The Statesman. — London, England, 1810-07-03 00:00:00

. PRIVILhGb OF PARLIAMENT. TO TIIE EDITOR OE TIIE STATESMAS LETTER IV. , . - Srn,—l shall continue the coutse.oloircibser.: .rations on the privilege of Parliament; With souse , reflections upon the most absoldtelftstarbifrary II s 6 !! ict . 7 of those privileges, under who.se,Nrotecdon all other claims to power, of whatgyer description they may be, enjoy an inviolable asylum--the right of OHIO. 'louse of Parliament to declare; and decide upon, its own particular privileges. •lii my former letters I have obsnyetl, that this power of declaration is, in fact, enuisalent to that of creation, and I now repeat my assertion ; tor,• if it were merely a power admihistrative of pre existent law, I am at a loss t9 . fliscuter any Cause for the tenacity s which ttic.Bouse of Corn. mons maintains its right of exercising jurisdiction over offenders against its honourable body.. It is always a disagreeable, however necessary an office, to inflict punishment on the delinquent; and the Blouse of Commons would willingly relinquish the sight of being its own executioner to another au. thority, were it nut sensible that the advantage it possesses in adapting its undefined privilege to every possible ease, enables it nut only to admi. mister, but to create the law ; and, what is tho pinnacle of injustice, to give that law a retrospec. tin operation ; and thus to impose punishment on those, who, because they had violated no antece dent law, would be held guiltless in the common distribution of justice. If the indefinite nature of privilege does, as I affirm in fact it does, attribute to the resolutions and votes of the House of Commons, a force equal to that of the law, where is the man who will not smite in condemning it at once as illegal, tyrati it:cal, and unconstitutional ? If, on the other hand, we suppose it, according to its own hypo critical allegation, to be only declaratory of ex 'sting law, let us consider what necessity there can be for taking that declaration :Jut of the mouths' of the public ministers of justice. Although, in. deed, a very moderate degree of perception is suffie•ent to inform us that the declaration of law before und-litted, and the enactment of original law, only differ in the mode of their.phraseology.— /ode/idle law may be defined to be no law what. ever, for the soul of law consists in its .publicity, and in the cldirtiest of its injunctions. • . The best exertion of my memory anOtventi.on i • ..., Cannot suggest to me any other or better algjments in favour of 'the claim of the house of Cualusous to decide upon its owe Privileges, than the follow ing, viz. The superior dignity of the HousA which would be degraded by appearing as a part' . to a suit in the Courts or common law; the daff. - ger of incurring the subversion •of its Privile4,i . by the partial or erroneous decision of therm Courts; and of yielding itself up, 'with:446 - j rights, in the last resort,.to the fi nal deterntibetioti of the &use of Lords. With respect t l it illifts . ,y 4 rst . " of these objections, I will allow, that in its tem . slative capacity the House of CoMmormiaar de.. rated above any Court of Record, and that if . the question related to the institution, and not to the practice, of the law, it would demean itself by paying any consideration to the decrees .and rules of any Court of Law or Equity. •Bat it must be recollected, that in the application Of enacted law, those Courts arercre4 nor only for the purpose of deciding betwelk i riobject and subject, but of adjusting all - diformsees between the people and any branch of the government, ac cording to the just criterion of the 'law. By means of these tributials, the exorbitant pre. ragative of the Crean hu t iu more than one Instance, met with salutary retrenchment; and through the same medium, I fervently hope that . the Privilege or Parliament will -be soon con. fined to its proper prOvinee.