always imprison the minority, so that all "vours in exposing and attacking Corrupopposition might be ever legally sup-| ❝tion and Abuses in the Navy, the Army, pressed. (Applauses.) " and the State; for your unabated zeal MR. WATTS seconded Dr. Valpy's upon all occasions, in maintaining with amendment, to leave out the name of Sir" firmness the Liberty, Property, and F. Burdett (No, no!) Every man, he con- "Rights of the People, in opposition to tended, ought to be subject to the rules of" the pernicious system which is underthe society of which he is a member. "mining and destroying the Country; SIR MOSES XIMENES expressed himself" and, above all, for your unremitted efforts decidedly against the Petitions, but having" to obtain a full, fair, free and equal Rebeen for three hours buffeted and pushed presentation of the People in Parliaabout in the crowd, he felt himself too "ment; which, more than any language exhausted to address them at length. As" in your Letter to your Constituens, the the worthy knight was a Declarator, as "Electors of Westminster, have excited they called him, some symptoms of disap-"the acrimony of all those who, by parprobation were shewn, but, on the whole, ticipating in the misplaced millions of the Meeting were disposed to hear him. "their country, naturally rank you among The HIGH SHERIFF then put the ques-" their enemies. In you we have had an tion on the Amendment, which was ne- "" upright and an honest man—a firm, gatived with the exception of five or " zealous, and inflexible friend to our free six hands held up in its favour. The Petition for the liberation of Mr." are, Sir, with the greatest respect and Gale Jones and Sir Francis Burdett was "sincerity, your obliged humble servants, then carried amid loud bursts of applause;" &c. " about ten or twelve hands were held up against it. The Petition for Reform, on the question being put, was also carried in the same manner; three or four hands were held up against it. Sir JOHN THROGMORTON then stepped forward and proposed the following Resolution, which was carried amidst bursts of applause. Resolved, That the Petitions now read be adopted, and signed by the High Sheriff in the name of the County, and delivered to the Members for this County, George Vansittart and Charles Dundas, Esqrs. who are requested to present the same to the House of Commons, and are hereby instructed to support the same therein. 66 "Constitution as by law established. We Sir JOHN then moved following Resolution, which was unanimously carried. "Resolved, That the Letter now read, addressed to Sir F. Burdett, Bart. be adopted; that it be signed by the HighSheriff in the name of the Meeting, and that the High-Sheriff, the Members, and as many Gentlemen as think proper, be requested to wait upon and present the same to Sir F. Burdett, together with a copy of these Resolutions. " He concluded by moving : "Resolved, That these Resolutions be inserted in the Reading, Salisbury, and Oxford papers; and in the following London papers, The Morning Herald, The Morning Chronicle, The Alfred, The Star, and The Statesman." Dr. Valpy moved the Thanks of the MeetHe then proposed the following Ad-ing to the High-Sheriff, which was carried dress to Sir F. Burdett, which was read by by acclamation. The Thanks of the the Deputy Sheriff. Meeting were also voted to Sir John Reading, June 5, 1810. Throgmorton and Mr. Goodlake, for the "Sir; We feel great pleasure and sa-able assistance thay had given on the oc"tisfaction in conveying to you in the casion. We have seldom seen a public "name of the Gentlemen, Clergy, Free-meeting conducted with more good-hu"holders, Householders, and other In-mour and decorum, or in which more in"habitants of the County of Berks, indulgence was given to a small minority. full County assembled, their sentiments In no instance was party feeling permitt"of gratitude and attachment for your ed to violate personal respect. The High"generous exertions in defending the Sheriff dissolved the Meeting about five "cause of the poor, the helpless, and the o'clock, having continued nearly four oppressed; for your unwearied endea- hours. Published by R. BAGSHAW, Brydges-Street, Covent Garden :-Sold also by J. BUDD, Pall-Mall, LONDON:-Printed by T. C. Hansard, Peterborough-Court, Fleet-Street. VOL. XVII. No. 24.] LONDON, SATURDAY, JUNE 16, 1810. [Price 19. 697] TO MY READERS. The TRIAL, in the case of an Information against me by the Attorney General, the result of which, so mortifying to my friends, will be read in the daily prints, having occupied my attention and time, during the whole of the week, I hope my Readers will excuse my not writing any thing in this present Number. It is necessary, that the Register should go to the press finally by Friday noon; and, of course, it being now past twelve o'clock, there is no time for the insertion of any thing, upon the subject of the Trial, this week.