The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1805-06-08 00:00:00

LVPERtiL P._II:LTAVEirr.

Ii:JUSE OF LORDS—FMDAY, Jutle 7.
After •,nie iirnrate and routine business Rai disposed of,
irotin..el (Mr. Ararren) was partly lieaul upon the merits of
Touche'. Ci•orLe Bill; ~ were examined, and the
further cimitleration of the Bill Wag flOO.lllOllCd, Ull the >ugge.
tion of the lard Chancellor, till hlotalae•
'rite Post 14,erX Farming Duty PHI was hrmight up trnm the
foitittons, by Mr. Alexander, aim nail a $o .t tane ; wr were
two private Kills, I.resented be other Ge.ilemen. Thme mt
. .

the table were to‘wspled hi their respective stalrei
Some documents were presented by a person from the Conn
Ch62.1c...ry in Ireland, in the Appeal Cause', Stbtliorpe and

others , atidorkred to lit. on the table.
Lord HAW KESEURY then too. d the Order of the Dar,
scirti,we crow•tive, made on a former &ening, white their Lord•
!thimr. deliberatim.s were private; aril immedlately after the
straretesra wet.• ordered to withdraw. Thedours weld Iwpt ihut
for pearly two hours.
NEGOCIATIONS WITH RUSSIA.
On our re-admission into the House—
The Earl of CARYSPORT was addressing the
House, but in 6, loest tone of voice, as we could
tulle;?, upon .0.6 Subjeed. He particularly ad-
dressed himself to x Noble Secretary of State. He
adverted to the reference made in the communica-
tion from the Throne to the subjeB, in which a
congeniality of sentiment on certain affairs was stated
to exist bctwcen the Sovereigns. The topic was of
such impt)rtance, he thought that some information
ought to be given to Parliament upon the subjed,
axed therefore expressed hit Wish to know whether
the Noble Secretary of State meant to make any
communication to the House thereon t . .

-.-..._...
Lord MULGRAV F. shortly observed, that he
had received no diredions from His Majesty upon
the subjeEt adverted to: it was of that nature as
v iuld obviously render it improper for him to make
any communication thereon, without an express
command from His Majesty on the subjefl. When-
ever he should receive these, he would, of course,
in ike the desired communication to the House.
The Earl of CARYSFORT then observed, that
be conceived the general subje& of which that par-
ticularly adverted to) made a very pre-eminent con-
sideration (looking with anxiety, as he thought
every man must, to the present critical state of Eu-
rope), to be of such importance, that he conceived
it his duty to submit a Motion to their Lordships
upon the subjed ; this he should bring forward on
Thursday sennight. The Noble Earl then moved.
that their Lordships be summoned for that day,
which was ordered accordingly.
NM JUSTICE FOX.
The• Order for. summoning their Lordships being
read;
Lord MINI'O rose to bring forward the motion
relative to the case of tire above judicial char:titer,
of which he gave notice last night. He observed.
it was one, which went to involve the credit and re-
putation of the House, but, he hoped, considering
their Lordships had more maturely weighed the
merits of the question, that he should he successful
in what he was about to propose. This was, that
the elate Committee should be revived, and instruc-

lions given to that Committee, that they imme-
diately report to the House the evidence taken be-
fore them ; the result of a proceeding of this kind
would be ...r-entially necessary to forward the ends of
justice, as well a: .o give dispatch and facility to their
future proceeding. ; it would be produCtive of the
greatest convenience, try affording an opportunity of
securring to that evidence as a cheek, whenever
occasion might require. With respect to laying the
evidence upon the table, he thought there could be
no objcaion, in point of form ; but, he professed,
he had an ulterior objeA in view, which was, that
such evidence should be communicated, in some
form or other, to the Learned Judge who was the
ohjeft of accusation. there must unavoidably be a
bias in their Lordships minds, in that respea. The
ker.:tett Gentl -man was certainly placed so far in
an it:dawn:able situation by the proceedings which
had luthei to taken place . He knew that much
ev-dence had been given berme the Committee, but
he (the Learned Judge) had on knowledge of what
the natnie and rife& of that evidence was. It was
proper he should be appri-ed of it. The law of
England did not profess a principle of putting the
accuser and accused on any other than the same
footing ; it was the genius and spirit of that law
that they should be on a footing of the most
pellet ecaality. 'I he proceeding he recommended
would tend to do this, and to give him a fair and
equal advantage with the accusing parties. In se-
veral cases, communications of the kind had been
made to the acznsel ; nn consideration of form
should stand in the way of justice, even their Lord-
ships standing ordeal, the strongest of all forms,
were occasionally seaptonled with respell to Bilh,
net fair grounds of expecirf:!ry. Of what he pro-
posed no existing form rtcod in the way ; to it no
standing order was opposed ; all that could be said
a4ainst it was, that it was Ilinztivnt.d by no piece-
dent h • could apply ; the case was perfenly novel.
'Abe Ore question would respeCt the laying the evi-
dence upon the table. The question of communi-
cating that evidence, and the mode and fotrn of
Being it, would be matter of distinct and subsequent
ecnsideration; but he thought the most preksable
would be, first, to order that the evidence should
be printed. He would now move—
That the Contnntna formerly appointed to Investigate the
matters &Hexed in rahoge acaonst Mr. Justice lox, be revived;
with inst, uctions, that the said Committee do lusthwith report
Woe itymicisce taken berme, them to the !louse.
Lord HAWKLSBURY, after repeating the sob-
stance of some of his former observations on the
subjea, admitted that no analogy, case, form, or
standing order, was sit;i:ely in point, with reference
to what was now pro : HoweveTl as he under.
stood, that many Noble Lords entertained strong
doubts; and undetstaading from the Petition, that
the Learned fudge was anxious that the evidence in
question should be produced ; he should nn., under
the circumstances of the case, resist the Noble
Ba-
rsn's motion; understanding, that the evidence
so-produced, should, with respell to the parties,
have the same publicity as that given at the Bar,
that the result should be for their equal benefit
and advantage; in this view, he thought it would
be proper to have the evidence 'minted for the use
of the Members of the (louse.
Lord M IN'f 0 •poke shortly in explanation.
Earl SPENCI-.li highly approved of the Noble
&emery's idea, that the evidence should have
equal publicity with rcspeCt to the p irties ; the
means of c.-unmunication may be matter far future

