In the debate on Procedure, which lasted through Tuesday and
Wednesday, two attempts were made to obtain Grand Com- mittees on Scotch Bills, and also on Welsh Bills, by amendments moved in the case of Scotland by Sir George Campbell, and in the case of Wales by Mr. Rathbone. Mr. Balfour made a very able speech against the former proposal, in reply to an eloquent speech from Mr. Gladstone, and Mr. Raikes spoke against the latter. Indeed, there was hardly anything to be urged in favour of these proposals unless the original Grand Committees on Law, and on Commerce and Agriculture, had been given up, and the geographical Grand Committees had been substituted in their place ; for it is obvious, as we have elsewhere shown, that overlapping Grand Committees would have injured, and, indeed, defeated each other; while the total dropping of the Grand Com- mittees on classified subjects, and the adoption of geographical classifications, would inevitably have led to a break-up in the unity of the Kingdom. Sir George Campbell's resolution pro- posing a Scotch Grand Committee, was rejected on Tuesday by a majority of 77 (214 to 137) ; and Mr. Rathbone's was rejected on Wednesday, in a thin House, by the narrow majority of 22 (135 to 113).
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