§ Order for Second Rending read.
§ MR. HENNESSYsaid, he thought the House was entitled to an explanation of the Bill.
THE ATTORNEY GENERALsaid, he believed that the Bill was perfectly well understood by every Member of the House. The Committee appointed to inquire into the question of five Under Secretaries of State sitting together in that House, had determined that the seat of the Under Secretary of State last appointed should not he vacated; and it was understood that that House would indemnify him from any penalties he might have incurred by the violation of the Act of Parliament. He was sure the House would be of opinion that no such penalties should be exacted; and he certainly expected that no hon. Gentleman would have the slightest objection to the Bill being read a second time. He begged to move the second reading of the Bill.
§ Moved, "That the Bill be now read a second time."—(The Attorney General.)
§ MR. HENNESSYsaid, he did not object to the second reading of the Bill, but he thought the forms of the House should be adhered to. In Bills proposing indemnities for penalties due to the Crown it was usual to introduce them in a Committee of the whole House. The right hon. and learned Gentleman the Attorney General had told them the nature of the indemnity, but he had not told the House the amount of the penalties which the noble Marquess the Under Secretary for War had incurred. He had been informed by a curious Friend that they amounted to £153,000. He was glad to vote the noble Marquess out of those difficulties.
§ SIR GEORGE GREYsaid, the Annual Indemnity Bill was introduced in the way that the present Bill had been brought forward, and not in Committee.
§ MR. SPEAKERsaid, that the method which had been adopted with reference to the present Bill was a perfectly correct one, and that there was no occasion to introduce it in a Committee of the Whole House.
§ Motion agreed to.
§ Bill read 2o, and committed for Tomorrow.