resolution was uncalled-for and unnecessary. That
house could come to no resolution of the slightest
practical importance on the question, which had been
irrevocably decided by the will of the nation.—Lord
BEAUMONT was of opinion that the best course would
be at once to adopt the resolution of the House of
Commons, and he, therefore, moved that resolution as
an amendment to Lord Clanricarde's motion.—The Earl
of DERBY said that he felt it his duty to offer some
explanation as to Lord Clanricarde's resolution. It had
been suggested by himself, and adopted by the noble
marquis after consultation with his friends, as likely to
attain a very important object—an unanimous opinion
of the house on our commercial policy. On that
understanding, he had informed his friends that their attendance
would be unnecessary, and it was, therefore, with
the utmost surprise that he learned that not only was
a discussion to take place, but a hostile amendment was
also to be proposed. It had been said that the resolution
gave no assurance of the intentions entertained by
members of the government, but such an assurance was
to be found, as had been promised, in the financial
statement of the government, which was eminently of a
free-trade character. Such a budget was a far more
practical proof of sincerity than any abstract motion,
and, after such a proof, it was ungenerous to cavil at a
resolution expressly framed to secure the adhesion of
the greatest number of peers without doing violence to
their feelings. Lord Derby concluded by an appeal to
the house not to fetter noble lords who supported the
government by forcing on them resolutions which they
could not conscientiously adopt.—The Marquis of
LANSDOWNE declared that he felt himself bound by the
understanding to which Lord Derby had alluded, and
he was therefore precluded from voting for the amendment.
—The Earl of HARROWBY suggested the omission
of all the first part of the motion which gave reasons
for the course pursued by the house, and thought
there could then be no doubt of an unanimous
vote on the subject.—The Duke of NEWCASTLE
seconded this proposition, which ultimately was
unanimously carried.

The Earl of MALMESBURY announced the Recognition
of the French Empire by the British Government;
and commented on the circumstances which (he alleged)
showed that the Emperor had been called to the throne
by the distinct will of the people of France. Viscount
CANNING observed that, in the English parliament,
whenever foreign matters were brought under
discussion, it was advisable—and, above all, in the case of
a minister of the crown—to abstain from anything
approaching to comment on the conduct of a
neighbouring country, whether it were the people or the
ruling authority.

On Tuesday, the 7th, the Duke of NEWCASTLE
presented a Petition from New Zealand, complaining
of the general management of that colony, and
especially that the province of New Ulster should be
saddled with a debt said to be owing to the New
Zealand Company.

Lord LYNDHURST called the attention of the house to
several passages in the Report of the Cambridge University
Commission, and said that they contained the best
answer to the accusations so often and so ignorantly
made against that university.

On Friday, the 10th, the Earl of DERBY stated, in
answer to a question from the Earl of RODEN, that her
Majesty's government had no desire to give any countenance
whatever to the Irish Landlord and Tenant Bill
introduced into the other house by Mr. Serjeant Shee,
as they considered it subversive of the rights of property;
but they had consented to refer it to a select committee,
along with the measures introduced by the Attorney-
General for Ireland, only for the purpose of considering
a most important question, one involving great details
and difficulties, which, if brought to a satisfactory issue,
would confer important benefits upon the landed interest
in Ireland. The assent to the second reading of Mr.
Serjeant Shee's bill did not, under the circumstances,
involve an admission of its principle.

No proceedings of importance took place in the house
till Friday, the 17th, when the Earl of MALMESBURY
intimated that in consequence of what had taken place in
the House of Commons, the preceding night with
respect to the resolutions moved by the Chancellor of
the Exchequer, and in consequence of the unavoidable
absence of the Prime Minister, who had gone to see her
Majesty at Osborne, he should move the adjournment of
the house until Monday next. The house accordingly
adjourned.

On Monday, the 20th, the Earl of DERBY explained
the circumstances which had led to the Resignation of the
Government, which he declared had fallen before an
unprincipled combination of the parties in the lower
house, who had leagued themselves together for the
destruction of the ministry from the first moment of the
session. The task of constructing a new government
had been confided by her Majesty to Lord Aberdeen, to
whom he could promise from the Conservative party
greater forbearance than it had received at his, Lord
Aberdeen's hands. The noble earl, in conclusion, stated
that the late ministry only held office till their successors
were appointed, and moved that the house adjourn to
Thursday next—a day which he selected in preference to
Monday next, the day suggested by Lord Aberdeen,
because he hoped that by that day the necessary arrangements
with regard to the new ministry might be
completed.—The Duke of NEWCASTLE denied the statement
of Lord Derby, that there had been a combined
endeavour of various parties in the lower house to
overthrow his government. On the contrary, there had
been the most anxious desire that the government
should be allowed to lay before the country the
measures which he had promised. The Earl of DERBY
entered into some explanations, and the house
adjourned till Thursday.

On Monday the 27th the Earl of ABERDEEN rose to
explain the circumstances which had induced him to
undertake the task of Forming a new Administration,
and said, though both his tastes and habits, as well as
the reflection that he had arrived at the very verge of
the period usually assigned to human life, might have
rendered him reluctant to accept office, he had felt it
his duty to obey the commands of the Queen. He had
been accused, indeed, of entering into a conspiracy to
overthrow the late government, but he could only
say that his efforts had been directed towards keeping
it in, and not towards its destruction; and so far was
he from conspiring against the Earl of Derby and his
colleagues, that he had actually made arrangements
for passing the remainder of the winter on the shores
of the Mediterranean. Circumstances, however, had
induced Her Majesty to request his advice in forming
an administration, and the cabinet being now
complete, he would proceed to lay before the house a
sketch of its policy. With regard to foreign powers, it
would adhere to the principle which had been pursued
for the last thirty years, and which consisted in respecting
the rights of all independent states, in abstaining from
interference in their internal affairs, while at the same
time we asserted our own rights and interests, and,
above all, in an earnest desire to secure the general
peace of Europe. This policy might be observed without
any relaxation of those defensive measures which had
been lately undertaken, and had, perhaps, been too
long neglected. At home the mission of the government
would be to maintain and extend free trade
principles, and to pursue the commercial and financial
system of the late Sir Robert Peel. A crisis in our
financial arrangements would speedily occur by the
cessation of a large branch of the revenue, and it would
tax the ingenuity of all concerned to readjust our
finances according to the principles of justice and
equity. The questions of education and legal reform
would receive every attention at the hands of the
government; nor would an amendment of the
representative system, undertaken without haste or rashness,
be excluded from its mature consideration. The Earl
of Derby, he was informed, had spoken of a Conservative
form of government, and wondered how he (Lord
Aberdeen) and his associates would be able to carry on
the service of the Crown; but the truth was, no
government was possible at present except it were
Conservative, nor was any government possible except
it were Liberal. Those terms had ceased to have any
definite meaning, except as party cries, and the country