Star.
London, England, 1801-02-12 00:00:00

P.IRLIAMENT iAr PROCEEDINGS.

Romp or COMMONS, WEDNESDAY, FEB. ii.

ELECTION OF A SPIAKIR.

About four o'clock Lord HAWRESBORY rote,
and addreffed Mr. Lee, (the Clerk of the Houfe,)
in fubtlance fomewbat as follows
As it appears, Sir, by the communication
which )on read yefterday from the Right Hon.
H. Addington, that that Gentleman has refigned
his flotation as Speaker of the Hattie of Commons,
I now rife to propofe a perfon whom I think every
wav qualified to fucceed to the Chair. It is im-
poftible but that the refignatton which occafions
this vacancy muff have made a very fcrious
im-
preftion upon the Houfe ; it is impoffible to feel
indifferent at the tors of a Gentleman, whore
conduft, during the long period he filled that
high office, was fo creditable to himfelf, and fo
advantageous to the Houfc and to the Public at
large. It is importible, Sir, not to regret the
caufes which led to this retignation, and which
deprive us of the advantage of as great and as
fplendid talents as ever were difplayed in the fitu-
ation he has relinquifhed. From that exalted titu-
ation does the Right Hon. Gentleman retire, not
for the gratification of any private views of h:s
own, but in order to fill another lituation, arduous
indeed, and momentous, which he never fought
for, but whith he forbears to decline, from that
fenfe of public duty which has hitherto direfted
the tenor of his public conduit. In propoling a
perfon to fucceed a charafter thus excellent and
accomplifhed, I truft, Sir, that I (hall offer none
to the acceptance of the Houfe, the choice of
whom mull not prove as creditable to its Mem-
bers as it will be honourable to the individual on
whom it may fall. If, by the exertions ofiinduftry
and the difplay of talent, any Gentleman has ac-
quired that high charafter and confequence that
have defervedly placed him at the head of a
learned profeffion ; if, betides, the mind of that
Gentleman was not contraCted by profeflional
habiti or purfuits, but enlarged and liberalifed by
an ettenfive acquaintance with the hittory and
Magee of the country, and above all, infpircd and
situated by a knowledge and a love of the great
and ineftimable bleffings of our Contlinition • if
to there more plaufible and prominent qualifica-
tions, the fame perfon thould unite an engaging
difption, an unfullied purity of charadcr, toge-
ther with a firmnefs and impartiality of temper
which no private or political predilections can pnf-
fibly bias ; could it be writ pollible to felelt a Gen.
tleman who had fairer claims to the honour of fit-
ting in that Chair? But all there qualit;es lam
convinced, Sir, (and the Houfe muff pa,licipate
in that conviftion,) are eminently polfetred by Sir
John Mitford ; apd without any further attempt
to do juflice to his merits, I beg leave to propofe
him as a perfon than whom none is better qualified
to fill the Chair.
Mr. I. H. BROWN feconded the motion.—l am
very happy to have thc honour of feconding my
nob], Friend in propoting Sir Jahn Mitford to fill
the vacant Chair. The vacancy, Sir, we molt
deeply regret. In our long and fevere conteft we
have had the happinefs to fee in every department
of Government the higheft Ilations filled with men
of intrepid fpirit and aftivc exertion ; men, who
from their patriotifra and abilities have deferved
and obtained the public confidence.—But, Sir, no
office has been filled more refpeflably thin that in
which we of this Honk are' molt immediately
concerned. Whatever prejudices political opi-
nions may have created againtt perfons who have
filled other offices, I may aver, without the leaft
fear of contradiflion in this Houfe, that there is
but one opinion in it with refpeft to the integrity
and ability of the late Speaker ; with refpeet to the
moderation and impartiality he difplayed when he
prefided in thc moll important debates—in &bates
- too when our paffions were molt materially in-
flamed. The un:verfal and unanimous confidence
which our experience of him for the !aft twelve years
has created, I am perfuaded. can never be thaken
by his conduit in any Ration. Whatever poll he
may be called to fill, l am convinced his zeal and

