§ SIR JOHN MOWBRAY (Oxford University),stood up in his place and addressed himself to Sir Reginald Palgrave, the Clerk of the House, who standing at the Table, pointed to him, and sat down.
§ SIR JOHN MOWBRAY,amid cheers proceeding from all parts of the House, said: Sir Reginald Palgrave, in obedience to Her Majesty's most gracious communication, it now becomes the duty of the House immediately to proceed to the election of Speaker, and we must all rejoice to think that this, our first and most important act, is likely to be accomplished by this House without any dissentient voice. [Cheers.] It is my intention to move that the right hon. Gentleman the Member for Carlisle, called to the Chair in the last Parliament, be now chosen Speaker. [Cheers.] I do so in accordance with our cherished traditions and our best precedents. I ask you to pursue the course which the Government of Lord Grey adopted in 1831 and 1833; which Sir Robert Peel contended for in vain in 1835, but which he enforced on the House in 1841; which Mr. Disraeli adhered to in 1874; and the Government of Lord Salisbury followed in 1886. Now we are all agreed in action to-day, and it almost seems unnecessary to argue the case at all. Yet I would like, if I may, to fortify myself with the authority of one who was described by his famous antagonist as "the greatest Member of Parliament that ever lived," I mean Sir Robert Peel. In 1841 Sir Robert Peel, in an exhaustive speech, reviewed the history of our Speakers from Speaker Onslow in 1727 downwards, and laid down this principle. Sir Robert Peel said it was not necessary that the person elected to the Chair who had conscientiously and ably performed his duties should be displaced because his political opinions were not consistent 5 with those of the majority of the House. But he added that that principle ought not to be held as an inflexible and invariable rule, because objection might be taken to re-election on the ground of neglect of duty or incompetency. Today, I am happy to say, that rule applies in its full force. But no whisper of either of these objections, or anything like them, can or will be felt against the occupant of the Chair. [Cheers.] There are many now present, Members of the last Parliament, who will recollect how well Mr. Gully filled the Chair. He presided over our Debates with dignity, exhibited firmness, ability, integrity, and impartiality. He has carefully studied, and is thoroughly conversant with, our Standing Orders and Rules of Procedure; he is urbane, courteous, and accessible to every Member of the House. [Cheers.] He was vigilant and prompt—and we watched him closely, as he was fresh in the Chair—vigilant and prompt in interposing if he detected the approach of some storm-cloud, and, if I read aright, he has given indications of a reserve of strength and courageous self-assertion which the House of Commons expects to find in its Speaker when there are times of storm or stress. Elected by one side of the House, he has conducted himself so as to give satisfaction to both sides, and has established claims on our continued confidence which no new candidate could possibly adduce. I shall ask the House, therefore, to re-elect Mr. Gully to the Chair. In so doing you will affirm once more the principle of continuity in office. You will avail yourselves of experience of a man who has been "tried" and not "found wanting," and you will secure for an arduous post the services of one whose occupation of the Chair, however short, has for a time at least more or less separated him from the strife of party politics. Do, therefore, as your wise forefathers have done, and re-elect to the Chair an able and conscientious man irrespective of any party consideration. Thus will you emphasise the responsibilities of the Office, add to the dignity of the Chair, and do credit to the House of Commons. I beg to move "That the Right Hon. William Court Gully do take the Chair as Speaker of this House.'' [Cheers.]
