ADJOURNMENT OF THE HOUSE. (Hansard, 31 May 1878)

§ SIR GEORGE BOWYER
Sir, I rise to Order. A circumstance has occurred which has cast a gloom over the House. It is within the knowledge of hon. Members of the House that one of its number lies dead in the Library, and I do not think it is respectful or right, under these circumstances, to proceed further with the Business. I, therefore, beg to move that the House do now adjourn.

§ MR. M'CARTHY DOWNING
I was only anticipated by my hon. and learned Friend the Member for Wexford, but in the presence of my honoured Leader the Member for Limerick (Mr. Butt) I should have thought it gross presumption on my part to rise without having consulted him; but, having done so, I feel that I am only expressing the unanimous feeling of all Irish Members present when I say that they consider this debate ought not to proceed further. However deeply interested every Irish Member must be in this Resolution of my hon. Friend the Member for Roscommon, I know, consulting my own feelings, that I can only express one sentiment on the subject. When I reflect that a Member of this House, who has been here for many years, who was highly respected by both sides, and who apparently was full of life and animation but two short hours ago, is now lying dead in one of the Chambers of the House, I think it 1052 would be a scandal before the country if we continued our Business longer, and I therefore have great pleasure in seconding the Motion.

§ MR. SPEAKER
I understood the hon. and learned Baronet the Member for Wexford to rise to a point of Order. The question now brought under the notice of the House does not in any way raise a point of Order. If the House thinks fit, under the painful circumstances of the present case, to adjourn, it is, of course, competent for the House to do so.

§ SIR GEORGE BOWYER
Then, Sir, as I am not right in putting it as a Question of Order, I will now move that the House adjourn, and I am sure that the feelings of all Members will prompt them to agree to that Motion.

§ THE CHANCELLOR OF THE EXCHEQUER
I am sure that there can be but one feeling, Sir, throughout this House. We have all received a severe shock to our feelings in hearing of the fearfully sudden death of one who has been for so many years a Member of this House, and who has won the respect, and, indeed, the affection of all hon. Gentlemen who have had the privilege of friendship with him. I have known my late hon. Friend for many years, and I can truly say that there was no Member more thoroughly deserving of the respect and sympathy of this House. I, of course, am naturally anxious to take any step which might show what I feel to be the sense of the House under such circumstances; and I should not have hesitated at the beginning of the evening to propose the adjournment of the House, but that I felt that we were met together, not for anything of the nature of entertainment, but for Business of a serious character, which I was loath to interrupt or to appear to think unimportant. But I cannot but feel—and in this I believe I am expressing the sense of all the Members of this House, to whatever Party they belong—that this painful matter having been mentioned, the House would deem it right that we should follow the course which has been proposed by my hon. and learned Friend the Member for Wexford (Sir George Bowyer), and ac- 1053 cede to the Motion for adjournment. Sir, we all recognize the very great importance of the question which has been raised by the hon. Member for Roscommon (the O'Conor Don). I am happy to think that there will be, at all events, an opportunity for hon. Gentlemen who are interested in that Motion to bring it on again, or to discuss the same subject on Monday, when a cognate question will be brought forward in Committee of Supply. I think it will be in accordance with the feeling of the House that we should accede to the Motion for adjournment. I hope the formal Motion to set up Supply will be agreed to on Monday; and as the Vote proposed will be the one for the Queen's Colleges, it will be so thoroughly cognate to the subject of this evening's debate, that we shall resume the consideration of the question with perfect consistency, and I think with happier feelings, and with more power to discuss the question itself than we could do at the present moment, when we are naturally agitated by what has occurred.

THE O'CONOR DON
Sir, I do not rise to say one word on the subject last alluded to by the Chancellor of the Exchequer—namely, the resumption of the debate, and whether we should continue the discussion on Monday on the Queen's College Estimates; but I could not sit silent, the Motion which we are now discussing having been made by me, when such terrible news as that of the death of my hon. Friend has been brought before the House. I have had the pleasure of his acquaintance for many years, and I can fully sympathize with the feeling which is common to all Members of this House. I need hardly say that I felt deeply shocked at the intelligence communicated to me, and I myself would have proposed that the House should adjourn, only that I felt that that was a course which ought rather to be taken by the Leader of the House; and, therefore, I thought it would have been obtruding myself on the House had I ventured to do so. The Chancellor of the Exchequer has explained the reasons which influenced him in not taking that course. I fully appreciate that feeling; and I can say, on my own behalf, and on behalf of all those interested in this question, that we would not for one moment stand in the way of the House expressing its deep sympathy 1054 and feeling at the death of a Gentleman whom we all knew and thoroughly respected, and whose loss we all so deeply deplore. Therefore, I would not offer the slightest opposition to the Motion for the adjournment; but I must refrain from expressing any opinion as to the course which should be taken for the resumption of this debate.

THE MARQUESS OF HARTINGTON
Sir, I regret that I was absent for a moment from my place when this Motion was made. I have no doubt whatever that the course which has been suggested is that which is most consistent with the feelings of every one of us; and, if it is one which can be adopted without serious inconvenience to Public Business, or to the discussion of this important question, it is one which the House will be most desirous of adopting. It appears, from the observations which have fallen from the Chancellor of the Exchequer, that it will be possible for another opportunity to be afforded to hon. Members who wish to discuss the question brought forward by the hon. Member for Roscommon; and, as it is the wish of those who will take part in the debate that this course should be adopted, I cannot conceive that there can be any objection to it. I am glad that there should have been so unanimous an expression of regret and deep feeling at the unfortunate loss which this House has to-day sustained.