"Hear Hear!" Hamilton said, while getting up and starting to applaud.
The members of the House of Lords watched the Duke of Norfolk, quietly listening to him when he adressed to them in the speech after he was appointed to Lord Royal.
Hamilton went to the Duke when he left the podium, showing a quick salute, and then shaking the Duke's hand.
"My congratulations, your grace" Hamilton said. "I am glad to have you as our Lord Royal. May you lead us to whereever we have to go."
Preparing for the next topics to be heared, and after having a little talk with the Duke, Hamilton headed to pick up a bottle of water, and then took his seat again.
Lord Hamilton sat in the great hall, reading the actual Schedule for the day.
"The Sprague Bill... Well, the commons had already passed it. We should also go for a decision..." He mumbled to himself, looking at the podium. No one took the speakers place, after Baroness Snowdown announced the coming voting on the Sprague Bill, which is at most of her concern.
And since the Lord Royal was absent, Hamilton stood up, making his way to the podium.
He coughed. "Lords and Ladies, honorable peers of Bretonia. The house of commons already has voted on the Bill, with a result of 10:4 for being agreed upon. Ladies and gentlemen, I'm sure that I don't have to mention that finishing colonisation of Sprague is an important matter. Point one: The refugee camp at Port Jackson is going to be overcrowded. Our situatuion, especially in Leeds, has not improved at all, speaking of the humanitarian conditions at the docking ramps for example, where hundred thousands of refugees are still awaiting their evacuation. With the upcoming threat from the north-west, the situation won't even be better." He took a sip of his water.
"And the second point, as all of you also should be aware of, is the possible usage of Sprague as a strategic outpost in Snowdown. Unlawful presences are increasing there, we have increasing numbers of outlaw sightings all around the system. A planetary outpost, of which defense is arranged by her majesties glorious armed forces could be a good step towards greater stability of the whole system. And the Beroness gets a suitable desk, at least." He chuckles silently.
"I apologize for the little inconvinience, my Lords and Ladies. And if a doubt of the ability to support a planetary settlement comes up... Well. We have a well working merchant navy, and I'm sure that all civilian shipping companies would also be willing to take part in the supplement of Sprague.
By this, the Bill has my full support. Thank you for your time, Lords and Ladies."
Stepping down the speakers podium, Hamilton made his way back to his seat.
Norfolk folded a knee over the other, sitting back in his chair.
"Any construction effort on Sprague will be hampered by the Corsairs, we should take care and ensure a budget is set aside for defensive platforms in Sprague Oribit. The better armed and defended the planet, the better able we are to man and defend the settlement."
The great hall doors where opened just a crack by the clerks as to let Lord Barrington. He quickly snuck in and headed towards his regular seat. Several lords and ladies turned their attention to Barrington as he snuck in.
"My apologies My Lords and My Ladies, my transport was stuck in a traffic jam. Some Corsair tried to do a suicide attack on the New London gate, he was succesfull in killing himself but the gate was out for only 5 hours.'
He quickly read through the minutes that where handed to him upon entering the room.
The Duke Finished speaking and Lord barrington stood up and cleared his throat.
"The opening of this planet is of upmost importance to our great country my Lords! Grave danger pushes up through the Taui's and Edinburgh! IF we loose Leeds we will loose most of our production capabilities. Moving these factories to Cambridge or Port Douglas is not an option. Sprague can and should be prepared as a fallback option.
I agree with the Duke, The Corsairs are a threat, however, their activities have subdued slightly. The defence of this planet is primarily a spacebourne affair. Nothing a few weapons platforms and a small armed Forces presence can not fix.
We've learned our lessons from the Cambridge line, let them be put into action. And lets not let the budget be blown this time. It is time for the Snowdown system to become fully Bretonian!"
Lord Barrington sat down again, it was clear he meant business and wanted this bill to pass quick and without to much hassle.
There used to be pictures here
once known as Richard Farbridge, OBE and Ronaldo Benitez
Barrington sat. For a moment, not a man stood. Glances were cast across the hall, waiting for someone to challenge the thing. Surely, someone would challenge the thing. An entire planet, after all, in time of war!
But, though there were, not a man stood to voice the murmurs, and Lord Richard Windsor, judging it better to bring the vote down than have some federalist demand some...calculation be judged, stood, and cleared his throat.
"Lord Steward, as a leal Vassal of Her Majesty the Queen, I do demand you call this vote." Windsor directed across the hall, to where Steward Christenson was girlishly perched.
