I have therefore felt myself called upon, in justice towards the persons who preside, at This Important Crisis,' over the great military departments of the King's government, to state what I have done, and thereby to discharge a debt of gratitude, which I owe to them, in common with the country.
an object well worth attending to at This Important Crisis: and this he meant as applicable to those who might not come forward, under an invitation, to put themselves on permanent duly, which, after all was the very best way to make them good soldier.
That while we lament that by the unbounded ambition of the enemy, these laudable endeavours to restore tranquillity to his kingdom, have been frustrated, we beg leave to assure his majesty, that no exertion shall be wanting, on our part to support and assist him, in the adoption of such measures as may yet be found necessary, either for the restoration of peace, or to meet the various exigencies of the war in this most Important Crisis".
At this most Important Crisis, any thing which related to public economy was not unimportant.
Sir, I think this a most Important Crisis.
He denied, for himself, that it would operate upon him as a pledge of his future opinions upon the conduct of his majesty's ministers in This Important Crisis; as, until he had witnessed it, he could not possibly judge of it.
He admitted, in common with noble lords opposite to him, that it was an Important Crisis, that there were times, when all the energies of a mighty people were required to meet the dangers with which we were surrounded: he acknowledged, that we stood on an eminence whence we could discern no intermediate landing places to break our fall, and being 390 in this awful situation, he called upon noble lords, on the other side of the house, not to diminish the general enthusiasm, not to infrigidate the public ardour, but to exert all their talents, and employ all their influence to animate that fervid sensibility on which the national security so essentially depends.
The eyes of all classes in the country were fixed on them, and it was their incumbent duty to shew, at This Important Crisis, that the House were really the representatives of the people in doing which, those who wished the representation to remain as it was, were as deeply interested as those who wished for reform.
but yet he thought it proper to put on record the grounds upon which he was induced to give his support to ministers at This Important Crisis; namely, from a strong wish and confident expectation that the exertions which they had made, and which they were about to make, would tend to the attainment of the blessing of peace.
On the contrary, with a view to the convenience of government at This Important Crisis, many questions had been conceded without discussion, which at other times would probably have called forth the expression of great differences of opinion.
"The Prince Regent has directed copies of the Treaties which have been concluded to be laid before the House of Commons, and he confidently relies on the support of this House in all measures which, it may be necessary for him to [296 adopt, in conjunction with his Majesty's Allies, against the common enemy at This Important Crisis".
"To make our acknowledgments to his Royal Highness, for having directed copies of the Treaties which have been 333] concluded to be laid before us; and to assure his Royal Highness, that he may confidently rely on the cordial support of this House in all measures which it may be necessary for his Royal Highness to adopt in conjunction with his Majesty's Allies, against the common enemy at This Important Crisis".
His noble friend had well observed, that the proper question before their lordships was, whether, at This Important Crisis, there was such a case made out, as would justify their lordships in suspending the Habeas Corpus act.
In the present most Important Crisis (and I really think it such), it is natural to look back to a former very eventful period of our history, I mean that of the revolt of our own colonies.
His lordship said, "Illness, irksome as it is at all times, is now particularly mortifying to me, because it prevents me from joining my feeble efforts to those of the other gentlemen who compose the Catholic Association at This Important Crisis".
He, for one, had not strength for it; he could not sit in the House any longer than he did at present; he came in at its first meeting, and remained till its rising, from a wish, to perform his duty honestly by his country in This Important Crisis.
but he declared his intention of being at his post at this all-Important Crisis.
If he anticipated correctly the fit answers to these interrogatories, then he would say, with the greatest confidence in the soundness of the opinion, that it peculiarly behoved the House of Commons to take a decided measure at the Present Important Crisis.
That was the opinion, too, of the noble Lord opposite—the opinion of an individual than whom no man's opinion is more worthy of confidence, who for eighteen months has been intrusted with the management of public business in this House; and that noble Lord's first impression was, that, at the present moment, when there was no Government existing—when there was an Important Crisis at hand—feeling that it would interfere with the prerogatives of the Crown for the House to declare the opinion which was implied in the Resolutions, the noble Lord had thought, in the first instance, that at this moment such an expression of opinion was to be avoided.
