more convinced that the domestic policy of the government
was the only true one. He also partly approved
of their foreign policy, but as he did not approve of the
whole of it he could not vote for Mr. Roebuck's
resolution.—Lord John RUSSELL, after discussing in
considerable detail the various topics of the question,
made some general observations on the principles of
foreign policy. He acknowledged that it was a just rule
of policy not to interfere in the domestic affairs of other
nations; but that rule had not been strictly observed
even by Lord Aberdeen, and it must be relaxed in cases
of exigency, for an unbending rule might be the cause
of war. Though, besides the general interest of
mankind, it was the particular interest of this country that
freedom should be extended, yet our best influence was
by affording at home an example of the good effects of
liberty; but it ought to be understood in Europe that
we took part in neither of the extreme parties into
which it was divided—neither the wildness of democracy
nor the iron rule of despotism; and he begged the house
to beware, lest, in censuring a government which had
held that middle course, it declared in favour of one of
those parties.—Mr. DISRAELI said that it was absurd
to lay down a rule, that, in countries like Greece, every
person calling himself a British subject might look for
redress to a British admiral. Admitting the claims of
Finlay and Pacifico, though exaggerated in amount,
they were not better founded than a multitude of other
claims which had not been enforced by line-of-battle ships.
On the general topic he contended that the policy of
ministers had not been calculated to sustain the honour
of England, and that, so far from preserving peace, there
would have been no war in Europe but for their
interference. On the division, the resolution was carried
by 310 against 264; majority in favour of Government,
46.

The Site of the Exhibition of 1851 was the subject of
a conversation, on Monday the 1st instant, occasioned
by questions from Col. Sibthorp and other members.
The ATTORNEY-GENERAL explained the state of the
legal question, stating that Hyde Park was the property
of the crown, and at each accession was vested in the
commissioners of woods and forests, as trustees for the
public, who had a right to cut down all trees, whether
mature or immature, with the sanction of the crown,
but had no right to grant leases for permanent buildings.
A full discussion of the subject was arranged for
Thursday.

Mr. ANSTEY moved for an inquiry into the Treatment
of Mr. Smith O'Brien, and the circumstances under
which a letter from that gentleman to Mr. Anstey
himself had been intercepted and opened in the colony
by the local authorities.—Sir George GREY opposed the
motion, and stated that the course adopted was
invariably pursued towards convicts who refused tickets
of leave, and that Mr. O'Brien was treated with
as much lenity as circumstances would admit. The
motion was negatived by 45 to 17.

The house then went into a Committee of Supply, and
various sums were voted, chiefly for educational purposes.
The vote for the British Museum caused a good deal of
conversation, and severe comments were made on the
management of that institution, especially in regard to
the library.

When the house met on Wednesday the 3rd, Mr.
HUME, after referring briefly, but with great feeling, to
the Death of Sir Robert Peel, moved an immediate
adjournment without proceeding to any business. The
motion was seconded by Mr. GLADSTONE, as being the
only member present who had been officially connected
with Sir R. Peel. Every heart, he observed, was much
too full to allow them to proceed so early to the
consideration of the amount of the calamity with which the
country had been visited in the premature death of his
friend. "I will say, the premature death of Sir Robert
Peel; for, although he has died full of years and full of
honours, yet it is a death that in human eyes is premature,
because we had fondly hoped that, in whatever
position, by the weight of his ability, by the splendour
of his talents and by the purity of his virtues, he might
still have been spared to render us most essential services.
I will only quote, as deeming them highly appropriate,
those most touching and most feeling lines which were
applied by one of the greatest poets of this country to
the memory of a man even greater than Sir Robert
Peel.

"Now is the stately column broke,
The beacon-light is quenched in smoke;
The trumpet's silvery sound is still,
The warder silent on the hill."

In the absence of a member of the Cabinet—for Lord
John Russell had gone out of town and the motion
seems to have come on unexpectedly—Sir W. SOMERVILLE
expressed his concurrence; and the house
adjourned.

On Thursday the 4th when the house assembled for
the evening sitting, Lord John RUSSELL renewed the
subject. When he rose to address a very full house, the
members uncovered with one accord, and a solemn
silence prevailed. Lord John was deeply moved—
speaking with a voice faultering and at first scarcely
audible. In a strain of deep sympathy he touched upon
the prominent features of the public character of Sir
Robert Peel—his long and large experience in state
affairs, his profound knowledge, his oratorical powers,
and his copious yet exact memory; and he noticed the
candour and kindness evinced by him towards a political
opponent in his last act in that house. Slightly glancing
at his political career, and the spirit which had guided
his political conduct, Lord John remarked that by the
course Sir Robert had taken after the passing of the
reform bill, between 1832 and 1841, he had rendered a
great public service. The example of such a man, who,
with a love of literature and a taste for the arts, had
devoted all his energies to labour for the sake of his
country, would not, he hoped, be lost upon the people of
that country. The harmony which had prevailed for
the last two years, and the safety which this country
had enjoyed during a period when other nations were
visited by calamities, had been greatly owing to the
course which Sir R. Peel had thought it his duty to
pursue. He concluded by saying that, if it should appear
to the friends of the departed statesman desirable to
take the course adopted on the death of Mr Pitt, he
should give his willing support to a motion for a public
funeral; or if it should be thought that the course taken
in the case of Mr. Grattan should be followed, he was
ready to concur in it.—Mr. GOULBURN, on the part of
Sir R. Peel's family, declined, with deep gratitude, the
proposition of a public funeral. He read a testamentary
memorandum, written on the 8th of May, 1844, in which
Sir Robert said—"I desire that I may be interred in
the vault of the parish church of Drayton Bassett, in
which my father and mother were interred, and that my
funeral may be without ostentation or parade of any
kind." And, not more than six weeks ago, he had
pointed out to Lady Peel, on an inspection of the
church, the spot in which he wished his body to be laid.
Mr. Goulburn then suggested that the subject should
drop, but Mr. HERRIES finished the conversation by
expressing his belief that no remembrances of diversity
in public opinion should mingle in the profound respect
and sorrow which pervaded the house at the loss of one
of its greatest ornaments.

Lord John RUSSELL then made an announcement
respecting the Public Business for the remainder of
the session. The lord-lieutenancy abolition (Ireland)
bill, the securities for advances (Ireland) bill, the
merchant seamen's fund bill, the woods and forests bill, and
the railway audit (No. 2) bill, it was intended to abandon
for the present session; and he did not intend to go
beyond the second reading of the landlord and tenant
(Ireland) bill. Amongst the bills which it was proposed
to persevere with were the stamp duties bill, the
ecclesiastical commission bill, the mercantile marine (No. 2)
bill, the oath of abjuration (Jews) bill, and the charitable
trusts bill; to which the Chancellor of the Exchequer
added the savings' banks bill.

The Site for the Exhibition of next Year was then
brought under discussion by Colonel SIBTHORP, who
moved that the report of the commissioners be referred
to a select committee, and that, before any further
proceeding of the commissioners, the sanction of the house
be given. He characterised the report as vague and
unsatisfactoiy, and inveighed against the whole scheme.
He pronounced the exhibition, by which the park is to