Malta.  Its riches and resources.

I have reason to know something of Malta; I know something of its resources; and, instead of its being misgoverned, I can only say that in the course of my intercourse with that island, I was astonished at the immensity of its resources of all descriptions, and at the readiness with which these resources were afforded to his majesty’s troops and armies, in order to enable them to carry on war against an enemy.  It is but an act of justice to those noble and honourable persons who have governed Malta, to say thus much; and I must add that, having known that island for a period of nearly twenty years, I really believe that, on the face of the globe there is not a place of the same extent and population which possesses one thousandth part of its riches and resources of all descriptions.

April 30, 1839.

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Indifference to Reports.

I have served the sovereigns and the public of this country for fifty years, and throughout the whole of that period I have been exposed to evil report and to good report, and I have still continued to serve on through all report, both good and evil, and thus I confess myself to be completely indifferent to the nature of all reports.

May 14, 1839.

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Personal Attendants of the Sovereign.  Their Political Influence.

When the noble viscount announced in this house on Tuesday last that he had resigned his office, the probable consequences of that announcement occurred to my mind, and I turned my attention in consequence to the state of the government at the present moment—­to the state of the royal authority—­to the composition of the royal household—­and to all those circumstances which were likely to come under my consideration, in case I were called upon to assist in advising the composition of another administration.  I confess, that it appeared to me impossible that any set of men should take charge of her majesty’s government without having the usual influence and control over the establishment of the royal household—­that influence and control which their immediate predecessors in office had exercised before them.  As the royal household was formed by their predecessors in office, the possession of that influence and that control over it appeared to me to be absolutely necessary, to let the public see that the ministers who were about to enter upon office had and possessed the entire confidence of her majesty.  I considered well the nature of the formation of the royal household under the civil list act passed at the commencement of her majesty’s reign.  I considered well the difference between the household of a queen-consort and the household of a queen-regnant.  The queen-consort not being a political person in the same light as a queen-regnant, I considered the construction of her majesty’s household—­I considered