The Sun.
London, England, 1833-01-29 00:00:00

Speaker. His station in life was likewise to be. taken ;wt.
account ; and then it was hoped that no future Speaker
would ever become a pensioner on the public ; it might
be very useful to look to the fortune and station in life of
the Speaker now to be appointed, and both the one and
the other could not fail to insure the Hon. Member for
Staffordshire the confidence of the House. The Hon.
Member would refer to the speeches of Sir Robert Peel,
and others on that side of the House upon former
nominations, as regarded the qualities necessary for a
Speaker, to show that the Hon. Member whom he now
propo,ed possessed all the essentials in the highest degree.
Sir Robert Peel had said, in addressing that House, that
the House elected a Speaker to be the guardian of
the duties of its Members—duties that might affect
even the remotest posterity.—(Hear, hear.) Whatever
might be his talents and attainments, he considered
it to be absolutely necessary that the Speaker should pos•
secs the confidence of the House. Was it, then, possible
that the people of England could have confidence in the
proper discharge of the duties of the House, if the House
of Commons this day should elect the Right Hon. Charles
Manners Sutton ? He (Mr. II.) confessed he could not
have confidence in it. He judged of others by his
own feelings ; and if the House elected a decided Anti-
Reformer to till the Chair, was it to be supposed that the
people of England would be satisfied with such an election?
It was upon that promise the Hon. Gent. viewed with
alarm the po,sibilitity of such an appointment. It
would be impossible for the House to commit
itself more against the general feeling of the
country by any step it might take than by
by making this appointment ; and it was but justice to the
Right Hon. Baronet (Sir R. Peel) to say, that in the short
speech, already alluded to, which he made, he had com-
prised all the views—(Cries of " Comprehended, compre-
hended," and laughter)—comprehended all the views that
could be taken on this subject. He was sorry to find
any attempt on the part of Ministers to carry into effect
their reforming measures through the agency of other par-
ties ; and looking at the expression of feeling which had
been manifested in regard to the appointment of some of
the official servants of the King, he certainly regretted
much thot Ministers did not take a lesion, and learn not
to oppose the feelings of the great mass of the people.
The present appointment was to be taken as the
only honourable appointment in the hands of the
people—all other high appointments were in the hands
of his M,jesty. The present appointment, then,
involved principles of the highest importance, and the
great question was, whether, under the Reform measure,

the Reformed House of Commons would place in their chair
an individual whose opinions were known to be against
the various and important changes that had been effected
and were in progress towards the relief the country ex-
pected. Was it possible to reconcile any man's mind to
the sincerity of those who held out to the hopes of the
people their desire to carry into effect all the advantages of
the Reform Bill, if they placed in the chair a person whose
opinions were directly opposed to the Bill—(clear, hear)—
and to all its consequences ? On the contrary, it would
be taken fir granted that little was to be expected from
the representatives of the people of England, if they per-
mitted to be placed in the Chair one, however impartial
the Right Honourable Gentleman might be, against
whom even the tinge of suspicion could attach, or
to any act of his that might be construed to be against the
interests of the people. He (Mr. Hume) had been told,
since he entered the House, that if he opposed the re-ap-
pointment of the late Speaker, it would he supposed lie
acted contrary to the principles of economy which he had
hitherto advocated. If he could believe that any such
paltry or trifling consideration—(Laughter)—actuated the
mind of any one, when the forwarding or the
retarding of the interests of the people were at stake, he
certainly would consider it beneath the notice either of the
dignity of the House, or of any individual Member. lie
denied that he had ever refused to any individual full com-
pensation for the duties he hail rendered, to his coun-
try ; but he had always opposed giving to idle and
useless persons large sums, dragged from the pockets
of the people by excessive texatien—(Hear, hear, hear)—
and it must only have been some of those persons, feeling
the effect of that line of conduct on his part, who had
raised that report. When the appointment of a Speaker
was regarded as an appointment likely to effect great good,
or produce much mischief to the country, pecuniary con-
sideration was to he put out of the question. He (Mr.
Hume) had not been able to get a copy of
the Bill ; hut at the same time he had been
informed that by the Act of Parliament, if the House re-
elected the Right Hon. Gentlem in to be the Speaker, he
would not only have his salary as Speaker, but be in pos-
session of his pension of 4,0001. a-year.—(Hear, hear.)
