Commons Sitting of 31 January 1833

ROYAL ASSENT TO THE CHOICE OF A SPEAKER.
Sir Augustus Clifford, the Usher of the Black Rod, came to the Table, and said: The Lords, authorized by virtue of his Majesty's Commission, desire the immediate attendance of this House in the House of Peers to hear that Commission read.
The Speaker, accompanied by Lord Morpeth and Sir Francis Burdett, his proposer and seconder, and followed by nearly all the Members present, proceeded to the House of Peers. On his return, he took the Chair and addressed the House to this effect: He had been in the House of Peers, where he had communicated with the Lords Commissioners appointed by his Majesty; that the House, in the exercise of its ancient and undoubted privilege of choosing its own Speaker, had proceeded to elect one; and, further, that that choice had fallen upon him, which choice the Commissioners had immediately approved. He then proceeded to lay claim, by humble petition, to all those ancient rights and privileges which the House had enjoyed in former Parliaments, particularly those of freedom of debate, freedom from arrest for themselves and their servants, and free access to his Majesty at all reasonable times; and also that the most favourable construction should, on all occasions, be put upon their words and acts, all which rights and privileges the Lords Commissioners assured him had been granted and confirmed by his Majesty as fully as they had been given by any of his Majesty's predecessors. The House would then permit him again to express his most sincere and grateful acknowledgments
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for the honour that had been conferred on him in placing him in that Chair. He could assure the House that the long experience he had had, had taught him, that the honest and straightforward discharge of his duties was the best means of securing its confidence. It should be at all times his most zealous duty to maintain its rights and privileges to the full extent, and also to impress on Members themselves, for the sake of public business and their own convenience, the necessity of strictly attending to all its rules and orders. As he was now addressing a considerable number of new Members, a greater number than usual at the commencement of a new Parliament, he would beg to say to them—for to the old members he trusted that it was not necessary to say anything on the subject—that he should be ready at all times to give them every assistance in all matters relating to public and private bills, and he hoped that no Member would feel any difficulty in applying to him on any occasion where his advice and assistance could be considered useful. Again he begged to express his most sincere thanks to the House for the honour they had done him.
The oaths were then administered to the Speaker, after which the Members were sworn according to the alphabetical order of their counties, or the counties in which their cities or boroughs are situate.
The Members were sworn in on Friday, Saturday, and Monday.