The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1820-10-18 00:00:00

PETITIONS.

Lord J. Rung Lt. said, be had a Petition is pre.
vent, signed by 2.040 inhabitants of the town of
Plymouth. It was ou the subject of the Bill of
Pains and Penalties. The petitioner* staled, that
whether looking at the measure in • political,merale
or judicial light, they could not view it without
remiss apprehension and alarm, and considering
that the enacteneut of such a. Bill would be a dm.
germs, violation of the principles of die Coustitu.
non, they prayel the House, if it should be pro-
posed to them, to reject it. The Nibble Lord ob.
served, that he had nu hesitation in saying, that if
ewer the Bill came down to that House, an event
which lie hoped would server take place. he should
be •Iwoys ;roily in Ins place to (ippon it by every
primer means within his power. He trusted that
without c • ilea any breach of order, he might
be permitted to sty, that the result of the evi-
dence in the House of Lords wise nut ruch as to
satisfy him of her Majesty's guilt.—(He/m.)—
If the evidence were credible and sittisfactory, it
would be a difficult matter for him to 'ay whether
w 1111 l an who had to degraded herself ought not
to be deprived of her place on the titroine. But
happily no such difficulty was now to lie encoun-
tered.—(fieur, hear.)—The opinion of the people
confirm:al unaffected hy the evidence ; it Was quite
clear that they cote:nacre.' her Majetty to be a vie.
moos, calumniated, persecuted female. But its
iliumuntla of calumnies were thrown on her Majesty
by means of the poem., which she had no means of
refuting, lie hoped the people would lose no oppor-
y of expressing then rentiments on the ch.*•
raiser of the prat rolinga against her.
'Flee Pennon having beets resit -nn the question
that it he nit the t aisle being put,
Mr. Loc ti itT hoped the House would pardon
him for a kw moments, while I.e expressed his sen-
bowed* on the subject of Mitt Petition. He could
not but regard this Bill not only a. a wort II 'grant
violation of the fuodaniental principle's of the Coo-
vtittioirti, hut as a measure most dangerous to
the lowest nutria of society, Ity striking at the
rights, the eh iracter, the life of those above them.
Whew he said Mat the Bill was a violation of the
fundamental principles of the Constitution. he
ineatit that it was in contravention of the provisioses
of the statute of High Treason. 25 Ed. 111.. and
also of Magma tharia. The great charier satd,
' Nemo cipeator, out impriBonetar, ant rdirpro modo
dear hater Nisi per legate
.jediciam path:mBl'o;mm
oat per legem terra." But this Bill was the oliquis
modes destreremdi, without the legate judicious. or
the lex terrre.—ll !ear, hear./—And now that he
was justified in di awnig the attention of the House
to the subject, he phoohl eonvedfl that in proposing
this Bill to Pa.liament, his Majesty's GoVersolikeht
load violated the statute of Edward ill., and that
the Bill coarged that which was high treason under
the: Act. tie understood that the wuy us which
the framers of it a i.h..41 to take it out of that stn.
lute was, by asserting that it was nut high treason
if a Queen Consort committed adultery with a
foreigner its a foreign country. But sows what
would the House think when they were inform-
ed that the I itter of these very material cir-
cionstalices (to those, he meant. who held
that the uhf-nee was not high trewn •) hail been
oaittleti ahrvz,lber to the Dill ? It certainly al-
leged that the Quecie hail been cairyna4 sits an adul-
terous 'mere e with a foreig..er, but did 1101 add
that it Was iii a foreign country. it was rely sm.
prir,log that the Gentleman who had drawn up the
11111 could have bee., guilty of inch an oversignt ;
but so it was. Nit-. Lockhart then glinted the we-
motile of the B:it, iii,i,ottiloing that though the in•
tereourse wit! familiarity were di itwal to have hewn
cartitil nu, used culitisilletl In earn. as places sod
couistriet, yet it was not stated Illat these phcea
nod countries were without the realm, or what time
the °fierce was begun ; and though it was per-
fectly ael understood shut was meant, yet in all
these higher species of accusations great certainty
and easel seas were nem-silty, and required by the
law in the description of the offence. lie was sure
no Gentleman in the !ionic would say, that when
a purty had committed high treason (for the dig-
tioctiou attempted to be drawn about a foreigner
was 0111, and that that party was
within our jurisdictiou, no prison, he maid. would
effirin that any hotly had a right to change that
crime lark, all inferior one, to soften dawn that Ring
heinous olletice lino one of less magnitude, and
under the pretence of fawoor to the accused, to
bring it to one of more moderate extent and
lighter punishment. Th:s was one of Lis ohjec-
toms, but be had other and Stroller oars to the
Iltll. In the course of the smelliest.' which hod
beers lowd by those who oppnsed the iwoceeding by
impeachment, it had been urged, if you proceed
by on iieachment this difficulty will occur. It might
doutufill whether the offeesce could he courider-
id high treason, and then the impeachment would
lath to the ground. Now this very donlit he (Mr.
Lockhart) cootemled took the matter out of their
cogire nice. lie would insist that it was extremity
doubtful' in cur law whether a ()meat Consort or
Lady Companion of the liiug, its committing adul-
tery, was guilty of high tree-on. lie knew that
Lord Cnke laid it dawn to be high treason, list
with all the deference tine to the authority of los
great tisane, he should hold that lie had been in error.
Load Coke was the first who gave au exposition of
the statute in that respect since it had linseed.
Anil let the House look to the authorities on which
1,;• sail that this dictont b of been hounded. They
were two : The tir-t mai that or Allllll Boleyn.
which sire lie (Lord Cukr) said be found reports!
lit a Judge tiptlenan ; the aecoad was that
of Quern liatharine. who taut been divorced. Now
he was viirprised at Lord Cole's grounding ail (pi-
inior sin tither of these cases. At all scents, his
authority was the Act of Poiliament, while that of
Lord Coke's was the report of a dodge of the mune
of Spell's in, the same who tiled Altos &lel*, and
ecru (iv war Itttie to Lis treald) Sir Thomas
Mitre. it Lid AKII(CIiCa for illikeetiort, cud due
Dilly 'owe lue,could had of it Aiwaisalarsseii,
said he had wed a irepart.of she *see is wire& wh,,e
the leatfts
,ef title ittilttare 'Ore WO, eel nut see