Evyn Hunter stood to readdress the Lords, "I don't wish to delay this legislation any further than it already has, but I don't think the administration this bill creates is in the best interest of our Kingdom. Specifically, I'm referring to the powers given to the SAGI. The line I wish to bring to your attention is; "The Colonial Governor is to be supervised by the SAGI, who will determine whether or not the colony has attained sufficient stability to warrant localized elections." I believe my fellow Lords know the sins committed in the name of greed and power, and that a newly formed colony is ripe for exploitation to fulfill those desires. Putting the fate of an entire planet and its people in the hands of a handful of politicians would be a recipe for disaster in a time in the history of our nation that we cannot afford one thing to go wrong."
Evyn shook her head. "This bill should instead designate Her Majesty to make the decision of when Sprague is ready to form its government. Merchants and Politicians always have their own interests at heart. Her Majesty would be the only responsible person to make this decision."
Grumbling, Windsor rose again to his feet. Projected, in a way that seemed much like he was speaking to the Lady Hunter, to the entire crowd:"Interesting piece of populism couched in Royalism that the Lady Hunter has proposed. Why not, indeed, shouldn't we remove the mandate of governance from SAGI, that arm of Her Majesty's Loyal BowEx, and return that responsibility into the hands of Her Magesty?"
"Perhaps we should consider that Her Magesty, having no experience with colonial administration, will be much inclined to take on those same administrators that the Lady accuses of greed, who have some succesfull experience in colonial planetary administration, from the very earliest phases of such a project, and as such, the decision still rests in the hands of those, or other, who would become advisors to the Queen. Simply adding the Queen to the committee will in no way change the operation of such a colony, though it will add to Her already considerable responsibilities that she must administer the already patrioticly Bretonian SAGI herself. Yes, brillant proposal, that we hurl back to the Crown the responsibility that the Crown has granted to SAGI."
Evyn notched an eyebrow. "Populism, my dear Lord Windsor? No, this is reality. I believe we just finished a war with Kusari. Need I remind you of those that caused that war to happen? The merchants and politicians of Samura. The same breed you want to put in charge of Sprague's development. However, I'm not even arguing that those powers be revoked. I am wishing to take one single part of their responsibility to give to a far less biased person. That being; the decision on when the people of Sprague have the right to form their own local government and their own representative to Parliament."
"Your next point, did no less than astound me. You seek to claim the Queen does not have experience in colonial affairs? She runs our great Kingdom. Bretonia has led the forefront on exploration and expansion. During Queen Carina's reign our great nation has expanded its operations in Newcastle, we've furthered the terraforming of Harris and Ayr, despite the wars, we've improved our relationship with Liberty, and most of all, we've fought off not only Kusari's fleet, but now our military is fighting a vastly more powerful enemy. But Harris and Leeds still remain under our control. I don't think there is grounds to question Her Majesty's competency, Lord Windsor. I know you've been gone from the governmental scene for awhile, but even you should know better."
"It's a damn good thing you're not on the SAGI, my Lord, because it's obvious you'd consider even the most distinguished and intelligent of persons incompetent of forming their own local government."
Standing again, in an almost apologetic tone, Windsor explains: "My dear Lady, it isn't a question of whether the Queen has had a successful reign, nor of her qualifications as an administrator. Indeed, its through her Grace's qualification as an administrator that the role you wish to reallocate from SAGI to the Queen is currently in the hands of the SAGI, through her continued acceptance and previous renewal of BowEx's Royal Mandate to explore and colonize new worlds for the Crown."
"The arrangement around SAGI has not been yet overturned, and I rather doubt the Crown's Mandate shall be overturned tonight, at the whim of Baronet Snowdown over Snowdown. That is my position, and will continue to be my position until the Crown itself decides to withdraw the Mandate, full or in part, from BowEx."
"The role we're discussing is not in the hands of the SAGI. The SAGI, as of this moment, doesn't yet exist. What we are discussing, now, is how Sprague's governmental system is to be set up. And BowEx, while I know you have a vested interest in promoting legislation to benefit those who profit from their activities, but that doesn't mean we should sacrifice the best interests of the colony for the profits for others. BowEx has a mandate to explore and set up colonies. There is no mandate that gives BowEx the power to set up the colony's government. That is why we are here today and debating this bill. There is nothing to overturn, as no decision has been made yet. The Commons passed this bill, yes. I have reservations concerning it, the Lords hasn't passed it yet, nor has the Queen placed her signature yet."
"If you wish to continue waiting until a mandate that doesn't exist is withdrawn, I welcome any other opinions my fellow Lords would like to express."