• In the quality, of administritors of the law, I contend that the Courts of lutitice possess a decided superiority Over any separate branch of the legislature; and that the bar to which the Monarch reverentially . refer the legality of his high prerogative, can never sully the dignity of the popular portion of • our government.. With respect to the wood objection, it is ob. servahk that no imputation of partiality can, with any truth, be mado against our Courts of Law, the rectitude of whose decision, secured by so many precautions, bas lung afforded a subject of houtst exultation to this country. It is true that 'lie Judges are nominally the officers of; and dc. ... rive their power from, the Crown .; but the so lemnity of their oaths of office, midaire indepen deacc of their situations with respect tii the reve nue and the duratiottof their posts, are.sofficient pledges f- r the conscientious discharge of their Mi. portant duties ; and Should all these barriers prove too weak to resist the action of perverted pritici. plcs, or of undue influence, the Engliih - Jury, bomposed of good men and true, stands forward, pure and unbiassed, a tower of impregnable A!rength for the salvation of the genuine'flgtrts and privileges of King, Parliament, and Pe'3l;:,:-It is, of all things, must improbable that this voice of the people would abrogate those privileges; which, fur their ows.bette4t,,weiti bestowed upon their represootadees . ) sayi tepet i ebsottois that thou representatives shouldimitate to.confidetin'tird. servatioit of their protheses to. the ecry,peepie, Je s krtt bald' they rise, an to which they . 101141011 • 4ftt.Urik i 1 w-lltiollast objection, which sets forth the danger : &f subinitting the, rights of 'the Commons House of Parliament to the mercy of the Rouse of Petra,. beas..atrongiy insisted upon ity .an Hoye arable i Member, in a recent debate, and certainly merits very serious attention. In endeavouring to inni-• ' lidate the force of this argument, I will not A:4MM with any earnestness on a supposition that the vet!. . diet of a Peer of the Reekn, anarded on the so. rti , in assurance of his honour ;, Of a Peer, sitting , v n recognized and' constittglenal Court of Lam, 4dgigry a cause in which. he'irnilther" plaintiff noes , eibudaut, and directed on `aims of legal intrl' '-cacy: by the joint opiniosiead the twelve,Jadges of the land, would extbibit , greater correctness andi impartiality than the decision of a member of the House of Commons, expressed in the .slight and negligent form of wrote ; of .einember s arrogat ing a judicial authority, unknown to the Coned.. tution of this country, over a matter in which bis own interests are deeply involved, and aided occa. sionally by the subservient opinion of an ambitious , Attorney- General. U pon such representations as these, there is, in the present instance; uo neces. sity to dwell ; for another and in obvious reply presents itself, of such a Diedre . as dot merely to impair, but absolutely to overthrow s any Jetport. MCC which might be attached to this Abjection. The indefinite privilege of Parliament has never ItithJrto ventured, unlimited is it is, to assault the life or limb of an linglitil subject individual' property, in a similar manmi„ claims and findi exemption from its influence,: .iVith all its boasted • , , .; i ?obvert, the law effl!ctually peolbits t Tr - oia com. • *nbitting L violence on the life, or ceitskieta`tipon the purse, of the subject. It is t ' he purport, Sir, of my present correspondence, to inquire Whether the law dues not extend that protection to the personal liberty of English Men, which it so amply affords to his life and worldly possesSions ;. and unless it does this, let it retract all its other benefits, for, without this, they are but of little avail. . I would acknowledge, then, that in civil causes, which concern the disposition of property, • the House of Lords is the Court of ultimate appeal from the latig's Bench ; and that upon great and importautoAccasions,, that ,House also forms itself 1 into a court of criminal, jurisdiction, for the trial 'of ntate delinquents, and other offenders of Mee. ... tennis rank, or peculiar notoriety. But in all ,4elatinal prosecutions eisiosnouock in the Court; of 'King's Bench, whicli'may, in their issue, affect the subjects of these realms by fine or by imprision. :went, the decisions of that Court are final, mid i irreversible •by the interference of any other au.' thority. i EtVievery case of a breach of the law, ~,. ,whether it liePof the ordinary and general, law, of the land, scud tho private law or privilege of 'Parliament, a prosecution once commenced in the Court of KiWg's Bench must there be pursued to its: complete termination. I contend upon these ~audisputed facts, that the House of Commons can sever plead the danger of 'submitting their privi. lieges to the final decision of the Howie of Peers, • to . jestify,:their conduct in spenishing with their own lotadeany person who, tii;en.offettee against the laW;:,bas incurred the 'painiftof imprisonment ! Whatever questions - upon taiLlivr. of Privilege might arise io the course' ot a til4:iiitic would * bet disposed of, as other Matters Jlaw,. by the opi. nion of the Judge, and by,thelerdict of 'the Jury . . It is not theu the Houle et Lords but a Jury, which legally is, and • reasonatly ought to be, in every ease of a criminal nature, the ultimate judge of Parliamentary Privilege, of innocenceand guilt; and under the auspices of suck I judge, every privilege which in any degree Implicate% the liberty of the subject, would soon become certain, defi nite, and clear. 