( addressing: himself to the Clerk of the House, who, standing up, pointed to him and then sat down): In accordance with the Gracious Message which we have received from another place, I beg to move, " That Captain the Right hon. Edward Algernon FitzRoy do take the Chair of this House as Speaker."

I do this with some hesitation as I know that on previous occasions it has almost always been an essential part of the speech of whoever makes this proposition that he should bring in a Latin quotation. I crave the indulgence of the House that I may be excused from attempting to follow the example in this respect of those who have preceded me. The appointment of a Speaker has not in these days some of the disadvantages that it used to have in previous Parliaments when, I believe, the Speaker was looked upon by almost all the Members as an enemy and as the representative of the King. Those days are past. No Chancellor of the Exchequer is now concerned as to whom the Speaker will be, because in previous days Mr. Speaker has exerted his influence to persuade the Chancellor of the Exchequer to increase the amount of national expenditure. All those things are past and all we have to consider now in the relationship of this House to the Crown is to preserve to ourselves those privileges which in the long struggle that has taken place this House has obtained.

But, if that danger has passed away, there is one outstanding reason why the selection of a Speaker is of supreme importance. Parliamentary government, if it has not to any great extent been challenged in this country, is certainly on trial in some other countries, 'and more especially in some of the countries of Europe. I think those of us who are Members of this House feel that the contribution that this country has made to the history of the world by providing for democracy a means of government and a means by which all the men and women in a country after they have exercised their vote should find their representatives not only in 'a position to carry on the government of the country, but also in a position where they can discuss with freedom the problems which may arise free, however bitter the feelings these subjects may arouse. T hope that in the coming years during this test of Parliamentary government the people of other countries will continue to look to this Parliament to see how far we can surmount our difficulties and to see to what extent we can carry on successfully our great traditions of the past.

It seems to me that, however important those who lead the various parties in this House may be, and however important the part they may play in the decisions of this House, the final decision as to whether the Government of this country will be Carried on successfully or not will largely rest in the hands of the Speaker. We have been extraordinarily successful in the past in producing, as the years have gone by, men who have been eminently qualified to preside over the sittings of this Assembly. Apart from the personal qualities of the Speaker, there are three outstanding factors which 'are necessary. Firstly, impartiality; secondly, firmness; and, thirdly, the honour in which the Speaker is held. We are peculiarly fortunate at this stage that in the right hon. Gentleman whom I have proposed as suitable to occupy the Chair we have one who has had considerable experience as Deputy-Chairman of Committees of this House. The right hon. Gentleman was Deputy-Chairman in 1922 and again in 1924, and he has consequently prepared himself for the larger duties involved in the Speakership.

I need hardly recapitulate the information that was given by Sir Robert Sanders when a year ago he moved the election of the right hon. Gentleman to the position of Speaker. Captain FitzRoy has had the advantage of learning his work, not when he got into the Chair, but by previous experience, and he has carried out his duties, as those of us who were in the last Parliament are aware, with tact and discretion. There is one factor that Sir Robert Sanders mentioned that may occasion alarm to some Members of this House. He pointed out that the right hon. Gentleman was the first soldier who for many years had occupied the position of Speaker. It may be that some new Members who have had a military experience which has not left pleasant memories think that in the new Speaker they might meet treatment similar to that which they had in the Army. I can assure them, however, that there is no sign of a soldier when the right hon. Gentleman is in the Chair, and that he will rule them out of order with grace and dignity. I have vivid recollections of an occasion when the right hon. Gentleman ruled out of order towards the close of last Session a very carefully prepared speech which I was anxious to deliver and of which only the first few sentences were enshrined in the OFFICIAL REPORT. The remainder of my speech was inscribed in those unpublished volumes of the OFFICIAL REPORT, where the records of undelivered speeches are kept, speeches which, if published, would have been found to be far abler than those delivered in the House.

I think this Parliament will be unique in two respects. In the first place, it is a Parliament which has been elected under a universal franchise for men and women. It is also unique and marks a stage in our Parliamentary government that we have, for the first time as the largest party in this House, a party that has newly come into existence. It is a young party throbbing with life and energy, and it will doubtless prove a great problem for whoever is going to preside over this Assembly. It is for that reason that I think we are fortunate in having in the right hon. Gentleman one who has had the training and experience of twelve months of office in a Parliament that was more interested in its dissolution than anything else. I feel that this will be for the advantage of the House, and I feel sure that its deliberations will be wisely guided by the right hon. Gentleman, and that we may rest assured that there is every probability that the dangers that might have been feared that the example set by this House might in any way be lowered will be averted if the right hon. Gentleman is elected to preside over its destinies.

