Indeed,
the practice itself has been adopted principally by the House of
Lords, the members of which are less busy and fond of meddling, and
less jealous of the importance of their individual voices, than
those of the elective House. And when a Bill of many clauses does
succeed in getting itself discussed in detail, what can depict the
state in which it comes out of Committee! Clauses omitted which are
essential to the working of the rest; incongruous ones inserted to
conciliate some private interest, or some crotchety member who
threatens to delay the Bill; articles foisted in on the motion of some
sciolist with a mere smattering of the subject, leading to
consequences which the member who introduced or those who supported
the Bill did not at the moment foresee, and which need an amending Act
in the next session to correct their mischiefs.
It is one of the evils of the present mode of managing these
things that the explaining and defending of a Bill, and of its various
provisions, is scarcely ever performed by the person from whose mind
they emanated, who probably has not a seat in the House. Their defence
rests upon some minister or member of Parliament who did not frame
them, who is dependent on cramming for all his arguments but those
which are perfectly obvious, who does not know the full strength of
his case, nor the best reasons by which to support it, and is wholly
incapable of meeting unforeseen objections.
Pages:
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121