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I am permitted to speak on upon the present occasion; and if any one doubts it, I might refer to a very eminent and very useful Member of this House-the late Mr. Joseph Hume-who introduced the subject on a similar occasion. I may state that I have not mentioned to any Member the question I wish for a moment to bring under the notice of the House, and I only, therefore, am entirely responsible for mentioning it. I refer to the practice which has prevailed for generations, I suppose, and which obtains even to this time, of requiring that Members of the House who accept invitations to the official dinners or evening parties of the Speaker should appear either in court dress or uniform. Many Members of this House may think this is a very trifling matter, and I do not intend to contest it with them; but if any. body does think it trifling, I hope he will not refuse to concede that the matter is one for fair consideration. My own impression is that this custom is a little out of date, especially among the Members of a popular Assembly. There are, I believe, 160 or 170 gentlemen coming to this Parliament who were not here in the last or any preceding Parliament. Well, they have not yet been initiated into these matters; but I think the fact of there being so many new Members here makes it the more proper that I should now mention this subject. The Speaker of this House is only superior to any other Member by reason of our choice; and I cannot see- -I believe no man living can see-that, except for this old custom, there is any necessity or advantage in the Speaker being compelled by this practice to require that all Members of this House who accept his invitations should appear in court dress or in military costume. It may be thought mean to speak of cost. In a House where there are so many rich men-and all are supposed to be rich who come here--I do not speak of cost; but I remember an hon. Member holding the rank of a colonel in the army once complaining, and complaining, too, with a seriousness of manner, that it had taken fifty guineas to put him inside a suitable dress in which to appear at the Speaker's table. That may be thought by many to be a small matter, and perhaps it is; but if our Speaker is but the first among equals, and is made what he is in honour and dignity by the choice of the House, I see no necessity why-even if such things be necessary in the circles of Courts such a practice should be retained

among the members of a popular assembly. I will state a case in point. Last year the House sustained a heavy loss-and I a much heavier loss than any other hon. Member-in the removal for evermore of a dear and lamented friend of mine, without whose presence here I feel myself almost alone. Well, for twentyfour years-from 1841 to 1865-he was a Member of this House, yet during the whole of that period he felt himself restrained from accepting any official invitation either from Viscount Eversley, when he held the office of Speaker, or from the right hon. Gentleman below me (Mr. Denison) while he has occupied the Chair. Now, my lamented friend was not a man of eccentricities; he was a man to whose merit the whole world has borne testimony, and posterity will say that he was one of the most eminent men who ever adorned the Parliament of this country. But so strongly did he feel on this question that he was restrained during the whole of that twenty-four years from dining with the Speaker of this House, or from attending his official evening parties and levées. Well, there have been to my certain knowledge other Members of this House less eminent than he, but not less entitled to be regarded in a matter of this kind, who have entertained the same feeling. I cannot, therefore, see why this point should be thought an absolute trifle, or, if it be a trifle, that even a small minority should be forced to concur with the majority in respect to it. If there be any country gentleman who likes to appear in decorated apparel, or if there be any homely manufacturer from the North who is gratified by figuring in the blazing garments of a deputy-lieutenant, I do not object to it in the least. I should like every man to please himself in this matter. But if there are some of us, as is the case with myself, and, I believe, many more, who would like to make their appearance in a quieter costume, with less that is gorgeous and astounding about them, why should not their taste be gratified also? This is not a subject which I expect the House to debate, nor do I even say that it is worth debating. I throw it out only as a suggestion which I trust my right hon. Friend who is about, with the unanimous consent of the House, to take the Chair, will consider. And if he can abolish this Act of Uniformity and establish an Act of Toleration, so that, provided we appear at the entertainments of

the Speaker as we should at the houses of each other if invited to dine there, we should not be thought to transgress the rules of the House, I believe that then some small burden will be removed from the minds of some Members, and that the dignity of the Speaker will in no degree be impaired.

by a unanimous voice, might unduly ele-
vate me in my own imagination, had I not
a strong and abiding sense of many im-
perfections and shortcomings; and I attri-
bute the favour of the House, to its proper
cause-
e-its too indulgent appreciation of
my imperfect services. That I have en-
deavoured to do my duty as a zealous
and faithful servant of the House I can
truly say. What I have been able to do
you know, and it would not become me
to enlarge upon it. Neither would you
wish me to enter into professions for the
future. I will not, therefore, detain you
with one unnecessary word, but simply
say that I submit myself with all respect
to the desire of the House.

