HL Deb 08 March 1875 vol 222 cc1368-71
THE LORD CHANCELLOR

My Lords, I have to inform your Lordships that I have received from Sir John Shaw Lefevre, the Clerk of the Parliaments, the following letter:— 18, Spring Gardens, 6th March 1875. My dear Lord Chancellor, It has been a matter of great regret to me that owing to the weakness resulting from a severe indisposition I have been prevented from attending in the House of Lords since the opening of the Session: This interruption to the performance of my duties, which is likely to continue another month, combined with the consideration of my advancing age, has led me reluctantly to the conviction that my duty to the House of Lords requires me to resign the office of Clerk of the Parliaments, and accordingly, if their Lordships should think it right to acquiesce, I shall take the necessary steps to give formal effect to my resignation: In making this announcement I trust that I may be permitted to express the deep regret which I feel at quitting the service of the House of Lords and the consequent cessation of my official intercourse with their Lordships, from whom collectively and individually I have uniformly received, during the twenty-seven years which have elapsed since my appointment, the greatest consideration, confidence, and kindness. The gratitude which this retrospect calls forth will be a lasting sentiment during the remainder of my life: I have the honour to be, My dear Lord Chancellor, With feelings of the highest respect to your Lordship personally and officially, Your Lordship's Obedient humble Servant, JOHN GEORGE SHAW LEFEVRE. The Right Honourable, The Lord Chancellor, &c. &c. &c. My Lords, I cannot doubt that your Lordships will have heard with very sincere regret that Sir John Lefevre has found it necessary to resign the important office in your Lordships' House which he has held for upwards of a quarter of a century. My Lords, when Sir John Lefevre first sat at the Table of this House he was not a novice in the public service, and I am certain I do not go beyond what I feel your Lordships will endorse when I say that in the performance of his duties in this House he has shown a zeal and an intelligence, and, at the same time, a courtesy and good feeling which have never been surpassed. My Lords, the anxiety of Sir John Lefevre for the order of your Lordships' proceedings has been evinced not merely by the knowledge and mastery of the traditions and precedents of this House which he attained, but by a very valuable and methodical arrangement and analysis of our Standing Orders which he prepared: and it is a remarkable fact that, in one generation and in one family, two of its most eminent members have devoted, in their respective spheres, their remarkable talents to simplifying and elucidating the order and proceedings of the two Houses of Parliament. My Lords, coming to what has fallen particularly under my own observation, I must express my sense of the ability which Sir John Lefevre has displayed in connection with the judicial business of your Lordships' House; especially in the settling and drawing up decrees and orders on appeals, often long and complicated, and requiring a very considerable amount of technical knowledge. I must, at the same time, bear testimony to the great services he has rendered as the head of the Committee for conducting the publication of the revised edition of the Statutes. My Lords, I will add nothing more to these remarks save this—that I feel confident that any successor to Sir John Lefevre cannot pursue a better course than to follow his example.

EARL GRANVILLE

My Lords, I hope your Lordships will allow me to say a few words on this resignation in addition to what has fallen from the noble and learned Lord on the Woolsack. In anything I say I will take care that my long personal friendship with Sir John Lefevre shall have no influence with me in the tribute which I desire to pay him in his public character. It so happens, my Lords, that some years ago, when Lord Palmerston recommended the Queen to make Sir John Lefevre a Knight Commander of the Bath, it fell to my lot to draw up a statement for the Queen of what were his public services. I had to represent to Her Majesty that he had served in three Public Offices—at the Colonial Office, the Board of Trade, and the Poor Law Board—and some of those offices, as it happened, were held by him at times of great difficulty, and when business of great importance was being carried on. He had been, I think, on no fewer than 16 Commissions—unpaid Commissions. I need not trouble your Lordships with the names of those Commissions; but what I remember about them is that they extended over a wide and varied range of social, political, military, and scientific subjects of the deepest interest. I may add that, when first I became connected with the University of London, I found Sir John Lefevre was at that time Vice Chancellor. He had held the post for a great many years previously, and during that period the Institution had great difficulties to contend with; and I think that the successful position it has assumed is in no small measure due to the part he took in its management. On its work Sir John Lefevre has left his mark. As to his ability in the discharge of his duties in this House, it is not necessary for me to add to the encomium pronounced by the noble and learned Lord on the Woolsack. There are, perhaps, other Members of your Lordships' House who have a greater knowledge than I have myself of his services in connection with the administrative business of this House, though circumstances have afforded me a very ample opportunity of knowing them; but I believe I shall have the concurrence of everyone of your Lordships when I say that he has afforded us immense assistance on all that relates to the conduct of our proceedings. It would be impossible to overrate the assistance he has given to your Lordships, not only as the fulfilment of a duty, but with a readiness and a cordiality which I am sure are appreciated by every Member of your Lordships' House.

Then the said Letter was ordered to lie on the Table; to be entered on the Journals; and to be taken into consideration on Thursday next.

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