The Chancellor of the Exchequersaid, that as they were then almost on the eve of the holidays, and as there was no business of importance before the House, he did not think there was any necessity for prefacing the motion of adjournment, of which he had given notice on the preceding evening, and which was perfectly in unison with the ordinary proceedings of the House, with any observations. He then moved—"That this House do, on its rising, adjourn to Monday se'nnight."
§ Mr. Whitbreadfelt it his duty to take notice of the manner in which the right hon. gentleman had proposed his motion. The present, it was true, was a very unusual session; the recesses had already been very long, and they had been proposed at most extraordinary periods. But these were circumstances that could not justify the right hon. gentleman in thinking, that the proposed adjournment was a mere matter of course. It seemed to him, that the right hon. gentleman acted somewhat disrespectfully to the House, in not informing them why they were then called on to adjourn to a period not, in his opinion, 428 very common; because it was by no means unusual for that House, as the right hon. gentleman's parliamentary knowledge must suggest, to meet on the Wednesday in Easter week. Now, he could conceive, that the absence of a noble lord (Castlereagh)—the want of time to arrange the documents received by government—or the expectation of events of great importance (on which he would not offer an observation)—might induce the right hon. gentleman to move an adjournment till Monday se'nnight.—But having, at one time, stated, that the adjournment should take place on Thursday, and having now anticipated that day, it did not appear to him to be quite a matter of course: and, therefore, he called on the right hon. gentleman to assign his reasons for taking this step. It was to him, as a member of parliament, a very unsatisfactory mode of proceeding, although the right hon. gentleman passed it over so lightly and indifferently.
The Chancellor of the Exchequersaid, he was certainly not conscious of any want of respect for the House, in proposing an adjournment which was usual, and in which the convenience of members was consulted. The hon. gentleman (Mr. Whitbread) had himself assigned a powerful reason, if such were necessary, for the adjournment in question; or even for a longer adjournment, if the interests of the public required it. It had always been, customary at this season of the year to propose such an adjournment as that which he had suggested, unless public business of a paramount nature required the House to meet at an earlier period; and as there was no such inducement for departing from an almost uniform practice, he did not think it was necessary to enter into any particular explanation.
§ Mr. Whitbreadhad said distinctly; that he did not mean to oppose the adjournment, and had only objected to the manner in which it had been proposed by his Majesty's ministers.