The House then unanimously calling
Mr. EVELYN DENISON to the Chair, he was

Right honourable Earl Grosvenor, and by

them conducted to the Chair.

THE CHANCELLOR OF THE EXCHEQUER: I do not rise for the purpose of saying anything in addition to the speech of the right hon. Gentleman the Member for Limerick, for that is quite unnecessary, but to say a single word, as definitely as the subject will admit of, to the suggestion of the hon. Member for Birmingham. He has incidentally called the attention of the House, as it may have been quite competent for him to do, to a matter which may undoubtedly be connected with the convenience, and probably also with the taken out of his place by the said Right feelings and opinions, of some hon. Mem-honourable William Monsell, and the bers of this House; but I think the House in general will feel that my right hon. Friend (Mr. Denison), whom it is proposed to elect to a most important office in this House, could not be expected by the House, and could not be expected especially by the hon. Member for Birmingham -I will not say to express off-hand a judgment on a matter of this grave importance, but to commit himself in any way with regard to it without having a very full opportunity for consideration. I would, therefore, only add that I am satisfied that any communication which any hon. Gentleman may have to make, either now or at any future time, to my right hon. Friend touching the dignity or the comfort of any Member of this House will receive the fullest consideration at the hands of the right hon. Gentleman, with his accustomed courtesy and kind

ness.

The House then calling Mr. EVELYN DENISON to the Chair

MR. EVELYN DENISON stood up in his place and said: I offer my respectful thanks to the House for the honour they propose to confer upon me. I am much beholden to my right hon. Friend and my noble Friend for the manner in which they have proposed and seconded my nomination to the Chair. I can hardly venture to assume to myself much of the commendation which they have been pleased to pass upon me. The favour of the House, the gracious manner in which that favour has been bestowed by its choice of me to fill the Chair, for the third time,

Mr. Bright

Then MR. SPEAKER ELECT, standing on the upper step, said: I return my thanks to the House once more from this Chair. On looking round the House I miss-we all miss-one familiar face. The House has sustained a great loss. We have lost him who was the foremost man among us, the leader of this House-who, by his great abilities, his long experience, and a rare combination of qualities, had conciliated to himself in a remarkable degree the confidence of this House. We remember often when, after long sittings, the patience of the House was well-nigh wearied out, how his good temper, his genial spirit, smoothed the ruffled surface, and sent us to our homes at peace with each other and with him. I do not propose to speak an eulogium on Lord Palmerston. The House will permit me these few words of regret, of esteem, and of grateful friendship. Of the great body of the House, my Colleagues in past Parliaments, whom I am happy to see again around me, I ask a renewal of that generous support which they have on former occasions afforded me. There is a large number of Members present who have seats in this House for the first time. They succeed to no ignoble inheritance. I would venture to say to them that the fame of this House, both for the conduct of debates and the transaction of business, depends, in no small degree, on the rules and orders which it has formed for its own government. study of these rules would be useful to

A

every Member, and the better they are known the more certain I should feel of general co-operation in my endeavour to uphold them. If any difficulty connected with the business of the House should present itself to any Member, I hope he will do me the favour to communicate with me. I shall always be happy to receive him and to confer with him in the spirit of frank and friendly counsel.

the House of a number of men who had attained distinction and acquired authority under the old Parliamentary system. From year to year, from Parliament to Parliament, one by one, they have passed away. So lately as on the last occasion when you, Sir, were chosen to fill that Chair, there were still remaining here three persons who had attained to great Parliamentary distinction, and who had filled high offices before the passing of the Reform Bill. I mean, first, my noble Friend Lord Russell, who has been removed, in acknowledgment of his public services, to the other House of Legislature; secondly, my right hon. Friend Sir James Graham, than whom few, indeed, of the Members of this House made more valuable contri

