§ The Earl of Shaftesbury moved the adjournment of the House.
The Earl of Haddington, before the 22 House adjourned, wished to ask the noble Lord opposite, or the noble and learned Lord on the Woolsack, whether there was, or was not, at this moment, a Government in existence? There very naturally prevailed in their Lordships' minds, and in the minds of the country at large, a strong anxiety to receive some information on this subject. He trusted, therefore, that their Lordships would feel with him that he had not acted prematurely or uncourteously in not allowing any private feeling to prevent him from putting this question? If an Administration had not yet been formed, he wished to know whether any noble lord or any right hon. Gentleman had received his Majesty's commands to form one?
§ Viscount Melbournesaid, it was almost unnecessary for him to state to their Lordships what must already be known to their Lordships from report—namely, that on the dissolution of the late Government, he was desired by his Majesty to attend him for the purpose of advising and consulting on the formation of a new Administration. As soon as that wish was expressed by his Sovereign, he of course obeyed it; and the respect which he owed to their Lordships would induce him, when the business had assumed a proper shape, to lay the necessary information before their Lordships. He trusted their Lordships would feel, as no declaration had been made on the subject up to the present moment, that the arrangements were not yet in such a state as would justify him in making any communication to the House. He had already stated, that his Majesty had honoured him with his commands to lay before him a plan for the formation of a new Ministry—such a Ministry as should appear to him to be competent to carry on the business of the country efficiently at the present important crisis. He had undertaken the task; but as it was not concluded, their Lordships could not expect him to make any disclosure on the subject. He might, however, be allowed to observe, that he should not discharge the duty which had been confided to him, without securing the co-operation of his noble friend the Chancellor of the Exchequer, and the sanction and approbation of his noble friend who was lately at the head of the Government. He had nothing further to add, except to assure their Lordships that it was impossible for them to be more 23 sensible of the incapacity of the individual to whom this difficult and delicate task was intrusted than he was himself. Nothing but the deep feeling which he entertained of gratitude and duty towards his Sovereign, and a knowledge of the extreme difficulty in which both his Sovereign and the country were now placed, could have induced him to act on this occasion.
§ Their Lordships adjourned.