§ The Duke of Wellingtonsaid, that with reference to the question which the noble Marquess opposite (the Marquess of Normanby) had given notice of last night, relating to the House of Parliament in which Government intended to originate the measures which they were to bring forward, he had to reply that, from the nature of these measures, it appeared that they must nearly all be brought forward in the House of Commons—that they must originate there. There were, however, two Bills which would be first introduced in 241 their Lordships' House; of one of these notice had been given this very evening, and the other would be brought on as soon as possible.
The Marquess of Normanbyreplied, that the answer of the noble Duke was perfectly satisfactory with respect to the two Bills in question; and most of the others, under the present custom of Parliament, must originate in the House of Commons. Still he thought that, if the inconvenience resulting from a rigid adherence to this rule should be found as great this year as it certainly was last year, then that some other arrangement should be come to on the subject. At present their Lordships' time was wasted in the early part of the Session, and everything was crowded on together when a majority of their Lordships had left town, and when, even although they were all present, they would really have no time to bestow for their consideration. In alluding to the subject last night, he had stated generally that more than two-thirds of the business which came up from the other House came up after the month of July. On looking more particularly to the Returns with which he had been furnished, he found that two Bills had been received in February, three in March, one in April, ten in May, nine in June, fifty-two in July, and twelve in the four last days of August, on which their Lordships sat. Thus it appeared that in the four last days of the Session more Bills had come up from the House of Commons than in any one month previous to that date, with the exception of the month of July, during the latter half of which the attendance of their Lordships had much diminished. The noble Duke would recollect that in shaping his question last night, he had begged of him to use his great influence with his Colleagues in the Government, with the view of having the business of the House of Commons gone on with by such degrees as would enable Bills to be brought up one by one. At present a number of Bills were thrown on the Table of the House of Commons at once, and there they remained until about July. The practice was exceedingly inconvenient to noble Lords, highly injurious to their Lordships' legislative character and credit, and a very great impediment to their faithful and efficient discharge of their public duty.
§ The Duke of Wellingtonwas sure that no persons could be more conscientious in the discharge of their duties than those 242 who composed Her Majesty's Government; and indeed, a regular performance of these duties was as necessary for their own comfort as for the public convenience.