- -In my next Number, I shall endeavour to make up for this omission. WM. COBBETT. -1858 "" ral mons which abolished the monarchy of England, and annihilated the legislative authority of the House of Lords The leading Members of that Assembly had suffered severe persecutions from the Agents of the Court; and when they became in their turn possessed of power, they were eager to retaliate, and, selecting as their first victims delinquents who the public indignation, they were suphad, by a variety of crimes, justly excited ported in the exercise of a vigour beyond the law," by the voice of a thoughtless people. As a specimen of the spirit by which those who, at that period, lied round Parliament," were actuated against an obnoxious individual, I shall quote the reply made by Mr. St. John, one of Mr. Ponsonby's worthies, to the irrefragable argument of the Earl of Strafford, that the impeachment against himself was not founded on any statute :-" He that would not have others to have a law, why should he have any himself? Why should not that be done to him that himself would have done to others? It is true, we give law to hares and deers, because they be beasts of chace. But it was never accounted either cruelty or foul play to knock foxes and wolves on the head, because these be beasts of prey."-Such, Sir;-I have read, with no inconsidera- Sir, was the language, such were the prinble degree of interest, the speech of Mr. ciples of the Statesmen, whose humane Ponsonby, in support of the claim of the and enlightened decisions afford the House House of Commons, to exercise summary of Commons the most abundant examples jurisdiction in matters cognizable by the of summary proceedings against the imordinary Courts of Law. It appears to pugners of parliamentary privilege. Most me, that this Leader of Opposition has, wise is the political maxim which Sallust with the subtlety of a Nisi Prius Pleader, attributes to Julius Cæsar:-" Omnia omitted to notice, or has touched with a "mala exempla ex bonis initiis orta sunt; purposed delicacy, some striking features" sed ubi imperium ad ignavos, aut minus of the case in question; and, being anxi-" bonos pervenit, novum illud exemplum ous to anticipate, if possible, the approaching season of proscription, I solicit your early insertion of a few remarks on the doctrines which have been lately received with such applause by the lower House of Parliament. London, 15th June, 1810. PRIVILEGE OF PARLIAMENT. (From the Statesman.) "ab dignis et idoneis ad indignos et non idoneos transfertur." It seems to be the decree of Providence, that no violation of justice shall finally pass unpunished. If the claim lately asserted with so much haughtiness by certain Members of the It is a striking fact, Sir, and somewhat House of Commons, be established, severe remarkably coincides with Mr. Pon- will be the penalty which the inhabitants sonby's philippic against Kings, that these of these kingdoms will be doomed to pay doctrines were first enforced to any con- for the transgressions of their forefathers. siderable extent by that House of Com-But in my humble opinion, Sir, the very whose impartiality is secured by every possible precaution-and should he be found guilty, the discretionary sentence which may be passed upon him is definite in its duration. In addition to all these safeguards against wrong, various provisions are made for the rectifying by superior courts of errors committed by subordinate authorities. Again, for the due administration of justice in ordinary cases, it is provided, that the accused party shall be tried in the county or sheriff-dom where the criminal acts imputed to him are alledged to have been committed, by which wise provision much expence is saved to Defendants, and they enjoy, what is an invaluable blessing to the innocent, something approaching to an appeal to their vicinage. With pride as an Englishman, and with grateful admiration of the wisdom of our ancestors, do I express my conviction, that in ordinary cases the criminal jurisprudence of our country, in its practical administration, approaches nearly to perfection.— But what is the process attempted to be statement of this claim is sufficient at once to effect its condemnation. The claim in question is of this alarming extent-That the House of Commons has a right to compel the appearance of any person not being a Peer of the Realm, who is charged with a breach of its Privileges --that its Members have a right, after originating an accusation on this head, to sit as Judges in their own causes, and to put the accused party on his trial, without the aid of counsel and, after hearing evidence unsworn, nay, without hearing evidence at all, to give judgment against the culprit, and to imprison him during their pleasure. It is indisputably evident, Sir, that this claim involves in its admission the surrender to the caprice of the House of Commons for the time being, of the personal liberty of every subject of these realms, who ventures publicly to call into question the conduct of public men, or to state his disapprobation of public measures.