Lords Sitting of 5 June 1817

LORD COLCHESTER.
The order of

889
the day being read for taking the Prince Regent's Message into consideration,
The Earl of Liverpoolsaid, he did not think it necessary to take up the time of the House in descanting upon the well known merits of the distinguished individual alluded to in the message; and though those merits might in strictness be better appreciated in the other House, than by their lordships, yet, there were opportunities afforded by which they might form a just estimate of the talents and ability of the Speaker of the other House. It was the practice of the constitution, that the Speaker of the House of Commons should, on being chosen, receive the approbation of the Crown, and the individual of whom he was now speaking, had received that approbation no less than five times, he having held the office of Speaker for a longer period, with one exception, than had been known in the history of parliament. He had filled the chair, too, in arduous and difficult times, during all which, his conduct had been, as it deserved, highly approved of, and their lordships were enabled to appreciate that conduct from the manly and eloquent manner in which the individual alluded to delivered himself at the bar of their House, in his speeches to the throne. It was the practice of the Crown to reward distinguished naval and military services, by conferring rank and sending a message desiring that a provision might be given to support the rank so conferred, and he trusted there would be no objection to the rewarding in the same manner, the distinguished civil services of the individual referred to in the message. His lordship concluded by moving an address to the Prince Regent, concurring in the object of the message, which was agreed to.