He have induced the right hon. Gentleman | that the Government have endeavoured to have abstained from reproducing them tyrannically to impose upon this House to-day. a Speaker by the force of the majority. [MR. BALFOUR made a remark The right hon. Gentleman must know, across the Table which was inaudible in and does know, that the charge is the Gallery.] absolutely unfounded. [Cheers.] *THE CHANCELLOR OF THE EX- knows perfectly well that the first object CHEQUER: I remember the circum- of Her Majesty's Government and of stances very well, and I can bear witness myself, who hold myself responsible to to the truth of this extract. So much the House of Commons not merely as a for the first point of the right hon. Member of the Government, but in what Gentleman. In the year 1839, when I regard as a far more responsible posiLord John Russell and Sir R. Peel, both tion, that of Leader of the House of being responsible for the character of Commons-that my first object was to this House, entered upon a contest secure, if it were possible, a unanimous of this kind-there are few men in election. [Cheers.] It was my first, as the House who can remember that it was my last, object to do so, and who time, though my recollection as a boy has defeated it? [Cheers and Counter goes back to those days-Party spirit Cheers.] Sir, it is perfectly well known was never higher than it was at that who it was. You talk of men of moment. It was just after the Bed- Parliamentary experience. The right chamber Plot, and, therefore, never was hon. Gentleman knows that my Party spirit higher than it was when object and the object of the GovMr. Shaw Lefevre was proposed on one ernment was to secure in the Chair side and Mr. Goulburn on the other, and that man who of all others [Loud yet the two Leaders on either side of the Cheers, which drowned the conclusion of House wisely, I think, and prudently the sentence]—who alone [Renewed abstained from raising the Party ques- Cheers and Counter Cheers.] Who tion. The question which was raised was it prevented it? The friends of then was no doubt the choice of one of two that Gentleman who politically act with candidates-we may have a difference of him. [Cries of "Labouchere," and inopinion as to which is most fit, but no- terruption.] body will deny that both are fit. [Cheers.] They officially declared that they were My hon. Friend the Seconder wittily said willing and anxious to support his that there are at least two men in this election, but as their Tory allies—those House who are fit to be Speakers, and I were the words-were determined upon thought when my hon. Friend the Mem- a particular candidate they must withber for Ripon was addressing us that he draw their support. [Cheers.] If it proved there were more than two. But had not been for that compact, which is the argument in 1839 was not one of worked in such a singular way, both bitter and acrimonious Party spirit, such inside this House and out of it-[“ Hear, as the right hon. Gentleman has endea- hear!"]-not very advantageously, as it voured to incite. ["Oh!" and inter- seems to me, to either Party—if it had ruption.] Lord John Russell and Sir not, I say, been for that compact, there Robert Peel were incapable of taking would have been, if not a unanimous such a course. In 1835 no doubt it election to the Chair, at least an overwas a different case, because that was a whelming majority of far above 100 in question of displacing a Speaker already favour of the Gentleman to whom I have in the Chair on the ground of alleged referred. It was the veto of the right political partiality. [Mr. T. G. BOWLES: hon. Gentleman who in the name of a "No."] But yes. Of course, the per- minority-and in that case it would sonal memory of the hon. Member for have been a small minority-undertakes King's Lynn goes further back than to dictate to this House and to its mine. [Laughter.] The second charge majority who shall be designated to be brought against us in the same in the Chair. Therefore, if unfortunately spirit by the right hon. Gentleman is to-day we are, after the lapse of so many Chancellor of the Exchequer. Allow me to proceed. years, to have а contest for the *THE CHANCELLOR OF THE EXSpeakership, it is the fault of the right CHEQUER again rose and lifted his hon. Gentleman opposite. [Angry Cries arm in mute appeal for order. Comof "No."] I protest I have laboured parative silence having been restored, from first to last to prevent this contro- the Chancellor of the Exchequer, adversy. [Interruption.] There is no man dressing the Irish Members, said: I in this House who does not know I am understand the right hon. Gentleman stating what is the fact. [Renewed In- wishes to speak in explanation. terruption and Cries of "BANNERMAN."] MR. BALFOUR: I can assure hon. I hear the name of another gentleman Members that I have sufficient acquaintmentioned, my right hon. Friend who ance with the rules of Debate not to sits beside me. In answer to that, I endeavour, under the guise of a personal have to say, in the first place, that it explanation, to go beyond the limits of a would have been contrary to all Parlia- personal explanation. ["Hear, hear!"] mentary precedent that any Member of I was only going to say that, as the the Cabinet from this Bench should have right hon. Gentleman has introduced gone to that Chair. That, in itself, was certain considerations, drawn from a to my mind an objection of the strongest period antecedent to the candidature of character to such a proceeding. But I the hon. Gentleman the Member for want to know-By what right does the Carlisle, I must not be understood as minority of the House undertake to admitting the accuracy of the history dictate who should be the person to he has given of my share in those profill the