thought the*. reforriliti cesid dM hero bees'
of Aosta InitZallfuse-kers low parer
i
tried for *g reads f NstM*at
the Archlbiall,4tOoftfatbOry I dtroMfsenced
divorce hairiest* ales mod Anna Boleyn fla the
ground of pre .contract. The marriage then was
-void ash Wile. And Anna Boleyn could not have
committed eduhery, therefore she could not hare
heels tried adoliery, and therefoie Lewd Coke
had been incorrect in saying that she had been
found guilty of it, aiatin consequence attainted of
high treason. But there was extant an Act of Par.
liourent, which accused Anna Boleyn of another
crime, as the cause of her weediest, viz. that she,
inflamed with evil lust and passion—(A largh)—
had confederated with divers other persons sigainst
the King's safety. Lord Coke then cited the case of
Quern Katharine, and asserted that she was at-
tainted for adultery: us said Coke. Now it was not
true that Queen Katharine hail been attainted for
adultery, and lie had goad evidence of that ; he had
lately been furnished with a book from the Presi-
dent of Magdalene (a Getitleinau who could direct
any body to new sources of information, even re-
rpecting his own profession). written by one Tho.
ills., who had been • Ckrk of the Council to
lieory VIII. and his sou, Edward VI. This
person was in foreign countries. and there heard a
multitude of charge* made against his late Sove-
reign. Henry being detested in these places.—
The book professed to give, in the way of conver-
sation, distinct answers to all the charges lie had
heard brought. rod when he csine to the King's
conduct to Queen Katliorine, lie says that she was
attainted fur the dissoluteness of her life previous to
her marriage, and that she had afterwards either
committed adultery, or thought of the means of
committing it. Now, after the evidence of this
book in the Cotton Library, he asked if Queen Ka-
tharine had been attainted for adultery ?- lint this
was followed up by ao Act of Parliament, which
recited the accusations against her : first, that she
hail been guilty oh fornication before marriage ;
and, secondly, that she hail devised the means of
committing adultery during her marriage. There-
fore, from :ill this he inferred, that Lord Coke
hail no authority whatever for saying that • Queen
Consort was guilty of high treasons fur co. -
ting adultery. though tlw opinion had been adopted
by all the lawyer. who wrote since, lie conletul-
ed that the distiuction as to the degree of guilt be-
tween the commis • or adultery with a subject
and a foreigner ass untrue and frivolous; and they
might suppose that if the exalted persons in another
place, had been sitting in another place in their le-
gislative caoicity, this would have suggested itself
to them, as it had been felt now that they were act-
ing their judicial. The very calling it' of the
Judges to sok whether the offence charged was
high 'retool), was enough to skew any reasonable
mold that if it had been such the mode of proceed-
ing would have been different. It would not here
been by a Bill of Pains and Penalties, affect-
tog compassi 1111 l and pretending to diminish the
ptioishiricat winch w is properly due to the offence.
'rise law allowed neither aci•usaiton nor punishment
to be changed. Ile put then this : was it doubt-
ful whether high Beason had been quitted by
her Majesty ? If it was, then the Judges ought
not to have been intrusted a ith the isiterpregalion
of its nature. The law of the laud till i.o! intrust
them with the solution of &tilos in a case of
vu high It nature nit to affect life and limb. Mr.
Lockhart Isere quoted Coke'. second Juslifsfe,
where, after describing the ifff-rent "mercies of high
tress 1111 l that Learned Judg-, laying down the
made use of 'hear expre-siotsi : It is ordered.
tart if any oilier rase of high treas-in occur tigssiii,
the Judges, before giiiig jilt° as examination of
it, shall terry, unril tlsr care shall go before the
Klux ni lu.his lieu t "—( newt. j—lle haul looked
over the liouks.itioi h id toond tote r•ise in which the
Judges did tarry—it wus the ‘Vretirts' case. Au
itiformatioit hid bren filed sga at eeitllll weavers,
fir goof': iit),isit and b raking lo %; it was doubt-
ed wheii.er Iltitotiotett tO high tret.on,
and therettoe the Judges sa4l, "we ought to
tarry. and sit:emit the case to the King iu Pali.,.
uncut." And the Attorney-General bearing that it
was a ease fit to be submitted to the King iii Par-
liatitesit, declined proceediug nine further.—(llene.)
—ln like manlier he maintained that lore the pro-
ceeding ought to have been by impeachment. and
if when brought on in dirt shape doubts arose as
to the extent of the offence included in the nos
allaged, then he said that Pet Ititstent w.,s the place
where that doubt should have been considered, and
that nothing could solve it but another set. de-
claring that there acts found were or were not high
treaso.i. If this Bull then passed it would shake to
the roots the constitution rod law of this country,
established by Magna Charm, :mil the :.!5111

