The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1886-01-16 00:00:00

IMI::VIAL PARLIAMENT.
TItE OPENING CEREMONY.

The eleventh Parliament of the present reign was,
on January 12th, opened by Royal Commission, the
Commissioners being the Lord Chancellor, the Earl
of Coventry, the Earl of Iddesleigh, Viscount Cran-
brook, and Lord Barrington.

In the HMS OF LORDS, the Commissioners having
taken their seats at two o'clock in front of the
Throne, Admiral Sir James Drummond, Gentleman
Usher of the Black Rod, was despatched to the
Lower House to desire the attendance of members.
Shortly afterwards the Serjeant-at-Arms, with the
Chancellor of the Exchequer and other Cabinet
Ministers, and a considerable body of members of
the House of Commons appeared at the bar,
and the letters patent constituting the Com-
mission having been read, the Lord Chan-
cellor announced, in her Majesty's name,
that as soon as the members of both
Houses should have been sworn, the Queen
would declare the causes for calling this Parliament
together, and that it was her Majesty's command that
the House of Commons should proceed to elect a
proper person as their Speaker, and present him in,
their lordships' House this day for her Royal appro-
bation. The Commons then retired, and subse-
quently, prayers having been read, the appointment
was announced as Clerk of the Parliaments of Mr.
H. J. L. Graham, who took the oath, afterwards
taking his place at the clerks' table. The oath of
allegiance was taken, and the roll of Parliament
signed by the Lord Chancallor and a number of other
peers, including the Prince of Wales, the Duke of
Edinburgh, the Duke of Connaught, and the Duke of
Cambridge, and at five minutes past four their lord-
ships adjourned until two o'clock on the 13th.
THE HOUSE OF COMMONS met at two o'clock and
ten minutes later the members were summoned by
Black Rod to the House of Lords.

SPEAKER PEE!. RE-ELECTIM.
On their return, Sir J. Mowbray moved the election
as Speaker of Mr. A, W. Peel, whose name he pro-
posed with the confident assurance that it would be
received with cordial approval and universal assent.
Having referred to the circumstances of Mr. Peel's
election by the last Parliament, the right hon.
baronet observed that he had fulfilled to the
utmost all the anticipations at that time enter-
tained by his most sanguine supporters. He had
conducted himself in the chair with dignity, he had
presided over the deliberations of the House with
ability and impartiality, he had exhibited ready
decision, sound judgment, self-poseession, courage,
and resolution; he had proved himself well acquainted
with the rules and orders of the House, and be had
shown himself capable of protecting its privileges,
and had enjoyed and retained its confidence. His
re-election would be in accordance with all the best
precedents recorded during the last two centuries ;
and, above all, there was no other man within the
walls of the House of Commons so pre-eminently
qualified to protect its privileges and to hand down
unsullied the lofty traditions which should ever per-
tain to the unique position of Speaker.
Mr. Bright, in seconding the nomination, dwelt
upon the necessity of having as the Speaker of a Par-
liament comprising a large number of members
who had not sat in previous Parliaments, one who
possessed the most extensive and minute knowledge
of the proceedings of the House and its modes of
transacting business. In the Speaker whom they
were about to elect they would find the courtesy
towards individual members which previous occu-
pants of the chair had exemplified as conspicuously
displayed as by those who had preceded him.
Judging by the past, they might have full confi-
dence that whilst Mr. Peel would do justice to
every party and every section of the House, .he
would uphold the dignity of his own office and sup-
port the authority of the House itself. By giving a
unanimous decision, the House would confer upon
him a signal honour, and they would do a signal
service to the Howe itself and to the millions whom
they represented.
Mr. J. M`Carthy said it was not the intention of
the party with whom he acted to offer any opposition
to what seemed to be the general opinion of the
House, but they could not allow the language of un-
mitigated eulogy which had been used to pass with-
out some form of protest. Several of them had in
the last Parliament endeavoured to challenge the
Speaker's action towards their party, and they were
bound to express their opinion that he had not
always acted in an equitable and impartial manner.
Mr. A. W. Peel thanked the House for the manner
in which they had received the mention of his name,
and assured them that during the two years he had
occupied the chair he had learned more fully to ap-
preciate the difficulties of the position and of his own
shortcomings. The present House had received an
infusion of new members such as had never been par.
lelled for the last 50 years, and he would remind new
members that the rules and forms of procedure were
wedded to remote antiquity, and that while new
rules had been adopted to meet the require-
ments of the day, the House had ever been greatly
influenced by regard for precedent. If elected to
the chair he should appeal with equal confidence to
the new members as to the old for that co-operation
and support without which the 'position of Speaker
would be untenable and intolerable. He respectfully
thanked the House, and humbly placed himself at its
disposal.
There being no other nomination, the Speaker-
Elect was conducted by his mover and seconder to
the chair, whence he again thanked the House for the
great honour which had been conferred upon him,
and promised to discharge his duties without regard
to party, and in full reliance upon the support of the
whole House.
The Chancellor of the Exchequer, in the name of
the House, tendered their hearty congratulations to
the Speaker-Elect upon his unanimous election for the
second time to that high office, and assured him of
their cordial and continued support. The present
House more fully and completely represented the
people than any previous House of Commons, and it
would be as mindful as the best of its predecessors
that the authority of the Chair must be supported, in
order to secure that order and regularity in debate
without which it was impossible for it to maintain the
character of a businesslike assembly.
Mr. Gladstone, on behalf of the Opposition,
echoed the assurances of support and confidence
which the leader of the House had given. No change
which had occurred during his experience of more
than half a century was greater than that which had
taken place in the character of the office of Speaker;
and in truth the demands upon the Speaker had now
reMil,Ml a point at which they would admit of no
furthei. fltiginentation. In the words of protest ut-
tered on behalf of the Irish party he recognised
nothing more then a reluctant fulfilment of what was
deemed to be a conscientious duty, arising out of the
strained relations in which that party had stood towards
the Chair—relations within which it was almost im-
possible that perfect satisfaction should be given, both
to the individuals immeoiately concerned and to the
-general obligations of the Chair. He recognised in
it also an acknowledgment of the duties of those on
whose behalf it was made to the Chair; and, with
regard to the great change which had taken
place in the composition of the House, consequent
upon the extension of the franchise and the redistri-
bution of seats he had no hesitation in saying from
past experience of successive. widenings of the
, popular basis of the House that those who had
been introduced into that House in consequence
of that widening of the basis, had borne and would
bear no disadvantageous comparison, whether in
respect to conduct, to submission to and support of
the Chair, or to observing the orders and traditions
of the House, with the classes which up to 1832 had
almost a monopoly of the House. For the Speaker-
ship an unusual combination of great qualities was
required, and when Mr. Peel was first chosen the
House believed that he had found in him that happy
combination. They no longer had to depend upon
anticipations. In looking to Mr. Peel's past they
might feel the most confident expectations of his
future, and it was with those expectations that he
ventured to congratulate the House upon the
thorough harmony of its proceeding, and the Speaker-
Elect upon again receiving one of the highest honours
that could be conferred upon a British citizen.
On the motion of the Chancellor of the Exchequer,
the House adjourned at ten past three until two
o'clock on the 13th.

