for persons possessing different tastes, and promoted the study and cultivation of art. It would be admitted that our National Gallery ought to be worthy of such a collection of pictures and also of the dignity of the country. It would be necessary to bear in mind the desirableness of enabling the pictures to be seen at night, and it would, therefore, be necessary to have proper regard in the new building to its space and ventilation, and to make provision for the introduction of gas without injury to the pictures. The estimate he laid upon the table referred to the portions of the site covered by the workhouse, the parochial offices and schools, and Archbishop Tenison's School. He was unable to give an accurate estimate of the sum which these buildings, &c., would cost, as it would be premature to have entered into negotiations with the vestry and the trustees of Archbishop Tenison's School, without the authority and sanction of the House. He believed, however, that the sum of £100,000 would be a maximum sum, beyond which it would not be necessary to go. The first step would be to make an agreement with the vestry and the trustees for the purchase of the site. It would not be possible to conclude the bargain and pay the value of the land at once, because it would be necessary for parochial purposes, before the vestry surrendered the present buildings, that others should be provided for them elswhere, to which the inmates of the workhouse could be sent. A large deposit might, however, be paid to the vestry in the first instance to enable them to enter into contracts, &c. The sum of £20,000 would cover all that could be paid on the conclusion of the agreement between this and the 21st of March. No further proceedings would be taken by the Government except to obtain a site, but at some future time, perhaps next year, an estimate of the buildings for the new site must be brought forward, and that would be the time when the question of the plan and extent would be before the House, and when the Government would state what in their opinion the new design ought to be. LORD ELCHO said, he had given notice of a Resolution on the subject which he did not propose at present to move, but which he would read, since it expressed the opinion he held on this subject "That the present National Gallery, owing to its architectural defects, and to its not being fireproof, cannot be considered a fitting receptacle for the national pictures, and does not safely admit of their exhibition at night for the benefit of those who are unable to visit them by day; that, building should be constructed, capable and worif the present site is to be retained, a fire-proof thy in all respects of containing the national collection, together with such future bequests and additions thereto as may from time to time be may be required for the purchase of land at the reasonably expected; and that any money that back of the Gallery should, if granted, be voted on the understanding that plans for its re-construction shall be forthwith obtained, by competition or otherwise, and shall be laid before Parliament early in the ensuing Session." Having, however, been told that as a matter of form it would be inconvenient to press a Resolution anticipating the labours of the Committee, he should abstain from doing so, merely observing that the Resolution he had read expressed the views which he held upon this question, and entertaining the hope that this expression of opinion would receive such sympathy from the Committee as would induce his right hon. Friend to go a little further than he had done towards the re-construction of the National Gallery. He thought that they might assume two things. The one was that the present National Gallery was utterly insufficient for the exhibition of the national pictures. The other was a question of taste, that such a building should be erected as would be benefiting the great object to which it was to be dedicated and worthy of the British nation. The present building was not fire-proof, and was not a fit receptacle for the treasures of art which constituted our national collection of paintings. The national jewels ought to be lodged in a safe and suitable casket. The subject had been constantly under inquiry and discussion, and since 1833, when it was built, there had been eight Committees and eight Commissions to inquire into various subjects connected with the edifice and its contents. The Government had at last proposed that Burlington House should become the sight of the new gallery, and he had supported that proposal because he believed it would be the cheapest and the most convenient that could be adopted. It would not have necessitated any removal of the pictures while the new gallery was being prepared for their reception. But if the present National Gallery were to be re-constructed he feared that it would be necessary to remove the works, and that they would probably be removed to South Kensington, for that was the point to which all our art collections seemed by some invincible force to gravitate. When it very difficult to obtain the land they Mr. Cole paid him a visit he implored him not even to wish for any work of art of his (Lord Elcho's) to be exhibited at South Kensington. With regard to economy, he believed the re-construction on this new site would cost far more than double that which the construction on the Burlington House site would cost. The two sites were equally central, and therefore