THE SEPTENNIAL ACT. (Hansard, 21 June 1853)

§ MR. SPEAKER
having called upon Lord Dudley Stuart, who had a Motion on the paper for to-night for the repeal of the Septennial Act,

MR. HUME
rose, and said, he would put it to his noble Friend whether in the then state of the House, looking at the prospect before them, and considering that during the late discussion on the ballot there seemed to be a general wish that as the Government had undertaken to bring in a measure of Parliamentary reform next Session, the time of the House should not 534 be occupied by collateral questions—knowing also how late the House sat last night —whether it was not advisable to withdraw the Motion, and not raise a debate on the present occasion.

§ LORD DUDLEY STUART
said, he was very reluctant to defer a Motion of such great importance as that of which he had given notice; at the same time he was desirous of attaching every weight to the opinion of that old, tried, and steady reformer, his hon. Friend the Member for Montrose. He was quite sensible that at any time he laboured under great disadvantage in proposing this Motion, and especially so on the present occasion, in consequence of the thin state of the House, which had been produced by peculiar circumstances. It was unfortunate for him that his Motion was called upon at precisely the most critical hour in the day— [it was now half-past seven o'clock] —and it might possibly lead to the proceeding at which his hon. Friend had hinted, and which might, in all probability, prove fatal to his Motion. Under these circumstances, without pledging himself not to bring forward the question on some future day, he was quite willing to bow to the judgment of his hon. Friend, and to what appeared to be the desire of the House.