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LORD PALM ERSTON— MINISTERIAL EXPLANATION.

In the House of Commons, in the course of the debate on the address,' ' Sir B. Hall said he did not rise to oppose the address, but in the present aspect of foreign affairs, and considering the important changes which had taken place in. the administration of the country, he thought the noble lord was called upon to giye some explanation to the house. • . t-l Lord John Russell said he would answer the question put to him, though it required him to 'go into considerable detail. He had, he said-, so high an" opinion of the capabilities of Lord Palmerston, that when he was himself offered by Lord Melbourne the post of Foreign Secretary, he strongly urged the propriety of giving that to his noble friend Lord Palmerston, and - subsequently, when forming his own govern-*-raentjf he at once secured' the services of his noble friend. In _ the course of last autumn, however, the affairs of the Continent wore an aspect requiring greiat caution on, the part of this country, and a rigid adherence to the principle of non-intervention in the concerns of other nations. In furtherance of this principle, it was arranged' that he (Lord J. Russell) should be responsible that the crown should be kept in constant possession of all communications' of importance with foreign powers, and this ar-rangement-was assented to by Lord Palmerston. s Soon afterwards 1 an incident occurred which caused him some uneasy feelings. His noble -friend had received" at the Foreign Office some deputations and addresses in which- very offensive language was used towards foreign powers, and subsequently, when the President- of France dismissed the Assembly, and abrogated the con-

stitutipn, his noble friend had been reported to have used expressions to the French Ambassador, approving entirely of the course pursued by the President ; and when repeatedly written to by him for an explanation, which was required by her Majesty, he preserved a disdainful silence. He wrote, however, a despatch to the Marquis of Normanby, giving an opinion, favourable to the President, which could only be taken as the opinion of the crown and the government, although the matter had never been submitted to either. He again applied to his noble friend, requiring an explanation; and, after waiting three days for a leply in vain, he made up his mind that his noble friend 'could not any longer be retained as a member of the Cabinet, and "he at once wrote . to him to that effect. He thus assumed the entire responsi-' bility of dismissing his noble friend, and he did so without consulting his colleagues, in order that there might not be even the appearance of anything like a cabal in this proceeding. He received a reply from his noble friend before he sent the dismissal, but in ' that reply his argument was -altogether beside the question, for the real question 'at issue was whether the Foreign Secretary should issue dispatches of importance of his own accord, or whether he should in the first instance submit them to the crown- and the Cabinet. He did not for • a moment believe that the noble lord intended any offence to her Majesty ; but he had been so long in his position that he felt that he must know better than any one else what course should be pursued in cases of difficulty. He added, that subsequently, when he called the Cabinet together, they were unanimous, in thinking that he (Lord J. Russell) could have pursued ,no other course than that which he had adopted. Lord Palraerston' said he should be sorry if the house should come to the conclusion that he had abandoned those constitutional principles which he had always hitherto advocated, or that he was in favour, as the speech of his noble friend was but too well calculated to convey, of anything in the shape of military government. With respect to the deputations he had received from Finsbury and Islington, he regretted that those expressions with respect to foreign sovereigns had been mixed up with other matters in the addresses, and he would have taken some steps to have them altered had he taken the precaution of asking for copies of them before they were presented ; but he "never anticipated at the time that they were to become newspaper paragraphs the next day, With respect to what had passed in conversation with the French Ambassador, the statement as to what he had said was, in the main, correct, though somewhat highly coloured; and when subsequently asked by 'his noble friend if he could contradict the statement, a delay occurred from the 14th to the 17th, which was entirely owing to the pressure of business, and a desire, on his part, to write his views~upon the subject very fully.. But he was informed that he was not the only member of the Government who held similar opinions,~for even the noble lord himself, and the President of the Council, and the Chancellor of the^Exchequer also, had expressed opinions upon the occurrence to the French "Ambassador, and some 'of them not very different firpm his own. He was also informed that Earl Grey and the Secretary of War had expressed opinions — that in fact every member of the' Government was at liberty to express an opinion except the Secretary of State, to whose department the consi • deration of the .subject naturally .devolved. He did not dispute the right of the noble lord to remove any member of his Government, but he must say that, after acting as had been said of him by his noble friend — not as Minister of Austria — not as Minister of Russia — but as the Minister of England, he now retired from office, leaving England on good terms with every country in the world, and without a question between her and any of them calculated to disturb the general harmony. N Mr. Muntz, Mr. Baillie, Mr. Geach, Mr. M. Milnes, Lord D. Stuart, Mr. B. Osborne. Mr. Roebuck, Mr. Napier, Mr. E. B. Roche severally addressed the house. Mr. Disraeli said he had listened with great attention to the , explanations given that night, but he must say that he could derive little information from either of the noble lords, He also expressed himself opposed to any Reform Bill that would destroy the influence of the landed interests in that house. Lord John Russell replied, and after a few observations from Sir G. Grey, in defence of the Irish Government, the Address was agreed to, and the house adjourned at a quarter to one o'clock.

Changes in the Cabinet. — Lord Broughton has resigned the position which he held as President of the Board of Control. He will be succeeded by Mr. Fox Maule. As the Indian charter is about to lapse, it was necessary that, the work of re-construction should be placed into the hands of an active man of business, and thus it is that Mr. F. Maule has received the appointment in question. s

Permanent link to this item
Hononga pūmau ki tēnei tūemi

https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/NZSCSG18520616.2.4.1

Bibliographic details
Ngā taipitopito pukapuka

New Zealand Spectator and Cook's Strait Guardian, Volume VIII, Issue 717, 16 June 1852, Page 3

Word count
Tapeke kupu
1,167

LORD PALMERSTON—MINISTERIAL EXPLANATION. New Zealand Spectator and Cook's Strait Guardian, Volume VIII, Issue 717, 16 June 1852, Page 3

LORD PALMERSTON—MINISTERIAL EXPLANATION. New Zealand Spectator and Cook's Strait Guardian, Volume VIII, Issue 717, 16 June 1852, Page 3

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