I have the very greatest pleasure in submitting this Motion, because I feel that it is extremely important that we should be wisely guided in the years that are before us, so that this House may prove the great Parliamentary institution of which I believe we are all so proud, capable of being used, not only as a means of government, but also as a means for settling differences however acute, and so prove to the world that we have methods, other than those of force and bloodshed, capable of settling and carrying on the government of a great country. For these reasons I beg leave to move that the right hon. Gentleman be selected as Speaker of this House.

Sir Lonsdale Webster,—I beg to second the Motion.

As the Mover has told us, this office, ancient and most illustrious, has undergone since its origin great changes. It is, indeed, an example of that felicitous power which belongs, I think, to our people but to no other people in the world, of adapting institutions to entirely new purposes without changing their name or continuity. That is probably the most valuable of all our political talents, and the one that has most contributed to our constitutional prosperity. The Speaker was originally —although, to be sure, he retains to this day all the functions that ever belonged to this office—he was originally mainly the intermediary between this House and the Crown. That was often a very difficult and anxious position, because the Sovereign expected one set of qualities from him, and the House another.

I remember there was a Speaker in Queen Elizabeth's day who came in contact with that sentiment, still powerful among us, which makes the topic of Prayer Book revision so exciting. There was a Member called Mr. Peter Went-worth, who was very like that distinguished man, whom I think I may still call my right hon. Friend, the Member for Twickenham (Sir W. Joynson-Hicks), though the Press assures us that he is soon to go to another and more tranquil sphere, where we shall only gaze at him from the Bar among the other angel faces in that Chamber. Mr. Peter Wentworth was anxious to reform the Church of England, as so many people have been, and the Queen thought that an insolent interference with her Royal prerogative; so she sent to the Speaker with great indignation to say that she was surprised to find that anyone had transgressed her express command, that the Bill was at once to be given up to her and destroyed, and that the House was to proceed no further on such business. One does not know what the Speaker said to that lady of impetuous temper, accustomed to the exercise of arbitrary power, and very indisposed to allow anyone to interfere with her prerogative; but one is almost sure that it was something different from what he said next day from the Chair, when he had to deal with a House rather disturbed at this invasion of its privilege. The matter was adjusted. Mr. Wentworth was sent temporarily to prison by the Queen; but, the House insisting on the vindication of their privilege of freedom from arrest, the Queen abandoned that point, and carried the point of non-interference with the Royal supremacy quite successfully. That was a typically English compromise.

The Speaker actually went on in that ancient and difficult relation of the Crown and Parliament for more than half of the long period during which the office has existed. More than half of the Speakership has been occupied by adjusting the relations of the House of Commons to the Crown. But there came a time when that difficulty was met by the doctrine of responsibility of Ministers, and it has since altogether passed from the sphere of practical difficulty.

In the Nineteenth Century a new aspect of the Speakership became prominent. During the Eighteenth Century the Speaker had suffered only from the physical torment of long sittings, which, there being no deputy, became most serious, and even dangerous to his health and life. One Speaker actually died of the efforts he made to retain the Chair during the Debates at the time of the expulsion of Wilkes. In the Nineteenth Century the difficulty was altogether concerned with procedure. Obstruction came to the front. It was necessary, in order that the majority should be able to carry on their business, greatly to modify the procedure of the House, and the Speaker became the instrument of carrying on business to a degree which was entirely unknown to an earlier age.

This has thrown upon the tenant of the office a new sort of difficulty and a new sort of problem, which, however, requires qualities not very different from those which were required from the older Speakers. A modern Speaker is strong indeed when he has to deal with an individual Member, as he has the whole authority of the House; but, if it should happen to him to find himself in conflict with any considerable body of opinion, he is again in that position when he has to practice the virtues of prudence, tact and self-control, in order that he may be and may remain good-tempered, reasonable and conciliatory just when everybody else is neither good-tempered, nor reasonable, nor conciliatory, and so ease the difficulty, disguising the functions of a mediator under those of an arbiter,, and leading the House out of the difficulties of procedure and back to the paths of mutual tranquility and peace.

That function, I hope, will not often be difficult to Captain FitzRoy, whom we are about to call to the Chair, but I am sure that that and any other function belonging to his Office he will worthily perform. We have, as we know well, the security, not only of hope, but of memory and of experience, for our confidence in the choice that we are about to make. He has been our Speaker. He has been the Speaker of this House, and he has been for many years its assistant Deputy-Speaker; and in those offices he has shown the qualities in which we have confidence and which we desire to see adorning the Chair. More fortunate than the Emperor Galba, his ruling has given us the experience which carries out the hopeful sense that we always entertained of his capacity to rule. He who enters into that long tradition of impartiality and neutrality, when he puts off his ordinary dress and assumes the official costume which is so familiar to us, puts off all partiality, all sympathy with one party rather than another, all liking for one personality rather than another, and becomes that judge of questions of Order whom everyone trusts, that leader and guide in all matters of privilege on whom everyone relies, that dignified exponent of the dignity of the House to whom everyone looks up and pays the deserved tribute of respect. We know that this has been, and, because this has been, therefore, with all confidence, I second the Motion, " That Captain the Eight hon. Edward Algernon FitzRoy be called to the Chair and do fill the office of Speaker."