-This claim it seems, Sir, is to be maintained by an appeal to precedents. But will any candid and enlightened man pay respect to any prece-enforced by the House of Commons? At dents, however numerous, or to any usage, however ancient, by which such a claim may be supported? I confidently answer "No," and apply to this subject the manly language of Mr. Fox, who, on the question of the abatement of an impeachment on a dissolution of parliament, observed, that, "with regard to the force of precedents on constitutional points, had the dispensing power claimed by the Stuarts been decided by precedent, it might perhaps have been found to be good: but that where any usage appeared subversive of the Constitution, if it had lasted for one or two hundred years, it was not a precedent, but an usurpation."Now, with the single exception of a direct controul of our civil authorities by a military force, I cannot, Sir, conceive a more flagrant violation of the principles of the Constitution, than the claim, the merits of which I now take the liberty to discuss. The common sense of mankind, Sir, reOne of the most glorious characteristics of volts against this claim, as it is thus anathe Constitution is an anxious and jealous lyzed; and it accordingly happens, that protection of personal liberty. In cases the attempt to enforce it upon men of reof the highest misdemeanors, provision is solute minds has frequently reduced the måde by law, to allow the accused party House of Commons to serious embarrasstime to prepare for trial; and he is per- ments, and rendered it the object of odium mitted, upon giving bail, to be at large till and contempt. "In the reign of Charles the moment of his conviction. On his II." says Hume," the liberty of the subtrial he is allowed Counsel to conduct his "ject, which had been so carefully guarddefence. The evidence against him is "ed by the Great Charter, and by the given on oath. He is tried by a Jury, He is tried by a Jury," late law of Habeas Corpus, was every the will and pleasure of, perhaps, a dozen of its members, a man may be dragged to their Bar from the rocks of Orkney, or from the verge of the Land's End. Or, if the harsh sound of turbulent patriotism should grate upon their honourable ears from the coasts of Donegal, the culprit may be hurried across the Channel, to answer for his want of courtesy. He is put upon his trial instanter. However incompetent he may be to speak on his own behalf, no one is allowed to plead for him. The witnesses which may be produced against him, are not awed by the sanction of an oath; and when his hasty and ill arranged defence is finished, he may, by a simple vote of the House, be consigned to imprisonment, not for any definite length of time, but during the will and pleasure of those who have acted in the double capacity of his accusers and judges. multitude of perplexities, of which the public may be permitted to think, that they have not tended to add to its dignity.-If, Sir, the House of Commons ap vilege has been abused. They will remind each other of the "arbitrary and "capricious commitments" in the reign of Charles II. They will recollect, that in the year 1704, five individuals having brought an action in the Queen's Bench against the Constable of Aylesbury, for refusing to take their votes at an Election for that Borough, were by the House of Commons imprisoned for so doing-that these individuals, having attempted to obtain their liberty by writs of Habeas, the House proceeded to imprison the Solicitor and Counsel who had sued out the said writs, and pleaded for the prisoners upon their return.-The people, Sir, will not fail to remember, that when this House of Commons was apprehensive that the prisoners in question might, by the legal operation of Writs of Error, be liberated from Newgate, it ordered the Serjeant at Arms to take them into his own custody, and transfer them to the Gatehouse; which order, say the Lords in an Address to her Majesty on this subject, "was executed at midnight, with such circumstances of severity and terror as has been seldom ex day violated by the arbitrary and capricious commitments of the Commons. "At last the vigour and courage of one "Stowel, of Exeter, put an end to the "practice. He refused to obey the Ser-peal to precedent in support of the claim "jeant at Arms, stood upon his defence, of privilege, which I am now taking the "and said, that he knew of no law by liberty to examine, the people will also ap"which they pretended to commit him.peal to precedent to shew how this pri"The House, finding it equally danger"ous to proceed or to recede, got off by an evasion: they inserted in their "votes that Stowel was indisposed, and "that a month's time was allowed him "for the recovery of his health."