§ LORD OVERSTONEsaid, he desired to ask a Question of the Government which had reference to a subject deeply interesting to the inhabitants of the metropolis. He had not given notice of his intention to put the Question, as the holydays approached; and he thought it would not be proper to allow a delay of ten days to intervene. Attention had been called to the subject in a letter which appeared in The Times of this morning, signed by Mr. Beresford Hope—no mean authority in such matters. He alluded to the decision for the retention of the National Gallery at Trafalgar Square, and the grant of a portion of the site of Burlington House to the Royal Academy. During the last Parliament an attempt had been made to effect the removal of the National Collection of Pictures from Trafalgar Square to South Kensington; but this design had been successfully resisted in the House of Commons. Now an arrangement had been come to by which the whole of the building in Trafalgar Square would be devoted to the exhibition of the National Gallery, and provision would be made for the Royal Academy at Burlington House at the expense of the Government. He believed the decision of the House of Commons had been come to hastily and without due consideration, and it would be most unfortunate if so fine a specimen of architecture as Burlington House (which was one of the architectural ornaments of the metropolis) should be interfered with by the erection on a portion of the site of an incongruous building. A plan was formerly drawn up for a National Gallery, to be erected on the vacant garden ground at the back of Burlington House. This plan had been carefully examined and fully approved by the Trustees, and it was a plan by which the Gallery would have had the best possible light, and by which ample accommodation and complete arrangements were provided. The plan now proposed to be adopted was objectionable on account of the annoyance which would be occasioned by continual traffic and noise. It must, moreover, involve great expense in obtaining the necessary site and in the erection of the requisite works. He trusted that the decision so hastily come to by a former House of Commons might be again brought under the consideration of a new Govern- 1036 ment, a new Parliament, and a new Prime Minister; and he wished to know, Whether there were any negotiations now pending between the Government and the Royal Academy which would prevent such a result being arrived at?
§ EARL GRANVILLEsaid, he entirely concurred with the noble Lord in regretting the decision come to of maintaining the National Gallery in its existing position, and of taking up a not very good space behind for the purpose of the Gallery. But that was the decision of the House of Commons, and the Government thought it necessary to bow to that decision. It was quite urgent that some definite measure should be adopted, and after negotiations between the Government and the Royal Academy, the Government felt bound to grant to the Royal Academy a site, at all events, for a new building, that body agreeing on their part to erect suitable buildings out of their own funds. With respect to Burlington House, he agreed with the noble Lord as to the architectural beauty of that building; but it was quite clear that the public, in giving a large sum for its purchase, did so not with the view of maintaining a handsome monument, but to make some use of the building for public purposes. The Government, having been put in a corner by the decision of the House of Commons, had felt themselves justified in making arrangements with the Royal Academy for giving that body the best site at their disposal, and those arrangements had been made. The Government had insisted on certain conditions, which the Royal Academy had assented to. Therefore, as far as the Government were concerned, they were entirely bound to carry out the arrangements come to. He understood that on the part of the Royal Academy there existed some doubt whether the new site would be so advantageous as they could desire; and should the Royal Academy consider the site not so eligible as they had at first imagined, and were willing to release the Government from the obligation entered into, the Government would be happy to listen to anything the Royal Academy might have to say on the subject.