In the Housu OF LORDS, Jan. 13th, the Lord Chan-
cellor took his seat on the woolsack at two o'clock.
There werevery few peers present. The Bishop of Here-
ford caid prayers. The Royal Commission was then
summoned to give the Royal Assent to the election
of Speaker of the House of Commons. The Lords
Commissioners were the Lord Chancellor, Lord Iddes-
leigh, Lord Cranbrook, Lord Barrington, and Lord
Coventry. Black Rod was at once despatched to
summon the Commons. The members of the House
of Commons, headed by their Speaker elect—who, in
accordance with ancient custom, wore a bob-wig, but
not a gown, and was attended by the Serjeant-at-
Arms (Mr. H. D. Erskine), appeared at the bar, in
a2cordance with the summons of the Gentlemen
Usher of the Black Rod.
The Speaker said: My lords, I submit myself with
all humility and gratitude to her Majesty's gracious
commands. It is now my duty, in the name and on
behalf of the Commons of the United Kingdom, to
lay claim by humble petition to her Majesty to all
their ancient and understood rights and privileges,
particularly to freedom of speech in debate, to free-
dom from arrest of their persons and servants; but
above all to freedom of access to her Majesty when
occasion should require, and that the most favourable
construction should be put upon all their proceedings.
With regard to myself, I pray that if any error should
be committed it may be imputed to myself and not to
her Majesty's faithful Commons.
The Lord Chancellor, in reply, assured the Speaker
of her Majesty's sense of his sufficiency, and said that
her Majesty most fully approved and confirmed him
as the Speaker. He added that the Royal Commis-
sioners had further in command to inform the
Speaker that her Majesty did most readily confirm
all the rights and privileges which have ever been
granted to or conferred upon the Commons by any
of her Royal predecessors. With respect to the
Speaker, though her Majesty was sensible that he
stood in no need of such assurance, her Majesty
would ever put the most favourable construction
upon his words and acts.
The Speaker, attended as before and followed by

VPV.t .il.6'•

the members of the House of Commons, withdrew
from the bar.

