or any other noble lord to bring forward or abandon a motion of this description. He was, however, justified in the hope, that, as there was nothing either irregular or unconstitutional in the course which the noble earl had taken, but, as that course was both regular and constitutional, that at least the noble earl saw good reason for abstaining from a proposition which, if his views were adopted, he thought might convey a vote of censure on the government. The noble earl, however, abandoned the motion, and it would ill become him to enter upon a subject which the noble earl himself did not consider as furnishing ground for a parliamentary proceeding. He well knew that, if the noble earl con- 1085 sidered there was any ground for such a proceeding, he would, in his manliness and courage, not abstain from doing that which it was his imperative public duty to do, namely, to call on that House to pronounce its opinion on any thing wrong or unconstitutional in the formation of his majesty's government. He therefore had a right to think that the noble earl saw no just ground for submitting to their lordships the motion of which he had given notice. But, in abstaining from bringing it forward, he had given an intimation, that the unanimity which prevailed in his majesty's government was obtained by concessions which he had not thought fit to name, and had adverted to certain notices of motions which had been withdrawn. Now, he did not know to what motions the noble earl alluded, for he knew of no notices having been given and withdrawn, excepting those which had been given from the other side of the House, and which had been as successively withdrawn, as fast as they were made. He wished, however, to take that opportunity, in the face of that House and of the country, to declare, that no one opinion which he had ever entertained upon any subject had been abandoned or compromised, in forming that connexion, which, upon the grounds of public principle and honour, and upon the grounds of public principle and honour only, he had thought it to be his public duty to form; and, when he should hereafter hear any allusion made to this subject, he should beg the favour of any noble lord who made such allusion, having access to those records of the proceedings of that House which were known to exist, and having the benefit of that diligent attention which the noble lords opposite had given to those proceedings—he should beg the favour, he repeated, of the noble lord availing himself of those sources, to point out that particular opinion, which at any time he had given, which the noble lord might think inconsistent with the course he was now pursuing. He should, when so called upon, be able to appeal to the recollection of their lordships for his repeated concurrence with the measures of government, as little from a view to any official connexion, as at any period of his life, till within the last month, it could be supposed. But he had, from the same public grounds, thought it his duty to give his support to a government with which he had no connexion—a course, 1086 perhaps, unintelligible to some noble lords—publicly and loudly, upon principles which he thought important to the welfare of the country. He had gone still further; and, when he had seen noble lords acquiescing in silence in those measures of policy to which they now made objections, connected with the commerce and navigation of the country, he had thought it his duty to come forward to state his warm concurrence in those measures; warning noble lords, at the same time, of their extent and importance; and, having so warned them, and having so stated his own concurrence and approbation, he had had the good fortune to see those measures unanimously carried. He little thought that the unanimity, revealed in those measures which were adopted with the approbation of that House and the country, would be made the basis of a charge, not only against the king's government, but against those individuals who, in consistence with the principles they had acted upon, continued to manifest, on the one side of the House, that support which they had loudly proclaimed from the other. As that unanimity had been useful to the House before, so it was the foundation of the connexion which, on public grounds, he had thought right to form. As the noble earl had not thought fit to state his opinion in any distinct charge, he should only express a hope, that, if any noble lord fancied he saw in him, individually, any act of inconsistency, he would afford a fair opportunity of explaining the grounds upon which he acted.
§ The Earl of Carlislesaid, that, in accepting the office which he held, he was not conscious of having forfeited any pledge, or abandoned any principle. With this statement he should rest; as he felt it unnecessary to go further after the speech of the noble marquis.