LORD LYNDHURST—EXPLANATION. (Hansard, 24 August 1846)

§ LORD LYNDHURST

My Lords, in consequence of a letter I have received this morning from my right hon. Friend who was lately at the head of the Government (Sir R. Peel), I beg leave to recall your attention for a very few moments to the statement I had the honour to make to your Lordships on Saturday last. It appears that an imperfect report of that statement—no doubt arising from the short interval between the time at which the statement was made, and the publication 973 of the paper—appeared in a newspaper called the Standard. That report met the notice of the right hon. Baronet; and he was apprehensive, from that account, that the purport and nature of the communication between us might be misconstrued, and he has consequently written a letter to me to which I shall presently advert. Before I do so, however, I must take the liberty of recalling your Lordships' recollection to what my statement on Saturday really was. I mentioned to your Lordships that, in order to guard against misconstruction and misrepresentation, I thought it my duty to call upon the right hon. Baronet (Sir R. Peel) to communicate to him what I was doing. I had an interview with him; but the object of my communication was not at all to obtain the concurrence of the right hon. Baronet in what I was doing, or even to obtain his opinion or advice with respect to the prudence and propriety of the course I was pursuing. I made that communication merely and simply because I thought it better that the right hon. Gentleman should know from me, rather than from any other source, the object I was desirous to accomplish. I think I may appeal to your Lordships' recollection whether this was not, in substance, the statement I made on Saturday; and if your Lordships require any confirmation you will find abundant confirmation in the reports of the different papers that have appeared this morning. In the statement I made on Saturday, I confined myself simply to what I said and did myself. I had no opportunity of communicating with the right hon. Baronet (Sir R. Peel); and I did not consider, without such a communication, that I had any authority to state how he received me, or what answer he made to my statement. I confined myself, therefore, simply to the statement I myself made, and to the part I myself acted in the transaction. Having said this, I will now advert to the letter of the right hon. Baronet. He thinks it right to state what actually took place between us; and I am quite satisfied and pleased that he has been disposed to do so, because your Lordships will find that, as far as I am concerned, the right hon. Baronet's statement confirms distinctly and clearly everything that fell from me. The right hon. Gentleman says— You are reported to have said 'that after the dissolution of the late Government he (Lord Lyndhurst) communicated with several friends in 974 the other House, in order that former differences might be forgotten, and that the Conservative party might be re-formed; in order not to be subject to any misrepresentation, he communicated his intentions to the right hon. Baronet (Sir R. Peel), and stated on that occasion that what he was doing had no reference to any particular measure.' Your Lordships will see, from what I have stated, that that was only a part of the communication I made; I also said that my object was not to obtain the right hon. Gentleman's concurrence, or even his opinion or advice, as to the course I was pursuing, but that I thought it advisable to communicate to him myself, rather than through any other means, what I was endeavouring to effect. The right hon. Baronet further says— My recollection of what passed between us is this:—You wrote to me a note, expressing a wish for an interview, which took place on the same day. At that interview you informed me of a fact, of which I was not previously aware—that you had been in communication with some members of the late Government, and of the party which supported it, with a view to the healing of animosities, and the reconstruction of the Conservative party; that before you went further you had resolved to speak to me; that the part you were taking was a disinterested one, for that your own return to office was out of the question. My answer was, that I must decline being any party to the proceeding to which you referred. I said said that the return to office was as little in my contemplation as it was in yours, and that as I was not prepared to enter into any party combination with that view, I felt it incumbent upon me, under such circumstances, to leave to those with whom I had been previously connected in political life, the entire liberty to judge for themselves with regard to the formation of any new party connexion. I do not recollect, and have not here the means of ascertaining, the day on which our conversation took place, but I believe the above to be a perfectly correct account of the purport of it. I fully concur in this statement. I consider that I should not have been justified, without communicating with the right hon. Baronet, in stating what fell from him; but having his authority in the communication I have just read to your Lordships, I think it my duty to make this statement. My object was what I before represented it to be, and the right hon. Baronet seems so to have understood me; but he stated that, as far as he was concerned, he did not wish to interfere in the proceeding. I cannot avoid expressing my regret that I am entangled in any of these statements. I would much rather bear a great load of imputation than engage in personal controversies of this kind.