The National Register. — London, England, 1814-04-24 00:00:00

APRIL 24. sure. He suliiiiitted,lbat all .or any of the matters which Itad.oc copied the attention of the house, might, with propriety, be men. ! tioned. Such appeared to be the case from the rules and practice of parliament, which constituted their best authority in matters of this description. So it appeared from the. entries in the journals ot: the House of Lords, and frons the memorial's 'of the rules and prac bee of parliament. Hastas precedent book, which had been gene-4 Pally considered me their best guide, laid down the rule accordingly, and stated, thot it was coatonetry fur the speid in presenting a money bill, to advert to what the house had been tieing in the course of the session. In tie entries in the Lords' journals, several speeches of speakers appeared in presenting moHey bills, in which this line of conduct had been adopted. He eitm d a variety of cases in proof of this assertion. Withoot entering into the sabject of the Roman Ca tholic claims, he might so far allude to it as to say, that all had thought it a question of the highest importance. On the one hand, it was thought conducive to the strength of the empire, and the se curity of the constitution, that these claims should be granted ; on the other band, it was thought that such a measure would be dan gerous to both : but all agreed that it was a question of the highest impoi tanee; and, therefore, in the speech of the Speaker to the Thrum., at the dime of the Session, hi which it was customary to enumerate those matters which had partiehlarly occupied the atten tion of the house, it appeared fitting that this should nht he passed over, (:yen on the sulljert had passed. But the fact was, that though one bili had tailed, another bill (the Duke of Nos folk's) sen felon the other - house, mild pass that session. He main thilied. that had represented the matter with truth and corieetness. The larger relief, viz, that of being eligible to seats in parliament and to the highest state offices, had not been granted. But the Duke ofNorfolhh bill, extending the privileges of the Catholics, had passed ; and import this lolible result the passage in the speech, which has thought by some to be objectionable, had been ftaineth Nothing had been said in the admires: as to the bill having been rel. jected : nothing as to the policy i r impolicy of future concessions. It could not be denied but that the object of the exclusive laws against Catholics v.'its to preserve the constitution of this country fund oneotally Protestant, and that the Roman Catholics acknow jadhed a f ore i gn i n ri s hiatioo. He had, therefore, done no more thaiihis duty, in stating truly and correctly the most important proceedings of the house, and the grounds and reasons of those pro eetitings. As to the prelimivary abjection, that the Speaker could kn-w nothing in its official capacity of what had passed in com mittee, he: had to remark that the Speaker must know of it. It was his duty to be there present, though by the indulgence of the house lie might be occasionally absent. He might be suddenly called npon to take the chair, for the purpose of restoring order. The case had happened to himself. He necessarily knew that the bill had , : one into the committee, and had not come out • and he knew from the consmittee books, which, in their particular place, were as good authority as the entries on the journals of the house, what had passed in the Committee. On shell a mere technical ob ieetion, he apprehended no one could with much confidence raise an argument. As to the concluding paraaraph of the passage under consideration he had there stated that the house had been willing, and he trustemi evor would be willing, to grant the largest share of religions toleration. This alluded to the Duke of Northlkhm bill, which had passed, and thrilled the. gromid and authority for that paragraph. In *hat he had done, he was supported by great names and by great authorities, and conceived that he had now said enough for hi, own .instilication. (Hear !) It' the house should think pro per to prescribe may rules tor the conduct of its Speaker on such cierashos, t oufining glen wit!:in narrower limits than those to which lie had hermu before restricted, it would he for the house to weigh well all to e cun s conenees of such a proceeding, but it would be his duty to jell obedience. He thanked the house for the patience and indulgence with which it had listened to him (bear). When lie haul 'elected that the proceedings respecting the Catho lics had been the longest and most important of the Session, he had thought it his duty to do that which lie had done--his duty to the house of whiidi he was Speaker—his - duty to the• nation of which they were all representatiscs. If it should be their opinion, that he h a d " R d i n a manner un becoming his situotion, lie should deeply' lament that decision, but he slimild still stand fully acquitted to lily oh» cohscienoe. He now, without fear though certainly not with wit concern, delivered up his conduct to the house for its judgment. (Hear, hem Mr, Wit ITP.RrAD said, that he had heard