equally convenient. With regard to the Royal Academy, the Royal Commission recommended that the Royal Academy should adopt certain suggestions favourable to other artists, and by handing over to them the present building better terms might be obtained from them in the interest of art, and they might be obliged to put up such a handsome front as Parliament might order. But the House had decided that the National Gallery should remain where it was, and he looked upon that question as settled. The only question that remained to be considered was the best mode of carry ing it into effect. His right hon. Friend proposed to buy land at the back of the National Gallery, and to erect upon that SIR GEORGE BOWYER said, that site buildings which should form part of this piecemeal mode of voting money away the new Gallery. But that would be, as it could never prove satisfactory. The preappeared to him (Lord Elcho), a simple sent National Gallery was a building to be continuance of what had been the bane greatly reprobated. It was said to occupy of the present building-a system of job- the finest site in Europe, but it was one bing and patchwork, which must be fatal of the meanest and most detestable buildto the completion of any great and satis-ings in the world. The building was low, factory work. Those who were liberal in while what was specially required was politics were also liberal in voting money height. He protested against resorting to for good purposes, and a well considered the mode of showing pictures by means of plan would be sure to meet with their ap-skylights. As to the remedy, they might proval. The Chancellor of the Exchequer add a storey to the National Gallery, the other night, in speaking on a different which would improve its appearance subject, laid great stress upon the importance of being able to light those galleries at night, so that the industrious part of the population who were employed during the day might at night have an opportunity of enjoying themselves. But as long as we had a building which was not fire-proof, it would not be safe to light it at night, though the Royal Academy had ventured to light their rooms. On all those grounds be hoped the Government would deal with the question in the broadest way, that they would invite the whole world, if necessary, to send in designs to be laid before the new Parliament, where the matter would be settled in the way which he be lieved would be the cheapest in the end, and which he was sure would be the most and give room for the Royal Academy, but he thought the best way would be to pull down the building altogether. He was sure the House would vote the sum necessary for a new one. Why had they not a building like the Louvre? He begged to express his disapproval of the proposition to pull down Burlington House, which was one of the finest pieces of architecture in London, and he did not think anything half so good was likely to be erected in its place. He had no confidence in the architects of the present day, who had never yet erected a fine building. MR. LOCKE said, be entirely concurred in the opinion that if anything was to be done with the National Gallery it ought to be pulled down altogether. After his right hon. Friend's condemnation of the original MR. TITE said, he could not help entrance hall of that building, which was fearing that the Government would find the only good thing about it, and bis creditable to the nation. admiration of the little miserable rooms, this demand for £20,000 as a pledge that which had been built at the back of it, he something would be erected worthy of the could repose no confidence in his taste; nation. The Government of the day was and, therefore, before he began any of to blame for beginning the building in these works, he should like to know ex- Trafalgar Square. It was an express stipuactly what he was going to do. As he lation that the Royal Academy should only understood the right hon. Gentleman, he be located in the building of the National was about to put a new face upon the Gallery while the apartments were not National Gallery, but putting a new face wanted for the national collection, and he upon a man did not alter his inside, nor had frequently asked why the Government did it produce any greater change in a did not call on the Royal Academy to give building. Although a new face might be up their apartments. He trusted that when put upon the National Gallery, the old the new Parliament met the right hon. miserable rooms would remain within, and Gentleman would be prepared with plans every disgrace and inconvenience which for all the space behind the National Galattached to the building would be per- lery, for a building worthy of the splendid petuated. It was premature to ask national collection of pictures, and also for for this sum of money until the House proper approaches to it. was informed what was to be done with the existing building, and he should refuse to support a grant for such patchwork proceedings. He agreed with the hon. Baronet the Member for Dundalk (Sir George Bowyer) in protesting against the destruction of Burlington House. If the site was to remain as an 66 open space," about which there had been a good deal of discussion lately, it might be very well; but the probability was that if another building was erected in place of that which now covered the ground it would prove to be an eyesore. If Burlington House, which was a very handsome building, were pulled down, what