He understood the pension did not cease upon the Right
Hon. Gentleman becoming Speaker again.—(Cries of
" Nor any pat tof it.") The pension only ceased upon ac-
cepting an appointment from his Majesty. This was not an
appointment by the Crown, but by the people. Therefore,
any gentleman who might give his vote for the re-appoint.
tnent of Mr. Sutton, under the impression that his 4,0001.
a year would cease, would vote under a mistake. The
Right Hon. Gentleman sat down by proposing that Ed-
ward John Lyttleton, Esq., should be elected Chairman
of the House of Commons.
Lord MORPEFU said that he failed not to con-
sider the request which caused him to conic forward
on this occasion as a just compliment to the large consti-
tuent body of which lie was the representative. In ap-
proaching the object for which he had risen, he felt
hound by what was due to himself as well as of a
sense of truth to mention that there were strong feelings
both of a private and public nature which had at
one time induced bin, to contemplate a different ar-
rangement—(Hear)—but those circumstances to which
he thus but faintly alluded had not arisen, and, therefore,
he had turned to the Right Hon. Gentleman, who, for 16
years, and through six successive Parliaments, had filled
the arduous post of Speaker in that House, with so much
credit to himself, so much satisfaction to Parliament, and so
much advantage to the public, and he called upon the
House, without any disparagement to the fame of
the Hon. Member for Staffordshire who would not re-
quire any ass trances of his friendship, he called upon the
House to secure to itself the benefit of the continuance of
those services which had already been so fully appreciated,
and so tvarmly realised. The Hon. Member fur Middlesex
had admitted, with his usual candour, that the Right Hon.
Gentleman was sure to be animated by a sincere desire
conscientiously to do his duty; and it was not to be sup-
posed that the only solitary objection urged by the
Honourable Member for Middlesex, that the Right
Hon. Gentleman was not a partizan of the line of opinions
which he (Lord Morpeth) professed himself to be of,
could be deemed a very appropriate objection to the re-
appointment of the Right Hon. Manners Sutton. It was
always irksome to utter a panegyric in the presence of the
object of it. From this necessity his Lordship felt him-
self materially relieved, by referring to what took place
shortly before the close of the last Parliament. It would,
however, be remembered that when the Speaker of
the House, at that time, announced the probable
prospect of his retiring from the Chair, the most
powerful and brilliant testimony was borne by those
best qualified to make it with effect, of the respect in which
the Speaker was held by those who had been observers of
his entire career, as well as by those whose more recent
experience had been exercised. Of his condnct in the
midst of long, agitating, harassing contentions, but one
uniform opinion was expressed and entertained, of his un-
failing punctuality and diligence—his dignity without
pedantry—his courtesy, without civility—qualities high
and rare in themselves, but invaluable in such an office,
and which had been exhibited throughout the whole of the
Right Hon. Gentleman's official conduct. Since he had
occupied the eminent station of Speaker of the House of
Commons, the number of Parliamentary transactions had
immeasurably increased. The department usually designated
as the private business department, which' perhaps came
the most under their immediate cognizance, and more
than any other called for the positive guidance of the
Speaker, had shared largely in this increased growth. As
an illustration of this, the adoption and increase of rail-
roads might be referred to. Upon all these matters, as
well as upon those of greater import, which aroused the
feelings, and affected the destinies of nations, he was ever
found to be accessible and clear in his communications
of information. Interest, vanity, and piny-spirit, re-
pined at his decisions. Violence and intemperance were
rebuked by his gentle, dignified, and forbearing conduct.
He knew not what had occasioned this change of opinion
of the individual who had been thus adjudged to be the best
qualified to fill the Chair, by the unanimous assent of

tie House to which the Hon. Member for Middlesex
formed no exception. So far from thinking that more la-
borious duties would be required from any Speaker, his
Lordship felt confident that any mode of conducting the
business of the House must be greatly forwarded by the ap-
pointment of Mr. Sutton. He was not desirous to introduce
at this moment any topics calculated to disturb the attyn-
don of the House, or to draw it troth the immediate sub-
ject before it; but he could not refrain from mentioning
that the changes which had recently taken place in the
constitution of Parliament, the source of so much hope to
some, to all of so much speculation, could not make it
less advisable that for all the purposes of expediting
business, preserving regularity, and maintaining order,
the House should borrow all the assistance in its power
from practice and tried ability.—(Cheers.) He hoped,
therefore, it would appropriate to itself all the valuable

set viers of those high attainments awl great experience
which lay within its reach. He believed that
with whatever defects former Parliaments might
' be chargeable, few would be found to say that the
forms of proceedinem which generally prevailed in them
were not those calculated to expedite business. If the
Right Hon. Gentleman was again placed in the Chair, he
would bring into exercise all the advantages afforded by
former Parliaments and by long experience. He there-
fore had the honour to move that the Right Hon. Charles
Manners Sutton he appointed Speaker of the House.