The return of the election of a representative peer
for Ireland, in room of the late Lord Erne, was pre-
sented and received by the Lord Chancellor.
The Dukes of Grafton and Buckingham, Lord
Fitzgerald, Lord Kimberley, Lord Saltoun, and other
peers subscribed the roll and took the oaths.
Their lordships adjourned at half-past two during
pleasure.
The Houss OF Commoss resumed its sitting on the
afternoon of Jan. 13.

Mr. Bradlaugh entered the House at 1.30, and rer
served a seat for himself on the third bench below
the gangway on the Opposition side, and then left the
House; but returned again at 1.50, and took his seas
on the front bench near the chair of the Serjeant-at.
Arms, where he talked to some of his supporters
The House soon became crowded.

The Speaker took the chair at ten minutes past twc
o'clock. Mr. Bright took his seat with ex-Minisfert.
on the front Opposition bench, and next to him sat
Sir Charles Dilke.
At a quarter-past two Black Rod summoned the
House to the House of Peers, and the Speaker,
accompanied by Sir John Mowbray, left the House
followed by a considerable number of members.
During the absence of the Speaker, two side-tables
were placed on the floor of the House, and ten Testa-
ments were put on each table to facilitate the swear-
ing-in of members.
On his return the Speaker retired, and then re-
turning in his official robes took the chair, and an-
nounced that in the House of Lords her Majesty's
assent had been signified to the choice of himself as
Speaker, and that he had claimed all the ancient
rights and privileges of the House, which her Majesty
had been pleased to grant and confirm. He thanked
the House for electing him to the chair, and then
took the oath.

TIIE SPEAKER AND MR. BRADLATIGII.
The Speaker again rose, and said that before
honourable members came to the table to make their
oaths it was his duty to inform the House that he had
received a letter from the leader of the House (Sir
Michael Hicks-Beach) with respect to the proceedings
affecting Mr. Bradlaugh. He thought it his duty to
place the House in possession of the facts, and also
with respect to other letters. The letter of the right
honourable gentleman the member for Bristol con-
tained an historical retrospect of the case,which he did
not propose to read to the House. (Cheers.) It was
not necessary for him to put the House in
possession of the facts; but the letter concluded by
stating that, in view of the facts, he (Sir Michael
Hicks-Beach) submitted that Mr. Bradlaugh should
not be permitted to go through the form of taking
the oath without an opportunity being afforded the
House of expressing its opinion upon a proceeding
which he believed the House, if fully constituted,
would decline to sanction. He (the Speaker) had re-
ceived another letter from the honourable member
for Cambridge University on the same subject. It
might be convenient for the House before members
came to the table to take the oath that he should state
his views, after full consideration of what ought
to be his conduct in these proceedings. The state-
ment made by the right honourable gentleman alluded
to the proceedings of a former Parliament. In no
case decided did the Speaker take an original and
independent authority upon himself. It was always
by the action of the House, in consequence of some-
thing that occurred during the current Parliament.
The House was now assembled in a new Parliament;
and he knew nothing of the resolutions of the past,
which had lapsed and had no effect. It was right
and legal, as well as a statutable obligation on mem-
bers when returned to the House, to come to the
table and take the oath prescribed by statute. He had
no authority in the matter. He had no right, original or
delegated, to interfere with the freedom of Mr. Brad-
laugh in taking the oath. (Opposition cheers.) He had
been further asked whether, when the House was
completed and a quorum constituted, it would be
competent for a motion to be made to intervene
between Mr. Bradlaugh and his taking the oath. He
bad come without hesitation to the conclusion that
it would neither be his duty to prohibit the honour-
able member, nor to permit a motion to be made
that would stand between him and the taking of the
oath. The honourable member would take the oath,
with whatever risk might attach to it in a court of
law.

Sir Michael Hicks-Beach asked the indulgence of
the House to make one observation.

The Speaker said the matter must not be debated;
but the right honourable gentleman might rise to a
point of order.
Sir Michael Hicks-Beach asked if the Speaker by
his answer meant that he would not intervene in this
matter himself, or permit the intervention of any
other member. He was proceeding to say that, how-
ever much he and other members of the Rouse—
when he was interrupted by cries of "Order" from
the Opposition, amid which Sir Michael Hicks-Beach
sat down, and the Speaker rose and was understood
to rule Sir Michael's remarks out of order.
A number of members then came to the table and
Look the oath, among them being Mr. Bradlaugh.