was to be put up in its place? He was decidedly opposed to the present Vote without a full explanation being given of what was intended to be done. MR. HENRY SEYMOUR said, that the nation now possessed a remarkably fine collection of pictures which was increasing in value daily, and last year the House decided that the site of the building for them should be Trafalgar Square. He was surprised, therefore, that the right hon. Gentleman should have allowed the Session to pass over without bringing in a Bill for compulsorily obtaining ground for the buildings which Parliament determined should be erected there. The arrangement proposed was different to what any railway company would have asked Parliament to grant them. Did the right hon. Gentleman mean to leave standing behind the National Gallery the baths and washhouses, which ought never to have been erected there, and which were most injurious to the national collection? He considered the right hon. Gentleman's plan very inadequate, but he would vote for it, because he looked upon MR. GREGORY said, he had always contended that the pictures at Kensington, the drawings of the great masters at the British Museum, and the pictures in the National Portrait Gallery should be placed in the National Gallery, and he was happy to say that this principle had been conceded by the right hon. Gentlemen. For these pictures 2,200 linear feet would be necessary, but in the present gallery there were only 1,500 feet. It was now promised that before anything was done a complete and comprehensive plan should be exhibited to the House; and he trusted that such would be the case. The piece of ground at present proposed to be taken would form part of what might afterwards be converted into a quadrangle by the purchase of the site of the barracks; but he believed that to the proposition to take the barracks there was some military objection which he could not understand. He hoped that his right hon. Friend would make it a sine quâ non that the new gallery should be built de novo, and that nothing should be taken from the present structure. No patchwork whatever could convert the present Gallery into a creditable building worthy of the treasures it was to contain. The bequest of Turner alone had been valued at £400,000, and having such treasures of art, it was the duty of Parliament to provide a structure to contain them which should be a credit to the nation. MR. COWPER said, he had heard of no proposal to pull down Burlington House, and therefore the hon. Baronet opposite (Sir George Bowyer) was premature in his alarm. There was a proposal to build on the front of the courtyard, but that would leave Burlington House on one side of a quadrangle, and be the MR. BAILLIE COCHRANE said, it was impossible to decide such a point until the plan was before the House. The first thing was to know what the Government meant to erect. MR. COX said, he wished to ask whether, if hon. Members voted now against the £20,000, it would be supposed they were voting in favour of the removal of the National Gallery to Burlington House? substitution of a building for a dead wall. | existing building, and would be treated, With regard to the National Gallery, the not piecemeal, but as a comprehensive hall had been useless for the purpose of measure. exhibiting pictures, while the alterations. made there had converted it into the only good gallery-seventy-one feet in length -to be found in the whole building. In the hands of a skilful architect that gallery would be turned to account and would be of use in constructing a new building. It would be a clumsy thing to pull down the present Gallery entirely; a good architect would leave great part of it standing, but transform it by additions into all that was desired. There might be a new façade, and a new building might be attached to the old building, which might be so altered and re-constructed that you would not know it again. With regard to the discussion that had taken place, he was glad to see a different, and, as he thought, a wiser tone than in the debate of last year. It was true the Government had not got the most economical plan, but by reconstructing the present building in Trafalgar Square, and by the proposed extensions behind, they would, if successful in the architect they employed, secure a noble building, worthy of the treasures it was to contain. The Vote now before the House had no bearing whatever upon the building or the plan; it was therefore not a fair representation to speak of it as a piecemeal affair; it was confined to the preliminary step-the purchase of the site. LORD ELCHO said, he desired that there should be a clear understanding as to what it was proposed to do. Was it it proposed to lay before Parliament next Session a plan or plans for the reconstructtion of the old National Gallery? MR. COWPER said, that when the agreement had been made for the purchase of the site, the next step would be to bring before the House an estimate for whatever was to be erected upon that site. That would be the time to mention the plan. He would rather not give any pledge on these points, because the proper time to enter into the discussion of the plan was when the estimate was proposed for the building. At present the House was asked to decide whether the enlargement was to be at Trafalgar Square. If not, were they of opinion it should be at Burlington House? When that point was decided, then would come the estimate and the plan for