Sir FRANCIS BURDETT took the liberty thus early
to express his concurrence in all that had been stated by
the Nohle Lord near him, which at the same time laid
him under considerable embarrassment, his Lordship
having touched upon every point importance in a man-
ner so able as to make it imprudent for any person to at-
tempt to follow him. The Honourable Member for
Middlesex also had left it difficult to add any thing to
what he had stated, though he had conic to a conclu-
sion hardly to be expected. He would take this case upon
its merits—upon its merits only would be put it, and the
question was, who of the Nlembers of that House was
known to be the fittest to discharge the important func-
tions of Speaker. At a time of this difficulty, in the eyes of
many persons—a time of embarrassment and danger, in the
eyes of many—in his, of nothing but a time of hope, and
to be looked forward to with satisfaction—but at a time
when undoubtedly it was highly important the chair
of the House of Commons should be filled by a
person of the utmost abilities—not upon a spe-
culation of what any Member might be capable or
willing to do, but possessing experience, and bringing
forward the most solid grounds of competeney, who was
possibly to he put in competition to the Right Hon.
Gentleman, who for 16 years had pursued a course of con-
duct, in that Chair, that had called forth the univer-
sal approbation of the Members of the House, during
many successive Parliaments, in which the Honourable
Member for Middlesex had been invariably included.
The Right Hon. Gentleman seemed, according to the
Hon. Member for Middlesex, eminently qualified for the
office of Speaker, except in one instance; but the House
would recollect the conduct of the Right Hon. Gentleman
during the great struggle for Reform, when he made no
distinction between one Member and another of the House.
It was not only his conduct in the House which entitled
him to commendation, and indeed it was the vulgar, that
the Speaker of the House bad nothing to do but to sit in
the chair ; but it was his great services in regard to pri-
vate Bills, which were far more important and laborious
than his services in the Home.—(ll,ar, hear.) It seemed,
indeed, to be trespassing unnecessarily on the attention of
the House, by repeating those feelings of approbation which
seemed to be expressed on all hands. He (Sir F. B.) was
in a situation something like the man who was reproached
at a public meeting at Rome, while panegyrising Hercules;
he was cut short by a person exclaiming, " Who has
found fault with him ?"—(Laughter.) In the present
instance they had even the panegyric of the Hon. Mem-
ber for Middlesex, and which even outweighed whatever
anybody else had said of the Right Hon. Gentleman.
Upon this question no man could be a competitor of time
Right Hon. Gentleman for this great circumstance, that
no other person bad the advantages of long experience
that he possessed. It would be unbecoming in him (Sir
Francis Burdett), to take up the time of the House
further than to state the gratification, and the honour
which he felt at having to second the nomination of the
Right Hon. Gentleman, and he hoped the House wou'd
❑ot lose the present opportunity of doing justice to them-
selves, and him by electing him.—(Cheers.)
Mr. LITTLETON entreated the indulgence of the

House while be expressed himself in regard-to a question
which materially concerned himself.—(Hear.) He would
have been gratified if any representations which he could
make had prevailed o❑ his Hon. Friend not to have placed
him in competition with one, whose sixteen years' expe-
rience in that House, and whose whole conduct during
that period had so justly and so universally endeared him
t.) all with whom he had been in connection.—(Hear,
hear.) He was satisfied that his Right Hon. Friend had
never been at any period, since he (Mr. Littleton) bad the
honour of seconding his nomination in the year 1817, and
that lie never would be at any future period, if he should
be re-elected, a timid asserter of the just rights and privi-
leges of Parliament.—(Hear.) It was on the nature of
the Right Hon. Gentleman's past services that his pre-
sent claims were founded for the renewal of those ser-
vices. On this and on all occasions, in a House of mom •
mons which contained so many new Members, it was
highly important that they should have a gentleman
to preside in the chair as Speaker, who was used to the
laws and usages of the House, and whose example of
great patience and urbanity had been the theme of general
admiration.—(Hear.) He would now merely entreat of
his Honourable Friend (Mr. Hume), that having availed
himself of that form to which he was justly entitled, he
would concur in what appeared to be the almost unani-
mous feeling of the House, by placing the Right Honour-
able Gentleman (Mr. Manners Sutton,) in the Chair.—
(Cheers.)
