ELECTION OF A SPEAKER. (Hansard, 10 December 1868)

The RIGHT HONOURABLE SIR GEORGE GREY
, addressing himself to the Clerk (who, standing up, pointed to him, and then sat down), said:—Sir Denis Le Marchant, in compliance with the communication which has just been addressed to us by the Crown, it is our duty now to proceed without delay to the election of a Speaker, and I have great satisfaction in proposing that my right hon. 5 Friend the Member for North Nottinghamshire (Mr. John Evelyn Denison) should be chosen to fill that honourable and important office. I have the greater satisfaction in submitting this proposal to the House, because I have every reason to believe that it is one which will meet with its unanimous concurrence. Twelve years, or nearly twelve years, have now passed since, on a vacancy in the office of Speaker, Mr. Denison's long experience as a private Member of this House, his high character, his sedulous attention to the business of the House, especially to that important branch of it which relates to private legislation, and his intimate acquaintance with the Rules and Orders of the House, pointed him out as a fit successor to one who had long filled the Chair of this House with eminent ability, the present Viscount Eversley. In two subsequent Parliaments the House of Commons has ratified the choice first made in 1857, and has thereby shown a gratifying and well-merited proof of its approval of Mr. Denison's conduct in the Chair, and of its confidence in the judgment and impartiality with which he has discharged the duties—duties laborious, and often very difficult—which attach to the office of Speaker. Mr. Denison's Parliamentary life now extends, I believe, over a period of more than forty years, during nearly twelve of which he has occupied the Chair of this House, and we all rejoice to know that he still retains that physical and mental vigour which are required for the efficiency of the office of Speaker. The present House of Commons contains, I believe, an unusually large proportion of new Members, and it is, therefore, the more important that we should choose to preside over our debates a Member of long experience and tried capacity, who will be able by the firm, but, at the same time, moderate and forbearing, exercise of his authority, to enforce, with the general concurrence of the House, those regulations, the due observance of which is essential, not only to the order and dignity, but to the real freedom of our discussions. There are, however, other duties besides those which are performed while sitting in the Chair of this House which devolve upon the Speaker, and in which every Member of this House has a deep interest. To those who have long had seats in this House I need say nothing as to the courteous 6 and admirable manner in which Mr. Denison has discharged those duties; but to those Members who are about for the first time to take their seats, I may state with confidence that on all occasions on which they may have recourse to Mr. Denison, if ho should be elected to be our Speaker, on any matter of doubt or difficulty, they will find him ready to give the most patient and careful consideration to every inquiry addressed to him, and to all facts submitted to him, and they will receive from him information on which they may confidently rely, and counsel which, they cannot fail in doing well implicitly to follow. The unanimity which I have ventured to anticipate renders it unnecessary that I should trespass at any length upon the House. I will only, therefore, express the gratification I feel, that coming, as so many of those do whom I have the honour to address, fresh from scenes of keen political strife and contest, with cheers and counter—cheers—and perhaps sounds of a less agreeable nature which are heard at the hustings—still ringing in their ears, ominous of future political warfare within these walls, it has been thought right, on this the first meeting of a new Parliament, to lay aside for a moment the weapons of party warfare and to join with one voice—as I hope we are about to do—in placing in the Chair of this House one who will adorn it, one who we know will, if necessary maintain all the privileges of the House, who will fill the Chair with honour to himself, with satisfaction to the House, and with advantage to the public interests. I will only add that this unanimity may, I hope, be taken as the best possible assurance that, from both sides of the House and from all parties within it, the Speaker, in the judicious exercise of his authority, will receive that hearty and willing support which really constitutes the strength of the authority with which he is intrusted. I beg to propose to the House for their Speaker the Right honourable John Evelyn Denison, and move "That the Right honourable John Evelyn Denison do take the Chair of this House as Speaker."

THE RIGHT HONOURABLE SPENCER HORATIO WALPOLE
Sir Denis Le Marchant, at the request of Members on both sides of the House, and of those Gentlemen who naturally and pro- 7 perly have the greatest influence in this House, I rise with great pleasure to second the proposition which my right hon. Friend the Member for Morpeth (Sir George Grey) has so judiciously and ably submitted to our consideration. I mention that I do this with the concurrence of those who have, justly and properly, the highest influence in this House, because I hope it will show that my right hon. Friend the Member for Morpeth was not mistaken in his anticipations that the proposal he made will be—as I hope and believe—unanimously accepted by every part of the House. My right hon. Friend has enumerated some of the duties which attach to the office of Speaker, and has pointed out how ably those duties, with regard to the private as well as the Public Business of the House have been discharged by the right hon. Member for North Nottinghamshire (Mr. Denison). I might follow him further by drawing a distinction between those who are older Members of this House, and those who have now come for the first time within its walls. With regard to the former I will only say, that their knowledge of the care and attention, of the firmness and fairness, of the honesty and impartiality which Mr. Denison has always shown in that now vacant Chair, fully entitle him, in their opinion, to the honour of being elected, there again. With regard to the new Members—those who come for the first time into this House—perhaps I might venture to point out to them some of the qualifications which the Speaker may be expected to have, and which, I believe, they will find that Mr. Denison, when elected, does eminently possess. We require, first of all, a long experience, a practical knowledge of Parliamentary Business, a vigilant jealousy of our rights and liberties, and. the highest regard for the honour of this distinguished Assembly; and added to this—what I think is as important as anything else—a steady adherence to the traditions of the past, with a judicious application of those traditions to any new circumstances or emergencies that may happen to arise. Having enumerated these qualifications for the office of Speaker, I believe I may honestly assure the younger Members of the House—an assurance in which the older Members will bear me out—that those qualifications unquestionably be- 8 long to my right hon. Friend (Mr. Denison). Even were this an ordinary occasion, there would, therefore, be an obvious propriety in inviting Mr. Denison to take that Chair; but this is not an ordinary occasion, and there are special reasons which make it important that the knowledge and experience which Mr. Denison possesses should now be given for the benefit of this House by his filling the high office of Speaker. I allude, of course, to the great and extensive changes which have been made in the primary elements of the representative system of this country. The proper working of that system can be best secured by having a person sitting in that Chair who can preside over our councils, and, if necessary, guide and direct them, with an authority which belongs only to those who have filled the duties of that Chair so worthily and efficiently as Mr. Denison has done. And if the independence and authority of this House be dear, as I trust is the case, to our hearts, I think I may add that the usages and customs of Parliamentary life will best secure that independence and authority when we have in the Chair a person who hitherto has been able to do as he may still be required to do—to interpret, to preserve, and to enforce those laws and rules on which the very life of our independence and authority depends. With these few remarks I beg to second the proposition which has been made by my right hon. Friend the Member for Morpeth, and I trust that the words which he uttered will be found to be true, and that Mr. Denison will now be invited to the Chair, with the spontaneous and unanimous approbation of all the Members of this House.