§ MR. JOHN ELLIS (Notts, Rushcliffe)Sir Reginald Palgrave, I rise 6 with great diffidence to second the Motion that has been made with unique authority by the right hon. Member for the University of Oxford. I think we shall all feel that it is a happy contribution that we are making to-day to the re-affirmation of the best traditions of the House, in the unanimity with which our proceedings are being conducted. It is surely happy for us that we are about to re-elect, without any tremor or vibration of those gusts and political storms with which a few weeks ago most of us were associated, a gentleman, one of our colleagues, to that great, dignified, and unique position which, with its high functions and onerous and ever-increasing duties, should be, as we all feel, worthily fulfilled and discharged. It must be a matter of national concern affecting those whom we come here to represent, that this should be so. Well, Sir Reginald Palgrave, as we who have had the honour of sitting here for some time, and as every man now a Member of the House will soon find, the authority of the Speaker, great as his position is, depends upon the widespread, I may almost say unwavering, conviction on the part of the House at large, of his inflexible impartiality. [Cheers.] We are met here in a new Parliament, and under all the circumstances of the case it is, I repeat, a happy augury that our proceedings should be this day without a jarring note. I hope therefore the House will not think me presumptuous, and, above all, I hope the Leader of the House will acquit me of any feeling of the kind if, speaking on this side and not one of his supporters, and speaking, if I may presume to do so, on behalf of this side of the House, I may express to him our pleasure and satisfaction at the course which he (whom we recognise as the master of many legions in this Parment) has taken on this occasion. [Cheers.] We acknowledge that the right hon. Gentleman possesses all the attributes which go to make up a great Leader of the House of Commons. We feel that in the course he has thought fit to take he has, if possible, added to those attributes another claim to our consideration as Leader of the House. But, Sir Reginald Palgrave, it is not only an auspicious omen and happy augury for the position of our Speaker that we should place my right hon. Friend below me in the Chair 7 without a dissentient voice, but I venture to think—and I am sure I shall be pardoned for making allusion to it—it is a remarkable tribute to the character and qualifications of the right hon. Gentleman whose name is before the House. It is only a few short weeks since we saw the right hon. Member for Carlisle called to that Chair—"somewhat unexpectedly," to use his own words—to succeed that dignified personality whose memory is fresh with us—one of the great Speakers of the century. The right hon. Baronet opposite, who made this Motion, alluded to the watchfulness of the House at large over the occupant of the Chair. I will not say there beats on the Chair a fierce light, but it is undoubtedly bathed by an intense light which has in it the elements of close observation, now and again of curiosity, sometimes even of criticism, which is more powerful because unspoken. But we saw transparent honesty of purpose, patient assiduity, urbane firmness, perfect impartiality, and an inbred and most winning courtesy of manner, have the effect such qualities will always have on the generous sympathy of the House of Commons. Mr. Gully emerged from that ordeal not only unscathed but with an increased reputation, and the motion which is made by the right hon. Gentleman to-day is a tribute to my right hon. Friend. ["Hear, hear!"] It is because, Sir Reginald Palgrave, I am satisfied, and I know that satisfaction is shared by the House at large, that in the right hon. Member for Carlisle we have found a man who will preserve unimpaired our undoubted rights and liberties, who will uphold that high standard of public honour which is the only secure foundation of our Parliamentary power, who will maintain our authority, and who will preserve, day by day, in our midst, our best traditions of mutual courtesy, dignity, and order, that I beg most respectfully and earnestly to second the motion that the Right Hon. William Court Gully do take the Chair as our Speaker. [Cheers.]
§ The House unanimously calling him to the Chair,
§ *MR. WILLIAM COURT GULLY (Carlisle), rose from his seat, on the Opposition side, amid general cheering, and said:—Sir Reginald Palgrave, it will be impossible for me to express in words 8 my sense of the honour that has been conferred upon me by being proposed for a second time to occupy the Chair, and especially by being proposed from both sides of the House. I am well aware—no one knows better than I—that I owe the latter distinction to considerations which are by no means merely personal; but I hope that at least I may take it as an indication that the House believes that during my short tenure of the Chair I have faithfully striven to discharge its duties and to uphold its traditions. [Cheers.] I must tender my best thanks to the right hon. Baronet opposite, and to my hon. Friend near me, for undertaking the task of bringing this motion before the House, and also for the terms, the far too flattering terms, in which they have been good enough to speak of me personally. I know that the courtesy for which the right hon. Baronet is so distinguished would naturally induce him to paint me in too favourable colours to the House, but I hope that the House—though I admit that I have been painted in these too favourable colours—will not think it unbecoming in me if I express the gratification I feel in receiving commendation from the mouth of one who is so old and justly honoured a Member of the House. ["Hear, hear!"] Both of my hon. friends have been good enough to speak of me as having been impartial in the Chair. To my mind, to be impartial is the least difficult, as it is the first and most important, duty of a Speaker. But to appear impartial at all moments and to all sections of the House is something which is, I am afraid, beyond the powers of any Speaker. Occasions must arise, especially since the House has imposed upon the Speaker the onerous and delicate duty of adjusting and controlling, by the administration of the Closure, the respective claims of the legitimate force of the majority on the one hand, and the legitimate resistance of the minority on the other—occasions must, under such circumstances, arise when the House will be disposed to find fault—some parts or sections of it, at least—with the occupant of the Chair. I hope that, if such an occasion should ever arise, I shall be able to observe with equanimity those feelings on the part of hon. Members or sections of this House. I shall always be content to look forward for my vindication to the ultimate verdict 9 of the House upon my general conduct in the Chair, and to that spirit of fairness, justice, and good sense which always has distinguished this House in its relation to the Chair. I thank the House for the honour it proposes to do me, and I humbly submit myself to its wishes. [Cheers.]