'low far the inconvenience stated in the last ob jettion might take place, in Cases not connected with crinaciand punishment, k is not my present business to enquire. It is.sufficient for me to heirs shewn, that where the personal liberty of the sob. jest is in question, nu solid reason exists fur in- Vesting Parliament with the power of dielatiqg ' its own privileges. With the ! contiuttance of ouch e powec i , we, should find littlatcaese . to to dis pleasedilt our lives, liberty,kitki Pirnperty were defended from its operation ; a its odious usnrpatititt over the body • of i.is ihtt: people thus clestrejA, it would be reduced to that which it was in its origin intended to be, a 'mutual check in the handl of either House of farliament on each taker. 26th June, 1810. I am t &C. R. -- ----- - At tWe Oxford Meeting, the Chancellor re. sides, according to custom, with the Vice-Chan. cello., .wheiiii Master of loaliul College. CATA. Lktif and Bit'AIIAM are among the vocal perfortn. erg; and tfiii.'part of the entertainment will be at. 4esistatedifying to the female visitors as the Latin spetehes and poems which they will be downed to hear for four hours together. ...- G - ENSR44 • As. there halve been anima report" In &cola. tion respestiog the character,. tiews t Ac. .of that 'General, the following account givea'ef him by a 'Gentleman who knew him formed, l May net be uninteresting to our Readers. • General SAnAZZIN isdescended freaidgiseil far' wily. He 'entered into the - army nil life. He was' in Ireland with General Ilaisanwr, end on hii return to. Fraiien from that cothitiii he wide a very 'Republican harangue at a public audience of- the Directory,'" id' which he spoke • rather warmly of the Government of this eunlitry.. He was afterwards employed in the 'army. 'of Naples, which was then - unties the command- of General Maenbrrato,' and was wounded at 'the memorable battle of the frebeai fought with: the . . Russians. When*Bomteaare, on hie relent froth &Ms I:commanded in lialy',.Sattaiets.. was eiriployed in IVs army, .and remained• in that enentry tilt the year 1801, when MURAL Rl' iippolilllNlGovernor of Milan ; he had a quarrel, with Wm and he went so far as to challenge Mu Kai. Hir Wis . recalled' from that country, and, was imiointed comman dant of Ghent, in Flanders, where he ,remained.' ktill the year 1808, and was then I-visored to, the camp at Boulugne. Hence it appears that he was, ttlreass employed, and was not disgraced or eziledri like many other Generals, who were obnoxious to' BONAPARTE! • • SAaAZZIN is a man of considerable abilitie4 and has written a work entitle:l, " Star Art de' la Guerre," which is still in manuscript, and has never been published. He was always considered a.very violent republican, consequently an .it tl. Bonapartist. He itt. supposed 'to' he, rich. tie very lately sold an Wale which ho bad near Fon. : tainbleau, and sent his wife anti children to.SWit. zerland, of which country Mrs. SARAZZIN'S fa. Iroily are natives. She herself is a native of Ex... 'der, and has an uncle now *residing at Leeds, 9f the name of Fiscaza r a very respectable tnerchant. Mr. Screw. RTZ,. who was Secretary 411-the Duke of Sussex, and who died last Oc. 'Anther, was first cousin to Madame SARAZEIN. Although these are all circumstances in his favour, still Government should be very suspicious of, such . visitors,. as it is well kuown that BONAPARTE go ,nerally selects men foe secret -mirsions,,who have been, Or reported to be, obnoxious to him. When he was at Warsaw,.iu 1807, a French General, au Hanoverian by birth,. of the name of THURRIN. GEN, went over to the Russians. SoMe time after he was very muck abused in tho Moniteur, yet notwithstanding the tirade, General TUURRIN GEN proved to he a French spy, and the Russian Government sent him tb Siberia, where he still was eighteen months ago. His wife, who is a German Countess, 'elicited Prince Romulus, the Rus sian Ambassador at Paris, for his release; how. ever, as the French Government would. not inter fere, her applications were fruitless. Ste Faascrs Burtorrr.