§ Sir Robert Ingliswished to call the attention of the House to a most objectionable system of raising money which had recently been practised, and to which that House had been a party. He alluded to the Glasgow Lottery. A Bill for effecting certain improvements in Glasgow had passed that House during the last Session as a private Bill, but he believed that it was unknown to either the Government or any hon. Gentlemen present, except those intrusted with the conduct of the measure, that its object was by establishing a lottery to raise funds. This, however, turned out to be the fact, and he therefore, wished to suggest to the noble Lord, the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether they ought not to adopt some means of preventing private bills from passing without the House being apprised of their object.
§ Lord Althorpreplied, that his Majesty's Government had not the least idea that a Bill authorizing the establishment of a lottery had passed the Houses of Parliament, until he was apprised of the existence of the lottery itself. His attention was then drawn to the subject, and, on looking at the Act he found that no allusion was made to the lottery in its title, and that the word "lottery" itself never once occurred throughout the Act. It was, to say the truth, most skilfully drawn up, and the parties who had concocted it had fully succeeded in keeping the House and the Government entirely ignorant of the real nature of the Bill. He could only say, that as far as the Government was concerned, no countenance nor assistance had been given to the act in question.
§ Sir Robert PeelIf the lottery is not yet drawn the Bill may be repealed. ["It is drawn."] Well, then, all I can say is that those who were parties to the transaction ought to be subjected to public punishment.
§ The House resolved itself into a Committee of—