§ THE MARQUESS OF LONDONDERRYMy Lords, I desire to ask the Leader of the House whether he can give us any information as to when it is proposed to prorogue Parliament. I am given to understand that it is in the minds of His Majesty's Government that Parliament should be prorogued 247 to-morrow, and it does appear to me that at a time when very important. questions are being decided, and which are nearing their conclusion, Parliament should be sitting, or perhaps should be adjourned. I should be glad if the noble Earl can give me information on this point.
THE EARL OF CRAWFORDMy Lords, I was about to move that the House do adjourn until to-morrow, when it is hoped that the Prorogation may take place. I accordingly give Notice that to-morrow I propose to move the suspension of Standing Order No. XXXIX in order, as is usual, to pass the Appropriation Bill through all its stages.
§ VISCOUNT CHAPLINMy Lords, when I rose quite early in the evening to ask a question the noble Earl might have said something regarding what he has told us just now. I asked what the reason was for hurrying through these Bills one after the other, and the noble Earl said nothing then to the effect that the Government contemplated an immediate Prorogation. I confess that I was surprised to hear his reply to my noble friend.
I cannot imagine a time when it was more important that Parliament should be sitting than the present moment. Until the extremely critical position in which we are placed with regard to Ireland is more or less cleared up, I do not think Parliament should be prorogued. What is being done has the appearance of the Government desiring, before making their decisions known, that Parliament should be out of the way, so that any of us who might have wished to ask for information, or to press our view with regard to the policy of the Government (which I suppose will have been finally decided before Parliament meets again) might not be able to do so. I think we ought, and I think the country will think that Parliament ought, to have the opportunity of hearing what has been done.
§ THE LORD CHANCELLOR (VISCOUNT BIRKENHEAD)My Lords, out of respect to the noble Viscount, I am unwilling that the complaint he has made should be passed over in silence. He was, I think, labouring under some misunderstanding in his complaint of the noble Earl who at this moment is leading the House, in relation to an answer given at an earlier period of our proceedings. The noble Viscount 248 asked a question as to why a certain step was taken, and received a perfectly complete answer. There was certainly no element of suppression, because the fact that Parliament, under one form or another of suspension, was reaching the end of its labours, was notorious. There is really no one, I believe, in the country who did not know that, either by way of Prorogation or by way of adjournment, the session in which we have just been engaged was about to reach its ordinary conclusion.
I would remind the noble Viscount that Parliament would have been prorogued months ago but, in circumstances which are still in your Lordships' minds, it was decided that it should be adjourned, and be called together either to deal with the Irish Question, if necessity required it, or any other purpose which might have arisen. The noble Viscount now complains that it is wrong to prorogue Parliament at a moment of such difficulty and crisis. But I would point out that if Parliament be prorogued, and if that crisis assumes proportions which require that Parliament should meet, it can meet, no doubt with a little more ceremony and formality than that with which it would meet if a mere adjournment were decided upon. But there is no real difficulty in these circumstances, and if the nature of the development of the anxious position which exists to-day required it, of course proper arrangements would be made enabling Parliament to meet, whether it be adjourned or whether it be prorogued.
I do not deal in any detail with the last few observations made by the noble Viscount, in which he intimated that in his opinion Parliament ought to sit whatever conference was proceeding. I do not adopt either a controversial or a dogmatic attitude in relation to the position. I do not know whether the noble Viscount thinks the object that most sensible men have in their minds at this moment has been more forwarded or impeded by Parliamentary discussion in the course of the last few weeks. Your Lordships have observed an extraordinary, and, I think, most sagacious reticence in regard to the events that have happened, and have not thought it wise to make any contribution at all to our labours, which are already considerable. If your Lordships adhere to that policy it is obvious that we should not lose very much by this House not sitting. When nothing has been clone the inability to do anything cannot be 249 felt as a serious deprivation. The activities in another place have been very persistent and continuous, and the noble Viscount may think that they have assisted a settlement; others may take a different view. I do not feel called upon to state a conclusion in a matter which can very evidently be made the subject of controversy.
The vital point is this—and it is not touched in the apprehensions of the noble Marquess or the noble Viscount—Either a settlement is reached or it is not. If it is not reached the resultant situation may easily require an early meeting of Parliament, and in that, case arrangements would be made for Parliament to meet at a suitably early date. If a settlement is reached it cannot be given effect to until it has been made the subject of the fullest and most searching debate in Parliament and has received the assent of both Houses of the Legislature. Where is the difficulty? Where is the inconvenience? Where is the attempt to interfere in ally way with the full control and power of both Houses of Parliament in this matter?
§ VISCOUNT CHAPLINIn rising again, may I say that I speak under difficulty as my hearing, as many of your Lordships are aware, has been greatly affected recently. If the proposal had been for the adjournment of this House I should not have thought it necessary to say anything. But the Lord Chancellor has told us that Prorogation is one thing and adjournment another, and that Parliament could not meet so easily as it might wish to meet if it is prorogued instead of adjourned. No one can deny, and the Lord Chancellor is the last person to do it, that we are at this moment, in regard to Ireland, at one of the most critical positions in which we have ever been in the whole history of the Irish controversy. I still adhere to my opinion that it is not at a moment like this that Parliament ought to be prorogued, and prorogued without further notice.
§ House adjourned at twenty-five minutes before six o'clock.