the building to be erected there; and he had also stated that that plan would be made harmonious with the MR. COWPER: It has been decided that there is to be an enlargement of the old building or the erection of a new one for the National Gallery, and as only two sites have ever been mentioned, I presume those who do not wish to have it at Trafalgar Square are for Burlington House. If the hon. Gentleman (Mr. Cox) is for no enlargement of the old, and for no new building at all, he will vote against any grant whatever. MR. LOCKE said, he did not want to destroy the harmony of the evening; but he should be extremely sorry if the Committee came to any vote which pledged Parliament to the erection of a new National Gallery "in harmony with the old one." It would be a dead failure, cost a great deal, and satisfy no one. He MR. AYRTON said, he thought this discussion wholly unnecessary; it appeared to be carried on chiefly by Gentlemen who last year wished to remove the National Gallery from its present site, and being then defeated were now striving to hinder th anything being done to improve the present building. The Government only asked now for the means to purchase land adjacent to the Trafalgar Square site, and expressed no opinion as to the mode in which it should be used, whether for a new design or for a modification of the present one. That was left a purely open question. thought it fair to give the Government a Vote on Account, and enable them to get the land by agreement, if possible. The noble Lord (Lord Elcho) said that the first thing must be the destruction of the present Gallery, and that then you must run about to find a place for the pictures. But what would be done would no doubt be first to erect all the rest of the quadrangle except the front, and lastly to pull down the Gallery which was now being used. At present, however, there was no plan before the House, so that there was no occasion to discuss these difficulties. Why the noble Lord (Lord Elcho) introduced a question that could not arise for five or ten years to come he could not conceive. LORD ELCHO said, he regretted the defeat of last year, but he accepted that defeat; and all he wanted to do now was to stop this jobbing, patchwork system. What the right hon. Gentleman (Mr. Cowper) proposed was simply to continue the patchwork. ["No, no!"] He (Lord Elcho) said "Yes, yes! He was about to buy a piece of land behind the National Gallery to erect a building "in harmony with the existing building," and then at some other time-the hon. Member (Mr. Ayrton) said five or ten years-do something else with the present building. He was quite willing to vote the money now asked for on the understanding that the Government would undertake next Session to lay on the table of the House a large and comprehensive scheme for a new Gallery which should be worthy of the nation. he hoped the words of Pope, in his address to Lord Burlington, would not be forgotten. Those words were "You, too, proceed! make falling arts your care, Erect new wonders and the old repair; MR. TITE said, that what was wanted SIR JOHN PAKINGTON said, he had been much alarmed by an expression which fell from the right hon. Gentleman -namely, that a new building was to be erected in harmony with the old one." That was exactly what the House did not vote the £20,000, but the right hon. MR. HENLEY said, he was willing to want to see, and he, for one, hoped there Gentleman (Mr. Cowper) had used lanwould be no harmony whatever between the old and the new, but a complete design guage in his closing speech which seemed to commit the House to some sort of made with reference to the site and to the scheme which he had in his head as to objects for which the building was rethe future building. That was not fair quired. This, however, was not now the to the House. The right hon. Gentlequestion before the House, and they would. man had also said that when the Estihave ample opportunity hereafter to pro-mates were laid on the table there would tect themselves from any plan which was, objectionable. The present discussion was in substance, a renewal of the discussion of last year between the National Gallery on the one hand and Burlington House on the other. He very much preferred the site of the National Gallery, and was quite prepared to give his vote now in favour of the proposal to intrust the Government with this money for the purchase of the land, which was indispensable for the erection of a proper building on the present site. He should support the vote with the understanding that there would be as little harmony as possible between the old building and the new one, whatever it might be. SIR GEORGE BOWYER said, he was glad that Government had no intention of pulling down Burlington House. He was afraid that in course of time this fine building would be surrounded by buildings which would be a disgrace to it, but be plans which would present the old bers would not know it. He did not want building in a shape in which hon. Memthe House to be pledged to any transmogrification of that kind. There could be no harm in voting this £20,000, if it was laid out in land, which would be always worth its money; but he strongly protested dried scheme of the right hon. Gentleman. against being committed to any cut and Vote agreed to. SUPPLEMENTARY ESTIMATES. (10.) £700,000, New Courts of Justice and Offices. at NAVY-No. 18. (11.) £63,915, Greenwich Hospital. Resolutions to be reported To-morrow, |