§ MR. CLAYasked the indulgence of the House while he appealed to the hon. Member for Sunderland (Mr. Lindsay) not to bring forward that evening the Motion which stood in his name. It was true that a discussion such as the hon. Member wished to provoke might, if brought forward at the right time, be productive of very great good; but unless that time was very admirably chosen—and this did not appear to him to be the right time—it might be productive of very considerable mischief. The special grounds upon which he ventured to make this appeal to his hon. Friend were the currency of a rumour 504 as to a success of the Confederates over General M'Clellan and his army, which, without having any strong confirmation, or perhaps any very solid grounds—
§ MR. ARTHUR MILLSI rise to order. I wish to ask whether the hon. Member is to be allowed to proceed with a statement.
§ MR. SPEAKERThe hon. Member must confine his Question to the very narrowest limits.
§ MR. SPEAKERThe hon. Member must not pursue the discussion. He must simply ask the Question.
§ MR. CLAYmust then, though very reluctantly, more the adjournment of the House, merely for the purpose of having an opportunity of making a few remarks. His special reason for departing from the usual course, and making this appeal to the hon. Member for Sunderland, was the currency of this rumour—["Order, order!"]—which, although the truth of it might very reasonably be doubted, was also, in the opinion of very many persons, likely to prove not far from the truth. The decision the House was likely to come to upon the Resolution which his hon. Friend proposed to move must be a great deal influenced by the truth or falsehood of that report. A very short time would put them in possession of accurate information, and the matter might then be ripe for discussion. He would not attempt to make any observations as to the object of his hon. Friend's Resolution; but he might be allowed to say this, that if his hon. Friend had any Southern proclivities, he certainly need not be anxious, as matters appeared to stand at present, to interfere; for his friends appeared to be working independence for themselves as fast as they possibly could, and their independence would be all the firmer if it were achieved by themselves.
§ Motion made, and Question proposed, "That this House do now adjourn."
§ MR. J. C. EWARTseconded the appeal just made. He believed the discussion of the question would be most injudicious and mischievous. He earnestly entreated his hon. Friend not to persevere with his Motion.
§ MR. SCULLYquite agreed that it would be right not to persevere with the discussion of this question; but as the ad- 505 journment had been moved, he wished to ask the Secretary for Ireland why he opposed his Motion for a Return, of which he had given notice, with respect to the operation of the Peace Proclamation Act in Ireland?
§ SIR ROBERT PEELsaid, that if the hon. and learned Member for Cork would put his Motion in the form which he had suggested, he would offer no opposition to it.
MR. LINDSAYsaid, that apart from any telegram which might have been received from America, the House had sufficient information to enable it to deal with the question as he had put it on the paper. Therefore, considering how deeply the people of this country were affected by the war in America, and seeing that the House would shortly adjourn for the recess, he did not think he should be performing his duty to his constituents by again postponing the Motion of which he had given notice.