The Statesman.
London, England, 1818-04-15 00:00:00

tirE STA"

bad they ant &fight to sprat fro. i Government
, srhickthose to carry ,oss 4461 le this 'any ? And
if it
.was known that they woeld have:
so eMoniendiric a imiirity hi the lipase, that there
could be nO dosbt of their second, the Horse would
learn eotbtag ,of the piviioes decision, nukes hi.
some onacooontablomistake, such as that which bed"

taken place. on the present occasion. In this state o><4
things,. it Was nugatory to discus any matter in Uwe
House. Not having had an opportunity before of,
entering hii protest on constitutional grounds against
this prartice; he could not let slip the present
It had • tamed eat, that• Lord Liverpool had
mistaken the astonishment and silence of these Mem-
bers—that somehow or other, be had mistaken their
silence for assent.—(llear, hear, hear!)—But no'
sooner • had they come here, than their astonishment
was done away, and they began to open their mouths,
and to open them to the coerfuSion of Ministers; and
they declared, that a proposition so estraordinary
could not receive their concurrence. One after ano-
ther they made this declaration—there was no es-
ception ; and, though his lion. Friend the Member
foe'Arundel (Sir S. Hominy) had challenged an one
of those who attended at the Meeting in Lord• Liver•
pal's, to say he agreed to it, no one stood forward
and said be agreed. Ministers had therefore a right
to assume that this proposition would not be sec-
cessfel ; and now another delay eas proposed, that
more pulses might be felt, and more attempts might
be made to get over Members, whose honesty stood
so conspicuously recorded.' If they deferred the
consideration of this question, the House made Itself
a party to the acts of the Ministers. The Ministers
asked time to accomplish indirectly what in the
House they did not dare to propose. He should,
therefore, humbly take the liberty of moving—if the
motion of the Noble I.Ord was negatived, which he
hoped the Huuse would have the virtue to do—tn
I propose a Resolution, so constitutional in its nature,
I so respectful tp . the individuals concerned, and so
temperate in its team', that he had no doubt it
would meet with the concurrence of the Hoes*.
Lord CASTLEREAGH said, that if deliberations
out of the House, previously to the submitting of any
proposition to the House, were to be prohibited, this
would be the first time that it had been done. The
Hon. aid Learned Gefitillll4ll was in the habit of
throwing out ideas perfectly novel ; but he appre.
bonded, if he wished to • prevent communications
with Members out of the House on any propositions
which might be submitted to it, he would not only
introduce a system entirely new, but make it pro-
WA, that the propositions would Hot be proper or
wise in themselves. He should, therefore, enter his
counter protest against the new constitutional doctrine
of
.the Heuourable and Learned Gentleman, as both
impracticable and unwise, and unconststutioual.—
Ulear, hisrl—The Hun. and Learned Gentleman
was pleased to say, that if the motion was postponed,
it must be for the purpose of practising on Members.
It was aserihilig a high degree of power to his Ma.
jesty's Ministers, to suppose that between this day
slid to-morrow they vivid carry on practices which
would make converts of those who hail already mark-
ed by their votes their opinions on the proposition
which was to be made to them. The Honourable and
Learned Gentleman should have been induced to
take a more candid and true view of the state of the
case ; but in this case he only followed up the system
of vilifying his Majesty's Ministers (who had never-
theless hitherto possessed the confidence of the Crow u
and of Parliament, and who would always endeavour
to merit it), and of running down the esisting system,
to substitute some novelty in its stead. He hoped
the House would postpone the consideration of the
Message till to-morrow, and lie should then state the
reasons which had actuated his Majesty's Mitiisters
in bringing forward the proposition which they should
then make, and he hoped the House would be satis-
fied, whether or no the proposition was adopted, that
they had done what they conceived to be their duty,
not only to the Crown but to the country.
Mr. TIERNEY.—If the object of his Hon. and
Learned Frimsd's speech had been, as it had been
said, merely to vilify his Majesty's Government, he
must confess he had taken very unnecessary pains, as
there never yet had existed a Ministry which had
taken such pains to vilify and degrade itself in the
eyes of the Parliament and the country as the pre-
sent Administration—[Loud cheering and Laugh.
ter]—not ever, in his recollection, had there been
so much time taken up with more surcess to exhibit
Ministers in a degraded and contemptible situation.
—[hear, hear !]—This he spoke advisedly, as he
bad decided in his own whirl that no other words in
the English language could serve the purpose of con-
veying what he, and every other man of sound jutlg.
meet in the Noose, thought their conduct merited.—
[Hear, hear!]—lt had been said by the Noble Lord
that the practice pursued on a late occasion was by
ne Means onceestitutional. True it was that meet.
ills of Members of l'ailiament were sometimes con.
versed with respect to Bills affecting any particular
trade, or professional or mercantile interest; but
then they were always selected for the purpose of
advising what measures should be adopted, and were
the persons best skilled in the trade or profession to
be affected. In this case there was a wide (literacy,
because the measure was of a general nature, and
therefore ought not to have been submitted to any
select body of the House, before it had been sub.
mimed to the House itself. Rut here the Minis-
ters appear to ham advised his Royal ilighness,
and settled in their minds what was to be the as-
tute of the proposition shoot to be laid before the
House. But previous to the meeting et Lord Li.
ter pool's, some rumour, it appears, had reached the'
ears of those wise Ministere, who began to suspect
that the proposition would not be agreeable even to the
faitbfulfew which were about to be collected at the Mi.
nister's boese. The purpose, therefore; of this Meet-
ing was, to re-consider the proposition. As there
were but few Members in that lesser Howse of Cots.
mots, it would only have. been fair that there had
been fitted op a gallery for the rest of the Members
to see at least what was gliiiag ms:—(Lood laughing )1
—But that, to be sure, was not very material, as 1
there was no debate, it tarried nut to be a Quaker's
Meeting.—(licur! and lauglifer.),—lt was true,
they said, that Lord Liverpool did make a speech,
and rather a long one, but a approbation followed
it ; and adopting the ordinervre4e, that silence
gives, consent, be supposed they: mould give their
meat to the proposition in thif UMW.. ,Tlatt ma.