_Thursday, April_ 8, 1875:
Mr. DISRAELI: I beg to move, Sir, that the letter addressed to
you by Lord Charles Russell, the late Serjeant-at-Arms, be read
by the Clerk at the Table.
Letter [5th April] read.
Mr. DISRAELI: Mr. Speaker, we have listened to the resignation of
his office by one who has long and ably served this House. The office
of Serjeant-at-Arms is one which requires no ordinary qualities; for
it requires at the same time patience, firmness, and suavity, and
that is a combination of qualities more rare than one could wish
in this world. The noble Lord who filled the office recently, and
whose resignation has just been read at the Table, has obtained our
confidence by the manner in which he has discharged his duties through
an unusually long period of years; and we should remember, I think,
that occasions like the present are almost the only opportunity we
have of expressing our sense of those qualities, entitled so much
to our respect, which are possessed and exercised by those who fill
offices attached to this House, and upon whose able fulfilment of
their duties much of our convenience depends. Therefore, following
the wise example of those who have preceded me in this office,
I have prepared a Resolution which expresses the feeling of the
House on this occasion, and I now place it, Sir, in your hands.
Mr. Speaker, read the Resolution, as follows: "That Mr. Speaker
be requested to acquaint Lord Charles James Fox Russell that this
House entertains a just sense of the exemplary manner in which he
has uniformly discharged the duties of the Office of Serjeant-at-Arms
during his long attendance on this House."
The MARQUESS OF HARTINGTON: Sir, on behalf of the Members who sit
on this side of the House, I rise to second the Motion of the Right
Hon. Gentleman. He has on more than one occasion gracefully, but
at the same time justly, recognized the services rendered to the
State by the house of Russell. That house will always occupy a
foremost place in the history of the Party to which I am proud
to belong, and I hope it will occupy no insignificant place in
the history of the country. Of that house the noble Lord who has
just resigned his office is no unworthy member. There are, Sir,
at the present moment but few Members who can recollect the time
when he assumed the duties of his office; but I am glad that his
resignation has been deferred long enough to enable a number of
new Members of this House to add their testimony to that of us
who are better acquainted with him, as to the invariable dignity
and courtesy with which he has discharged his duties.