He concurred in the opinion of the right hon. Baronet, that at the Present Important Crisis, it was most important the House and the country should be made fully acquainted with the views which were entertained on the subject by his Majesty's Ministers.
He had already stated, that his Majesty had honoured him with his commands to lay before him a plan for the formation of a new Ministry—such a Ministry as should appear to him to be competent to carry on the business of the country efficiently at the Present Important Crisis.
Mr. Patrick Stewart regretted such a petition should have come from the Colonies at such a most Important Crisis, at the very time, when, in all probability, the momentous question of the emancipation of the slaves would be put to the test.
indeed, nothing but the most imperative sense of public duty, and the wishes of my friends around me, could have induced me to come forward at this most Important Crisis, when the public mind is most excited; and when the eyes, not only of this country, not only of Europe, but of the whole civilized world are watching our deliberations.
The petitioners expressed a hope that that House would support its dignity at This Important Crisis, and sympathise with the people throughout the empire, by rejecting with indignation and scorn the attempts of the House of Lords to interfere with the extension of justice to Ireland on similar principles to those already acted on in the case of England and Scotland.
and I have myself witnessed the unexampled exertions, good conduct, and military appearance of the corps of the metropolis, whose unceasing and unvaried vigilance at a most Important Crisis, checked, every attempt to produce confusion by riot and tumult at the same time that it destroyed the hopes of our enemies, and restored confidence to the country in general".
On the 17th July, 1839, Marshal Soult thus Wrote to the Baron de Bourquency:— "In the Important Crisis into which the death of Sultan Mahmoud has precipitated the Ottoman empire, arising out of the events which marked the last month of his reign, the union of the great European powers can alone offer a sufficient guarantee for the maintenance of peace.
He went further than this, and would say, that what had fallen from the Chancellor of the Exchequer that evening was, in his opinion, perfectly true, namely, that there were symptoms in the present condition of the country, whether regarded in its foreign relations or its domestic circumstances, which showed that we were on the eve of a most Important Crisis, and that care must be taken to improve the productive powers of the country.
A most Important Crisis has arrived"!
Therefore, whilst I quite concede that he had the best motive for bringing forward this measure—and though I think he was quite right in saying, that if he succeeded with the measure he would himself be responsible for carrying it into execution—though I think he showed great spirit in expressing that determination—yet, on the other hand, I must say, feeling myself responsible for the conduct of affairs in this very Important Crisis, all I can do is, to bring forward those measures which I in my heart believe will tend most to the relief of destitution in Ireland, and ask Parliament to consent to those measures.
Lord Aberdeen, writing to Sir E. Lyons, in 1843, said— "In the whole of your proceedings at This Important Crisis, you will constantly bear in mind that the good of Greece alone is the principle which guides and animates Her Majesty's Government.
And in November of 1844— "In the whole of your proceedings at This Important Crisis, you will constantly bear in mind that the good of Greece alone is the principle which guides and animates Her Majesty's Government.
The noble Lord could not hope to suppress discussion on the subject for ever; it must come on next Session, and when full information was given, though the Government might be found to be open to censure, he hoped it would not remain to the country to blush for the part which it had been made to take in This Important Crisis.
Hence they have acquired, at This Important Crisis, 1268 the cordial support of public opinion, and the national enthusiasm in the impending conflict is scarcely less than that which animates the forces that are now on their way to the scene of action.
It is when an Important Crisis like the present occurs that the system of purchase is shown to be totally fallacious, and might bring with it great calamities.
I am not quite sure whether we do not owe our liberties to some 14,000 of Dutch troops who came over here at an Important Crisis.
There have been differences both with regard to the circumstances under which those Speeches have been delivered, and the topics to which they have referred; and I regret to say that the Speech we have heard to-day has been addressed to us at a far more Important Crisis, and under circumstances likely to lead to far graver complications than existed when Her Ma- 36 jesty was graciously pleased to address Parliament at an earlier period of the year.