THE CHANCELLOR OF THE EXCHEQUER: Mr. Speaker-I presume, Sir, in my own name, and I am sure I may say in the name of the whole of the Members of this House, to tender to you our most cordial congratulations on your having been for the third time, by the unanimous voice of this House, placed at the head of the Commons of England. Sir, you have suc-butions to the conduct of its public busiceeded to the Chair amid growing duties ness; and the last person to whom I allude, and growing responsibilities. The wants of and the most eminent of them in respect modern society make themselves felt within to the place he occupied in the favour and these walls, both by the increasing amount attachment of this House, I need hardly of public business and by the increasing mention-Lord Palmerston. After what has amount also of what we term the private been so well said by my right hon. Friend business of the House. Your duties in the behind me, and by yourself, Sir, I need latter respect are in a great degree with- hardly dilate on the character of that disdrawn from the observation of the world, tinguished man, the more especially as it and partially withdrawn even from the may be my duty very shortly to make a observation of the Members of this House; proposition to the House which will natu but the long experience of those conversant rally introduce the subject. But one thing with that important branch of our occupa- I will venture to say. You, Sir, have tions has convinced them that that depart-glanced at the loss which you yourself exment has never been more carefully and more efficiently attended to than during the period while you, Sir, have occupied the Chair. As regards the public business of the House, all those who hear me, and, I may add, the public out of doors, are competent judges of the manner in which you sustained your arduous functions, and which has been borne testimony to with a force far beyond any that can be expressed by words by the silent and unanimous vote of the House which has now placed you in the Chair. But it is true that in some respects you have difficulties to confront even beyond those arising out of the constantly increasing calls on the time, diligence, and wisdom of the House. We have seen within a generation a great change in the composition of this House, and likewise a great change in the composition of those constituencies by whom it was chosen. At the period of the Reform Act the transition which this House then underwent (the effect of the important alterations of a constitutional character then made), was immensely softened by the continuing presence on the Benches of

perienced by the lamented death of so great and experienced a statesman. There is one person at least in the House who may venture to compete with you in the sense of that loss, and that is the humble individual who has the honour now to address you, considering the responsibilities which have devolved on him. Sir, we have, as was to be expected after the lapse of so many years during which the late Parliament existed, an unusual number of Gentlemen chosen for the first time to the high duty of representing the interests of their country within these walls. But there is amazing strength in the traditions of this House, and there is unequalled aptitude among English Gentlemen for conforming to the spirit of those traditions. It is remarkable to observe, from Parliament to Parliament, how little those who watch our proceedings from without, or those who take part in those proceedings within these walls are able to remark any difference in the firmness and regularity and discipline with which the House discharges its high functions, in consequence of the infusion of new Members which constantly

follows a dissolution; and, however much | passions may contrive to raise an indiwe may lament the loss of those distin-vidual to the elevated post you now guished men to whom I have referred, we occupy, but they cannot keep him there, may still reflect that there remain among Sir. For that result the possession of us, on both sides of the House, men whose great and personal qualities is necessary ability, experience, character, and weight-natural courtesy, adequate learning, will enable them to afford you efficient aid firmness and impartiality, and, above in the discharge of those arduous duties all, that inspiring sense of honour which which will devolve, Sir, upon you. We is our surest guide in the perplexities of may, Sir, presume to look forward with public life, and which ever has been, and, confidence to the continuance of that vigi-I trust, ever will be, the characteristic lant jealousy for the liberties, and that high of English gentlemen. It is because the regard for the honour of this Assembly, House sees that you, Sir, possess those which are the two main pillars of the dig-qualities that you have been re-elected to nity and efficiency of the House. You, the Chair for the third time this day; Sir, will contribute your share from the and it is because we feel on this side of elevated position you now occupy to the the House that you possess those qualities accomplishment of that task, and we in that I am authorized, on behalf of Gentleour several spheres shall be ready to se- men here, to offer you the tribute of our recond you to the best of our ability. In con- spect and congratulation. I would not have clusion, allow me to express the wish that said more, had it not been for some unexhas already been uttered by my noble Friend pected allusions made to another subject. behind me, that health and strength may The right hon. Gentleman the Chancellor be spared to you for many years to dis- of the Exchequer alluded to increased recharge the high functions to which you sponsibilities falling on him; but I can have been called, in the manner most pleas- assure the right hon. Gentleman of that of ing to your own mind, and in a way cal- which he need hardly be reminded; for, culated to elevate you to the highest de- though he appears now for the first time as gree in the eyes of the House and of the leader of this House, yet he has sat in it country. for many years, and been one of its most eminent and distinguished Members: his experience, then, must have taught him that on all occasions, when the order and honour of this House are concerned, the leader of the House may appeal for support to those sitting opposite to him with the same confidence as to the Members occupying seats on his own side. Sir, I quite agree with the right hon. Gentleman that there is one cause why on this occasion, in the responsible office which he now occupies, he may feel some distrust. I do not think that it is possible for us to re-assemble under this roof-many of us who have sat in all the Parliaments of the Queen, and some of us who have been Members of the House during three reigns-and not feel emotion when they mark that the familiar form which you, Sir, have referred to can no longer be observed among us-a form connected so intimately with the history of this country, and with the most important transactions of this House of Parliament. It is impossible to deny that the disappearance of such a character from the scene-of so much sagacity, of so much experience, and, I may say, of so much fame-must in some degree, and for some time, derogate from the authority even of the House of Commons. But,

