§ The Commons being returned from the House of Peers,
§ The Speakeraddressed the House as follows:
I have to acquaint the House, that this House has been in the House of Peers, where the Lords Commissioners have declared, that his royal highness the Prince Regent, acting in the name and on behalf of his majesty, has been pleased to approve of the choice which this House has made in electing me to be their 17 Speaker;—And I have thereupon in the name and on behalf of the Commons of the united kingdom, laid claim to all their ancient and undoubted rights and privileges: freedom of speech in debate, freedom from arrest and molestation for their persons, their estates and servants; free access to the royal presence whenever occasion shall require, and the most favourable construction of all their proceedings; all which have been confirmed to them in as full and ample manner, as they have been at any time granted or allowed by his majesty, or any of his royal predecessors. I may now once more be permitted to express to the House my unfeigned gratitude far this most distinguished mark of its confidence, in again electing me to the Chair. I implore of the House its constant and steady support, in enabling me to maintain a strict attention to its established rules and orders, which are not more essential to the convenient dispatch of business, than they are to the dignity and independence of the House itself. I have now only farther to submit to the House, that the first proceeding is for each member to take the oaths of Allegiance and Supremacy, to make and subscribe the Declaration, and also to take and subscribe the Oaths of Abjuration and Qualification, as by law required."
§ The Speakerthen proceeded, as the first Commoner, to take the oaths. The other members were then called up to the bar in alphabetical order, according to the counties they represented, and took the oaths.