RESIGNATION OF MINISTERS.—SIR ROBERT PEEL’S ADMINISTRATION.
At the next meeting of the house of commons, Lord Marcus Hill appeared at the bar, and read this answer to the address:—“It is the greatest satisfaction to me to find that the house of commons are deeply sensible of the importance of those considerations to which I directed their attention in reference to the commerce and revenue of the country, and the laws which regulate the trade in corn; and that, in deciding on the course which it may be desirable to pursue, it will be their earnest desire to consult the welfare of all classes of my subjects. Ever anxious to listen to the advice of my parliament, I will take immediate measures for the formation of a new administration.” The division on Mr. J. S. Wortley’s amendment had so emphatically declared the sense of the new house of commons upon the continuance of the Whig government, that no other course remained to them but retirement from office. Accordingly, on the 30th of August, Viscount Melbourne in the lords, and Lord John Russell in the commons, intimated that they and their colleagues had resigned, and that they only continued to hold their respective offices till their successors were appointed. The task of forming a new government was assigned by the queen to Sir Robert Peel, and this time he was successful; the change embracing the queen’s household. The following were the principal members of the new administration:—the Duke of Wellington was leader in the lords; Sir Robert Peel himself was first lord of the treasury; Lord Lyndhurst became lord-chancellor; the honourable H. Goulburn, chancellor of the exchequer; Lord Wharncliffe, president of the council; the Duke of Buckingham, privy-seal; Sir James Graham, home-secretary; Earl of Aberdeen, foreign secretary; Lord Stanley, colonial secretary; Earl of Haddington, first lord of the admiralty; Lord Ellenborough, president of the board of control; Earl of Ripon, president of the board of trade; Sir H. Hardinge, secretary-at-war; Sir E. Knatchbull, treasurer of the navy and paymaster of the forces; and Lord Lowther, postmaster-general. After the new government was formed, writs were moved for in the commons for various places, in consequence of the acceptance of office of those members who belonged to that house; and the house afterwards adjourned until the 16th of September.
STATEMENT OF SIR ROBERT PEEL AS TO HIS INTENDED COURSE OF PROCEEDING, ETC.
The re-election of the members of government took place without the loss of a seat, and the house of commons reassembled on the day appointed. Business was commenced by Sir Robert Peel moving pro forma for a copy of the letter of the first commissioners of woods and forests, on the subject of warming and ventilating the new houses of parliament. The right honourable baronet on this occasion stated his intentions as to the course to be pursued with respect to the public business of the country.
FINANCIAL STATEMENT.
Mr. Goulburn brought forward his financial statement in a committee of ways and means on the 27th of September. He first stated what was wanted, showing that the house was called on to provide for a deficiency of £2,467,432. This sum, he said, did not differ materially from the deficiency anticipated by his predecessor; and to meet it he proposed funding a portion of the unfunded debt. He had, indeed, already made proposals to the public, which, he said, had been completely successful; the subscription he had obtained would enable him to give the requisite relief. The sum subscribed exceeded £3,500,000; and the terms he had offered were not higher than those offered by Mr. Spring Rice in 1838. The bonus would be found to be about 18s. 10d. per cent. With respect to the requisite supply, immediate taxation was out of the question; and he should therefore propose a mode of supply, which as a permanent resource he should deprecate, by an issue of exchequer-bills or a sale of stock, at the option of government. He suggested this alternative method, in order that the market might not be presently flooded again with a quantity of exchequer-bills equal to that from which it had just been relieved. Mr. Goulburn concluded by moving a resolution in accordance with the plan which he had explained, for funding the recent subscriptions in three per cent, consols. This proposition met with considerable opposition from Mr. Baring and other members; but the resolutions necessary for carrying it out were, nevertheless, passed without a division.