nothing in the speech of tse Right Hon. Gentleman which at all changed tits. view h e had betore taken of the sulafect- He remained now entirely of sams• (wpm' that he had m inert:tined on hearing of the speech d e hvered ley non at the bar of the House of Lordr. Wahl. .T 63 Hon. Gentleman (the Speaker) had no authority fur such a proceed ing. He was neither authorised by the House, nor justified by any precedent, in taking tie liberty. to make the observations be had done. When Charles the First entered the House of Commoes to arrest five of its members, and called upon the Speaker Lenthale to point them out ; his answer was, " As Speaker of this House, I have neither eyes to see, ears to hear, or a tongue to utter any thing, but what the House shall command me." The conduct of the Right Hon. Gentleman had, however, b. en the direct reverse of this ; he had found eyes to see, and a tongue to utter what the House had never commanded or authorised him to do. He eon aided by moving a resolution - as an amendment to Lord MertAth's motion, which was in substance, " that it appeared to the House, that the Speaker did, at the close of the last.session, deli%er a speech at the bar of the House of Lords, in which be state(' certain pro-. ceedings that had taken place in a Committee of the whole !louse, relative to the (-tabus of the Roman Catholics, without any autho rity from the House so to do ; and that he did inform the Prince Regent of the motives and reasons which he assumed to have in fluenced the Committee on that occasion; that by so doing be had been guilty of a violation of the trust reposed ii, him, amid of the privileges of that House, of which he was chosen gulrdiatt amid pro tector." He wished to give no opinion at present about the Catlin. lie question, out of which this had orige,azed ; but whatevcr might have been his opinion on that subject, he could wit avoid voting against the proposition of the Hun. Gentlemen' who spoke last. Mr. WYNNE had read the precedents with much attention, anti could not find an instance where the Speaker noticed those proposi tions which had been made in the house and negatived. Mr. Rose said, he had a firm conviction that what had fallen from the Speaker was conformable to the usage of Parliament, and t his con. viction was strengthened by the precedents that had been adduced. Allusions had been otten made to in , :asures depending, though per haps not to tneastues that had been negatived (a laugh); and an allusion to the foraner was a stronger case than an allusioh to the latter. Mr. FREDERICK Dour LAS opposed the motion. One instance only had occurred of a vote of censure having been pawed upon a Speaker, (Sir John Trevor,) and that in a case of flagrant corruption. The house would surely not couple with this vote, a vote of censure upon another Speaker, distinguished both for his public and private virtues, and endeared - to the house and the country by the recollection of his services. _ _ Sir Jour; NEWPORT supported the motion. Mr. P. GnA ST supported the motion. TheCrixreELLoa of the Exen,.Qt! ER thought it is duty to vote against the motion and the amendment, Mr. PLUN REIT considered the speech in quest ion to be one of the most unconstitutional attacks ever made upon that House. Mr. CA NN I No said, the Speaker had certainly given a colour to their. proceedings differing widely -from tlr,t which lie (Mr. Cunning) would have given, but should he for this object of his giving the view which he took of it ? He might - think he saw an error of judgment—he might think it an unfortunate exercise of the di4cretin vested in hint, hut he could see nothing to condemn as an abuse of the advantage.he en joyed--(Hear, hear 1) He would not s•iy, it the abstract question were what ought to he the extent of the Speaker's discretion, that he would vote for giving it all that latitude which it at present had ; but he thought the Speaker hardly treated, when they visited on him, not only his actual extension of that discretion, but also the vice of Ilia ori ginal institution—(Hear, lone, hear 1) He enticluded, by declaring it to be his opinion that no case had been made out to call for the special interference of the House. Mr. TiAI NEy stated it to be his intention to vote for the original motion, as that appeared to him to furnish the mildest preventive ut the evil of which they complained. General MATur.sv supported the Amendment. 51r. Bs.' nit RST asserted the privilege of rl►e Speaker, and t', ex• ample of former Speakers authorised all he had said. Dlsaporovisig both of the motion and amendment, he should, in the first instance. vote that the words of the !stollen should stand, in order to throw out the amendment. Ha should afterwards put a negative on the original motion. The (.;allery waq then cleared, and the amendment having been r)e gatived, the i louse divided on the FOr the unitiun, 106 ; AgainNt Adjourned at one o'clock. Amongst the stories related of B uo naparte in the French papers, is one of his havini highly praised Louis VIII. rejoiced in his restoration, and stated that he should have, been glad to have beet' one of his Majesty's Genii THE NATIONAL REGISTER.