Lord Binningmoved, that the petition relative to the National Monument in Scotland be referred to the committee of Supply.
§ Sir R. Wilsonobjected to the proposition, as the petition was founded on an erroneous statement of the funds applicable to that purpose.
Lord Binningstated, that the sum of 100,000l. had been voted, though he acknowledged it was not raised or appropriated.
Mr. Bennetobjected to the principle of this proceeding. He had voted for the 100,000l., but it was with the view of building a church, and it was necessary to draw a distinction between churches and triumphal arches.
§ Mr. Hudson Gurneythought, under the present circumstances of the country—acting on a system of severe, and, in many instances, of very unjust reductions of public expenditure, famine in Ireland, and distress in England—it was impossible to vote 100,000l. for the purpose of erecting on the Calton Hill at Edinburgh, a bald, meagre, and miserable imitation of the Parthenon at Athens. [Hear, hear!]
Lord Binningsaid, that the question was not now what the style of the monument should be, but whether the petition should be referred to a committee.
Lord Binningexpressed his astonishment at the novel course which had been taken on the present occasion. He would withdraw his motion for the present.