Sitting of 17 March 1873

MINUTES.
PUBLIC BILL—Referred to Select Committee—Portpatrick Harbour* [61].
RESIGNATION OF MINISTERS.

  MINISTERIAL STATEMENT.
  MR. GLADSTONE: Mr. Speaker, I have to inform the House that last evening, while passing Sunday in the country, I received a communication from Her Majesty to an effect which led me finally to abandon any expectation I may have had that, upon the present occasion, the party in Opposition would construct a Government to carry on the affairs of the country. At the same time, in reply to an inquiry from Her Majesty, I at once stated that I placed any services I could render at Her Majesty's disposal, and that I would take steps forthwith to proceed to consider, together with those who have been my Colleagues in the Cabinet, how far they were disposed to resume their offices, and at the same time to consider the state of public affairs and the business of this House after the events of last week. In the performance of this service I am at present engaged, and I trust the House will be disposed, therefore, to grant a short further adjournment. I propose that this adjournment shall be until Thursday next, in order that I may have time to acquit myself of the duty I have undertaken. I shall, therefore, with permission, move that the House at its rising do adjourn till Thursday next. With reference to the state of business immediately impending, I may say that there are several measures now upon the list for Thursday which are not of a political but are rather of a practical character, and with which, in case

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  the Government should be successfully reconstituted at that time, it would probably be the desire of the House to proceed in order to avoid any unnecessary loss of time. These measures will stand upon the Paper, and hon. Members will have an opportunity of judging for themselves. I am sanguine in the belief that they will agree with me that they are such as the House will be disposed to facilitate in the events to which I refer. The first of them would be the Register for Parliamentary and Municipal Electors Bill, and the second would be the Railways and Canal Traffic Bill. Then there is an engagement into which I entered at the commencement of last week with several hon. Members, particularly with the hon. Member for Warwickshire (Mr. Newdegate) and the hon. Member for West Norfolk (Mr. Bentinck), with regard to Motions of theirs which would, in the regular course, have stood on the Paper for discussion, together with the Motion of my hon. Friend the Member for London (Mr. Crawford), on Thursday last. The Motion of my hon. Friend is out of the question for the moment on account of the lapse of time within which he could make it; but we have a Bill coming before the House to enlarge the time and restore my lion. Friend to his original position and capacity for making that Motion. With regard to the two other lion. Members, if they are desirous to proceed with their Motions, and will communicate with us, we will endeavour to make a reasonable and convenient arrangement for that purpose. I now beg to move, Sir, that this House at its rising do adjourn till Thursday.
  MR. DISRAELI: Mr. Speaker, after the statement of the right hon. Gentleman, though it might naturally be supposed that it would be agreeable to me to enter on explanations of my conduct with reference to recent events, I feel it my duty to sacrifice immediately any personal wish of this kind to what I believe is for the public advantage. Therefore I shall be silent. But I desire to make one remark upon an observation which has fallen from the right hon. Gentleman which might otherwise be liable to misconstruction. As I understood, the right hon. Gentleman referred to negotiations which were carried on with the Conservative party, as having terminated only
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  yesterday. Now, I beg to state in a distinct manner that on Thursday last, when about to enter this House, I received Her Majesty's commands to attend upon Her Majesty. Having immediately obeyed, Her Majesty did me the honour of consulting me upon the subject of the Ministerial difficulty which had arisen. Her Majesty inquired of me whether I was prepared to form a Government. I then informed Her Majesty distinctly and decidedly, that I was quite prepared to form an Administration, which I believed would conduct Her Majesty's affairs efficiently and in a manner entitled to Her Majesty's confidence; but that I could not undertake to conduct the Government of the country in the present House of Commons. That was the information I gave distinctly and clearly to Her Majesty, and from the position I then took up, I have never for a moment faltered.
  MR. GLADSTONE: I wish to make no comment upon the statement of the right hon. Gentleman, but simply to say that in the few words I have just uttered I made reference to the proceedings that took place between Thursday last—the day of our resignation—and Sunday, simply for the purpose of stating that it was on Sunday last I received a communication from Her Majesty which led me to abandon the expectation that a Government would be formed by the right hon. Gentleman or his Friends opposite.
  MR. CRAWFORDasked the Vice President of the Council, whether he was prepared to take immediate steps to place him (Mr. Crawford) in a favourable position with regard to his Motion on the subject of Emanuel Hospital?
  MR. W. E. FORSTER: In answer to my hon. Friend, I beg to assure him that Her Majesty's Government will certainly adhere to the understanding they have arrived at in respect to my hon. Friend's Motion—namely, that he will be placed in the position in which he was last Tuesday, so far as that he will be enabled to take the opinion of the House in regard to the Emanuel Hospital scheme, and the schemes connected therewith. I intended to bring in the Bill this evening to enlarge the time from 40 days to four months. I find, however, I shall be unable to do so on account of the Adjournment of the House; but I shall be able to do so on

