The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1806-06-20 00:00:00

end of theevidenee which mielit be brought in support of the
sure; at winch time your Petitioner was awn compelled to
foregd the ditch urge of his judicial duties, and to attend Upon
your Luedshtpe fur the purple., as he boiled, of being then al-
lowed to enter upon his defence; but •was then prevented e„
tinned time from appearing in his'oen defence, by the naturd
and ceinsiitutidis of the said Cerneditiee,"st whose proceedings,.
it wit not permitted to him, any, to any person employed un
.m.
a hishis. , behalf, to be present. • I
" That after a considerable paredf the said Serious had been
,' damployed in examining into the, mitten then alleged against
Pout/eater, and after several witnesses had been examined
sit id the Clusiges theretofeee preferred against him, to
L.,
's very great surprise, the matter of complilin
i. 101 was nun altered, new modelled, and changed, by
• cr=Several of the particulate of complaint which had
rimmed, and moat strongly insisted upon, a'
Weidtaillitlek, be amentling and changing, in materiel parte,
tines dies were MOW to remain, so at to make them •liffen-lit
Is their astute and Abe, end by introducing then, for the f.r.t.
. MM. ether Chain% ettegethee new; by means of which con •
ORM 'malaise fif Complaint, your Pashioner war Involved in
She dm' well limpissity, and became utterly uncertain what
- the (Ms nil& be against which he might ultimately hose
82.....). Idelisidell whilst his character we. is the mean tiros
wounded by this apparent multiplicity of Charges, thus
' ittWiliely and solemnly presented to the highest Court of Judi-
. MOM is the realm, as grave and solemn matters of jest cum-
PIM spina one of His Majesty's Judges.,
IS ?Me ea the ltd of May, 1805, it was moved, that an
UMW Adams amid be presented to Ills Majesty, t-t remove
year Petitioner Irons his office, grounded upon such new, al-
Meek acid amended Chaves; whereupon sow Lertishi-is or-
dered., " that year laurdthips' House should resolve itself into
a Committee of the whole House, upon one noitdsn made for
se Address to be presented to HO Majesty, to remove your
Petitioner from his office of Judge, and to eider into the facts
sherd on the said motion."
a That on the Slit of May,IIIIH, and on various Inbseenent
stays, during the continednce of the last Session., one of the
Uteurigas stated by the motion, liontamed in the Petition of
William Armstrong, and others, was proceeded in at your
Lordships' 110, when no further progress was made, than to
examine the winsome* prodnced in support of the facts al'eced
in the mid Petition; in she course of where evidence it ap-
i dared, that your Petitioner's accusers and their witnesses have
been ell paid the sixpences incurred by them id prosecuting their
complaint., oft of the public mosey.
" TOW Petitioner feels himself bouni to state to your Lord-
ships, that several of the remaining Charges would probab..r,
from the salute of du sliegetione unstained therein, occupy
more of your Lordships' time than that which has been out
• heard its part.
•
" Your Petitioner, under these cireemstances, feels himself
milled upon to state, moot respectfully, to your Lordships, the
many victims hail hips which result to him from proceedings
which aro morel in their nature, and harassing by their delay
I —which subject his character to continued public obloquy,
which lee has bai nu opportunity to remove or repel, and
which are almost resinous to his private fortune; the pressure
of which is the aura severely felt by him, inasmuch as the
. eepensoo ofhisaceesert ham bees defrayed of the public
i ury.
Treas
. 11, Your Petitioner, plitetnted by a lively serge of the Many-
.' 41111reides and , hardships to which lie has hems subjected,
without an imputation on the uprightness ow integrity of hie
• conduct, we ended in his personal and judicial ieeiiiir, end
,r .
Ir still more drools slifectrd by v.,e emhartawnsent, VII l.ing sus•
If fondtel neer tli.! Administration of Juitice, at this advanced
! puled of Cie tiiird Sessims, do which his name ha been
erns poled with Parliamentary Accusation;
0 Hembly pries your Lordships to consider the"nature and'
chromosome of bit mei, ind to make such orders therein se
to your Loed.hlpe' wisdom and justice shall seem meet. , ••'
" And your Petitioner will ever pray, &e
(Signed) " LUKE FOX "
' Lori Gft,ENVILLE then rose and observed,
that the proceedings which had taken place this
Session, on the case to which the petition referred,
were no more than to postpone its consideration
funn time to time. The period was now arrived,
in which it became a question how far it would be
either wise or expedient. or how far likely the calls
of jetties were to be answered, by their Lordships
- ontenng, at such a pitied Of the Session, upon the
investigation of a subjea of such an extensive na.
tore. For his part, when he considered the nature
of the nee they were called upon to inves-
tigate. and the very advanced period of the Ses-
sion, be had no hesitation in giving a &tided
opinion agamw such a proceeding. With respe&
to the +subjs.& itself, its a more enlarged point cf
view, he had repeatedly espressed his opinion, that
the proceeding originated, .b inilie, in a place not
coMpetent so to take cognisance of, or to decide
upon it. That opinion he rested upon the broad
principle, that by the law of Parliament. or even
by the constitution, no charge of the kind could
originally be preferred or proceeded upon in that
House, as a Court of Appeal, or of Criminal Juris-
dietion. In the last resort, they could decide ; but,
with the exception of what regarded the maintenance
of their own privileges, they could !not constitu-
tionally entertain a matter of criminal complaint in
the first instance. In this he was borne out by all
the constitutional authorities ; particularly by the
case of Loyd Chief Justice Holt, whose authority af-
forded a decisive precedent upon the case. On the
contrary. there was no instance which furnished the
• . least ground of precedent, of that House having
taken cognisance of a complaint of the kind, in the
first instance. He argued, that all complaints of
the kind should oliginate in the House of Commons,
who were in such cases the Grand Inquest of the no-
tion, as their Lordships were the constitutional
' --tees upon the case ; to proceed otherwise, would

Twat di* Commas, if not, is point orfael, '
- Julies upon the ease, at least the deliberators n pon a
aue which the Peers had already pre-judged. With rei-
the particular case before their Lordships,
r t°
omplaint Medved, :n some degree, a charge of
high crimes and misdemeanants. A Judge, in the
execution of his Ace, was entitled, perhaps, to a
higher degree of proteitioa than any individual.—
Sot he would even argue the case upon the ground
of convenience; suppole their Lordships had con-
ceived the matters of charge to be well founded,
what would they have to decide upon ? A mo-
tion for an Address to His Majesty. to remove
the culprit from his judicial situation. This,
surely, would be in their legislative capacity (Hear !
hear ) they would then have to communicate the
proceeding to the House of Commons, who could
have no regular I nnwledge of any pact of the busi-
ness, or that knowledge must be of a case already
pre-judged; indeed, cunsider:ig the case any way,
with reference to the proceedings hitherto adopted,
great inconvenience and irregularity must ensue
from .its farther progress; what he now said, he
niched to be understood as is no degree referring to
what might have transpired in evidence; that tes-
timony was given, &a. pane ;and, therefore, whatever
•
might have been sworn, nothing had been proved.
]his opini,,n rested not upon any of the Lids of the
•
case, but upon the conviction that the proceedings
hitherto had, were contrary to the law and the con-
stitution of the county}. For every case wherein
the law was trartsgt, .ed, the law j.rovided a remedy
to be obtained by ItvcC©g in a rcolar and lawful

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