The House then unanimously called Captain EDWARD ALGERNON FITZ-ROY to the Chair.

(who, standing up in his place, was received with general cheers): Sir Lonsdale Webster,—In accordance with ancient usage, I rise to submit myself to the will of the House. First of all, may I be allowed to thank my two hon. Friends the hon. Member for Finsbury (Mr. Gillett) and the Noble Lord the Member for Oxford University (Lord H. Cecil) for the things that they have said in moving and seconding this Motion. No one knows better than oneself his own deficiencies, and I find it rather difficult to reconcile some of the things that have been said of me with what I know to be my own shortcomings. I have often had the pleasure of listening to the hon. Member for Finsbury, as he has reminded me, during the time that I have occupied the Chair. I have always associated him most conspicuously with questions of finance, on all of which he has ever been extremely accurate and has shown great rectitude. Therefore, I attach greater importance than I should otherwise have done to the kind things that he has said about me. I only hope, for my own sake, that he has not on this occasion erred on the side of exaggeration. The Noble Lord the Member for Oxford University has been longer in the House than even I have myself. He came into the House five years before I became a Member, and I remember as long ago as 1902, when the Education Bill of that date was passing through this House, him making a speech which has remained in my memory as one of the greatest speeches I have listened to in the long time that I have been in the House. To-day, we have had another example of that great gift of speech which every Member of the House, no matter in what quarter he sits, has learned to appreciate, and which we all regret we do not hear oftener.

It is almost exactly twelve months ago since this House did me the honour of electing me as their Speaker. When I come back to-day and look round the House, I see that since those days there has been considerable change. Indeed, in the first place, two of the parties in the House have changed sides. I see around me a lot of new faces. Some of them, indeed, are faces which I fancy I have seen before in some previous Parliaments. Those will have already had experience of some of the difficulties of our Rules and Regulations which we undergo in the course of our Debates. Those who come new to the House will, I doubt not, soon learn the need for the strict Rules and Regulations which govern our Debates. Many Members of the House, on first becoming Members, have thought our Rules and Regulations and Standing Orders are rather circumscribed and ruthlessly curtail that with which otherwise they would like to get on quicker, but I am convinced, knowing as I do that this House is not one of recent growth, that our Orders and our Regulations have grown up, have been evolved as it were, as different circumstances have arisen and are absolutely necessary to the proper conduct of our procedure, and even those who think first of all that they are too meticulous very soon come to be as jealous of them and of their observance as are the oldest Members of the House.

But, with all the changes which I see around me, I doubt whether the actual duties of the Chair have altered very much. I am somewhat pleased to think that my duties, if I am re-elected to the Chair, will not entail some of those which have been enumerated by the Noble Lord, but I do not think the duties of the Chair have in any way become lighter. I am thankful to say, and I believe we are all thankful, that this House is a thoroughly human assembly. It is one of its greatest charms, but the House must remember that their Speaker is also a human being, and, as such, he is liable to make mistakes. The House will remember that on several occasions the Speaker has been apt to turn a deaf ear to some of the things that have been said. I would ask them in return to be good enough sometimes to turn a blind eye on some of the mistakes that he may make. I will add this word of caution: Neither must things be said which ought not to be said too frequently or the deaf ear will begin to hear, nor, I am sure, must the Speaker make too many mistakes or the eyes of the House will soon be opened. But, with all the responsibilities which attach to the great office of the Speakership, to me one of the greatest attractions is that I have the feeling—I hope I am right—that every Member looks upon the Speaker not only as the stern, impartial occupant of the Chair, but, also, as a personal friend, and, if the House does me the honour to re-elect me as its Speaker, it will be in that dual capacity that I shall endeavour to carry on the ancient traditions in this House as Speaker.

The House then having again unanimously called CAPTAIN EDWARD ALGERNON FITZROY to the Chair, he was taken out of his place and conducted to the Chair by Mr. Gillett and Lord Hugh Cecil.

( standing on the upper step ): Before I take my place in the Chair I must thank the House for having done me this great honour— indeed, the greatest honour that they are able to confer upon one of their Members.

Mr. SPEAKER-ELECT sat down in the Chair.

Then the Mace (which before lay under the Table) was placed upon the Table.

Mr. Speaker-Elect,—Happy indeed is the man whose duty is both a pleasure and a privilege to him to perform, as it is mine to-day. As Leader of this House, I congratulate you most heartily upon 'the unanimous invitation that has been extended to you to occupy that Chair as the Speaker of this House, and, at the same time, I offer to you the homage of the House in the occupancy of that position. When you were first entrusted with that very high and very difficult office, remarks were made that the first election of a Speaker was in the nature of an experi- ment. That is perfectly true, and today I want to assure you that it is no longer an experiment. The experiment has been a complete success, and we offer you, for the second time, our confidence in placing you in that position.

