§ Message from Her Majesty considered in Committee.
§ (In the Committee.)
§ Queen's Message read.
§ MR. DISRAELISir, after the discussion in this House, and considering the state of public feeling on this subject, it is unnecessary for me to expatiate on the services of Sir Robert Napier. Great and distinguished as those services in Abyssinia have been, they are only portions of a career in which for a long period of years he has proved his loyalty to his Sovereign and his devotion to his country. I have the satisfaction of informing the House that Her Majesty has been pleased to confer the high distinction of a peerage upon Sir Robert Napier, by the style and title of Lord Napier of Magdala; and it is with a view to sustain the honour of that great distinction that Her Majesty has now appealed to the House of Commons to assist her in the consummation she wishes. It is a part of the admirable combination of forces in our constitutional system that the Sovereign and the nation unite necessarily when there is a complete recognition of public services; and if the Committee will pass the Resolution which I am about to move, we shall prove that in this country those who render such services may depend upon a gracious Sovereign and a grateful people. The right hon. Gentleman concluded by proposing—
That the annual sum of Two Thousand Pounds be granted to Her Majesty out of the Consolidated Fund of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, to be settled upon Lieutenant General Sir Robert Napier, G.C.B., and the next surviving Heir Male of his Body, for the term of their natural lives.
§ Resolved, Nemine Contradicente, That the annual sum of Two Thousand Pounds be granted to Her Majesty, out of the Consolidated Fund of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, to be settled upon Lieutenant General Sir Robert Napier, G.C.B., and the next surviving Heir Male of his Body, for the term of their natural lives. Resolution to be reported upon Monday next.