—" We conceive it a dirty of candour to express, once for all, our de. cided opinion of Sir Faarteis BURDETT. As a private character, he is infelfor to no one : his liberality is princely, and his Charity without ostentation ; he seems to give, because he loves giving; and he gives with a grace and ease which prove it to he a principle, a habit, and nut an effort t l / 4 , which be lashes his nature, ap.—As a public character, we sincerely believe that he acts according to his conscience; his %acrifices, there fore, are honourable to his virtue, arid prove that. his constancy is not less than h:s patriotism." — [From the Manchester Gazette.] , The mad folks in Westau nsicr.Nall increase every Term. A person, who had all the Appear ance of a maniac, entered. the Court of'Common Pleas a few days since with a letter, which he said. was to be delivered by command to his. M.njesty. The letter was handed up to the Bench, but itdid itot produce any observation. Mary Davis, . .the woman who disturbs the proceedings in all the. Courts, is now ejected from the Courts of Chancery, King's Bench, and Common Pleas, by persons • tationed at the doors •to keep her out.' • —She however finds access to the Exchequer, where she enters into litigation with the Barons. The sham Duke tif Norfolk has not pressed hiiaelainis lately. Perhaps, like many persrs of:slane mind, he is weary of the glorious uncer tainty of tke law, and prefers taking a cool promenade with hit Duchess, who, by the bye, stands in need of costume a little 'more suitable toN her dignity in Kensingten Gardens. Not less than Isle persons are now hanging about the Courts in a state of legal madness, all betrildesed in lex terra. The public, no doubt, will be glad to hear, that on account of "Abe influx of imported grain to the neighbourhood of the great Western corm. Markets, Warminster and Newbury, grain has been gradually falling ie price the. last three mar kadays.' Withip these three weeks wheat has fallen at Newbnry Bs. per quarter. . A large quintity of timber was deposited lot week in Covent-garden Theatre, from which it it that the audience part of the house is to .istsfergo some important alterations and improve. meats. • l(la Friday night the farm-yard of John Melt. Wilk Esq. of Woodford Hall, Essex, was broken intrio and robbed of a large quantity of property. • ;Suturday evening, as an invalid sailor was com ing to town from Bristol; he fell from the roof of the coach, in a state of intoxication,. and was killed on the spot. bra , A few days ago, as a youth, fourteen years _ named Gee, was bathing with some others in the canal at Brumcotc, near Nottingham, he got out of his depth, and was in danger •f being drowned. Ms companions, alarmed at his situation, called far auistancc, and a sawyer, who with his wife Were walking near the spot, immediately plunged into the water to his assistance.—Unhap. pily, poweeer, _in the attempt 10 save Gee, he himself imam victim to his humanity, being &tatted, l,gethcf -with 'the unfortunate youth who was the object of his solicitude, in'tl►o pre ,'settee of his wife, whose feelings were so over come by the melancholy and unexpected cams- Lrepbe, that she was taken away lilde s. - • 5 • . r . Dann P.l P E 7- • • COPENHAGtIg I . 10111111 16.—The following order %Nu; yesterday issued•hy the Chtneery of thu - Du. shies of Sleiswig and Irok,teh " Fur the prevention of all ilicit,tialfic, by an Abtlft of tile North American Hag, between the Isle.tof Heligoland, which is occopied'hy the ear. ay, and the adjacent ports of Husntin and Tun. tangen, his Majesty has decreed. that from end after the notification hered, at llustnn and Ton. ningeti, 'until. further orderr, no vessels carrying the American flag shall he admitted into the said ports of allu,led to ilisAarge therein, and that ail such vessels must depart therefrom witliontbreak i ing bulk.' •• SW! non snit,. JUN IL 17....4 ` amen. laden itith colonial produce, which :were, lying. at an. chor in our roads, h we been seised by .att impress order of the Government. The tame fate has be. fillet, scleral vessels which hOirsailte,from Aral. Send add other SwediSh ports, ilk!• put into. our . NArLls, . General La Marque has passed 0 1 . 0 00 this rill, titi Ins way • fr , ,it . l PAO9 I (),,p . pin the King in Calabria. lie travels post. The Prince of Holstein Oldenbuilh, in .% here,: intends. to visit ieiniiiits, and the towns of Her. colangum - and Pompeii. • . !U•TRIteliT. the 121 h, a thrisinn of, Polish attillyrymits began their to,tlrli fro" 'Warsaw for 'Militia. A convoy Ql.lao.ooo.nus. Iketn, of Pkenctittuglas•ll, and Prussian mints.. hiss orris at Warsaw from - Saxony ;and 'also several thousands of pistols atift sabres., for ihp cavalry, raising in that duchy.