MR. DISRAELI: I hope, Sir, I may be permitted, on behalf of Gentlemen on this side of the House, to offer you our congratulations on the event, so gratifying to the House, which has just occurred; and the more so, as from the mode in which the business of this morning has been conducted, you might, if I were silent, for a moment suppose that your elevation to the Chair has been a matter of indifference to us. I believe I am expressing a very general feeling on their part when I say that regret is felt here that your nomination to the Chair was not seconded from this side. On the previous occasion that mode was followed. There are, I believe, other precedents for such a course of proceeding under such circumstances; and if precedents did not exist, I think we ought to have made one, because this is an occasion on which the general and cordial feeling of the House could not be shown in too striking and significant a manner. You have to-day, Sir, been re-elected to the Chair for the third time. I have myself always been of opinion that reelection to the Chair is, in fact, a greater distinction than the original choice. Political manœuvres and Parliamentary The Chancellor of the Exchequer

Sir, it is not on this occasion that I wish to refer to the character of a great statesman, but rather to the happy disposition of the man, which lent, indeed, a charm to the labours and anxieties of public life. By his good temper and good sense he facilitated the course of public business beyond what it is easy to ascertain, or even, perhaps, to imagine. I am sure it must be the general sentiment among us, that the influence over our debates will not soon cease of his genial experience and his moderating wisdom. But, notwithstanding this loss, I will express my hope that this present Parliament, in intelligence and public spirit, will not be inferior to the preceding Parliaments of this happy reign.

THE LORD CHANCELLOR ;

"MR. DENISON,

"We are commanded to assure you that Her Majesty is fully sensible of your zeal for the public service, of your ample sufficiency to perform the important duties which her faithful Commons have selected you to discharge, and Her Majesty does most readily approve and confirm you as their Speaker.'

Then MR. SPEAKER said,

"With profound respect and gratitude I bow to Her Majesty's commands. And it is now my duty, in the name and on the behalf of the Commons of the United Kingdom, by humble Petition to Her Majesty, to lay claim to their ancient House adjourned at a quarter undoubted rights and Privileges, especially

after Three o'clock.

HOUSE OF LORDS,

Friday, February 2, 1866.

The House met; and Five of the LORDS COMMISSIONERS, namely-The LORD CHANCELLOR, The LORD PRIVY SEAL (The Duke of Argyll), The LORD CHAMBERLAIN OF THE HOUSEHOLD (The Viscount Sydney), The LORD STEWARD OF THE HOUSEHOLD (The Earl of Bessborough), and The EARL OF DALHOUSIE, being in their robes, and seated on a form placed between the Throne and the Woolsack, commanded the Yeoman Usher of the Black Rod to let the Com. mons know "The Lords Commissioners desire their immediate attendance in this House."

Who being come;

SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE OF COMMONS,
PRESENTED AND APPROVED.

MR. EVELYN DENISON, Speaker
Elect, said-

"MY LORDS,

"I have to acquaint your Lordships that, in obedience to Her Majesty's commands, Her Majesty's faithful Commons, in the exercise of their undoubted right and privilege, have proceeded to the election of a Speaker, and that their choice has fallen upon myself. I now present myself at your Bar, and submit myself with all humility to Her Majesty's gracious approbation."

to freedom from arrest and molestation of their persons and servants; to freedom of speech in debate; to free access to Her Majesty whenever occasion shall require; and that the most favourable construction should be put upon all their proceedings. And for myself, I humbly pray that any errors that may occur in the discharge of these duties may be imputed to me alone, and not to Her Majesty's faithful Commons."

THE LORD CHANCELLOR;

“MR. SPEAKER,

"We have it further in command to

inform you that Her Majesty most readily confirms all the rights and privileges which have ever been granted to or conferred upon the Commons by any of Her Royal predecessors.

"With respect to yourself, although Her Majesty is sensible that you stand in no need of such assurance, Her Majesty will ever put the most favourable construction upon your words and actions.”

Then the Commons withdrew.

Several Lords-Took the Oath.

Several Lords-Took the Oath prescribed by the Act 10th Geo. IV. to be taken by Peers professing the Roman Catholic Religion.

House adjourned at Five o'clock, to
Monday next, Three o'clock.

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