lidtvard 111. and besides these the whole fibric of
society. Such procetdiugs by them would be sp-
pleated to in future times, to justify other
illegal sin! uncoost►tutiousl iitirrupis, just us
the false dictum .1 Coke had been followed
by sill the wrileis of Isiw ►inavr. Ile thought that
this House had peculiar reason to guard libel!. in its
Conduct with regard to this Bill—(hear/—which
was tam dragging itself slung like a wounded ser-
pent, wait to lire, and yet unwilling to die.—
( Hear, Iteer.)—Parliament haul been guilty of
great laches io permitting her Majesty to go out of
this country, nod he was sorry that he Im.l to in-
clude in the charge. He well recollected
when Mr. Whitbread. who was very unwilling that
the Princess HI
__ld leave the country. had put a

question to the Noble Lord opposite (Castlereagh-.
respectilig the intentio.s of Government on that
head ; that the answer coldly wits, " It was not
meant to imprimis her Royal Ilightsess."—(Hear.j
—And were these the !mamma, then so careless, so
negligent of her Royal litglitirso, who were now so
met, to precise about her honour and fair fame, to
terse a particular purpose ?—(Hear, hear.)-
11e affirmed that it was extremely doubtful whe-
ther any crime had been committed Ly her Mo-
lnar, but tern if it were satisfactorily esta-
blished that there bad, lie asked them for the
sale of the cochtitutien, of the morals, the tran-
quillity. the softly of the country, fur the
. .

atistroi oworicusatian rod exculpation, whe-

therit weutd trot br butter to alrststen this Bill. and
C. deal with tbe' idieure iu any other way. If lit were
1 right Is his opinion. the uuky proper suede of treat-
ing Alm caae Was by itattettobateut ; but *limped
raiser kletrobroa strimht tato Mr avoid boost
la be- *oil* u* let rose tbir ' lefarttutrity
. : .

pridiribeir Notion& Ss toritaiie sir
WM. *at it might hirtbuilit" Ilisioasti did aid
smile...if Hear. 111". f '
The Petition was this lid pa di table, sad
ordered ii be printed. _ .

- • -
Lord J. Raisers. then presented another Petition
to the same effect as the preceding. bat we were
unable to ascertain the place from whence it come.
Mr. Hume presented a Petition from the Guild.
Burghers, and other Inhabitants a the Royal
Burgh of Aberdeen, praying the House not to
pass the Bill of Pains and Penalties.—Read, laid
on the table, and ordered to be printed.