• •I - In an'atticle from "Wallachia, of the !Bth ult. It is stated, that so far back as the IKth•of Aptil, the Russian Chaneeller, Count :,ftemiurnow, in a note, addressed to Count St. Julian, intimated • 'that the Russian Emperor .tvtgarded MislOvia and Wallachia as au integral part of his 4 Empire, and that all persons being natives thereof c were to be considered is his subjects. Such of them, how. over, as prefer kaviog the. country, are allow,ed to do soy upon payment of their debts, and the disposal of their effects, within the space of six months. • _ STORM ONSUND.II' EVENING. • Several accidents accidents happened in different- parts of the metropolis-on Si,od.,y evening, occasioned by the lu and storm, an.l a`motig I the most &coatit are the folloiving,:=Mr. and Mrs. Lemke, of the King's Arms .Chop.house, in Mary4e.bone. street, were walking down, Eh pert-street, about it, , quarter past nine o'clock, when a brick parapet at the top of the house of Mr. Aubery, a liquor. merchant, was blown down y •atid part ant tett un the head of Mrs. Lemaire. She was ,taken -into . the house of Mr. A *limy is a lifeless state, .en. ' tiroly covered with blood, which flowed from wad. nos fractures in the head. Surgical aid was imme. diately had, but Mrs. L. was conveyed hottue ia'a chair. A 'consultation of Gentleman of the Fa. I lenity took place yesterday, and the Litly is un derstood to be in a very dangerous state. Slit re. mained •totally insensible Teeteftlay, and thifiac. tures on the head are very deep. Another accident, still more shocking, IMI4. pencil in Piccadilly, to Miss Byfell; dangtiter of Mr. Byfell, in Park street; by the falling uf a 1 stack of- chimnies. The young Lady was walking . iwith her mother and brother when the accident. befellier, ant although walking arm.in.artn, os i. 1 ther of the others received any injury ; but M as; B. was - so'muck .bruised that she - expired while being ' conveyed home. A light vehicle, in the stagi,Coiteh forer,..*as blown off the whet4.oo the top of Sloititc.s-sCer, - aboot half.past eight o'clockywhilst.tbeiwnerios driving an thu box, accolvii..toletiliy..ancitifer'Gim • tleman, anti two servants in the dic key. dor . or the servants' had his arm broken Ity. the felt; itid • the Gentleman who was driving,' whom we under: stood to be a Mr. Stieritl,. Sias, so much braised. that bleeding was necestary., Tie injured persons were conveyed away in the inside of the vehicle. A. fruit woman was killed on the spot in Duke. street, Oxford-street, by the falling of a chinuit.y. put. / • FATAL Ftsz.—On 'Friday morning last, the Inn at *filch the Mail coach Stops iu Castieblanry, kept .by Mr. Faughey, was birned to the grouud, • and Mrs. Faughey, her two children,. twqr maids, sod two dragoons perished in the fiamei.- About two o'clock, Mr. Faughey was awoke by• - a au* f loating smell proceeding from the apartment he. low, and he instantly got up to explore the cause. On coming to the room which had excited h is sus. *ion, he found it all in a blaze ; at that m... 'went the door bunt open, and a body of lire Wood its way up the stairs, which rendered all access to the apartment which he hail just impossible, and there lay his wife and , Won't children—he immediately gave the alarm and to. deavoured to procure assistance; a ladder %a.; brought with as little loss of time as possible; Lis wife and children were his first care, and he Oared . the ladder to the front of their bedroom--the flames raged with inabated fury, but the tender mother was seen to iippruach the window,. -beer. lug a child under each arm—a gleam-of hopitetik 'possession of every countenance, hut, alsfsl` it was only for a moment—the ilobr gave way under her feet, and the parent with her helpless offspring sunk. together into eternity. The feelings of . the by.standert, particularly the distracted husband and father, may be imagined, but not describes!. Three of five dragoons, .quartered in the house, were rescued from : the fames, and a third servant , maid, after suffering, severely* precipitated her_ self from a window, and was shockingly matigl,d on the pavement . ; there is no hope of hot surviv. ing, soy Indeed is N desirable that skc should reeo., ver, as, besides other disabilities, she is-ileptlied of both het eyes:' The cause of the casillagrattsm has not yet been disiovered. Some think i,t wis effected by a. gang of . .villains whom ymigh lately detected' having in their possession a isaieti of think Notes, . lost by -one or ant tens; Lot this lit ta r o hotri.l a co+ , jertnre'to -he 1.1. duiged in on alight Mounds..:—(Dcrry Jouiriot.) • • k. %