§ MR. EVELYN DENISON
stood up in his place and said: I am deeply moved, the House will believe, by the words which have been spoken by my right hon. Friends, and by the manner in which my nomination has been accepted by the House. The House proposes to do me a great honour, and it has largely enhanced the value of that honour by the manner in which it has been conferred. After filling the Chair in three Parliaments, to have a nomination proposed from both sides of the House, and accepted with general concurrence, is 9 an acknowledgment highly prized, and which can never be forgotten by me. It would be unbecoming in me to occupy the time of the House by a single unnecessary word, and I confine myself to the simple expression of my thanks. Whatever of health and strength may be yet granted to me I freely dedicate to the service of the House, and I now submit myself to its pleasure.
The House then again unanimously calling Mr. EVELYN DENISON to the Chair, he was taken out of his place by the said Right honourable Sir George Grey and the Right honourable Spencer Horatio Walpole, and by them conducted to the Chair.

Then MR. SPEAKER ELECT
, standing on the upper step, said: I was about to prefer a request to the House; but I feel, by the manner in which the proceedings of to-day have been conducted, that this favour has been already virtually granted, I was about to ask that the full measure of gracious confidence and generous support which has been afforded me on past occasions, and by which alone the duties of my office can be effectually performed, may be still extended to me. My right hon. Friend who seconded the nomination (Mr. Walpole), has observed that this is not an ordinary occasion, and that new responsibilities devolve in some degree upon us all, and perhaps more particularly on the person who is chosen to preside over this House. We are met to-day under a new state of the electoral law. The late House of Commons was considered not adequately to represent the great body of the people—the present House has been elected on the basis of household suffrage. It has thus been endowed with a considerable increase of power. Whatever measures it may, after due deliberation, consider necessary for the public good, it will doubtless deal with boldly and firmly. At the same time, it will not forget that the great grace and ornament of strength is moderation in its exercise—asserting itself, but respecting the rights of others; and this House has always in its own proceedings acted in that spirit. It has afforded protection to minorities, it has permitted freedom of speech and. ample latitude of debate, and without doubt it will not depart from that course. I hope and firmly believe, that this House will prove itself worthy of its high destinies, 10 and that it will be found second to none of those which have preceded it in those great qualities which have made the name of the House of Commons famous as the cradle of liberty, and the bulwark of order and of law. I once more make my grateful and respectful acknowledgments for the great honour you have conferred upon me.

§ THE LORD ADVOCATE
Sir, the pleasant and honourable, but to me unexpected, task, has—in the absence of those by whom it would have been appropriately discharged—devolved upon me of offering to you, in the name of the House, a few words of congratulation upon the distinction to which the acclamations of its Members have now, for the fourth time, raised you. Mindful, as many of us are, of past Parliaments, in which, during many an eventful day and night spent within those walls, you have maintained the privileges, the order, the dignity and the honour of the House, it is a matter of deep congratulation and gratification to us that, notwithstanding the exactions which its duties have necessarily imposed upon you, you have found yourself prepared once more to undertake its arduous labours and anxieties. I am sure that I only speak the general feeling when I say that, as far as depends on the House over which you have been called upon to preside, the same personal respect and regard—the same loyal and cheerful deference to the authority with which the Constitution and your position invest you—the same ready support to your vindication of the privileges of this House—will be cheerfully accorded in the future as, I believe, they have been experienced by you in the past. In your position—first among the commoners of England, first among the commoners of this nation, and entitled by your office to speak for them in Parliament assembled—I may perhaps express the impression that you may find weight added to your words, as well as lustre to the seat which you occupy, by the fact that in this Parliament you preside over an Assembly which, in a wider sense than ever, is composed of the representatives of the people. Sir, that health and comfort and all prosperity may be around you in the seat which you occupy, lightening the severity of your labours, and inspiring their discharge with vigour, is the fervent and 11 earnest aspiration of us all. I beg to move that the House do now adjourn.