-In the Case of the Aylesbury men, in the reign of Queen Anne, which Lord Milton seems to quote with so much pride and satisfaction, the violent proceedings of the House of Commons led to such embarrassments, that to cut the knot, the Queen was obliged to dissolve the Parliament. The summoning of the Printers in 1771 established a practice which the House prohibited; namely, the practice of publishing the debates in Parliament. Mr. Adam, the gratuitous trustee of the Duke of York, has alluded to the ridiculous defeat which it sustained in a contest with the celebrated Mr. Horne, now better known by the name and title of John Horne Tooke, Esq. I need not remind you, Sir, that when during his unconstitutional expulsion, John Wilkes was summoned to attend at the bar of the House, he refused so to do; and that the Commons, to get rid of the difficulty, sum-ercised towards the greatest offenders." moned him for a future day, over which they took care to adjourn.-And what has the House gained by the committal of John Gale Jones? Of that gentleman, I will not affect to speak slightingly. The firm endurance of misfortune excites, in my mind, emotions of respect. But, I trust, that the honest pride of Mr. Jones himself will not be offended, when I state my opinion, that neither his condition in life, nor his influence in society, rendered necessary the proceedings which, at the instance of Mr. Yorke, were adopted against him. His demeanour at the Bar of the House of Commons evinced that it was not his aim to obtain a vulgar popularity by systematic insolence; and I am persuaded, that even the majority of those who may have thought him wrong, in the first instance, are at present persuaded, that, considering the long duration of his imprisonment, he is "more sinned against,.than sinning.' In its subsequent warfare with Sir F. Burdett, the House has involved itself in a In this transfer of custody, Sir, a vigilant public will see a proceeding which a moleeyed corps of precedent-hunting lawyers may quote as an authority which may justify some future House of Commons in transferring its victims to Cold Bath Fields or to the rocks of Scilly.-The people of England, Sir, will watch with anxiety the legal proceedings which are now pending; and if they find that the momentous question of the power of the Speaker's warrant is precluded from being decided by a Jury; if they hear a confirmation of the doctrine laid down by Mr. Justice Powell and Mr. Justice Gould, in Hilary Term 1704, "that if, upon inspection of the Speaker's Warrant, it simply appears that any suitors of the Court of King's Bench are committed by the House of Commons, the jurisdiction of that Court ceases," they will feelingly agree with the remark made upon the assumptions of the House of Commons, of 1704, by the Lords, which declares in substance, that, " "in no country where the government is not arbitrary, is the judicature in the last resort placed in the hands of the originators of law and prosecution."-If the doctrine of Justices Powell and Gould be maintained, "Dii meliora pus," if it be solemnly decreed that no Court is competent to examine whether a subject, under restraint by the Speaker's Warrant, as issued by order of the House of Commons, be detained for lawful and sufficient cause or otherwise, then, Sir, the people will anxiously inquire, what this House of Commons is, and how it is constituted. Be not alarmed, Sir, I will not afflict you with the thrice-told tale of Old Sarum, St. Mawes, and St. Germains. I will not torment you by analyzing the masterly Report delivered to the Society of the Friends of the People, on Saturday, the 9th of February, 1793. On this topic we may come to an important conclusion by a much shorter way. Of late years, Mr. Justice Blackstone, in whose luminous pages I was early taught to trace and to venerate the principles of the English Constitution, has been condemned as a visionary theorist, and we have been incessantly referred to the practice of the Constitution." And in the course of this practice it is established as a political axiom, that the Prime Minister of the Crown, for the time being, must bear sway over the House of Commons. So firmly indeed is this axiom established, that when the Minister loses that sway, he at the same time loses his office. Behold, then, Sir, into what a monstrous proposition the claim of the House of Commons resolves itself, namely, "That the Minister for the time being shall have power, by the instrumentality of that House, to imprison during his pleasure any of his Majesty's subjects, whose political acts can, by any ingenuity, be interpreted as trenching upon its privileges." It was justly observed by Junius, that "the undue influence of the Crown may answer every purpose of arbitrary power."-I need not point out to you, Sir, how dangerous an annoyance this power, if formally sanctioned by law, will be to the friends of Opposition. If, however, the Opposition occasionally call for the exercise of it, for decency's sake, the Minister will not be able to deny them that exercise. Then will be repeated the scene between the triumvirs, so well described by our immortal bard, in the tragedy of Julius Cæsar. Victims will be mutually interchanged. Some future Ponsonby may demand the incar- Gate-acre, near Liverpool. |