patriotifm will be as confpicuous as they have
hitherto been, in the Houfe. and out of it ; his
courage will never be appalled by danger, and
that the moderation which has always guided him
in that Chair will be equally proved in any advice
be may be required to give. Without dwelling
longer upon a fubjca, where, whatever I could
fay, mull he anticipated by the feelirv,s of .dl who
hear me, I Inuit exprefs the great preafurc I have
that there is a perfon In eminently quafitied to fill
that Chair, as he whom my noble Friend has pro-
poled ; a man who has rifen by acknowledged
merit, and by legal' knowledge, to very high flatioas
in his profefrion ; who has fat in this Houle during
all the period our late Speaker prelided, and has
taken a very adivc and diftinguillied part in molt
of our debates ; not only thole of a political na-
ture, but in thofe, more efpecially, in which, from
Iris profefficnal knowledge, he was molt able to
'Aral us. Thole who have had the happincfs of
converting with him, or-of hearing him in the
Houle, mutt be convinced that his knowledge is
far from being confined to his profeflion ; that it
is very clear and accurate upon every fulfied.
The pradice of the law does not only give a titan
knowledge which is required to fill that Chair, but
an experience of the patlions of man which, in a
mini' formed like that of my Honourable Friend,
will produce the mva happy effeds, whenever he
is to decide Cr to conciliate. The firft qualifica-
tion of a Speaker, is a warm attachment to the
Conflitution. I know no man who undertlands
the Conliitution fit well as my Honourable i end,
from his knowledge of Englilh hiatu-y, as w 6! as
law; and the nacre we uniferfland the
tion, the more we mutt love and admire it.
Sir JOHN M; ri osn.—The man, Sir, whet flinch
in the titoation in which I now do, mtift be devoid
of ad feelin-;s not to be overpowered by feniiments
of gr _Attar I^.r the unmeritel encomiums th it
have been laviiiied on iiim, and a fenfe of the high
office w Inch he is In caned 1.11:011 to SI SJ (kip-
at kart, am I impreffed with there fentiments,
that 1 :au COIIidOUS Lit of very feeidc pcwers to