Mr. O'CONNELL hoped the Honourable Member for
Middlesex would not withdraw his motion. The ques-
tion was one of very great importance; and this was only
another instance of paltry truckling to the present Ad-
ministration. He could not concur with the Right Ho-
nourable Baronet in thinking that the two gentlemen were
nearly alike; the distinction was between a gentleman of
Tory principles, and one of Reform principles. He fully
admitted the great talents possessed by the Right Ho-
nourable Gentleman, and his capacity as Speaker of
an unreformed House of Commons. He (Mr.
O'Connell) could never fail to remember, that
when he first became a Member of the House, he
was assailed from both parties in the House, and he did
not find that support and protection from the Right Hon.
Gentleman which he had expected ; for while he was
being attacked on all sides, he was cut short in his expla-
nation ; but lie would forget that, in consequence of the
subsequent information which the Right lion. Gentleman
had afforded bins in his Parliamentary career. Again, he
would say, he saw no objection to the Right Hon. Gentle-
man as Speaker of an Unreformed House of Commons ;
that he was an accomplished and intelligent Gentleman,
and had the almost marvellous facility of expressing the
sense of the House, he (Mr. O'Connell) had no doubt.
But the people ought to be informed that the Ministers
were not looking out to place their enemies into political
power—(Hear)—but that the people's enemies should be
left to shift for themselves as they best could.—(Laughter.)
He (Mr. O'Connell) put the question entirely on the
Toryism of the Right Honourable Gentleman. He was
bound to say, that if, on the one hand, it was asserted
and admitted even by the Hon. Member for Middlesex
that the Right Hon. Gentleman possessed peculiar fitness,
not a word had been said to impeach the extreme fitness
of the Hon. Member for Staffordshire (Mr. Littleton) for
the office of Speaker of the House. He would defy any
one to say that the Hon. Member was unfit for the duties
of the office—he had long been a Member of the House,
and had h ul great experience and great knowledge, which
he was at all times willing and anxious to impart to the

House with the greatest candour. Thus he (Mr. O'Con-
nell) perceived in the Hon. Member that great quality
evinced of perfect candour added to the other high qualities
which he possessed. There was a considerable degree of
fitness in both the Gentlemen, and the question was whe-
ther a Reformed House of Commons was to have a Re-
former or a Tory for its Speaker. He had thought that
the great advantage of the Reform Bill was to put
down Toryism in England ; for if it were not put
down, of what use would be the Reform Bill?
If, indeed, the Right Hon. Gentleman had conformed—if
he had found that he had been all his life a dormant re-
former, and like many gentlemen at the late election
had had all his reforming principles awakened upon
coming, for the first time, before a real constituency, his
(Mr. O'Connell's) objection to him would be at an end,
and he would not urge the family disqualifications,
if he might so speak, which attached to the Right Hon.
Gentleman. The Hon. Gentleman is present, and has
given good services for his salary—certainly a large one—
but he has been tasked harder than even a factory child,
and, therefore, he might say that there was no family in the
kingdom, different members of which have received so
much of the public money for nu service. He knew one
member of that family who had occupied a high office in
Ireland for twenty years, against the inclinations of every
man in it, and had received fur his services 25,0001.
That individual had been Solicitor-General here,
but, not being found the best lawyer in the world,
he was made a puisne baron of the Exchequer—the Court
which at that time had the least of all to do, and required
the least talent. Ti.is individual, too bad for an English
Solicitor-General, was thought good enough to be Chan-
cellor of Ireland, and such he was for twenty years. This
was the system which the Reform Bill was intended to put
down. and now was it proposed to begin a new system?
The Minivers had assembled, and according to the old
system of drudgery, it having been settled who should be
chosen Speaker, al who did not concur in the Ministerial
arrangement were to he shouted down.—(A laugh.) He
was glad to hear that laugh ; it was a laugh of the same
tone from the Lords of the Ascendant on the Treasury
B-,nch opposite, which used to proceed from the Treasury
13ench of an unreformed House of Commons. But the
object of the Reform Bill was to unseat those Lords, to
make them simple Members of the House, giving votes
man for man with the rest of its Members. The peopl