GENERAL HISTO RY. 



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sive word, and in conclusion, the 

 motion for calling the house was 

 carried. It is to be observed, that 

 Mr. Tierney affirmed, that he 

 knew it to be the noble lord's 

 intention to communicate per- 

 sonally to the Speaker, the nature 

 of his motion in time to enable 

 him to prepare for it. 



On April 22, Lord Morpeth 

 rose and began his speech with an 

 apology for his having undertaken 

 the task he was about to perform, 

 and a compliment to the Speaker 

 on the high reputation he had 

 merited in the general discharge 

 of his important office. Then 

 having caused the speech in ques- 

 tion to be read, he repeated that 

 |)art of it relative to the Catholic 

 bill, which was the object of his 

 censure, and said that he should 

 submit the following proposition 

 to the House: " That it is con- 

 trary to Parliamentary usage, and 

 to the spirit of parliamentary pro- 

 ceeding, for the Speaker, unless 

 by special direction of the House, 

 to inform his Majesty, either at 

 the bar of the House of Lords, or 

 elsewhere, of any proposal made 

 to the House by any of its mem- 

 bers, either in the way of bill or 

 motion, or to acquaint the throne 

 with any proceedings relative to 

 such proposal, until they shall be 

 consented to by the House." In 

 proof of the point respecting par- 

 liamentary usage, the noble lord 

 referred to such speeches of Speak- 

 ers as had been preserved, in which 

 he could find no reference to 

 measures which had not met with 

 the concurrence of the House ; 

 none, at least, analogous to the 

 case in question, in which the 

 principle of the bill had been esta- 

 blished in the second reading, the 



Vol.. I.VI. 



application of the principle in an 

 important point was negatived by 

 a small majority in the committee, 

 and the bill was still in existence 

 when the Speaker alluded to it in 

 his address to the throne. He 

 then made some remarks on the par- 

 ticular expressions of the Speaker 

 in the passage complained of ; but, 

 said he, it is not to the mere word- 

 ing that I would call the atten- 

 tion of the House ; it is to the 

 danger of the precedent, the ap- 

 prehension I entertain that if this 

 course of proceeding he established 

 as a precedent, a future Speaker 

 may think himself justified in 

 taking the occasion of a rejected 

 measure to render it the vehicle 

 of censorious remark, or party pur- 

 poses. After some observations 

 on the importance of guarding 

 against evils of this kind, by 

 strictly adhering to the principle 

 of not communicating to the 

 throne the debates of the House, 

 he concluded with moving a spe- 

 cial entry in the Journal to the 

 effect of the proposition which he 

 had announced as the foundation 

 of his speech. 



The Speaker then rose, and after 

 making some remarks on the si- 

 tuation in which he had been 

 placed by the mode of proceeding 

 adopted by the noble lord, he said 

 that there appeared two distinct 

 questions upon which he was called 

 upon to vindicate himself; 1. 

 whether, according to the usage 

 of parliament, the proceedings of 

 the House upon the Roman Ca- 

 tholic claims were fit matter to be 

 adverted to in such a speech : 2. 

 if they were, whether they had 

 been mentioned in a proper man- 

 ner. As to the first he submitted 

 to the House, that according ta 



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