L.

The LORI 3 CI-lANCELLO R, in the course of

his observations upon the stilled, stated, that is ere
the motion agreed to, it ought to be un;lerstood as
resulting from the peculiar situation in which the
I under the circunistances of die case, *as
placed, and not from any consideration tending to
reflea upon the 'eh:warder of the Witness, for, notch
as he may esteem the charaCter of Mr. Justice Fox,
he must consider that every subjea of the realm
was equally entitled to justice. With raped to the
question of the pahlicity of all judicial proceedi:rgs,
he was aware it was, in sonar points of view, provor
and just, but he was 'nog enough in the pro-
fession to know, that the partial publication
of a trial, or • publishing a trial before it was
finished, was neither proper nor permitted by law.
With respell to the printing of the evidence in
question, there still this difficulty remained, that he
knew of no legitimate mode of communicating pa-
pers so printed to any body. They may he printed
for the use of their Lordships, but it did not follow
that they were authorised to communicate an iota
of their contents. Upon the whole, if it was the
opinion of their Lordships that the motion would
tend less to the inconvenience of the proceedings, or
trench less upon the principles of justice, than the
course now pursuing, he should be rather induced
to agree to it, but upon the grounds and principles
, to which he in the outset had adverted.
Lord ELLENBOROUGH stated, he did not
feel any of those difficulties, in point of form, on
which his Noble and Learned Friend had dwelt so
much. A copy of the evidence rhight, he thought,
be 'communicated in the same mode to Mr. Justice
Fox, as were those of the Petitions and articles of
charge. In his own case, while he engaged in the
defence of Mr. Hastings, he knew of documents,
printed for the use of their Lordships, being freely
communicated to himself, and to which he referred
in the case of the trial. These precedents would ap-
ply to the present case. He then referred to the
course which had hitherto been adopted, and vindi-
cated the principles on which that line of condua had
proceeded.
The LORD CHANCELLOR begged to offer a
few worts in explanation. He wished to learn from
his Noble Friend, whether the documents alluded
to had been communicated to him, with the judicial
knowledge of the House ? He had another question
to put to him; namely, whether the publication of
any of the evidence in the present case, while the
matt& wog poodle:, is legal ?
Lord ELLENBOROUGH, in reply. stated,
that the communication adverted to had been
made with the full knowledge of the House.
• The LORD CHANCELLOR then observed,
that he felt it incumbent on him. when the papers
were printed, to submit a Motion to their Lord-
ships. in order to ascertain his own duty on that
head ; wbethcr documents printed for the use of
their Lordships can be so communicated ?
Lord AUCKLAND made a few observations
upon the subjea g after which
Lord Li AWKESBURY explained his sense, that
when the evidence should be on the üble It could
be matter of consideration. whether it :hould be
printed or not t at tEt same time he concurred with
the motion entirely on the implied grour.J of the
evidence being printed.
Lord MINI'O, in explanation, stated. At the
proceeding was not proposed from any consith.ration
tending to relied upon the charaCier of the wit-
nesses, who, he thought, were entitled to every
proteBion.
The question was then put, and Lord Nlii.to's
motion agreed to by the House. The Clow Com
mittee was forthwith ordered to be received, anti to
tit formally for the purposes of the motion to ~orr-
ow. Alto which the House adjourned till Monday.