On Wednesday, June 18th, the Solicitor-General opened the debate with
a sincere and reasonable speech in which his arguments were put with remarkable clearness. His condemnation of Sir William Joynson-Hicks's recent publication was friendly but stern. He dealt at length with the question of discipline, quoting the ten points on which the Royal Commission of 1906 had reported that discipline should be enforced, and he completely refuted implications that had been made that the new Measure would promote any indulgence in these directions. He read a letter from the Primate repeating his undertaking that discipline should be enforced and adding that all the Diocesan Bishops except the Bishop of Norwich had personally expressed their concurrence. He put the Malines conversations in their proper relation to the Lausanne Conference of last year, neither of which could have been ignored by the Primate who had issued the appeal for union in 1920. He touched tactfully upon questions of doctrine and urged with moderation the familiar reasons for the recognition of Reservation for the sick which entails a change of practice but not of doctrine.