Speaker's Chair? [Cheers.] They ceedings. [Cheers.] say "You shall either take the man on your side we name or you shall take the man on our side we name. [Cheers.] For that there is no precedent; there is for the position which the right hon. Gentleman has thought fit to create, no justification. I am extremely sorry. The right hon. Gentleman knows that I have done my best to prevent the intervention either of himself or of myself in this Debate. I have deprecated it from the first. First of all I desired there should be no contest at all, and the next thing I desired was that if there was to be a contest there should be as little of Party spirit imported into it as could be. The right hon. Gentleman, first of all, has refused that the matter should be The result of the Division was redetermined without a contest, and after-ceived with loud and prolonged cheers wards he endeavoured by his intervention and counter cheers. in this Debate to give it a Party aspect. The House then divided on the Motion that Mr. Gully should take the Chair as Speaker, the Tellers for the Ayes being Mr. T. Ellis and Mr. W. A. McArthur; and for the Noes, Sir J. Mowbray and Mr. Wharton. When all the Members had returned to the House from the Division Lobbies, and it was seen that the Clerk at the Table handed to Mr. Thomas Ellis, the Government Whip, the slip of paper containing the numbers, the election of Mr. Gully being thereby notified, the occupants of the Ministerial Benches cheered loudly. The numbers were :-Ayes, 285; Noes, 274.-[Division List, No. 43.] [An HON. MEMBER: "Whitbread."] I On returning into the House, Mr. am sorry it should be so; but under the Gully had taken a corner seat on the circumstances of this case, he having chosen to give it a Party aspect, I shall give my warm and cordial support to my hon. and learned Friend the Member for Carlisle. [Cheers.] fourth Bench above the Gangway on the Ministerial side of the House. After the announcement of the numbers Mr. Whitbread rose from his place, and, having approached Mr. Gully, took him by the hand and conducted him Speaker-Elect to the Chair amid cheers. as MR. BALFOUR, who was prevented for a space of about two minutes from uttering a word by loud and sustained cries of "Spoke, spoke!" proceeding from *Then MR. SPEAKER-ELECT, standthe Irish Nationalist Benches: The ing on the upper step of the Chair, House will readily believe[Cries of addressed the House. He said: I beg "Spoke" from Mr. T. M. HEALY, and a to tender to the House my most humble voice: "Order, Healy!"]— and earnest thanks for the signal and in his favour-I rise to congratulate you upon your taking your seat in that historical Chair. [Cheers.] I feel certain that you will do honour to the Chair, and I also feel certain that, in spite of the Discussion and the Division which we have had, you will receive-as my right hon. Friend the Member for the Blackpool Division would have received from both sides of the House the support which you will greatly need in discharging the duties which you have to perform. [Cheers.] unlooked-for honour that has been con- congratulated my right hon. Friend ferred upon me by electing me to be opposite, the Member for the Blackpool Speaker of this House. But whilst I feel Division, if the House had pronounced the greatness of the honour, I feel still more deeply the weight of the responsibility undertaken. When I remember the great names and reputations of the distinguished men who in the past have sat in the position where I am standing now, and still more when I remember that great Speaker whom we saw yesterday in this Chair-when I remember his dignity and courtesy, his impartiality and firmness, his consummate knowledge of the law and usages of Parliament, and the vigour, rapidity, and tact with which he applied that knowledge to the busi- MR. BALFOUR: Mr. Gully,-I desire ness before the House I confess I to associate myself with what has fallen cannot but look forward with anxiety from the right hon. Gentleman. [Cheers.] to the comparison, the inevitable com- You have been elected by a majority; parison, which must daily be made be- you are now, Sir, the Representative of tween my inexperience and shortcomings the whole House; and if I may venture and all the great qualities and tradi- to speak on behalf of the minoritytions which we have been accustomed on behalf of those who voted in the to associate with the Speaker's Chair. minority Lobby-I desire to tender you But I do venture to rely to some extent on their behalf the expression of our upon the generous indulgence of the perfect confidence in your impartiality, House [Cheers]-towards one of its least and to say that you will receive from distinguished Members, who is suddenly us every assistance which it is in our called upon to follow so great a pre- power to give you, with the object of decessor in so great a place; and I know relieving the labours and lightening that I can always largely rely upon that the responsibilities of the heavy task support which the House will give to the you have undertaken. [Loud Cheers.] authority of the Chair, not out of any *THE CHANCELLOR OF THE EXregard for its occupant, but out of con- CHEQUER: I rise to give notice that, sideration for the dignity of the House by the Queen's Command, the Speaker itself, and the good order of its Debates. whom the House has elected will be pre[Cheers.] I do venture also to put some sented for Her Majesty's approval in the reliance upon the consciousness I feel my- House of Lords on Monday, April 22nd, self of an earnest desire to do my duty so that the Speaker will be able to take to the House diligently, faithfully, and the Chair on that day at Three o'clock. efficiently, without fear or favour, and I beg to move, Sir, "That this House without