said, he would take advantage of that occasion to call the attention of the House to a matter affecting its privileges. He had to complain of an insult then, for the second time, offered to the Commons of England; and could not help regretting that none of his Majesty's Ministers were present to hear his statement. He rose for the purpose of protesting against the treatment which the Commons of England had experienced from an officer of the Crown—he meant the Lord Steward of his Majesty's Household. It was the bounden duty of that officer, as soon as he heard of the decease of their late most gracious Sovereign, to recollect that the first—that the principal—nay, that almost the only—object of his consideration was his attention to the Commons House of Parliament. Instead, however, of appearing to be influenced by any such feeling, the Lord Steward had conducted himself as if the Commons of England were nothing in his eyes. Because that noble Lord enjoyed the favour of his late most gracious Majesty,—because he might, perhaps, enjoy the favour of his present most gracious Majesty,—was he, therefore, entitled to behave with slight to the English House of Commons? If he abstained from at once making a motion on the subject, it was because it was barely possible that some other inevitable arrangement might have caused the Lord Steward's neglect of his most important duty. He had expressed himself warmly on this subject, but he felt that he had not expressed himself more warmly than the occasion required—he felt that he had only expressed himself in perfect conformity to the opinions of many hon. Gentlemen who had that morning, like himself, been kept for hours dancing attendance in the long gallery, and waiting the pleasure of the Lord Steward; and if any of the hon. Gentlemen who were not present did not tell that noble Lord what he had stated respecting him, he would say of them that they formed a very small minority of those who had suffered by the Lord Steward's neglect, or that they did not act a fair, an honest, and a manly part, either towards the Lord Steward on the one hand, or towards the House of Commons on the other. He had heard but one voice on the subject, and that was the loud voice of indignation. He most sincerely hoped that the times would not again occur in this country of a struggle between two branches of the legislature. But it nevertheless became them all to look vigilantly to the preservation of their privileges and dignity; and those privileges and that dignity could never be more seriously assailed than when an insult such as this was offered to them by an officer of the Crown. It was a most pleasant part of the duty, the consciousness of which had compelled him to address the House, to acknowledge, as an individual Member of the House of Commons, the extraordinary contrast which one of the very first acts of the gracious Prince who had just ascended the Throne of these realms presented to the conduct of the Lord Steward of the Household. He understood that, actuated by the kindest and most gracious consideration for the convenience and comfort of his faithful Commons, his Majesty had been graciously pleased to allow of the anticipation of the period at which the right hon. the Speaker would otherwise have been relieved from his attendance on the Council that morning at St. James's Palace, by permitting that right hon. Gentleman to take the oaths there at an early moment, and that for the express, and for the most kind and gracious purpose of consulting the convenience of the House of Commons. This he hailed as a pledge that the reign which had just commenced would be distinguished more than any other by a character of conciliation. The melancholy event which had so recently occurred must, for the present at least, do away with all feelings of dissension, political or otherwise; but he should not discharge his duty if he suppressed another feeling, which he was sorry to say was not of a satisfactory nature, which pressed upon his mind. He alluded to the character of the bulletins, and other official statements which had been circulated respecting his Majesty's health during the last ten weeks of his illness. He sincerely believed, that if the bulletins alone had been consulted respecting a subject so deeply interesting to the public as the state of his late Majesty's health, there was not a single man in England who would have entertained the least idea that the King was in a state of serious danger. Now that his Majesty was unhappily no more, it was understood that he had been given over for upwards of a month; yet he defied any man to put his finger on a single bulletin from which it would appear that his Majesty had been in alarming or serious danger. On the contrary, even when his Majesty was at the point of death, no such intimation was conveyed in those documents; and the members of the Government had also gone about, even within the last month, industriously intimating that it was very likely that his Majesty would at least live for two or three months. He would advise those who had pursued that course to recollect that this country could not long be governed by a system of fraud and deception. It must be ruled by common sense and above-board dealing, or not at all. He was sorry, he repeated, that none of his Majesty's Ministers were present, as he should have reminded them, with no unkindly feeling, that disguise, and falsehood, and treachery, had never succeeded, and never could succeed, for any time, more especially in a matter of such universal interest,—that such a system might do for an hour or a day, but that in the end it would inflict the deepest injury on those who had been unwise or unprincipled enough to resort to it; and that it necessarily would alienate from them the respect, and confidence and affections of the public, the possession of which alone conferred true and substantial power.

, on the Speaker's again putting the question of adjournment, said, that at the present period of the Session, and with the quantity of business still before the House, it might not be expedient to bring new subjects under its consideration. He should, therefore, content himself with, for the present, giving notice that, as early as possible in the next Session of Parliament, he should bring the important subject of the Corn-laws under the notice of the Legislature. In the mean time he should move for such returns as he conceived would be necessary to enable the House to thoroughly understand the actual effect of those laws.