Sitting of 12 July 1837

MINUTES.
Bills. Read a third time:—Acts of Parlialiament Reference; Church Building Commissions.
Petitions presented. By Mr. SCHOLEFIELD, from Birmingham, for Household Suffrage; and by Mr. PHILLIPS, from Rochdale, for the abolition of Church-rates.

THE QUEEN DOWAGER.
Viscount Morpethappeared at the bar, and stated, that, together with the other hon. Members appointed by the House to present a message of condolence to her Majesty, the Queen Dowager, he had waited on her Majesty, and had been desired to deliver the following gracious answer:—
"Windsor Castle, July 4,1837.
"Gentlemen—I thank you most gratefully for the message of condolence which you have been charged to deliver to me from the House of Commons on the great affliction I have lately sustained. The unanimous tribute which has been paid by your honourable House to the upright character and patriotic intentions of our late beloved Sovereign, is the most welcome alleviation that could have been offered to my feelings."

LORDS JUSTICES.
On the motion for going into Committee on this Bill,
Colonel Thompsonsaid, before the Speaker left the chair he must make some observations, which he should have made yesterday, when the Bill was read a second time, if he had not been in another place by the directions of those he was bound to attend to. The tendency of the present Bill, and of the mode in which it was proceeded with, seemed to be to hurry through Parliament the decision of the important question, whether, under the actual circumstances of the country, the acceptance of a foreign throne ought not, in expediency and justice, to form a bar to the succession to the throne of this country? He was perfectly aware, and so were the people behind him, that this was a question the combined Legislature of this country was competent to examine. And he knew, too, that great masses of the people of this country had grown up in the belief that the constitution did not labour under the defect of necessitating or admitting such an evident anomaly. It was known to all that no foreign prince nor potentate could have any jurisdiction,
1894
power, superiority, pre-eminence, or authority, ecclesiastical or spiritual, within this realm; and it was far from being wrought into the general admission of the people that he could have temporal either. Whether the people were right either on this question or the general one of expediency, it was not for him to undertake to give an opinion; but he was sure the public feeling would not be consulted, nor concord promoted, by the manner in which this weighty question had been slurred over by being pushed forward in such a manner, and at such a period of the Session.
The Bill went through Committee.

Preamble
MINUTES.] Bills. Received the Royal assent:—Exchequer Bills (13,623,300 l.); Malt Duties Regulation; Post-Office Acts Repeal; Post-Office Management (No. 2); Postage Duties; Franking; Post-Office Offences; Common Law Courts; Concealment of Births; Church Notices; Metropolis Police Offices; Military Commissions; Rolls Estate; Administration of Justice (New South Wales); Foreign Officers; Civil Bill Courts (Ireland); Bankrupts (Ireland); Small Debts (Scotland); Creditors (Scotland); Sheriffs (Scotland); East India Officers Salaries.—Read a third time:—Coroners (Durham); Coroners Inquests Expenses; Secular Jurisdiction (York and Ely).—Read a second time:—Cruelty to Animals (Ireland); Masters and Workmen; Consolidated Fund.—Read a first time:— Church Building Commissions.
Petitions presented. By the Bishop of EXETER, from Glasgow, and other places, for a Ten Hours Bill.—By the Duke of BUCCLEUGH, from several places, to maintain the Privileges of the House of Lords.