[From the Sydney Spectator.}

New Zealand Spectator and Cook's Strait Guardian, Volume III, Issue 136, 18 November 1846, Page 3

[From the Sydney Spectator.}

By the Christina, which arrived from Port Phillip on Saturday, we have received Melbourne papers announcing the highly important intelligence (received by the Enterprise) of Sir Robert Peel's retirement, ami the appointment of Lord John Russell to lender assistance in the formation of a new government. The Irish Coercion Bill having been 1 ejected on the 25th June by a majority i f seventythree, Sir Robert Peel immediately tendered his resignation, and on the following Monday he announced his retirement to the House of Commons. He then stated, that in consequence of the position in which her Majesty's Government was placed, more especially by the vote to which the House had come on the previous Thursday, when it had refused to grant to Ministers those powers which they deemed necessary for the repression of outrage and for the protection of life in Ireland, her Majesty's servants deemed it their duty to tender their resignation to a gracious sovereign. In reference to the great feature of the session, the Right Honorable Baronet assured the House that he had not proposed the measures connected with England's commercial policy without foreseeing the probability that, whether they were made law or not, they would cause the dissolution of the Government. He therefore rather rejoiced that Government had been relieved from any doubt upon the point, by the early decision of the house as to the course which Ministers ought to pursue ; for he would not, even if the vote of Thursday night" had been in his favor, have consented to hold office by sufferance, or by the evasion of any great and important public

question. It was not for the public interest that any government should remain in power which was not able to carry into effect the 1 measures which it deemed necessary for the public welfare ; and in the position of the present Government, by the withdrawal — thd natural withdrawal, perhaps — of those who had hitherto supported it, he did not think it probable that' it could have *been enabled, with credit to itself and advantage to the country, to continue in the administration of public affairs. He had, therefore, advised her Majesty to accept the resignation of their services without having recourse to the exercise of the prerogative possessed by the Crown to dissolve the Parliament. With regard to the Irish Projection of Life Bill, Sir Robert said, that he had brought it forward, not under the idea that it was a measure calculated improve the permanent condition- of Ireland, but because he thought that the vigorous repression of crime was necessary to give effect to the useful legislation of the house on other subjects connected with that country. It would be unjust to infer from that bill, that his policy with respect to Ireland had undergone any change. He still contended that there ought to be established a complete equality of civil, municipal, and political rights, between- Great -Britain and Ireland; so that no one on comparing Ireland and its franchise with Great Britain and its franchise, should be at liberty to say that a different rule was established in the two countries. Then with regard to the executive administration in Ireland, he thought that the favour of the Crown should be bestowed without reference to religious distinction, and he assured those who were abont to succeed him, that if they acted upon that principle, they should hear no complaints from him. Then with respect to the spirit in which legislation should be conducted, he was prepared, retaining all the opinions which he had expressed, relating to Irish policy, to co-oper-ate with those who felt that the tenure of land and the relation of landlord and tenant in Ireland required immediate consideration. He had reason to believe that Lord John Russell had been commanded to repair to her Majesty's presence, in order to render assistance in the formation of a new Government. He had no doubt that the general principles of that Government, so far as regarded the commercial policy of the country, would be developed in the continued application of those principles which would give us a more free commercial intercourse |with other countries. If such should be the policy of the new Government, he should feel it his duty to give to that Government, in the pursuit of that policy, his most cordial support. If other countries chose to buy in the dearest market, that ought not to be a discouragement to us to buy in the cheapest, and he therefore hoped that the new Government would not haggle with foreign countries about commercial advantages, but would manfully pursue that course which was most conducive to British interests. Referring at some length to the negotiations .which had been so long pending between England and America on the Oregon question, and explaining the claims made by the former, Sir Robert stated, amidst loud cheers, that he had that very day the satisfaction of receiving from Mr. Pakenham an official letter, dated Washington, the 13th June, informing him that the conditions offered by her Majesty's Government had been accepted by the Government of the United States without the addition or alteration of a single word. Thus the Governments of two great nations, both impelled by public opinion, had by their moderation and spirit of mutual conciliation, averted a war, which if it had broken out, would not have lasted long without involving Europe in its desolation. Mentioning as he passed along, that the Earl of Aberdeen had intimated to the United States his desire of employing our good offices to mediate between, them and Mexico, Sir R. Peel concluded this part of the subject by rejoicing that, before he surrendered his power at the feet of the house, he could assure it that every chance of war with the United States was terminated with honour to this country. He had now executed the task which public duly required from him ; and in so doiag he trusted that he had said nothing \j»hich could lead to the probability of controversy. He could say with truth, that her Majesty's Government, in proposing the commercial measures which had disentitled them to the support of a portion of their former supporters, had been influenced by no ether desire than that of serving their country. In bringing these measures forward he had no wish to rob others of the merit of them. A combination of parties and of circumstances had led to their success. Yet the name which ought to be associated with that success -was not the name of John Russell or of Robert Peel, but the name of a man who, acting from pure and disinterested motives, hady with untiring energy and with appeals to reason, enforced his cause by an'eloquence the more to be admired because it was unaffected and unadorned ; the name to which he alluded was

that of Richard Cobden. He then closed his adiiress, thanking the house for the favour with which it had listened to him. Within a few hours that power which he had wielded would be surrendered into the hands of others. Without complaining or repiuing, but with lively gratitude for the support which he had received, he should leave office with a- name severely censured by many who not interested by personal motives, deeply regretted the severance of party ties — with a name severely censured by many who conscientiously adhered to the principle of protection— with a name execrated by every monopolist who, from less honourable motives, maintained protection for his own personal interests — but with a name to be remembered sometimes in the humble dwellings of men whose lot it was to labour, and to earn their subsistence by the sweat of their brow, with expressions of good will, whpn they were recruiting their exhausted strength with abundant and untaxed food, the sweeter because it was no longer «at«n with a sense of injustice. The right honourable baronet, who had been throughout most loudly cheered, then sat down amid loud applause ifiom all sides of the house.