fire them utterance. With thole who have on
ormer occafions been propofed to undertake this
important office, it has been cuitomary to expati-
ate on the duties it impofes, and their own inabi-
lity to difcharge them as ably as they could with.
From this cuflom I mutt beg leave lomewhat
to deviate on the prefent occalion : not, Sir, that
I am not as deeply penetrated as any man can
be with my own incompetency to fed: an ardu-
ous talk, but bee:tole I feel a deference fop
the opinion of my hiends, who, I am fatisticd,
would never have emboldened me to afpire to
fuel: Ration, if they were convinced that I was
wholly unqualified to fill it. Far be it from me
to pretend to any uncommon degree of humility,
Or any peculiar exemption from the influence of
an honell ambition; but, in the prefent inflance, I
obeyed the dictates ctf that ambition rather from
the fuggeftiens of ro friends, than from any views
of pecuniary eonfiderations. All thofe who knew
the fituation whirl; 1 held at the Bar, and the ad-
-1 vantages and emoluments which I derived from a
prolettion, to obtain lome eminence in which has
been the objeft of the labours of my life, mull be
fenlible, that by undertaking the office which I
am now fo flatteringly called upon to difcharge,
I fact ifice more than I could expert in any other
fituation. Whether then it be my lot to fill that
high Ration for a longer or shorter period, I
fhould not lore fight of a profeflion to which I am
fo much indebted, and that might lead to the
moll honourable employments, for which 1 have
left no effort unexerted to einalify myfelf; but
keep it open, as a career which my habits and
fludies have enabled me to run, and from which
I may always cape& a_ competence and an inde-
pendence, which to me are every thing. In the
mean time, as far as the endexeours of honer' in-
dultry can go, I will prepare myfelf for the dif-
charge of the new office, which it is propofed I
fhould undertake ; and.l (hall (leen; it the hap-
pielt moment of my life fhould I fucceed in ob-
taining the good opinion of the Houfe, by my
anxious efforts to acquit mylelf of the duties of
the Chair, with honefty, independence, and im-
partiality. .
Mr. SHERIDAN laid, that he perfeftly agreed in
the panegyric that had been pronounced by the
Noble Lord and the Honourable Seconder of his
Motion on the merits of the Learned Gentleman.
No Gentleman was more juflly entitled to the
higheft honours to which the profeflion . f the law
could lead—for no man, he believed, was more
deeply verfed in the laws of the country. But
there were other qualifications indifpenfible in the
perfon who was adequately to fill the office of a
Speaker of that Houfe, nor was it ever deemed
ncceffary that he fhonld be a perfect lawyer. In-
deed, it had been afferted, that the Learned Gen-
tleman had beftow:d much attention on the Rudy
of the Conlkitution, and that his purfisits had
widely travelled out of the range of his profeflion ;
and that confequeatly the Houle mull affent to the
propofal of Sir John Mitford being called to the
Chair. But lie mull exprefs a hope that the Houfe
was not deftitute of Members in every fenle as
well qualified as that Learned Gentleman to dif-
charge the high office of Speaker; and he mutt beg
the Noble Lerd, and the Honourable Gentleman
who made there affertions, to recolle& that it was
the good old praCtice of the Houfe to look for
Come independent country Gentleman to fill this
high Ration, and that no perfon fhould be called
to it who held any place at the will of the Crown.
It was-with flu-prize he had learnt that the Learned
Gentleman in queltion had already given in his re-
fignation of the place he had filled, as if no ob-
flack could occur to his appointment to the Chair.
So far the whole bufinefs feemed to be a matter 1
of previous arrangement ; for the Learned Gen-
tleman himfelf confeffes that it was at the fug-
geftion of his friends, that he afpired to this ele-
vated Ration, and that in amlequence of that fug-1
geftion, he had religned his other lucrative ap- I
pointments. This alone appeared to him a fufii- I
cient objeetion to the motion of the Noble Lord, I
and furely it could not be deemed any great re-
commendation in favour of the Learned Gentle.
man's elation. Thefe obfervations were not
meant in the leaft as difrefpeftful to the Learned
Gentleman, for whole abilities and chara&er he
entertained the higheß opinion ; neither did he in-
tend any difearagement of his talents and qualifi-
cations, when he took the liberty of offering ano-
ther Gentleman to the choice of the Houle, to
whole elation he did not think that any objeftion
could be Rained. Indeed he was not fore whether
the'Honourable Membei whom he wifhed to pro-
pole, was in the Houle or not ; or, la hether he had
yet taken the oaths ? From this no impediment
I could :mire to his elation, which would appear
from the fpirit of the Aft of Parliament, which
enumerated the qualifications that a Member mull
poffels previoufly to his voting or taking a (hare
in a debate after the elation of a Speaker. Here
Mr. Sheridan called upon the Cie: k to read the
Aft, which,bcing read,
Mr. Pirr role to make a very few obfervations
upon what had fallen from the Hon. Cmtleman
who had fpoken lath. The Hon.. Gntleman
teemed difpofed to propofe a Gentleman to fill the
important office of Speaker, without having at all
adverted to the circumstance, whetherothat Gen-
tleman was capable of being elefted, or even of
fitting in that lioufe—lf the Hcn. Gentleman had
adverted to the Ad of Parliament, he would have
found that it was not only impeflible for the Hon.
Gcneeman to whom he had alluded to exprefs in
that Houle his aftent or diffent to the choice of the
Houfe, fupporng it fhould fall upon him ; but
for him even to be prefent at the Debates, with-
out incurring the penalties prefcribed by one Claule
of the Aft in question, without having taken the
Oaths in full Parliament. The lion. Gentleman
certainly could not have been aware of this cir-
, cumßance, hut having now an opportunity of
looking at the Aft- he hoped the Hon. Gentle-
man would not profs the fuhjefl any farther. For
his own part, he was very far from prang this
objeftion invidioully, but it was fo obvious and
fo mfurmountable, tlut he could not avoid fog-
gefling it. He had heard 2-rumour of fomethirg
of th.s kind being propofed, which had indaeeil
hint to look ink tle clay-lion, and he then found,

