it will be moderate and
decent, may probably preserve the nation without irritating the other
house.

I therefore move, my lords, that instead of proceeding in the
superfluous forms of a committee, we should resume the house, and
endeavour to obtain farther information.

After a short silence, lord CHOLMONDELEY spoke to this effect:--My
lords, the observations which, though sufficiently explained and
enforced in the late debate, the noble lord has been pleased to repeat
on this occasion, are in themselves, indeed, sufficiently pertinent,
and have been urged by his lordship with uncommon spirit and elegance;
but he ought to have reflected, that general declamations are improper
in a committee, where the particular clauses of the bill are to be
separately considered.

I propose, therefore, that instead of wasting that time, of which the
exigencies of the publick now require an uncommon frugality, in
useless rhetorick, and untimely vehemence, we should proceed to
examine in order the distinct paragraphs of this bill, by which it may
more easily appear, whether it ought to be rejected or approved.

It cannot, indeed, be proposed, that any of the clauses shall be
amended in this committee; for the claims of the commons, and the
obstinacy with which they have always adhered to them, on whatever
they are founded, is well known. I am old enough to remember the
animosities which have arisen between the two houses, from attempts to
adjust this part of their pretensions; animosities which at this time
may be not only dangerous to ourselves, but fatal to a great part of
mankind, and which it ought, therefore, to be our utmost care not to
excite.

Lord AYLESFORD:--My lords, though the consideration of the distinct
paragraphs of the bill be, as the noble lord has very justly observed,
the proper business of the committee; yet since, as he has likewise
observed, the present state of our affairs requires unusual
expedition, I think we may very properly spare ourselves the trouble
of considering paragraphs which we cannot amend; and which are in
themselves so clear and so obvious, that they may be understood in
their full extent upon a cursory perusal.

But, my lords, though I think it not proper to follow our usual method
of considering the paragraphs distinctly, which can only drive the
bill forward towards the third reading, as it has already been forced
into the committee; yet I think it not necessary to irritate the other