Those of us who have Bat under you during the last 12 months, and sometimes may have held private opinions regarding your Rulings, heartily commend you without any reserve whatever to the new Members sitting on those benches to the right and to the left of us. In what you have said and in how you have selected your speakers, it has been apparent to every Member of this House that you have striven, with evident anxiety, to be absolutely impartial, and in order, as the Noble Lord said in seconding the Motion, that you should become our Speaker, as soon as you donned the official garb of your office you became blind to party and blind to personal choice, and placed yourself in the position of the impartial officer of this House—its Speaker. Of that, every Member of this House has been plainly aware. That is all that this House can ever expect to have, and it is all that the House will ever want to have. You have remembered that you are the custodian of the privileges and of the liberties of this House, and that much of the dignity and the prestige of this House is in your keeping. To that I wish to add that you have been, as you yourself have said, a friend of the Members of this House, and we are perfectly certain that that relationship will continue. Whether the prophecy of my hon. Friend regarding the heat and the vigour of the Debates of this Parliament come true or not, we feel perfectly safe in your hands and under your guidance. We congratulate ourselves, as well as you, that you have yielded to the invitation so unanimously extended to you this afternoon, and on our part we pledge ourselves to give you that assistance which is so necessary for the successful fulfilment of your burdensome and unenviable task. I congratulate you in the name of the House, and, at the same time, I congratulate the House on your acceptance of its invitation.

:Mr. Speaker-Elect, the Prime Minister has offered you, as it is his privilege to do, the congratulations of the whole House. I rise, as Leader of the Opposition, to offer you my personal congratulations and the congratulations of those who sit with me. The Prime Minister said, and said truly, that the election of a new Speaker was in the nature, in the first place, of an experiment, a truth not only peculiar to those who occupy that Chair, but peculiar to every appointment to a Ministry on every occasion. We have to justify ourselves as far as we are able, and you, if I may say so, have proved yourself worthy of our respect and of our regard in that situation. You have shown that you possess that nicety of touch in dealing with the House, that quick sympathy which is essential to the management and to the control of men, and we welcome you into that Chair with confidence. For, after all, as was truly said by the hon. Member for Finsbury (Mr. Gillett) in his speech this afternoon, democracy—and I paraphrase his words— or democratic form of government is on its trial, 'and this House is on its trial in Europe and in the world, and more than ever does the responsibility fall on us and on the Chair which you occupy. It was Mr. Asquith who pointed out some years ago, in speaking on a similar occasion, that Ministries come and go, that new faces appear here and old ones pass away, but the House of Commons goes on for ever, and that the one symbol of the continuance and the corporate identity of the House of Commons is the Chair and the occupant of the Chair. And so we welcome you to this high position. We promise you for our party that we will support you in every way that lies in our power, and, if I may give expression to my personal opinion, I am confident that in this House, as in the last, they will welcome you as a guide, philosopher, and friend.

Mr. Speaker-Elect,—I should like to join in the chorus of congratulation and felicitation which has been extended to you upon your unanimous nomination to that exalted position. I do so with great cordiality and sincerity, and I agree with all the words which have been so felicitously used this afternoon about the qualities which you have displayed during the period that you presided over the deliberations of the House. There are no Members in the House of Com- mons who have a deeper concern in the election of a Speaker than a small party in the House, except those—and there are numbers of them here—who have been elected independently of all parties. These two categories, although they represent one-fourth of the electorate of the country, are as far as their aggregate numbers are concerned comparatively small. Strong parties can take care of themselves in the deliberations of the House, and they do not stand as much in need of the protection of the Chair. That was very vigorously and very forcibly pointed out in the speech of the Noble Lord. But those who belong to the categories which I have indicated have to depend much more largely upon the impartiality of the Chair and upon the judicial authority which it exerts in order to get perfectly fair play and a full opportunity for expressing the views of those whom they have been sent here to repre- sent. During the period that you have occupied the Chair as Speaker, and during the many more years that you occupied the Chair in Committee, you have displayed those qualities of fairness, courtesy, and impartiality which I have indicated. That is why, so far as we are concerned, we rejoice, and rejoice heartily, in your re-election to that very exalted position.

Motion made, and Question proposed, " That this House do now adjourn."— [The Prime Minister.]

Mr. SPEAKER-ELECT thereupon put the Question, which being agreed to, the House adjourned accordingly until Tomorrow, and Mr. SPEAKER-EIJECT went away without the Mace before him.

House adjourned at a Quarter before Four o'Clock, until Tomorrow (Wednesday) at a Quarter before Three o'Clock.