§ The House again unanimously calling him to the Chair, Mr. Gully was taken out of his place by the said Sir John Mowbray and the said Mr. John Ellis, and conducted to the Chair.
MR. SPEAKER-ELECT,standing on the lower step of the Chair, said: From this place I beg to tender my grateful acknowledgments to the House for the high honour it has done me, and for the confidence it has been pleased to place in me. I trust I shall always deserve that support of the House which is the sole source of all the powers I possess, and I earnestly trust that neither the interests of the House nor the authority of the Chair will ever suffer in my hands. [Cheers.]
And then the Mace, which before lay under the Table, was laid upon the Table by the Serjeant-at-Arms (Mr. H. D. Erskine). Then—
§ THE FIRST LORD OF THE TREASURY (Mr. A. J. BALFOUR,), Manchester, E.rising amid loud cheers, said: Sir, it is now my duty, my most pleasant duty, to congratulate you, in the name of the House, on your unanimous election to the great office which you fill. We look to you, Sir, with confidence, as the guardian of our liberties and the trustee of our traditions. We feel a perfect assurance in your impartiality. We know that in you the minority will find protection and the majority justice. We are confident that the great tradition which puts the Speakership of the British Parliament above party and beyond it will be maintained, and fully maintained, while you occupy that Chair. ["Hear!"] Sir, I congratulate you in the name of all those for whom I have a right to speak; nay, I think I may say, in the name of the whole House. ["Hear, hear!"] We wish you an honourable tenure of your great office, and a period of calm and peace—[laughter]—confident, however, that whatever may betide we shall not have rested our choice upon one unworthy to do it honour. [Cheers, and Dr. TANNER: "What about the Carlisle election?"]
§ SIR W. HARCOURT (Monmouthshire, W.)I think the House will anticipate that we, on this side of the House, should desire to associate ourselves with the congratulations which have been so happily offered to you by the right hon. Gentleman opposite. The proposer and the seconder have referred to that tradition which for more than half a century has placed the election of the Speaker of the House of Commons out of the region of party warfare. That tradition has happily been re-inforced upon this occasion, and from the peculiar circumstances of the case will receive greater strength even than it has had before. ["Hear, hear!"] We have had, it is true, a brief experience of your tenure of the Chair, but it has been sufficient to assure us all that you possess those high qualities which we have been taught to look for in the Speaker of the House of Commons, who fills the most eminent place in the public life of this country. ["Hear, hear!"] We have had occasion to observe, as has been well said, the dignity, courtesy, and firmness with which you have exercised the duties of your office, and we feel assured that those qualities will distinguish you in maintaining your great position. As it is the first duty, so I am quite sure it will be the highest pleasure, of all over whom you preside to follow your guidance and to maintain your authority. The House of Commons makes the Speaker what he is, but the Speaker takes no small part in making the House of Commons what it ought to be. [Cheers] I am sure I speak the sentiments of every man now present in this House when I wish you health and strength long to fulfil the duties of the great vocation to which you are called, and, I hope, in that period of calm which the right hon. Gentleman anticipates. [Cheers and laughter]
§ THE FIRST LORD OF THE TREASURY moved: "That this House do now adjourn."
MR. SPEAKER-ELECTthereupon put the Question, which, being agreed to—
The House adjourned accordingly until To-morrow, and Mr. Speaker-Elect went away without the Mace before him.
§ House adjourned at a quarter before Three o'clock until Twelve o'clock To-morrow.