Sitting of 9 April 1805

MINUTES,
The bills upon the table were forwarded in their respective stages.—The order of the day being read, the house resolved into a committee on the Irish militia enlisting bill; and lord Walsingham having taken the chair, the various clauses and provisions of the bill were agreed to by their lordships, without observation or amendment.—The house having resumed, the report was received, and the bill ordered to be
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read a third time to-morrow.—A bill was introduced by the duke of Athol, to divorce Frederick Touche, esq. from Elizabeth Atherton, his now wife, and to enable her to marry again, and for other purposes therein mentioned. On the bill being read a first time, the lord, chancellor quitted the woolsack, and called their attention to the prominent consideration of the bill. It was a measure originating with the woman; a circumstance which uniformly rendered that house very cautious in entertaining bills of the kind There were undoubtedly, some precedents of such cases, he believed two, and one of these so late as the year 1801; yet these were countenanced on the extraordinary circumstances and peculiar specialities of the cases. He felt it appeared rather hard to say any thing unfavourable of a bill of the kind,on the occasion of its first reading; but he must observe the bill was one which deserved their lordships most serious consideration, and anxious attention, when it should be read a second time. The duke of Athol observed, that part of what had fallen from the noble lord on the woolsack, in a great degree anticipated what he proposed to offer. There were avowedly precedents for bills of the bills of the kind, and he was aware that the present case, must stand on its own particular merits.—Adjourned.