Therefore, I say, that it is a great mistake, and an opinion not sanctioned by experience, to suppose that we are encountering a novel and revolutionary phase of opinion, and that in consequence of views which have before this been advanced, have flourished, and then disappeared, the House of Commons is to meet in a panic to revise the great title deeds of the Church of England, and to say in this hasty moment of the introduction of a new philosophy that the measures taken by the great statesmen and Churchmen of the days of the Stuarts at an Important Crisis were a profound mistake, seeing that they have only secured for England two centuries of tranquillity and repose!
The latter, both French and English, were armed, formed into companies, and showed great zeal and alacrity at This Important Crisis.
That advice, I maintain, was not warranted by fact, and we have got here what is absolutely without precedent, a Government convicted—and convicted on their own confession—of having, upon an Important Crisis, not intentionally, not wilfully, but in sheer and now admitted ignorance, misrepresented to their Sovereign the character of the act which she was called upon to perform, and of having advised her that she was merely exercising a statutory power, when in reality she was performing an act of the most stringent Prerogative.
The House had been called together to express the opinion of the people of the country at This Important Crisis.
If hon. Members opposite considered that the feelings they entertained were in harmony with the feelings of the country, then let them take a Vote of that House; but do not let them, night after night, raise, at This Important Crisis, debates which could only hamper the Government.
I have not the smallest objection to that condemnation, if their minds lead them to that judgment upon an important action taken at an Important Crisis.
They had never been brought face to face with a more Important Crisis.
If Mr. Goschen had a claim upon the State for recompense, his seat should be declared to be vacated, for unless that were done his constituents would be deprived of an opportunity of expressing their opinion on an Important Crisis, and at a time when it was necessary that the views of the constituency should be taken.
It seemed to reveal the impotence of the Parliament of Great Britain and Ireland to deal with a most Important Crisis.
Well, he was assured, on the authority of the Secretary of the Company who built her, that the £10,000 saved to the Admiralty, comparing it with other ships of the same type, represented £10,000 lost to the Company, He contended that even if it cost more in the first instance, which he did not admit, to build ships in the Royal Dockyards, it would cost less in the long run, because they would be certain of the character of the work; they would be in a position to make any necessary alterations during the process of the work, if absolutely essential; and they would keep their Dockyards in a state of thorough efficiency, ready to execute work on any emergency, which might be of the very greatest importance to the safety of the nation at an Important Crisis.
whether he is aware of the necessity for immediately dealing with this matter, as there is only a week or two until the sowing of this season's crop must be begun; and whether, considering the disaster that must result to the linen trade, employing over 100,000 workers, if flax is not sown, he is prepared to receive 2023 a deputation of the Farmers' Union to hear their views and make what arrangements are possible to deal with This Important Crisis?
It would be extremely helpful if in the course of this debate there were an exchange of ideas on this extremely Important Crisis which faces the grammar schools.
The most Important Crisis this year is in our primary schools.
It is difficult for me to have much confidence in the United Nations' ability to act in Any Important Crisis when I see the events of the last few days.
When we have utilised our natural resources resulting from our geography and history, we have done so to defend ourselves against an Important Crisis or a war.
Therefore, the United Nations' work on This Important Crisis is very active.
Why is there such a silence from the Government about this very Important Crisis affecting the Community?
Having requested the recall of Parliament for the past two or three weeks, my colleagues and I are naturally delighted to have the opportunity to debate This Important Crisis.
It will not answer the Important Crisis which is facing us.
In fact, at a science conference for the public just a week ago in Cheltenham - the science festival - the government's chief adviser, Sir David King, suggested that it was the most Important Crisis facing the world today.
With estimates of additional hazards of climate change, surely the Government cannot take - I wanted to say "lackadaisical", but that is not quite the right word - such a negative attitude to the very Important Crisis that is facing us and will continue to face us.
We are dealing with a desperately Important Crisis at the moment; that is the key to the amendment.