respect of persons. [Loud Cheers.] do now adjourn." These considerations give me the courage once more to submit myself humbly to the wishes of the House, and to take my seat in the Chair to which the House has elected me. [Loud and prolonged Cheers.] The SERJEANT-AT-ARMS advanced up the floor of the House and replaced the Mace upon the Table, and— *MR. SPEAKER-ELECT took his seat in the Chair. *THE CHANCELLOR OF THE EXCHEQUER: Mr. Gully,-I rise to congratulate you, Sir, as I should have Mr. Speaker-Elect. *MR. SPEAKER-ELECT put the Motion, which was agreed to. THE Ministers present and other Members, as they passed the Chair, shook hands with Mr. Speaker-Elect, and congratulated him on his appointment. The House adjourned at Ten minutes to Two o'clock, unti1 Monday, April 22nd. HOUSE OF LORDS, Monday, 22nd April 1895. SAT FIRST. entire confidence in your talents, dili- The Earl of Oxford-after the death allowance and confirmation of you, Sir, of his Uncle. House adjourned during pleasure. House resumed. SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE OF William Court Gully, Esquire, Q.C., The Commissioners were the Lord Chancellor (Lord Herschell), the Earl of Kimberley, Earl Spencer, Lord Carrington, and Lord Kensington. as Speaker of the House of Commons. I MR. SPEAKER: My Lords submit myself in all humility to Her Majesty's Royal will and pleasure, and if in the discharge of my duties and in maintaining the rights and privileges of the Commons House of Parliament I shall be led into any inadvertent error, I pray that the blame may be imputed to me alone and not to Her Majesty's faithful Commons. Mr. SPEAKER retired, followed by the large body of Members who stood near the Bar. THE LORD CHANCELLOR rose shortly afterwards, and, taking his seat for a moment on the Woolsack, COMMERCIAL REPORTS, No. 2 (1895). THE SECRETARY OF STATE FOR *MR. SPEAKER-ELECT, addressing FOREIGN AFFAIRS (the Earl of the Commissioners, said: I have to inform Kimberley) moved the adjournment of your Lordships that Her Majesty's the House until Tuesday, the 30th. faithful Commons, in obedience to Her Royal command, in the exercise of their undoubted rights and privileges, have proceeded to the election of a Speaker, and their choice has fallen on me. I therefore present myself at your Lordships' bar and submit myself to Her Majesty's gracious approbation. THE LORD CHANCELLOR: It not being convenient for Her Majesty to be present at this time, a Commission has been issued under the Great Seal, commanding us and several other Lords to notify and to declare Her Majesty's approbation of the choice of her faithful Commons of William Court Gully to be Speaker, and which Commission you shall now hear read. Reports from Her Majesty's Representatives in Germany, Belgium, and the United States on legislative measures for suppressing gambling in fictitious wheat contracts, presented. THE SPEAKER. Her Majesty that whatever expense Her Majesty has been presented to Her Majesty, and A Message was delivered by the Yeo-plishment of this purpose. Accordingly, man Usher of the Black Rod (Captain T. D. Butler). Accordingly, Mr. Speaker-Elect, with the House, went up to the House of Peers, where Mr. Speaker-Elect was presented to the Lords Commissioners for the approbation of Her Majesty. Then the Lord High Chancellor, one of the said Commissioners, signified Her Majesty's approbation of Mr. SpeakerElect, in the name, and on behalf of, Her Majesty. The House being returned, Sir, I beg to give notice that I will tomorrow move a Committee of this House, and in order that it may be the first Order of the Day I make the proper motion that it shall have precedence of all other Orders. *MR. SPEAKER put the question, "That this House will to-morrow resolve itself into a Committee to consider Her Motion was agreed to amid cheers. Majesty's gracious message," and the NEW WRIT. For the Borough of Leeds (East Division) v. Lawrence Gane, esquire, Q.C., deceased.-(Mr. Thomas Ellis.) THE ARMENIAN ATROCITIES. *MR. SPEAKER said: I have to report to the House that this House has been in the House of Peers, where Her Majesty has been graciously pleased to signify by MR. C. H. SCHWANN (Manchester, Her Lords Commissioners Her approba- N.) presented a petition of behalf of the tion of the choice of myself as Speaker of body of English Presbyterian ministers this House. I take this opportunity of in and near London and Westminster repeating to the House my respectful ac-showingknowledgments of the honour it has done my me, and the confidence it has reposed in" that, in view of the serious outrages which have me, and of renewing the assurance of been perpetrated in Armenia, and the continued disregard by the Turkish Government of the entire devotion to the service of the House. provisions of the 61st Article of the Berlin THE CHANCELLOR OF THE EX- Treaty and of other treaty obligations, it is the CHEQUER (Sir W. HARCOURT, Derby): bounden duty of this country, having regard to I have to acquaint the House that the the responsibility which it has incurred, to use Address of Tuesday the 9th inst., to Her definite and permanent reforms in Armenia, every effort to secure the introduction of Majesty, praying Her Majesty with the object of giving security to the lives provinces." and property of the inhabitants of those "That she will be most graciously pleased to confer some signal mark of her Royal favour upon the Right Hon. Arthur Wellesley Peel, Speaker of this House, for his eminent services during the important period in which he has, with such distinguished ability and dignity, presided in the Chair of this House, and to assure The petition was signed on behalf of the petitioners by Dr. Brooke Herford (chairman), James Harwood, B.A., and Frank K. Freeston (hon. sec.). |