LORD DENMANgave notice that, in case the Government should delay to bring forward a Reform Bill, as they had done since 1857, or in case their Bill should be rejected elsewhere, he should follow the precedent established by a noble Lord in bringing in an Endowed Schools Bill after one had been withdrawn in "another place;" and in the next Session move the Reform Bill which had been so prematurely put an end 1381 to in the last Parliament, and which was capable of any modification and amendment.
It had reminded him of the speech of Lord John Russell in 1851 on General Gas-coyne's Motion, in which his Lordship said, that it was brought forward indeed by the hon. and gallant General, but concocted by more wily individual?, and intended to combine all the enemies of the Bill.
With respect to the foreign policy of the late Government, he would read an extract from a letter which he had just received:
I quite agree with you that Lord Malmesbury has been unfairly treated, and that nothing could have been more constitutional, upright, and firm than the manner in which he conducted the Italian business.A noble Lord (Lord Wodehouse) asked if the letter was from the Earl of Derby, to which Lord Denman answered, no it was from a Cousin of his own, and he himself did not constantly correspond with the noble Earl; but if it had been from that quarter it would have added to the weight of the opinion. He had always given a silent vote in support of the Earl of Derby, but although he might he the most humble member of their Lordships' House, yet he was fully entitled to give his opinion.