The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1805-03-09 00:00:00

mittees, their fefortt were considered as authority,
on account of the witne sea being sworn. When
these reports collie down, the House may either
confirm or reject them. If they flied the whole
case over aeain, it would be a case .k n0..0, and
have re) relation whatev,r to what passed in the
Committee. It ts (mid then resemble a new trial
in the Courts below, where the evidence in the torm.
er trial \va, put out of the contemplation of the Jury.
This method of deciding in Parliament was, no
doubt, an anomilir in the Constitution, and attend-
ed, nu doubt, with great inconvenience—but the
..ther way was still wias.e, by dividing the trial into
two, and leaving two .Turies to decide upon it. From
this it must resuln that a new law should be enacted
fior determining the manner in which returning offi-
cers should in future be finally tried on charges of
inisconclud. He remembered that, in the year
1778, when the Bill was brought in, amending Mr.
Grenville's Act, a clause was introduced, contain-
ing a similar clause to that law which the lion.
Gentleman (Mr. Sheridan) stated to have prevailed
in Ireland—but, for some reason or other, with
which he was unacquainted, the clause was drop-
ped in the progress of the Bill, and the House
had since heard no more of it. If the prac-
tice, however, was not absolutely to regulate
their proceedings, upon which he should give
no decided opinion ; the reas,ii of the thing would
certainly demand, that the Couns-1 should be heard.
The House had a great mass of written evidence to
be examined, and it should be recollected, that even
in those Courts which are in the daily habits bf
deciding on such evidence, they always wish for
time to examine, and find themselves greatly assisted
in their decisions, and every way benefitted, by the
comments and 11:us:rations of the Counsel. He for
one would wish, if the praAice would at all admit
of it, that he should be assisted in his judgment by
the comments of the Counsel. This he thought
absolutely necessary, unless, as he observed before,
the predice of the I-louse was decidedly and uni-
formly against it, of which there were very
many present who must he much better judges
than himself. There seemed to be a difference of
opinion, not only respelling the Counsel being called
in at all, but also as to the stage in which it would
be moat expedient to hear them. Upon the latter
point, his opinion was that no stage could be so
proper, or so conveoieut as the present.
The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER
oSserve.l, that the question, as it was now put, lay
in a much narrower compass than it did on the for-
mer evening. It was then proposed that the House
should -e-hear the report of the evidence against
the Sheriff% ; but now Gentlemen appeared to con-
tent themselve.., with hearing the comments of their
Counsel. He agreed with the Learned and Ho-
nourable Gentleman who spoke last, that if they
ware to be decided by the reason of the thing, it
would be right that the Counsel should be heard
now ; hut wh it made him hesitate was, that in the
whole proceedings of the House, he could not
find a single instance in which the parties accused
were heard, either by their Counsel, or by them-
selves. He meant parties of this description,
whose criminality was reported by the Com-
mittee, and the evidence produced on which the
report was founded. In a s:titation of the kind,
where they had no precedent to guide them, their
duty Was !ti consider hoth justice to the particular
case, and the regular pradice of the Idolise.—
Considering the length of time during which the
enquiry was gnieg on, and the long interval in which
the evidence lay on the table; he thought there
could be hardly any one who expelled, that much
light could now be thrown upon the subject, by the
speeches or the arguments of Counsel. It was cer-
tainly a question more to be decided by preeedent,
than by am abstract reasoning. As to the rehear-
ing of the evidence, he was glad to find that pro-
posal now alrandnued, as nothing could well be
much ounce absurd. than to have evidence taken
upon with, by evidence given not on oath. But,
whatever may be the objections which suggested
themselves rn his mind upon the mode of proceeding,
yet when he found on the other site. authntities of
so snitch weight with him, as that of his Learned and
Right Hon. Friend, and the Noble ,Lord who pre-
sided in the Committee, he should persist in that
mod. of proceeding. to which he was previously in-
clined

Mr MI ttlfrall and Lord MAISMAII severally ex-
plained.
Mr. FULLER said, that b.? was sorry to observe ,
the eaumeration made bv the Hon. Gest. (Mr.
Sbiri Jan) who opened the debate, be had omitted
;be mention of Mr. Rose Fuller. who sat as Chair-
man of the Committee, which framed that Bill,
and was as strenuous in support of it, as Sir George
Saville. or any of those whom the Hon. Gent. had
selected t a Gentleman who WAS Only attached to
the se/vice of his country, and k. pt himself always
free from the contests of any par tics.
On the question being then put for resuming the
adjourned debate, no person answered for the ayes,
and Mr Sheridan', voice was the only one heard in
the negative.
The C H NCELI.OR of tile EXCHEQUER
(before the Speaker &Tided no the question) sug-
gested. that it would not be the better mode t ne-
w& ve the debate being resumed; but atter that
was agreed to, that the Counsel should be called in.
The SPEAKER said, that it appeared to him
to be the most regular mode to enquire, first, whe-
ther there were :my Counsel attending ? If they
were not in attendance, he supposed the debate
could not, consistently with the understanding that
seemed to prevail, be at present resumed ; but if the
Counsel was ready to proceed, as these seemed to be
every indication of, the order of the day may be
assented to. and ~he Counsel called in.

The CHANCF.LI.ORciftheF.XCHEQU ER
gave it as his opinion, that the most obviously regu-
lar mode would he to assent to the I louse resuming
the debate, and when that was done, it would be in
the power of any Gentleman immediately to move
that it be again adjourned to a future day.
Mr. SHERIDAN was for postponing the busi-
ness altogether, as the Counsel for the Sheriffs,
cot 'apes:ling to be called in, were not, he under-
stood, sufficlently prepared to do ample justice to
the cause of their clients
Mr. FOX suggested the prop-iety of postponing
the calling in of Counsel to a future day. From the
turn which the debate took on a former evening, it
was the general impression that, on a•coUnt of the
objetions made by the Right lion. Gentleman op-

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