that the words of the Mt were diftinft and infu-'
perable. The Hon. Gentleman feemed to be a
little inierwiLd with his Honourable Friend for
fitpoofing that the dacription-which he had given
of the qualifications neccilary for a Speaker could
only apply to his Learned Friend. The Hon.
Gentleman (MI. Browne) certainly did not go
to the tXtt:llt of fiiying, that thefe qualities were
polreffed only br the Itigbt Hon. Gentleman who
had been propofed ; he hoped and it-tilted, that if
liat Right Hon. Gem ieman were not the objeft of
,liein choice, th it there were many other Gentle-
men whole talents would enable them to diii;harge
the duties of that important office with honour to
themfelvcs and advantage to the Houle. It
teemed however rather fingular that the Hon.
Gentleman who feemed hart at the very idea of
attributio:; talents peculiarly to any one perfon,
fhould himfelf be to narrowed in his choice, as to
propofe a Gentleman who was ineligible in point
of form. The qualification for which lie teemed
inclined to propole this Gentleman was certainly
not one that belonged exchtfively to him, it was,
that he was a Country Gentleman, a title that he
polleffecl in common with many other Gentlemen of
that Houle, but Ikill the Hon. Gentleman could
only fele& one, and that a Member who from not
having taken the oaths, could not confiftently
with the forms of the Houfe and the words and
fpirit of an At of Parliament, be the oßjed of their
choice. The firft objeftion which the Hon. Gen-
tleman had made to the Motion of his Noble
Friend appeared to him moll extraordinary, ant:
fuch a one as he was inclined to believe had never
been made before, it was that his learned Friend
belonged to the profeftion of the Law, and that he
had atttined the higheft rank in that profeffion
which talents and indufiry could raife any man to.
He did not mean to alien that there were not
many Gentlemen who were not of the profeffion
of the Law who were well qualified to difcharge
the Office of Speaker, but undoubtedly it could
not be denied. but that a knowledge of the• pro-
feffion, and that application to bufinefs which ge-
nerally accompanied it, mull be extremely advan-
tageous in the difcharge of fo arduous an office.
Betides a man who Rudied the Law with enlarged
and liberal ideas, mull acquire an intimate know-
ledge of the Conftitution, and a love for it, in-
creating as that knowledge was augmented. Thefe
were circumftances, that, in his opinion, fo far
from being an objeftion, were the ftrongeli re-
commendations to a Candidate for the Chair of
that Houfe. He begged to obferve, that it was
not merely that honed- zeal which the Hon. Gen-
tleman had fpoken of, that was neceffary to quali-
fy a man for the Office of Speaker: It required
thofe habits of application, and that method and
precifion in the difcharge of bufinefs, which be-
longed to the Profeffion of the Law, whole pro-'
ceedings bore no fmall analogy to the proceedings
of that Houle. It was not only in the public pro-
ceedings of that Houfe that the difficulties of the
Office confifted ; there were many ,other parts of
the duty that required thefe talents, and that vi-
gilance which had been uniformly difplayed by the
Right Hon. Gentleman, who lately lo ably filled
that Chair, and who, he bad no doubt, would
carry into whatever other Ration he might be
placed, thofe eminent qualities which were necef-
fary in arduous times, for difficult fituations. The
other objeftion which had been made, was dill
more fingillar than the former ; for ht objeCted to
his Right Hon. and Learned Friend, that lie had
done that, which, if he had not done, he would
have been difqualified, namely, refigned his Of-
fice. So that the Hon. Gentleman had propofed
one perfon fev the Office of Speaker, who was in-
eligible, and objeeted to another that he had quali-
fied himfelf for the office. If the Hon. Gentle-
man would look at the Aft of Parliament, he
would find that no perfon could be chofen Spea-
ker of that Houfe who held any office at the will
of the Crown. The Hon. Gentleman's objeftion,
therefore, amounted to this, that his Right Hon.
and Learned Friend being ambitious of the ho-
nour of filling the Chair of that Houfe, and
to take the chance of meeting with the approba-
tion of the Houfe, had taken the neceftary Reps to
make himtelf eligible. The conduft of his Right
Hon. and Learned Friend, upon this occafion, had
difplayed that manlinefs and ftncerity which he
had ever (hewn, and which he was lure mutt re-
commend him to the favour and good opinion of
the Houfe, and make him the objeft of their choice.
Mr. MARTIN laid, that lie had heard from dif-
ferent quarters a great deal of the integrity and
other good qualities of the Hon. Gentleman, and
among them his impartiality where that was an
objeft, that he was induced to vote for him ; and
he only wifhed that if he was chofen to the office,
he would juflify the idea he had of him.
Mr. NICHOLLS fAid, the Hon. and Learned
Gentleman's charafter for underttanding was very
high, and that was a general qualification for the
office ; but there was Rill another qualification
in him that was aimed peculiar to himfelf, and
which fitted him mod aptly for this office, be
meant the long habit that Learned Gentleman
had been in of confidering cafes which related to
rights of private property, and which gave his un-
derftanding a fuperiority in that refpeft over molt
others. This was likely to be highly advantageous
to the proceedings of the Houfe in a great part of
its bufinefs, namely, Private Bills of various defcrip-
dons. It would be a great advantage to have fuch
a perfon in the Chair of that Houk, for it would
acquire a charaeler which it at preterit wanted—
that of being equal to the other Houfe in their
provitions for the difpcifition of private property.
Mr. SHIRIDAN reqactied, that the At Ot Par..
referred to by the Right Hon. Gentleman
might be read; which being read by the Clerk
accordingly, it required that the Speaker of the
Houfe of Commons fliould not enjoy for the time
being, any office holden at the pleafure oftheCrown.
Mr. SIIr a i o>.l. retamed.—He contended, that
ytho the Right I Gentleman had laid down in
fo peremptory a tc.nc as the Law of Parliament
on this fubjeft, did not appear to be the fair con.
firu:aios of the AO; and that in his comment
upon it, he had difrovcred a difpolition to quibble
and confound, rather titan to explain, and to lay
hold of the letter of the law, arlailft he overlooked