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  Thursday next, and no step will be taken by the Government to prevent my hon. Friend doing so.
  Motion agreed to.
  House at rising to adjourn till Thursday.
  MR. GLADSTONE: I now move, Sir, that the Committees have leave to sit notwithstanding the adjournment of the House.
  Motion agreed to.
  Ordered, That all Committees have leave to sit, notwithstanding the adjournment of the House.
  MR. GLADSTONE: I move that the House do now adjourn.
  Motion agreed to.
  House adjourned at a quarter before Five o'clock till Thursday.

MINUTES.
PUBLIC BILL—Report—Victoria Embankment (Somerset House)* (28).
RESIGNATION OF MINISTERS.

  MINISTERIAL STATEMENT.
  EARL GRANVILLE: My Lords, on Thursday last your Lordships were good enough to adjourn this House for legislative business until to-day, in consequence of my having stated that, as the result of the vote of the previous morning, Mr. Gladstone and his Colleagues had respectfully offered their resignations to the Queen, and that her Majesty had been graciously pleased to accept them. On that afternoon the Queen sent for Mr. Disraeli; and the result of the communications between Her Majesty and Mr. Disraeli and Mr. Gladstone was, that yesterday evening Mr. Gladstone sent a communication to his former Colleagues with a view to their return to office. I therefore propose that your Lordships should adjourn again, to next Thursday, when I shall probably be in a position to give a more detailed explanation; and I trust your Lordships will abstain from coming to any conclusion as to what has occurred until you have heard that more detailed explanation.
  Moved, "That the House at its rising do adjourn to Thursday next."—(The Earl Granville.)
  THE DUKE OF RICHMOND: My Lords, I concur in the proposal of the noble Earl that this House should adjourn till Thursday; and I think your Lordships will feel that, under existing circumstances, I shall do well to abstain from saying anything with reference to the subject-matter on which the noble

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  Earl has touched. My right hon. Friend (Mr. Disraeli) will be prepared at the proper time, and in the proper place, to state the course which he has pursued.
  In reply to LORD CHELMSFORD,
  EARL GRANVILLEsaid, he proposed that the House should not sit for legislative business until Thursday; but, of course, it would meet in the mean time for judicial business.
  LORD BUCKHURSTsaid, as their Lordships had probably observed, it would not be competent to their Lordships under the existing law to deal with the scheme of the Endowed School Commissioners in respect of Emanuel Hospital, the time for interference having expired that day. He wished to ask what course it was proposed to pursue with regard to that and other schemes of the School Commissioners which were then upon their Lordships' Table.
  EARL GRANVILLEsaid, his right hon. Friend, the Vice President of the Council, had given Notice of his intention to introduce in the other House of Parliament a Bill to extend the time within which it was provided by the Endowed Schools Act 1869, that either House might present an Address against any scheme of Commissioners, which was now limited to 40 days, to four months in respect of certain schools, the schemes for which had been already laid before both Houses. These were the Emanuel Hospital, Westminster; Palmer's Almshouses, Westminster; Emery Hill's Almshouses, Westminster; and Theobald's School, Needham Market, Norfolk. As the 40 days had actually expired, the Bill was so far retrospective.
  LORD LYTTELTONsaid, he did not rise to make any objection to the proposal to defer the time for objecting to these schemes; but as the Motion of the noble Lord (Lord Buckhurst) in reference to Emanuel Hospital would also be postponed, he hoped their Lordships would also suspend their judgments with reference to certain printed circulars which had been sent to every Member of their Lordships' House except himself. Although these papers emanated from the Corporation of London he would undertake to say they were, and always had been, and would continue to be—no doubt unintentionally—full of inaccuracies. He hoped, therefore, their Lordships would not think them necessarily true, because they were issued from
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  the Corporation and were signed by the City Solicitor.
  Motion agreed to.
  House adjourned at a quarter past Five o'clock, 'till To-morrow, half Past Ten o'clock.